[D]Besides his Observators, which make three volumes in folio, he published a great number of poetical and other works. Winstanley, in his Lives of the Poets, says, 'That those who shall consider the number and greatness of his books, will admire he should ever write so many; and those who have read them, considering the skill and method they are written in, will admire he should write so well. Nor is he less happy in verse than prose, which for elegance of language, and quickness of invention, deservedly entitles him to the honour of a poet.'
The following are the titles of some of his works, viz. Collections in Defence of the King. Toleration Discussed. Relapsed Apostate. Apology for Protestants. Richard against Baxter. Tyranny and Popery. Growth and Knavery. Reformed Catholic. Free-born Subjects. The Case Put. Seasonable Memorials. Answer to the Appeal. L'Estrange no Papist; in answer to a Libel, intitled L'Estrange a Papist, &c. with Notes and Animadversions upon Miles Prance, Silver-Smith, cum multis aliis. The Shammer Shamm'd. Account Cleared. Reformation Reformed. Dissenters Sayings, in two Parts. Notes on Colledge, the Protestant Joiner. Citizen and Bumpkin, in two Parts. Further Discovery in the Plot. Discovery on Discovery. Narrative of the Plot. Zekiel and Ephraim. Appeal to the King and Parliament. Papist in Masquerade. Answer to the second Character of a Popish Successor. Confederations upon a Printed Sheet intitled, The Speech of Lord Russel to the Sheriffs: Together with the Paper delivered by him to them at the place of execution, on July 1683. These pieces with many more, were printed in quarto; besides which he wrote the following, viz. The History of the Plot in Folio. Caveat to the Cavaliers. He translated into English Cicero's Offices; Seneca's Mora's, Erasmus's Colloquies; Quevedo's Visions; Bona's Guide to Eternity; Five Love Letters from a Nun to a Cavalier; Josephus's Works; Aesop's Fables.
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Mr. Gordon, author of the Independent Whig, and translator of Tacitus, has very freely censured L'Estrange. He bestows very freely upon him the epithet of a buffoon, an ignorant droll, &c.——He charges him with having no knowledge of the Latin tongue; and says, he is unfit to be read by any person of taste. That his stile is full of technical terms, and of phrases picked up in the streets, from apprentices and porters.
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Sir Roger L'Estrange translated the third Book of Tacitus, an author of whom Mr. Gordon made an entire translation. To raise the reputation of his own performance, he has abused that of L'Estrange, in terms very unfit for a gentleman to use, supposing the censure had been true. Sir Roger's works indeed are often calculated for the meanest capacities, and the phrase is consequently low; but a man must be greatly under the influence of prejudice, who can discover no genius in his writings; not an intimate acquaintance with the state of parties, human life, and manners.
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Sir Roger was but ill-rewarded by the Tories, for having been their champion; the latter part of his life was clouded with poverty, and though he descended in peace to the grave, free from political turmoils, yet as he was bowed down with age and distress, he cannot be said to have died in comfort. He had seen much of the world, examined many characters, experienced the vicissitudes of fortune, and was as well instructed as any man that ever lived, in the important lesson of human life, viz. That all things are vanity.
[Footnote A: See Gen. Dict. Art. L'Estrange.]
[Footnote B: Truth and Loyalty, ubi supra.]