yet you never intended men should pay any submission or obedience to him any longer than he acted according to the will and pleasure of his people. This, you say, is the opinion of Christ, St. Peter, and St. Paul: and, faith, I am glad to hear it; for I never thought that they had been whigs before. But, since your lordship has thus taught them to declare for rebellion, you may easily persuade them to do as much for prophaneness and immorality; and then. they, together with your lordship, shall be enrolled members of our club. Your lordship, a little after, (I suppose, to strengthen the testimony of the aforementioned authors) takes care to tell us, that "this always was, and still is, your own judgment in these matters." You need not fear we should suspect your constancy and perseverance; for my lord Somers, that great genius, who is the life and soul, the head and heart of our party, has long since observed, that we have never been disappointed in any of our whig bishops; but they have always unalterably acted up, or, to speak properly, down to their principles.

It is impossible for me, my lord, in this short address, to do justice to every part of your incomparable preface: nor need. I run riot in encomium and panegyrick, since you can perform that part so much better for yourself; for you only give those praises, which you only can deserve; as you have formerly proved in the dedication of your Essay upon Miracles, ** to Dr. Godolphin, †

66

• Which was first published in 1701. N.

Vice provost of Eaton, and residentary of St. Paul's. N.

where

where you declare your work to be the most per fect of any upon that subject, in order to pay a very uncommon compliment to your patron, by telling him you had prevailed with your modesty to say so much of your performance, because you would not be thought to make so ill a compliment to him, as to present him with what you had not a great esteem for yourself.

Though I cannot go through the whole preface, yet I think myself obliged in gratitude to thank your lordship in a more particular manner for the last part of it, where you display the glories of the whig ministry in such strong and lasting colours, as must needs cheer and refresh the sight of all whig spectators, and dazzle the eyes of the tories. Here your lordship rises, if post sible, above yourself. Never was such strength of thought, such beauty of expression, so happily joined together. Heavens! such force, such energy, in each pregnant word! such fire, such fervour, in each glowing line! One would think your lordship was animated with the same spirit with which our hero fought. Who can read, unmoved, these following strokes of oratory? "Such was the fame, such was the reputation, such was the faithfulness and zeal, to such a height of military glory, such was the harmony and consent, such was the blessing of God," &c. O the irresistible charm of the word such! Well, since Erasmus wrote a treatise in praise of Folly *, and my lord Rochester an excellent poem

upon

*The "Moric Encomium" Erasmus wrote, within the compass of a week, at the house of his friend More, with whom he lodged

upon Nothing, I am resolved to employ the Spectator, or some of his fraternity (dealers in words), to write an encomium upon Such. But, whatever changes our language may undergo (and every thing that is English is given to change), this happy word is sure to live in your immortal preface. Your lordship does not end yet; but, to crown all, has another such in reserve, where you tell the world, "We were just entering on the ways that lead to such a peace as would havé answered all our prayers," &c. Now, perhaps, some snarling tory might impertinently inquire, when we might have expected such a peace? I answer, when the Dutch could get nothing by the war, nor we whigs lose any thing by a peace; or, to speak in plain terms (for every one knows I am a free speaker as well as a freethinker) when we had exhausted all the nation's treasure (which every body knows could not have been long first), and so far enriched ourselves, and beggared our fellow subjects, as to bring them under a necessity of submitting to what conditions we should think fit to impose; and this too we should have effected, if we had continued in power. But, alas! just in that critical juncture, when (as we thought) our designs were ripe for execution, the scene changed: "God, for our sins," as your lordship wisely observes, "permitted the spirit of discord" (that is, the doctrine of obedience and submission to princes) "to go forth, and, by troubling the camp, the city, and the country (and O that it

on his arrival in England. A copy of it was sent to France, and printed there with abundance of faults; yet it took so well, that in a few months it went through seven editions. N.

had

had spared the places sacred to his worship!) to spoil, for a time, this beautiful and pleasing pros pect, and give us in its stead, I know not what

. O exquisite! how pathetically does your lordship complain of the downfall of whiggism, and Daniel Burgess's meeting house*! The generous compassion your lordship has shown upon this tragical occasion makes me believe your lordship will not be unaffected with an accident that had like to have befallen a poor whore of my acquaintance about that time, who, being big with whig, was so alarmed at the rising of the mob, that she had like to have miscarried upon it; for the logical jade presently concluded (and the inference was natural enough) that, if they began with pulling down meeting-houses, it might end in demolishing those houses of pleasure where she constantly paid her devotion; and, indeed, there seems a close connexion between extempore prayer and extempore love. I doubt not, if this disaster had reached your lordship before, you would have found some room in that moving parenthesis, to have expressed your concern for it.

I come now to that last stroke of your lordship's almighty pen; I mean that expressive

The mob that attended Dr. Sacheverell to his trial attacked Mr. Burgess's meeting-house, Feb. 28, 1709-10; and, having pulled down the pulpit, pews, &c. made a bonfire of them in Lincoln's Inn Fields; and would have thrown the preacher in, if they had found him. A proclamation was issued, March 2, offering a reward of a hundred pounds, for apprehending any of the rioters. It appears that the only two who were discovered (whose names were Damaree and Purchase) were unhappy ignorant whigs, who did not even know which party their conduct was assisting. They both received the queen's pardon. N.

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which you give when you come to the new ministry, where you break off with an artful aposiopesis, and, by refusing to say any thing of them yourself, leave your readers to think the worst they possibly can. Here your lordship shows yourself a most consummate orator, when even your very silence is thus eloquent.

Before I take my leave, I cannot but congratulate your lordship upon that distinguishing, mark of honour which the house of commons has done your preface, by ordering it to be burnt*. This will add a never failing lustre to your character, when future ages shall read, how a few pages of your lordship's could alarm the representative body of the nation. I know your lordship had rather live in a blaze, than lie buried in obscurity; and would at any rate purchase immortality, though it be in flames. Fire being a mounting element, is a proper emblem of your lordship's aspiring genius.

I shall detain your lordship no longer; but, according to your example, conclude with a short prayer (though praying, I confess, is not

* This was performed May 12, 1712. See an admirable letter on that occasion to bishop Burnet, June 17, 1712, in the preface to bishop Fleetwood's works.-The vote was carried in the house by a majority of 119, against 54; among the dissenting voices, were sir Peter King, sir Joseph Jekyll, Mr. Lechmere, and others of the long robe. "The complaint" (says the bishop) " was made by Hungerford, and seconded by Manley (people that indeed should have been ordered to have burnt it), and thirded by what we call the Court; and carried by numbers, without a wise word said against it." N.

my