Page images
PDF
EPUB

fuperior clafs to either; provided he would a little regard the propriety and difpofition of his words, confult the grammatical part, and get fome information in the subject he intends to handle.

Omitting the generous countenance and encouragement that have been fhewn to the perfons and productions of the two former authors, I fhall here only confider the great favour conferred upon the laft. It hath been advertised for several months in the Englishman,* and other papers, that a pamphlet, called the Crifis, fhould be published at a proper time, in order to open the eyes of the nation. It was proposed to be printed by subscription, price a fhilling. This was a little out: of form; because subscriptions are ufually begged only for books of great price, and fuch as are not likely to have a general fale. Notice was likewife given of what this pamphlet fhould contain; only an extract from certain acts of parliament relating to the fucceffion, which at leaft muft fink nine-pence in the fhilling, and leave but three-pence for the author's political reflections; fo that nothing very wonderful or decifive could be reasonably expected from this performance. But, a work was to be done, a hearty writer to be encouraged, and accordingly many thousand copies were befpoke. Neither could this be fufficient; for when we expected to have our bundles delivered us, all was ftopt; the friends to the caufe fprang a new project; and it VOL. II.

B b

was

A paper written by the fame author, in favour of the preceding administration. Hawkef.

was advertised that the Crifis could not appear, till the ladies had fhewn their zeal against the Pretender, as well as the men; against the Pretender in the bloom of his youth, reported to be handsome, and endued with an understanding exactly of a fize to please the fex. I fhould be glad to have feen a printed lift of the fair fubfcribers prefixed to this pamphlet; by which the Chevalier might know, he was fo far from pretending to a monarchy here, that he could not fo much as pretend to a mistress.

At the destined period, the first news we hear, is of a huge train of dukes, earls, viscounts, barons, knights, efquires, gentlemen, and others, going to Sam. Buckley's, the publisher of the Crifis, to fetch home their cargoes, in order to tranfmit them by dozens, fcores, and hundreds, into the feveral counties, and thereby to prepare the wills and understandings of their friends a

gainst the approaching feffions. Afk any of them, whether they have read it? they will anfwer, No; but they have fent it every-where, and it will do a world of good. It is a pamphlet, and a pamphlet, they hear, against the miniftry; talks of flavery, France, and the Pretender: they defire no more: it will fettle the wavering, confirm the doubtful, inftruct the ignorant, inflame the clamorous, although it never be once looked into. I am told by those who are expert in the trade, that the author and bookfeller of this twelve-penny treatife will be greater gainers, than from one edition of any folio that hath

been

been published these twenty years. writer would not folicit to work

What needy

under fuch

masters, who will pay us before-hand, take off as much of our ware as we please at our own rates, and trouble not themselves to examine, either before or after they have bought it, whether it be staple or no?

But in order to illuftrate the implicit munificence of these noble patrons, I cannot take a more effectual method, than by examining the production itself; by which we shall easily find, that it was never intended, further than from the noife, the bulk, and the title of Crifis, to do any fervice to the factious caufe. The entire piece consists of a title page, a dedication to the clergy, a preface, an extract from certain acts of parliament, and about ten pages of dry reflections on the proceedings of the Queen and her fervants; which his coadjutors, the Earl of Nottingham, Mr. Dunton, and the Flying Poft, had long ago fet before us in a much clearer light.

In popish countries, when fome impoftor cries out, A miracle! a miracle! it is not done with a hope or intention of converting heretics, but confirming the deluded vulgar in their errors; and fo the cry goes round, without examining into the cheat. Thus, the whigs among us, give out the cry, A pamphlet ! a pamphlet ! The crifis! the crifis! not with a view of convincing their adverfaries, but to raise the spirits of their friends, recal their ftragglers, and unite their numbers by found and impudence; as bees afB. b 2 femble

femble and cling together by the noise of brass.

That no other effect could be imagined, or hoped for, by the publication of this timely treatife, will be manifeft from fome obvious reflections upon the feveral parts of it; wherein the follies, the falfhoods, or the absurdities, appear fo frequent, that they may boldly contend for number with the lines.

When the hawker holds this pamphlet towards you, the first words you perceive, are, The crisis ; or, A difcourfe, &c. The interpreter of Suidas gives four tranflations of the word crisis; any of which may be as properly applied to this author's letter to the bailiff of Stockbridge.

Next, what he calls a difcourfe, confifts only of two pages, prefixed to twenty-two more, which contain extracts from acts of parliament; for as to the twelve laft pages, they are provided for by themselves in the title, under the name of fome fefonable remarks on the danger of a popish fucceffor. Another circumftance, worthy of our information, in the title-page, is, that the crown hath been fettled by previous acts. I never heard of any act of parliament that was not previous to what it enacted, unless thofe two, by which the Earl of Strafford and Sir John Fenwick loft their heads, may pafs for exceptions. A difcourfe, reprefenting from the most authentic records, &c. He hath borrowed this expreffion from fome writer, who pro

bably

Steele addreffed a letter to the Bailiff of Stockbridge, who appears to have been returning officer for this borough, which Steele reprefented in parliament, Hawkes,

bably understood the words; but this gentleman hath altogether mifapplied them; and, under favour, he is wholly mistaken; for a heap of extracts from several acts of parliament cannot be called a difcourfe; neither do I believe he copied them from the most authentic records, which, as I take it, are lodged in the Tower, but out of fome common printed copy. I grant, there is nothing material in all this, further than to fhew the generofity of our adverfaries, in encouraging. a writer, who cannot furnish out fo much as a title page with propriety or common sense.

Next follows the dedication to the clergy of the church of England, wherein the modesty and the meaning of the first paragraphs are hardly to be matched. He tells them, he hath made a comment upon the acts of fettlement, which he lays before them, and conjures them to recommend in their writings and discourses to their fellow subjects: and. he doth all this, out of a juft deference to their great power and influence. This is the right whig fcheme, of directing the clergy what to preach. The Archbishop of Canterbury's jurifdiction extends no farther than over his own province; but the author of the Crifis conftitutes himself vicargeneral over the whole clergy of the church of England. The bishops, in their letters or fpeeches to their own clergy, proceed no further than to exhortation; but this writer conjures the whole clergy of the church, to recommend his comment upon the laws of the land, in their writings and difcourfes. I would fain know, who made him a

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »