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He copy'd you, was your Disciple;

Next Turn is your's, they'll burn the Bible.

The Poet's Partiality, in Favour of the Doctor, is as extravagant, as his Apprehenfion of the Danger of burning the Bible. I give you this only as a Specimen, or rather Symptom, of the Fever of the Town; for I affure you, the Zealous of my Acquaintance, who read thefe Lines, are as fond of them as he can be that made them; for my own part, I rather agree with Mr. Dryden, to count fuch Clergymen,

The Phaetons of Mankind, who fire that World, Which they were fent, by preaching, but to warm.

The Alteration of the many-headed Monster in Seventy, yea, in Thirty Years, is unaccountable. Pym and his Fellows were idolized by the Multitude of this very City, for the Reverse of this Doctrine, and fo were the feven Bishops: But now if any Man has a Doubt about it, let him not divulge that Doubt in the Streets of London: If the present Humour of the Town continues a little longer, I fhall be able to send you an whole Suit of Apparel, or Set of Houfhold Furniture, fanctified with the goodly Image of the Doctor.

LETTER XVIII.

Aug. 14, 1712.

IT is not doubted that this Treaty will end in Peace, in Spite of all Oppofers. It is pretty unhappy for us, that all the Nations engaged in

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War

War fhould not concur with us to wish heartily for the general Tranquillity of Europe. Nor will I anfwer for our own Soldiers of Fortune. The inferior Officers make a great Clamour against it in Coffee-Houfes and other Places of publick Refort; and, if you will take their Words, they fpeak the Sense of the Nation; but do not you be lieve a Word of that.

The Emperor perhaps fancies that it is the Bufinefs of Great-Britain to raise the Houfe of Auftria, on the Ruins of that of Bourbon and of Great-Britain together; the Dutch can never be tired of having the Subfiftence Money of our great Land-Army circulate in their Country; and the little Princes of Germany can afford to hire out Troops to us a good while longer, if we can find Cash to pay for them; this is a Trade among them.

Mancipiis locuples, eget æris Capadocum Rex.

But England feems, as well as France and Spain, to have Occafion for a Peace, and for fome of the fame Reasons. We have not been beaten often, it is true; we have gotten great Victories, yet ftill we are Sufferers, and must be so, as the Scene has been laid. What we conquer in Flanders is to be divided between the Dutch and the Emperor, and Spain is alfo to be conquered for the latter. As if the Houfe of Auftria might not lord it over Europe as feverely as that of Bourbon; as if it were neceffary to exhaust ourselves, to bring a Moiety of Europe under a fingle Perfon, left a Moiety of Europe fhould at fome Time or other hereafter (which poffibly may never happen) fall under the Dominion of a single Perfon. This is, ne mori

are

are mori, with a Witnefs. Nay it is worse, it is giving Boot, where the Exchange at even hand would be a bad Bargain; it is paying our Blood and Treasure to fet Charles on the Spanish Throne, when we can leave Philip there without farther Expence; and when, of the two, it is rather our Intereft that Philip should fill it; and the best of the Jeft is, that not one of them pretends to fhew how Great-Britain is to be reimburfed a fingle Stiver, whatever her Expence has been, or may be hereafter. This is a well chofen Game to play at, where we may lose and cannot win. We are told indeed, that by carrying on the War, we shall keep out the Pretender. I fancy, at this Time of Day, France will readily agree to make us more fecure against him by a Peace.

It is to be hoped that the Outcry in CoffeeHouses of Red-Coats, who have the Fear of Breaking before their Eyes, may be flighted; that those who have made a Trade of War, either Abroad or at Home, may have no Influence upon our Councils; that our Minifters will fit down to treat in Temper, and not in Spite; that they will rather imitate Martin's Behaviour in the Tale of a Tub, than his Brother Jack's. We must not pique ourselves on pulling down every thing which our domeftick Enemies have built.

I can only wish, that the Wings of France may be effectually clipped, even to the difmembring fome of its Provinces, if poffible, in Favour of Savoy, Lorrain, Bavaria, any body; and that if we are to have the leaft Retribution for all our Labours, Cofts and Loffes, it may be alloted to us in Islands above all Places; and above all Islands, in those of America, which produce Sugars and Cotton. A fmall Portion in thefe would answer

Our

our Purposes, better than twenty capital Fortreffes on the Continent of Europe. They would be a Mine, and not an Iffue of Treasure. As for any Fortrefs, as Dunkirk, Gibraltar, or any other that may annoy our Traffick, it would be convenient to reduce them to the Condition of Tangiers, but not to think of holding them.

I am ftrangely fond of those American Islands, and think I can juftify my Notion by a short Obfervation upon a well known Piece of History. I frequently recollect, that Jamaica was taken by mere Accident: Oliver had formed a much greater Design, which mifcarried; and when only Jamaica was the Prize, his Commanders were called to a fevere Account. He was alfo Mafter of Dunkirk, and King Charles II. of Tangier, in Dowry with his Queen. These were monftrously expenfive, fo as not to be tenable. The People grumbled that the Crown did not keep them; but as long as they were kept, they grumbled also at the great Expence of maintaining them. These are gone for ever from England, while the poor defpicable Island of Jamaica has grown a flourishing Colony, is become an inexhauftible Fund of Wealth to us, and occafions the conftant Employment of a confiderable Fleet of British Merchants.

The Dominion of the Seas is what we are able to maintain, it maintains itself: The more we have of it, the lefs Danger we are in of being invaded in it by the envying World confederated against us. It is one of the cleareft Demonftrations, it is vulgar Arithmetick; that if we carry a Million of Tuns of Goods each Year a Thousand Leagues, and our Neighbour carries but the tenth Part of that Quantity the like Voyage, we fhall maintain

maintain ten-fold his Shipping, ten-fold his Seamen, and in Confequence be able to meet ten fuch Neighbours as Enemies, at once, upon the Watry Plain.

If our Inland-Colonies were very confiderable in Number and Value, we should find this great Convenience, that they will require no Garifons, because no Armament could appear upon the Seas, fufficient to difturb them: Nor ought we to opprefs them, nor fuffer them to be oppreffed by rapicious Governors. But while our Neighbours are ftronger in those Parts than we are, both We are, and the Colonies must be burthened with the Expence of an armed Force both by Sea and Land for their Security. Were they ever fo populous, had they as many People among them as their Mother Country contains; there would be no Danger of their Defection, while we gave them no Cause to mourn the Want of Liberty. Their Trade would all pass thro' our Hands, protected by our Fleets, while they lived at Eafe, and in as perfect Obedience as the feveral Parifhes of Middlefex.

LETTER XIX. ་

May 6, 1723.

WE E are under terrible Apprehenfions here,

about no less than Church and State. This has been the Devil of a Plot, and it is proved by Means that must not be difcovered; for if a Plotter knows how a Decypherer found him out, it feems he may grow fo cunning in perplexing his Cypher, that the Artift will not be able to fol

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low

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