Really this way of arguing is treating us like Children; and as for the Allies, God be their Support, and grant we may all cement again in the Day of Diftrefs. I think all the reft of the Book confifts only of Invectives upon poor Me, as guilty of Infolence, Falfhood, Sedition and Abfurdity; which is written well enough, and would be pretty Entertainment in an ill-natured Man; but i did not think it bore a.fecond reading.

I hope I have fully answered all Objections made by my Adverfaries against the English Tory's Letter to the Guardian: But now Mr. Bailiff, as there have been very unjust Reprefentations given of me, in your Town, as that a Man of fo fmall a Fortune as I am muft have fecret Views or Supports, which could move him to leave his Imployments, and lofe a Crowd of Well-wishers, to fubje&t himself, as he must know he has, not only to the Dif efteem, but also the Scorn and Haired of very many, who, before he intermeddled with the Publick, had a Partiality towards him: anfwer, that I indeed have particular Views, and tho' I may be ridiculous for faying it, I hope I am animated in my Conduct, by a Grace which is as little practifed as understood, and that is Charity. It is the Happiness and Comfort of all Men, who have a Regard to their FellowCreatures, and defire their Good-will upon a proper Foundation, that every thing which is truly laudable, is what every Man living may attain. The greatest Merit is in having focial Virtues, fuch as Juftice and Truth exalted with Benevolence to Mankind. Great Qualificati

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ons are not Praises to the Poffeffor, but from the Application of them; and all that is juftly commendable among Men, is to love and ferve them as much as it is in your Power, with a Contempt of all Advantages to your felf (above the Conveniencies of Life) but as they tend to the Service of the Publick. He who has warm'd his Heart with Impreffions of this kind, will find Glowings of Good-will, which will fupport him in the Service of his Country, against all the Calumny, Reproach and Invective that can be thrown upon him. He is but a poor Creature who cannot bear being odious in the Service of Virtue. Riches and Honours can administer to the Heart no Pleasure, like what an honeft Man feels when he is contending for the interefts of his Country, and the civil Rights of his Fellow Subjects, without which the Being of Man grows Brute, and he can never under it give to Heaven that Worship which is called a reafonable Sacrifice, nor fupport towards his Fellow Creatures that worthy Difpofition, which we call difinterefted Friendship. The highest Pleasure of the human Soul conffts in this Charity, and there is no way of making it fo dif fufive, as by contending for Liberty.

As to laying afide the common Views, by which the mistaken World are actuated, a Man of liberal Education can easily furmount those low Confiderations; and when he confiders himfelf, from the moment he was born into this World, an immortal, tho' a changeable Being, he will form his Interefts and Profpe&s accordingly, and not make Provision for Eternity with perishable things. When a Man has E deeply

deeply planted fuch a Sentiment as this for the Rule of his Conduct, the Purfuits of Avarice and Ambition will become as contemptible as the Sports of Children; and there can be no Honours, no Riches, no Pleasures laid in his way, which can poffibly come in Competition with the Satisfactions of an enlarged and publick Spirit.

From this moment therefore I fhall go on with as much Vigour and Chearfulness as I am able, to do all that is in my Power, without the leaft Partiality to Perfons or Parties, to remove the Prejudices which Englishman has against Englishman, and reconcile wounded Brethren, fo far as to behold each other's Actions, with an Inclination to approve them.

The Man who will reduce himself to this Temper, will easily perceive how far his Affetions have been wrought upon and abufed, from an Oppofition to particular Men, to facrifice the Interests of his Country it self.

The prostituted Pens which are employed in a quite contrary Service, will be very ready to entertain a Pretender to fuch Reformations, with a Recital of his own Faults and Infirmities; but I am very well prepared for fuch Ufage, and give up my felf to all nameless Authors, to be treated juft as their Mirth or their Malice directs them.

It is the Difgrace of Literature, that there are fuch Inftruments; and to good Government, that they are fuffer'd: but this Mischief is gone fo far in our Age, that the Pamphleteers do not only attack those whom they believe in general difaffected to their own Principles, but even fuch as they believe their Friends,

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provided they do not act with as fincere a Prejudice as themfelves. Upon the leaft Deviatino from an implicit Hatred to the oppofite Party, tho' in a Cafe which in the nearest Concern affects their Country, all their good Qualities are turn'd to Ridicule; and every thing which before was valued in them, is become contemptible. Thus in one of the Papers I fend you, a Gentleman, who has diftinguish'd himfelf by a becoming Veneration, in the House of Commons, for the Affembly, and has ever deliver'd himself with a Regard to his own Dignity, and that of the Place he was in; is reprefented frivolously as a Declaimer: and a Noble Lord, who is confpicuously adorn'd with the Knowledge of Letters, and is Eminent for a lively fprightly Eloquence, rectify'd by Learning; is declared a Companion fit only for Pert Novices and Sophifters. And what is ftill more Monftrous than all, a third Man of Quality, for the like Offence, is told in this nice Age of proportioning Rewards to Merit and Service, that he has as much as he deferves.

But it is to be hoped, English Men will at laft confider, and that the Ministry will fee Dunkirk effectually Demolished.

It is as frivolous as unjuft, to hope to ftop our Mouths, when we are concerned for fo great a Point as the Business of Dunkirk, by mention of the Prerogative, and urging our Safety in our Good and Gracious Queen.

By Her great Example, Religion, Piety, and all other Publick and Domeftick Virtues, are kept in Countenance in a very loofe and profligate Age; all the Hours of her precious Life, which God long preferve, are divided between E 2

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the Exercises of Devotion, and taking Minutes of the Sublime Affairs of Her Government.

Betides which, Her Majefty has manifested Her felf the most affectionate Wife, the most conftant Friend, the most tender Mother, and has filled every Duty with a Virtue as Superiour to the rest of the World, as is Her High Condition: But I fhall leave what I have to say on this Topick, to the Time when the Confequence of it will be Infignificant to me, but which I hope will do Her Honour, that is, Juftice, when I am no more, and the Remains of Her Sacred Perfon are as common Duft as mine.

But as this bright Example is in the Person of a Lady, it cannot be fuppofed that the general Senfe of a People, the Sub divifions of Affetion and Intereft among Great Men (to be learn'd only by Converfation with them, even in their unguarded Leifure) can appear to Her but from the Information of fuch as have the Happiness and Honour to lay them before Her. Her Majefty is therefore more particularly neceffitated to rely upon the Intelligence of Her Miniftry, and from that very Reafon their Fellow-Subjects may be the more Sollicitous for what paffes beyond the ordinary Rules of Government. Thus all which they offer for our Security and implicite Reliance upon what is tranfacted by the Court of England, to wit, Her Majefty's Care and Goodnefs, are Arguments for exerting both our Zeal and our Gratitude; that at any time Artful Men may not take Advantage of the Security we have in Her Virtue, to indulge too much the Power of any Foreign Prince whatsoever, especially that of the most Warlike Potentate in Europe.

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