The following is their answer to his Lordship, chiefly written by the Dean. LET not the whigs our tory club rebuke, In Seribler to have had a place; THE DEAN. A pox on all senders Who tell us these troublesome stories In their dull humdrum key, * Of Oxford.-B. + Of Marlborough.-B. The duchy of Hainault.-H. The arrival of the Duke of Marlborough was generally expected, and it was supposed that his influence would completely revive amidst the dissensions of the tory ministry. § Just at this time a celebrated debate took place in a committee of the whole house upon the danger of the Protestant succession in the line of Hanover. Sir Thomas Hanmer, the speaker, who had hitherto acted with Oxford's administration, made on this occasion a memorable speech, importing, That he was sorry to see that endeavours were used to wave that question and stop their mouths; but he was of opinion that this was the proper, and perhaps the only time for patriots to speak. That a great And all his old friends would rebuke In spite of the carle, Give us but our earl, The devil may take their duke. Lay down your white staff and grey habit: Should you live years forty more, Hæc olim meminisse juvabit. MORE LINES OF HUMOUR, BY THE LORD-TREASURER. April 14, 1717. I HONOUR the men, sir, Who are ready to answer, When I ask them to stand by the queen; In spite of orâtors, And blood-thirsty praters, Whose hatred I highly esteem. deal of pains were taken to screen some persons; and in order to make them overlook the dangers that threatened the queen, the nation, and the protestant succession. That, for his own part, he had all the honour and respect imaginable for her majesty's ministers; but that he owed still more to his country than to any minister. That in this debate so much had been said to prove the succession to be in danger, and so little to make out the contrary, that he could not but believe the first. He concluded with taking notice of Sir Patrick Lawless being suffered to come over, and admitted to an audience of her majesty. This speech had a great influence on the unbiassed and unprejudiced members.' Tindal's Continuation of Rapin, Lond. 1745, fol. IV. 354. Let our faith's defender Keep out every pretender, And long enjoy her own; May merrily live, Till faction is dead as a stone. FROM THE DUCHESS OF ORMOND. BROTHER, * April 24, 1714. I SHOULD SOONer have thanked you for your letter, but that I hoped to have seen you here by this time. You cannot imagine how much I am grieved, when I find some people I wish well to, run counter to their own interest, and give their enemies such advantages, by being so hard upon their friends as to conclude, if they are not without fault, they are not to be supported, or scarce conversed with. Fortune is a very pretty gentlewoman; but how soon she may be changed, nobody can tell. Fretting her, with the seeing all she does for people only makes them despise her, may make her so sick as to alter her complexion; but I hope our friends will find her constant, in spite of all they do to shock her; and remember the story of the arrows, † that * The Duke of Ormond was one of the sixteen brothers; the duchess, therefore, calls Swift brother in her lord's right. Lady Masham occasionally did the same. N. - + In this letter the duchess alludes to the division then subsist, ing among the ministers at court; and it is probable, that the hint about the story of the arrows produced the poem called were very easily broke singly; but when tied up close together, no strength of man could hurt them. But that you may never feel any ill consequences from whatever may happen, are the sincere wishes of, brother, Yours, with all sisterly affection. TO THE EARL OF PETERBOROW. MY LORD, London, May 18, 1714. I HAD done myself the honour of writing to your excellency, above a month before yours of March the 5th came to my hands. The Saturdays' dinners have not been resumed since the queen's return from Windsor; and I am not sorry, since it became so mingled an assembly, and of so little use either to business or conversation: so that I was content to read your queries to our two great friends. The treasurer stuck at them all; but the secretary acquitted himself of the first, by assuring me he had often written to your excellency. I was told, the other day, of an answer you made to somebody abroad, who inquired of you the state and dispositions of our court: "That you could not tell, for you had been out of England a fortnight." In your letter, you mention the world of the moon, and apply it to England; but the moon changes but It "The Faggot," which the Dean wrote about this time. is said, under the title, to have been written in the year 1713, when the queen's ministers were quarrelling among them. selves.-H. ence in four weeks. By both these instances, it appears you have a better opinion of our steadiness than we deserve; for I do not remember, since you left us, that we have continued above four days in the same view, or four minutes with any manner of concert. I assure you, my lord, for the concern I have for the common cause, with relation to affairs both at home and abroad, and from the personal love I bear to our friends in power, I never led a life so thoroughly uneasy as I do at present. Our situation is so bad, that our enemies could not, without abundance of invention and ability, have placed us so ill, if we had left it entirely to their management. For my own part, my head turns round; and after every conversation, I come away just one degree worse informed than I went. I am glad, for the honour of our nation, to find by your excellency's letter, that some other courts have a share of frenzy, though not equal, nor of the same nature with our's. The height of honest men's wishes at present is, to rub off this session; after which, nobody has the impudence to expect, that we shall not immediately fall to pieces: nor is any thing I write the least secret, even to a whig footman. The queen is pretty well at present; but the least disorder she has puts all in alarm; and when it is over we act as if she were immortal. Neither is it possible to persuade people to make any preparations against an evil day. There is a negotiation now in hand, which, I hope, will not be abortive : the States-General are willing to declare themselves fully satisfied with the peace and the queen's measures, &c. and that is too popular a matter to slight. It is impossible to tell you whether the Prince of Hanover intends to come over or not. I should think the latter, by the accounts I have seen; yet |
