[ ix ]
Can it remain a Queſtion, that the ſtrenuous Vindicator of the Honour of the Engliſh Crown, now worn by One of the illuſtrious Houſe of Hanover, is the Author of the Eſſay in Debate? or that you, Sir, would receive a Penſion from that Hand, which, according to the Eſſayiſt, muſt ſway the Sceptre of Uſurpation? The Degeneracy of the preſent Times, though the Dregs of Rome, will not allow of a Suſpicion that implies ſuch a Profligacy of Mind, Corruption of Manners, and Deſtitution of Principles.
The Arguments I further urged to diſprove the Aſſertion that you, Sir, was the Author of the following Eſſay, were, that from the direct Attack upon the Hanover Succeſſion, and Invectives againſt the illuſtrious Progenitors of our moſt gracious Sovereign, it is manifeſt, that the Eſſayiſt was a high-flown Jacobite, and really wrote upon Principle; which he ſeems openly to avow, by the Signature he aſſumes of PROBUS BRITANICUS. Now, ſaid I, can the very
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