State of this nation, (see p. 102.) to which the Craftsman could not agree, neither does Mr. Osbourne, but says, that the People of England are sober and honest, wise and brave, jealous of incroachments on their liberties, which they have warmly at heart, and will gloriously contend for whenever invaded; and that the constitution was never in a more vigorous state of health, nor the laws more inviolably or sacredly observ'd.
Daily Courant, March 11.
THE REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES which the Craftsman has lately vented among us, and the actions as well as speech's of some men which have the same tendency, make it highly necessary to remind unwary people of the dangerous consequences which have formerly attended the same doctrines and practices. In the reign of Charles the first, the spirit of opposition to the exercise of any power in the crown, which favour'd in the least of arbitrary, was carried to such a pitch, that even the shadow of authority was taken away from it. And what ensued? Why the people found themselves inslaved in a much more oppressive and intolerable manner, by the very men who had set up that opposition, and whom they all along took to be their own instruments and agents for procuring them liberty. This was then, and always must be, the case in England. A monarchy, a limited monarchy, is our natural constitution; and we ought to preserve it. The royal prerogative has been pretty well curtail'd, and needs no more amputation; to be eternally nibbling at the power of the crown, what is it but to set a Prince of spirit upon contriving means to overturn all our liberties, in order to preserve his own? but if a Prince's hands are quite bound down for fear of such an accident, then it must happen as before, that we become the slaves of those who will impudently call themselves our Preservers; and who, to secure their ill-gotten power, will certainly be too wise to use the same methods by which the other lost it.
As a confirmation of these arguments introduces a speech printed in 1648. which shews us that those men who grudg'd their Prince a few necessary soldiers to support his dignity, soon found themselves under the tyranny of a numerous army of their own raising; that those men who grudg'd a few taxes, necessary for the support of the government, were soon saddled with seven times as much, and possessed of as little liberty either in their civil or religious concerns.
The Grub-street Journal, March 18. No. 63.
1. ENtertains his readers with a 4th letter from a poem called HUDIBRAS; shewing from the variety and justness of its characters, that it has all the essentials of a poem of the epic kind.
2. Contains some arguments advanced for and against the CHARITABLE CORPORATION, whose case is now before the Parliament. The opposers of the Corporation assert, that a borrower of 150 l. loses near 40 l. in 3 months. On the other side 'tis affirm'd that the borrower for his 150 l. pledg'd saves near 40 l. besides preserving his credit, tho' he pays the Company ten per Ct. for what he borrows. So the Lender is sure to gain; and the Borrower's Profit is a disputed Point.
3. Among the Occurrences Mr. Quidnunc quotes one from the Daily Post, viz. "We hear that the Oratory subject for to morrow evening, will be Henley's Apology for Wit, and will be advertised particularly to morrow morning; and that Mr. Henley expects there one Dr. M———, who called him impudent in print, to a dispute on that problem." On which he remarks, I wonder Mr. Henley shouldmake
