of it to a man brought to him upon the same account, after this manner: "Come, sir, I conjure you, as I am one of his majesty's justices of the peace, to tell me your name." — "My name, an't please you, is Watson." — "O ho, sir! Watson! mighty well! Take away Sp from it, and it is Ill-man, and put K to it, and it is Kill-man: away with him, constable; his very name will hang him."
Let us now consider a new case; as for instance, "The Church of England as by Law established." Put a T before it, and it is Test-ablished; take away the Test, and put in o, and it is A-bolished.
How much was the late ingenious author of Parson Alberoni obliged to it, in that very natural story which he framed concerning the Preacher; where he tells you, one of the congregation called the Minister an Humbassandor for an Ambassador[1].
Give
- ↑ The story here alluded to is told in a pamphlet, entitled, "A modest Apology for Parson Alberoni, Governor to King Philip, a Minor, and universal Curate of the whole Spanish Monarchy, &c. By Thomas Gordon, Esq. 1719;" and is as follows: "There is, in a certain diocese in this nation, a living worth about six hundred pounds a year. This, and two or three more preferments, maintain the doctor in becoming ease and corpulency. He keeps a chariot in town, and a journeyman in the country; and his curate and his coach-horses are his equal drudges, saving that the four-legged cattle are better fed, and have sleeker cassocks, than his spiritual drayhorse. The doctor goes down once a year, to sheer his flock, and fill his pockets, or, in other words, to receive the wages of his embassy; and then, sometimes in an afternoon, if his belly do not happen to be too full, he vouchsafes to mount the pulpit, and to instruct his people in the greatness of his character and dullness. This composes the whole parish to rest; but the doctor one day denouncing himself
