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and was drest like a Jesuit, with one of its hands upon a book, and the other grasping a dagger. Upon entering into the court, he took a particular survey of several of the figures. There was Sedition with a trumpet in her hand, and Rapine in the garb of a Highlander: Ambition, Envy, Disgrace, Poverty, and Disappointment, were all of them represented under their proper emblems. Among other statues, he observed that of Rumour whispering an idiot in the ear, who was the representative of Credulity; and Faction embracing with her hundred arms an old-fashioned figure in a steeple-crowned hat, that was designed to express a cunning old gipsy, called Passive-obedience. Zeal too had a place among the rest, with a bandage over her eyes, though one would not have expected to have seen her represented in snow. But the most remarkable object in this court-yard, was a huge tree that grew up before the porch of the temple, and was of the same kind with that, which Virgil tells us flourished at the entrance of the infernal regions. For it bore nothing but dreams, which hung in clusters under every leaf of it. The travellers refreshed themselves in the shade of this tree before they entered the Temple of Rebellion, and after their frights and fatigues, received great comfort in the fruit which fell from it. At length the gates of the temple flew open, and the crowd rushed into it. In the centre of it was a grim idol, with a sword in the right hand, and a firebrand in the left. The fore-part of the pedestal was curiously embossed with a triumph, while the back-part, that lay more out of sight, was filled with gibbets and axes. This dreadful idol is worshipped, like several of old, with human sacrifices, and his votaries were consulting among themselves, how to gratify him with hecatombs; when, on a sudden, they were surprised with the alarm of a great light which appeared in the southern part of the heavens, and made its progress directly towards them. This light appeared as a great mass of flame, or rather glory, like that of the sun in its strength. There were three figures in the midst of it, who were known by their several hieroglyphics, to be Religion, Loyalty, and Valour. The last had a graceful air, a blooming countenance, and a star upon its breast, which shot forth several pointed beams of a peculiar lustre. The glory which encompassed them, covered the place, and darted its rays with so much strength, that

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the whole fabric and all its ornaments began to melt. The several emblems of honour, which were wrought on the front in the brittle materials above-mentioned, trickled away under the first impressions of the heat. In short, the thaw was so violent, that the temple and statues ran off in a sudden torrent, and the whole winter-piece was dissolved. The covered walks were laid open by the light which shone through every part of them, and the dream-tree withered like the famous gourd that was smitten by the noon-day sun. As for the votaries, they left the place with the greatest precipitation, and dispersed themselves by flight into a thousand different paths among the mountains.'

No. 28. MONDAY, MARCH 26.

-Incendia lumen

Præbebant, aliquisque malo fuit usus in illo. OVID Met. SIR Francis Bacon, in the dedication before his History of Henry the Seventh, observes, that peaceable times are the best to live in, though not so proper to furnish materials for a writer: as hilly countries afford the most entertaining prospects, though a man would choose to travel through a plain one. To this we may add, that the times which are full of disorders and tumults, are likewise the fullest of instruction. History, indeed, furnishes us with very distinct accounts of factions, conspiracies, civil wars, and rebellions, with the fatal consequences that attend them; but they do not make such deep and lasting impressions on our minds as events of the same nature, to which we have ourselves been witnesses, and in which we, or our friends and acquaintance, have been sufferers. As adversity makes a man wise in his private affairs, civil calamities give him prudence and circumspection in his public conduct.

The miseries of the civil war, under the reign of King Charles the First, did, for many years, deter the inhabitants of our island from the thoughts of engaging anew in such desperate undertakings; and convinced them, by fatal experience, that nothing could be so pernicious to the English, and so opposite to the genius of the people, as the subversion of monarchy. In the like manner we may hope that the great expenses brought upon the nation by the present rebellion; the sufferings of innocent people, who have lived in that place which was the scene of it; with that dreadful

prospect of ruin and confusion which must have followed its success; will secure us from the like attempts for the future, and fix his Majesty upon the throne of Great Britain; especially when those who are prompted to such wicked practices reflect upon the punishments to which the criminals have exposed themselves, and the miseries in which they have involved their relations, friends, and families.

It will be likewise worth their while to consider, how such tumults and riots, as have been encouraged by many, who we may hope did not propose to themselves such fatal consequences, lead to a civil war; and how naturally that sedi tious kind of conversation, which many seem to think consistent with their religion and morality, ends in an oper rebellion. I question not but the more virtuous and considerate part of our malecontents, are now stung with a very just remorse for this their manner of proceeding, which has so visibly tended to the destruction of their friends, and the sufferings of their country. This may, at the same time, prove an instructive lesson to the boldest and bravest among the disaffected, not to build any hopes upon the talkative zealots of their party; who have shown by their whole behaviour, that their hearts are equally filled with treason and cowardice. An army of trumpeters would give as great a strength to a cause, as this confederacy of tongue-warriors; - who, like those military musicians, content themselves with animating their friends to battle, and run out of the engagement upon the first onset.

But one of the most useful maxims we can learn from the present rebellion, is, that nothing can be more contemptible and insignificant than the scum of a people, when they are instigated against a king, who is supported by the two branches of the legislature. A mob may pull down a meeting-house, but will never be able to overturn a government, which has a courageous and wise prince at the head of it, and one who is zealously assisted by the great council of the nation, that best know the value of him. The authority of the Lords and Commons of Great Britain, in conjunction with that of our sovereign, is not to be controlled by a tumultuary rabble. It is big with fleets and armies, can fortify itself with what laws it shall judge proper for its own defence, can command the wealth of the kingdom for the security of the people, and engage the whole Protestant interest

of Europe in so good and just a cause. A disorderly multitude contending with the body of the legislature, is like a man in a fit under the conduct of one in the fulness of his health and strength. Such a one is sure to be overruled in a little time, though he deals about his blows, and exerts himself in the most furious convulsions while the distemper is upon him.

We may further learn from the course of the present rebellion, who, among the foreign states in our neighbourhood, are the true and natural friends of Great Britain, if we observe which of them gave us their assistance in reducing our country to a state of peace and tranquillity; and which of them used their endeavours to heighten our confusions, and plunge us into all the evils of a civil war. I shall only take notice under this head, that in former ages it was the constant policy of France to raise and cherish intestine feuds and discords in the isle of Great Britain, that we might either fall a prey into their hands, or that they might prosecute their designs upon the continent with less interruption. Innumerable instances of this nature occur in history. The most remarkable one was that in the reign of King Charles the First. Though that prince was married to a daughter of France, and was personally beloved and esteemed in the French court, it is well known that they abetted both parties in the civil war, and always furnished supplies to the weaker side, lest there should be an end put to those fatal divisions.

We might also observe, that this rebellion has been a means of discovering to his Majesty,1 how much he may depend upon the professions and principles of the several parties among his own subjects; who are those persons that have espoused his interests with zeal or indifference; and who among them are influenced to their allegiance by places, duty, or affection. But as these, and several other considerations, are obvious to the thoughts of every reader, I shall conclude, with observing how naturally many of those, who distinguish themselves by the name of the High Church, unite themselves in the cause of Popery; since it is manifest that all the Protestants concerned in the rebellion, were such as gloried in this distinction.

It would be very unjust to charge all who have ranged

1 A means of discovering to his Majesty.] The verb, discover, implies the exertion of personal faculties, and therefore cannot be used thus absolutely; I mean, without a reference to some agent. He might have said, that by means of this rebellion, his Majesty has discovered how much, &c.

themselves under this new denomination, as if they had done it with a design to favour the interests of Popery. But it is certain that many of them, who at their first setting out were most averse to the doctrines of the church of Rome, have, by the cunning of our adversaries, been inspired with such an unreasonable aversion to their Protestant brethren, and taught to think so favourably of the Roman Catholic principles, (not to mention the endeavours that have been used to reconcile the doctrines of the two churches, which are in themselves as opposite as light and darkness,) that they have been drawn over insensibly into its interests. It is no wonder, therefore, that so many of these deluded zealots have been engaged in a cause which they at first abhorred, and have wished or acted for the success of an enterprise, that might have ended in the extirpation of the Protestant religion in this kingdom, and in all Europe. In short, they are like the Syrians, who were first smitten with blindness, and unknowingly led out of their way into the capital of their enemy's country; insomuch that the text tells us, "When they opened their eyes they found themselves in the midst of Samaria."

No. 29. FRIDAY, MARCH 30.

Dîs te minorem quod geris, imperas.
Hinc omne principium, huc refer exitum.
Dii multa neglecti dederunt

Hesperia mala luctuosæ. HOR.

THIS being a day in which the thoughts of our countrymen are, or ought to be, employed on serious subjects, I shall take the opportunity of that disposition of mind in my readers, to recommend to them the practice of those religious and moral virtues, without which all policy is vain, and the best cause deprived of its greatest ornament and support.

Common sense, as well as the experience of all ages, teaches us, that no government can flourish which doth not encourage and propagate religion and morality among all its particular members. It was an observation of the ancient

1 Averse to-aversion to.] Many would now say, averse from; some, perhaps, aversion from. The case seems clearer in the use of the adjective, than the substantive. Yet the Latins have, averso IN me animoaversus lucro-aversus defensioni, &c. But see the note on dissent with, in Whig-Examiner, No. 1, 446.

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