about king William and his French dog-keeper, "who gave that prince a gun loaden only with "powder, and then pretended to wonder how his "majesty could miss his aim which was no argu"ment against the king's reputation for shooting very finely." This he would have you apply, by allowing her majesty to be a wise prince, but deceived by wicked counsellors, who are in the interest of France. Her majesty's aim was peace: which, I think, she has not missed; and God be thanked, she has got it, without any more expense, either of shot or powder. Her dogkeepers, for some years past, had directed her gun against her friends, and at last loaded it so deep, that it was in danger to burst in her hands. You may please to observe, that Mr. Steele calls this dogkeeper a minister; which, with humble submission, is a gross impropriety of speech. The word is derived from the Latin, where it properly signifies a servant; but in English is never made use of otherwise than to denominate those who are employed in the service of church or state: so that the appellation, as he directs it, is no less absurd, than it would be for you, Mr. Bailiff, to send your apprentice for a pot of ale, and give him the title of your envoy to call a petty constable a magistrate, or the common hangman a minister of justice. I confess, when I was choqued at this word in reading the paragraph, a gentleman offered his conjecture, that it might possibly be in * This expressive word, from the French choquer, has not yet found admission in the best of our English dictionaries: nor do any of Dr. Johnson's definitions of the common verb choke come up to the idea in which choqued is used above. tended tended for a reflection, or jest: but, if there be any thing farther in it than a want of understanding our language, I take it to be only a refinement upon the old levelling principle of the whigs. Thus, in their opinion, a dogkeeper is as much a minister as any secretary of state: and thus Mr. Steele and my lord, treasurer are both fellow subjects. I confess, I have known some ministers, whose birth, or qualities, or both, were such, that nothing but the capriciousness of fortune, and the iniquity of the times, could ever have raised them above the station of dogkeepers; and to whose administration I should be loth to entrust a dog I had any value for: because, by the rule of proportion, they who treated their prince like a slave, would have used their fellow subjects like dogs; and yet how they would treat a dog, I can find no similitude to express; yet, I well remember, they maintained a large number, whom they taught to fawn upon themselves, and bark at their mistress. However, while they were in service, I wish they had only kept her majesty's dogs, and not been trusted with her guns. And thus much by way of comment upon this worthy story of king William and his dogkeeper. I have now, Mr. Bailiff, explained to you all the difficult parts in Mr. Steele's letter. As for the importance of Dunkirk, and when it shall be demolished, or whether it shall be demolished or not; neither he, nor you, nor I, have any thing to do in the matter. Let us all say what we please, her majesty will think herself the best judge, and her ministers the best advisers: neither has Mr. Steele pretended to prove, that any law, ecclesiastical or civil, statute or common, is broken, by keeping Dun GG 2 kirk kirk undemolished, so long as the queen shall think it best for the service of herself and her kingdoms; and it is not altogether impossible, that there may be some few reasons of state, which have not been yet communicated to Mr. Steele. I am, with respect to the borough and yourself, SIR, Your most humble and most obedient servant, &c. THOUGHTS THOUGHTS VARIOUS ON SUBJECTS*. WE have just enough† religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. 心 Reflect on things past, as wars, negotiations, factions, &c. we enter so little into those interests, that we wonder how men could possibly be so busy and concerned, for things so transitory; look on the present times, we find the same humour, yet wonder not at all. A wise man endeavours, by considering all circumstances, to make conjectures, and form conclusions; *Mr. Pope and dean Swift, being in the country together, had occasion to observe, that if men of contemplative turns were to take notice of the thoughts which suddenly present themselves to their minds, as they were walking in the fields, &c. they might find many, perhaps, as well worth preserving, as some of their more deliberate reflections. They accordingly agreed to write down such involuntary thoughts as occurred, during their stay there; and these are such as belong to the dean. Mr. Pope's are in the seventeenth volume. + This use of the word, enough, as an adjective, preceding a substantive, is not allowed; it ought to be religion enough to make us hate,' &c. or' enough of religion,' &c. but the smallest accident intervening (and in the course of affairs it is impossible to foresee all) does often produce such turns and changes, that at last he is just as much in doubt of events, as the most ignorant and unexperienced person. Positiveness is a good quality for preachers and orators, because he that would obtrude his thoughts and reasons upon a multitude, will convince others the more, as he appears convinced himself. How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice, when they will not so much as take warning? I forget whether advice be among the lost things, which Ariosto says are to be found in the moon; that, and time, ought to have been there. No preacher is listened to but time, which gives us the same train and turn of thought, that elder people have tried in vain to put into our heads before. When we desire or solicit any thing, our minds run wholly on the good side or circumstances of it; when it is obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones. In a glasshouse the workmen often fling in a small quantity of fresh coals, which seems to disturb the fire, but very much enlivens it. This seems to allude to a gentle stirring of the passions, that the mind may not languish. Religion seems to have grown an infant with age, and requires miracles to nurse it, as it had in its infancy. All fits of pleasure are balanced by an equal degree of pain or languor; it is like spending this year, part of the next year's revenue. The |