The Project Gutenberg eBook ofReflections upon Two Pamphlets Lately PublishedThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Reflections upon Two Pamphlets Lately PublishedAuthor: AnonymousRelease date: June 18, 2010 [eBook #32879]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Louise Pryor, Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper andthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttp://www.pgdp.net*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REFLECTIONS UPON TWO PAMPHLETS LATELY PUBLISHED ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Reflections upon Two Pamphlets Lately PublishedAuthor: AnonymousRelease date: June 18, 2010 [eBook #32879]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Louise Pryor, Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper andthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttp://www.pgdp.net
Title: Reflections upon Two Pamphlets Lately Published
Author: Anonymous
Author: Anonymous
Release date: June 18, 2010 [eBook #32879]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Louise Pryor, Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper andthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttp://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REFLECTIONS UPON TWO PAMPHLETS LATELY PUBLISHED ***
Transcriber's noteThis etext containsReflections on a Letter from Monsieur de Cros, concerning the Memoirs of ChristendomReflections upon an Answer to the Letter from Monsieur De CrosThe spelling and hyphenation in the original are erratic. No corrections have been made other than thoselistedat the end of the etext.
This etext contains
The spelling and hyphenation in the original are erratic. No corrections have been made other than thoselistedat the end of the etext.
One called, ALetterfromMonsieurde Cros, concerning theMemoirsofChristendom.
And the Other,
AnAnswerto that Letter.
Pretended to have been written bythe Author of the saidMemoirs.
By a Lover of Truth.
IMPRIMATUR,April21st. 1693Edward Cooke.
LONDON.
Printed forRichard Baldwin, near theOxford-ArmsinWarwick-Lane. 1693.
I Was very glad when I heard that one Monsieurde Croshad published an Answer to a late Book, Entituled,Memoirs of what pass’d inChristendom, &c.And could not but expect some considerable Discoveries in those Affairs and Intriegues, from a person who thought himself a Match for SirW. T.Besides, I hoped it might have had this good Effect, to move that Author in his own defence to oblige us once more with his Pen. This was sufficient to make me buy this Pamphlet greedily, as I do most others; which tho very often they entertain one ill enough, yet serve in general for some amusement amidst the Noise and Hurry of a dirty Town.
But when I had read it over, I soon found my self deceived in the first; and have now lost all hopes of the other, since I have waited above two months in that Expectation, whereas two days were sufficient, had that Author thought fit to take any notice of such a Trifle, which makes me now despair of it; and as I perceiv’d the Town never looked for any such thing; so all I meet with, either in Coffee-houses, or Ordinary Conversation, have such despicable Thoughts of this Letter, that I now begin to find I never had any reason to expect it at all. For in truth,the whole Letter seems to me only design’d toBanterFools or Children, and to be written by a man who had lost all Respect to the Publick, whom he thinks fit to entertain with such wretched stuff, which certainly he could not pretend should either please or instruct any Reader, who had not as much malice, and as little Wit as himself. For besides Railing and Foul Language, his whole Letter from the beginning to the end is an errant Sham, and has nothing in it. I was therefore in vain to imagine SirW. T.would descend so much below himself, to take any notice of so fulsome a Libel; and I do not believe eitherde Cros, or the kind Writer of theAdvertisementafter the Letter, did ever expect it.
For first, If SirW. T.be such a Philosopher, as he seems to be by hisEssay upon the Gardens ofEpicurus, as well as several others; he must infinitely contradict the Ideas those Writings have given of him, if so sordid and insipid a Trifle as this Letter ofde Croscould have any power to provoke him, tho it were but to scorn it.
Besides, if he be so proud a Person, asDe Crosis pleased to call him; certainly, while he remembers his own Quality, and the great Employments he has passed through with so much Honour to himself, and such important Services for his Prince and Country, such thoughts will never allow him to enter the Lists with one, who to say no more, has owned himself in his Letter to beUn Moin Defroquè, which none who understand the least of theFrenchTongue, need be told, is the lowest and most profligate Character that can be given a Man. I suppose the reason of it is, because he who has once broke his Vow to God, there are People enough apt to believe he will never regard any he makes to them.
A third Reason is, Because his Letter is indeed unanswerable; and Prosecution would be as little necessary to him, as to one that pleads guilty at the Bar; for he owns over and over, every Line of the Chargethat he pretends is laid against him; says not one word, either to defend or extenuate it; does not contradict the least point in the Memoirs he pretends to Answer; nor lays one ill Action to SirW. T’s Honour. So that there remains but one way to Answer this Letter with any Rule or Justice, and that is, to gather all the cleanly Language one can pick up atBillingsgate, and bring it in its natural Reeking to the Press, and so make up a short, but sweet Pamphlet, set out with a Bead-roll of such Pearls, as are always to be found among the Oyster-women.
A fourth Reason is, Because that Book which goes by the Name of SirW. T’sMemoirs, as one sees by the Publishers Preface, has been printed wholly without his Knowledg or Consent: For in the very first lines he plainly intimates he had his Copy from no Man then alive: And a known Writer since, who pretends to have inquired into that matter, assures us, the Publisher had it lying by him several years before it was published; nor can I find by my own best Inquiries, that SirW. T.has ever own’d it. And tho I may believe, like others, that he must have writ them, by that excellent Stile, that strength and clearness of Expression, as well as by that Spirit and Genius which so brightly shines through the whole, and is peculiar to that Author above others of his Age; and besides, because I suppose no Man else was capable of knowing or discovering so much of these Transactions; yet since they have stollen into Publick against his will and his privity, it is not to be imagined he should defend a thing he does not reckon as his own; and therefore ifde Cros, or the honestTranslator, had found themselves injured, their resentments had been more justly levelled at the Publisher, than the supposed Author.
By all these Reasons, ’tis easy to believe, that a Person of SirW. T’s Character and Honour, and whose Reputation is so firmly established in the World, will[Pg 4]never fall so low to oppose himself against the Scurrilous Reproaches of so foul-mouth’d a Railer; ’twould be like a set Duel between a strong Man well-arm’d, and a poor wretched Cripple. The Quarrel therefore will be more properly turn’d over to the rest of Mankind; for tho the venom ofthisbe too weak to reach where it aim’d; yet all those who have any regard for Truth or Justice, for Learning or Virtue, or even for good Manners and common Civility, must think themselves concern’d in a Quarrel, where they find so notorious a breach of them all.
’Tis fit therefore so ignominious a Libeller should be exposed in his proper Colours, of an infamous, slandring, and unprovok’t Railer; which tho his own Letter has plentifully done, yet ’twill be very proper to point to several places in it, where it is most remarkable.
For my own part, I will confess, I have been a great Reader of all SirW. T’s Writings, and perhaps may have doated on some of them, especially,That Immortal Essay on Heroick Virtue, as one Writer since has deservedly called it; and that other uponPoetry, and even on this of theMemoirs. And finding Common Fame, wherever I had met it, agrees so well with the Picture these Pieces had given me of him, I will own to have had a very great Honour for the Author, as well as for his Books, and could not but esteem both a great deal the more for this Letter ofde Cros, when I found that the triple-corded Malice of theWriter, theTranslator, and theAdvertiser, had not given one lash either to the Honour of the Person, or the truth of his Books. And all this put together, has in very truth given me so much Spight and Indignation, that I could not refrain entring on thePamphletiersTrade, which I never did before, nor ever thought I should have done at all: And but for this Provocation, could have been very well satisfied to have lived on without the itch of seeing how I lookin Print; so that I may truly say for this, as the Poet does for his Verses,
——Facit Indignatio Versus.
——Facit Indignatio Versus.
Before I enter upon observing whatde Crossays concerning SirW. T.which takes up the greatest part of his Letter, and leaves him either no Room, or no Memory for theMemoirshe pretends to Answer; I shall first examine what he speaks of himself, and in his own defence, against what he takes himself to be charged with.
He begins, p. 10.There arrived(says he, quoting theMemoirs)at that time fromEngland, one whose Name wasde Cros. Upon this he falls immediately into a Scurrilous Chafe. Now, one would wonder what should make the Man so offended to be called by his own Name, or what would have become of SirW. T.if he had call’d him out of his Name, which is indeed commonly thought an injury, but not the other, as ever I heard of before; yet he reckons it a terrible one to himself and his Family, which he tells us isa good one; I know not whether he means thede Cros’s, or theMonks. The first I must confess, I never heard of inFrance, but the other is indeed a great one abroad, and a good one at home. But whatever he would have us think of the Goodness of his Family, I will never believe, by what little understanding I have of Heraldry, that anyGentlemanwould either write such a Letter, orTranslateit, tho it were only out of the common Respect that is due to the Memory of a Great King, whose Person SirW. T.has so often represented, and in so high a Character.
But to proceed;That he was formerly aFrenchMonk(as the Memoirs call him), he confesses, and owns besides (tho with a great deal of ill-will) thatHe changed his Frock for a Petticoat: For, tho he deniesit positively,p. 11.yet five Lines after, he has these words;There was too great advantage to throw off my Frock for the Petticoat I have taken, not to do it; it is a Petticoat of aScotchStuff, &c. I am glad it is of one so good as he mentions, and wish it were large enough to cover all his Shame: But whatever he says in the same Page, too malicious to be taken notice of here, ofPrincesses, who have quitted the Veil for the Breeches(tho, in that it self, I believe he is mistaken) yet all this will never serve to wipe off the Ignominy ofUn Moin Defroquè: Upon which I shall only add, That the Marriage of a Monk, when stripp’d of his Frock, is not thought likely to mend the matter: And I believe men of all Religions will agree in the Opinion, That if a Monk leaves his Frock, he ought to do it for aGown, rather than for aPetticoat; and if he leaves the Orders of one Church, should in decency continue in the Orders of that Church to which he professes himself converted.
As to his being aSwedish Agent, tho he is very angry theMemoirsshould call him so; one cannot well discover by his Letter, whether he has a mind to grant it or no; however, he confesses, p. 13, 14. Thatbeing Envoy from the Duke ofHolstein-Gottorp, the Interests of his Master being inseperable from those ofSueden,he found himself engaged to be very much concerned in the Interests of that Crown; and that MonsieurVan Benninguenbelieved, He was intrusted with some Affairs from thence. Which amounts to the very same with what theMemoirssay, p. 335. Thathe(de Cros)had a Commission from the Court ofSueden(or Credence at least) for a certain petty Agency inEngland. This he says,Is very Dirty. Alas for the cleanly Gentleman! one would think he was afraid of fouling his Fingers, but he had a great deal more need have taken care of his mouth. By the way, I cannot but admire at the insufferable Impudence of theEnglish Printeror Translator, who hath in the Title Pagenamed this man,An Ambassador at the Treaty ofNimeguen; since in the several Accounts I have seen printed of that Treaty, there is not the least mention of such a Name any other way than in thoseMemoirshe pretends to Answer. And ’tis doubtless very agreeable to think, that a man who gives himself sogooda Character in his own Letter, should make so great a one in so August an Assembly as that is recorded to have been: And he himself in his whole Letter, arrogates no other besides that of Envoy Extraordinary from the Duke ofHolstein-GottorpintoEngland, who was a Prince at that time wholly dispossess’d of His Dominions.
Another Passage in the Memoirs which he takes sadly to heart, is in the samePag. 335.as follows:AtLondonhe had devoted himself wholly to MonsieurBarillon, theFrenchAmbassador, though pretending to pursue the Interests ofSweden: Against which he thus defends himself. First, Letter,pag. 14. He absolutely denies it; and says in the next,He fell out with MonsieurBarillonfor three Months, because he diverted the King ofEnglandfrom taking into his consideration the Interests ofSweden. Andpag. 16. He says further;That MonsieurBarillonput all in practice to sift him to the bottom(concerning theSwedishAffairs)nevertheless all the Offers of this Ambassador proved ineffectual, and wrought nothing upon this man(meaning himself)who if man would give credit to SirW. T.was entirely devoted to MonsieurBarillon, and yet MonsieurBarillonfound him not to be corrupted or bribed. All this would be an Account good enough of his Innocence in that point, if it had not the misfortune to be so ill plac’d. ’Tis indeed a good way back to the fifth Page of his Letter: And therefore what he says there, one may by the help of a little Charity, impute to the shortness of his Memory. These are his Words:I have had the happiness during some years, to partake in the confidence of a Minister of State, &c. And a little after;SirW. T.may well imagine that I did not ill improve this able Minister’s Confidence, when he tells us, that I had wholly devoted my self to him. But then how comes it, that in the same15thpage, where he twice endeavours to defend himself against this Imputation, he should make such a Blunder as to say,But yet I must confess, that at such time as he (MonsieurBarillon) stickled for my Master’s Interest, and that ofSweden, I wasentirely devotedto him, &c.? After this; let the Reader judge, whetherde Crosdoes not confess at least as much, if not more in this Point, than the Memoirs charge him with: And it is to be observed from the same Book, that at the very timede Crosspeaks of,Francehad taken into its Protection the Interests ofSweden, which it seem’d for some Months before to have very little regarded.
But nothing touches him so nearly as the following Passage in the same335thpage of the Memoirs:This man brought me a Pacquet from Court, commanding me to go immediately away toNimeguen. Upon which, says he,Pag. 16.SirW. T.has a mind to make men believe that I was only sent intoHollandto carry him a Dispatch from the Court. This passage has so fiercely gall’d him, that he is set a railing for six pages together; and the affront is, that he should be taken for an ordinary Courier, or Messenger. Had a dozen Wasps setled on his Tongue, they could not have swell’d or infus’d more Poison in it; he frets and foams at the mouth, and spatters so much Dirt on all sides, that it is not safe following him. In short, he takes it so heinously to be reckoned a Common Courier, that one could not have netled him more, had one call’d him a Post, or a Post-horse. I cannot imagine why any such words in theMemoirs, should put a man into so much passion: And for my part, both in this and all the rest, I see but one reason why he is angry; and that is,Because he is angry. However, against this grievous Imputation,he defends himself by this strong Argument; Thathe was not sent over on purpose to deliver the Dispatch to SirW. T.but for something of greater importance, which he knows himself, and will not tell any body. Wherein I think he acts very discreetly; and I do not doubt, but the best way to give any Reputation to his mighty Secrets, is to hinder them from taking Air: Tho had he done us the favour to discover but one of all those he boasts so much of, it would perhaps have been the most effectual way to raise our expectation of the rest. He would indeed make us believe, that in five Hours time he stay’d at theHague, he had made some mighty Turn of State by his Negotiations there; which if there be any truth in it, we will grant him to have been not only anAgent, but aConjurer; and from the strange Effect of his Conduct in that strangeAdventure of five hours, we may hope one day to see aTragedy of that Name, as there has been aComedyalready. But till he thinks fit to make more important Discoveries, he will pardon our suspense in that modest Opinion he has of himself, That doubtless he should publish more just and solidMemoirsthan SirW. T.if he would set about it. But I observe he desiresMy Lord to take notice, that SirW. T.confesses it wasDe Crosprocured this Dispatch. I find when men are very angry, that Truth is the least thing they regard: For this is more than ever I could observe after reading thoseMemoirswith more care and application than I am sure his good humour would ever permit him; and inpag. 336.find these Words:How this Dispatch byDe Croswas gain’d, or by whom, I will not pretend to determine. WhichDe Croshas very politickly thus altered,Letter, pag. 18.I will not pretend to determine by what means, and howDe Crosobtained this Dispatch. Butpag. 19.he forgets himself again,and says.As for me, tho I had the dispatch given me, yet he (SirW. T.) does not accuse me openly inthis place of bearing any other part in this affair, than only as a Messenger intrusted with the Conveyance. But I suppose he never looked farther than his malice would give him leave, which is usually very short-sighted.
But, after all, ’tis not easily thought why he should lay it so much to heart to be called a Courier, when the whole account he gives of his great Negotiations (besides his being Envoy of theDukeofHolstein-Gottorp) is, that hewas sent byKing Charlesthe Second intoSwedenandDenmark, to hasten the Passports for the Congress atNimeguen: Which is all he tells us of his great Employments, and must be thought to have brought him into that intimacy and confidence he pretends with that great King, and for which he is pleased to make his Majesty such grateful Returns, and to form such a Character of him as he does in his Letter.
For in the first place he tells us,p. 5.ThatMons.Barillonwas thePrimum Mobileof that King’s conduct, which surprized all the World. Which is to affirm more of him than any of his discontented Subjects, the pretended Patriots of that Age. For it is to assert openly and positively what they only pretended to suspect.
Again, Soon after the King had made the Peace withHolland,De Crosbrings his Majesty in,p. 23.speaking to him in these Words:Tell the King my Brother(meaning theFrenchKing)that it is much against my mind, that I have made peace with theseCoquinstheHollanders. And then a little before the conclusion of the Peace atNimeguen, he delivers the King speaking thus to Mons.Shrenburnconcerning theHollanders;In a little time Monsieur, I will bring theseCoquinsto Reason. And in the same page he makes that Prince use the same Name to two great Ministers, Mons.Barillon, and Mons.De Avaux. The former whereof he pretends to have been the first Mover of all His Majesty’s Councils. All which, if they be not absolute Untruths, as from his plentiful Gift that way, I am very much inclinedto believe, yet are so far from shewing theprofound Respectthe Writer pretends to, for the Memory of that Prince, that being put together, they make up this malicious Character; That a King ofEnglandwas guided in his Conduct by aFrenchEmbassador; That he made and observed his Treaties with ill-meaning, or with ill-intentions; and that he treated his chiefest Confident (whom he makes to be Mons.Barillon) and another Embassador, with the greatest scorn and contempt.
Besides, he brings this noble Prince upon the Stage, acting a mean piece of Dissimulation to cover his Confidence with so worthy a Person as Mons.de Cros; ’tis concerning his Dispatch so often mentioned intoHolland; for being forc’t to confess, that the King was angry with him at his return from thence; He plaisters it up with saying, p. 25.If the late King ofEnglanddid not approve of my Conduct in the Affairs ofNimeguen, which in effect he declared in publick not to be pleased with, in which he plaid his part to admiration, &c.
But since we have seen the Character he gives of him as a King, let us observe how he Treats His Majesty as aMediator, and how he Represents him balancing the Affairs ofChristendomthen in his hands. First,de Crostells us, This Dispatch of hiswas concerted with MonsieurBarillon: For tho he says, That that Ambassadour had no hand in the beginning of it, yet he owns him in the same place tohave part of it when it was concluding; and thatMonsieurde Ruvignywas dispatcht by the King with an Account of it to theFrench Courtthe very same day thatde Croswas sent away forNimeguen. Andp. 25.He tells us further, ThatPrinceRupertaskt him upon his Return, with a stern Countenance, If the Peace was concluded? and he answering in the Affirmative, the Prince cried out, O Dissimulation!Andp. 28.he tells us, That thePrince ofOrange (the Kings Nephew)writ thundring Lettersagainst him; and all the Ministers of the Confederates called for Vengeance, &c. Yet after all these Marks of something so very injurious to theAllies, and confidence toFrance,The King(says he, in the page last mentioned)laughs in his Sleeve at the Surprize, at the Sorrow, and Complaints of the Confederates. Which is to give us just such a Character of aMediator, as he did before of aKing.
I leave it to all mens Judgment, whether more villanous Slanders could have been broached abroad by the worst of this Prince’s Enemies; and whether it be not a Scandal to our Country, that they should be translated and published inEnglish. But since Monsieurde Crosis so bold with the Sacred Memory of a Great King, for which he is yet so Impudent, as to professa most profound Respect; What can aSubjectexpect, for whom he owns such a virulent Malice, and to whom he threatens such open Revenge.
The same vein of truth and sincerity shines through the whole Letter, and the Author’s Ingenuity is at the old pitch in what he pretends to rake out of theMemoirsconcerning several Persons in great Employments; as the D. ofLauderdale, the present E. ofRochester, SirJoseph Williamson, SirLionel Jenkins, and Mons.Beverning. ThisConjurer, in all he says of them, seems resolved to raise up the Spirits of the Dead, to joyn with those of the Living in the Quarrel with theseMemoirs; and by such distorted Consequences, draws Characters of them, whereof there is no Apparition, but what he himself raises: So that the Characters he gives of these Persons by such false Deductions for SirW. T’s, may justly be said to be his own.
But from all I have observed in this Letter, I have wonder’d at nothing so much, as that impudent Vanity in the Writer, who endeavours to make himself and the World believe, that theseMemoirswere intended chiefly against him, whose very name is hardly twice mentioned after these two Pages in the wholeBook, which does not pretend to give Characters of Persons, but only to relate things that were done, or words that were said; And the way to have made an answer with any Justice, had been to have laid Exceptions either against the one, or the other, whereof there is not one word in all thisAnswer without any Answer. However, so ridiculous is this mans Insolence, that he begins his Letter thus,I have been informed of the Calumnies that SirW. T.hath caused to be printed against me. And p. 7.He set upon me first, he writes out of a Spirit of Revenge, &c. The sensless Arrogance of which I cannot think of; but it remembers me of the Fly on the Chariot-wheel. For he would fain make it to have been a piece of Revenge against him, for having brought that Dispatch to theHague; and yet he lays it much to heart, that in that Affair he should only take him for aMessenger. And this indeed is to make him a very reasonable person, and like a man, that when he receives a blow, grows angry with the Stone by which it is given. But by all I can observe in theseMemoirs, I do not find any thing which bears the least resemblance of Anger or Spleen, much less of Revenge against Mons.de Cros; but so far from it, that in the very Passage he lays most to heart, of the Kings calling himRogue, theMemoirsmention particularly, that His Majesty said itpleasantly, which he himself cannot forbear observing in his Letter.
Having thus long been considering how far he is provok’d, and how well he defends himself; ’tis time now to see how he attacks the Person whom he fancies his capital Enemy, and how the Play begins. ’Tis then in these words,p. 1.I know very well that SirW. T.is of great worth, and deserves well, and that he hath been a long time imployed, and that too upon important Occasions. This is a piece indeed very much of a piece with all the rest. Now, in the name of wonder, what can be the meaning! I wot well enough, what he would be at in all the rest of his Letter; but the Sense, the Wit,or the Design of these sweet Lines, is not easy to devise. I confess, I see a good many Plays, and I believe I have read more, but never met before, so fair a Prologue to so foul a Farce. I have read somewhere of a Monster among the Ancients, with a Virgins face, and all beside, a Serpent; which holds exact Resemblance here, unlessde Crosshould object against it, because Serpents have stings, and his Letter has none. However, if we will not grant him aConjurer, as he would fain be thought, yet we cannot in Conscience deny him to be aJugler, since the first thing he presents us with, is meerslight of hand; For he lays down a piece ofGoldupon the Table, and immediately,Presto, ’tis gone; and all we can see, is only half a dozen Pellets ofDirt. In short, I am not able to reach what he means by so whimsical a beginning, and of so different a piece from every word that follows; unless that being resolved to say nothing afterwards, which any body would believe, he thought fit to entertain us at first with three Lines he is sure no body doubts.
But, to be serious. If SirW. T.beof great worth, Ifde Croseither believes it himself, or would have any body else to do so, why is every word that follows, so contradictory to these? If hedeserves well, why is he used so very ill? Doesde Crosunderstand what a man ofgreat worthmeans? I doubt he does not, either by himself, or by such Company, as so much good Language in all the rest of his Letter, would make us believe he keeps. Can a man ofgreat worth, and thatdeserves well, beVain,Proud,Revengeful,Ungrateful to his Friend,False to his Master, and impertinentlyAmbitiousin his very Retreat from all Publick Affairs? This is indeed a very worthy, and a very lively Character of a Manof worth. But is not such stuff as this, just a sputtering out,Quicquid in Buccam venerit?Like hot Porridge, that burns his Tongue; tho ’tis pretty plain, that all his heat proceeds from the overflowing of his Gall within, and from nothing without. One would thinkhe has very well practised the old Rule ofCalumniare fortiter; yet he has lamentably fail’d of the consequence,Aliquid inherebit; for all the Dirt he endeavours to fling about, loves its own Element, and sticks close to his own Fingers. I never knew so unlucky a Gamester to throw so often, and to be always out! What, not one hit! I think the devil’s in the Dice; however, lets throw again, but first we’ll change Dice, and if the good Morals of this Man of great worth will not pass, let’s try our luck at his Naturals. SirW. T.(says my Gamester)has been often and long employ’d; but he himselfdid not know about what; ’twas too,upon very important occasions, but he didnot know why, unless, because, asde Crostells us,The King had an Aversion for him, and never trusted him, how often soever he imployed him. This great Ambassador, to say the truth, is a veryBubble, and has as little Wit in some parts of the Letter, as Honesty in the other. Good Lord, how this silly World is apt to be gull’d! What a Cheat, and what a Jilt this common Fame is! Who would have believed that the Author of theObservations on theNetherlands, and of the charmingMiscellanea, should be such a Cully, ifde Croshad not made the discovery? but sure he could never be Author of those Books; doubtless he either hired some body to write them for him, or else some honest Bookseller like his own, had got the Copies, and set SirW. T’s name to them.I would to God he had been so honest to set mine in the stead.But now we have heard the Charge, pray make room for the Evidence: SirW. T.is theproudest Manin the World; and what are the proofs, or the Instances? Why,de Crossays it, and that’s Demonstration. He is ungrateful to his Friend, and why? Becausede Crosknows it. He is false to his Master, and the Reason’s plain,de Crospretends to believe it. He isthe most revengeful of Men, for he callsde Crosby hisown Name. He is of all menthe most Ambitious, andnever did man desire more to have a hand in Affairs. This is beyond dispute, forde Crosknows his thoughts, and tells us not only what hesays of others, but what he thinks of himself, and with equal truth. This is theConjureragain, and with a witness he tells us further,p. 9.of menwhose ruin SirW. T.desires at the bottom of his heart; where it is not to be questioned, butde Croshas been; and to put it beyond all doubt that he was so, he says,p. 13.ThatSirW. T.came once to renderhima visit athisLodging, and thatMons.OlivencrantstheSwedishAmbassador, was then athisHouse, which gives me a scruple, that the visit might be meant tohim, rather than to Mons.de Cros. However this is all the instances I find of his Acquaintance with a Person whose heart he pretends to know so well, and with whom by all the rest of his Letter, I should be apt to judge he was the least acquainted with, of any man in the World. But to close all these Generals before we come to particulars; he tells us,p. 29.he knows something of SirW. T.upon the Subject of what passed between him and my LordArlington,that makes his hair stand on end. Alas, the poor Gentleman’s in an Agony! Bless us all from sprights! what a puny Conjurer is this! to raise a Spirit that scares no body else, and run into a hole for fear of it himself: He has formed so terrible an Image of SirW. T.in his own little working Noddle, that he knows not were he is, nor what he does, but is all in a maze. However, this I am certain, that no man alive who has read the rest ofde Cros’s Letter, but will allow him to be one, that if he knew any thing ill of SirW. T.would at least be sure not to tell it; we have his own word for it, p. 7.My design is not at all, my Lord, to write you a Letter full of Invectives against SirW. T.And in another place,That(says he)would not be like a Gentleman.
But yet to give him his due, and as he says, p. 7.To let everybody seehehas means inhishands to be revenged; there is one point, and that alone, where he brings his Proof, lays downs his Instance, and that out of theMemoirsthemselves; ’tis designed undeniably to convince the World of SirW. T’s Vanity, of which he could givemyLordmany instances, but at present contents himself with one, and ’tis a thumping one. ’Tis the following Period, which I shall quote out of theMemoirs, a little more faithfully than he does in his Letter, which I was so curious to observe, by thinking the word [Clutches] to be no part of SirW. T’s stile, and found he had taken a great deal of pains, to wrest it as much as he could to his turn. It runs thus,Mem.p. 30.This I suppose gave some occasion for my being again designed for this Ambassy, who was thought to have some credit withSpainas well asHolland, from the Negotiations I had formerly run through, at theHague,Brussels, andAix la Chapelle, by which the remaining part ofFlandershad been saved out of the hands ofFrancein the year 1668.Now for my own part, I must confess my self so giddy a Reader, and of so much inadvertency, that when I read that Passage, I took it for a singular piece of Modesty, since the Author gives for a Reason, why the King chose him for his second Ambassy inHolland, because he had been formerly employed in those Countries, and not for any Personal Merit in himself; butde Crosis so great a Stranger to Modesty, that we cannot blame him for not knowing it when he meets it; and since he has no other Accusations of this kind, I must profess, I can discover nothing of Vanity in the wholeSeriesof all those Relations, nor can reckon for such, the Author’s not avoiding to speak of himself any more than of other Persons (when it came in his way) who had so great and so continual a part in the whole Course of that Story. In his other Works this Author I am sure makes little mention enough of himself; and it were to be wisht that Persons so much employ’d in publick Business, would tell all their own Parts as well others Mens, and as nakedly as he seems to do in theseMemoirs.
But the reasonde Crosgives us, why he would have the World believe him in all he says against SirW. T.is, Because he is first attackt, and thereupon in great Passion and Rage, which will pass for an admirable Argument,that he designs to speak nothing but truth, and for a very cunning way of being believed; tho some men perhaps may think, that whatever is said in Passion, is but just so much ofnothing to the purpose, and that it commonly makes a man in what he says or does, not only as peevish as a Wasp, but as blind as a Beetle. But if he will believe right or wrong, why will not he believe in his turn? And why is not he contented toGiveas well as toTake? He will not allow that SirW. T.might several times have been Secretary of State, when Mr.Montague, and Mr.Sydney, who are named (inMemoirs p.) to have been set on him by the LordArlingtonat that time to persuade him to accept it, are still alive, as well as my Lord Treasurer, who is mentioned,Mem. p. 273.to have written to him by His Majesty’s Command to come over and enter on the Secretaries Office. Andp. 385.’tis further added, That SirW. T.received theKing’s own Orders to come immediately over, and enter upon that Office, and to acquaint the Prince and States with that Resolution; which must of course have come to him through my LordSunderland’s hand, whoMem. p. 387.is said to have been brought into SirJoseph Williamson’s place, and his Lordship being likewise still alive, can easily tell, whether this be true or no. Therefore, why does notde Croshimself, or some Friend for him (if he has any) enquire into the truth of these Passages which are told so positively, and wherein so many parties concern’d are still alive, tho most of them with other Titles. And indeed, tho it may be ill for SirW. T’s private Satisfaction, that theseMemoirswere printed against his Consent, and during his Life, which it appears was never intended; yet nothing could defend the Truth of them so much, as that so many Persons are yet alive, who had so great a part in all those Affairs there related, who are the best and most competent Judges of the Truth; and I never heard that any of them have yet contradicted the least part. But however, since theMonkhas got into theInfallibleChair, he must be believed, there is no help, and we must like theWelsh-man,Take her own word for it. And so let him go away with all those apposite and choice Epithets he has given of thismost worthyandwell-deservingperson, without where, or when, or why, or wherefore; For I am sure there is no way of replying to them; and he that would set about it, might as well resolve to write an Answer to a Leaf inTextor’s Epithets.
And thus I have with much ado rid my hands of a great part ofDe Cros’s Rubbish, as far as it endeavours to bespatter SirW. T.in his Morals and Intellectuals. It remains now I should observe a little what he says concerning his Fortunes, which seems to turn upon these two rusty Hinges, that make as ill a noise as all the rest; the obscurity from whence he was raised to all those great Employments, and his disgrace upon leaving them, whichDe Crossays was immediately after his Return fromNimeguen.
For my own part I must confess I am neither old enough, nor have had Conversation in Courts, and with Publick Affairs, to give an account how SirW. T.came into Business, or how he went out, any further than I could gather from Writings and Transactions which are publick and known to every body; or by particular enquiries from some Friends and Acquaintance of my own; and it has happened, that some of them have long known so much of that Family, as to assure me it is a very Ancient one: That SirW. T.was born of a very Honourable Father, who was for many years of the Privy Council inIrelandto KingCharlesthe First, and KingCharlesthe Second, and was long possessed of one of the best Offices in that Kingdom, both for Honour and Profit; as likewise in his time a Member of several Parliaments inEngland: That his two younger Brothers are known to have lived always with plentiful Fortunes, and in much esteem: So that this Gentleman alone seems to have been born under the unluckiest Planet in the world, tho Heir to his Father’s Fortune, and Successor to hisOffice, which was so considerable; yet he only of all his Family, wasin Obscurity, andlay in the Dust(for so theFrenchLetter has it) till my LordArlingtonraised him out of both; whose beams it seems were so refulgent, as to make him shine at that distance his Foreign Employments carried him to. My Friends have likewise assured me from their own remembrance and knowledge, that SirW. T.shined as much in a Parliament ofIrelandsoon after the King’s Restoration, asDe Crossays he shined long in his Employments abroad; and this was several years before he came into any Foreign Employments. They told me, likewise that he was very easy in his Fortune, not only by what he had from hisFather, but from hisLady, to whom God be thanked (and it is very happy for her Ladyship that)De Crossays, he has no Quarrel. By all which, and the many Employments he since passed through, and of which in one of his Essays he says, henever sought any; in my weak conception I should think he was a person, that by the Circumstances of his Humour and his Fortune, needed the Court less than the Court needed him.
As to his going out from Publick Employments, whichDe Crostells us was uponthe King’s being so ill satisfied with his Conduct and Management of Affairs abroad, particularly those atNimeguen; thathe slighted him upon his return from thence, and made very little use of him. I can give no other Account besides what I find of the Time and the manner in theEpistlebefore theMemoirs; only I find, by comparing the Date of his Return fromNimeguen, with that of KingCharles’s Declaration upon his dissolution of the old Council, and selecting a new one, that SirW. T.was a Member of that new and select Council; and it was the Common Town-talk at that time, that this Declaration was writ by him, and that he was in his Majesty’s Chief Confidence upon that surprising Resolution, which was received with such Applauses, Bonfires, and other expressions of Joy in the City. Besides all this, having had some acquaintance amongSpanishMerchants in Town, I came to know, that several of them about two years after, had recourse to SirW. T.upon his being then declared Ambassador Extraordinary to the Crown ofSpain, by the King at Council, whereof he himself was then a Member. All which laid together, does most abundantly verifie whatDe Crossays of his being disgraced upon his return fromNimeguen. But the best account of all these Passages we must expect whenever he will think fit to publish the first and third part of theMemoirs, which are mentioned at the beginning and end of those the world has seen already. In the mean time, what little has happened to fall in the way of my knowledge or enquiries, may be enough to discover the impudent Forgery of this false Coyner, who pretends to counterfeit all sorts of Metals, but is so wretched a bungler, and performs it so grosly, that not one of them will pass. ’Twas for this Reason, I suppose, that theFrenchEdition of his Letter pretends to have been printed atCologne, which I have long observed to be the Common Forge, or at least the Common Form of Paltry, Scurrilous Libels, printed in that Language; and which no Printer or Bookseller abroad dare set their Names to. This I cannot but mention for the Credit and Reputation of his honest Stationer at theMitre, who I believe is the only Stationer inEnglandwould have had the ingenuity to set theMitreon thisMonk’s Head.
The last precious piece of his Malice I shall take notice of, is, That he grudges SirW. T.even the Honour of his Retreat from Publick Affairs, by which perhaps he has been more distinguished, than by his greatest Employments: But thisDe Croscannot allow him: No, saye he,p. 8.It was not what he would make us believe; his love for his own ease, and his indispositions of body, that made him decline his Employments. Alas! what a sad Fate that man falls under, that dares incur the displeasure of Mons.De Cros? or who can tell what will become of him? He must neither live at Court, nor at his own House, in publickBusiness, nor out of it; In Town, nor in Country: where shall we find a place for him? I know none but the middle Region of the Air: But,It was not his love for his own Ease, &c.that made him decline his Employments. Why? whoever informed this Conjurer it was? I am sure theMemoirssay no such thing, but in the last Page gives us a quite different account; where, telling his Reasons why he excused himself, at his return fromNimeguen, from entring upon the Secretaries Office, are these Words:I that never had any thing so much at heart as the union of my Country, which I thought the only way to its greatness and felicity was very unwilling to have any part in the divisions of it. And towards the end:After almost two years unsuccessful endeavours at some Union, or at least some allay of the Heats and Distempers between the King and his Parliament, I took the Resolution of having no more to do with Affairs of State. Which Resolution it seems was taken about the beginning of the Year 1681. when he sent the King word hewould pass the remainder of his life like as good a private Subject as any he had, &c. as is to be seen in the Epistle. Yet for all this Mons.De Cros, who knows his thoughts better than himself, or than his Actions can inform us, says,Never did man desire more to have a hand in Affairs. Why here he shews us the sillyBubbleagain, and the wise way he takes to fulfil this impatient Desire; ’Tis by going to his House in the Country, where he stays five years, as he tells us in one of his Essays, without so much as ever seeing the Town: and since (as I am inform’d) to avoid so much Resort at that smaller distance from the City, he goes to another of his Houses of a much greater in the Country; which was an admirable wise Contrivance to satisfie his Longings to get again into Business: Truly I my self could have helpt him to a Better: For could he not like other men of such a craving Kidney, have still buzzed about the Court, knocked at every dore there, and when one was deaf and would not open, go to another; and at the worst have grown so troublesome, that some bodywould at last bring him into Employment, tho it were but to be rid of him? Or, if this Contrivance had failed, he might have herded among the Factious and Discontented about the Town; gone to the Coffee-houses, railed at the Ministers, and quarrelled with the Government, till they would be glad to have hired him at the expence of an Employment to hold his Tongue: And I am sure if he talks as well as he writes, he might very well have gone this way to work, and with as much likelihood to succeed asOthers have done, or pretend to do. Tho a Common Reader would be apt to think the Author of theseMemoirsmight have found some other ways, either of preserving himself in Business, or of getting in when he was out; at least in so easy a Court as that of KingCharlesthe Second’s is taken to have been. Or if these Endeavours had miscarried, he might yet have made some shift or other to have obtained his Desire upon such a Revolution as has since happened; and he is very much wronged by the common Voice of the Town, if he has not found it as hard to excuse himself from entring into Publick Employments in this Reign, as in that of the late KingCharles.
For my own part, I can profess with the greatest Truth in the world, That before this Libel ofDe Cros, I have never met with in all my Conversation and Reading, with the least Reproach from any man against SirW. T.except it be in one point; Of his having made too rashly, or kept too obstinately, his Resolution, Never to enter again intoPublickEmployments; especially since he lives in an Age where such persons as he appears to be by his Writings, might be of so uncommon use and Advantage to his Country: This I cannot but own, I have often heard said, and that somewhat warmly, to his charge, and must leave it to himself to clear it as he can. But however,De Crosit seems knows his thought best, and must be believed in all he says upon this Point, as well as the rest: And I only wish, since the Spark isso good at finding out what other men think, that he would take the pains to learn for his comfort what all men think of him: One thing I am sure is, that with all the Bloaches of his dirty Pencil, he has daub’d up a Picture of SirW. T.which has top-fil’d the measure of all Forgery;Sed Vetitum nihil est scheleri, and which is as true and like the Original, as a man would make of this Dauber, if he should say,De Croswere a very honest, worthy, well-natur’d, well-bred, fair-spoken, plain-dealing, ingenious Writer; of excellent Morals, wondrous Wit, and exact Truth.
And now I have done with him, I can hardly answer it to my self why I ever began, or why I went about to foul my fingers with such a Subject: I am sure nothing could have forced me but an irresistible Impulse, and some natural love I bear to Vertue, to Learning, and to Truth; of all which I find so great a share in this Honourable person’s Writings, which I have read so often, and with so much pleasure; and from which I cannot but confess to have learnt more than from all other Books I have read in my life; which I say after much greater and better Readers than my self, and yet I have been a great Porer too. All this would not suffer me to letDe Cros’s Libel pass without these Reflections; for as to any regular Reply, it could no more be made to this, than to a Paper that comes with a very fair Superscription, and subscribed by someWorshipful Name, but had nothing clear through, besides long unsightly Scrawls and foul Blots with a Pen; and so intended for some such flam as your Twelve-Penny Writers use to gull those idle people with, that buy up all Pamphlets they meet: And since I have confess’d my self such a Customer, ’tis but justice I should be laughed at in my turn.
After all I have writ upon this Subject, I cannot but think my Ink has been too white all this time; however, I have Gall enough about me to make it blacker at another,if ever the fit of Scribling should take me again; which may very well be, when I meet with another Author of so littleWit, so littleMemory, and so littleTruthasDe Cros.