Reflections upon two pamphlets lately published one called, A letter from Monsieur de Cros, concerning the memoirs of Christendom. And the other, An answer to that letter. Pretended to have been written by the author of the said memoirs. By a Lover of truth. Imprimatur, Edward Cooke. April 21st. 1693.

REFLECTIONS ON A LETTER From Monſieur de Cros, &c.

I Was very glad when I heard that one Monſieur de Cros had publiſhed an Anſwer to a late Book, Entituled, Memoirs of what paſs'd in Chriſtendom, &c. And could not but expect ſome conſiderable Diſcoveries in thoſe Affairs and Intriegues, from a perſon who thought himſelf a Match for Sir W. 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 to Banter Fools 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. 'Twas therefore in vain to imagine Sir W. T. would deſcend ſo much below himſelf, to take any notice of ſo fulſome a Libel; and I do not believe either de Cros, or the kind Writer of the Advertiſement after the Letter, did ever expect it.

For firſt, If Sir W. T. be ſuch a Philoſopher, as he ſeems to be by his Eſſay upon the Gardens of Epicurus, 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 of de Cros could have any power to provoke him, tho it were but to ſcorn it.

Beſides, if he be ſo proud a Perſon, as De Cros is 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 be Un Moin Defroquè, which none who underſtand the leaſt of the French Tongue, 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 Charge that 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 Sir W. 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 at Billingſgate, 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 Sir W. T's Memoirs, as one ſees by the Publiſher's 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 Sir W. 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 if de Cros, or the honeſt Tranſlator, 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 Sir W. T.'s Character and Honour, and whoſe Reputation is ſo firmly eſtabliſhed in the World, will 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 of this be 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 Sir W. 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 upon Poetry, and even on this of the Memoirs. 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 of de Cros, when I found that the triple-corded Malice of the Writer, the Tranſlator, and the Advertiſer, 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 the Pamphletiers Trade, 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 look in Print; ſo that I may truly ſay for this, as the Poet does for his Verſes, — Facit Indignatio Verſus.

Before I enter upon obſerving what de Cros ſays concerning Sir W. T. which takes up the greateſt part of his Letter, and leaves him either no Room, or no Memory for the Memoirs he 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 the Memoirs) at that time from England, one whoſe Name was de 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 Sir W. 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 is a good one; I know not whether he means the de Cros's, or the Monks. The firſt I muſt confeſs, I never heard of in France, 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 any Gentleman would either write ſuch a Letter, or Tranſlate it, tho it were only out of the common Reſpect that is due to the Memory of a Great King, whoſe Perſon Sir W. T. has ſo often repreſented, and in ſo high a Character.

But to proceed; That he was formerly a French Monk (as the Memoirs call him), he confeſſes, and owns beſides (tho with a great deal of ill-will) that He changed his Frock for a Petticoat: For, tho he denies it 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 a Scotch Stuff, &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, of Princeſſes, 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 of Un 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 a Gown, rather than for a Petticoat; 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 a Swediſh Agent, tho he is very angry the Memoirs ſhould call him ſo; one cannot well diſcover by his Letter, whether he has a mind to grant it of no; however, he confeſſes, p. 13, 14. That being Envoy from the Duke of Holſtein-Gottorp, the Intereſts of his Maſter being inſeperable from thoſe of Sueden, he found himſelf engaged to be very much concerned in the Intereſts of that Crown; and that Monſieur Van Beuninguen believed, He was intruſted with ſome Affairs from thence. Which amounts to the very ſame with what the Memoirs ſay, p. 335. That he (de Cros) had a Commiſſion from the Court of Sueden (or Credence at leaſt) for a certain petty Agency in England. 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 the Engliſh Printer or Tranſlator, who hath in the Title Page named this man, An Ambaſſador at the Treaty of Nimeguen; 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 thoſe Memoirs he pretends to Anſwer. And 'tis doubt leſs very agreeable to think, that a man who gives himſelf ſo good a 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 of Holſtein-Gottorp into England, 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 ſame Pag. 335. as follows: At London he had devoted himſelf wholly to Monſieur Barillon, the French Ambaſſador, though pretending to purſue the Intereſts of Sweden: Againſt which he thus defends himſelf. Firſt, Letter, pag. 14. He abſolutely denies it; and ſays in the next, He fell out with Monſieur Barillon for three Months, becauſe he diverted the King of England from taking into his conſideration the Intereſts of Sweden. And pag. 16. He ſays further; That Monſieur Barillon put all in practice to ſift him to the bottom (concerning the Swediſh Affairs) nevertheleſs all the Offers of this Ambaſſador proved ineffectual, and wrought nothing upon this man (meaning himſelf) who if a man would give credit to Sir W. T. was entirely devoted to Monſieur Barillon, and yet Monſieur Barillon found 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; Sir W. 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 ſame 15th page, 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 (Monſieur Barillon) ſtickled for my Maſter's Intereſt, and that of Sweden, I was entirely devoted to him, &c.? After this, let the Reader judge, whether de Cros does 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 time de Cros ſpeaks of, France had taken into its Protection the Intereſts of Sweden, 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 ſame 335th page of the Memoirs: This man brought me a Pacquet from Court, commanding me to go immediately away to Nimeguen. Upon which, ſays he, Pag. 16. Sir W. T. has a mind to make men believe that I was only ſent into Holland to 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 the Memoirs, 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; That he was not ſent over on purpoſe to deliver the Diſpatch to Sir W. 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 the Hague, 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 an Agent, but a Conjurer; and from the ſtrange Effect of his Conduct in that ſtrange Adventure of five hours, we may hope one day to ſee a Tragedy of that Name, as there has been a Comedy already. But till he thinks fit to make more important Diſcoveries, he will pardon our ſuſpenſe in that modeſt Opinion he had of himſelf, That doubtleſs he ſhould publiſh more juſt and ſolid Memoirs than Sir W. T. if he would ſet about it. But I obſerve he deſires My Lord to take notice, that Sir W. T. confeſſes it was De Cros procured 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 thoſe Memoirs with more care and application than I am ſure his good humour would ever permit him; and in pag. 336. find theſe Words: How this Diſpatch by De Cros was gain'd, or by whom, I will not pretend to determine. Which De Cros has very politickly thus altered, Letter, pag. 18. I will not pretend to determine by what means, and how De Cros obtained this Diſpatch. But pag. 19. he forgets himſelf again, and ſays. As for me, tho I had the diſpatch given me, yet he (Sir W. T.) does not accuſe me openly in this place of bearing any other part in this affair, that 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 the Duke of Holſtein-Gottorp) is, that he was ſent by King Charles the Second into Sweden and Denmark, to haſten the Paſſports for the Congreſs at Nimeguen: 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. That Monſ. Barillon was the Primum Mobile of 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 with Holland, De Cros brings his Majeſty in, p. 23. ſpeaking to him in theſe Words: Tell the King my Brother (meaning the French King) that it is much againſt my mind, that I have made peace with theſe Coquins the Hollanders. And then a little before the concluſion of the Peace at Nimeguen, he delivers the King ſpeaking thus to Monſ. Shrenburn concerning the Hollanders; In a little time Monſieur, I will bring theſe Coquins to 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 inclined to believe, yet are ſo far from ſhewing the profound Reſpect the Writer pretends to, for the Memory of that Prince, that being put together, they make up this malicious Character; That a King of England was guided in his Conduct by a French Embaſſador; 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 into Holland; 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 of England did not approve of my Conduct in the Affairs of Nimeguen, 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 a Mediator, and how he Repreſents him ballancing the Affairs of Chriſtendom then in his hands. Firſt, de Cros tells us, This Diſpatch of his was concerted with Monſieur Barillon: For tho he ſays, That that Ambaſſadour had no had in the beginning of it, yet he owns him in the ſame place to have part of it when it was concluding; and that Monſieur de Ruvigny was diſpatcht by the King with an Account of it to the French Court the very ſame day that de Cros was ſent away for Nimeguen. And p. 25. He tells us further, That Prince Rupert askt 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! And p. 28. he tells us, That the Prince of Orange (the Kings Nephew) writ thundring Letters againſt him; and all the Miniſters of the Confederates called for Vengeance, &c. Yet after all theſe Marks of ſomething ſo very injurious to the Allies, and confidence to France, 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 a Mediator, as he did before of a King.

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 in Engliſh. But ſince Monſieur de Cros is ſo bold with the Sacred Memory of a Great King, for which he is yet ſo Impudent, as to profeſs a moſt profound Reſpect; What can a Subject expect, 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 the Memoirs concerning ſeveral Perſons in great Employments; as the D. of Lauder dale, the preſent E. of Rocheſter, Sir Joſeph Williamſon, Sir Lionel Jenkins, and Monſ. Beverning. This Conjurer, 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 theſe Memoirs; 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 Sir W. 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 theſe Memoirs were intended chiefly againſt him, whoſe very name is hardly twice mentioned after theſe two Pages in the whole Book, 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 this Anſwer without any Anſwer. However, ſo ridiculous is this mans Inſolence, that he begins his Letter thus, I have been informed of the Calumnies that Sir W. 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 the Hague; and yet he lays it much to heart, that in that Affair he ſhould only take him for a Meſſenger. 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 theſe Memoirs, 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 him Rogue, the Memoirs mention particularly, that His Majeſty ſaid it pleaſantly, 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 Sir W. 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, unleſs de Cros ſhould object againſt it, becauſe Serpents have ſtings, and his Letter has none. However, if we will not grant him a Conjurer, as he would fain be thought, yet we cannot in Conſcience deny him to be a Jugler, ſince the firſt thing he preſents us with, is meer ſlight of hand; For he lays down a piece of Gold upon the Table, and immediately, Preſto, 'tis gone; and all we can ſee, is only half a dozen Pellets of Dirt. 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 Sir W. T. be of great worth, If de Cros either believes it himſelf, or would have any body elſe to do ſo, why is every word that follows, ſo contradictory to theſe? If he deſerves well, why is he uſed ſo very ill? Does de Cros underſtand what a man of great worth means? 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 of great worth, and that deſerves well, be Vain, Proud, Revengeful, Ungrateful to his Friend, Falſe to his Maſter, and impertinently Ambitious in his very Retreat from all Publick Affairs? This is indeed a very worthy, and a very lively Character of a Man of 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 think he has very well practiſed the old Rule of Calumniare 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. Sir W. T. (ſays my Gameſter) has been often and long employ'd; but he himſelf did not know about what, 'twas too, upon very important occaſions, but he did not know why, unleſs; becauſe, as de Cros tells 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 very Bubble, 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 the Obſervations on the Netherlands, and of the charming Miſcellanea, ſhould be ſuch a Cully, if de Cros had 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 Sir W. T's name to them. I would to God he had been ſo honeſt to ſet mine in the ſtead.

But not we have heard the Charge, pray make room for the Evidence: Sir W. T. is the proudeſt Man in the World; and what are the proofs, or the Inſtances? Why, de Cros ſays it, and that's Demonſtration. He is ungrateful to his Friend, and why? Becauſe de Cros knows it. He is falſe to his Maſter, and the Reaſon's plain, de Cros pretends to believe it. He is the moſt revengeful of-Men, for he calls de Cros by his own Name. He is of all men the moſt Ambitious, and never did man deſire more to have a hand in Affairs. This is beyond diſpute, for de Cros knows his thoughts, and tells us not only what he ſays of others, but what he thinks of himſelf, and with equal truth. This is the Conjurer again, and with a witneſs he tells us further, p. 9. of men whoſe ruin Sir W. T. deſires at the bottom of his heart; where it is not to be queſtioned, but de Cros has been; and to put it beyond all doubt that he was ſo, he ſays, p. 13. That Sir W. T. came once to render him a viſit at his Lodging, and that Monſ. Olivencrants the Swediſh Ambaſſador, was then at his Houſe, which gives me a ſcruple, that the viſit might be meant to him, 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 Sir W. T. upon the Subject of what paſſed between him and my Lord Arlington, that makes his hair ſtand an 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 Sir W. 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 of de Cros's Letter, but will allow him to be one, that if he knew any thing ill of Sir W. 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 Sir W. 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 ſee he has means in his hands to be revenged; there is one point, and that alone, where he brings his Proof, lays downs his Inſtance, and that out of the Memoirs themſelves; 'tis deſigned undeniably to convince the World of Sir W. T's Vanity, of which he could give my Lord many inſtances, but at preſent contents himſelf with one, and 'tis a thumping one. 'Tis the following Period, which I ſhall quote out of the Memoirs, 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 Sir W. 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 with Spain as well as Holland, from the Negotiations I had formerly run through at the Hague, Bruſſels, and Aix la Chapelle, by which the remaining part of Flanders had been ſaved out of the hands of France in 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 in Holland, becauſe he had been formerly employed in thoſe Countries, and not for any Perſonal Merit in himſelf; but de Cros is 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 whole Series of 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 theſe Memoirs.

But the reaſon de Cros gives us, why he would have the World believe him in all he ſays againſt Sir W. 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 of nothing 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 to Give as well as to Take? He will not allow that Sir W. T. might ſeveral times have been Secretary of State, when Mr. Montague, and Mr. Sydney, who are named (in Memoirs p. _… ) to have been ſet on him by the Lord Arlington at 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. And p. 385. 'tis further added, That Sir W. T. received the King'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 Lord Sunderland's hand, who Mem. p. 387. is ſaid to have been brought into Sir Joſeph Williamſon's place, and his Lordſhip being likewiſe ſtill alive, can eaſily tell, whether this be true or no. Therefore, why does not de Cros himſelf, 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 Sir W. T's private Satisfaction, that theſe Memoirs were 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 the Monk has got into the Infallible Chair, he muſt be believed, there is no help, and we muſt like the Welſh-man, Take her own word for it. And ſo let him go away with all thoſe appoſite and choice Epithets he has given of this moſt worthy and well-deſerving perſon, 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 in Textor's Epithets.

And thus I have with much ado rid my hands of a great part of De Cros's Rubbiſh, as far as it endeavours to beſpatter Sir W. 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, which De Cros ſays was immediately after his Return from Nimeguen.

For my own part I muſt confeſs I am neither did enough, nor have had Converſation in Courts, and with Publick Affairs, to give an account how Sir W. 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 Sir W. T. was born of a very Honourable Father, who was for many years of the Privy Council in Ireland to King Charles the Firſt, and King Charles the 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 in England: 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 his Office, which was ſo conſiderable; yet he only of all his Family, was in Obſcurity, and lay in the Duſt (for ſo the French Letter has it) till my Lord Arlington raiſed 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 Sir W. T. ſhined as much in a Parliament of Ireland ſoon after the King's Reſtoration, as De Cros ſays 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 his Father, but from his Lady, to whom God be thanked (and it is very happy for her Ladyſhip that) De Cros ſays, 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, he never 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, which De Cros tells us was upon the King's being ſo ill ſatisfied with his Conduct and Management of Affairs abroad, particularly thoſe at Nimeguen; that he 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 the Epiſtle before the Memoirs; only I find, by comparing the Date of his Return from Nimeguen, with that of King Charles's Declaration upon his diſſolution of the old Council, and ſelecting a new one, that Sir W. 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 among Spaniſh Merchants in Town, I came to know, that ſeveral of them about two years after, had recourſe to Sir W. T. upon his being then declared Ambaſſador Extraordinary to the Crown of Spain, by the King at Council, whereof he himſelf was then a Member. All which laid together, does moſt abundantly verifie what De Cros ſays of his being diſgraced upon his return from Nimeguen. But the beſt account of all theſe Paſſages we muſt expect whenever he will think fit to publiſh the firſt and third part of the Memoirs, 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 the French Edition of his Letter pretends to have been printed at Cologne, 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 the Mitre, who I believe is the only Stationer in England would have had the ingenuity to ſet the Mitre on this Monk's Head.

The laſt precious piece of his Malice I ſhall take notice of, is That he grudges Sir W. T. even the Honour of his Retreat from Publick Affairs, by which perhaps he has been more diſtinguiſhed, than by his greateſt Employments: But this De Cros cannot 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 publick Buſineſs, 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 the Memoirs ſay 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 from Nimeguen, from entring upon the Secretaries Office, are theſe Words: I that never had any thing ſo much at heart as the union of my Couutry, 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 Ʋnion, or at leaſt ſome allay of the Heats and Diſtempers between the King and his Parliaments, 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 he would 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 thought 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 ſilly Bubble again, 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 body would 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 as Others have done, on pretend to do. Tho a Common Reader would be apt to think the Author of theſe Memoirs might 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 King Charles the 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 King Charles.

For my own part, I can profeſs with the greateſt Truth in the world, That before this Libel of De Cros, I have never met with in all my converſation and Reading, with the leaſt Reproach from any man againſt Sir W. T. except it be in one point; Of his having made too raſhly, or kept too obſtinately, his Reſolution, Never to enter again into Publick Employments; 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 laid, and that ſomewhat warmly, to his charge, and muſt leave it to himſelf to clear it as he can. But however, De Cros it ſeems knows his thoughts beſt, and muſt be believed in all he ſays upon this Point, as well as the reſt: And I only wiſh, ſince the Spark is ſo 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 Sir W. 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 Cros were a very honeſt, worthy, well-natur'd, well-bred, fait-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 let De 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 ſome Worſhipful 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 little Wit, ſo little Memory, and ſo little Truth as De. Cros. — Melius non tangere, Clamo, Flebit, & inſignis tota cantabitur Ʋrbe.

As to the candid Tranſlator, I cannot forbear doing him the Juſtice to give him that part which he deſerves, and belongs to him in all I ſaid of De Cros, for his ſhare in the Letter, by ſo falſe, and ſo malicious a Tranſlation; nor can refuſe him my approbation for a worthy Tranſlator to ſo worthy an Author; wherein he has taken the ſame pains a man would do in ſmutting over a Chimny-Sweeper, or blacking over a Crier of Smalcoal. Which is all I ſhall ſay of him.

But, for the Advertiſer, as his Stile is much fairer, and conſiſts moſtly of Criticiſms, ſo he will deſerve no other than very fair and critical Reflections. Yet I cannot but wonder, that in the firſt part of his Advertiſement, he ſhould go about to defend the ſevere or indecent Language (as he calls it) in De Cros's Letter: Which ſure, nothing could do towards a perſon who has ſo often repreſented a great King, whatever his own Merits or Demerits might have been. I am alſo ſomething at a loſs what he ſhould mean by ſlandering De Cros with ſuch a Title as that of, The Ingenious Author of the foregoing Letter. For doubtleſs if the Man has any Wit, I may ſay of it as one did of a Gentleman's Courage, which another had much commended; That he might have courage for ought he knew, but he had as live be damn'd as ſhew it.

The reſt of his gentle Advertiſement conſiſts, (as he pleaſes to call it) of the Sentiments of the Criticks upon theſe Memoirs when they firſt came out.

The firſt whereof is, That The Stile was too luſcious and affected. I confeſs I am not acquainted with that Term of a Luſcious Stile, and cannot eaſily ſtumble upon what it means, unleſs it be to ſay, That the Bride is too fair, or the Grapes are too ſweet. But 'tis yet harder for my poor Conception to find out how a Stile can be both Luſcious and Affected; Which latter I ſhould have otherwiſe miſtook for a Quality that had ever given a harſhneſs to any Stile, that would not be very conſiſtent with Luſcious: And Tacitus has not eſcaped the Imputation of being both harſh and Affected, by ſeveral Criticks. I am afraid the Gentleman's Mouth might have been a little out of taſte by reading theſe Memoirs; and that might poſſibly have proceeded from ſome cholerick Humour redundant in his Stomach; which I the rather ſuſpect from theſe words in the beginning of his Advertiſement; As nothing more ſenſibly touches US, than no have our Reputation, &c. which ſeem to inſinuate, that he took himſelf for one of the Perſons he thought offended by them, and treated with too much Freedom, and too little Ceremony; as he afterwards ſpeaks of others. But if Sir W. T's Stile be faulty, I have nothing to ſay; only deſire, That ſome of the Criticks the Advertiſer ſpeaks of, will be ſo kind to mend it when they write next, whereby I think they will do a very great Honour to our Language. I am only ſorry for thoſe poor Bookſellers who have ſo raſhly undertaken the printing of his ſeveral Works, and wiſh they may not be undone after the Judgment of theſe ſevere Criticks upon them. Yet to give them a little comfort, I muſt needs take notice, that all men are not of the ſame nice Palat, neither at home nor abroad: For Monſieur Wiquefort concludes his Memoirs of Ambaſſadors, with regretting that there had been ſo few Accounts given by any of them of Foreign Countries; and that there were like to be fewer hereafter; Becauſe Monſieur Temple is inimitable in what he has written of the United Netherlands. And among many Books and Pamphlets that mention his Works, I have yet ſeen none that does it without great Value and Approbation. I am ſure in all the French Editions of his ſeveral Works (which have had the luck to be ſtill Tranſlated into ſeveral Languages as they came out) the Epiſtles and Prefaces prefixed before them, are full of the greateſt Honour and Applauſe that can be given to Writings, which paſs ſo ill with the Criticks, this Advertiſer tells us of at home; ſo that 'tis poſſible ſome of theſe Memoirs may yet go off, which I ſuppoſe was the chief thing intended by him that publiſht them.

However, let ſuch Stateſmen as de Cros, or ſuch Criticks as our Advertiſer, or Malice and Detraction it ſelf, ſay what they will of the Memoirs; I dare anſwer for all Scholars and Lovers of Learning, that they ſhall pay the Honour and Eſteem which is, and will be ever juſtly due to the Miſcellanea; and ſhall not only find what is pleaſing and inſtructing, but alſo ſomething that is new and ſurprizing whenever they read them, let this Author's Stile be as Luſcious and Affected as it will; which is all I need ſay for the poor Bookſeller's ſake.

The ſecond Criticiſm the Advertiſer mentions, is upon the Digreſſions, tho he is ſo good to confeſs himſelf not of their Opinion who find ſault with them. But I wiſh he had made a fairer Quotation in a Line or two out of one of them, by which he would ſeem to make Sir W. T. ſay, That Prince Maurice's Parrot ſpoke, and askt, and anſwered common Queſtions like a reaſonable Creature: Tho indeed he only ſays, That his curioſity made him enquire from the firſt hand about ſuch a common Story, Of a Parrot that ſpoke, &c.

For my ſelf, I muſt needs ſay, That that Digreſſion gave me not only ſome Entertainment when I read it, but a good deal of thought ſince; and the more, becauſe I remember one of the Athenian Mercuries, in Anſwer to a Queſtion ſent them upon this very Story, ſeem'd to allow the thing poſſible. But after all my rambling thoughts upon that Subject, I muſt leave it to better Reaſoners than my ſelf to determine, whether Speech and Reaſon are ſo individual, that whatever Creature has any ſhare in the one, muſt be allow'd to partake of the other. However it be, the Letter I have been lately obſerving, has throughly convinc'd me, that whether a Man may Speak or no, at leaſt he may Write without Reaſon. But this I am ſure is a Digreſſion in me, whatever it was in the Author of the Memoirs.

The laſt Criticiſm the Advertiſer mentions, is, That in theſe Memoirs there are ſeveral Perſons, Eminent both for their Station and Quality, and ſome of them ſtill alive, treated with ſo much Freedom, and ſo little Ceremony. This in my ſlender Judgment, appears a more extraordinary Objection, than the other two. For I had ever imagined, that the very Ratio formalis of a good Hiſtory, or Memoirs, had been the Truth of them, which it is impoſſible ſhould ever appear without great Freedom, and little Ceremony, either to the Perſons they repreſent, or concerning the Actions they relate. And this in my Opinion, gives the great and general Eſteem that is deſervedly put upon the Memoirs of Philip de Comines, whoſe Stile ſeems very mean and vulgar, but his Freedom great, and Ceremony very little, either with thoſe two Great Princes that were his Maſters, or in any Account he gives of Actions, or of Perſons, tho many of theſe were probably alive at the time of Writing or Publiſhing theſe Memoirs. But in truth ſince his time, his Method has been very little purſued, and more is the pity, ſince it has made ſo much room, and ſo unworthily, for the fulſome Flatteries, and nauſeous Panegyricks of ſo many Books or Prefaces as have over-run the Preſs in our Age; which not only endeavour to put Shams and Cheats upon Mankind; but are, I doubt, of great Miſchief to the Intereſts and Concernments of thoſe Countries where they grow. For let the Criticks ſay what they pleaſe againſt writing Story with too much Freedom, and too little Ceremony, I am a little diſpoſed to believe, That if there were more ſuch Authors, there would not be ſo many ſuch Actors, as have been ſo often ſeen upon the Publick Stages of the World; who, like Rooks when they are gotten to the Topbranches of great Trees, think only of building their own Neſts as high as they can, and feathering them as well as they can, without any care how the Tree thrives under them, or whether by their Muting and Fluttering about, they ſpoil the Branches and Leaves of that Tree it ſelf where they were bred, or found ſhelter. Peradventure ſuch Actors would not have plaid ſuch Parts upon the Stage, if they had not truſted to the Diſguiſes and Masks they were in, or had ſuſpected they would be pull'd off by ſome plain, rough hand, either while the Play laſts, or as ſoon as 'tis ended. For men are ſeldom ſo harden'd, as to grow totally careleſs of their Names, and their Memories, after they are dead, tho they may hope to eſcape while they are alive.

For theſe and ſome other ſuch trivial Reaſons, I muſt profeſs, I cannot joyn heartily with the Criticks in this laſt Objection; but ſhall be very glad to joyn with the Advertiſer in believing, or at leaſt in wiſhing, that Sir W. T. would be prevailed with by the Letter, or this Advertiſement, to take ſome notice himſelf either of the one, or the other, which might poſſibly make the Preſs ſome amends for this Scribble of mine; at leaſt it would me, who ſhould think my ſelf very well rewarded by it. For whatever Paſſion de Cros, or the Advertiſer, or any of thoſe US's he ſpeaks of in the beginning of his ſhort Paper, may have againſt the Author, I ſhall ever have as much Paſſion for his Writings. And as for this of my own, I pretend to no more, than to be forgiven by him and other Men, becauſe it is my firſt Eſſay, and for ought I yet know, it may be my laſt.