should not be said that one of his family ever

quitted their post.

Of those who have made a mean contemptible figure, in some action or circumstance of their lives.

Anthony, at Actium, when he fled after Cleo. patra.

Pompey, when he was killed on the sea-shore in Egypt.

Nero and Vitellius, when they were put to death.

Lepidus, when he was compelled to lay down. his share of the triumvirate.

Cromwell, the day he refused the kingship out of fear:

Perseus king of Macedon; when he was led in triumph.

Richard II. of England, after he was, deposed. The late king of Poland, when the king of Sweden forced him to give up his kingdom; and when he took it again, upon the king of Sweden's defeat by the Muscovites.

King James II. of England, when the prince of Orange sent to him at midnight to leave London. King William III. of England, when he sent to beg the house of commons to continue his Dutch guards, and was refused.

The late queen Anne of England, when she sent Whitworth to Muscovy on an embassy of humiliation; for an insult committed here on that prince's ambassador.

VOL. IX.

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The

The lord chancellor Bacon, when he was convicted of bribery.

The late duke of Marlborough, when he was forced, after his own disgrace, to carry his duchess's gold key to the queen.

The old earl of Pembroke, when a Scotch lord gave him a lash with a whip at Newmarket, in presence of all the nobility, and he bore it with patience.

King Charles II. of England, when he entered into the second Dutch war; and in many other actions during his whole reign.

Philip II. of Spain, after the defeat of the Armada.

The emperor Charles V., when he resigned his crown, and nobody would believe his reasons.

King Charles I. of England, when, in gallantry to his queen, he thought to surprise her with a present of a diamond buckle, which he pushed down her breast, and tore her flesh with the tongue; "upon which she drew it out, and flung it on the ground.

Fairfax, the parliament general, at the time of king Charles's trial.

Julius Cæsar, when Anthony offered to put a diadem on his head, and the people shouted for joy to see him decline it; which he never offered to do, until he saw their dislike in their countenances.

Coriolanus, when he withdrew his army from Rome at the entreaty of his mother.

Hannibal, at Antiochus's court.

Beau Fielding, at fifty years old, when, in a quarrel upon the stage, he was run into his breast,

which he opened and showed to the ladies, that he might move their love and pity; but they all fell a laughing.

The count de Bussy Rabutin, when he was recalled to court' after twenty years' banishment into the country; and affected to make the same figure he did in his youth.

The earl of Sunderland, when he turned papist in the time of king James II. and underwent all the forms of a heretic converted.

Pope Clement VII., when he was taken prisoner, at Rome, by the emperor Charles the Fifth's forces. Queen Mary of Scotland, when she suffered Bothwell to ravish her, and pleaded that as an excuse for marrying him.

King John of England, when he gave up his kingdom to the pope, to be held as a fief to the see of Rome.

1*

OF

PUBLIC ABSURDITIES IN ENGLAND.

IT is a common topic of satire, which you will

hear not only from the mouths of ministers of state, but of every whiffler in office, that half a dozen obscure fellows, over a bottle of wine or a dish of coffee, shall presume to censure the actions of parliaments and councils, to form schemes of government, and new-model the commonwealth; and this is usually ridiculed as a pragmatical disposition to politics, in the very nature and genius of the people. It may possibly be true and yet I am grossly deceived if any sober man, of very moderate talents, when he reflects upon the many ridiculous hurtful maxims, customs, and general rules of life, which prevail in this kingdom, would not with great reason be tempted, according to the present turn of his humour, either to laugh, lament, or be angry; or, if he were sanguine enough, perhaps to dream of a remedy. It is the mistake of wise and good men, that they expect more reason and virtue from human nature, than, taking it in the bulk, it is in any sort capable of. Whoever has been present at councils or assemblies of any sort, if he be a man of common prudence, cannot but have observed such results and opinions to have frequently passed a majority, as he would be ashamed to advance in private conversation. I say nothing of cruelty, oppression, injustice, and the like, because these

are

are fairly to be accounted for in all assemblies, as best gratifying the passions and interests of leaders; which is a point of such high consideration, that all others must give place to it. But I would be understood here to speak only of opinions ridiculous, foolish, and absurd; with conclusions and actions suitable to them, at the same time when the most reasonable propositions are often unanimously rejected. And as all assemblies of men are liable to this accusation, so likewise there are natural absurdities from which the wisest states are not exempt; which proceed less from the nature of their climate, than that of their government; the Gauls, the Britons, the Spaniards, and Italians, having retained very little of the characters given them in ancient history.

By these and the like reflections, I have been often led to consider some public absurdities in our own country, most of which are, in my opinion, directly against the rules of right reason, and are attended with great inconveniencies to the state. I shall mention such, of them as come into memory, without observing any method; and I shall give my reason why I take them to be absurd in their nature, and pernicious in their consequence.

It is absurd that any person, who professes a different form of worship, from that which is national, should be trusted with a vote for electing members into the house of commons: because every man is full of zeal for his own religion, although he regards not morality; and therefore will endeavour to his utmost to bring in a representative