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  Transcriber's note

  This etext contains:
  - Reflections on a Letter from Monsieur de Cros, concerning the
    Memoirs of Christendom
  - Reflections upon an Answer to the Letter from Monsieur De Cros

  The spelling and hyphenation in the original are erratic. No
  corrections have been made other than those listed at the end of
  the etext.




    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,


    _April_ 21st.
    1693.               EDWARD COOKE.

           *       *       *       *       *

    _LONDON._

    Printed for _Richard Baldwin_, near the
    _Oxford-Arms_ in _Warwick-Lane_. 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. I was 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 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 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 or 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 Benninguen_ 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 doubtless 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 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 has
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, 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 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 balancing 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 hand 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 _Lauderdale_, 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 now 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 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 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 old 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 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 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 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 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, or 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
said, 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
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 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, 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 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 Urbe._

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 to 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 fault
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 Top-branches
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.




    REFLECTIONS

    UPON AN

    ANSWER

    TO THE

    Letter from Mons. _De Cros_.

    Pretended to be written by the Author
    of the _Memoirs_.

           *       *       *       *       *

    By a Lover of Truth.

           *       *       *       *       *

    _LONDON:_

    Printed for _Richard Baldwin_, near the
    _Oxford-Arms_ in _Warwick-Lane_. 1693.




    REFLECTIONS _upon an Answer to the Letter from Monsieur _De
    Cros_. Pretended to be written by the Author of the _Memoirs_,
    &c._

WHEN the foregoing Papers were finished, and just ready for the Press, I
was surprized to hear that Sir _W. T._ himself had thought fit (contrary
to what I had conjectured in the first pages of those) to take publick
notice of Mons _De Cros_'s Letter; That it was now just come out, and
crying about the Streets: Tho I had then several surmises that it might
be some Imposture, yet one could not well be more amazed than I was, at
a piece of News I had so little expected, and the contrary of which I
thought I had so well convinced both the world, and my self. Whatever I
expected from it, I was eager enough to get it, and to read it over: My
suspicion increased sufficiently, when I had not gone above ten Lines;
and when I had perused it, I found my self as much disappointed, as I
was by _De Cros_'s Letter; being throughly convinced it was a
Counterfeit, (tho a witty one, and perhaps an innocent one too.) For
this I found several undeniable Reasons, which I suppose any thinking
Reader could not but observe as well as I.

And first, I took notice of the _Exordium_ as a little too common and
thredbare for that Author; and imagined a worse Writer might have been
hard put to it, not to have found a better than, The _importunity of his
Friends_ for writing in his own defence. Besides, I thought the disguise
of it was something mean, and could not conceive why, if that Author had
a mind to own it, he should chuse to do it in the _Third Person_,
rather than the _First_.

Another Reason is; That this Answerer makes him publickly own the
_Memoirs_, which I could never hear he has yet done. Nay farther; He
makes Him defend them in all parts; which I doubt, if he had owned them,
he would not do it any further than the Truth; since for the rest, as
the Publisher of them observes, they are in many places imperfect, and
uncorrect, by having never been reviewed; and so may be justly liable to
some Exceptions of that kind: And the _Gallicisms_ upon which _De
Cros_'s _Advertiser_ says, the _Criticks_ have been so severe, may
easily discover they were not designed for the Publick in that Dress
they have appeared. Now, tho this Pretended Answerer endeavours to
imitate Sir _W. T._ in this Point, as well as in the use of several
other Words which are found in the _Memoirs_, and he imagines a little
particular; yet he has made so great a discovery in several others, that
by consisting of two such different pieces, the whole lies too open to
deceive. For altho such words as _Blunder_, _Hans-en Kelder_, _A man of
such a Kidney_ with some others, may well enough become such a Scribler
as I am, yet they are very unlike that Author's Expressions, and below
his Stile.

Another ground I have to conclude this Answer for a Counterfeit, is for
some Quotations which I shall never suspect such a Writer as Sir _W. T._
would have made use of. As first, that poor Line, _Canes qui latrant_,
&c. which looks like an _English_ Proverb translated into very bald
_Latin_. Then (to mention no more of them) another Quotation as unlike
as the first, from Mr. _Samuel Johnson_, which agrees very little with
that Author's way, who is observed in all he writes, to be very tender
in medling with controverted Points of State and Government.

Besides, This whole Pamphlet, tho it must be confess'd to be ingenious,
and written with a great deal of Wit, yet that very strain of _Witting_
it so much, and running things into Ridicule, makes it look very
different from any thing we have yet seen of Sir _W. T_'s Writings: And
I observe in several places of the _Miscellanea_, this very vein is
taken notice of for a thing of _pernicious Consequence to Learning and
good Manners_; so that if Sir _W. T._ be really possessed of such a
Talent, he keeps it very much to himself, and must be allowed for the
best Disguiser of it in the World, through all he has published; which
would make his Readers think that he intended to pass rather for a Wise
and Good Man, than for a Witty.

Another sufficient Reason for me to reject this Answer, is, That it
makes Sir _W. T._ grant in some kind, the severest of _de Cros_'s
unreasonable Slanders, of _failing in his Fidelity to his Master_; and
to defend himself in it, by excusing it from Examples of that kind;
which in my Opinion, would be to lay himself needlesly open to Censures,
that I suppose, he has not deserved; and would shew such a want of
Judgment in him, as I shall not be apt to believe from any other
Writings but his own, and better attested than I find it here.

I shall add to all these, what I observed in an Advertisement before the
First Part of the _Miscellanea_, where the Bookseller tells the Reader
from the Author, that thenceforth he would never Publish any thing
without putting his Name to it, which not finding before this Pamphlet,
was another Reason to conclude it a supposititious Piece. All which put
together, makes me believe Sir _W. T._ was no more the Author of this
Answer, than of _Tully_'s _Offices_.

When I had satisfied my self in this Point, it was not easy for me to
find out what the Writer of this Answer should mean by taking so much
pains to make it pass for Sir _W. T_'s; which seems to me a very new way
of Writing; and whereof I cannot give any other instance besides this,
from what has occured in my Reading or Conversation. I know very well,
that several Ancient Pieces which go under great Author's Names, are
found by the Learned Criticks of these latter Ages, to have been
spurious; yet they were never born till long after the Death of the
supposed Fathers. I know likewise, that there have been several Laws
made in _France_; one, I am sure, in this present Century, against the
Printing any Books, under severe Penalties, without setting the Author's
Name to them, and their known Name, because some having two Names, one
by which they were commonly called, tho the other perhaps were the
particular Name of their Family; some Persons disguised their Writings
under the Name that was little known, tho it might be their own: To so
nice and cautious Cares the Laws there thought fit to descend upon this
matter. I remember there was an Ingenious Discourse Printed within these
few years in _France_, upon the Custom of using borrowed or disguised
Names in the Publishing of Books: But in the Censures and Complaints
that Author makes of this ill Custom, I did not take notice of any one
Example he mentions, further than of such Books as had been published
under Names of Persons dead, or else under such as were wholly
fictitious, and made at their own pleasures; Which last has peradventure
appear'd in most Ages and Countries where Printing has been used, but
toucht no Man farther than a Satyr of _Don Quixot_, or _Francion_, or
any such like. But I have never observed, nor heard of any Example of
this kind besides this Answer, where the Author, whose Name was
borrowed, was alive, and in the same Kingdom, and so avowedly with the
Name of a known Bookseller in the Title-page.

Whatever the intention may have been in the Writer, whether wholly
innocent, or a little interessed to give Vogue to his Pamphlet, or in
considering the Bookseller's profit by making it pass for an Author's,
whose Name he knew would _help it off the_ better; yet I cannot but
apprehend the Example of it ill, and the Consequences of it may be
worse, if it should fall into Common practice; for by this way of
Writing and Publishing either Books or Pamphlets, any Man may be made a
publick Defamer of himself at another Man's pleasure, and not only _so_,
but to accuse himself of any Crime which the Rigour of our Laws requires
no man to do. As far as my Thoughts will reach, I do not conceive why it
should not be as bad to counterfeit a Book as a Bond; and to wrong a Man
in his Reputation, as great an Injury, as to cheat him of his Money:
This must be the reason why Slander and Scandal are as sufficient a
ground to maintain an Action in Law, as Damage and Battery: Nothing is
an injury any farther than it is taken, and hurts a Man more or less, as
he is sensible of it. Now, tho it may be true, that in every Age there
may be more than _Nine Worthies_ who put a greater value on their Money
than their Honour, yet there may be every where, and at all times, some
_silly Foplings_, who do quite the contrary; and I know no reason, why
they should not pretend to be safe in the Possessions they most value,
as well as the others; nor why the Law should not take some care of such
poor Innocents. Nor further, can I find out why a _Stationer_ should not
be punisht for _Forgery_, as well as a _Notary_ or _Scrivener_ may be.
Whether I am too serious or no, upon a Subject that may appear trivial
at first sight, or whether such a Trifle be worth any legal Provisions
against it, I am sure, _Ha Nugæ seria ducunt in Mala_; and that 'tis at
least an _Edg-tool_ which ought not to be plaid with.

I could never well comprehend the true reason, why it should be such a
disgrace to be a _Cuckold_, or why one Person should suffer for
another's fault, how nearly soever related to him: But I can very easily
apprehend the Injury of it, which is, that one Man should be out upon
fathering another Man's Children, or at the best should be in danger of
it; and this seems to be meant by the word, which at first was
intended, that a Man was _Cuckoo'd_, that is, dealt with as _Cuckoos_
are said to do with other Birds, by laying their Eggs in their Nests,
and thereby making them hatch and bring up young Ones that are none of
their own, (for this is the best Etymology I can find out for a word so
commonly used). Now, the same Injury may be as sensible in what concerns
the Children of the Brain (as Books have been call'd) which may be as
lawful and as natural Issues, and some Parents may be as fond of them,
and as much concerned about them. And tho it pass for no Crime for
People to expose their Children when they have no mind to own them, or
think they are not able to maintain them, and they may be content any
body else should father them that will; yet this is an Office no body
would be forc'd upon undertaking, how little soever it may cost them,
and how innocently soever it may have been intended.

I could not forbear to make this Reflection upon this Subject, if it
were for nothing else but to make good my Profession in the Title-page,
of being _A Lover of Truth_.

       *       *       *       *       *

_FINIS._




Transcriber's notes

  Page 11
  "forgets himself again, and says." Possible error for
  "forgets himself again, and says,". No change made.

  Page 20
  "(in _Memoirs p._)" page number is missing in the original.

  Page 25
  "Never to enter again into Publick Employments"
  changed from "Pulick".

  Page 29
  "whenever they read them," comma added.

  Page 36
  "Hans-en Kelder" is unclear in the original image.
  The phrase means "Jack in the Box" or "Child in the womb"
  (Nathan Bailey's Canting Dictionary, 1736).

  Page 38
  "help it off" is unclear in the original image.