P. 815. Burnet. It was urged, that, by the law, the king did never die; but that with the last breath of the dying king the regal authority went to the next heir.—Swift. This is certainly true.
P. 816. Burnet. An heir was one that came in the room of a person that was dead: it being a maxim that no man can be the heir of a living man—Swift. This is sophistry.
Ibid. Burnet. It was proposed, that the birth of the pretended prince might be examined into.... I was ordered to gather together all the presumptive proofs that were formerly mentioned:.... It is true, these did not amount to a full and legal proof: Yet they seemed to be such violent presumptions, that, when they were all laid together, they were more convincing than plain and downright evidence: For that was liable to the suspicion of subornation: Whereas the other seemed to carry on them very convincing characters of truth and certainty.—Swift. Well said, Bishop.
P. 817. Burnet. If there was no clear and positive proof made of an imposture, the pretending to examine into it, and then the not being able to make it out beyond the possibility of contradiction, would really give more credit to the thing, than it then had, and, instead of weakening it, would strengthen the pretension of his birth.—Swift. Wisely done.
Ibid. Burnet. [Some people] thought, it would be a good security for the nation, to have a dormant title to the crown lie as it were neglected, to oblige our princes to govern well, while they would apprehend the danger of a revolt to a Pretender still in their eye.—Swift. I think this was no ill design; yet it hath not succeeded in mending kings.
Ibid. Burnet. I have used more than ordinary care to gather together all the particulars that were then laid before me as to that matter [the birth of the Pretender].—Swift. And where are they?
P. 818. Burnet, after relating a long conversation with Bentinck [afterwards Earl of Portland], adds—Next morning I came to him, and desired my congé. I would oppose nothing in which the Prince seemed to be concerned, as long as I was his servant. And therefore I desired to be disengaged, that I might be free to oppose this proposition [to offer him the crown] with all the strength and credit I had. He answered me, that I might desire that when I saw a step made: But till then he wished me to stay where I was.—Swift. Is all this true?
P. 819. Burnet. I heard no more of this; in which the Marquess of Halifax was single among the peers: For I did not find there was any one of them of his mind; unless it was the Lord Colepeper, who was a vicious and corrupt man, but made a figure in the debates that were now in the House of Lords, and died about the end of them.—Swift. Yet was not the same thing done in effect, while the King had the sole administration?
P. 819. Burnet. The Princess continued all the while in Holland, being shut in there during the east winds, by the freezing of the rivers, and by contrary winds after the thaw came. So that she came not to England till all the debates were over.—Swift. Why was she [not] sent for till the matter was agreed? This clearly shews the Prince's original design was to be king, against what he professed in his Declaration.
P. 820. Burnet. [The Prince of Orange] said, he came over, being invited, to save the nation: He had now brought together a free and true representative of the kingdom: He left it therefore to them to do what they thought best for the good of the kingdom: And, when things were once settled, he should be well satisfied to go back to Holland again.—Swift. Did he tell truth?
Ibid. Burnet. He thought it necessary to tell them, that he would not be the Regent: So, if they continued in that design, they must look out for some other person to be put in that post.—Swift. Was not this a plain confession of what he came for?
P. 821. Burnet. In the end he said, that he could not resolve to accept of a dignity, so as to hold it only the life of another: Yet he thought, that the issue of Princess Anne should be preferred, in the succession, to any issue that he might have by any other wife than the Princess.—Swift. A great concession truly.
P. 822. Burnet. The poor Bishop of Durham [Lord Crewe], who had absconded for some time, ... was now prevailed on to come, and by voting the new settlement to merit at least a pardon for all that he had done: Which, all things considered, was thought very indecent in him, yet not unbecoming the rest of his life and character.—Swift. This is too hard, though almost true.
Ibid. Burnet. Then the power of the Crown to grant a non-obstante to some statutes was objected.—Swift. Yet the words continue in patents.
P. 824. Burnet. A notion was started, which ... was laid thus: "The Prince had a just cause of making war on the King." In that most of them agreed. In a just war, in which an appeal is made to God, success is considered as the decision of Heaven. So the Prince's success against King James gave him the right of conquest over him. And by it all his rights were transferred to the Prince.—Swift. The author wrote a paper to prove this, and it was burnt by the hangman, and is a very foolish scheme.[8]
[Footnote 8: "A Pastoral Letter writ by ... Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Sarum, to the clergy of his Diocess" [dated May 15th, 1689] was condemned by the House of Commons on Jan. 23rd, 169-2/3, and ordered to "be burnt by the hand of the common hangman." [T.S.]]
P. 525 (second volume). Burnet, speaking of the Act for the General Naturalization of Protestants, and the opposition made against it by the High Church, adds:—This was carried in the House of Commons, with a great majority; but all those, who appeared for this large and comprehensive way, were reproached for their coldness and indifference in the concerns of the Church: And in that I had a large share.—Swift. Dog.
P. 526. Burnet. The faction here in England found out proper instruments, to set the same humour on foot [in Ireland], during the Earl of Rochester's government, and, as was said, by his directions:... So the clergy were making the same bold claim there, that had raised such disputes among us.—Swift. Dog, dog, dog.
P. 580. Burnet, speaking of the interruption in the negotiations for a peace consequent on the Earl of Jersey's death, adds:—One Prior, who had been Jersey's secretary, upon his death, was employed to prosecute that, which the other did not live to finish. Prior had been taken a boy, out of a tavern, by the Earl of Dorset, who accidentally found him reading Horace; and he, being very generous, gave him an education in literature.—Swift. Malice.
P. 581. Burnet. Many mercenary pens were set on work, to justify our proceedings, and to defame our allies, more particularly the Dutch; this was done with much art, but with no regard to truth, in a pamphlet entitled "The Conduct of the Allies, and of the late Ministry."—Swift It was all true.
Ibid. Burnet. The Jacobites did, with the greater joy entertain this prospect of peace, because the Dauphin had, in a visit to St. Germains, congratulated that court upon it; which made them conclude, that it was to have a happy effect, with relation to the Pretender's affairs.—Swift. The Queen hated and despised the Pretender, to my knowledge.
P. 583. Burnet, in a conference I had with the Queen on the subject of peace.—she hoped bishops would not be against peace: I said, a good peace was what we prayed daily for, but ... any treaty by which Spain and the West Indies were left to King Philip, must in a little while deliver up all Europe into the hands of France; and, if any such peace should be made, she was betrayed, and we were all ruined; in less than three years' time, she would be murdered, and the fires would be again raised in Smithfield.—Swift. A false prophet in every particular.
P. 589. Burnet, the Queen having sent a message to the Lords to adjourn, it was debated:—that the Queen could not send a message to any one House to adjourn, when the like message was not sent to both Houses: the pleasure of the Prince, in convening, dissolving, proroguing, or ordering the adjournment of Parliaments, was always directed to both Houses; but never to any one House, without the same intimation was made, at the same time, to the other.—Swift. Modern nonsense.
P. 591. Burnet. The House of Commons, after the recess, entered on the observations of the commissioners for taking the public accounts; and began with [Sir Robert] Walpole, whom they resolved to put out of the way of disturbing them in the House.—Swift. He began early, and has been thriving twenty-seven years, to January 1739.
P. 609. Burnet. A new set of addresses ran about.... Some of these addresses mentioned the Protestant succession, and the House of Hanover, with zeal; others did it more coldly; and some made no mention at all of it. And it was universally believed, that no addresses were so acceptable to the ministers, as those of the last sort.—Swift. Foolish and factious.
P. 610. Burnet. The Duke of Ormonde had given the States such assurances, of his going along with them through the whole campaign, that he was let into the secrets of all their counsels, which by that confidence were all known to the French: And, if the auxiliary German troops had not been prepared to disobey his orders, it was believed he, in conjunction with the French army, would have forced the States to come into the new measures.—Swift. Vile Scot, dare to touch Ormonde's honour, and so falsely.
P. 612. Burnet, the Duke of Hamilton and Lord Mohun were engaged in litigation; and:—upon a very high provocation, the Lord Mohun sent him [the Duke] a challenge, which he tried to decline: but both being hurried, by those false points of honour, they fatally went out to Hyde Park, in the middle of November, and fought with so violent an animosity, that neglecting the rules of art, they seemed to run on one another, as if they tried who should kill first; in which they were both so unhappily successful, that the Lord Mohun was killed outright, and Duke Hamilton died in a few minutes after.[9]—Swift. Wrongly told.
[Footnote: 9: A footnote to the 1833 edition of Burnet says that "the duke in the belief of some was killed by General Macartney, the Lord Mohun's second." See also Chesterfield's letter quoted in Introduction, and Swift's own version in the "Four Last Years," p. 178. [T.S.]]
P. 614. Burnet says of the Earl of Godolphin:—After having been thirty years in the Treasury, and during nine of those Lord Treasurer, as he was never once suspected of corruption, or of suffering his servants to grow rich under him, so in all that time his estate was not increased by him to the value of £4,000. Swift. A great lie.
P. 669. Burnet, speaking of the progress of his own life, says:—The pleasures of sense I did soon nauseate.—Swift. Not so soon with the wine of some elections.
Opposite to the title-page:—Swift. A rude violent party jackanapes.
In the Life, p. 719, is printed a letter from Archbishop Tillotson, dated October 23, 1764 [sic, the volume was printed in 1734, the date should be 1694], in which he says: "The account given of Athanasius's Creed, seems to me no-wise satisfactory; I wish we were well rid of it."—Swift has drawn a finger in the margin of his copy of Burnet's History pointing to this passage.
P. 722. Thomas Burnet. The character I have given his wives, will scarce make it an addition to his, that he was a most affectionate husband. His tender care of the first, during a course of sickness, that lasted for many years; and his fond love to the other two, and the deep concern he expressed for their loss, were no more than their just due, from one of his humanity, gratitude and discernment.—Swift. Three wives.
P. 723. Thomas Burnet. The bishop was a kind and bountiful master to his servants, whom he never changed, but with regret and through necessity: Friendly and obliging to all in employment under him, and peculiarly happy in the choice of them; especially in that of the steward to the bishopric and his courts, William Wastefield, Esq. (a gentleman of a plentiful fortune, at the time of his accepting this post) and in that of his domestic steward, Mr. Mackney.—Swift. A Scot, his own countryman.
"THE FREE HOLDER" was a political periodical written in the form of essays. It continued for fifty five numbers from Friday, December 23rd, 1715, to Friday, June 29th, 1716. Its purpose was to reconcile the English nation to the Hanoverian succession. "These papers," notes Scott, "while they exhibit the exquisite humour and solid sense peculiar to the author, show also, even amid the strength of party, that philanthropy and gentleness of nature, which were equally his distinguishing attributes. None of these qualities would have conciliated his great opponent, Swift, had the field of combat yet remained open to him. But as he withdrew from it in sullen indignation, he seems to have thrown out the following flashes of satire, as brief examples of what he would have done had the hour of answer been yet current."
Scott obtained these "notes" from a transcription of the original in Swift's own hand, in a copy of "The Free holder" which belonged to Dr. Bernard, Bishop of Limerick. The present text is a reprint of Scott's, but the text of "The Free holder" has been read with the octavo and duodecimo editions of that periodical issued by Midwinter in 1716. The titles to the essays were not given in the original issue, except that to No. 9. They were added as a "Contents" to the re-issue in volume form.
Addison.
[Footnote 1: "The Free-holder," conducted by Addison, was published on Mondays and Fridays from December 23rd, 1715, till June 29th, 1716; fifty-five numbers were issued altogether. [T.S.]]
It was by this [this firmness of mind] that he surmounted those many difficulties which lay in the way to his succession.—Swift. What difficulties were those, or what methods did he take to surmount them?
Addison. It is observed by Sir William Temple, that the English are particularly fond of a king who is valiant: Upon which account His Majesty has a title to all the esteem that can be paid the most warlike prince; though at the same time, for the good of his subjects, he studies to decline all occasions of military glory.—Swift. This seems to be a discovery.
Addison. I might here take notice of His Majesty's more private virtues, but have rather chosen to remind my countrymen of the public parts of his character.—Swift. This is prudent.
Addison. But the most remarkable interpositions of Providence, in favour of him, have appeared in removing those seemingly invincible obstacles to his succession; in taking away, at so critical a juncture, the person who might have proved a dangerous enemy; etc.—Swift. False, groundless, invidious, and ungrateful. Was that person the Queen?
No. 3. Dec. 30, 1715.—The Memoirs of a Preston Rebel.
[A Ludicrous Account of the Principles of the Northumberland Insurgents, and the Causes of their taking Arms.]—Swift. Could this author, or his party, offer as good reasons for their infamous treatment of our blessed Queen's person, government, and majesty?
The same. Addison. Having been joined by a considerable reinforcement of Roman Catholics, whom we could rely upon, as knowing them to be the best Tories in the nation, and avowed enemies to Presbyterianism.—Swift. By this irony, the best Whigs are professed friends to fanatics.
The same. Addison. But before we could give the word [to retreat], the trainbands, taking advantage of our delay, fled first.—Swift. An argument for a standing army.
No. 6. Jan. 9, 1715-16.—The Guilt of Perjury.
Addison. Though I should be unwilling to pronounce the man who is indolent, or indifferent in the cause of his prince, to be absolutely perjured; I may venture to affirm, that he falls very short of that allegiance to which he is obliged by oath.—Swift. Suppose a king grows a beast, or a tyrant, after I have taken an oath: a 'prentice takes an oath; but if his master useth him barbarously, the lad may be excused if he wishes for a better.
No. 7. Jan. 13, 1715-16.—Of Party Lies.
Addison. If we may credit common report, there are several remote parts of the nation in which it is firmly believed, that all the churches in London are shut up; and that if any clergyman walks the streets in his habit, 'tis ten to one but he is knocked down by some sturdy schismatic.—Swift. No—but treated like a dog.
No. 8. Jan. 16, 1715-16.—The Female Association.
Addison. It is therefore to be hoped that every fine woman will make this laudable use of her charms; and that she may not want to be frequently reminded of this great duty, I will only desire her to think of her country every time she looks in her glass.—Swift. By no means, for if she loves her country, she will not be pleased with the sight.
Addison. Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club or drinks mysterious healths ... let her look to him, and keep him out of harm's way; etc.—Swift. Will they hang a man for that.
No. 9. Jan. 20, 1715-16.—Answer of the Free-holders of Great Britain to the Pretender's Declaration.
The Declaration of the Free-holders of Great Britain, in Answer to that of the Pretender.—Addison. Can you in conscience think us to be such fools as to rebel against the King, for ... having removed a general [the Duke of Ormonde] who is now actually in arms against him, etc.—Swift. Driven out by tyranny, malice, and faction.
Addison. The next grievance, which you have a mighty mind to redress among us, is the Parliament of Great Britain, against whom you bring a stale accusation which has been used by every minority in the memory of man; namely, that it was procured by unwarrantable influences and corruptions.—Swift. The freeholders will never sign this paragraph.
Addison. How comes it to pass that the Electorate of Hanover is become all of a sudden one of the most inconsiderable provinces of the empire?—Swift. It is indeed grown considerable by draining of England.
No. 12. Jan. 30, 1715-16.—The Guilt of Rebellion in general, and of the late Rebellion in particular.
Addison. The present rebellion [1715] is formed against a king, ... who has not been charged with one illegal proceeding.—Swift Are you serious?
No. 13. Feb. 3, 1715-16.—Of those who are indifferent in a time of Rebellion,
Addison. In such a juncture [a rebellion], though a man may be innocent of the great breach which is made upon government, he is highly culpable, if he does not use all the means that are suitable to his station for reducing the community into its former state of peace and good order.—Swift. He speaks at his ease, but those who are ill used will be apt to apply what the boy said to his mother, who told him the enemy was approaching.
Addison. This law [one of Solon's] made it necessary for every citizen to take his party, because it was highly probable the majority would be so wise as to espouse that cause which was most agreeable to the public weal.—Swift. No—for, in England, a faction that governs a weak, or honours a wicked prince, will carry all against a majority in the kingdom, as we have seen by sad experience.
No. 14. Feb. 6, 1715-16.—The Political Creed of a Tory Malcontent.
Addison. Article XIII, That there is an unwarrantable faction in this island, consisting of King, Lords, and Commons.—Swift. This article is too true, with a little alteration.
The same. Addison. Article XV. That an Act of Parliament to empower the King to secure suspected persons in times of rebellion, is the means to establish the sovereign on the throne, and consequently a great infringement of the liberties of the subject.—Swift. No—but to destroy liberty.
No. 21. Mar. 2, 1715-16.—The Birthday of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales.
Addison. When this excellent princess was yet in her father's court, she was so celebrated for the beauty of her person, etc.—Swift. I have bad eyes.
Addison. There is no part of her Royal Highness's character which we observe with greater pleasure, than that behaviour by which she has so much endeared herself to His Majesty.—Swift. What would he say now?[2]
[Footnote: 2: The prince and his father, George I., were now [1727, just before George I. died] at variance. [S.]]
No. 24. Mar. 12, 1715-16.—The Designs of His Majesty's Enemies impracticable.
Addison. To this we may add ... that submissive deference of his Royal Highness both from duty and inclination to all the measures of his Royal father.—Swift. Which still continues.
Addison. There is no question but His Majesty will be as generally valued and beloved in his British as he is in his German dominions, when he shall have time to make his royal virtues equally known among us.—Swift. How long time does he require?
No. 26. Mar. 19, 1715-16.—Considerations offered to the disaffected part of the Fair Sex.
Addison. Several inconveniencies which those among them undergo, who have not yet surrendered to the government.—Swift. Would he pimp for the court?
No. 29. Mar. 30, 1716.—The Practice of Morality necessary to make a Party flourish.
Addison. Those of our fellow-subjects, who are sensible of the happiness they enjoy in His Majesty's accession to the throne, are obliged, by all the duties of gratitude, to adore that Providence which has so signally interposed in our behalf, by clearing a way to the Protestant succession through such difficulties as seemed insuperable—Swift. I wish he had told us any one of those difficulties.
Addison. It is the duty of an honest and prudent man, to sacrifice a doubtful opinion to the concurring judgement of those whom he believes to be well intentioned to their country, and who have better opportunities of looking into all its most complicated interests.—Swift. A motion to make men go every length with their party. I am sorry to see such a principle in this author.
No. 31. Apr. 6, 1716.—Answer to a celebrated Pamphlet entitled "An Argument to prove the Affections of the People of England to be the best Security of the Government; etc."
Addison. This middle method [of tempering justice with mercy] ... has hitherto been made use of by our sovereign.—Swift. In trifles.
Addison. Would it be possible for him [the reader] to imagine, that of the several thousands openly taken in arms, and liable to death by the laws of their country, not above forty have yet suffered?—Swift. A trifle!
Addison. Has not His Majesty then shewn the least appearance of grace in that generous forgiveness which he has already extended to such great numbers of his rebellious subjects, who must have died by the laws of their country, had not his mercy interposed in their behalf?—Swift. Prodigious clemency, not to hang all the common soldiers who followed their leaders!
Addison. Those who are pardoned would not have known the value of grace, if none had felt the effects of justice.—Swift. And only hanging the lords and gentlemen, and some of the rabble.
Addison. Their [the last ministry's] friends have ever since made use of the most base methods to infuse those groundless discontents into the minds of the common people, etc.—Swift. Hath experience shown those discontents groundless?
Addison. If the removal of these persons from their posts has produced such popular commotions, the continuance of them might have produced something much more fatal to their king and country.—Swift. Very false reasoning.
Addison. No man would make such a parallel, [between the treatment of the rebels, and that of the Catalans under King Philip,] unless his mind be so blinded with passion and prejudice, as to assert, in the language of this pamphlet, "That no instances can be produced of the least lenity under the present administration from the first hour it commenced to this day."—Swift. Nor to this, 1727.
Addison. God be thanked we have a king who punishes with reluctancy.—Swift. A great comfort to the sufferers!
Addison. It would be well if all those who ... are clamorous at the proceedings of His present Majesty, would remember, that notwithstanding that rebellion [the Duke of Monmouth's] ... had no tendency ... to destroy the national religion, etc.—Swift. To introduce fanaticism, and destroy monarchy.
Addison. No prince has ever given a greater instance of his inclinations to rule without a standing army.—Swift. We find this true by experience.
Addison. What greater instances could His Majesty have given of his love to the Church of England, than those he has exhibited by his most solemn declarations; by his daily example; and by his promotions of the most eminent among the clergy to such vacancies as have happened in his reign.—Swift. Most undeniable truth, as any in Rabelais.
No. 44. May 21, 1716.—Tory Foxhunter's Account of the Masquerade on the Birth of the Arch-Duke.
Addison. What still gave him greater offence was a drunken bishop, who reeled from one side of the court to the other, and was very sweet upon an Indian Queen.—Swift. Then, that story is true?
No. 45. May 25, 1716.—The Use and Advantage of Wit and Humour under proper Regulations.
Addison. I have lately read with much pleasure, the "Essays upon several Subjects" published by Sir Richard Blackmore.—Swift. I admire to see such praises from this author to so insipid a scoundrel, whom I know he despised.
No. 51. June 15, 1716.—Cautions to be observed in the reading of ancient Greek and Roman Historians.
Addison. "History of Free-thinking."—Swift. Writ by Collins.
Addison. The greatest theorists ... among those very people [the Greeks and Romans,] have given the preference to such a form of government, as that which obtains in this kingdom.—Swift. Yet, this we see is liable to be wholly corrupted.
No. 52. June 18, 1716.—Of State Jealousy.
Addison. It is plain, ... that such a base ungenerous race of men could rely upon nothing for their safety in this affront to His Majesty, [wearing a mark on the Pretender's birth-day,] but the known gentleness and lenity of his government.—Swift. Then the devil was in them.
No. 54. June 25, 1716.—Preference of the Whig Scheme to that of the Tories.
Addison. The Whigs tell us ... that the Tory scheme would terminate in Popery and arbitrary government.—Swift. But Tories never writ or spoke so gently and favourably of Popery, as Whigs do of Presbytery. Witness a thousand pamphlets on both sides.
Addison. I shall not impute to any Tory scheme the administration of King James the Second, on condition that they do not reproach the Whigs with the usurpation of Oliver.—Swift. I will not accept that condition, nor did I ever see so unfair a one offered.
No. 55. June 29, 1716.—Conclusion.
Addison. The enemies of His present Majesty ... find him in a condition to visit his dominions in Germany, without any danger to himself, or to the public; whilst his dutiful subjects would be in no ordinary concern upon this occasion, had they not the consolation to find themselves left under the protection of a prince who makes it his ambition to copy out his Royal Father's example.—Swift Then, why was he never trusted a second time?
Addison. It would indeed have been an unpardonable insolence for a fellow-subject to treat in a vindictive and cruel style, those persons whom His Majesty has endeavoured to reduce to obedience by gentle methods, which he has declared from the throne to be most agreeable to his inclinations.—Swift. And is that enough?
Addison. May we not hope that all of this kind, who have the least sentiments of honour or gratitude, will be won over to their duty by so many instances of Royal clemency?—Swift Not one instance produced.