THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. NUMBER I. Fidens animi atque in utrumque paratus.—VIRG. INSCRIBED TO THE PERSON, TO WHOM ALONE IT CAN BELONG. MOST NOBLE SIR: I AM one, whose ambition it hath been, ever since I came into the world, to distinguish myself as a writer; in which, I fairly confess, I had not only the view of raising my reputation but that of establishing my fortune. A prospect, which seemed very reasonable in a time of general peace and universal affluence; in an age so particularly polite, that it is even the fashion to appear knowing in all the elegant arts and sciences; and that, to whatever branch of them a genius shall think fit to turn himself, he is sure it will be to one that is in vogue. The first essays of my pen made a good deal of noise in the world: they filled foreign journals, and were translated into several languages. The Sorbonne, and both our mother Universities, returned me thanks for having reconciled several disputes and solved several difficulties in chronology and history, which had perplexed the learned world, from the impartial Eusebius, down to the circumstantial Prideaux: my philosophical Poems were received with the greatest applause; and it is well known, that if the gay part of the world read my Anti-Lucretius for amusement, the gravest divines have not disdained to borrow arguments from it in their disputes with the materialists. Animated by such success, in one part of my aim, I proceeded with indefatigable labor, till continual disappointments, in the other, rendered me at length more indifferent to that imaginary good, applause, and less patient of that real evil, want. I began then to compare my condition with that of several great authors both ancient and modern; and finding upon the comparison that they had not been better treated than myself, I was soon led by my reflections to discover the true reason of our ill fortune in the world; I was soon convinced that they and I had been on a wrong pursuit; that ministers of state pay no respect to the brightest talents, when they are misapplied, and esteem all talents to be so, which are not wholly employed about the present time, and principally dedicated to the service of their administration; neither can I say this proceeding is unjust, how much soever I suffer by it. If we write for posterity, we must not complain that the care of rewarding our me it is left to posterity; and if we neglect to serve the state, those, who are appointed to preside over it, break no rule of equity when they neglect us. Spencer has been amply recompensed by posterity for his Fairy Queen; but the wise treasurer Burleigh declined the payment of an hundred pounds, which Queen Elizabeth ordered him, and left this admirable poet to Had Spencer applied himself to more serious studies, had he excelled in physics, in metaphysics, or even in the first philosophy, or in theology, instead of excelling in wit and poetry, the "amabiles insania" of Horace, his usage would have been the same no doubt. Even the greatest productions of these studies are but trifles in the account of a consummate statesman, and may properly enough be distinguished from the others in his sense, by the title of "insaniæ severiores." Our English ministers, to their honor be it spoken, have at all times proceeded upon this admirable principle; the most excellent sermons, the most elaborate treatises, have not been sufficient to procure the advancement of some divines, whilst a sorry pamphlet or a spiritual libel has raised others to the highest dignities of the church. As it has fared with mere divinity, so has it fared with mere eloquence: as one never caused the divine, so the other never caused the lawyer to be distinguished. But we know that if either of them be employed in a court cause, he never fails of making his fortune. The same fate has attended writers of another kind; the celebrated Tattlers, and Spectators, had no reward except from booksellers and fame. But when those authors made the discovery I have made, and applied their talents better, in writing the Englishman and the Freeholder, one was soon created a knight, and the other became secretary of state. In short, without enumerating any more instances, I may confidently affirm, that this has been the case from the days of Burleigh to this time; how much sooner it began to be so, I hope, sir, you will not give me the leisure to inquire. From the moment I resolved to become a state-writer, I mentally devoted myself to your service: and I do it now in this public and most solemn manner. Employ me, sir, as you please; I abandon myself entirely to you; my pen is at your disposition, and my conscience in your keeping. Like a lawyer, I am ready to support the cause, in which, give me leave to suppose that I shall be soon retained, with ardor; and, if occasion be, with subtility and acrimony. Like a Swiss, I will behave myself with equal boldness and fidelity; my pen is my fortune, and I think it as honorable to offer it, as offer my sword, without inquiring in a general battle, or in private skirmishes, at what relation or friend I strike. I cancel at once all former obligations and friendship, and will most implicitly follow your instructions in panegyric on yourself and friends, in satire on your adversaries, in writing for or against any subject; nay, in writing for or against the same subject, just as your interest, or even your passions, may render it expedient. I am not ignorant that when Carneades offered to argue for virtue, and then against it, Cato proposed to drive that great philosopher and orator out of Rome. But Cato was a man of narrow principles, and of too confined an understanding. He considered virtue abstractedly, without any regard to time, to place, and to that vast variety of conjunctures, which happens in the course of human affairs. In common life, morality is no doubt necessary, and therefore legislators have been careful to enforce the practice of it; but whenever morality clashes with the interest of the state, it must be, and it always has been laid aside. These are my opinions: and it is a great comfort to my conscience to find them confirmed by the practice of some reverend persons, whose examples ought to be of greater weight with me, than that of a wretched pagan. I shall therefore show myself neither squeamish nor whimsical in pursuing the enterprise to which I offer my services, but shall remain firmly persuaded, that all the moral vices, I may be occasionally guilty of in so good a course, will be exalted into political virtues. After this plain and honest account which I have given of myself, it may be allowed me to say, that you cannot find a person better qualified for your service, or more worthy to be listed, among those who draw their pens in your cause, and of whom I am willing to hope that you have a greater and an abler body in reserve, than you have hitherto judged proper to bring into the field. It is evident that a minister, in every circumstance of life, stands in as much need of us public writers as we of him. In his prosperity he can no more subsist without daily praise than we without daily bread, and the farther he extends his views, the more necessary are we to his support. Let him speak as contemptuously of us as he pleases, for that is frequently the manner of those who employ us most, and pay us best, yet it will fare with his ambition as with a lofty tree, which cannot shoot its branches into the clouds, unless its root work into the dirt, from which it rose, on which it stands, and by which it is nourished. If a minister falls into adversity, shall he take up the pen in his own defence? would not the case be as deplorable for him to be left to write, as for a prince to be left to fight in his own quarrel? Believe me, sir, whenever fortune abandons you, and who knows how soon that may happen, you will find yourself in a very forlorn state. At the name of your successor, those crowds, that attend your levee, will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day. None will remain about you, but such as no other administration will condescend to employ: and we may therefore very probably behold you, which would be a pitiful sight indeed, endeavoring to secure a safe retreat with H***** on one side of you, and L****** on the other, two grotesque personages, exactly paired and nearly allied, but surely as little fit to support a minister in his decline, as to adorn his triumph. In such a turn as this, you may depend on my utmost efforts to keep up a spirit for you: and I can make no doubt of being seconded by several of my fellowwriters, since I am certain you will not scruple to share some part of that fortune, which your industry and parsimony have raised, with those who unite to save the whole; and since we shall be reasonable enough not to expect above six pence in the pound out of it, which cannot well amount to more than fifteen or twenty thousand pounds. A trifling sum for so great a service and so weighty a purse! You may perhaps, after all I have said, be still apt to think that these are wild discourses, which have no other foundation but my desire to render myself necessary. You may refine too much in your reflections on my conduct, and too little in those you make on your present situation; or if you judge rightly of this, it is not impossible but you may depend too much on your own vigilance and dexterity. Should any of those flatterers who often betray their patrons into a fatal security, speak to you much in the same manner, as sleep addresses himself to Palinurus in the fifth book of the Æneis: -Palinure, ferunt ipsa æquora classem, You would answer, I am persuaded, as this Pilot did: Mene salis placidi vultum, fluctusque quietos But Palinurus slept, and you know the consequence. Be not, therefore, displeased if a sincere and zealous servant rouses you, admonishes you not to trust too much to appearances, and shows you danger when perhaps you least expect it. You have sailed long in a smooth sea, with gentle and favorable gales. We believe your courage and your abilities extremely great, but we believe it implicitly; for you have not had foul weather enough to give any considerable proofs of either. These circumstances, which might be abused to inspire security, I urge as reasons why you should be alarmed; for the element which you have to deal with is by the laws of nature inconstant: and therefore the longer you have been without a storm the more reason you have to expect one. There is no surer presage of a hurricane than just such a dead calm as I have observed for some time. To speak without a figure: I would not have you flatter yourself that the undisturbed quiet you have so long enjoyed is merely owing to your own integrity and political merit, or to the uncommon prosecution of hawkers and pamphleteers, which has been carried on by the direction of one of your principal instruments, and indeed a most vigorous statesman. This quiet, sir, is owing to deep and inveterate designs, which it becomes me to lay before you, without any regard to the censure I may incur, of revealing private conversation, and of breach of trust. Know then, that from the time you came into a fulness of power, many were shocked at the manner in which you seized it, and at the use you made of it. They said that both were hurtful, indecent, and even shameless. They went still farther, and affirmed, that your conduct was foolish with regard to your own interest; since it was foolish for a man to trust to one expedient of government, who had several in his power; and especially to such an expedient as that of money, which would equally serve to support him or to hang him. These persons, however, notwithstanding their discontent, resolved to lie quiet, till your mal-administration should become so glaring as to justify their opposition, even in his majesty's sight: they said they would not follow your example; and upon that occasion they remembered with some sharpness how you did your utmost to distress the king's affairs, upon the first disgust you received; nay they were malicious enough to call to mind some personal reflections, which the heat of your imagination, and your familiarity with majesty, betrayed you into, and for which they saucily wished what I dare not name. These seditious spirits flattered themselves that you would do your own business when you had the full swing of your power. They were acquainted, they said, with the presumption and distrust, with the boldness and pusillanimity, with the indiscretion and cunning, and with fifty other contradictions, which made up your * See a pamphlet called An Answer to an Infamous Libel, entitled, Sedition and Defamation Displayed. Printed for R. Francklin. VOL. I.-S |