Tuesday, August 29. 1704.

Numb. 51.
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I Hinted in the last Review the Scandal rais’d on this Undertaking, viz. That it does not please every body; I hope some of the Gentlemen Objectors will take that Note for an Answer, as particularly the Gentleman who is so Angry at my Opinion, concerning the Consequences of the late Victory; and so much for Objectors.

’Tis my Satisfaction that they cannot, nor indeed have they attempted to Answer the Reasons brought on this Head; when they can, I shall most readily alter my Opinion.

I am of Opinion I have sin’d against Novelty in the Article of Sweden, and as most People have this Vice in their Judgments, to be always cloy’d with a long Story, I might have dwelt upon the Swedish Affair too long: The Fancy is the Weather-cock of the Soul, and ’tis always Vereing with the Gusts of Novelty; Men are eternally gapeing after Variety, and no Story can be so well told, as to please them, if it be too long in telling.

And yet I cannot satisfy my self to close with this humour of the Town, and quit a Subject, before I have gone thro’ it, to please the Luxuriance of the World’s imagination; such as think me dull, only because I am long, are like those that don’t approve of the Sermon, because they don’t love the Parson.

I have examined the particular Article of the Swedish War in Poland, I have freely told the World my Opinion in two Points, and have advanc’d this Conclusion; First, that the Proceedings of the Swedes, are very great support to French Power; and Secondly, that the French Greatness is the Principal Support of the present Swedish Proceedings; and then I think I bring it to my Text, and make the Story very Consistent with my Design, in telling the World the Extent of French Power.

I cannot quit the Subject, without some Remarks relating to the Consequence of those Matters.

The Swedes have given Poland a King, I wou’d be understood, they have stood by, and given them an opportunity, I cannot say, Liberty to choose a King.

As to them that object against the Freedom of the Election, I have little to say, the Election was every way free, except, as before excepted, the Poles chose him, the Swedes only told them who they should choose, and stood by, drawn up to make them do it.

’Tis true, the Cardinal Primate, Prince Lubomirsky, and several of the Nobility, stood off a little, and protested, but the Swedes did nothing, they only threatned to ravage their Lands a little, they complied, and saw the reason of the thing very plainly.

To hear some People talk of the free Election of a King of Poland, under these Circumstances, is something like the Duke of Lorrain being a free Sovereign, with a French Garrison in the Citadel of Nancy.

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To talk of a free Election, with the Swedish Army drawn up at the distance of 100 Yards from the Place, is something like the free Common Hall of the City, with the Trained Bands at the Door, or Oliver Cromwell’s free Parliament, with his Guards at the Door, to keep whom he pleas’d out of the House.

But an Election, such as it is, is made, and the Palatine of Posen is declared King, by the Name of Stanislaus; as to who chose him, it seems to be a Question the very Swedes themselves are not very careful about.

We say he is chosen by a very inconsiderable Party, a meer Rump Assembly; not a Palatin, not a Deputy is seen from any of the Provinces of that Great Dominion, Great Poland excepted; he is made a King by the influence of a Foreign Army; and ’tis worth Enquiry, what Course the King of Sweden will take to instate him in Possession, and how he will be receiv’d by the other Princes of Christendom.

As to the latter, I am of Opinion, the French King will make no scruple to be the first in Europe, that will acknowlege this new King. If his Swedish Majesty should Attempt to follow the Measures of the King of France, and to Huff and Insult all those Princes, who refuse to own this King of his own making, as his most Christian Majesty did in the Case of the New King of Spain; possibly he might not meet with so good Success in it, and might bring more Enemies on his own hands than he could deal with.

But at present his Swedish Majesty Declares he will stand by this New King with all his Power; and thus the War in the North is broke out into such a Flame, as can never be quench’d, but in the Destruction of one of these two Powers.

The Circumstance of this Matter has something in it which looks very aukwardly upon the Principles some People take upon them to vindicate, as to the Jus Divinum, of Kingly Power; if the Sanction depends upon the Person of the King, I cannot conceive how this Mountebanking of Kings setting them up, and pulling them down at Pleasure, consists with the Sacred Institution of Princes.

I would be very glad to be inform’d, which of these two Kings have the Stamp of Sacred Imprinted upon their Person; if the latter, then all the pretence of Sacred falls to the Ground, because it is Transpos’d with the Name, and it may lie in the Breast of any Neighbouring Monarch, to remove the Sanction, as consists with his Interest; if the former, then is all Europe running either into a War with the Swede, or into the Evil of demolishing the Divine Image in the Person of the injured Prince.

I cannot therefore imagine the King of Sweden will be able so far to influence the Princes of Christendom, as to oblige them to joyn with this New King of his setting up; I cannot guess, the King of France excepted, who will be the first King to acknowledge him; who will send Ambassadors to Congratulate him on his New Throne, and who will first give his Ambassadors the Honours due to the Ministers of a Crown’d head?

Perhaps these Gentlemen who maintain the Doctrine of Divine Right, may think it wholly unconcern’d in this Case, and Elective Kings not at all to be reckoned among the Sacred Persons they mean; yet these Gentlemen must allow the Receiving a Person to the Exercise of a Sovereign Authority, owning him for King, and swearing Allegiance to him, Entitles him to all the Subjection that such People owe to any body, and cannot be dissolv’d, but by the same Legal Power that bound them.

I am farther at a loss to consider how the King of Sweden, or any one Prince whatever, can put a Man upon a Neighbouring People, as a King, stand by with his Army to oblige them to Elect him, force the Dissenting, Opposing, Protesting Nobility to Comply; five Parts in seven of the whole Polish Nation dissenting, and taking up Arms against it, and while all this Opposition is making, call him a King.

This seems to Level the Title of King absolutely with the Will of a Party; and to Entitle any part of a Government to impose a Person on, and give Laws to the rest.

This admits of abundance of Speculations, which are too Foreign to this Matter, and which I cannot enlarge on here, the Digressions I am obliged to of this Nature, being lyable to some Censure.

The Sum of the Matter is this; the King of Sweden has driven Matters to the last Extremity; he has brought another King of Poland upon the Stage of the World; he has promised, and is therefore bound to support his Pretensions.

How he will bring the World to approve this way of making Kings, and pulling down Kings at Pleasure?

How he will bring the rest of Europe to Approve, Congratulate, and Recognize this New King of his own making?

How he will perswade us to believe this to be a free Election?

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How he will Convince the Confederates that he is not a Party to French Power, and an Enemy to the Present Grand Allyance?

How he will perswade them to let him pursue the Present King of Poland into Saxony, and carry the War into the heart of the Empire?

How long the Confederates will see themselves thus Embarrass’d by the Measures this Prince is pursuing; and not agree to hold his hands from blowing up a Destructive Flame in Germany?

These are Questions very difficult to Answer; but as to the last, I am fully perswaded that Europe cannot be so blind, as to let it be long thus; the Consequence of these Proceedings, will in a little time so sensibly touch us all, that the General Stream must run against the Designs of the Swedes, by the Natural Course of things – or if not, Swedish Power and French Power will be equally Fatal to us; the one will Disarm us, while the other will Assault us; and I am so sure of this being the Event, that I venture the Reputation of my little Judgment upon the Consequence.

ADVICE from the Scandal. CLUB.

THe following Letter being sent to the Society, they supposed the Gentleman wou’d think himself and his Cause a little affronted if the Lines were not put in; so you have them exactly Transcrib’d as follows:

To the Gentlemen of the Scandalous Club.
Sirs,
I Prefer your Club much before the Athenian Oracle, and therefore have sent you the inclosed, desiring you would give your Sentiments on it in your next Review, and you will much oblige
Your humble Servant,
T.B.

REader, when Paul’s shall finish’d be
All England there
With one Consent
Convened thou shalt see;
To open, read, and hear
Our Lord’s Last Will and Testament:
And this one thing
I’m well assured
That he hath made the
English King
His Chief Executor and
Steward.

T. B.

The Worthy Author is understood by the Society, to mean, that the Steward he is pleased so to mention, is to suppose, That when St. Paul’s shall be finish’d, the Pretended Prince of Wales shall be Declared Executor of Divine Authority in England.

The Truth of it is, and we are absolutely of the Opinion, what he drives at will be Paul’s work – and as we are obliged to him for adjourning the Story till after Paul’s is finish’d, the Society thought fit to Order this Notice to be given.

That if the Party please to be Content till Paul’s is finish’d, before they bring their Monarch in, the Government will be in no Pain, for that Care will be taken for the time beyond that Period; and so they may even prepare to satisfy themselves with dying like the Prophets, in the Faith of it.

A Complaint was made to the Society of some Abuses Committed, in taking Indirect Methods to List Men for Soldiers, making Men Drunk, and then putting Money into their hands, and pretending they had Listed, hurrying them away to the Savoy, where they are secur’d under a Guard, and kept as Prisoners till they are Convey’d to Holland, &c.

The Society put by a great many Complaints with telling them, they ought to apply themselves to the Magistrates; and that is was Certain the Government, if rightly inform’d, wou’d rectify any Abuses of that kind.

But at last came one of the Sons of the Muses, his Complaint was very large, how basely Trepan’d, how cruelly Used, &c. The Society easily saw he was a Man of Letters, one fitter to handle his Pen than a Sword; fitter to keep Company with Horace and Virgil than Mars, at least a Man of too much Value, to be forc’d to carry a Musquet – and in Order to help him, they Voted it Scandalous, that such a Man shou’d be treated in that manner – and some Persons of Honour having Certified for him, he was Delivered out of the hands of the Devil, by the Magistrates.

The Grateful Poet then Petition’d the Society to Insert the following Acknowlegment to his Benefactors, which with respect to the Dignity of his Profession, they could not deny him.

[220]

Colendiss. & Justiss. Pacis Justitiariis Westmonast.

UNde queam Curii vobis pietate verendi
Justitia vestra carmina digna daret
Faucibus ex erebi squalet rediviva Thalia,
Elisiis campisnon fuit illa mea.
Orpheus Eurydicen petiit sub tartara vates,
Nullus amor nostri funeris antor erat.
Stulte quid uxorem repetis Plutonis ab antro?
Fallaci veneri convenit iste Locus.
Illic Cimmeriis tenebris sus gaudia volvat,
Furta dea Cypriae nam sine Luce placent.
Tuque deam poteras citharae mulcere sonore
Quae regit infernos igne cremante choros.
Audierat facile, timuit ne forte Maritus
Eurydicen soveat nocte silente tuam.
Non mibi pulchra suit cujus capiatur amore,
Quae, rogo, quae vatis pauperis uxor eat?
Electere si liceat quertus modulamine vocis.
Non tulerat nostros horrida diva sonos.
Pluto mibi tetrico contorsit lumina vultu,
Visus eram domino divitis umbra sui.
Miratur deus atque niger quo jure poeta
Pauperie pressus tartara nigra petat.
Munere versisicis cum tellus fungitur orci,
Plus in Nummificos cerbere juris habes.
Non mora. Conveniunt Minos, Rhadamanthus & aquus
AEacus, & judex alter honestus erat.
Miles ab officio sceleris se sistere torvus
Cogitur; ut timuit judicis ora reus!
Arguit & veteri Martis sibi jure Licere
Mortales stygio condere sape Lacu.
An dolus an virtus fuerat quis in hoste rquirat?
Sape juvat Martis fraus inhonesta viros.
Hac me praecipitem rapuit phlegetontis in undas,
Martia vis fuerat, credite, juncta dolis.
Sed chorus ille virum quo non est justior alter
Damnavit rabidi facta nefanda gregis.
Nobilibus titulis ornatum fecerat audix
Jura sui patrii, se quoque nosse, soli.
Arma togis celeri cesserunt impia motu,
Miles & invict a lege repulses abit.
Vivat nestoreos judex justissimus annos
Qui dederat vati vivere posse suo.
Vita tamen fuerat frustra, nisi Phoebe tulisses
Rebus in ambiguis tu generosus opem.
Nos ingens Halifax lustravit Lampade viva,
Par erat ingenio Munificaque manu.

K.C.

This day is publish’d,

A Hymn to Victory. By the Author of the True Born English Man. Printed for John Nutt, near Stationers-Hall.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S.

LIves English and Foreign: Containing the History of the most Illustrious Persons of our own and other Nations, from the Year 1559, to the Year 1690. By several hands; who have been assisted in the Work with many private Memoirs. In two Volumes in 8vo. The English Lives are, William Lord Burleigh, Sir Walter Raleigh, George Duke of Buckingham, Marquess of Montross, Oliver Cromwel, Duke of Hamilton, General Blake, Duke of Albemarl, Earl of Shaftsbury, Duke of Monmouth. Printed for B. Took, at the Middle-Temple-Gate in Fleet-street, and W. Davis, at the Black-Bull in Cornhil; and sold by John Nutt near Stationers-Hall. 1704.

AT the White Swan upon Snow Hill, over-against the Green Dragon Tavern, are made and sold the Newest fashion Flower-Pots for Gardens; Urns, Eagles, and Pine-Apples, to stand upon Posts of Large Gates; also large or small Figures, all made of hard Mettal, much more durable than Stone, and cheaper; also Candle Moulds, fit to make Wax or Tallow Candles, from 1 in the Pound, to 20: There is also made Artificial Fountains, that Play Water from 1, 2, or 3 Foot, to 20 or 30 Foot high, 1, 2, 3,or 6 Hours together, without Repeating with the same Water; which Fountains or Engines may be made use of to extinguish Fire 40 or 50 Foot high, with a continued Stream, larger than the Common Fire-Engines.

A Doctor in Physick Cures all the Degrees and Indispositions in Venereal Persons, by a most easie, safe, and expeditious Method; and of whom any Person may have Advice, and a perfect Cure, let his or her Disease be of the longest Date: He likewise gives his Advice in all Diseases, and prescribes a Cure. DR. HARBOROUGH, (a Graduate Physician) in Great Knight-Riders-street, near Doctors Commons.

Next Term will be publish’d,

THe Book mentioned in the Journal of July, Entitled, A Critical History of the Doctrines and Religious Worships, Good and Bad, that have been in the Church, from Adam, to our Saviour’s time; wherein is found the Original of all the Idolatries of Antient Heathenism, explained, with relation to those of the Jews; and will be Printed for John Taylor, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, and George Sawbridge in Little-Britain.

Lately publish’d,

THE Mask of Moderation pull’d off, the foul Face of Occasional Conformity; being an Answer to a late Poisonous Pamphlet, Entitled Moderation still a Virtue: Wherein the late Reasonings and Shuffling Arguments of that Author is plainly laid open and Confuted. Price 1 s. Cassandra, Numb. II. is Publish’d. price 1s. 6 d.

MDCCIV.

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