Part 1 (1/2)

Reflections upon Two Pamphlets Lately Published.

by Anonymous.

I Was very glad when I heard that one Monsieur _de Cros_ had published an Answer to a late Book, Ent.i.tuled, _Memoirs of what pa.s.s'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 amus.e.m.e.nt 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 _Advertis.e.m.e.nt_ 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 pa.s.sed 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 Defroque_, 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 G.o.d, 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, a.s.sures 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 s.h.i.+nes 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 Defroque_: 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 t.i.tle Page named this man, _An Amba.s.sador 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 a.s.sembly 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 Pa.s.sage 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_ Amba.s.sador, 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 Amba.s.sador 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 Pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sion: 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 Pa.s.sports 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 a.s.sert 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_ Emba.s.sador; 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 Emba.s.sador, with the greatest scorn and contempt.

Besides, he brings this n.o.ble 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 Amba.s.sadour 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.