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.
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.
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"Never to enter again into 
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