Oh the Liberty of the Prefs, and lis Ufe to a King of England. * : (From a New Work entitled Sylva, or the Woods) "THE Liberty of the Prefs," faith a certain writer," is the palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman,"to which I have no objection but he contends, that "no particular abuses ought, in reason and equity, to produce a general forfeiture, or to abolish the use of it," to which I must object very loudly. I agree, that abufe ought not to abolish ufe; but I infift, that this pofition cannot be maintained fo abfolutely, as is here fuppofed. For, furely, whenever the evils, arifing from the abuje, fhall exceed the evils, which would arife from abolishing the ufe, then this ufe in reafon ought to be abolished; provided only, that the abufe be incorrigible. With regard to the Liberty of the Prefs, I fhall not defcant, whether a bufes ought or ought not to abolish its ufe: perfuaded am I fincerely, that, if our prefent manners hold, they moft affuredly will. When the Prefs ridicules openly and barefacedly the moft revered and fundamental doctrines of religion: when the Prefs, in political matters, attacks perfons without any regard to things, or perhaps attacks things for the fake of abufing perfons: when the Prefs not only wantonly affaults the first characters in church and ftate, but even facrifices the peace and quiet of private families to the fport and entertain ment of an ill-natured public:-and is it not notorious, that all this is done daily t? then, I fay, this noble, reafonable, and manly Liberty is degenerated into a base, unwarrantable, cruel licentioufnefs; and this licentioufnefs-determine as logically, and contend as loudly, as you pleafewill, by an unavoidable confequence flow. ing from the nature and conftitution of things, fooner or later bring about its deftruction. Things are fo formed, that extremes muft ever beget, and prepare the way for extremes. Abuses of every thing muft deftroy the ufe of every thing: and if the people grow licentious and ungovernable, it is as natural, perhaps as ne *Junius, in Dedicat. Pref. and Lett. 61. "Such writings the vulgar more greedily read, as being taken with petulance and fourrility. They are the food of men's natures, the diet of the times. The writer muft lye; and the gentle reader refs happy, to hear the worthief works mifinterpreted, the cleareft actions obfcured, the innocenteft life adu cea." Ben Johnson's Difcoveries. ceflary, for their rulers to increase the restraint, and abridge their liberty, as f the breakers of horfes to tighten t reins, in proportion as their fteeds fha fhew an impatience to be managed *. 1 It has been faid, that without freedo of thought there can be no fuch thing wisdom, nor any fuch thing as libert without freedom of fpeech; and, becauf the latter is true in a qualified fenfe, an under certain limitations, the authority é Tacitus has been abfurdly and even stupid ly obtruded, as a warrant to take off al reftraint; and allow ourselves an unbound ed licence, as well in fpeaking as in think ing. "Rare and happy times," fays he “when a man may think what he wil and fpeak what he thinks;" rara tem porum felicitas, ubi fentire que velis et quæ fentias dicere, licet.. Rare and happy times indeed! But pray, good firs what times were thofe, or who has read of any times, when men were not at liberty to think as they would? A man may think as he pleafes in the worst times; as well at in the best, becaufe thought, as they fay is at all times free: but can a man at any time, or under any government, even the beft, be allowed the liberty of Speaking what he pleafes, of communicating himfeif up to the ftandard of his ideas May every man fpe ik of every man, what, for inftance, the spleen of humour, or the caprice of imagination, fhall happen to fug geft-But thefe gentry, in truth, know as little of Tacitus, as they do of fociety, and what it will bear. "If life remains," fays he, "I have referved, for the employment of my old age, the reign of the deified Nerva, with that of the Emperor Trajan; a work more copious, as well as more fafe; fuch is the rare felicity, of thefe times, when you are at full liberty to entertain what fentiments you please, and to declare what fentiments you enter tain." To declare what fentiments you entertain; yes, but of whom, or what? Montaigne looked upon fcribbling, # the fign of a licentious age;" and thought, that "there should be laws against foolth and impertinent fcribblers, as well as againt vagabonds and idle perfons." Eflaus, iii. 9. The misfortune is, that it would be difficult to draw the line betwixt foolish and wife fcribblers; and a licenfer, with an imprima tur, would defeat the end of all fcribblers, wife as well as foolish. of every man you meet, or of every g that happens; Tacitus understood an affairs in a different manner: but hofe particular reigns, opposed to fortyrannical reigns; when men, far a fpeaking out, durft fcarcely trust afelves even with their own thoughts. is remarkable, that the freeft think as well as the freeft speakers, have er allowed fuch a licence in theory, tever themselves may have taken 'in Яtice. "Let us not imagine, like e who are called free-thinkers, that ry man, who can think and judge for felf, as he has a right to do, has theree a right of peaking, any more than acting, according to the full freedom his thoughts. The freedom belongs aim as a rational creature: he lies un· reftraint as a member of fociety. e may communicate our thoughts only as it may be done without offending : laws of our country, and difturbing e public peace *." And if this be true about things and inions, fhall it not be fo, a fortiori, nen applied to perfons and characters? fuit a philofopher be circumfpect and arded, when treating of abftract propo ions, or difcuffing fpeculative points hich few can comprehend; while any ww, malicious, unprincipled wretch fhall e permitted to featter firebrands indifcriinately in fociety, and vomit out fcurlity and abufe, without juftice and with ut measure? Will any man fay, that the aws of our country are not offended, and he peace of fociety difturbed, more in the atter eafe than in the former? I know it will be asked, where will you draw the ine of diftinction? how afcertain the point, where liberty ends, and licentioufefs begins? and I fhall in this, as in maay other cafes, allow the extreme difficulty of marking boundaries ‡, and refacing human affairs to precifion and exetnefs; but I believe nevertheless, that anlefs fome expedient can be hit upon to correct the very atrocious abufe of the Prefs, the deftruction of its ufe will be Britain, than (if poffible) to any of his fubjects; and this alone fuffices with me to ftifle and keep down every rifing jealoufy. In abfolute defpotic governments, where the will of the Prince is the law of the country, where all things are adminiftered by force and arins, and where the glory of the Grand Monarque is the fole end and object of the monarchy, it matters not much for him to know, what the condition of his fubjects is, and what they fay or think about him: but in a qualified and limited monarchy, like ours, where the King is no more than the First Magiftrate appointed by the people, where he is as bound to obey the laws as the meaneft of his fubjects, and where the well-being of thefe fubjects is the fole end of his appointment-furely to fuch a Prince it must be of the last confequence to know, as minutely as he can, what is doing in every corner of his kingdom; what the state and conditions of his fubjects; whether they enjoy plenty, propor tioned to their induftry; and whether, in fhort, the end of his kingly government be in every refpect answered? All this, I fay, and more, a King of Great Britain must know as he can but how must he know it? A King, let his difcernment of fpirits be what it will, let him pry ever fo acutely into the heads and hearts of those about him, will never be able to pierce through the manifold difguifes, which courtiers always know how to wrap themselves in. By courtiers are not meant thofe gaudy painted images, which move mechanically about a palace, and are really nothing more than so much furniture; but those, who are entrusted with the great offices, to whom the adminiftration of affairs is committed, and who for the most part manage and direct the reins of government as they please. And as he cannot difcover, by any natural fagacity in himfelf, the latent principles of things, any more than the real characters of perfons; fo he must not expect to receive any effectual information from others. For, I fuppofe, it will be no fatire upon any pat* ticular court, that now is, or ever was, to say, that their never was a Prince, who was told by any of his fervants all thofe truths, which it concerned him to know. At least this feems a propofition fo very well grounded, that I do not think the fevere plain-deating of a Clarendon, or the honeft bluntnefs of a Sully, fufficient to form an exception to it. The Emperor Diocletian made the difficulty of reigning I well, well, to confift chiefly in the difficulty of arriving at the real knowledge of affairs, "Four or five courtiers," fays he, "form themselves into a cabal, and unite in their counfels to deceive the Emperor. They fay what will please their mafter who, being fhut up in his palace, is a ftranger to the truth, and forced to know only what they think fit to tell him." (Now this great hindrance to good government, as Diocletian thought it, is almoft, if not altogether, removed by the justly valued Liberty of the Prefs. By means of this, the lowest subject may find accefs to the Throne; and, by means of this, the King has a key, if I may so call it, to all manner of intelligence: nor is there any thing, the least important to government, of which he can remain long uninformed, unless he defignedly fhuts his eyes. It is not meant that he should fuddenly adopt, as real truth and matter of fact, every thing which may be read in the public prints; and many perhaps may think,that amidst fo much mifreprefentation and error, fo much partiality and difguife, fo much indifcriminate fcurrility and abuse, he can hardly depend upon any thing at all, or take any measures from fuch a chaos of truth and falfhood. But of this chaos, were it ten times more fo, Diocletianus dixit, nihil effe difficilius quam bene imperare. Colligunt fe quatuor vel quinque, atque unum confilium ad decipiendum: Imperatorem capiunt. Dicunt, quid probandum fit. Imperator, qui domi claufus eft, vera non novit: cogitur tantum boc fcire, quod ili loquuntur. Vopifcus in Aureliano Princes," fays Ben Jonfon," learn no art truly, but the art of horsemanship. The reafon is, the brave beaft is no flatterer: he will throw a Prince, as foon as a groom." Discoveries. it is indifputably certain, that very much ufe, and very many advantages, may be made. The King may be directed to find, what he would never have thought of looking for: more than glimmerings will ever and anon appear, which will enable him to puff his difcoveries far; and he will trace from hence many things to their fource, which would otherwife have remained for ever unknown. In short, from thefe public intelligencers, fome things will be hinted, others spoken out more freely, others prefented in their full glare; and thus, upon the whole, all concerns of moment will lie open before him. Wicked and felfifh minifters know this fo well, that we have often heard of management, in courts very corrupt, to stop up these channels of intelligence to the Prince. They know, that by them a conftant commerce, correfpondence, and union, as it were, may be maintained between the Prince and his people. They know, that while thefe are fo maintained, they vainly attempt to cabal, and to impofe upon their mafter; and if, notwithftanding they will not tell him all the truth they should, yet they dare not abuse him with mifreprefentation and liesi Why? becaufe difcovery is inftantly at hand, and becaufe difgrace and ruin will tread upon the heels of it. So that, all things confidered, the advantage to the Sovereign from the Liberty of the Prefs is one great fecurity with me for the continuance and prefervation of it; nor, I pertempted by any King, who knows his fuade myself, will its abolition ever be attrue intereft, and purfues the well-being and happiness of his people, as the felc end and object of his reigning. The Vices of Youth and Old Age. (From a New Work entitled Sylva, or the Wood.) ME EN are Stoicks in their early years, Epicureans in their later; focial in youth, felfish in old age. In early life they believe all men honeft, till they know them to be knaves; in late life they believe ailmen kuaves, till they know them so be honest. Young men not only take virtue for a folid good, but affect it often with enthufiaftic ardor; old men ufually eat it as an empty name, or (to ufe the words of Lord Rochefter)" if they do talk of it as a fine thing, yet this is only because they think it a decent way of fpeaking, and neceffary for their credit and affairs." Thus, fome how or other men país, in the courfe of living, from one of thefe extremes to the other; and, from having thought too well of human nature at first, think at last, perhaps, too ill of it. It has ufually been obferved, and I believe juftly, that youth is the feafon of virtue: but, fays a certain preacher, "it *Burnet's Life and Death of Rochetter, p. 23. might have been obferved with equal truth, that youth is the feafon of vice; fince every age of human life has vices as well as virtues, which are almost peculiar to itfelft." True: but the vices, peculiar to youth, may, with fome indulgence at leaft, be deemed fins against prudence, rather than against virtue; they are fins of the body, rather than fins of the foul, if the diftinction may be allowed; that is, they do not fo much proceed from iniquity or depravity of heart, as from heat in the blood and frength of paffion. Jones was of a gay and vigorous confitution, and occafionly indulged with women and wine, beyond what strict chaftity and temperance permit; but Jones had franknefs, honefty of heart + Balguy's Sermons, 1785. warm affections, focial and sympathetic feelings. Blifil, on the other hand, kept up in all its rigour the form of morals, and affumed upon occafion the garb of fainthood; but Blifil was without fenfibility, referved, felfish, cunning a villain. Such feems to have been the difference be tween the armies of the Parliament and Charles I.; the foldiers of Charles being rather profligate in morals, while thofe of the Parliament were in faith and obfervances very faints. Yes, fays a Cavalier to a Roundhead who was boafting of this, thou fayeft true: for in our army we have. drinking and wenching, the fins of men; but in yours you have thofe of devils, spiritual pride and rebellion‡. Sir Philip Warwick's Memoirs of Charles I. p. 253. Of great Men and Dr. Samuel Johnson. GREAT man? fays Voltaire, we must con was a great man, a very great man; yet only partially fo. He had a great and comprehenfive understanding, perhaps the greatest that hath yet fhone forth among the fons of men: but it does not appear, that he would have been great in either field or cabinet; and for greatnefs of foul, as it is called, the poet, who ftiles him the wifeft and the brighteft, brands him at the fame time for the meaneft of mankind. Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, was a very great man: even Bolingbroke, who certainly was not prejudiced in his favour, allows him to have been "the greatest general as well as the greateft minifter, that our country or perhaps any other has produced t." Yet Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, was illiterate to an extreme; of an understanding totally uncultivated; and in which, if you could have crept under the glare of his exterior, you would have difcerned weakneffes,equal to those of the weakest men. Julius Cæfar was a great general and a great statesman; but he was more. Julius Cæfar was a man of letters, Grand homme? il ne faut pas prodiguer ce titre. Siecle de Louis, in Car. Doviat. + Upon Hiflory. Letter viii. and a fine writer; had a most comprehenfive as well as cultivated understanding; and, withal, a moft uncommon greatnefs of foul. Julius Cæfar is, in my humble opinion, the greatest man upon record. Lewis XIV, like many other tyrants furrounded by pimps and flatterers, had the title of Great conferred upon him but Lewis's greatness was to real greatness, what the bombaft is to the fublime, or the Amulacra of Epicurus to real bodies. man of one The late Dr. Samuel Johnfon was a great parts, and was indifputably a great man, if great parts fimply can make *: but Dr. Samuel Johnfon was the meaneft of bigots, a dupe and flave to the most contemptible prejudicest; and, upon fubjects the most important, is known to have held opinions, which are abfolutely. adifgrace to human understanding. The Prefident Montefqnieu has said, that the rank or place, which posterity be flows, is fubject like all others to the He was probably learned; but I do not reckon learning among the attributes of great men. Learning may be attained by little men, who will apply: but learning without parts, or a capacity to ufe it, is merely dead, unweildly matter, caput mortuum, devoid of life or fpirit. Like wealth or titles, it often ferves only to make a blockhead confpicuous. § One would think, from a paffage in the Rambler, that he himself did a little fufpect 12 this a whim and caprice of fortune||:" and our Wollafton was fo difgufted with the foolish and iniquitous judgments of men, that he betook himself early in life to retirement, propter iniqua hominum judicia as he left to be infcribed upon his tombftone. If any thing could cure a man's anxiety, and render him indifferent, about what is faid or thought of him, now or hereafter, it would be thefe blind, abfurd, iniquitous judgements of men; who break riotoufly forth into praife or cenfure, without regard to truth or juftice, but just as paffion and prejudice impel. ter. Dr. Johnfon" feems, together with the ableft head, poffeffed of the very best heart at prefent exifting;" fays one wri"Never on earth did one mortal body encompass fuch true greatnefs and fuch true goodnefs," fays another; who obferves alfo, that his Lives of the Poets would alone have been fufficient to immortalize his name." How able his head. or (as a third expresses it) what fupendous firength of understanding he might have, cannot be precifely defined; but it is certain, that this ftupendous underflanding was not frong enough to force its way through the meaneft prejudices, with which it was once entangled. And for the very beft heart, and fuch true goodness as one mortal body did never before encom pafs, this is the language of journalists and periodical writers: let us hear the teftimony of thofe, who have always known him perfonally, and intimately. Bifhop Newton, fpeaking of the above Lives of the Poets, fays, that malevolence predominates in every part; and that though fome paffages are judicious and well written, yet they make not fufficient this: the pride of wit and knowledge," 1ays he, "is often mortified by finding, that they can confer no fecurity against the common errors, which mislead the weakest and meaneft of mankind." No6. Les places que la pofterite donne font fujettes, comme les autres, aux caprices de la fortune. Grand. des Rom. c. I. compenfation for fo much fpleen and ill humour, an impartial account (fo it is called) of Dr. Johufon in the European Magazinet, faid to be written by the ingenious Mifs Seward, fets forth, that he was indeed a man of very great parts and of many good qualities, which is far from our intent to deny or detract from; but that his character was a very mixed, and (the might have added) a very imperfect, ane. His writings are reprefented as excellent and fine, where not "difgraced, as in his criticifins, with the faults of his difpofition. He had ftrong affections, it is faid, "where literary envy did not interfere; but that envy was of fuch deadly potency, as to load his converfation, as it has loaded his biographic works, with the rancour of party violence, with national averfion, bitter farcasm, and un chriftian-like inveƐlive. He returned from the compofitions of rifing genius with a vifible horror, which proved too plainly, that envy was the bosom-ferpent of this literary defpot. His pride was infinite; yet, amidst all the over bearing arrogance it produced, his heart melted at the fight, or at the reprefentation, of dif eafe and poverty, and, in the hours of affluence, his purfe was ever open to relieve them. He was a furious Jacobite, while one hope for the Stuart line remained; and his politics, always leaning towards defpotifm, were inimical to liberty, and the natural rights of mankind. He was punctual in his devotions; but his religious faith had much more of bigotfiercenefs, than of that gentlenefs which the gofpel inculcates," &c. If this reprefentation be in any degree juft, and I never heard of its being either difowned or contradicted, what are we to think of panegyrifts, who afcribe to him fuch true greatness and fuch true goodness as were never before encompassed by one mortal body. Life by bimfelf. + For May, 1785. Obfervations on the Abufe of the Poor Laws. WHEN a set of men, of mean and mer cenary difpofitions, obtain an authority, (no matter by what means) that either is, or may by art be made lucrative, the fociety in which they live foon experience both tyranny and oppreffion, nor will fuch people fcruple at any methods however infamous, to fecure and encrease their power, and to prevent a public infpection of their conduct. In this respect Select Vestries have shewn themselves complete adepts in the arts of invention. In the dawn of their inftitution, the legislature wifely provided a very neceffary check upon their conduct, hy obliging them to fettle their accounts every year before two Juftices |