Let this our friendship live between our children; Alas poor man, he weeps! - Marcia, my daughter- Would not have match'd his Daughter with a King, From this vain world, th' abode of guilt and sorrow! And yet methinks a On my departing soul. I've been too hasty. beam of light breaks in O ye powers, that search The heart of man, and weigh his inmost thoughts, The best may erre, but you are good, and oh! Lucius. There fled the greatest soul that ever warm'd [Dies. 185 190 1.95 200 205 From hence, let fierce contending nations know What dire effects from civil discord flow. And gives up Rome a prey to Roman arms, 210 ΙΟ From my own Apartment, April 5. There lived some years since within my neighbourhood a very grave person, an Upholsterer, who seemed a man of more than ordinary application to business. He was a very early riser, and was often abroad two or three hours before any of 5 his neighbours. He had a particular carefulness in the knitting of his brows, and a kind of impatience in all his motions, that plainly discovered he was always intent on matters of importance. Upon my enquiry into his life and conversation, I found him to be the greatest Newsmonger in our quarter; that he rose before day to read the Post-man; and that he would take two or three turns to the other end of the town before his neighbours were up, to see if there were any Dutch Mails come in. He had a wife and several children; but was much more inquisitive to know what passed in Poland than in his own family, and was in greater pain and anxiety of mind for King Augustus's welfare than that of his nearest relations. He looked extremely thin in a dearth of news, and never enjoyed himself in a Westerly wind. This indefatigable kind of life was the ruine of his shop; for about the time that his favourite Prince left the Crown of Poland, he broke and disappeared. 15 20 This man and his affairs had been long out of my mind, till about three days ago, as I was walking in St. James's Park, I heard some body at a distance hemming after me: And who should it be but my old neighbour the Upholsterer? I saw he was reduced to extreme poverty, by certain shabby superfluities in his dress: For notwithstanding that it was a very sultry day for the time of the year, he wore a loose great Coat and a Muff, with a long Campaign-whig out of curl; to which he had added the ornament of a pair of black Garters buckled under the knee. Upon his coming up to me, I was going to enquire into his present circumstances; but was prevented by his asking me, with a whisper, Whether the last Letters brought any accounts that one might rely upon from Bender? I told him, None that I heard of; and asked him, Whether he had yet married his eldest daughter? He told me, No. But pray, says he, tell me sincerely, What are your thoughts of the King of Sweden? (for though his wife and children were starving, I found his chief concern at present was for this great Monarch.) I told him, that I looked upon him as one of the first Heroes of the Age. But pray, says he, do you think there is any thing in the story of his wound? and finding me surprized at the question, Nay, says he, I only propose it to you. I answered, that I thought there was no reason to doubt of it. But why in the Heel, says he, more than in any other part of the body? Because, says I, the bullet chanced to light there. This extraordinary dialogue was no sooner ended, but he began to launch out into a long dissertation upon the affairs of the North; and after having spent some time on them, he told me, he was in a great perplexity how to reconcile the Supplement with the English-post, and had been just now 30 examining what the other papers say upon the same subject. The Daily-courant, says he, has these words, We have advices from very good hands, that a certain Prince has some matters of great importance under consideration. This is very 5 IO mysterious; but the Post-boy leaves us more in the dark, for so cautious of naming, I upon which, though there was no body near us, he whispered something in my ear, which I did not hear, or think worth my while to make him repeat. We were now got to the upper end of the Mall, where were three or four very odd fellows sitting together upon the Bench. These I found were all of them Politicians, who used to sun themselves in that place every day about dinner-time. 15 Observing them to be curiosities in their kind, and my friend's acquaintance, I sat down among them. 20 The chief Politician of the bench was a great asserter of Paradoxes. He told us, with a seeming concern, that by some news he had lately read from Muscovy, it appeared to him that there was a storm gathering in the Black sea, which might in time do hurt to the Naval Forces of this nation. To this he added, that for his part, he could not wish to see the Turk driven out of Europe, which he believed could not but be prejudicial to our Woollen Manufacture. He then told us, that he 25 looked upon those extraordinary revolutions which had lately happened in these parts of the world, to have risen chiefly from two persons who were not much talked of; and those, says he, are Prince Menzikoff, and the Dutchess of Mirandola. He backed his assertions with so many broken hints, and such a show of depth and wisdom, that we gave our selves up to his opinions. 30 The discourse at length fell upon a point which seldom escapes a knot of true-born Englishmen, whether in case of a religious war, the Protestants would not be too strong for the Papists? This we unanimously determined on the Protestant side. One who sate on my right hand, and, as I found by his discourse, had been in the West-Indies, assured us, that it would be a very easy matter for the Protestants to beat the Pope at Sea; and added, that whenever such a war does break out, [it]1 must turn to the good of the Leeward Islands. Upon this, one who sate at the end of the bench, and, as I afterwards found, was the Geographer of the company, said, that in case the Papists should drive the Protestants from these parts of Europe, when the worst came to the worst, it would be impossible to beat them out of Norway and Greenland, provided the Northern Crowns hold together, and the Czar of Muscovy stand neuter. 5 ΙΟ He further told us for our comfort, that there were vast tracts of land about the Pole, inhabited neither by Protestants 15 nor Papists, and of greater extent than all the Roman Catholick dominions in Europe. When we had fully discussed this point, my friend the Upholsterer began to exert himself upon the present Negotiations of peace, in which he deposed Princes, settled the bounds of kingdoms; and balanced the power of Europe, with great justice and impartiality. 20 I at length took my leave of the company, and was going away; but had not been gone thirty yards, before the Upholsterer hemmed again after me. Upon his advancing towards 25 me, with a whisper, I expected to hear some secret piece of news, which he had not thought fit to communicate to the Bench; but instead of that, he desired me in my ear to lend him Half-a-Crown. In compassion to so needy a Statesman, and to dissipate the confusion I found he was in, I told him, if he pleas'd, I would give him five shillings, to receive five pounds of him when the Great Turk was driven out of Constantinople; which he very readily accepted, but not before 1 So S; C and T have "in." 30 |