CHAP. XIX.

The defcription of a perfon discontented with the present government, and apprehenfive of the lofs of our liberties.

THE

HE houfe where we were to be entertained, lying at a fmall distance from the village, our inviter obferved, that as the coach was not ready, he would conduct us on foot, and we foon arrived at one of the most magnificent manfions I had feen in that part of the country. The apartment into which we were fhewn was perfectly elegant and modern; he went to give orders for fupper, while the player, with a wink, observed that we were perfectly in luck. Our entertainer foon returned, an elegant fupper was brought in, two or three ladies in an eafy dishabille were introduced, and the converfation began with fome fprightlinefs. Politics, however, were the subject on which our

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entertainer chiefly expatiated; for he af ferted that liberty was at once his boast and his terror. After the cloth was removed, he asked me if I had seen the last Monitor, to which replying in the negative, What, nor the Auditor, I suppose?” cried he. Neither, Sir,' returned I. 'That's

ftrange, very strange,' replied my entertainer. Now, I read all the politics that come out. The Daily, the Public, the Ledger, the Chronicle, the London Evening, the Whitehall Evening, the feventeen magazines, and the two Reviews; and though they hate each other, I love them all. Liberty, Sir, liberty is the Briton's boaft, and by all my coal. mines in Cornwall, I reverence its guardians.' Then it is to be hoped,' cried I, you reverence the king.'Yes," returned. my entertainer, when he does what we would have him; but if he goes on as he has done of late, I'll never troublemyself more with his matters. I fay nothing. I think only. I could have directed fome things better. I don't think there has been a fufficient number of

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advifers he should advise with every perfon willing to give him advice, and ⚫ then we should have things done in anotherguess manner.'

I wish,' cried I, that fuch intruding advisers were fixed in the pillory. It 'fhould be the duty of honeft men to

affift the weaker fide of our conftitution, • that facred power that has for fome years • been every day declining, and losing its

due fhare of influence in the ftate. But ⚫ these ignorants still continue the cry of liberty, and if they have any weight, bafely throw it into the subsiding scale.'

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How,' cried one of the ladies, I live to fee one fo bafe, fo fordid, as to be an enemy to liberty, and a defender ' of tyrants? Liberty, that facred gift of heaven, that glorious privilege of Britons !'

Can it be poffible,' cried our entertainer, that there fhould be any found • at prefent advocates for flavery? Any who

are

⚫ are for meanly giving up the privileges of Britons? Can any, Sir, be fo abject ?'

No, Sir,' replied I, I am for liberty, • that attribute of Gods! Glorious liberty! that theme of modern declamation. I ⚫ would have all men kings. I would be a king myself. We have all naturally an equal right to the throne: We are all originally equal. This is my opinion, and was once the opinion of a fet of honeft ⚫ men who were called Levellers. They • tried to erect themfelves into a commu

nity, where all should be equally free. But, alas! it would never anfwer; for there were fome among them stronger, ⚫ and some more cunning than others, and these became masters of the reft; for as fure as your groom rides your horfes, because he is a cunninger animal than they, fo furely will the ani• mal that is cunninger or stronger than he, fit upon his fhoulders in turn. • Since then it is entailed upon humanity

to fubmit, and fome are born to com

mand,,