Hide Article Text (OCR)
but the Cowardice of an Admiral; or that it might be possible enough, yet we cannot entertain such dishonourable Thoughts of our Seamen. And if we are not willing to divert ourselves of our Hereditary Courage, we must be backwarder to think we had at last forgot our Skill at Sea, which had been de rived through so many past Ages unto the present, that it grew to be a kind of Birthright unto the Frglyth Nation. And if that by too--incredible,yet that there were fore among usfuil, who were so extremely obliging to our French Scholars in this Art, as to all our former Kindnesses in that unhappy Point, to add this one more, [for the sake of no thing but an Humor and a Frolick,] ‘twas to set them try, if they could hit their Masters a blow on the Head ; though, in all likelihood, the Wea pon might have even pierced them to the Skull. No, we were no sooner defeated of those hopes we had embarked in that Fleet, but we were quick ly acquainted with the probable (if not certain) Reasons of their being so unexpectedly frustrated. We had a powerful Enemy to encounter us from without, and, it seems, a Secret Adversary, at the same time, working within us too. The Hands of the fast might be possibly as long as they were streightned, and could easily reach, so far as to carry a stroke, and an influence in that great Affair. And ’tis now, that the World will be hardly, so scru pulous, ‘as no,doubt whether the pretended .Memo- ria were auchentick’and: true; but: rather think with Reason, cwas a real thing;: and only:referved Unto the present junttore codeticin:a,clearéer,Light., And though forme: of thet Parties: concerned in sit, awere pleas'd to offer at a: Minisibation; yetiir met with no better: a Success than: the ulefairness: of it ‘could deserve.. Aridic has been diffidently hinted at in a former Paper, that the World will take it, it owns the same Hand which drew: up and signed; with the rest; an Abhorrency of that black Design, that condescended:to Expressions. of, the warmest- Affe ron to another; that comes ‘short of the first in nothing else burn ‘its time.: But, we have enough to‘put the Matter;past any doubt,at all,. That, the Plot, which-now- has been discovered,is but the Revival of an old one: Since: we have had the Let ters themselves exposed to our view, that, intimate the Design:on Foot; and,(at.Jeatt): one of, them says it in the expredieit. Terms, [that some Inter ruption which hath been given tom former Correspondence has had very ill Effects. : I the rather insist upon this, ‘with a more,than ordinary Earnestness, to then the just. Concernment we have rearod tov entertain:in the Detection.. “Tis by so much the more dangerous, by how much the more pace it has had.for a:Growth. Vait.Designs can never be compassed in.an instant, they, must have a Time to be planted.a,and.a-Time to ripen. Neither Home, nor Rome’s Interest will be built or founded in a Day; it_admits.of a flow,; and a, Ta ctual Progressong..and has its‘Risings and Declen Gions, according to tthe Interruption that is given to it, or the Assistance that is.afforded it. . Things of this nature gather Strength and f@onfidence, by not being troubled ,to the purposes of Winds that are only blustering rather fasten the Roots of a Tree, than tear them ups .So,that,, according to the belt, and the truest judgment, we can make of Humane Affairs, the present must have hot its Branches so much the wider, by how much the less of effectual Disturbance it has met with from any other Hands, than the Hand that dressed it; and that, we may be sure, would cultivate it with all the Art that could possibly be thought of. It would govern it self by the most refined Politicks, and be careful, above all,how to hurt any one of those Springs it wound up with so much Exactness and Caption. Some may question the Truth, or the Importance of it, because of the manner of its Discovery, and the Ease we found in seizing the Persons and Papers of chofe that cagfied ion. » They may make a Great, fiany Preterces, and endeavour to look the Plot out of Countenance’; they may ridicule some Pafs fages in the Management, for such silly things, that the Reason of Mankind cannet, chafe but laugh at them; but this does not at all strike at the Reality, or at the Depth of the Design ; it can represent the more than some Mistakes in the Conduit of it, and great Projects are sometimes blasted by little Acci dents; future Contingencies fall not always within the compass of Humane Foresight, the Prospect of a Man is too much shortned and confined, and a false Step is an easie thirg, and upon this Account it is, that any Failure in the Success does not at all go to lessen, or take off the Credit of the Contrivance. Besides, we may well admit of the Interposition of a Divine Providence, that has baffled Plots which have been laid according to the most refined Rules of Policy and Cunning, by only dropping in factt fal], and unthought-of Accidents,’ where the Ef fects they produce,are so happy, as could have been expected from their Causes. This, indeed, is a Work that may well be ranked among the brigh test Wonders of that miraculous Favour, which has all along seemed to have attended, with a Solici tude, and a Carefulness upon the present Revolu tion. Thus we have the suspected’ Progress. of ‘that grand Design set before our Eyes, that must ‘neces arily draw the most fatal Consequences after’ ic, should it have the fortune to out-live that Dust and Storm which it has so happily raised, by the timely Discovery of it. : The End of the Third Volume.
Newspaper Details
Man In the Moon
London, Middlesex, GB
Wed, Mar 14, 1691
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Amber G.
AU 21 Jun 2026
Other Publications Near London, Middlesex
Bingleys Journal
Arminian Magazine
London Daily Mail
London Stars and Stripes
London Daily Universal Register
