ers; men in misfortune being like men in the dark, to whom all colours are the same. But when they came forward into the world, and began to display themselves to each other, and to the light, their complexions appeared extremely different; which the present posture of their affairs gave them sudden opportunity to dis

cover.

But here the severe reader may justly tax me as a writer of short memory; a deficiency to which a true modern cannot but, of necessity, be a little subject: because memory being an employment of the mind upon things past, is a faculty, for which the learned in our illustrious age have no manner of occasion, who deal entirely with invention, and strike all things out of themselves, or at least by collision from each other; upon which account we think it highly reasonable to produce our great forgetfulness, as an argument unanswerable for our great wit. I ought, in method, to have informed the reader about fifty pages ago, of a fancy Lord Peter took, and infused into his brothers, to wear on their coats whatever trimmings came up in fashion; never pulling off any as they went out of the mode, but keeping on all together; which amounted in time to a medley, the most antic you can possibly conceive: and this to a degree, that, upon the time of their falling out, there

was hardly a thread of the original coat to be seen; but an infinite quantity of lace, and ribbands, and fringe, and embroidery, and points; (I mean only those tagged with silver*, for the rest fell off). Now, this material circumstance having been forgot in due place; as good fortune hath ordered, comes in very properly here, when the two brothers are just going to reform their vestures into the primitive state, prescribed by their father's will.

They both unanimously entered upon this great work, looking sometimes on their coats, and sometimes on the will. Martin laid the first hand; at one twitch brought off a large handful of points; and, with a second pull, stripped away ten dozen yards of fringe. But when he had gone thus far, he demurred a while. He knew very well, there yet remained a great deal more to be done. However, the first heat being over, his violence began to cool, and he resolved to proceed more moderately in the rest of the work; having already very narrowly escaped a swinging rent in pulling off the points, which, being tagged with silver, (as we have observed before), the judicious workman had with much sagacity

* Points tagged with silver, or those doctrines that promote the greatness and wealth of the church, which have been therefore woven deepest in the body of Popery.

double sown, to preserve them from falling. Resolving therefore to rid his coat of a huge quantity of gold lace, he picked up the stitches with much caution, and diligently gleaned out all the loose threads as he went; which proved to be a work of time. Then he fell about the embroidered Indian figures of men, women, and children; against which, as you have heard in its due place, their father's testament was extremely exact and severe: these, with much dexterity and application, were, after a while, quite eradicated, or utterly defaced. For the rest, where he observed the embroidery to be worked so close, as not to be got away without damaging the cloth, or where it served to hide or strengthen any flaw in the body of the coat, contracted by the perpetual tampering of workmen upon it; he concluded, the wisest course was, to let it remain; resolving in no case whatsoever, that the substance of the stuff should suffer injury; which he thought the best method for serving the true intent and meaning of his father's will. And this is the nearest account I have been able to collect of Martin's proceed ings upon this great revolution *.

The criticisms of the Martinists (whom we may suppose the members of the church of England) were, it is to be hoped, more candid than those contained in the following note for Martin is treated with a much less degree of sar

But his brother Jack*, whose adventures will be so extraordinary as to furnish a great part in the remainder of this discourse, entered upon the matter with other thoughts, and a quite dif

-The church of En

casm than the other two brothers.. gland can scarce be angry at such a favourable account of Luther; especially as we have since reformed from Luther himself; and, so far as our judgements can teach us, have restored our habits still nearer to the original fashion, which they bore at the perfection of the testament.

Orrery.

* In the character of Jack, a set of people were alarmed, who are easily offended, and who can scarce bear the chearfulness of a smile. In their dictionary, wit is only another name for wickedness; and the purer or more excellent the wit, the greater and more impious the abomination. However wide, therefore, the difference of Peter and Jack might have been in fashioning their coats, the two brothers most sincerely agreed in their hatred of an adversary so powerful as this anonymous author. They spared no unmannerly reflections upon his character. They had recourse to every kind of abuse that could reach him. And sometimes it was the work of Swift and his companions sometimes not a syllable of it was his work; it was the work of one of his uncle's sons, a clergyman; and sometimes it was the work of a person who was to be nameless. Each of these malicious conjectures reigned in its turn: and it will be found, that bold assertions, however false, almost constantly meet with success; a kind of triumph that would appear one of the severest institutes of fate, if time and truth did not soon obliterate all marks of the victory. Orrery.

ferent spirit. For the memory of Lord Peter's injuries produced a degree of hatred and spite, which had a much greater share of inciting him, than any regards after his father's commands; since these appeared at best only secondary and subservient to the other. However, for this medley of humour he made a shift to find a very plausible name, honouring it with the title of zeal; which is perhaps the most significant word that hath been ever yet produced in any language; as, I think, I have fully proved in my excellent analytical discourse upon that subject; wherein I have deduced a histori-theo-phisi-logical account of zeal, shewing how it first proceeded from a notion into a word, and from thence, in a hot summer, ripened into a tangible substance. This work, containing three large volumes in folio, I design very shortly to publish by the modern way of subscription; not doubting but the nobility and gentry of the land will give me all possible encouragement, having had already such a taste of what I am able to perform.

I record, therefore, that brother Jack, brimfull of this miraculous compound, reflecting with indignation upon Peter's tyranny, and farther provoked by the despondency of Martin, prefaced his resolutions to this purpose. What, said he, a rogue that locked up his drink, turned away our wives, cheated us of our fortunes, palmed his.