THE STORM: AN ESSAY.

Two tempests are blown over, now prepare
For storms of treason and intestine war.
The high-church fury to the north extends,
In haste to ruin all their friends.
Occasional conforming led the way,

And now occasional rebellion comes in play,
To let the wond'ring nation know,
That high-church honesty 's an empty show,
A phantom of delusive air,

That as occasion serves can disappear,
And loyalty's a senseless phrase,

An empty nothing which our interest sways,
And as that suffers this decays.

Who dare the dangerous secret tell,
That churchmen can rebel.

Faction we thought was by the Whigs engross'd,
And forty-one was banter'd till the jest was lost.
Bothwell and Pentland hills were fam'd,

And Gilly Cranky hardly nam'd.

If living poets dare not speak,

We that are dead must silence break;
And boldly let them know the time's at hand,
When Ecclesiastic tempests shake the land.
Prelatic treason from the crown divides,
And now rebellion changes sides.
Their volumes with their loyalty may swell,
But in their turns too they rebel ;
Can plot, contrive, assassinate.

And spite of passive laws disturb the state.
Let fair pretences fill the mouths of men,
No fair pretence shall blind my pen;
They that in such a reign as this rebel,
Must needs be in confederacy with hell.
Oppressions, tyranny, and pride,
May form some reasons to divide ;
But where the laws with open justice rule,
He that rebels must be both knave and fool.
May heaven the growing mischief soon prevent,
And traitors meet reward in punishment.

421

THE

TRUE-BORN ENGLISHMAN :

A

SATIRE.

Statuimus pacem, et securitatem et concordiam judicum et justiciam inter Anglos et Normannos, Francos et Britanes, Walliæ, et Cornubiæ, Pictos et Scotos, Albaniæ, similiter inter Francos et insulanos provincias et patrias, quæ pertinent ad coronam nostram, et inter omnes nobis subjectos firmiter et inviolabiliter observare.

Charta Regis Gullielmi Conquisitoris de Pacis Publica, cap. i.

DANIEL DEFOE, incensed at the cry against foreigners, which the opponents of King William excited against his Dutch favourites and guards, composed the following Satire in their defence. It was written especially in answer to Tutchin's "Foreigner," an abusive poem.

AN

EXPLANATORY PREFACE.

It is not that I see any reason to alter my opinion in any thing I have writ, which occasions this epistle; but I find it necessary for the satisfaction of some persons of honour, as well as wit, to pass a short explication upon it; and tell the world what I mean, or rather, what I do not mean, in some things wherein I find I am liable to be misunderstood.

I confess myself something surpris'd to hear that I am taxed with bewraying my own nest, and abusing our nation, by discovering the meanness of our original, in order to make the English contemptible abroad and at home; in which, I think, they are mistaken: for why should not our neighbours be as good as we to derive from? And I must add, that had we been an unmix'd nation, I am of opinion it had been to our disadvantage: for to go no farther, we have three nations about us as clear from mixtures of blood as any in the world, and I know not which of them I could wish ourselves to be like; I mean the Scots, the Welsh, and the Irish; and if I were to write a reverse to the Satire, I would examine all the nations of Europe, and prove, that those nations which are most mix'd, are the best, and have least of barbarism and brutality among them; and abundance of reasons might be given for it, too long to bring into a Preface.

But I give this hint, to let the world know, that I am far from thinking, 'tis a Satire upon the English nation, to tell them, they are derived from all the nations under heaven; that is, from several nations. Nor is it meant to undervalue the original of the English, for we see no reason to like them worse, being the relicts of Romans, Danes, Saxons and Normans, than we should have done if they had remain'd Britons, that is, than if they had been all Welshmen.