Chapter XVIII: Part II: Note I (5)

Note VII.

_Him, in the anguish of his soul, he served;
Rewarded faster still than he deserved.
Behold him now exalted into trust._--P. 432.

"At the time of his majesty's restoration, as a most signal testimony of his majesty's good sentiments of his former actions, Shaftesbury was advanced to be one of the first rank in his majesty's most honourable privy council, and was placed above his majesty's royal brother, the Duke of Gloucester, and even General Monk himself, whom his majesty used to call his political father. And about three days before his majesty's coronation, he was in the Banquetting-house created Baron Ashley of Wimbourn, St Giles; and another addition of honour was conferred on him, Lord Cooper of Paulett; and at last, in the year 1672, he was made Earl of Shaftesbury, at the same time when Duke Lauderdale, the Earl of Arlington, and the Lord Clifford, were promoted."[508] To these honours were added substantial power and weight in the administration, called the _cabal_, from the initial letters of the ministers, names who composed it.[509] In this ministry, Shaftesbury was Chancellor of the Exchequer; and, on the resignation of Lord Keeper Bridgeman, became Lord High Chancellor of England. In this high station, he furthered, with all his policy and eloquence, the union with France against Holland, and the breach of the triple league; fatal measures, which tended to the destruction of our natural barrier against the universal dominion of France. It is probable, that Shaftesbury's ardent spirit flattered itself with the hopes of conducting a popular and triumphant war. But whatever were his motives, let it be remembered, to his honour, that French bribery, so common among the British ministers of the period, had no influence with Shaftesbury. Whether he found the war, ill managed by the court, and ill relished by the nation, was likely to do very little honour to those who had pushed it on; or whether he was dissatisfied with the share he enjoyed of the king's favour; or, finally, whether distrusting the easiness and mutability of the king's temper, is absolutely uncertain; but, moved either by these, or more patriotic motives, Shaftesbury, in the parliament of 1672-3, although in office, showed himself prepared to join opposition on very short notice.

Note VIII.

_But when this fatal counsel, found too late,
Exposed its author to the public hate;
When his just sovereign by no impious way
Could be seduced to arbitrary sway;
Forsaken of that hope, he shifts his sail, }
Drives down the current with a popular gale, }
And shows the fiend confessed without a veil._--P. 433. }

Two circumstances seem chiefly to have influenced Shaftesbury in his change of politics in 1672. Some vacancies had occurred in the House of Commons, during a recess of parliament. These his lordship, as chancellor, had caused to be filled up, by issuing writs for election, of his own authority, without waiting for the speaker's warrant; a proceeding, which was deemed by the House an undue exertion of prerogative, and the elections were declared irregular and null. This greatly irritated Shaftesbury's haughty temper, who thought the crown did not support him with sufficient energy, in a step which he had taken to extend its influence. From this he judged, that the king had not energy sufficient to venture upon bold measures; and, consequently, that there was no room for the game of a minister, who delighted in bold and masterly strokes of policy. But this was yet more to be inferred from the king's conduct in the matter of the Indulgence. This was a declaration, which the king, by advice of Shaftesbury and his other ministers, had sent forth, on the 25th March, 1672, dispensing with the penal laws against non-conformists of every description, and indulging to Protestant dissenters the public, and to Catholics the private exercise of their religious worship. It is remarkable, that Shaftesbury, afterwards the champion for the test against popery, was made chancellor, chiefly for the purpose of affixing the great seal to this declaration, which the Lord Keeper Bridgeman refused to do. The House of Commons remonstrated against this exercise of prerogative. After an inefficient struggle, Charles recalled the declaration, and broke the seals with his own hand. From that moment Shaftesbury declared, that the king had forsaken himself, and deserved to be forsaken. Suspicious that a monarch, who preferred so evidently his peace and pleasures to his prerogative, would not hesitate to make the lesser sacrifice of an obnoxious minister; anxious also, on account of the preponderance of the Duke of York, who hated him, and whom he hated, the Chancellor probably foresaw, that, in making an apparent sacrifice of court favour, he would not only save himself, but become the leader, instead of being the victim, of the popular faction. Accordingly, he promoted the test act in the House of Commons, and stood forth in the House of Lords as the leader of the Protestant party, whom the declaration had grievously alarmed. From so unexpected a change, at this eventful period, his removal from office was a matter of course. But in the mode of accomplishing it, circumstances occurred, which strongly mark the character of Shaftesbury, who delighted in an opportunity of teasing and alarming his enemies, even in the very act of retreating before them. When he waited upon the king, to surrender the seals, he observed a circle of his enemies in the anti-chamber, anticipating, with triumph, his returning without these badges of his office. Upon obtaining his audience, the falling minister begged the king, that his dismissal might be so arranged, as not to appear as it he was thrown off with contempt. "Godsfish," replied the good-natured monarch, "I will not do it with any circumstance that looks like an affront." The earl then begged permission to carry the seals before the king to chapel, and return them afterwards from his house. His boon being granted, he carried on the conversation with much humour, upon such gay subjects as usually entertained the king, while his adversaries, upon the tenterhooks of anxiety, awaited the issue of so long an audience. But when they saw the king and the chancellor come out together smiling, and go in company to the chapel, the party concluded Shaftesbury's peace was made, and his expected successor was inconsolable. After enjoying this little triumph, Shaftesbury sent the seals to the king, and placed himself at the head of the country party, who, from the general and well-founded opinion of his talents, did not hesitate to adopt as their leader, one who had just deserted the banners of the enemy.

From this time, Shaftesbury must always be considered as in opposition to the court. For, although a number of the country party were admitted into the council of state, formed by the advice of Temple, and Shaftesbury himself was president, he was, in fact, no more united to the king's party, than a detachment of besiegers become a part of the garrison of a besieged town, because a bastion or redoubt has been surrendered to them by capitulation.

Note IX.

_Thus men are raised by factions, and decried,
And rogue and saint distinguished by their side._--P. 435.

This was the argument concerning the credibility of the plot-witnesses, which was so triumphantly urged by the Tories, who asked, "Are not these men good witnesses, upon whose testimony Stafford, and so many Catholics, have been executed, and whom you yourselves have so long celebrated as men of credit and veracity? You have admitted them into your bosom; they are best acquainted with your treasons. They are determined in another shape to serve their king and country; and you cannot complain, that the same measure which you meted to others, should now, by a righteous doom of vengeance, be measured out to you."[510] To this there was but one answer: "We have been duped by our own prejudices, and the perjury of these men; but you, by employing against us witnesses whom you know to be forsworn villains, and whom their versatility has sufficiently proved to be such, are doing with your eyes open what we did in the blindness of prejudice, and are worse than us, as guilt is worse than folly." But this, though the Whigs' true defence, required a candid disavowal of the Popish plot, and reprobation of the witnesses; and that no true Protestant would submit to.

Note X.

_Thy military chiefs are brave and true,
Nor are thy disenchanted burghers few;
The head is loyal which thy heart commands,
But what's a head, with two such gouty hands?_--P. 436.

As matters carried more and more the appearance of actual insurrection and civil war, the more wealthy of the citizens of London, to whom nothing could be more ruinous than such an event, began to draw to the royal party. They were grieved also, that the ancient course of feasting and hospitality, observed by former sheriffs, had given way for furious cabals in coffee-houses; and, by degrees, a large body of citizens, who had, according to North, good hearts, and good spirits, were formed for the purpose of restoring the ancient order and course of living in the city. By means of this party, Sir John Moor was elected Lord Mayor; for whose character and conduct, and that of Shute and Pilkington, the Whig sheriffs, whom Dryden here terms his "two gouty hands," see the two last notes on the Second Part of "Absalom and Achitophel," pp. 401, 403. It was a great advantage to the court, that the military chiefs of the city, _i. e._ the officers of the trained bands, &c. were attached to the royal cause; and it was very much by their emphatic interference, that the election of sheriffs for 1683 was carried against the Whig party.

Note XI.

_Perhaps not wholly to melt down the king,
But clip his regal rights within the ring._--P. 437.

Until 1663, milled money was not struck in England; and the hammered coin, which continued to be in circulation long after that period, was liable to be clipped, which occasioned great frauds on the public, and loss to individuals. It is remarkable, that the verses which follow, describing the cypher-like state of royalty, to which the country party wished to reduce the king, agree accurately with what North believed to be Shaftesbury's real designs upon the authority and person of Charles. "If he was really a friend to any human kind, besides himself, I believe it was to King Charles the second; whose gaiety, breeding, wit, good-humour, familiarity, and disposition to enjoy the pleasures of society and greatness, engaged him very much, that had a great share of wit, agreeableness, and gallantry himself. But this same superiority spoiled all; his majesty would not always be influenced by him, but would take short turns on his toe, and so frustrate his projects; and finding by that he could not work under him, he strove, if possible, to reduce his authority, and get above him. It seems, by what was given out, that he would not have hurt the king personally, but kept him tame in a cage, with his ordinary pleasures about him. And if he was privy to the cruel stroke intended at the Rye, or any way concurring, it was the necessity of affairs, such as are laws to a politician, and superior to all human engagements, that obliged him. And of that sort, the chief was self-preservation; for, though he had found the king very easily reconciled, as not being in his nature vindicative, it was possible that humour, as age advanced, might spend; and he had launched so deep in treason, as it seemed necessary that either the king or he should fall." _Examen._ p. 119.

Note XII.

_What else inspires the tongues, and swells the breasts,
Of all thy bellowing renegado priests._--P. 438.

The keen and violent attack made upon the dissenting and fanatical clergy, in these and the following lines, called forth the indignation of the famous Edmund Hickeringill, who had been originally one of Cromwell's fighting saints, was at this time rector of All-Saints, in Colchester, and was notorious for composing fanatical pamphlets, songs, and sermons.[511] This reverend gentleman did not let the sun go down without venting his ire; for, the very next day after the publication of "The Medal," he sent to the press an answer to it, entitled. "The Mushroom, or a Satire against libelling Tories and prelatical Tantivies; in answer to a Satire against Sedition, called the Medal, by the author of Absalom and Achitophel; and here answered by the author of the Black Nonconformist, the next day after the publication of the Medal, to keep the sale thereof." To this unintelligible title-page succeeds a prefatory epistle, and a poem almost equally unintelligible, as will appear from a few extracts:

Epistle to the Tories and Tantivies:

Instead of an epistle to you Tories,
I'll only preface here with some old stories.

"About the year of our Lord 1218, at Paris, in a synod, or convocation of the clergy, one that was appointed to clerum, or preach the convocation sermon, was put to his trumps, and much troubled in his gizzard what to say or what subject to insist upon. Whereupon the devil, who always catches men napping, and observing the preacher to be melancholy and perplexed in mind, appears to him, as he sat in a brown study, and asked him why he was so careful what to preach? Say thus, quoth the devil--The princes of hell salute you, O the princes and prelates of the church, and gladly give you thanks, that, through your default and negligence, all souls go to hell, &c. &c. &c."

You call the Popes hard names, bears, wolves, and sherks:
For mischief what is then; the bishop and his clerks,
At the land's end of England? those dire stones
On which ships, men, are lost, body and bones.

The poem itself begins thus:

Time was, John Lawreat, when thy pretty muse,
Young, plump, and buxome, no man would refuse;
Though thou did'st poorly prostitute her store,
And, for vile pence, made her a hackney whore.
Against the rules of art, Phœbus is just;
Her former lovers does her now disgust;
And I, that once in private loved her well,
Nay, sometimes smiled at her Achitophel,
I longed to kiss her kindly, and to greet
Her loving airs, so charming, and so sweet:
Nay, be not jealous, John, thou hast no cause,
This was whilst she within the modest laws
Of a true poet kept; she's nauseous grown,
Thou needs must blush to own her for thine own.
If thou has any grace; she's poor and spent,
So far from witty, that grows impudent.
O what a silly do, thou keep'st in vain,
About a medal thus to break thy brain;
The ancient Romans, so renowned for wars,
Kept medals of their friends and ancestors;
Art thou red-letter bred, of hopes from Rome;
Yet against pictures speak'st, from whence they come?
A satyr once, satyrs could speak ere thine,
Why men did blow their nails, could not divine,
Nor why they did their porridge blow, was told,
One was to make them hot, the other cold:
At which news, satyr set up skut and run,
As if he had been frighted with a gun;
How would he run from thee, in naked truth,
Who blow'st both hot and cold from the same mouth!

"The Mushroom" concludes with the following awful threat; which, doubtless, must have greatly appalled Dryden:

I'll take thy laurells from thee, if I list,
An honour to my fairer brow when mist;
'Tis a day thrown away, (no more) think I,
No more it was, yet--_diem perdidi_,
Unless it be to make thy Satyre fell,
And Tonson begged this boon, which some think well.
Thy Satyre, three months old, a cripple came
This day to hand, I now return it lame.
_London, March_ 17. 1681.

The ingenious author tacks to his poem some rants of inimitable nonsense and scurrility in prose, in which he is pleased to intimate, that there is, from the wonderful celerity of its production, some ground for believing, that he himself, the author, had received miraculous aid.

"And if any man think or say, that it is a wonder if this book and verses were composed and writ in one day, and sent to the press, since it would employ the pen of a ready writer to copy this book in a day--it may be so.

"But it is a truth, as certain and stable as the sun in the firmament, and which, if need be, the bookseller, printer, and other worthy citizens that are privy to it, can avouch for an infallible truth--_deo soli gloria_--when a divine hand assists, one of despicable, dull, and inconsiderate parts, may do wonders, which God usually performs by most weak and unlikely instruments."

A single extract more may be added, to shew the high popularity of "Absalom and Achitophel" among the country gentlemen of England. "What sport it is to see an old country justice, with his eager chaplain at his elbow, putting his barnacles on his nose; bless us, how he gapes and admires Nat. Thomson, the addresses in the Gazette, Abhorrences, Heraclitus, or the Observator! But shew him but--"Absalom and Achitophel"--oh--then the man's horn mad, there's no holding him; then he hunts up, and though in his dining-room, how he spends, with double mouth, and whoops and hallows, just as he hunts his dogs when at full cry. "That--that--that--that--Rattle--Towzer--Bulldog--Thunder--that--that--" while the little trencher-chaplain echoes to him, and cries, "_Amen_."

Note XIII.

_With which thou flatterest thy decrepid age._--P. 439.

Shaftesbury was at this period little above sixty years old. But he was in a state of premature decrepitude; partly owing to natural feebleness of body, and partly to an injury which he received by an overturn in a Dutch carriage when he was in Holland, in 1660, as one of the parliamentary committee. He received on this occasion a wound, or bruise in his side, which came to an internal exulceration; so that in the year 1672 he was opened by Mr Knolls the surgeon, under the direction of Dr Willis, and an issue inserted for the regular discharge of the humour. This one of his biographers has called the "greatest cure that ever was done on the body of man."[512] The royalists forgot the honourable cause in which this injury was received, nothing less than a journey undertaken to invite the king to repossession of his throne, when they made its consequences the subject of scurrilous jests.[513] Dryden had already called Shaftesbury "the formidable cripple;" and in the Essay of Satire, he sarcastically describes the contrast between the activity of his spirit, and the decrepitude of his person.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 503: Blood, famous for his attempt upon the crown jewels, and other ruffian adventures, was at this time a _true blue Protestant_. "And here the good Colonel Blood, (that stole the Duke of Ormond, and, if a timely rescue had not come in, had hanged him at Tyburn, and afterwards stole the crown, though he was not so happy as to carry it off,) no player at small games; he, even he, the virtuous colonel, was to have been destroyed by the Papists. It seems these Papists would let no eminent Protestant be safe. But some amends were made; the colonel, by the sale of the narrative, licensed Thomas Blood. It had been strange if so much mischief had been stirring, and he not come in for a snack."--_Examen_, p. 311. The narrative is now before me, in which I observe Colonel Blood very feelingly complains, "that those who are to deal with Jesuits and their disciples, had need to have as well the prudence of serpents, as the innocence of doves."]

[Footnote 504: _Examen._ p. 41.]

[Footnote 505: _Ibid._ p. 60.]

[Footnote 506: Note X. _on Astrea Redux_, p. 44.]

[Footnote 507: _Whitelock's Memorials_, p. 679.]

[Footnote 508: _Raleigh Redivicus_, p. 29.]

[Footnote 509: Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, (_i. e._ Shaftesbury,) Lauderdale.]

[Footnote 510: Hume, Vol. VIII. p. 158.]

[Footnote 511: See Vol. VI. p. 148.]

[Footnote 512: _Raleigh Redivivus_, p. 48.]

[Footnote 513: See Albion and Albanius, Vol. VII. p. 266.]

THE END OF THE NINTH VOLUME.

EDINBURGH: Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.

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| Transcriber notes: |
| |
| Tags that surround text: _true Protestant_ indicate italics. |
| P.6. Footnote 3, 'Villians' changed to 'Villains'. |
| P.37. 'Vote' changed to 'Note'. |
| P.41. 'fidler' changed to 'fiddler'. |
| P.119. 'grapling' changed to 'grappling'. |
| P.164. 'Phænix' is 'Phœnix' changed. |
| P.174. 'unparellelled' changed to 'unparalleled'. |
| P.175. 'powderd' is 'powder'd'in other volume, changed. |
| P.215. 'royal-bloud' is 'royal-blood'in other volume, changed.|
| P.270. Footnote 321, 'fullfilled', leaving. |
| P.278. 'run' is 'ran' in another volume, changed. |
| p.379. 'sattin' changed to 'satin'. |
| Fixed various punctuation. |
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