to them and their constitution, from men, who are innocent of such designs; when he must needs confess, the whole design of his pamphlet is, to inflame the people with apprehensions of danger from the present ministry, whom we believe to be at least as innocent men as the last.
What shall I say to the pamphlet, where the malice and falsehood of every line, would require an answer; and where the dulness and absurdities, will not deserve one?
By his pretending to have always maintained an inviolable respect to the clergy, he would insinuate, that those papers among the Tatlers and Spectators, where the whole order is abused, were not his own, I will appeal to all who know the flatness of his style, and the barrenness of his invention, whether he does not grossly prevaricate? was he ever able to walk without leading-strings, or swim without bladders, without being discovered by his hobbling and his sinking? has he adhered to his character in his paper called the Englishman, whereof he is allowed to be the sole author, without any competition? what does he think of the letter signed by himself, which relates to Molesworth, in whose[1] defence, he affronts the whole convocation of Ireland?
It is a wise maxim, that because the clergy are no civil lawyers, they ought not to preach obedience to governors; and therefore they ought not to preach
- ↑ The right honourable Robert Molesworth, esq., one of the privy council and member of the house of commons in Ireland, created a peer by king George I. The lower house of convocation there preferred a complaint against him for disrespectful words, which being represented in England he was removed from the council: to justify him against this complaint was the subject of Steele's Letter. See the Englishman, Jan. 19, 1713-14. No. 46.
