may be matter of no little admiration, to consider, in some lights, the state of affairs among us for four years past. The queen, finding herself and the majority of her kingdom grown weary of the avarice and the insolence, the mistaken politicks and destructive principles of her former ministers; calls to the service of the publick another set of men, who, by confession of their enemies, had equal abilities, at least, with their predecessors; whose interest made it necessary for them (although their inclinations had been otherwise) to act upon those maxims which were most agreeable to the constitution in church and state; whose birth and patrimonies gave them weight in the nation, and who (I speak of those who were to have the chief part in affairs) had long lived under the strictest bonds of friendship. With all these advantages, supported by a vast majority of the landed interest, and the inferiour clergy to a man, we have several times seen the present administration in the greatest distress, and very near the brink of ruin, together with the cause of the church and monarchy committed to their charge: neither does it appear to me, at the minute I am now writing, that their power or duration is upon any tolerable foot of security; which I do not so much impute to the address and industry of their enemies, as to some failures among themselves, which I think have been full as visible in their causes, as their effects."
He then proceeds to enumerate several of those failings, among which, that which is mentioned in the following paragraph is particularly levelled at lord Oxford. "I must therefore take the boldness to
