Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/141

NUMBER XXIX.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1710-11.

Laus summa in fortunæ bonis, non extulisse se in potestate, non fuisse insolentem in pecunia, non se prætulisse aliis propter abundantiam fortunæ.

In the goods of fortune it is the highest commendation to say, that he was not elated in power, insolent in riches, or contemptuous amid the overflowing of fortune.

I AM conscious to myself, that I write this paper with no other intention but of doing good. I never received injury from the late ministry, nor advantage from the present, farther than in common with every good subject. There were among the former, one or two, who must be allowed to have possessed very valuable qualities; but, proceeding by a system of politicks which our constitution could not suffer, and discovering a contempt of all religion, especially of that which has been so happily established among us ever since the Reformation; they seem to have been justly suspected of no very good inclinations to either.

It is possible, that a man may speculatively prefer the constitution of another country, or a Utopia of his own, before that of the nation where he is born and lives; yet, from considering the dangers or innovation, the corruptions of mankind, and the frequent impossibility of reducing ideas to practice, he may join heartily in preserving the present order