_Melius non tangere clamo_.[3]
When a general has conquered an army, and reduced a country to obedience,
he often finds it necessary to send out small bodies, in order to take in
petty castles and forts, and beat little straggling parties, which are
otherwise, apt to make head and infest the neighbourhood: This case
exactly resembles mine; I count the main body of the Whigs entirely
subdued; at least, till they appear with new reinforcements, I shall
reckon them as such; and therefore do now find myself at leisure to
_Examine_ inferior abuses. The business I have left, is, to fall on those
wretches that will be still keeping the war on foot, when they have no
country to defend, no forces to bring into the field, nor any thing
remaining, but their bare good-will towards faction and mischief: I mean,
the present set of writers, whom I have suffered, without molestation, so
long to infest the town. Were there not a concurrence from prejudice,
party, weak understanding, and misrepresentation, I should think them too
inconsiderable in themselves to deserve correction: But as my endeavour
hath been to expose the gross impositions of the fallen party, I will
give a taste, in the following petition, of the sincerity of these their
factors, to shew how little those writers for the Whigs were guided by
conscience or honour, their business being only to gratify a prevailing
interest.
"_To the Right Honourable the present M[inist]ry, the humble Petition of
the Party Writers to the late M[inist]ry._
"HUMBLY SHEWETH,
"_That your petitioners have served their time to the trade of writing
pamphlets and weekly papers, in defence of the Whigs, against the Church
of England, and the Christian religion, and her Majesty's prerogative,
and her title to the crown: That since the late change of ministry, and
meeting of this Parliament, the said trade is mightily fallen off, and
the call for the said pamphlets and papers, much less than formerly; and
it is feared, to our further prejudice, that the 'Examiner' may
discontinue writing, whereby some of your petitioners will be brought to
utter distress, forasmuch as through false quotations, noted absurdities,
and other legal abuses, many of your petitioners, to their great comfort
and support, were enabled to pick up a weekly subsistence out of the said
'Examiner.'
"That your said poor petitioners, did humbly offer your Honours to write
in defence of the late change of ministry and Parliament, much cheaper
than they did for your predecessors, which your Honours were pleased to
refuse.
"Notwithstanding which offer, your petitioners are under daily
apprehension, that your Honours will forbid them to follow the said trade
any longer; by which your petitioners, to the number of fourscore, with
their wives and families, will inevitably starve, having been bound to no
other calling._
"Your petitioners desire your Honours will tenderly consider the
premisses, and suffer your said petitioners to continue their trade
(those who set them at work, being still willing to employ them, though
at lower rates) and your said petitioners will give security to make use
of the same stuff, and dress it in the same manner, as they always did,
and no other. _And your petitioners" &c._
[Footnote 1: No. 45 in the reprint. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 2: In his "Journal to Stella," under date June 22nd, 1711,
Swift writes: "Yesterday's was a sad 'Examiner,' and last week was very
indifferent, though, some little scraps of the old spirit, as if he had
given some hints; but yesterday's is all trash. It is plain the hand is
changed." (vol. ii., p, 195).
On November 2nd he gives the following account: "I have sent to Leigh the
set of 'Examiners'; the first thirteen were written by several hands;
some good, some bad; the next three-and-thirty were all by one hand, that
makes forty-six: then that author, whoever he was, laid it down on
purpose to confound guessers; and the last six were written by a woman"
(vol. ii., p. 273). [T.S.]]
[Footnote 3: Horace, "Satires," II. i. 45.
"'Better not touch me, friend,' I loud exclaim."--P. FRANCIS. [T.S.]]