’Tis a Vanity Common in the World, for Every Pretending Coxcomb to make
himself One of the Party still with his Betters. They cry [_We_] to Every
thing, and make themselves Necessary upon all Occasions, and to All
Purposes and People, when upon the Truth of the Matter, they are found to
be good for Just Nothing at all.
[_We_] _Apples_ cry the _Horse-Turds_. [We] the King’s Officers, crys the
Fellow that carrys Guts to the Bears. [We] crys the Scum of the Nation
to the Bench, to the Court, to the City, to the Church, to Parliaments,
and Councils. There’s Nothing so Great, but the Little People cry [We]
to’t still. [We’ll] do This, and [We’ll] do That, and [We’ll] Undertake
for This and T’other. This is in a Familiar Way, the Common Style of the
Licentious Multitude, to the Scandal of all Honorable Commissions, and
of Those that Manage them. And This Humour of [_Weing_] holds as well in
Matters of State, and of Understanding, as in the Point of Honour and
Quality. ’Twas [We] in the Persons of the Fish-Wives and the Broom-Men.
[We] again in the Resolutions of _Billingsgate_, and _Grub-street_,
that took upon them to Prescribe in Matters of Religion and Government.
[We] won’t lose our Religion, was the Cry of Every Ignorant Atheist.
[We’ll] stand up for our Properties was the Beggers Song that liv’d
upon the Alms Basket. And [We] for our Liberties, cry the Slaves of All
Times and Interests; Nay and None so streight Lac’d as Common Cheats
upon the Topique of Conscience. And so it was [We] again in the name of
the Multitude, that did Every thing that was thought worth the Doing.
Now if the Dregs of the People will be Opening, and Crying [We] to
Every thing; the _Mobile_ has a Wide Mouth, and there’s No Stopping it.
But the Arrogance of the Rabbles Assuming at This Rate, is Nothing to
the Meanness of their Superiors, when they shall descend to keep such
Company; or to make use of such Tools or Engines. ’Tis not half so bad
for the _Apples_ to cry [We] _Horse-Turds_, as it would be for Men of
State, and Caball, to cry [We] _Tinkers_ and _Carr-Men_. But this is a
Supposition, not to enter so much as into the Thought of any Man of Sense
or Honour. This Fable will also bear as Edifying, and as Pertinent a
Moral, in the Inversion, as it does the Other Way. _We Rogues_, on the
_One_ Hand, is Every jot as _Emphatical_, as _We Princes_ on the _Other_.