e first knowledge I have had of a book being published, has
been from seeing myself abused for being the author of it, in some other
pamphlet published in answer to it.

Finding myself treated in this manner, I declined writing at all, and
for a great part of a year never set pen to paper, except in the public
paper called the Review. After this I was long absent in the north of
England; and, observing the insolence of the jacobite party, and how
they insinuated fine things into the heads of the common people, of the
right and claim of the pretender, and of the great things he would do
for us if he were to come in; of his being to turn a protestant, of his
being resolved to maintain our liberties, support our friends, give
liberty to dissenters, and the like; and finding that the people began
to be deluded, and that the jacobites gained ground among them by these
insinuations, I thought it the best service I could do the protestant
interest, and the best way to open people's eyes of the protestant
succession, if I took some course effectually to alarm the people with
what they really ought to expect, if the pretender should come to be
king. And this made me set pen to paper again.

And this brings me to the affirmative part, or to what really I have
done; and in this, I am sorry to say, I have one of the foulest, most
unjust, and unchristian clamours to complain of, that any man has
suffered, I believe, since the days of the tyranny of king James II. The
fact is thus:--

In order to detect the influence of jacobite emissaries, as above, the
first thing I wrote was a small tract, called A Seasonable Caution; a
book sincerely written to open the eyes of the poor, ignorant country
people, and to warn them against the subtle insinuations of the
emissaries of the pretender; and that it might be effectual to that
purpose, I prevailed with several of my friends to give them away among
the poor people, all over England, especially in the north; and several
thousands were actually given away, the price being reduced so low, that
the bare expense of paper and press was only preserved, that every one
might be convinced that nothing of gain was designed, but a sincere
endeavour to do a public good, and assist to keep the people entirely in
the interest of the protestant succession.

Next to this, and with the same sincere design, I wrote two pamphlets,
one entituled, What if the Pretender should come? the other, Reasons
against