nt
tranquillity of the nation, and that cheerfulness and readiness with
which the two houses concur in all our designs.

I shall, however, to silence him entirely, or at least to show those of
our party that he ought to be silent, consider singly every instance of
hardship and oppression which he has dared to publish in the papers, and
to publish in such a manner, that I hope no man will condemn me for want
of candour in becoming an advocate for the ministry, if I can consider
his advertisements as nothing less than AN APPEAL TO HIS COUNTRY.

Let me be forgiven if I cannot speak with temper of such insolence as
this: is a man without title, pension, or place, to suspect the
impartiality or the judgment of those who are entrusted with the
administration of publick affairs? Is he, when the law is not strictly
observed in regard to him, to think himself aggrieved, to tell his
sentiments in print, assert his claim to better usage, and fly for
redress to another tribunal?

If such practices are permitted, I will not venture to foretell the
effects of them; the ministry may soon be convinced, that such sufferers
will find compassion, and that it is safer not to bear hard upon them,
than to allow them to complain.

The power of licensing, in general, being firmly established by an act
of parliament, our poet has not attempted to call in question, but
contents himself with censuring the manner in which it has been
executed; so that I am not now engaged to assert the licenser's
authority, but to defend his conduct.

The poet seems to think himself aggrieved, because the licenser kept his
tragedy in his hands one-and-twenty days, whereas the law allows him to
detain it only fourteen. Where will the insolence of the malecontents
end? Or how are such unreasonable expectations possibly to be satisfied?
Was it ever known that a man exalted into a high station, dismissed a
suppliant in the time limited by law? Ought not Mr. Brooke to think
himself happy that his play was not detained longer? If he had been kept
a year in suspense, what redress could he have obtained? Let the poets
remember, when they appear before the licenser, or his deputy, that they
stand at the tribunal, from which there is no appeal permitted, and
where nothing will so well become them as reverence and submission.

Mr. Brooke mentions, in his preface, his knowledge of the laws of his
own country: had he extended his inquiries to the civil law, he could
hav