e need of pamphlets,
juries, or proclamations upon this occasion. The provocation must needs
have been great, which could stir up an obscure indolent Drapier to
become an author. One would almost think the very stones in the street
would rise up in such a cause: And I am not sure they will not do so
against Mr. Wood if ever he comes within their reach. It is a known
story of the dumb boy, whose tongue forced a passage for speech by the
horror of seeing a dagger at his father's throat. This may lessen the
wonder that a tradesman hid in privacy and silence should cry out when
the life and being of his political mother are attempted before his
face, and by so infamous a hand.

But in the meantime, Mr. Wood the destroyer of a kingdom walks about in
triumph (unless it be true that he is in jail for debt) while he who
endeavoured to assert the liberty of his country is forced to hide his
head for occasionally dealing in a matter of controversy. However I am
not the first who hath been condemned to death for gaining a great
victory over a powerful enemy, by disobeying for once the strict orders
of military discipline.

I am now resolved to follow (after the usual proceeding of mankind,
because it is too late) the advice given me by a certain Dean. He shewed
the mistake I was in of trusting to the general good-will of the people,
"that I had succeeded hitherto better than could be expected, but that
some unfortunate circumstantial lapse would probably bring me within the
reach of power. That my good intentions would be no security against
those who watched every motion of my pen, in the bitterness of my soul."
He produced an instance of "a writer as innocent, as disinterested, and
as well meaning as myself, where the printer, who had the author in his
power, was prosecuted with the utmost zeal, the jury sent back nine
times, and the man given up to the mercy of the court."[17] The Dean
further observed "that I was in a manner left alone to stand the battle,
while others who had ten thousand times better talents than a Drapier,
were so prudent to lie still, and perhaps thought it no unpleasant
amusement to look on with safety, while another was giving them
diversion at the hazard of his liberty and fortune, and thought they
made a sufficient recompense by a little applause." Whereupon he
concluded with a short story of a Jew at Madrid, who being condemned to
the fire on account of his religion, a crowd of school-boys following