[was] their agreeing to Impeach 140 [Godolphin] and 193
[Marlborough], Nor did the Impudence End there, but On all
Occasions to Say in So Many Words They had her Majties Orders to
Choose Such and Such and it must be don: This was So abandonning
all Reserves, that it has disgusted the Generallity, and has Put
them Upon Measures of Uniteing, which may shut the door upon all
future Measures, what Ever the Occasion may be....

Now they have Returnd their Number, it were to be Wished they Could
have Avoided a few who are Declar'd profest Jacobites, Such as 197
[Marischal], Kilsyth, Blantire, Hume &c. who are known to aim in
all they do at the Pretender, and whose being Now Chosen has many
ill Effects here What Ever may be as to Over-ruleing them in
England, I mean as to Encreasing the Insolence of Jacobitisme in
the North, where its Strength is far from being Contemptible.[7]

What Defoe hoped to obtain from Harley by this and succeeding letters
on this subject is not clear. He may have been seeking Harley's public
repudiation of the Jacobite peers, or at least some private assurances
that what Argyll had told the peers did not represent the new
Ministry's policies. Whatever it was he sought, by late December it was
obviously not forthcoming from Harley or his Ministry. And on 20
December Argyll was made a Knight of the Garter. It was during this
December that the bulk of _Atalantis Major_ was written, most probably
between 30 November and 26 December. On 26 December 1710 Defoe wrote
Harley of the existence of "Two Vile Ill Natur'd Pamphlets ... both of
which have fallen into My hands in Manuscript, and I think I have
prevented both their Printing. The first Was advertised in the Gazette
here and Called the Scots atalantis[8] ... The Other Pamphlet is called
_Atalantis Major_." The letter concludes with a short description of
the work, a disavowal of any knowledge of its authorship, and the hope
that he can suppress its publication:

The Other Pamphlet is called _Atalantis Major_; and is a Bitter
Invective against the D of Argyle, the E of Mar, and the Election
of the Peers. It is Certainly Written by Some English man, and I
have Some Guess at the Man, but dare not be positive. I have
hitherto kept this also from the Press, and believe it will be
Impossible for them to get it printed here after the Measures I
have Taken. The Party I Got it of p