on undeservedly prospered, had Falkland's island been yielded
unconditionally, with every right, prior and posterior; though the
rabble might have shouted, and the windows have blazed, yet those who
know the value of life, and the uncertainty of publick credit, would
have murmured, perhaps unheard, at the increase of our debt, and the
loss of our people.

This thirst of blood, however the visible promoters of sedition may
think it convenient to shrink from the accusation, is loudly avowed by
Junius, the writer to whom his party owes much of its pride, and some of
its popularity. Of Junius it cannot be said, as of Ulysses, that he
scatters ambiguous expressions among the vulgar; for he cries havock,
without reserve, and endeavours to let slip the dogs of foreign or of
civil war, ignorant whither they are going, and careless what may be
their prey.

Junius has sometimes made his satire felt, but let not injudicious
admiration mistake the venom of the shaft for the vigour of the bow. He
has sometimes sported with lucky malice; but to him that knows his
company, it is not hard to be sarcastick in a mask. While he walks, like
Jack the giant-killer, in a coat of darkness, he may do much mischief
with little strength. Novelty captivates the superficial and
thoughtless; vehemence delights the discontented and turbulent. He that
contradicts acknowledged truth will always have an audience; he that
vilifies established authority will always find abettors.

Junius burst into notice with a blaze of impudence which has rarely
glared upon the world before, and drew the rabble after him, as a
monster makes a show. When he had once provided for his safety, by
impenetrable secrecy, he had nothing to combat but truth and justice,
enemies whom he knows to be feeble in the dark. Being then at liberty to
indulge himself in all the immunities of invisibility; out of the reach
of danger, he has been bold; out of the reach of shame, he has been
confident. As a rhetorician, he has had the art of persuading, when he
seconded desire; as a reasoner, he has convinced those who had no doubt
before; as a moralist, he has taught, that virtue may disgrace; and, as
a patriot, he has gratified the mean by insults on the high. Finding
sedition ascendant, he has been able to advance it; finding the nation
combustible, he has been able to inflame it. Let us abstract from his
wit the vivacity of insolence, and withdraw from his efficacy the
sympathetick fa