EHAM, at the _Angel_ in _Pater-Noster-Row_, where
Advertisements and Letters from Correspondents are taken in.

Numb. XXVI.

THE

THEATRE.

By Sir _JOHN FALSTAFFE_.

_To be Continued every_ Tuesday _and_ Saturday.

Price Two-pence.

_--Jam nunc debentia dici
Pleraq; differat, & praesens in tempus omittat._

Hor.

Saturday, _May 14. 1720._

My first Entertainment in a Morning is to throw my Eyes over the Papers of
the Day, by which I am informed, with very little Trouble, how Things are
carried in the great World. I look upon the printed News to be the
Histories of the Times, in which the candid and ingenious Authors, out of a
strict Regard to Truth, deliver Facts in such ambiguous Terms, that when
you read of a Battle betwixt Count _Mercy_, and the Marquis _De Lede_, you
may give the Victory to that Side, which your private Inclination most
favours. I have seen in one Paragraph the precise number of the _kill'd_
and _wounded_ adjusted; and in the next, the Author seems doubtful in his
Opinion, whether there has been any Battle fought. In Domestick Affairs,
our Writers are somewhat more bold in their Intelligence; and relate Things
with a greater Air of Certainty, when they lie most under the Suspition of
delivering false History. Thus it happens, that I have seen a great Fortune
_married_ in the _Evening Post_ two Years after her _Death_; and a Man of
Quality has had an _Heir laid to him_, before he himself, or the Town, ever
knew that he was married. Thus they _kill_ and _marry_ whom they please,
knowing well, that every Circumstance, whether true, or false, serves to
fill up a _Paragraph_.

As nothing can effect the Safety, and Welfare of the People, so much as the
_Resolutions_ of our _House_ of _Commons_, I read over the _Votes_ with a
diligent Concern. 'Tis there that every Man aggrieved is to find Redress;
from their Proceedings is it, that Peace abroad, or Unity at home, must be
expected: and should they be byass'd, or deceived, their Error must involve
Millions in Misfortunes. _Horace's_ Observation has ever prevailed, and
will continue to do so, while this is a World. _Delirant Reges, plectuntur
Achivi._

I read a Resolution of that Honourable House lately, which gave me no
little satisfaction, and which I had long expected from their Wisdom: viz.
that all Methods of raising Money by _Voluntary Subscriptions_ are
prejudicial to _Trade_. This is a Truth which every Man in Trad