set of men, the men of letters,
with a tyranny a little extraordinary in a man who professed to respect
their calling so much. The literary controversy at this time was very
bitter, the Government side was the winning one, the popular one, and I
think might have been the merciful one. 'Twas natural that the Opposition
should be peevish and cry out; some men did so from their hearts, admiring
the Duke of Marlborough's prodigious talents, and deploring the disgrace
of the greatest general the world ever knew: 'twas the stomach that caused
other patriots to grumble, and such men cried out because they were poor,
and paid to do so. Against these my Lord Bolingbroke never showed the
slightest mercy, whipping a dozen into prison or into the pillory without
the least commiseration.

From having been a man of arms Mr. Esmond had now come to be a man of
letters, but on a safer side than that in which the above-cited poor
fellows ventured their liberties and ears. There was no danger on ours,
which was the winning side; besides, Mr. Esmond pleased himself by
thinking that he writ like a gentleman if he did not always succeed as a
wit.

Of the famous wits of that age, who have rendered Queen Anne's reign
illustrious, and whose works will be in all Englishmen's hands in ages yet
to come, Mr. Esmond saw many, but at public places chiefly; never having a
great intimacy with any of them, except with honest Dick Steele and Mr.
Addison, who parted company with Esmond, however, when that gentleman
became a declared Tory, and lived on close terms with the leading persons
of that party. Addison kept himself to a few friends, and very rarely
opened himself except in their company. A man more upright and
conscientious than he, it was not possible to find in public life, and one
whose conversation was so various, easy, and delightful. Writing now in my
mature years, I own that I think Addison's politics were the right, and
were my time to come over again, I would be a Whig in England and not a
Tory; but with people that take a side in politics, 'tis men rather than
principles that commonly bind them. A kindness or a slight puts a man
under one flag or the other, and he marches with it to the end of the
campaign. Esmond's master in war was injured by Marlborough, and hated
him: and the lieutenant fought the quarrels of his leader. Webb coming to
London was used as a weapon by Marlborough's enemies (and true steel he
was, that honest chief);