voted
the sermon seditious, scandalous, and malicious, and agreed to a
resolution for his impeachment; the Lords ordered that the case should
be heard at their bar; and Westminster Hall was prepared to be the scene
of a great public trial. At first Defoe, in heaping contemptuous
ridicule upon the High-flying Doctor, had spoken as if he would consider
prosecution a blunder. The man ought rather to be encouraged to go on
exposing himself and his party. "Let him go on," he said, "to bully
Moderation, explode Toleration, and damn the Union; the gain will be
ours."

"You should use him as we do a hot horse. When he
first frets and pulls, keep a stiff rein and hold him in if you
can; but if he grows mad and furious, slack your hand, clap
your heels to him, and let him go. Give him his belly full
of it. Away goes the beast like a fury over hedge and ditch,
till he runs himself off his mettle; perhaps bogs himself, and
then he grows quiet of course.... Besides, good people, do
you not know the nature of the barking creatures? If you
pass but by, and take no notice, they will yelp and make a noise,
and perhaps run a little after you; but turn back, offer to strike them
or throw stones at them, and you'll never have done--nay, you'll raise
all the dogs of the parish upon you."

This last was precisely what the Government did, and they found reason
to regret that they did not take Defoe's advice and let Sacheverell
alone. When, however, they did resolve to prosecute him, Defoe
immediately turned round, and exulted in the prosecution, as the very
thing which he had foreseen. "Was not the _Review_ right when he said
you ought to let such people run on till they were out of breath? Did I
not note to you that precipitations have always ruined them and served
us?... Not a hound in the pack opened like him. He has done the work
effectually.... He has raised the house and waked the landlady.... Thank
him, good people, thank him and clap him on the back; let all his party
do but this, and the day is our own." Nor did Defoe omit to remind the
good people that he had been put in the pillory for satirically hinting
that the High-Church favored such doctrines as Sacheverell was now
prosecuted for. In his _Hymn to the Pillory_ he had declared that
Sacheverell ought to stand there in his place. His wish was now
gratified; "the bar of the House of Commons is the worst pillory in the
nation." In the two mo