atever
my dislikes may be, my fears are not upon that quarter. The question, on
the influence of a Court, and of a Peerage, is not, which of the two
dangers is the most eligible, but which is the most imminent. He is but
a poor observer, who has not seen, that the generality of Peers, far from
supporting themselves in a state of independent greatness, are but too
apt to fall into an oblivion of their proper dignity, and to run headlong
into an abject servitude. Would to God it were true, that the fault of
our Peers were too much spirit! It is worthy of some observation, that
these gentlemen, so jealous of aristocracy, make no complaints of the
power of those peers (neither few nor inconsiderable) who are always in
the train of a Court, and whose whole weight must be considered as a
portion of the settled influence of the Crown. This is all safe and
right; but if some Peers (I am very sorry they are not as many as they
ought to be) set themselves, in the great concern of Peers and Commons,
against a back-stairs influence and clandestine government, then the
alarm begins; then the constitution is in danger of being forced into an
aristocracy.

I rest a little the longer on this Court topic, because it was much
insisted upon at the time of the great change, and has been since
frequently revived by many of the agents of that party: for, whilst they
are terrifying the great and opulent with the horrors of mob-government,
they are by other managers attempting (though hitherto with little
success) to alarm the people with a phantom of tyranny in the Nobles. All
this is done upon their favourite principle of disunion, of sowing
jealousies amongst the different orders of the State, and of disjointing
the natural strength of the kingdom; that it may be rendered incapable of
resisting the sinister designs of wicked men, who have engrossed the
Royal power.

* * * * *

Thus much of the topics chosen by the courtiers to recommend their
system; it will be necessary to open a little more at large the nature of
that party which was formed for its support. Without this, the whole
would have been no better than a visionary amusement, like the scheme of
Harrington's political club, and not a business in which the nation had a
real concern. As a powerful party, and a party constructed on a new
principle, it is a very inviting object of curiosity.

It must be remembered, that since the Revolution, until the period we are
speakin