so strong an evidence: and when he compares both sides,
he will be some time at a loss to fix any determination. Should an
absolute suspense of judgment be found difficult or disagreeable in so
interesting a question, I must confess, that I much incline to give
the preference to the arguments of the royalists. The testimonies which
prove that performance to be the king's, are more numerous, certain,
and direct, than those on the other side. This is the case, even if we
consider the external evidence: but when we weigh the internal, derived
from the style and composition, there is no manner of comparison. These
meditations resemble, in elegance, purity, neatness, and simplicity, the
genius of those performances which we know with certainty to have
flowed from the royal pen; but are so unlike the bombast, perplexed,
rhetorical, and corrupt style of Dr. Gauden, to whom they are ascribed,
that no human testimony seems sufficient to convince us that he was the
author. Yet all the evidences which would rob the king of that honor,
tend to prove that Dr. Gauden had the merit of writing so fine a
performance, and the infamy of imposing it on the world for the king's.

* See, on the one hand, Toland's Amyntor, and on the other,
Wagataffe's Vindication of the Royal Martyr, with Young's
Addition. We may remark, that Lord Clarendon's total silence
with regard to this subject, in so full of history, composed
in vindication of the king's measures and character, forms a
presumption on Toland's side, and a presumption of which
that author was ignorant; the works of the noble historian
not being then published. Bishop Burnet's testimony, too,
must be allowed of some weight against the Icon.

It is not easy to conceive the general compassion excited towards the
king, by the publishing, at so critical a juncture, a work so full of
piety, meekness, and humanity. Many have not scrupled to ascribe to that
book the subsequent restoration of the royal family. Milton compares
its effects to those which were wrought on the tumultuous Romans by
Anthony's reading to them the will of Caesar. The Icon passed through
fifty editions in a twelvemonth; and, independent of the great interest
taken in it by the nation, as the supposed production of their murdered
sovereign, it must be acknowledged the best prose composition which, at
the time of its publication, was to be found in the English language.