has
often changed his party, and always has made his interest the
rule of it, gives little evidence of his sincerity for the public
good; it is manifest he changes but for himself, and takes the
people for tools to work his fortune. Yet the experience of all
ages might let him know, that they who trouble the waters first,
have seldom the benefit of the fishing; as they who began the
late rebellion enjoyed not the fruit of their undertaking,
but were crushed themselves by the usurpation of their own
instrument. Neither is it enough for them to answer, that
they only intend a reformation of the government, but not the
subversion of it: on such pretence all insurrections have been
founded; it is striking at the root of power, which is obedience.
Every remonstrance of private men has the seed of treason in it;
and discourses, which are couched in ambiguous terms, are
therefore the more dangerous, because they do all the mischief
of open sedition, yet are safe from the punishment of the laws.
These, my lord, are considerations, which I should not pass so
lightly over, had I room to manage them as they deserve; for no
man can be so inconsiderable in a nation, as not to have a share
in the welfare of it; and if he be a true Englishman, he must at
the same time be fired with indignation, and revenge himself as
he can on the disturbers of his country. And to whom could I
more fitly apply myself than to your lordship, who have not only
an inborn, but an hereditary loyalty? The memorable constancy
and sufferings of your father, almost to the ruin of his estate,
for the royal cause, were an earnest of that which such a parent
and such an institution would produce in the person of a son.
But so unhappy an occasion of manifesting your own zeal, in
suffering for his present majesty, the providence of God, and
the prudence of your administration, will, I hope, prevent; that,
as your father's fortune waited on the unhappiness of his
sovereign, so your own may participate of the better fate which
attends his son. The relation which you have by alliance to the
noble family of your lady, serves to confirm to you both this
happy augury. For what can deserve a greater place in the
English chronicle, than the loyalty and courage, the actions and
death, of the general of an army, fighting for his prince and
country? The honour and gallantry of the Earl of Lindsey is so
illustrious a subject, that it is fit to adorn an heroic poem;
f