ing out, which happened in a little Time, Cofcia defignedly remaining in the Clofet, behind him.

As foon as his Holiness appear'd, they told him he might now receive a Proof of Cofcia's loofe Life, and, if he would give his Officers a proper Authority, they would lead them where they might feize him in the Arms of a Curtezan. His Holiness was much amaz'd at this bold Affertion, and to convince them of their Error, he call'd Cofcia forth from the Clofer, telling them that now he plainly faw the Malice of their Hearts against that good Man, whom they hated for the Love he bore to his Holiness's Family; and, from that Minute, the deluded Pontiff would hear no Complaint against him.

His Partizans triumph'd prodigioufly upon this Succefs; they extoll'd him as a Solomon and a Machiavel; they would willingly confefs his Lewdness, in order to eftablish his Reputation for Cunning.

Thus he went on without Controul, conferring Offices, Honours and Titles on whom he pleas'd, as well as laying Burthens on the People, and as he always had fome dirty Affair or other in Hand, he refolved to oppose an Ordinance defign'd by the Congregation againft taking Bribes, which he apprehended to be levelled at his Power. Some of his Creatures, who were fenfible of the Clamours Abroad, advised him not to push that Matter too far; to which he return'd this infolent Answer, That he wou'd not appear in it himself, for he had a Bench of Prelates that should do it for him; and indeed he made fuch a Ufe of the Reverend Pastors, that fome People were tempted to think he had a Defign of changing the Religion of the Country, and that the beft Step towards it was to render the Prelacy contemptible to the People; and certainly he brought it to pafs, that they intirely loft the Reverence and Efteem of thofe that had most Zeal for the Church of Rome.

As the Difaffection increas'd, his Enemies grew bold enough to threaten him; upon which he gave out, that he would prevail upon his Holiness to fign him a Pardon, and indeed it was though he intended it, but he deferr'd it from Time to Time, thinking to add more to the Score, and that one Pardon at laft would ferve for all; however, his Partizans were for preffing him to get it as foon as poflible, and to include them in it; but he fcoffingly told them, one Day, that he would not accept of a Pardon for what was paft, unless his Holiness would alfo give him a Pardon for all his Briberies and Blunders to come; fo that while he was dallying betwixt Jeft and Earneft, the Pope dies, and if there does not happen to be a new Pope elected of the fame Faction, confider what a fcurvy Pickle the Rogue will be in.

*

But in the Midft of all his Pride and Glory there were not two People in Rome he both hated and fear'd more than your Friend Pafquin and myself, and we were frequently threatened to be fent to the Gallies, or to be taken down from the Niches where we now ftand and thrown into the Tiber, that we might poifon the People no longer (as they term'd it.) I fine, we were indicted of feveral Crimes and Mifdemeanors, and two or three strange heathenish Animals, call'd here, Avocato, Procuratore, and Sollicitatore, were employ'd to make out our Procefs; thefe Creatures receiv'd Penfions for finding our Pretences to punish Cofcia's Enemies, was their whole Bufinefs, they were to be very learned in Chicane and Quibble, and if they were but ready in a certain Cant, or Jargon, peculiar to the Profellion, which they are pleas'd to mif-call Ora→ tory, they filed one another clever Fellows; but they were much more properly named by the Peo

* A Council, Attorney and Sollicitor.

this

ple

ple of Rome, who gave them the Title of Cofcia's Devils.

Our Crimes were fet forth in a long Harangue, fill'd with barbarous Terms of no Meaning, wherein we were charg'd, in the firft Place, with wickedly and maliciously confpiring against the Power and Reputation of his Eminence the Cardinal, by traiterously maintaining in our Writings, that Minifters of State ought to know fomething of State Affairs. In the fecond Place, we were accus'd of libelling the whole Family of his Eminence, for they undertook to prove upon us, that we had feditiously afferted in a Satyr, that there was not a Fool in Rome, but what was inclined to be a Knave. This was the heavy Charge againft us, and you may guess how the People were inclined.

I will freely own to you, that I never lov'd Cofcia, and that I would have done all in my Power to have seen him rewarded according to his Rogueries, and certain it is, the Abuses of his Adminiftration were fuch that they would have made even Stones to fpeak; but, befides the general Cause, there were fome particular Reasons which incens'd Pafquin, myself, and several others againft him, and one of thefe was, that he became the avow'd and publick Patron of Ignorance. Fools hung about him numberless as Leaves upon a Tree; thofe whom he chofe out for his Companions, and to whom he gave the first Employments in the State, were the moft contemptible Things your Converfation ever met with, but, like Curs, they would lick up his Spittle, they would praife all his Follies, and Flattery founded fweet to him, tho' it came from a ftinking Breath; he feem'd to have the fame Averfion to a Man of Senfe as fome Perfons bear to a Cat, he felt them by a Kind of Antipathy, and would have fwooned away, if fuch an one was admitted into his Prefence; and fince Cofcia was the publick Enemy

of

of good Senfe, why should not good Senfe be an Enemy to Cofcia?

If the good Genius of Rome has not quite forfaken it, and if a wife and vertuous Man fhould be elected Pope, we fhall expect to fee this Fellow diffected, we fhall fee his Skin ftripp'd over his Ears, we shall have him laid open to the World, and when that happens I fhall not fail of fending you fome Memoirs of what paffes; in the mean Time, confider how happy you are, if you have not your Cofcia, think of that, and pity the poor Romans.· Adio.

MARFORIO.

I

SATURDAY, June 13, 1730.

N reading over the Hiftory of England, I have obferv'd that great Mifchiefs have fome times been brought upon this Nation by the Corruption and Weakness of fome of its Parliaments..

We need not take Notice of that of forty one, by which the Conftitution itself was fubverted; these Men, under the Notion of restoring Liberty, fet up a Multitude of Tyrants, and these Tyrants were afterwards oblig'd to fubmit to one.

This one Tyrant did what he pleas'd, he quarrelled with Spain, and made an Alliance with France, two Things directly oppofite to the Bent and Inclinations of the People, as well as the true Interest of the Nation, but yet they were approv'd by Par-liament, or at leaft by an Affembly of Men who

call'd

call'd themselves a Parliament, nay they eftablifh'd a ftanding Army for him, and all the ftrange Meafures that were taken with the Princes Abroad, as well as the Oppreffions at Home, receiv'd the Approbation of Parliament.

It may be imagined the People muft be fufficiently out of Humour with fuch a Parliament, and therefore, when another came to be elected, they made Choice of Perfons of very different Characters from the laft; thefe no fooner met but they begun to enquire into past Abuses, and fhew'd a Difpofition to redress the crying Grievances of the People, which alarming Oliver, he was refolved to diffolve them, and Fleetwood reprefenting to him how ill it would look to the World to diffolve a Parliament fo foon, which was about so many popular Actions, all the Reason he return'd was, by the living God he wou'd diffolve them, and accordingly he did, without fuffering them to do one good Act.

Some Time after, fpeaking of his two laft Parliaments, he faid in Mirth, this Parliament has done juft Nothing, and the other Parliament Nothing that was juft; with fo much Contempt did he treat those Fellows that had been doing all his dirty Work, when they could ferve him no longer.

The Historians take Notice that Oliver committed one Mistake in the Choice of his last Parliament, for, having what Money he pleafed from that which preceded, if he had employ'd it in bribing the little Boroughs to return the fame Members, he might have gone on without Interruption, he might have been as eafy, and the People as miferable as ever; he might have boafted of the great Harmony betwixt him and his Parliament, and reprefented the Votes of Parliament to foreign Courts as a Proof of the Affections of the People towards him; but he fancy'd he could frighten and

awe