these pretty passions upon." This made her almost in the condition she pretended; her convulsions now came thicker, nor was she to be held down. The kind man doubles his care, helps the servants to throw water in her face by full quarts; and when the sinking part of the fit came again, "Well, my dear," said he, "I applaud your action, but I must take my leave of you until you are more sincere with me: farewell for ever; you shall always know where to hear of me, and want for nothing." that he ordered the maids to keep plying her with hartshorn, while he went for a physician he was scarce at the stair head when she followed, and, pulling him into a closet, thanked him for her cure; which was so absolute, that she gave me this relation herself, to be communicated for the benefit of all the voluntary invalids of her sex.

St. James's Coffee-house, June 1.

With

Advices from Brussels of the sixth instant, N. S. say, his Highness Prince Eugene had received a letter from Monsieur Torcy, wherein that minister, after many expressions of great respect, acquaints him, that his master had absolutely refused to sign the preliminaries to the treaty which he had, in his Majesty's behalf, consented to at the Hague. Upon the receipt of this intelligence, the face of things at that place was immediately altered, and the necessary orders were transmitted to the troops (which lay most remote from thence) to move towards the place of rendezvous with all expedition. The enemy seem also to prepare for the field, and have at present drawn together twenty-five thousand men in the plains of Lenz. Marshal Villars is at the head of those troops; and has given the generals under his command all possible assurances, that he will turn the fate of the war to the advantage of his master.

They write from the Hague of the seventh, that Monsieur Rouille had received orders from the Court of France, to signify to the States General, and the Ministers of the High Allies, that the King could not consent to the preliminaries of a treaty of peace, as it was offered to him by Monsieur Torcy. The great difficulty is the business of Spain, on which particular his ministers seemed only to say, during the treaty, that it was not so immediately under their master's direction, as that he could engage for its being relinquished by the Duke of Anjou; but now he positively answers, that he cannot comply with what his Minister has promised in his behalf; even in such points as are wholly in himself to act in, or not. This has had no other effect than to give the alliance fresh arguments for being diffident of engagements entered into by France. The Pensioner made a report of all which this Mi. nister had declared to the Deputies of the StatesGeneral, and all things turn towards a vigorous war. The Duke of Marlborough designed to leave the Hague within two days, in order to put himself at the head of the army, which is to assemble on the eventeenth instant between the Scheld and the Lis. A fleet of eighty sail, laden with corn from the Baltic, is arrived in the Texel. The States have sent circular letters to all the provinces, to notify this change of affairs, and animate their subjects to new resolutions in defence of their country.

From my own Apartment, May 31,

The publick is not so little my concern, though I am but a student, as that I should not interest my. self in the present great things in agitation. I am still of opinion the French King will sign the preli minaries. With that view, I have sent him, by my familiar, the following epistle, and admonished

TOL. I.

him, on pain of what I shall say of him to future nerations, to act with sincerity on this occasion.

ge

"London, May 31.

"ISAAC BICKERSTAFF, Esquire, of Great Britain, to LEWIS XIV. of France.

"The surprising news which arrived this day, of your Majesty's having refused to sign the treaty your Ministers have in a manner sued for, is what gives ground to this application to your Majesty, from one, whose name, perhaps, is too obscure to have ever reached your territories; but one who, with all the European world, is affected with your determinations: therefore, as it is mine and the common cause of mankind, I presume to expostulate with you on this occasion. It will, I doubt not, appear to the vulgar extravagant, that the actions of a mighty Prince should be balanced by the censure of a private man, whose approbation or dislike are equally contemptible in their eyes, when they regard the thrones of sovereigns. But your Majesty has shewn, through the whole course of your reign, too great a value for liberal arts, to be insensible hat true fame lies only in the hands of learned men, by whom it is to be transmitted to futurity, with marks of honour or reproach to the end of time. The date of human life is too short to recompence the cares which attend the most private condition: therefore it is, that our souls are made, as it were, too big for it; and extend themselves in the prospect of a longer existence, in a good fame, and memory of worthy actions, after our decease. The whole race of men have this passion in some degree implanted in their bosoms; which is the strongest and noblest incitation to honest attempts: but the base use of the arts of peace, eloquence, poetry,

and all the parts of learning, have been possessed by souls so unworthy of those faculties, that the names and appellations of things have been confounded by the labours and writings of prostituted men, who have stamped a reputation upon such actions as are in themselves the objects of contempt and disgrace. This is that which has misled your Majesty in the conduct of your reign, and made that life, which might have been the most imitable, the most to be avoided. To this it is, that the great and excellent qualities, of which your Majesty is master, are lost in their application; and your Majesty has been carrying on for many years the most cruel tyranny, with all the noble methods which are used to spport a just reign. Thus it is, that it avails nothing that you are a bountiful master; that you are SO generous as to reward even the unsuccessful with honour and riches; that no laudable action passes unrewarded in your kingdom; that you have searched all nations for obscure merit: in a word, that you are in your private character endowed with every princely quality; when all that is subjected to unjust and ill-taught ambition, which, to the injury of the world, is gilded by those endowments. However, if your Majesty will condescend to look into your own soul, and consider all its faculties and weaknesses with impartiality; if you will but be convinced, that life is supported in you by the ordinary methods of food, rest, and sleep; you will then think it impossible that you could ever be so much imposed on, as to have been wrought into a belief, that so many thousands of the same make with yourself were formed by Providence for no other end, but by the hazard of their very being to extend the conquests and glory of an individual of their own species. A very little reflection will con

vince your Majesty, that such cannot be the intent of the Creator; and, if not, what horror must it give your Majesty to think of the vast devastations your ambition has made among your fellow-creatures! While the warmth of youth, the flattery of crowds, and a continual series of success and triumph indulged your Majesty in this illusion of mind, it was less to be wondered at that you proceeded in this mistaken pursuit of grandeur; but when age, disappointments, public calamities, personal distempers, and the reverse of all that makes men forget their true being, are fallen upon you; heavens is it possible you can live without remorse? Can the wretched man be a tyrant? can grief study torments? can sorrow be cruel?

"Your Majesty will observe, I do not bring against you a railing accusation; but, as you are a strict professor of religion, I beseech your Majesty to stop the effusion of blood, by receiving the opportunity which presents itself for the preservation of your distressed people. Be no longer so infatuated, as to hope for renown from murder and violence; but consider that the great day will come, in which this world and all its glory shall change in a moment; when nature shall sicken, and the earth and sea give up the bodies committed to them, to appear before the last tribunal. Will it then, O King! be an answer for the lives of millions, who have fallen by the sword, They perished for my glory? That day will come on; and one like it is immediately approaching: injured nations advance. towards thy habitation; vengeance has begun its march, which is to be diverted only by the penitence of the oppressor. Awake, O Monarch, from thy lethargy! "disdain the abuses thou hast received ¿