'tions and distressing observations. It often discomposed his adversaries, and seldom failed to force them ' into very embarrassing positions of defence.'

There is a cunning in this line of conduct and manner exceedingly offensive to a respectable mind; and it does not appear to have done much service for Thurlow himself. But there are times and occasions when they may be not only greatly effective, but honourable and just. These times, however, are seldom, and the occasionsfar and long between.'

LXXII.

TO WHOM PLOTS ARE NECESSARY.

THERE have been some ministers who look upon suspicion as good evidence. It was even said of Lord Burleigh, that it was as necessary that treason should exist, as that the nation should be preserved.

The reign of Charles II. was a reign of spies and informers, of plots and conspiracies; some real and others fictitious. Thus three separate fictitious plots were concerted by three of the most detestable of men ; yet was their evidence received, as if they had been the wisest and best: viz. Oates, Bedlowe, and Dangerfield.

Oates is said to have been an obscure and illiterate miscreant, who had been indicted for perjury, and dismissed from the chaplaincy of a man-of-war for unnatural practices; Bedlowe had been noted for several cheats and thefts; and Dangerfield had been set in the pillory, scourged, branded, and transported for felony and coining.

These wretches were permitted to hatch fictitious plots, were credited, and many innocent and some exalted persons were executed in consequence. The king himself is thought to have countenanced the formation of one, if not more, of these plots; and, as a natural consequence, entertained spies and informers, in almost every direction, around his throne.

Of late years, Lord S- — had the faculty, also, of seeing treason in all things, or he was cursed with the weakness of suspecting it; for during the whole period of his being secretary of state, the country was afflicted with being in a continual state of ridicule or of alarm, in respect to real or pretended discoveries of some contemptible conspiracy or another. Some of the wretches he even rewarded with appointments! When the minister resigned, plots and conspiracies were no longer heard of. This censure does not apply to the Marquis of Rockingham. No! his virtues are stated to have been his arts; and, according to one who knew him amply (Mr. Burke), 'confidence, constancy, fidelity, and correctness,' were the sole instruments of his policy.

Something analogous to this was known in the reign of Queen Anne; to ridicule which, Swift wrote a treatise to prove (beyond all contradiction) the dangerous tendency, both to government and religion, of Pope's Rape of the Lock.

Fouché, Duke of Otranto,-Oh, ye gods! for such men to enjoy such titles!-was continually hatching of plots. 'It was I,' said he to Bourrienne, 'who ' hatched the conspiracy of Georges and Pichegru; and 'I did it to recover my ministry, and as a consolation

for not having discovered the attempt of Nivose*. ' Napoleon was also as skilful in little plots as in great ones. His little machinations were multitudinous. We might laugh; but the ends for which he made them are not to be laughed at.

LXXIII.

WHO CAN DO NOTHING WITHOUT A PLOT.

NECKER says of the Baron de

,

minister at the

court of Versailles from Vienna, that in all his negotiations and intercourse he showed the greatest reserve towards those, with whom he was engaged on subjects of business. As every one observed this,—disdaining to be taken for a dupe,-the baron could get no one to divulge any thing. The ambassador, therefore, after a short time, had so little to communicate to the court from which he was sent, that he soon received notice of recall.

Many are the persons who can do nothing whatever without a plot! They can hardly hang their hats upon a peg. They will even organize a plan, for two years, which shall have no other importance of result than that of dining with the squire of a neighbouring parish.

Louis XVI. was allied to this order; and to this foible may be attributed many of those unfortunate circumstances in which he was involved, and which appear, in relation, so various, so opposite, so mysterious and incredible. He had a crowd of confidants, guides, and advisers. Many of these were selected from among

* Bourrienne, iii., 4.

the factions by whom he was opposed.

a full disclosure to any one of those

He never made persons,' says Madame Campan; and it is certain that he spoke 'but to few with sincerity. He kept the reins of all secret intrigues in his own hands; and thence arose 'the want of co-operation and the weakness which were 'so conspicuous in all his measures.'

All cunning persons are superficial ones :-there has never been one exception yet.

LXXIV.

WHO NEVER TRUST.

MOST men, in a greater or a less degree, practise the histrionic art*: perhaps it may not be too harsh a sentence to assert, that the majority of them live by cunning one half of the year, and by deception the other.

'Con arte e con inganno
Si vive mezzo l'anno.
E con inganno ed arte,

Si vive l'altra parte.'

Lord Oxford said to a person, who wished to guard him against one in whom he seemed to place great confidence, Be not alarmed, my friend. I never ́ trusted a single man yet; consequently, no one has ' yet deceived me; and as I never intend to trust any Ione, no one ever will.' Seneca says, many have taught others to deceive, because they appear to expect they will deceive them:

' And 'tis more easy to betray,

Than ruin in another way.'

*Mundus universus exercet histrioniam.

The tricks of cunning are infinite; they are even held in respect; and hence they are the never-failing resources of superficial politicians.

Bouhours insists, that though every man may be deceived and deceive in his turn, no one deceives the whole world, nor does the whole world deceive any one. What is cunning but knavery? and what but a knave, however successful, must the epigrammatist have been, who first could insinuate, that the best use of language was to enable us to conceal our thoughts? Yet, as things are, we ought not to be indignant with Rochefoucault when he asserts, that men would not live long, if they were not the mutual dupes of each other.

One of the most amusing instances of successful cunning was put in practice by an astrologer on Louis XI. That bad man and sovereign having inquired of him when he would himself die, the astrologer, taking advantage of the king's known weakness, answered, 'Three days before your majesty.' The king paused; and, struck with the prediction, desired that the astrologer should be entertained in his palace, fed well, clothed well, and treated with all manner of friendly attention. Cunning persons, however, generally speaking, have not one tenth the policy of this witty astrologer. They take infinite pains for the greater part of their lives; but at length become ungraciously conscious that better results might have been brought about at one fiftieth of the cost. All outside-therefore, like brooks, shallow and transparent; they hide their heads, like crocodiles, and then fancy, after the folly of those animals, that they have concealed all parts of their bodies.