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when he frowns, all Hell grows darker at his frowns1; That he displays a remarkable contraction of the muscles of his upper lip, and betrays a smile at the touch of a secretary's wand; that he has strong convulsions at the sight of certain colours, and feels such attraction to yellow dirt that for the bare sight of it he will fetch and carry, leap over a stick, lick a spittle, pray backwards, swear that the first Charles was wise, and the second virtuous, that placemen alone are honest, and that P―y is still a patriot, though an earl; that he will betray his King and curse his God.

Others describe this author to be a man who has the art of seeming wise and important; that he will this hour bluster and bellow in a public assembly, and the next hour steal up the back stairs to sue for a collection; that he can be hoarse or run away, or do anything but speak, as well as Demosthenes: That he resents all imaginary injuries, but bears real insults like a good christian; that he can turn and turn, and yet go on; then they cough and hem, and give deep omened hints, and tell the tale of Galba2, that kind spouse, who slept for his friend Maecenas.

Under such circumstances, to whom, Sir, can this author more justly apply for protection than to you; whom can he more sincerely desire than his SECOND-SELF to espouse him; I determined to find a patron for him, but you prevented my enquiry, your long intimacy gives you the best right to know him, and, I am sure, none will ever set an equal value on him: He cannot live without you; his very being depends upon yours, and as he failed of promotion by his former conduct, he now hopes for success from your last undertaking.

I shall say little of the virtues of the patron I have chose for this author; your many services, Sir, require a national return instead of private gratitude, and rather than such return should be wanting, I should wish to see the nation loaded with pensions. Besides, great advantages have accrued to the learned world from your late writings; your politicks have outdone Machiavel, and your visions are the delight of the curious; but, Sir, though you should dream more fortunately than the Baker of Egypt, and wake to the real possession of bread-baskets, instead of a halter3; yet still the nation will be a debtor, and every day of your life will add to the debt. I hope your manner of dying will agree with the manner of your life, that the picture may be uniform, and that the world may cease to wonder. I am, Sir, alike yours and the following author's friend.

1 Milton.

2 Juvenal has applied this story of Galba to another person in the following words: ......Doctus spectare Lacunar,

Doctus et ad calicem vigilanti stertere naso.

3 This is an allusion to No. VII of The Cork Surgeon's Antidote &c., in which the author narrates that when he had retired last night to bed he was "entertained with so extraordinary a dream that he could not avoid communicating it to the public." He dreamed that he beheld Lucas, crowned after a revolution, but then cast down finally, and condemned to transportation by the Viceroy, and banished to Corsica, where he again attempted to create dissension, but was promptly hanged, while "to give him his due to the last he endeavoured to make an oration but the noise of drums and arms prevented him."

SOME

OBSERVATIONS

ON THE

PRESENT STATE

OF

IRELAND

Particularly with Relation to the
WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE

IN A

LETTER

To his EXCELLENCY the

DUKE OF DORSET

Timeo Danaos, & Dona ferentes. VIRG.

I dread an Englishman even when he does me a Kindness.

DUBLIN:

Printed in the YEAR M DCC XXXI.

And now Re-printed for the Satisfaction of the Curious.

[This was the title page of the pamphlet, the contents of it can be judged from the Second Letter to the Citizens of Dublin.]

SIR,

A LETTER

TO THE CORK-SURGEON
OCCASIONED BY

Peter Wilson's Advertisement of this Day in the
Dublin Journal and Courant.

Dublin: Printed in the Year 1749.

A LETTER to the CORK-SURGEON.

I WAS surprised when I found in this Day's Journal an Advertisement, these Words, Whereas it has been reported, that the Writer of the CORKSURGEON'S ANTIDOTE, was also Author of a Paper intitled, "Some Observations on the present State of Ireland, particularly with Relation to the Woollen Manufacture, in a letter to his Excellency the Duke of Dorset, printed in the Year 1731." I am authorised to assure the Publick, that the said Report is False. PETER WILSON.

Certainly you could never suppose that the World could be deceived by such Artifice; you would have the Publick believe that you are not the Author of that Letter to the Duke of Dorset, and therefore Peter Wilson is authorised to say that you did not write it; but by whom is he authorised? Perhaps by himself; Men may authorise themselves to say anything. I have known Men who would not only say, but even swear that you, Sir, are now a Patriot.

But, Sir, I will allow that he was authorised by the Cork-Surgeon to make the public Declaration; is it therefore to be believed? The CorkSurgeon is concerned in this Report, his Mind may be wrongly biassed, his Conscience may be misinformed, or his Power of Recollection destroyed, and therefore according to the modern Art of Reasoning, he cannot be an Evidence for himself in any Case.

I WILL now grant that the Author of the Cork-Surgeon's Antidote was not the Author of the Letter to the Duke of Dorset; and I grant it, because appears too evident to be denied: They are absolutely different Men, and their Writings demonstrate it; one is a ramping, swearing Bully; and the other is a sly, fawning, cringing Lick-Spittle. Characters so opposite could never surely be found in one Person. Besides, one made his Appearance in the Year 1731, blazed, flashed and lightened till the Year 1744, or thereabouts, then sputtered, sunk, and died in a Fog; out of which Mist, the Cork-Surgeon arose, like the Devil in Paradise.

I have now proved for the Cork-Surgeon, what Peter Wilson has not proved. His Advertisement brings to my Memory, an old Story of a distinguished Person who was accused of Publishing an anonymous Paper, containing many Falsehoods. As his Station in Life made it illegal to speak ill of him; he only published an Advertisement, declaring himself to be the

Author, of that pamphlet; poor Man! he might as well have said, that he was Author of so many Lies.

BUT, supposing this Advertisement to be really satisfactory and demonstrative, in what it comprehends; yet this will not acquit the CorkSurgeon of those Absurdities, Contradictions, and Falsehoods, which appear in his late Writings, and to which Sir, you can make no answer; I would willingly justify you, in all your Proceedings, but you vindicate your own Conduct, by changing like Proteus, and denying this Day, what you asserted Yesterday: A Character so pleasingly variable, will always excite wonder, and wonder gives birth to Discourse. Thus, Sir, you will have the Happiness of being talked of, while you Live, and damned to everlasting Fame, by your Death. I am, Sir,

Your Constant Friend.

ADVERTISEMENT.

This Day is Published, and to be had of the Hawkers.
A PATRIOT'S Letter to the Duke of DORSET,
Written in the Year, 1731.

With a DEDICATION to the CORK-SURGEON
of the Year, 1749.

Printed by William Johnson, in Crooked-Staff, 1749.

NOTE

THE CENSOR

Nos. VIII, X, XIII, XXII AND XXIII.

The columns of Lucas' paper, the Censor, afford strong evidence in favour of the contention that Edmund Burke was a supporter of Lucas, and not an antagonist.

The first number of the Censor appeared on 3rd June, 1749, shortly after the publication of Burke's Reformer had been discontinued. It was (Lucas announced) to be an occasional paper, published, if funds permitted, every Saturday. "The General subject is to be political. But as good policy "must have its foundation in true Morality & Religion, this paper shall "always be ready to receive from all hands."..." Speculative, Ethic, or "Political, Letters or Essays to be signed by some fictitious name, or with "the initial letter of some name."

All correspondents were to be kept quite unknown.

The Censor ceased to be published on 28th July, 1850. It was devoted primarily to the support of Lucas' election campaign, and contained (as before stated) diatribes from Lucas' pen against his rival candidates; and, after he was compelled to fly the country, denunciations of Sir Richard Cox, "The Cork Surgeon," and Chief Justice Marlay.

Five essays appeared in the Censor, which are quite distinctive in substance and style from those of any other contributor. They were almost certainly written by Edmund Burke when in Trinity College. Apart from the internal evidence afforded by their method of thought and composition, their ethical attitude, and the allusions to, and extracts from, Burke's favourite classical authors, three of them are signed with the initial “B”— which Burke had been using a few months before in the Reformer.

These articles were re-issued in the two volumes of Addresses and Letters which Lucas published in 1751, under the title The Political Constitution of Great Britain and Ireland asserted & vindicated etc. To which is Added the Censor and the Citizen's Journal.

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The first of the essays which (it is submitted) Burke wrote, appeared in No. VIII of the Censor, 22nd July, 1749. Its text is a quotation from a letter of Brutus to Atticus: Nothing (the article states) is more common among men than to ridicule things of which they can form no distinct idea." "...Every day's observation will evince the truth of these remarks. But, 'nothing confirms this opinion more, than the sage comments, and stupid "admiration, which narrow-minded men express when they observe the "glorious effects of a reviving spirit of freedom. The poor, contracted "soul, that from its infancy has heard of nothing, but slavish complaisance "to superiors in fortune, and tyrannic indolence to inferiors, stands aghast, "when truth is told to power, and shudders at the breath of honesty! That 'patriot spirit which is the happiness and glory of a free people, is represented 'as madness; and he, who would pluck the mask from guilty greatness, "and expose the diseases of a sickly Constitution, is considered as a tumul"tuous incendiary, and an inflamer of sedition. But, the true patriot rises "above the malice of ignoble slaves; he never seeks their applause, and 'despises their censure; he tramples on all the forms, with which lawless "power and corrupt dignity entrench themselves, and bravely dares to "drag Party & Faction to public justice, though protected by sceptres, or "skulking behind Thrones. I read lately a Letter of Brutus to Cicero, "which contains such free disinterested sentiments, such heroic principles, "that for the sake of some of my readers, I have endeavoured to convey the "meaning of it in English; and shall make it the subject of this day's paper, "rather than draw the character of a patriot, which many would suppose "to be merely ideal, and the chimaera of a heated imagination."

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There is then quoted in full, the letter written by Brutus to Cicero, after the death of Julius Caesar "displaying the dispassionate dictates of a "really great soul." This article is signed "B."

The second essay appeared on 5th Aug. 1749, in No. X of the Censor. It is headed with a quotation from the De Oratore. "No study (the author "writes) is more generally pleasing than History; and in History nothing 'seems more useful to the multitude of readers than great and illustrious "characters. When the pictures are well drawn they cannot but please, "and leave lasting impressions, for they are too far removed from us, to raise "other emotions than wonder and delight. They afford at the same time "Precepts & Examples. They are silent teachers, whom we can hear without

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