Sir Roger L'Estrange

“ One learns from Citt that he is an ex-felon who is employed as a party agent by a political organization plotting to overthrow the government and undermine the Church of England. Motivated only by ambition and avarice, Citt is a completely immoral man who openly endorses a policy of expediency, and who condones any act—no matter how evil—because he believes that the end always justifies the means. As befits a partner in crime, Bumpkin is Citt's Doppelgänger in many ways. ”

“ I will not Excuse some Hot-Headed Blades, that let their Tongues run before their Wits; And make it a Point of Honour, to Brave All the Terrors of Death, and Dungeons, in defence of the Cause that they have Undertaken. The Less said, the Better; Though a Body cannot, in Generosity, but have some sort of Compassion, for a Man that Suffers Death, with Constancy of Mind, Even in a Mistaken Cause, if it be according to his Conscience. ”

“ Entring upon Sequester'd Livings had been Oppression: taking away mens Estates had been Robbery; Imprisoning of their Persons had been Tyranny; using the name of God to all This, would have been Hypocrisy, forcing of Contradictory Oaths had been Impiety, and Shedding the Blood both of the King, and his People, had been Murther: And all This would have appear'd so to be, if the Cause had come to be Try'd by the Known Laws either of God, or of Man. ”

“ How to Confound Gods, and the Governments Friends and Enemies, so as to make the Common People take One for T'other. Now This can be no way done, but by setting-up the Counterfeit of Religion, Law, and Conscience, against the Genuine, and Authentique Original; and by making Evil, to be Good, and Good, to be Evil. ”

“ We are come to govern our selves by Dreams and Imaginations; We make every Coffee-house Tale an Article of our Faith; and from Incredible Fables we raise Invincible Arguments. A man must be fierce and violent to get the Reputation of being Well-affected; as if the calling of one another Damned Heretique, and Popish Dog, were the whole Sum of the Controversie. ”

“ A. Tis Impossible to say either what a Dissenter IS, or what he is NOT. For he's a NOTHING; that may yet come to be ANY thing. He may be a Christian; or he may be a Turk; But you'l find the best account of him in his Name. A DISSENTER, is one that thinks OTHERWISE. That is to say, let the Magistrate think what he pleases, the Dissenter will be sure to be of another Opinion. A Dissenter is not of This, or of That, or of Any Religion; but A Member Politique of an Incorporate Faction: or Otherwise; A Protestant-Fault-Finder in a Christian Commonwealth. ”

“ Pre'thee explain thy self a little upon the Conscience of Profession too.
A Conscience of Profession.
Citt. Observe me what I say then, Bumpkin; There is a Profession, Particular, and General: Particular, as when One Cavalier serves another in a Duell, he's oblig'd to't by the Profession of a Sword-man, without Formalizing upon the Cause. There's a Conscience of Profession even among the Banditi themselves. What is it but the Profession of Presbytery, that makes the whole Party oppose Episcopacy; as the Independents do Presbytery, the Republicans, Monarchy, and the like. ”

“ To reinforce this ironic self-indictment by Citt and Bumpkin, L'Estrange introduces a third character, Trueman, who enters like a deus ex machina to represent the abstract forces of truth, justice, and morality—albeit with a Tory bias. Because he functions as an abstract symbol in contrast with Citt and Bumpkin, who [Pg viii] are very much of this world, Trueman has a personality uncomplicated by any psychological subtleties or idiosyncrasies which would emphasize his humanity. ”

“ In all these, the Tory satirist (whether he be "Tory" or "Observator") is presented as the conventional "snarling dog" described by Robert C. Elliott, [17] with appropriate outbursts of polemic, invective, bitter irony, and railing humor. Even the traditional crudity is there, although compared to, say, the Popish Courant, L'Estrange manifests a Victorian restraint. "Whig," on the other hand, is presented as a naive, credulous, not-too-bright individual whose main fault is not so much that he is a Whig but that he is a Whig because he has no mental capacity for discrimination. ”

“ Although L'Estrange does use the genre for a specific controversial end, he does not lapse into a barren question-and-answer type of organization nor into that of an artificial didactic catechism. While he sketches a setting, develops characterization, and creates believable conversation, L'Estrange does not err in the direction of over-dramatization either. He provides all the requisite machinery to support the dramatic realism necessary in a successful dialogue, but he goes no further. Throughout Citt and Bumpkin, L'Estrange maintains the appropriate "plain, easy and familiar" style. ”

“ But there are more ways to the Wood then One: And 'tis All a case, to a man that's Robb'd, whether the Thieves came in at the Door, or at the Window. 'Tis very Right, That, since the Breaking of the Rebellion, the Non-Cons lay their Fingers upon their Mouths; and not One Word of Late, upon the Subject of Liberties, and Properties; or of the Danger of Tyranny, and of Arbitrary Power: But All other Grievances are Now Swallow'd-up in One: They are All in Tears for fear of the Protestant Religion ”

“ And when they have a mind to Blacken a man, 'tis not a Straw matter, for any Foundation of Fact, or History: But Paint him as like the Devil as they Can; and to make short Work on't, One Fanatique Sits to Another, for the Picture. ”

“ Citt. Oh That's a Jugling, Equivocating, Hellish sort of People; 'tis a thousand pitties that they're suffer'd to live upon the Earth; They value an Oath no more then they do a Rush. Those are the Heads of the Plot now upon the Life of the King, the Protestant Religion, and the Subversion of the Government.
Jesuites and Phanatiques compar'd.
Bum. Ay, Ay, Citt, they're a damn'd Generation of Hell-hounds. But, as I was thinking just now; we have so many things among Us, like some things among Them, that I have been run down some times allmost, as if We our selves were Jesuites ”

“ Nay, and Effectually, to take up such Uncouth, Novel, and Strange Thoughts, Opinions, and Practices, that it looks, as if the English-Man, the Christian, and the Subject, were all lost in a Disguise. They are now, you must know, under New Lords, and Consequently, under New Laws; where they are Train'd-up to New Ways of Understanding Things, and to a New Idiome of Expressing them. Religion, Law, Government, Conscience, Good Manners, are so Sacred in Themselves, that the Worst of Men cannot but Pretend a Veneration for them ”

“ Couched in an authentic colloquial style, the dialogue between Citt and Bumpkin progresses in an entirely natural, credible manner. Their conversation is animated, colorful, humorous, informative, and purposeful. The direction of the conversation is logically dictated by its substance; there is nothing artificial, contrived, or foreordained about it. The interaction of personality is reflected in the verbal exchange. As in a play, the development of the action depends upon each character's immediate and genuine response to the statements made by the other dramatis personae. ”

“ I do not call ye to a Strict Shrift upon Every Point, but I Expect you shall say something to the Whole Matter; for a Few Words, in Order, will give a man more Light to the Reason of a Thing, then as many Volumes, in Confusion. ”

“ Again, as in the theater, dramatic tension is created as the plot unfolds and the reader waits to see what will happen next. Except for one passage of extended quotation (pp. 32-33) , the dramatic realism is sustained effortlessly.
Although Citt and Bumpkin was the first of L'Estrange's Popish Plot pamphlets written in dialogue, he was thoroughly familiar with the form and had often employed it in his polemic skirmishes during the Civil War. In fact, L'Estrange found the genre so congenial that he chose to write his famous newspaper The Observator (1681-87) in dialogue. ”

“ The Less the People Understand, the More they are Edify'd; for they take the Congruities of Carnal Reason, for Vain Philosophy; and Incomprehensible Nonsense, passes for the Work of the Light Within. Their Religion lies alltogether in Groan, and Rapture: They Sacrifice to the Unknown God; and in One Word; They Supply the Want of Knowledge, with an Excess of Zeal; and when they cannot Understand the Plain English of a Discourse, they Wrap Themselves up in the Mystery. The making of a Party, & the Saving of their own Skins, are the Two Main Points of the Leaders ”

“ And yet for all this, Citt, I have no minde in the World to be taken.
Citt. And that's because th' art an arrant buzzard; the Lord deliver me from a fellow that has neither Mony, nor Friends, and yet's afraid of being Taken. Why 'tis the very making of many a mans Fortune to be Taken. How many men are there that give mony to be Taken, and make a Trade on't; Nay happy is the man that can but get any body to Take him. Why I tell ye, there are people that will quarrel for't, and make Friends to be Taken. ”

“ He does (with Respect to the Dignity of an Author) but Bind up Two Fools in One Cover: But there's no more Trusting some People with Pen, Ink, and Paper, then the Maddest Extravagants in Bedlam, with Fire, Sword, or Poyson. He that Writes Ill, and Sees it, why does he Write on? And, with a kind of Malice Prepense, Murder the Ingenious part of Mankind? He that Really Believes he Writes Well; why does he pretend to Think Otherwise? Now take it which way you please, a man runs a Risque of his Reputation, for want, either of Skill, and Judgment, the One way ”

“ Yes, we have, but the King has this Advantage of us, that We may Forfeit our Liberties but He cannot forfeit his Crown.
Citt. What if a King will Transgresse all the Laws of God and Man? may not the People resume their Trust?
Power is from God, not from the People.
Soveraignty of the People most ridiculous.
True. No, not unlesse you can produce an expresse stipulation to That very purpose. But let me shew you, First, the Errour of taking That to be a Trust from the People, which, in truth, is an Ordinance of Providence, For All Power is from God ”

“ And what if a man should Allow This sort of People now, to be the most Uncouth, Hideous Monsters of the Creation? To have the Teeth, the Nails, the Fierceness, the Strength, & the Appetite of the most Ravenous of Wild Beasts? ”

“ If L'Estrange's Tory bias is perfectly evident, it is not aggressive enough to prevent the accomplishment of his polemic objectives. Although the republican political theories of the Whigs are attacked satirically in the first part of Citt and Bumpkin, they are stated and refuted in proper controversial style in the final pages of the pamphlet. On the whole, Citt and Bumpkin conforms to the [Pg xi] conventions of a successful dialogue; where it does not, the infringements are not great enough to destroy its artistic integrity. ”

“ In the muddy torrent of "Intelligences," "Mercuries," "Courants," "Pacquets," and sundry newssheets, the Observator marks the beginnings of a new sort of journalism, one which was to shape the development of the English periodical. Although Heraclitus Ridens and its opponent Democritus Ridens initiated the dialogue form for the newspaper seventy-two days before the Observator, their relatively short run relegates these pioneers to a shadowy background, as it does the even earlier trade paper in dialogue, the City and Country Mercury (1667) . ”

“ What a blessed State are we in, that Walk up to our Calling, in Simplicity and Truth, whose Yea is Yea, and whose Nay is Nay. 'Tis a strange way thou hast, Citt, of making things out to a man. Thou wert saying but now, that the same thing may be a Sin in One Man, and not in Another. I'm thinking now of the Jesuites. ”

“ Certain things are as clear as the Day (No. 25; T-D56) or as plain as the nose o'my face (No. 40; T-N215) , whereas others are so confused that one can make neither Head nor tayl on't (No. 35; T-H258) . When noses are put out of joint (No. 38; T-N219) and Tories are given a bone to pick (No. 55; T-B522) , there will obviously be no love lost betwixt Whigs and Tories (No. 97; T-L544) .
Thus L'Estrange's Characters, together with the fanciful anecdotes, self-satire, parodies, and personae, provide the satire and humor in the Observator, the whole being couched in familiar, pungent language. ”

“ L'Estrange findes Errours of the Press in the Other Tryals and Rectifies them, in his Own: Now if Posterity shall finde in the Right, that the Other are wrong, they are in no danger of being Misled by the One, in what is Corrected by the Other: And if they do not read the Right Copy at all, there's no harm done to the Other, but they must take it as they finde it. So that this Remark is so far from Disparaging the Proceedings, that a greater Right can hardly be done to Publick Justice by a Pamphlet. ”

“ And it is not but that I highly approve of your Zeal for the Discovery of the Plot, and Suppressing of Popery, but we are not yet to Trample upon Laws, and Publique Orders, for the attaining even of those Glorious ends.
But now I think on't; deal freely with me; did you really go to the Registers ye spake of, to furnish Names for your Subscriptions?
Citt. No; That was but a Flourish: but all the Rest we Literally did.
A gross Cheat upon the Nation.
True. Are not you Conscious to your selves of your Iniquities? who made You a Commissioner for the Town, or You for the Country? ”

“ Obs. 'Tis Both in One: For it is the Ridiculous Truth, and the Just Reason, Method, and State of the Matter: And when People are once Juggled Out of their Wits, they must be Fool'd Into 'em again. Now there needs no more to the doing of That Work, then the bare Drawing of the Curtain, and letting People into the Tyring-Room. For the Cause, is all over, Theatrical: The Actors are Hypocrites, in their Manners, as well as in the Etymon; and the whole Manage, fitter for a Stage, then a Pulpit. So that the most Certain Way in Nature, for the making of the Practice, Odious ”