“ To me the present State of the Nation seems so far from any Resemblance to the Noise and Agitation of a tempestuous Sea, that it may be much more properly compared to the dead Stillness of the Waves before a Storm. ”

“ For after a laborious and attentive Perusal of Histories, Memoirs, Chronicles, Lives, Characters, Vindications, Panegyricks, and Epitaphs, I could find no sufficient Authority for ascribing to any of our English Monarchs, however gracious or glorious, any prophetical Knowledge or Prescience of Futurity. Which, when we consider how rarely regal Virtues are forgotten, how soon they are discovered, and how loudly they are celebrated, affords a probable Argument at least, that none of them have laid any Claim to this Character. ”

“ Is not all at Home Satisfaction and Tranquillity? all Abroad Submission and Compliance? Is it the Interest or Inclination of any Prince or State to draw a Sword against us? and are we not nevertheless secured by a numerous Standing Army, and a King who is himself an Army? Have our Troops any other Employment than to march to a Review? ”

“ The Frown of a Prince, and the Loss of a Pension, have indeed been found of wonderful Efficacy, to abstract Men’s Thoughts from the present Time, and fill them with Zeal for the Liberty and Welfare of Ages to come. [8] But I am inclined to think more favourably of the Author of this Prediction, than that he was made a Patriot by Disappointment or Disgust. If he ever saw a Court, I would willingly believe, that he did not owe his Concern for Posterity to his ill Reception there, but his ill Reception there to his Concern for Posterity. ”

“ How easily may an Adept in these admirable and useful Arts penetrate into the most hidden Import of this Prediction? A Man accustomed to satisfy himself with the obvious and natural Meaning of a Sentence, does not easily shake off his Habit; but a rue-bred Lawyer never contents himself with One Sense when there is another to be found. ”

“ It is with a proper Sense of the Weakness of my own Abilities, that I venture to lay before the Public the Reasons which hinder me from concurring with this Opinion, which I am not only inclined to favour by my Respect for the Authors of it, but by a natural Affection to Monarchy, and a prevailing Inclination to believe that every Excellence is inherent in a King. ”

“ The following Explications therefore are by no Means laid down as certain and indubitable Truths, but as Conjectures not always wholly satisfactory even to myself, and which I had not dared to propose to so enlightened an Age, an Age which abounds with, those great Ornaments of human Nature, Sceptics, Anti-moralists, and Infidels, but with Hopes that they would excite some Person of great Abilities to penetrate farther into the oraculous Obscurity of this wonderful Prediction. ”

“ It was observed, first, That the Daily Dissertations published by the Fraternity, are written with such Profundity of Sentiment, and filled with such uncommon Modes of Expression, as to be themselves sufficiently unintelligible to vulgar Readers, and that therefore the venerable Obscurity of this Prediction would much less excite the Curiosity, and awaken the Attention of Mankind, than if it were exhibited in any other Paper, and placed in Opposition to the clear and easy Stile of an Author generally understood. ”

“ However, since Truth is the same in the Mouth of a Hermit, or a Prince; since it is not Reason but Weakness that makes us rate Counsel by our Esteem for the Counsellor; let us at length desist from this Enquiry, so useless in itself, in which we have Room to hope for so little Satisfaction. Let us show our Gratitude to the Author, by answering his Intentions, by considering minutely the Lines which he has left us, and examining their Import without Heat, Precipitancy, or Party-prejudices ”

“ As I am not able to determine any Thing on this Question, I shall content myself with collecting, into one View, the several Properties of this pestiferous Brood, with which we are threatened, as Hints to more sagacious and fortunate Readers; who when they shall find any Red Animal that ranges uncontrouled over the Country, and devours the Labours of the Trader and the Husbandman; that carries with it Corruption, Rapine, Pollution, and Devastation; that threatens without Courage, robs without Fear, and is pampered without Labour; they may know that the Prediction is completed. ”

“ No Man can be hardy enough to impute to Dr. Johnson Wishes or Expectations of such a Nature—more extravagant to his enlightened Mind and loyal Heart, than the Doctrine of Ghosts and Phantoms, or the Pretentions to Second Sight in the Highlands of Scotland; a Country whose Poverty and Barrenness you have, as a faithful Histtorian, described and exposed, though treated with Lettered Hospitality, and partaking of every Convenience that such a Country could afford. ”

“ Where we are to look for our Author it still remains to be considered, whether in the high Road of public Employments, or the Bye-paths of private Life.
It has always been observed of those that frequent a Court, that they soon, by a kind of Contagion, catch the regal Spirit of neglecting Futurity. The Minister forms an Expedient to suspend or perplex an Enquiry into his Measures for a few Months, and applauds and triumphs in his own Dexterity. The Peer puts off his Creditor for the present Day, and forgets that he is ever to see him more. ”

“ To condemn an Opinion so agreeable to the Reverence due to the regal Dignity, and countenanced by so great Authorities, without a long and accurate Discussion, would be a Temerity justly liable to the severest Censures. ”

“ These is not one honest Man in the Nation unconvinced how weak an Attempt it would be to endeavour to confute this Insinuation. An Insinuation which no Party will dare to abet, and of so fatal and definitive a Tendency, that it may prove equally dangerous to the Author whether true or false. ”

“ I propose therefore, that all the Officers of the Army may be examined upon Oath One by One, and that if Fifteen cannot be selected who are at present so qualified, the Deficiency may be supplied out of those who having once learned to read, may, perhaps, with the Assistance of a Master, in a short Time refresh their Memories. ”

“ Are not Pretenders, Mock-patriots, Masquerades, Operas, Birth-nights, Treaties, Conventions, Reviews, Drawing-rooms, the Births of Heirs, and the Deaths of Queens, sufficient to overwhelm any Capacity but that of a King? ”

“ In which the Lion, that used at Pleasure to lay the Pastures waste, is represented as not daring to touch the Lilies, or murmur at their Growth: The Lion, it is true, is one of the Supporters, of the Arms of England, and may therefore figure our Countrymen, who have in ancient Times made France a Desert. But can it be said, that the Lion dares not murmur or rage (for fremere may import both) when it is evident, that for many Years this whole Kingdom has murmured? ”

“ Here are other Things mentioned of the Lion equally unintelligible, if we suppose them to be spoken of our Nation, as that she lies sluggish, and depraved with unlawful Lusts, while his Offspring is trampled and tortured before his Eyes. ”

“ In this Calamity, on which he dwells longest, and which he seems to deplore with the deepest Sorrow, he points out one Circumstance which may be of great Use to disperse our Apprehensions, and awaken us from that Panick which the Reader must necessarily feel at the first transient View of this dreadful Description. These Serpents, says the Original, are haud Pugnaces, of no fighting Race: They will threaten, indeed, and hiss, and terrify the Weak, and Timorous, and Thoughtless, but have no real Courage or Strength. ”

“ That a weaker Animal should suck the Blood of a stronger without Resistance is wholly improbable and inconsistent with the Regard for Self-preservation, so observable in every Order and Species of Beings. ”

“ When Crimes inflame the Wrath of angry Heav’n!
Poem of London. I answered this exclamatory Interrogation only with a Smile of ineffable Contempt.—As to the latter Part of the Description, viz. that a Pension is generally understood in England to mean Pay given to a State-hireling for Treason to his Country, I replied—Suppose Dr. Johnson, or myself, choose to take the Words in the Scotish Acceptation of them; and if the Idea of a State-hireling in that Country doth not materially differ from that received in our own, the Idea of Treason doth, or at least hath done most essentially. ”

“ The Inscription which I now proceed to confider, wants no Arguments to prove its Antiquity to those among the learned who are veiled in the Writers of the darker: Ages, and know that the Latin Poetry of those Times was of a peculiar Cast and Air, not easy to be understood, and very difficult to be imitated; nor can it be conceived that any Man would lay out his Abilities on a Way of writing, which though attained with much Study could gain him no Reputation, and engrave his Chimæras on a Stone to astonish Posterity. ”

“ I intreat all Sects, Factions, and Distinctions of Men among us, to lay aside for a Time their Party-feuds and petty Animosities, and by a warm Concurrence on this urgent Occasion, teach Posterity to sacrifice every private Interest to the Advantage of their Country. ”

“ I make not the least Doubt, but that this learned Person has given us, as an Antiquary, a true and uncontrovertible Representation of the Writer’s Meaning, and am sure he can confirm it by innumerable Quotations from the Authors of the middle Age, should he be publickly called upon by any Man of eminent Rank in the Republic of Letters; nor will he deny the World that Satisfaction, provided the Animadverter proceeds with that Sobriety and Modesty, with which it becomes every learned Man to treat a Subject of such Importance. ”

“ I, who am a Descendant from the Saxons, and therefore unwilling to say any Thing derogatory from the Reputation of my Forefathers, must yet allow this Argument its full Force: For it has been rarely, very rarely, known, that Foreigners, ever well treated, carefled, enriched, flattered, or exalted, have regarded this Country with the least Gratitude or Affection, till the Race has by long Continuance, after many Generations, been naturalized and assimilated. ”

“ It is well known to be the constant Study of the Lawyers to discover in Acts of Parliament Meanings which escaped the Committees that drew them up, and the Senates that passed them into Laws, and to explain Wills into a Sense wholly contrary to the Intention of the Testator. ”

“ This indeed may gain, a temporary Allegiance, and procure an outward Shew of Obedience, as if, would not only gratify their high-flown extravagant Notions of hereditary Right and unlimited Authority, but afford some distant Prospect and Hope, that a Deviation from all Principles and Maxims that first, in the Opinion of the Whigs, vindicated the Deposition of the Stuarts, and Elevation of the House of Hanover, might, by a happy Train of political Confluences, refer the the imperial Diadem to that Head, round which every Jacobite would wish to see it cast its hereditary Splendor. ”

“ There may not perhaps be found in the Army such a Number of Men, who have ever condescended to pass through the Labours and irksome Forms bf Education in Use among the lower Classes of People, or submitted to learn the mercantile and plebeian Arts of Writing and Reading: I must own, that though I entirely agree with the Notions of the Uselessness of any such trivial Accomplishments in the Military Profession, and of their Inconsistency with more valuable Attainments ”

“ The Salary to be allowed each Professor cannot be less than 2000 l. a Year, which is indeed more than the regular Stipend of a Commissioner of Excise; but it must be remembered, that the Commentators have a much more difficult and important Employment, and can expect their Salaries but for the short Space of Five Years; whereas a Commissioner (unless he imprudently suffers himself to be carried away by a whimsical Tenderness for his Country) has an Establishment for Life. ”

“ Johnson and Lord North expect the total Subduction of America, to this ingenious Writer, would be a manifest Injustice and Absurdity. I chuse to mention this particularly, because I should think the Writer’s Nose, if not his Life, would stand but a bad Chance from some of our Military Gentry. ↑ Could the Author of the False Alarm, and Taxation no Tyranny, be ever supposed to have written this virulent Attack?—No! Conjecture itself is put to Flight. ”

“ If the Establishment of this Society be thought a Matter of too much Importance to he deferred till the New Buildings are finished, it will be necessary to make Room for their Reception, by the Expulsion of such of the Seamen as have no Pretensions to the Settlement there, but fractured Limbs, Loss of Eyes, or decayed Constitutions, who have lately been admitted in such Numbers, that it is now scarce possible to accommodate a Nobleman’s Groom, Footman, or Postilion in a Manner suitable to the Dignity of his Profession, and the original Design of the Foundation. ”

“ So that the Mischief done by them, their Ravages, Devastations, and Robberies, must be only the Consequences of Cowardice in the Sufferers, who are harrassed and oppressed only because they suffer it without Resistance. ”

“ The Terror created to the Moon by the Anger of the Bear, is a strange Expression, but may perhaps relate to the Apprehensions raised in the Turkish Empire, of which a Crescent or new Moon is the imperial Standard, by the increasing Power of the Empress of Russia, whose Dominions lie under the Northern Constellation called The Bear. ”

“ So that the Inscription may, by being inserted there, sink once more into Darkness and Oblivion, instead of informing the Age, and assisting our present Ministry in the Regulation of their Measures.”
Another observed, that nothing was more unreasonable than my Hope, that any Remarks or Elucidations would be drawn up by that Fraternity, since their own Employments do not allow them any Leisure for such attempts. Every one knows that Panegyric is in its own Nature no easy Task, and that to defend is much more difficult than to attack ”