Sir Roger L'Estrange

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If these Impressions were Inbred, and the Errors purely their Own, it would be a Point, not only of Good Nature, but of Common Justice, and Humanity, to have a Tenderness for People under an Invincible Mistake: But you have Started the Strongest Argument in the World, against your self here, by Enforcing the Necessity of Clearing the Stage of the Seditious Oracles, that Inspire These Desperate Resolutions. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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? ”

“ 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 ”

“ Humorless, misguided, and chronically given to believing even the most outrageous gossip, "Whig" cuts a foolish and therefore amusing figure when pitted against the sophisticated, trenchant-minded "Tory." "Trimmer" is quite different. L'Estrange here creates a much more intelligent opponent, one who is given the liberty of satirizing "Observator" himself and even patronizing him with the nickname "Nobs." Instead of naivete and obvious stupidity, "Trimmer" has the guile and surface morality of the perfect hypocrite, a "pretending friend" as "Observator" notes in Observator III, Nos. ”

“ A man may be Wheedled into a Precipice, as well as Thrown into't: A man may be Hugg'd or Suck'd to Death, without any Biting, or Scratching in the Case: A man may be Poyson'd in his Porridge, as well as Strangl'd in his Bed: A man may have False Opinions Impos'd upon him by a Fallacy, or Fraud in Argument, as well as Extorted from him, by the Force of Menace, and Torment. And his Bus'ness, at last, is done, as Dead, One way as T'other: And so for the Degrees of Danger ”

“ There's Danger at Hand; there's Danger at a Distance; Danger in Design, and Danger in Practice; And Danger, in fine, through All the Preparatory, and Mediate Tendencies to Mischief, to the Last Effect that Pushes it self forth to Execution. ”

“ Secondly. 'Tis not for a man in years, to do so and so. Well! And here's a Reputative Circumstance, on the One hand, against an Indispensable Duty, on the Other. The Common people are Poyson'd, and will run Stark Mad, if they be not Cur'd: Offer them Reason, without Fooling, and it will never Down with them: And give them Fooling, without Argument, they're never the Better for't. ”

“ I tell ye Nakedly how things Are, and not how they Ought to be: and I speak of Those Men too, that neither Do, nor Will, nor Can make a Right Judgment upon the Matter in Issue. They do not take down Reasons in Connexion; neither do their Teachers so much as Offer at'em; But their Work is, only to Feed Itching Ears, and Humours, with New-Quoyn'd Words, Affectate Phrases: And briefly, to Instruct their Disciples, by Signs and Tokens, like so many Dancing Horses to fall Lame upon all Four, for the Pope ”

“ 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. ”

“ Titus Oates is consequently the Observator's bête noire, and Andrew Marvell's pamphlet, The Growth of Popery, is for L'Estrange the odious origin of the Plot:
Obs.: I do not know Any man throughout the whole Tract of the Controversy that has held a Candle to the Devil with a Better Grace then the Author of that Pamphlet ... that Furnishes so Clear a Light toward the Opening of the Roots, Springs, and Causes of our Late Miserable Disorders, and Confusions.... Prethee let Otes'es Popish Plot, Stand, or Fall, to it's Own Master; provided that Marvels may be Allow'd to be the Elder Brother.... ”

“ Q. But a man may Mean honestly, and yet perhaps ly under some Mistake. Can any man help his Opinion?
A. A man may Mean well, and Do Ill; he may shed Innocent Bloud, and think he does God good Service. 'Tis True: A man cannot help Thinking; but he may help Doing: He is Excusable for a Private Mistake, for That's an Error only to himself; but when it comes [Pg 11] once to an Overt Act, 'tis an Usurpation upon the Magistrate, and there's no Plea for't.
Q. You have no kindnesse, I perceive, for a Dissenting Protestant; but what do you think of a bare Protestant without any Adjunct? ”

“ The One Sweeps away a Number of Single Persons; the Other Tears to pieces the Sinews of a Community. The One does, in some Degree, Conduce to the Purging of a Wicked Nation, when the Wrath of Heaven is Appeas'd by the Discharge of some Dreadfull Judgment upon't; (as the Air is Clear'd by Thunder) The Other does All that is Possible to the Filling-up of the Measure of a Publique Iniquity; and the making of a Land Ripe for Vengeance.
TRIMMER. Prethee what Danger? ”

“ 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 ”

“ Their very Petitions have the force of Invectives; and the Smoother, the Softer, you find the Surface of them, the Falser, and the more Dangerous they are at the Bottom: For betwixt the Persecution that is Insinuated, on the part of the Government, & the Innocence, the Piety, and the Modesty, on that of the Sufferers, Nothing can more Provoke, a Horror, and Indignation for the One, or a Tenderness, & Compassion, for the Other. ”

“ Q. You will not make the Protestant-Mercury to be an Anabaptist too, will ye?
A. If you do make him any thing, I'le make him That. But in one word, they are Factious and Necessitous; and consequently, the fittest Instruments in the world, for the Promoting of a Sedition. First, as they are Principled for't; and then, in respect of their Condition; for they are every man of them under the Lash of the Law, and Retainers to Prisons; So that in their Fortunes they can hardly be worse. ”

“ For betwixt Blind Pity, and Foolish Zeal, on the One hand, and all the Arts, of Moving, and Provoking Those Passions, and Affections, on the Other, there is kept-up, and Cherish'd, a Communication of Reciprocal Kindness, between them, that keeps the Fire alive still in the Embers, 'till by Degrees, it Blows-up All at last into a Common Flame. Now take away These Bellows, and T'other Sparks, and a man may Sleep in his Bed, without Dreaming of Conflagrations, or the Dread of Rising with his Throat Cut. ”

“ Indeed, the Observator can, in many ways, be considered a rather crude and primitive ancestor of the Spectator. [11]
The purpose of the Observator and its main targets are clearly formulated in Observator No. 1, as well as in the prefatory "To the Reader," which was written in 1683 for the publication of Volume 1 of the collected papers. The "faction" which L'Estrange proposes to reprove consists at first (1681-1682) of Shaftesbury's republican-minded followers and of the perpetrators of the Popish Plot. ”

“ Some People at Norwich, are playing the Devil for Godsake: several honest, peaceable, Protestant Dissenters, having been troubled for not coming to Church, or having been Present at Religious Meetings &c. ”

“ Nay, 'tis a horrible Abuse, and really the man stands in's own light: What was't? 500 or a 1000 Pound that he recover'd of One that did not say the Hundredth part of what this comes to? The Lord Deliver me! I knew the Time when 'twas half a Hanging-matter to have made the least doubt of any Branch of the Hellish Plot: But for this Audacious Fool to say in Expresse Terms, that [the Four Jesuites Letters, wherein Oates pretended was the whole Discovery, were Counterfeits] is utterly Intolerable. I'le e'en go my ways immediately, and talk with the Doctor about it. ”

“ And a man may as well hope to Reverse the Decree of his Mortality, as the Fate of his Writings. In short: When the Dice are Cast, the Author must stand his Chance.
Now that I may not be thought to Enterfere with my self, by Declaiming against One Preface in Another: I do here previously Renounce to All the Little Arts and Forms of Bespeaking the Good Will of the Reader; As a Practice, not only Mean, Light, and Unprofitable ”

“ Give Every man his Pulpit, or his Chair, and only a Bare Standing in't; and if [Pg 28] they do not Wink, and Nod, and Cuff any Prince in Christendom out of his Dominions, without a Word Speaking, I'le be thy Bond-slave. Why they do not do their Bus'ness, man, by the Force of Logique, Grammar, or by the Dint of Theology: But by Groans, Pangs, Tragical Ululations, Silent Interjections, Whining Apostrophes, Melting Epiphonemas ”

“ And a great many of the Pensionary Parliament Hang'd-up, as Betrayers of the Rights of the People. Walcots Tryal, p. 15.] You have here, a Practical Explanation of the True-Protestant Way, (in case of the King's Violent Death) of Revenging it to the Utmost upon the Papists. And This Intended Assassination (says Ferguson (in the same Page) ) [Is a Glorious Action, and such an Action as I HOPE TO SEE PUBLIQUELY GRATIFY'D BY PARLIAMENT; And Question not but you will be Fam'd for it, and Statues Erected for you, with the Title of LIBERATORES PATRIAE. Ibid.] ”

“ Nay, they are Taught, when to be Angry; when to be Pleas'd; and their very Inclinations, and Aversions, are none of their Own, Neither: The Whole Bus'ness, in short, is Artifice, Manage, and Practice; for All their Mistakes, and Mis-understandings, take the Same Biass.
Obs. I do Observe, indeed, that they Shelter themselves under the Dark Prophets, and the Revelation. The Number of the Beast, they have all at their Fingers Ends ”