Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/275

Rh due to his station, he will however probably desire the reputation of it, without which he neither can preserve the dignity, nor hardly go through the common business of his place; yet is it that reputation to which he owes all the envy and hatred of others, as well as his own disquiets. Mean time, his expecting friends impute all their disappointments to some deep design, or to his defect of good will; and his enemies are sure to cry up his excess of power, especially in those points where they are confident it is most shortened. A minister, in this difficult case, is sometimes forced to preserve his credit, by forbearing what is in his power, for fear of discovering how far the limits extend of what is not; or, perhaps, for fear of showing an inclination contrary to that of his master. Yet all this while he lies under the reproach of delay, unsteadiness, or want of sincerity. So that there are many inconveniences and dangers, either in discovering, or concealing the want of power. Neither is it hard to conceive, that ministers may happen to suffer for the sins of their predecessors, who, by their great abuses and monopolies of power and favour, have taught princes to be more thrifty for the future, in the distribution of both. And as in common life, whoever has been long confined, is very fond of his liberty, and will not easily endure the very appearance of restraint, even from those who have been the instruments of setting him free; so it is with the recovery of power, which is usually attended with an undistinguished jealousy, left it should be again invaded, in such a juncture, I cannot discover why a wise and honest man should venture to place himself at the head of affairs, upon any other regard than the safety of