Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/302

294 most effectual method in his power of ruining his lordship in the opinion of every man, who is wise or good. I can only tell my lord Harcourt, for his comfort, that these praises are encumbered with the doctrine of resistance, and the true revolution principles; and provided he will not allow Mr. Steele for his commentator, he may hope to recover the honour of being libelled again, as well as his sovereign and fellow-servants.

We now come to the Crisis; where we meet with two pages, by way of introduction to those extracts from acts of parliament, that constitute the body of his pamphlet. This introduction begins with a definition of liberty, and then proceeds in a panegyrick upon that great blessing. His panegyrick is made up of half a dozen shreds, like a schoolboy's theme, beaten general topicks, where any other man alive might wander securely; but this politician, by venturing to vary the good old phrases, and give them a new turn, commits a hundred solecisms and absurdities. The weighty truths, which he endeavours to press upon his reader, are such as these. That liberty is a very good thing; that without liberty we cannot be free; that health is good, and strength is good, but liberty is better than either; that no man can be happy without the liberty of doing whatever his own mind tells him is best; that men of quality love liberty, and common people love liberty; even women and children love liberty; and you cannot please them better than by letting them do what they please. Had Mr. Steele contented himself to deliver these, and the like maxims, in such intelligible terms, I could have found where we agreed, and where we differed. But