Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 5.djvu/456

448 has to say on this topick, till he and her majesty are both dead," p. 61. Thus, he defers his praises, as he does his debts, after the manner of the druids, to be paid in another world. If I have ill interpreted him, it is his own fault, for studying cadence instead of propriety, and filling up niches with words before he has adjusted his conceptions to them. One part of the queen's character is this, "that all the hours of her life are divided between the exercises of devotion, and taking minutes of the sublime affairs of her government." Now, if the business of Dunkirk be one of the "sublime affairs of her majesty's government," I think we ought to be at ease; or else she "takes her minutes" to little purpose. No, says Mr. Steele, the queen is a lady; and unless a prince will now and then get drunk with his ministers, "he cannot learn their interests or humours," p. 6l.; but, this being by no means proper for a lady, she can know nothing but what they think fit to tell her when they are sober. And therefore " all the fellow subjects" of these ministers must watch their motions, and "be very solicitous for what passes beyond the ordinary rules of government;" ibid. For while we are foolishly "relying upon her majesty's virtues," these ministers are "taking the advantage of increasing the power of France."

There is a very good maxim, I think it is neither whig nor tory, "that the prince can do no wrong;" which, I doubt, is often applied to very ill purposes. A monarch of Britain is pleased to create a dozen peers, and to make a peace; both these actions are (for instance) within the undisputed prerogative of the crown, and are to be reputed,