II 



LATER YEARS 47 



"Oh! how I long to see America and the East Indies 

 revolted, totally and finally the revenue reduced to half 

 public credit fully discredited by bankruptcy the third of 

 London in ruins, and the rascally mob subdued ! I think I 

 am not too old to despair of being witness to all these 

 blessings. 



"I am delighted to see the daily and hourly progress of 

 madness and folly and wickedness in England. The consum- 

 mation of these qualities are the true ingredients for making 

 a fine narrative in history, especially if followed by some signal 

 and ruinous convulsion as I hope will soon be the case with 

 that pernicious people ! " 



Even from the secure haven of James's Court, 

 the maledictions continue to pour forth : 



" Nothing but a rebellion and bloodshed will open the eyes 

 of that deluded people ; though were they alone concerned, I 

 think it is no matter what becomes of them. . . . Our 

 government has become a chimera, and is too perfect, in 

 point of liberty, for so rude a beast as an Englishman ; who 

 is a man, a bad animal too, corrupted by above a century of 

 licentiousness. The misfortune is that this liberty can scarcely 

 be retrenched without danger of being entirely lost ; at least 

 the fatal effects of licentiousness must first be made palpable 

 by some extreme mischief resulting from it. I may wish 

 that the catastrophe should rather fall on our posterity, but it 

 hastens on with such large strides as to leave little room for 

 hope. 



" I am running over again the last edition of my History, in 

 order to correct it still further. I either soften or expunge 

 many villainous seditious Whig strokes which had crept into 

 it. I wish that my indignation at the present madness, en- 

 couraged by lies, calumnies, imposture, and every infamous act 

 usual among popular leaders, may not throw me into the opposite 

 extreme." 



