| Citation |
BNL.744.008
1 Mar 1744:11,12 (2083)
From the Daily-Post. London, Sept. 20.
A letter to the author. Tom's Cornhill, Friday Sept 16.
Happening to be jamb'd in this morning among a mix'd
company, and being a little loth to make several rise at
once to let me out, I had at last the pleasure of hearing a
few remarks on your paper of this day, which I have taken
the liberty to send you along with a few of my own, that I
made as soon as I could get into a corner by myself.
In this company I observed two or three grave gentlemen look
alike blank upon the matter. After observing with a
sneering countenance that your correspondent C.D. seem'd to
make it his particular study to frighten the nation by
exaggerating the power of France, they call'd for the
Gazetteer, hoping for some comfort from it; . . .
After this I was agreeably entertain'd with the remarks of a
couple of young sparks, whom I should have taken for what
you call very pretty fellows, had they had but sense or
modesty enough to hold their tongues. . . [9 lines] Here I
ask'd them, with submission to their superiour judgments,
whether they thought the French would immediately march up
to the capital, in case of an invasion and if they should
not think it fit to do so, whether one might not find some
thousands in this great city, and under 40 years of age too,
that had much rather run to an opera or a pantomime than fly
to the assistance of their fellow subjects in the country?
You may easily guess what sort of answer I received. My
young heroes had like to have lost all patience: They ask'd
me, very pertly, whether it was not ill manners to deal in
national reflections ? To which I reply'd, that I had a
right to make free with my own country, if I saw it was
degenerated from the bravery and integrity of our ancestors;
and that they might rest assur'd, that the courage of a
nation generally, if not always, kept pace with the share of
honesty and good sense that is left in it. . . [3 more
paras.]
. . . [signed] Mercator.
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