Commons, That he was truly concerned for bis Offence; that be bad, in most humble and dutiful Manner, made bis Submiffion to bis Majefty, and given his Majefly the strongest Affurances of bis inviolable Fidelity, and of bis Zeal for bis Majefty's Service, and for the Support of the prefent happy Eftablishment; which bis Majefty bad been graciously pleafed to accept.

too well known, amongst the Undertakers,
Coffin-Makers, and Sextons of this City, to
be blafted by your flanderous Pen. Let the
Man alone, and if he has the Art to kill,
by one Drop only, whilst others must fill Vi-
als, and fometimes quart Bottles, before they
can do it, it fhews him to be the greater
Artist.
A
You may fay your Pleafure; but 1
fay, a Quack is a very ufeful Perfon in a
Common-wealth, especially where it is too
populous; and for the further Encouragement
of fuch Adepts, I think they ought to be in-
corporated by a Charter, and Mr. Ward to
be the first Master of the Company.

This Petition was recommended to the Houfe of Commons by that Cb. -r of the Exr, who hath fince been rewarded for the Service by every Injury to his Fame from the Hand which owes him this Benefit. It was prefented in that very Month when the Oppofition begun on the Part of the diffatisfied Whigs: After thefe Men had B begun their Quarrel, did be fue for Compaffion, had Compaffion extended to him by the Government and immediately join'd with the Faction against it.

For more than 7 Years before his Return, he was the Spy and the Implement of Power, paying the moft obfequious Court to all Men in great Employments. From the Moment when they gave him Liberty, of a Slave he became a Tyrant; and not content with being restored to that Country, which he had injured and betrayed, infifted on being reftored to thofe Honours and Capacities, which he had polluted by his Treafons, and was, by the Laws of his Country, for ever difabled to bear.

For more than 7 Years fince his Return,

he hath been the Defamer and the Libeller of the Government; oppofing himself to all the King's Measures, and endeavouring to make odious the Perfons of all the King's Minifters, as the dutiful Return which he is bound to make for the 'Favours he received, and the Performance of his Affurance of bis in

violable Fidelity, and of bis Zeal for bis Majefty's Service.

When I look back for 40 Years paft, it is
with Pleasure that. I reflect upon the many
ufeful Quacks in this City. The firft I fhail
name was Dr. Tom Saffold, the Heel-maker,
who flourished about 40 Years ago, and made
Clap-curing his fole Bufinefs, and used to pub-
lifh his Bills in Verfe, thus:

Here's Saffold's pills, much better than the reft,
Defervedly have gain'd the name of beft:
Tho' 'tis too cheap in any man's own fenfe.
A-box of eighteen pills for eighteen pence,
By which the Doctor demonftrated, that he
was as good a Poet, as he was a Phyfician:
'But as fuch useful Men do not live always,
fo the great Saffold made his Exit, to the
great Regret of the whoring Part of the
Town.

After him, or, about that Time, up started
DSir Will. Read Mountebank, Oculift, and
fworn Operator for the Eyes. This Man was
an excellent Scholar, only he had the Misfor-
tune that he could not read one Word: How-
ever he was knighted, and kept a Chariot,
and that was better. 1 think his Original was
a Taylor, if he had any earthly Original at
all, which I am not very certain of; or whe-
Stage and all: However, he slept with his
ther he did not drop down from the Moon,
Fathers; and in his Stead, up popped honeft
Roger Grant the Tinker, of whom a Friend
of mine once fung,

E

From this Difplay of his Conduct, we are to judge whether he hath merited so much Truft of his Country, as from having been the greatest of their Criminals, to be received as the Accufer of their Friends: Whether he, with all this Perjury, Perfidy, and In. gratitude, with fo much Malice against this Adminiftration, is a competent Accufer of F any Minifter, or to be trufted in any Suggeftion by which he would prejudice the Adminiftration in the Minds of the People of England?

T

G

Her majefly fure was in a furprife,

Or elfe, was very short fighted;
When a tinker was fworn to look after her eyes,

And the mountebank Read was knighted.
This honeft Man, who was really bred a
Tinker, no Doubt, understood the Anatomy
of the Eye exceeding well; for how could it
be otherwife? So that, like all the rest of
that Tribe, fome he put out, and fome he put
in, and fome he put by. Nay furthermore,
he had the Vanity to have his Picture done
upon Copper, and had many printed off, to
prefent to Friends; he prefented one of
thefe to an Acquaintance of mine, who pafted
it up in his House of Office, with thefe Lines
underneath:

A tinker firft bis feene of life began; That failing, be fet up for cunning man: But wanting luck, puts on a new disguifé, And now pretends, that be can mend your eyes: But this expect, that like a tinker true, Where be repairs one eye, be puts out two. This trusty Roger made a Blaze like other Meteors, and then was quite extinct. And Moorfields being a Place much noted for Mad men and Mountebanks, with a little sprinkling of Conjurers; there flourished for fome Years the very ingenious Dr. Trotter, the Fortune-teller, who for 12 Penny-worth of Money, difpenfed as much good Fortune to his Followers, as was richly worth two and twenty Pence: But he died, as other People do, when Fortune failed him, and his Time was B

About that Time appeared another learned Gentleman (whofe Name, to my great Sorrow, I have forgot) who was a great Fortune-teller, and who in his Bills affured us, that he had been the Counselor to the Counsellors of fe- E veral Kingdoms, that he had the Seed of the true Female Fern, and alfo had a Glafs. What this Glafs was, whether a Glass Bottle, or a perspective Glass, or a Glass Eye, or what elfe, I never could learn; but once I had a Curiofity to vifit this great Adept, whom I found very poor, very fhabby, very ignorant, and very filly: What became of him I know not, but his Ufefulness has been long fince loft.

Then fome Years fince fprung up the learned Dr. Hancock, who inftructed us to cure our felves with cold Water and fewed Prunes: He was a fhining Light, till he was put out by the Writings of fame Men of fuperior Senfe, who filenced the Doctor, and exploded his Doctrine, and kicked it quite out of Ufe, and the G Doctor foon after flipped bis Wind, in spite of the great Plenty of cold Water.

But of all the great Men in the Faculty, commend me to Dr. Anodyne, a Man that has stood his Ground longer than any of his

Prompter, Jan. 10, N° 18.

HIS Paper contains a Piece, which the

fes Bon Saam, a Free Negro, at the Head of
those revolted Slaves, who have betaken
themselves to the Mountains, in one of the A
moft confiderable Colonies of the Weft Indies.
(See p. 5.)

Dear Fellows in Arms, and Brothers
in Adverfity!

AD your Sufferings been lefs painful, I

H might have enjoyed my own Eafe, in

an Exemption from Danger. But in vain did B
my Courage once exerted, as you have heard,
in Defence of a Mafter, redeem me from the
Name of a Slave! I found no Bleffing in
Freedom; tormented with a livelier Sense of
your Groans, because no longer a Partaker of
your Mifery.

While I was, formerly, one of your Num-
ber, and but a Wretch, among Wretches, IC
wanted Sentiments to reflect, with Juftness,
on the Wrongs we were accuftom'd to fuffer.
Whether ignorant of the Blifs of others, I
difcern'd not my own Mifery: Or, that the
Part I was condemn'd to bear, in fo general a
Calamity, had deaden'd in my Heart that
Pity, which has been awaken'd by my
Change of Fortune. But, I have fince been
taught your Wretchedness, by 16 Years of
Liberty; not fpent in Eafe and Luxury, like
the Lives of our Oppreffors; but in long, la-
borious Diligence in Pursuit of their Arts, and
Capacity; whereby to know, and make
known, that only Education, and Accident,
not Difference of Genius, have been the Cause
of this provoking Superiority, that bids the
Pride of a white Man defpife and trample on
a black one.

D

E

What Preference, in the Name of that myfterious God, whom thefe Infulters of our Colour pretend to worship; what wild imaginary Superiority of Dignity has their pale, fickly Whiteness to boaft of, when compar'd with our Majeftick Gloffiness! If there is Merit in Delicacy, we have Skins as foft as their Velvets: If in Manliness, Confider your F Shape, your Strength, and your Movement! Are they not all eafier, firmer, and more graceful? Let a white Man expofe his feeble Face to the Winds; let him climb Hills, again Rains: Let him go burn his uncover'd Temples in the Heat of High-Noon, as we do. Will he bear it too, as we do? No: The Variations of his changeable Countenance will make manifeft the Faintnefs he was born to. He will be fick, and grow pale, and red, by Turns: He will be baggard, rough, and Sun-burnt. Tho' terrible and haughty to his Slaves, he will lofe all Fierceness in his Eye,

G

by the fmalleft Struggle with thofe Elements, which we are Proof against the Rage of

The whole Advantage, then, of these proud Spoilers of the Work of God, who dare make Beafts of human Forms, as noble and more manly than their own, in what confifts it, but fuperior Happiness? They are not wifer by Nature, but more exercis'd in Art, than we are. They are not braver, but more crafty, and affift their Anger by Difcipline. They have Rules and Modes in War; which actuate, as by one Soul, the moft numerous Bodies of arm'd People. While we, depriv'd of fuch Improvement, and acting refolutely, but not dependently, divide and lofe our Firmnefs. You faw the Representation of it, but laft Week, in an Example, from this neighbouring River: As if the God, that animates your Purpose, had commanded it to overflow, for your Inftruction and Warning! Obferve, how narrow it looks at prefent: Yet, because it runs confin'd, within its Banks, hark! How roaringly it rufhes down upon the LowLands of our Enemy! And with how steady and refiftles a Torrent! The other Day, you

faw it broader: For it rofe among the Woods, and almoft floated our Savannab. But, was it the louder, for fuch Breadth? Was it, then, tbus foaming and terrible? Far from it; you can all remember, as I do, that it was then flat, tame, and muddy; and had neither Violence nor Tendency.

As foon as I became able to read, I difcover'd, in the bolieft of all Books, in the Fountain of white Men's Religion; I difcover'd there, with a Mixture of Amazement and propbetic Joy, that the very Man, from whom they had deriv'd the Name they had given me, of Mofes, had been the happy Deliverer of a Nation! Of a Nation chofen and belov'd by God! the Deliverer of this chofen Nation, from juft fuch a Slavery as ours! Juft fo unfair, oppreffive, and unnatural; and, in every Act and Circumftance, resembling that, which you and your Forefathers have groan'd under! Innumerable Thousands of his captive Countrymen were as darkly ignorant as you are: All unknowing their own Rights; and forc'd, like you, to labour for ungrateful, and mercilefs Mafters: Till this firft Mofes, this great Giver of my Name, was called out by Heaven; and thro' a Courfe of miraculous Events, inftructed in the Arts and Learning of thofe infolent Enflavers: That fo he might be worthy, in the Fullness of God's Time, to ftand out, bis Inftrument, for the Redemption of a People.

What now will our Tafk-mafters pretend to object against the Lawfulness of our Revolt? If they fay our Forefathers were Slaves: So were the Ancestors of thofe Heroes, whom their Mofes, their almost worship'd Mofes, deliver'd from Slavery. Will they urge, that they bave paid a Price; and, therefore, claim

us as their Property? Grant them the Life of a firft unhappy Captive, to repay this Claim of his proud Purchafer. But did they alfo buy his Race? Muft the Childrens Children of this Wretch's Children be begotten, and tranfmitted, to Slavery, becaufe that fingle Wretch himfelf was unfuccefsful in a Battle, and had been put to Sale inftead of Slaughter?

Perife the provoking Image of fo fhameless a Pretenfion! Let them recolle&t, how foon the Profits, which they too well knew to ake, from any one of our poor Father's Tails, repaid them for his barbarous Purchase. Let them tell us, (if they dare fee Truth, in any Light that fhews them not their Intereft) whether all the Pomp, the Pride, the Wan

vannabs for Cattle; and burnt Woods for Corn: And, as other Things, which, we bave not, fhall be wanted, there are so many Outlets and Descents, on every Side, for Excurfion, that we can break down, unexpected, upon the (catter'd Plantations below us; and return with whatever we wish, from the A Store-boufes of our Enemy. Let us therefore reprefs Malice and Cruelty: Let us rather fludy to support our new Liberty, than revenge our paft Slavery. While we train and confirm our Forces, by the Difcipline and Exercise they are beginning to practife, we shall grow ftronger, both by our Skill, and our Numbers: For all of our Colour, whofe Hearts have not whiten'd themfelves, in Terror of their imperious Torturers, will borrow Safety from the Night, and efcape to us from every Quarter. Or, thou'd fuch Opportunities be taken from them, by the Vigilance of their Mafters, we can encourage, and draw them with us, as often as we make Incurfions, thereby weakening at once our Enemy, and encreafing our own Strength, till our very Numbers shall Chave made us invincible.

tennefs, of that Profperity we fee them live in, B is not the Purchase of our Sweat, cur Tears, and our Diftreffes? And fhall they derive their very Luxury from Wretches, to whom they grudge the Bread of Nourishment? Shail they rejoice, but by our Affliction, yet deny their Pity to our Agonies?

Indulge me, dear Friends! Your Permiffion, to fiep bere and weep, I know it is a Weakness: And it shall poffels me but a Moment. I will recover my Voice as foon as I am able; and go on to enumerate your Miseries!

I know there are fome rafh Spirits among us, who affirm that much more is poffible: Perhaps 'it may be to, to our Courage; but it ought to be unattempted by our Prudence. For, even cou'd we extirpate our Enemies, and drive them out of the Inland, it wou'd be found an unfurmountable Difficulty, without Ships, and unskill'd in Navigation, to maintain our D Poffeffion of the cultivated and open Coafts, against perpetual fresh Supplies, which wou'd be pour'd in, by their Fleets, for Recovery of rich Townships, and Settlements. Whereas, bere, we fhall have only their Pride to contend with Their Avarice will not envy us our Mountains, where, yet, we have every Art, within ourfelves, that can be neceffary for our Support and Security. They taught us these Aris, for our Mifery: But God, more just, and more merciful, has turn'd them to our Benefit.

E

Alas! It is not poffible! It is too terrible a Task! I have neither Patience nor Breath enough to find Names for your Sorrows! Wou'd to Heav'n I cou'd as easily banish them from my Memory, as I can forbear to difgrace you by their Defcription! But Fancy will not fuffer me to forget them. Imagination, officious to torment me, invades my Sleep with your Shriekings. My very Dreams are made bloody by your Whips. I am infulted by the Seeffs, the Cruelties, the grinding, biting Infolence, which we train up our poor Children to the Tafte of! Why rejoic'd we at their Birth, unhappy, innocent. Bleeders? Or, why do they fmile in our Faces, fince we intend them but for Anguish and Agony? "Yet, they know we have no Comfort to give them. Such as is ours, they inberit! Happier Parents bequeath Money, and Vanity, and Indolence, to their Offspring. Alas! these are Legacies, for Freemen! We have nothing but our Shame to bestow on our Pofterity: Nothing, but the Shame of our Bafenefs, who have lengthen'd out our Slavery to out-lat even Life, by affigning them our Children, on whom to practife our Tortures. But I have done with the Horrors of this Subje&: You have awaken'd me, by that lamentable Howl, into a Repentance that I touch'd you 200 fenfibly. Let us think then no more upon what we bave fuffer d. Let us refolve to G juffer no longer.

In the Faftrees of thefe inacceffible Mountains, and among Forefts, fo dark and impenetrable, we all have little to fear, if we but continue on the Defenfive. Here are Sa

F

I have fhewn Sulphur and Saltpetre to your Captains, in feveral Places, upon our Hills. You have Hand-mills in every Company, for preparing, your Gun-powder, that most precious of all your Poffeffions. You might every where find Iron; but that it abounds in your Enemy's Warehouses. Having Artifts too, who are capable, we might forge our own Arms, if fo much Trouble were neceffary: But there is a nearer Way to obtain 'em. It is but to prevent the Return of those who fhall dare to invade us, and the Arms, which they bring for our Ruin, will enlarge and perpetuate our Protection.

Let us understand then, and accept God's Bounty. Let us divide, and appropriate, the High Lands. Let us plant, and poffefs, for Pofterity. Cultivating Law too, as well as Land, let us, by fubmitting to Government,