there is no burden laid upon our posterity, who have been sufficiently loaded by other means of raising money; nor any deficiency to be hereafter made up by ourselves: which has been our case in so many other subsidies. To this we may add, that we have no example of any other tax, which, in its nature, would so particularly affect the enemies to his majesty's government. Muititudes of Papists and Nonjurors will be obliged to furnish a double proportion, out of their revenues, towards the clearing of that expense, which by their open and secret practices they have been instrumental in bringing upon their fellow-subjects. I shall only mention one consideration more; that no other tax is so likely to cease as this is, when there is no farther occasion for it. This tax is established by a house of commons, which by virtue of an act of parliament passed a few years ago, must consist, for the most part, of landed men ; so that a great share of the weight of it must necessarily fall upon the members of their own body. As this is an instance of their public spirit, so we may be sure they would not have exerted it, had there not been an absolute necessity; nor can we doubt, that for the same reasons, when this necessity ceases, they will take the first opportunity of easing themselves in this particular, as well as those whom they represent. It is a celebrated notion of a patriot who signally distinguished himself for the liberties of his country, that a house of commons should never grant such subsides as are easy to be raised, and give no pain to the people, lest the nation. should acquiesce under a burden they did not feel, and see it perpetuated without repining. Whether this notion might not be too refined, I shall not determine; but by what has been already said, I think we may promise ourselves, that this additional tax of two shillings in the pound will not be continued another year, because we may hope the rebellion will be entirely ended in this. And here, I believe, it must be obvious to every one's reflection, that the rebellion might not have concluded so soon, had not this method been made use of for that end. A foreign potentate trembles at the thought of entering into a war with so wealthy an enemy as the British nation, when he finds the whole landed interest of the kingdom engaged to oppose him with their united force; and at all times ready to employ against him such a part of their revenues as shall be sufficient to baffle his designs upon their country especially, when none can imagine, that he expects any encouragement from those whose fortunes are either lodged in the funds or employed in trade. The wisdom, therefore, of the present House of Commons has, by this tax, not only enabled the king to subdue those of his own subjects, who have been actually in arms against him, but to divert any of his neighbours from the hopes of lending them a competent assistance. No. 21. FRIDAY, MARCH 2. Qualis in Eurotæ ripis, aut per juga Cynthi, Hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oreades: illa pharetram VIRG. It is not easy for any one, who saw the magnificence of yesterday in the court of Great-Britain, to turn his thoughts for some time after on any other subject. It was a solemnity every way suited to the birth-day of a princess, who is the delight of our nation, and the glory of her sex. Homer tells us, that when the daughter of Jupiter presented herself among a crowd of goddesses, she was distinguished from the rest by her graceful stature, and known by her superior beauty, notwithstanding they were all beautiful. Such was the appearance of the Princess of Wales among our British ladies; or (to use a more solemn phrase) of the king's daughter among her honourable women.' Her royal highness, in the midst of such a circle, raises in the beholder the idea of a fine picture, where (notwithstanding the diversity of pleasing objects that fill up the canvas) the principal figure immediately takes the eye, and fixes the attention. When this excellent princess was yet in her father's court, she was so celebrated for the beauty of her person, and the accomplishments of her mind, that there was no prince in the empire, who had room for such an alliance, that was not ambitious of gaining her into his family, either as a daughter, or as a consort. He, who is now the chief of the crowned heads in Europe, and was then king of Spain, and heir to all the dominions of the house of Austria, sought her in marriage. Could her mind have been captivated with the glories of this world, she had them all laid before her; but she generously declined them, because she saw the acceptance of them was inconistent with what she esteems more than all the glories of this world, the enjoyment of her religion. Providence, however, kept in store a reward for such an exalted virtue; and, by the secret methods of its wisdom, opened a way for her to become the greatest of her sex, among those who profess that faith to which she adhered with so much Christian magnanimity. This, her illustrious conduct, might, in the eye of the world, have lost its merit, had so accomplished a prince as his royal highness declared his passion for the same alliance at that time; it would then have been no wonder that all other proposals had been rejected. But it was the fame of this heroic constancy that determined his royal highness to desire in marriage a princess whose personal charms, which had before been so universally admired, were now become the least part of her character. We, of the British nation, have reason to rejoice, that such a proposal was made and accepted; and that her royal highness, with regard to these two successive treaties of marriage, showed as much prudence in her compliance with the one, as piety in her refusal of the other. The princess was no sooner arrived at Hanover, than she improved the lustre of that court, which was before reckoned among the politest in Europe; and increased the satisfaction of that people, who were before looked upon as the happiest in the empire. She immediately became the darling of the Princess Sophia, who was acknowledged in all the courts of Europe the most accomplished woman of the age in which she lived, and who was not a little pleased with the conversation of one in whom she saw so lively an image of her own youth. But I shall insist no longer on that reputation which her royal highness has acquired in other countries. We daily discover those admirable qualities for which she is so justly famed, and rejoice to see them exerted in our own country, where we ourselves are made happy by their influence. We are the more pleased to behold the throne of these kingdoms surrounded by a numerous and beautiful progeny, when we consider the virtues of those from whom they descend. Not only the features, but the mind of the parent is often copied out in the offspring. But the princess we are speaking of, takes the surest method of making her royal issue like herself, by instilling early into their minds all the principles of religion, virtue, and honour, and seasoning their tender years with all that knowledge which they are capable of receiving. What may we not hope from such an uncommon care in the education of the children of Great-Britain, who are directed by such precepts, and will be formed by such an example! The conjugal virtues are so remarkable in her royal highness, as to deserve those just and generous returns of love and tenderness, for which the prince her husband is so universally celebrated. But there is no part of her royal highness's character which we observe with greater pleasure, than that behaviour by which she has so much endeared herself to his majesty; though indeed we have no reason to be surprised at this mutual intercourse of duty and affection, when we consider so wise and vir |