Wishes, that, by yielding fomewhat on both Sides, there might be a general Union among Proteftants; his fhort, inoffenfive Sermons in his Turns at Court, and the Matter exactly fuited to the prefent Juncture of prevailing Opinions; the Arts he ufed to obtain a Mitre, by writing against Epifcopacy; and the Proofs he gave of his Loyalty, by palliating or defending the Murder of a martyred Prince. ENDUED with all thefe Accomplishments, we leave him in the full Career of Succefs, mounting fast towards the Top of the Ladder-ecclefiaftical, which he hath a fair Probability to reach, without the Merit of one fingle Virtue; moderately ftocked with the leaft valuable Parts of Erudition; utterly devoid of all Tafte, Judgment, or Genius; and in his Grandeur naturally chufing to hawl up others after him, whose Accomplishments most resemble his own; except his beloved Sons, Nephews, or other Kindred, be not in Competition; or latly, except his Inclinations be diverted by those who have Power to mortify or further advance him. EUGENIO fet out from the fame University, and about the fame Time with Corufcdes: He had the Reputation of an Arch-lad at School, and was unfortunately poffeffed with a Talent for Poetry, on which Account he received many chiding Letters from his Father, and grave Advice from his Tutor. He did not neglect his College-learning; but his chief Study was the Authors of Antiquity, with a perfect Knowledge in the Greek and Roman Tongues. He could never procure himself to be chofen Fellow; for it was objected against him, that he had written Verfes, and particularly fome wherein he glanced at a certain Reverend Doctor, famous for Dulness: That, he had been seen bowing to Ladies as he met them in the Street; and it was proved, that once he had been found dancing in a private Family with half a Dozen of both Sexes. HE was the younger Son to a Gentleman of a good Birth, but fmall Eftate; and his Father dying, he was driven to London, to feek his Fortune: He got into Or ders, ders, and became Reader in a Parish-church, at twenty Pounds a-Year; was carried by an Oxford Friend to Will's Coffee-house, frequented in thofe Days by Men of Wit; where in fome Time he had the bad Luck to be distinguished. His fcanty Salary compelled him to run deep in Debt for a new Gown and Caffock; and now and then forced him to write fome Paper of Wit or Humour, or preach a Sermon for ten Shillings to fupply his Neceffities. He was a thousand times recommended by his poetical Friends to great Perfons, as a young Man of excellent Parts, who deferved Encouragement; and received a thousand Promifes: But his Modefty and a generous Spirit, which difdained the Slavery of continual Application and Attendance, always disappointed him; making Room for vigilant Dunces, who were fure to be never out of Sight. HE had an excellent Faculty in preaching, if he were not fometimes a little too refined, and apt to trust too much to his own Way of Thinking and Reafoning. WHEN, upon the Vacancy of Preferment, he was hardly drawn to attend upon fome promifing Lord; he received the usual Answer, that he came too late, for it had been given to another the very Day before. And he had only the Comfort left, that every body faid, it was a thousand Pities fomething could not be done for poor Mr. Eugenio. THE Remainder of this Story will be difpatched in a few Words. Wearied with weak Hopes, and weaker Pursuits, he accepted a Curacy in Derbyshire, of thirty Pounds a-Year; and when he was five and forty, he had the great Felicity to be preferred by a Friend of his Father's to a Vicarage worth annually fixty Pounds, in the most desert Parts of Lincolnshire; where, his Spirits quite funk with thofe Reflexions that Solitude and Difappointments bring, he married a Farmer's Widow, and is ftill alive, utterly undiftinguished and forgotten; only fome of the Neighbours have accidentally heard, that he had been a notable Man in his Youth. VOL. I. THE A a THE INTELLIGENCER. NUMBER IX. F ROM frequently reflecting upon the Course and bouring Kingdom, with the general Succefs and Confequence thereof, I am come to this Determination: That Education is always the worse in proportion to the Wealth and Grandeur of the Parents: Nor do I doubt in the leaft, that if the whole World were now under the Dominion of one Monarch (provided I might be allowed to chufe where he should fix the Seat of his Empire) the only Son and Heir of that Monarch, would be the worst educated Mortal that ever was born fince the Creation: And I doubt, the fame Proportion will hold through all Degrees and Titles, from an Emperor downwards, to the common Gentry. I do not say, that this hath been always the Cafe; for in better Times it was directly otherwife, and a Scholar may fill half his Greek and Roman Shelves with Authors of the noblest Birth, as well as highest Virtue. Nor do I tax all Nations at prefent with this Defect; for I know there are fome to be excepted, and particularly Scotland, under all the Disadvantages of its Climate and Soil, if that Happiness be not rather owing even to those very Difadvantages. What is then to be done, if this Reflexion muft fix on two Countries, which will be moft ready to take Offence, and which of all others it will be leaft prudent or fafe to offend? BUT A a 2 BUT there is one Circumftance yet more dangerous and lamentable: For if, according to the Poftulatum already laid down, the higher Quality any Youth is of, he is in greater Likelihood to be worse educated; it behoveth me to dread, and keep far from the Verge of Scandalum Magnatum. RETRACTING therefore that hazardous Poftulatum ; I shall venture no further at present, than to fay, that perhaps fome Care in educating the Sons of Nobility and principal Gentry, might not be ill employed. If this be not delivered with Softness enough, I must for the future be filent. In the mean time, let me ask only two Questions, which relate to England. I ask first, how it cometh about, that, for above fixty Years past, the chief Conduct of Affairs hath been generally placed in New-men, with few Exceptions? The nobleft Blood of England hath been shed in the grand Rebellion, many great Families became extinct, or fupplied by Minors. When the King was restored, very few of those Lords remained, who began, or at least had improved their Education, under the happy Reign of King James, or King Charles I. of which Lords the two principal were the Marquis of Ormond, and the Earl of Southampton. The Minors having, during the Rebellion and Ufurpation, either received too much Tincture of bad Principles from thofe fanatick Times; or, coming to Age at the Restoration, fell into the Vices of that diffolute Reign. I date from this Era the corrupt Method of Education among us, and the Confequence thereof, in the Neceffity the Crown lay under of introducing New-men into the higheft Employments of State, or to the Office of what we now call Prime Minifters, Men of Art, Knowledge, Application and Infinuation, merely for Want of a Supply among the Nobility. They were generally (although not always) of good Birth, fometimes younger Brothers, at other times fuch, who although inheriting ample Fortunes, yet happened to be well educated, and provided with Learning. Such under |