between GREAT MEN, and the most repu table as well as eafy Way to Preferment.

FOUR Months had now paffed fince Heartfree's first Confinement, and his Affairs had begun to wear a more benign Afpect; but they were a good deal injured by this Attempt on Wild (fo dangerous is any Attack on a GREAT MAN) several of his Neighbours, and particularly one or two of his own Trade, induftriously endeavouring, from their bitter Animofity against fuch Kind of Iniquity, to fpread and exaggerate his Ingratitude as much as poffible; not in the leaft fcrupling, in the violent Ardour of their Indignation, to add some fmall Circumstances of their own Knowledge of the many Obligations conferred on Heartfree by Wild. To all thefe Scandals he quietly submitted, comforting himself in the Confcioufnefs of his own Innocence, and confiding in Time, the fure Friend of Justice, to acquit him.

A

A Scheme fo deeply laid that it Shames all the Politics of this our Age; with Digreffion and Sub-digreffion.

WT

ILD having now, to the Hatred he bore Heartfree on Account of thofe Injuries he had done him, an additional Spur from this Injury received; (for fo it appeared to him, who no more than the most ignorant, confidered how truly he deserved it) applied his utmost Industry to accomplish the Ruin of one whofe very Name founded odious in his Ears; when luckily a Scheme arofe in his Imagination, which not only promifed to effect it fecurely; but, (which pleafed him most) by Means of the Mischief he had already done him; and which would at once load him with the Imputation of having committed what he himself had done for him, and would bring on him the feverest Punishment for a Fact, of which he was not only

inno

innocent, but had already fo greatly fuffered

by. And this was no other than to charge him with having conveyed away his Wife, with his most valuable Effects, in order to defraud his Creditors.

HE no fooner started this Thought than he immediately refolved on putting it in Execution. What remained to confider was only the Quomodo, and the Perfon or Tool to be employed; for the Stage of the World differs from that in Drury-Lane principally in this; that whereas on the latter, the Hero, or chief Figure, is almost continually before your Eyes, whilst the Under-actors are not feen above once in an Evening; now, on the former, the Hero, or GREAT MAN, is always behind the Curtain, and feldom or never appears, or doth any thing in his own Perfon. He doth indeed, in this grand Drama, rather perform the Part of the Prompter, and inftructs the well-dreft Figures, who are strutting in public on the Stage, what to say and do. To fay the Truth, a Puppet-show will illuftrate our Meaning better, where it is the Mafter of the Show (the GREAT Man) $ 3

who

who dances and moves every thing; whether it be the King of Muscovy, or whatever other Potentate, alias Puppet, which we behold on the Stage; but he himself wifely keeps out of Sight; for fhould he once appear, the whole Motion would be at an End. Not that any one is ignorant of his being there, or fuppofes that the Puppets are not mere Sticks of Wood, and he himself the fole Mover; but as this (tho every one knows it) doth not appear vifibly, i, e. to their Eyes, no one is afhamed of confenting to be impofed upon; of helping on the Drama, calling the feve ral Sticks or Puppets by the Names which the Master hath allotted to them, and affigning to each the Character which the GREAT MAN is pleased they shall move in, or rather in which he himself is pleased to move them.

It would be to fuppofe thee, gentle Reader, one of very little Knowledge in this World, to imagine thou haft never feen fome of thefe Puppet-Shews, which are fo frequently acted on the GREAT Stage; but though thou shouldst have re

fided

4

fided all thy Days in those remote Parts of this Ifland, which GREAT Men feldom vifit; yet, if thou haft any Penetration, thou muft have had fome Occafions to admire both the Solemnity of Countenance in the Actor, and the Gravity in the Spectator, while fome of thofe Farces are carried on, which are acted almoft daily in every Village in the Kingdom. He must have a very defpicable Opinion of Mankind indeed, who can conceive them to be impofed on as often as they appear to be fo. The Truth is, they are in the fame Situation with the Readers of Romances; who, though they know the whole to be one entire Fiction, nevertheless agree to be deceived; and as thefe find Amusement, fo do the others find Ease and Convenience in this Concurrence. But this being a Sub-digreffion, I return to my Digreffion.

A GREAT MAN ought to do his Business by others; to employ Hands, as we have before said, to his Purposes, and keep himfelf as much behind the Curtain as poffible; and though it must be acknowledged that two very GREAT Men, whofe Names will

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