III.

That the Protestant interest in this nation, and in all Europe, could not but flourish under the protection of one, who thinks himself obliged, on pain of damnation, to do all that lies in his power for the extirpation of it.

IV.

That we may safely rely upon the promises of one, whose religion allows him to make them, and at the same time obliges him to break them.

That a good man should have a greater abhorrence of Presbyterianism which is perverseness, than of Popery which is but idolatry.

VI.

That a person who hopes to be King of England by the assistance of France, would naturally adhere to the British interest, which is always opposite to that of the French.

VII.

That a man has no opportunities of learning how to govern the people of England in any foreign country, so well as in France.

VIII.

That ten millions of people should rather chuse to fall into slavery, than not acknowledge their prince to be invested with an hereditary and indefeasible right of oppression.

IX.

That we are obliged in conscience to become subjects of a duke of Savoy, or of a French king, rather than enjoy for our sovereign, a prince who is the first of the royal blood in the Protestant line.

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X.

That non-resistance is the duty of every Christian, whilst he is in a good place.

XI.

That we ought to profess the doctrine of passive obedience until such time as nature rebels against principle, that is, until we are put to the necessity of practising it.

XII.

That the Papists have taken up arms to defend the church of England with the utmost hazard of their lives and fortunes.

XIII.

That there is an unwarrantable faction in this island, consisting of King, Lords, and Commons.

XIV.

That the legislature, when there is a majority of whigs in it, has not power to make laws.

XV.

That an act of parliament to impower the king to secure suspected persons in times of rebellion, is the means to establish the sovereign on the throne, and consequently a great infringement of the liberties of the throne.

No. 15. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1710.

-Auxilium, quoniam sic cogitis ipsi,

Dixit, ab hoste petam: vultus avertite vestros,

Si quis amicus adest: et Gorgonis extulit ora

Ovid.

Ir is with great pleasure that I see a race of female patriots springing up in this island. The fairest among the daughters of Great Britain no longer confine their cares to a domestic life, but are grown anxious for the welfare of their country, and shew themselves good stateswomen as well as good housewives.

Our she-confederates keep pace with us in quashing that rebellion which had begun to spread itself among part of the fair sex. If the men who are true to their king and country have taken Preston and Perth, the ladies have possessed themselves of the opera and the play-house with as little opposition of bloodshed. The non-resisting women, like their brothers in the Highlands, think no post tenable against an army that makes so fine an appearance; and dare not look them in the face, when they are drawn up in battle-array.

As an instance of this cheerfulness in our fair fellow-subjects to oppose the designs of the pretender, I did but suggest in one of my former papers, That the fan might be made use of with good success against Popery, by exhibiting the corruptions of the church of Rome in various figures;' when immediately they took the hint, and have since had frequent consultations upon several ways and methods to make the fan useful.' They have unanimously agreed upon the following resolutions, which are indeed very suitable to ladies who are at the same time the most beautiful and the most loyal of their sex. To hide their faces behind the fan, when they observe a tory gazing upon them. Never to peep through it, but in order to pick out men, whose principles make them worth the conquest. To return no other answer to a

tory s addresses, than by counting the sticks of it all the while he is talking to them. To avoid dropping it in the neighbourhood of a malecontent, that he may not have an opportunity of taking it up. To shew their disbelief of any Jacobite story by a flirt of it. To fall a fanning themselves, when a tory comes into one of their assemblies, as being disordered at the sight of him.

These are the uses by which every fan may in the hands of a fine woman become serviceable to the public. But they have at present under consideration, certain fans of a Protestant make, that they may have a more extensive influence, and raise an abhorrence of Popery in a whole crowd of beholders: for they intend to let the world see what party they are of, by figures and designs upon these fans; as the knights-errant used to distinguish themselves by devices on their shields.

There are several sketches of pictures which have been already presented to the ladies for their approbation, and out of which several have made their choice. A pretty young lady will very soon appear with a fan, which has on it a runnery of lively black-eyed vestals, who are endeavouring to creep out at the grates. Another has a fan mounted with a fine paper, on which is represented a group of people upon their knees very devoutly worshipping an old ten-penny nail. A certain lady of great learning has chosen for her device the council of Trent; and another, who has a good satirical turn, has filled her fan with the figure of a huge tawdry woman, representing the whore of Babylon; which sne is resolved to spread full in the face of any sisterdisputant, whose arguments have a tendency to Popery. The following designs are already executed on several mountings. The ceremony of the holy Pontiff opening the mouth of a cardinal in a full consistory. An old gentleman with a triple crown upon his head, and big with child, being the portrait of Pope Joan, Bishop Bonner purchasing great quantities of faggots

and brushwood, for the conversion of heretics. A figure reaching at a sceptre with one hand, and holding a chaplet of beads in the other; with a distant view of Smithfield.

When our ladies make their zeal thus visible upon their fans, and every time they open them, display an error of the church of Rome, it cannot but have a good effect, by shewing the enemies of our present establishment the folly of what they are contending for. At least, every one must allow that fans are much more innocent engines for propagating the Protestant religion, than racks, wheels, gibbets, and the like machines, which are made use of for the advancement of the Roman Catholic. Besides, as every lady will of course study her fan, she will be a perfect mistress of the controversy, at least in one point of Popery; and as her curiosity will put her upon the perusal of every other fan that is fashionable, I doubt not but in a very little time there will scarce be a woman of quality in Great Britain, who would not be an over-match for an Irish priest.

The beautiful part of this island, whom I am proud to number among the most candid of my readers, will likewise do well to reflect, that our dispute at present concerns our civil as well as religious rights. I shall therefore only offer it to their thoughts as a point that highly deserves their consideration, whether the fan may not also be made use of with regard to our political constitution. As a Freeholder, I would not have them confine their cares for us as we are Protestants, but at the same time have an eye to our happiness as we are Britons. In this case they would give a new turn to the minds of their countrymen, if they would exhibit on their fans the several grievances of a tyrannical government. Why might not an audience of Muley Ishmael, or a Turk dropping his handkerchief in his Seraglio, be proper subjects to express their abhorrence both of despotic power, and of male tyranny? or if they have a fancy