But since we have seen the Character he gives of him as a King, let us observe how he Treats His Majesty as a Mediator, and how he Represents him balancing the Affairs of Christendom then in his hands. First, de Cros tells us, This Dispatch of his was concerted with Monsieur Barillon: For tho he says, That that Ambassadour had no hand in the beginning of it, yet he owns him in the same place to have part of it when it was concluding; and that Monsieur de Ruvigny was dispatcht by the King with an Account of it to the French Court the very same day that de Cros was sent away for Nimeguen. And p. 25. He tells us further, That Prince Rupert askt him upon his Return, with a stern Countenance, If the Peace was concluded? and he answering in the Affirmative, the Prince cried out, O Dissimulation! And p. 28. he tells us, That the Prince of Orange (the Kings Nephew) writ thundring Letters against him; and all the Ministers of the Confederates called for Vengeance, &c. Yet after all these Marks of something so very injurious to the Allies, and confidence to France, The King (says he, in the page last mentioned) laughs in his Sleeve at the Surprize, at the Sorrow, and Complaints of the Confederates. Which is to give us just such a Character of a Mediator, as he did before of a King.
I leave it to all mens Judgment, whether more villanous Slanders could have been broached abroad by the worst of this Prince’s Enemies; and whether it be not a Scandal to our Country, that they should be translated and published in English. But since Monsieur de Cros is so bold with the Sacred Memory of a Great King, for which he is yet so Impudent, as to profess a most profound Respect; What can a Subject expect, for whom he owns such a virulent Malice, and to whom he threatens such open Revenge.
The same vein of truth and sincerity shines through the whole Letter, and the Author’s Ingenuity is at the old pitch in what he pretends to rake out of the Memoirs concerning several Persons in great Employments; as the D. of Lauderdale, the present E. of Rochester, Sir Joseph Williamson, Sir Lionel Jenkins, and Mons. Beverning. This Conjurer, in all he says of them, seems resolved to raise up the Spirits of the Dead, to joyn with those of the Living in the Quarrel with these Memoirs; and by such distorted Consequences, draws Characters of them, whereof there is no Apparition, but what he himself raises: So that the Characters he gives of these Persons by such false Deductions for Sir W. T’s, may justly be said to be his own.
But from all I have observed in this Letter, I have wonder’d at nothing so much, as that impudent Vanity in the Writer, who endeavours to make himself and the World believe, that these Memoirs were intended chiefly against him, whose very name is hardly twice mentioned after these two Pages in the whole Book, which does not pretend to give Characters of Persons, but only to relate things that were done, or words that were said; And the way to have made an answer with any Justice, had been to have laid Exceptions either against the one, or the other, whereof there is not one word in all this Answer without any Answer. However, so ridiculous is this mans Insolence, that he begins his Letter thus, I have been informed of the Calumnies that Sir W. T. hath caused to be printed against me. And p. 7. He set upon me first, he writes out of a Spirit of Revenge, &c. The sensless Arrogance of which I cannot think of; but it remembers me of the Fly on the Chariot-wheel. For he would fain make it to have been a piece of Revenge against him, for having brought that Dispatch to the Hague; and yet he lays it much to heart, that in that Affair he should only take him for a Messenger. And this indeed is to make him a very reasonable person, and like a man, that when he receives a blow, grows angry with the Stone by which it is given. But by all I can observe in these Memoirs, I do not find any thing which bears the least resemblance of Anger or Spleen, much less of Revenge against Mons. de Cros; but so far from it, that in the very Passage he lays most to heart, of the Kings calling him Rogue, the Memoirs mention particularly, that His Majesty said it pleasantly, which he himself cannot forbear observing in his Letter.
Having thus long been considering how far he is provok’d, and how well he defends himself; ’tis time now to see how he attacks the Person whom he fancies his capital Enemy, and how the Play begins. ’Tis then in these words, p. 1. I know very well that Sir W. T. is of great worth, and deserves well, and that he hath been a long time imployed, and that too upon important Occasions. This is a piece indeed very much of a piece with all the rest. Now, in the name of wonder, what can be the meaning! I wot well enough, what he would be at in all the rest of his Letter; but the Sense, the Wit, or the Design of these sweet Lines, is not easy to devise. I confess, I see a good many Plays, and I believe I have read more, but never met before, so fair a Prologue to so foul a Farce. I have read somewhere of a Monster among the Ancients, with a Virgins face, and all beside, a Serpent; which holds exact Resemblance here, unless de Cros should object against it, because Serpents have stings, and his Letter has none. However, if we will not grant him a Conjurer, as he would fain be thought, yet we cannot in Conscience deny him to be a Jugler, since the first thing he presents us with, is meer slight of hand; For he lays down a piece of Gold upon the Table, and immediately, Presto, ’tis gone; and all we can see, is only half a dozen Pellets of Dirt. In short, I am not able to reach what he means by so whimsical a beginning, and of so different a piece from every word that follows; unless that being resolved to say nothing afterwards, which any body would believe, he thought fit to entertain us at first with three Lines he is sure no body doubts.
But, to be serious. If Sir W. T. be of great worth, If de Cros either believes it himself, or would have any body else to do so, why is every word that follows, so contradictory to these? If he deserves well, why is he used so very ill? Does de Cros understand what a man of great worth means? I doubt he does not, either by himself, or by such Company, as so much good Language in all the rest of his Letter, would make us believe he keeps. Can a man of great worth, and that deserves well, be Vain, Proud, Revengeful, Ungrateful to his Friend, False to his Master, and impertinently Ambitious in his very Retreat from all Publick Affairs? This is indeed a very worthy, and a very lively Character of a Man of worth. But is not such stuff as this, just a sputtering out, Quicquid in Buccam venerit? Like hot Porridge, that burns his Tongue; tho ’tis pretty plain, that all his heat proceeds from the overflowing of his Gall within, and from nothing without. One would think he has very well practised the old Rule of Calumniare fortiter; yet he has lamentably fail’d of the consequence, Aliquid inherebit; for all the Dirt he endeavours to fling about, loves its own Element, and sticks close to his own Fingers. I never knew so unlucky a Gamester to throw so often, and to be always out! What, not one hit! I think the devil’s in the Dice; however, lets throw again, but first we’ll change Dice, and if the good Morals of this Man of great worth will not pass, let’s try our luck at his Naturals. Sir W. T. (says my Gamester) has been often and long employ’d; but he himself did not know about what; ’twas too, upon very important occasions, but he did not know why, unless, because, as de Cros tells us, The King had an Aversion for him, and never trusted him, how often soever he imployed him. This great Ambassador, to say the truth, is a very Bubble, and has as little Wit in some parts of the Letter, as Honesty in the other. Good Lord, how this silly World is apt to be gull’d! What a Cheat, and what a Jilt this common Fame is! Who would have believed that the Author of the Observations on the Netherlands, and of the charming Miscellanea, should be such a Cully, if de Cros had not made the discovery? but sure he could never be Author of those Books; doubtless he either hired some body to write them for him, or else some honest Bookseller like his own, had got the Copies, and set Sir W. T’s name to them. I would to God he had been so honest to set mine in the stead. But now we have heard the Charge, pray make room for the Evidence: Sir W. T. is the proudest Man in the World; and what are the proofs, or the Instances? Why, de Cros says it, and that’s Demonstration. He is ungrateful to his Friend, and why? Because de Cros knows it. He is false to his Master, and the Reason’s plain, de Cros pretends to believe it. He is the most revengeful of Men, for he calls de Cros by his own Name. He is of all men the most Ambitious, and never did man desire more to have a hand in Affairs. This is beyond dispute, for de Cros knows his thoughts, and tells us not only what he says of others, but what he thinks of himself, and with equal truth. This is the Conjurer again, and with a witness he tells us further, p. 9. of men whose ruin Sir W. T. desires at the bottom of his heart; where it is not to be questioned, but de Cros has been; and to put it beyond all doubt that he was so, he says, p. 13. That Sir W. T. came once to render him a visit at his Lodging, and that Mons. Olivencrants the Swedish Ambassador, was then at his House, which gives me a scruple, that the visit might be meant to him, rather than to Mons. de Cros. However this is all the instances I find of his Acquaintance with a Person whose heart he pretends to know so well, and with whom by all the rest of his Letter, I should be apt to judge he was the least acquainted with, of any man in the World. But to close all these Generals before we come to particulars; he tells us, p. 29. he knows something of Sir W. T. upon the Subject of what passed between him and my Lord Arlington, that makes his hair stand on end. Alas, the poor Gentleman’s in an Agony! Bless us all from sprights! what a puny Conjurer is this! to raise a Spirit that scares no body else, and run into a hole for fear of it himself: He has formed so terrible an Image of Sir W. T. in his own little working Noddle, that he knows not were he is, nor what he does, but is all in a maze. However, this I am certain, that no man alive who has read the rest of de Cros’s Letter, but will allow him to be one, that if he knew any thing ill of Sir W. T. would at least be sure not to tell it; we have his own word for it, p. 7. My design is not at all, my Lord, to write you a Letter full of Invectives against Sir W. T. And in another place, That (says he) would not be like a Gentleman.
But yet to give him his due, and as he says, p. 7. To let everybody see he has means in his hands to be revenged; there is one point, and that alone, where he brings his Proof, lays downs his Instance, and that out of the Memoirs themselves; ’tis designed undeniably to convince the World of Sir W. T’s Vanity, of which he could give my Lord many instances, but at present contents himself with one, and ’tis a thumping one. ’Tis the following Period, which I shall quote out of the Memoirs, a little more faithfully than he does in his Letter, which I was so curious to observe, by thinking the word [Clutches] to be no part of Sir W. T’s stile, and found he had taken a great deal of pains, to wrest it as much as he could to his turn. It runs thus, Mem. p. 30. This I suppose gave some occasion for my being again designed for this Ambassy, who was thought to have some credit with Spain as well as Holland, from the Negotiations I had formerly run through, at the Hague, Brussels, and Aix la Chapelle, by which the remaining part of Flanders had been saved out of the hands of France in the year 1668. Now for my own part, I must confess my self so giddy a Reader, and of so much inadvertency, that when I read that Passage, I took it for a singular piece of Modesty, since the Author gives for a Reason, why the King chose him for his second Ambassy in Holland, because he had been formerly employed in those Countries, and not for any Personal Merit in himself; but de Cros is so great a Stranger to Modesty, that we cannot blame him for not knowing it when he meets it; and since he has no other Accusations of this kind, I must profess, I can discover nothing of Vanity in the whole Series of all those Relations, nor can reckon for such, the Author’s not avoiding to speak of himself any more than of other Persons (when it came in his way) who had so great and so continual a part in the whole Course of that Story. In his other Works this Author I am sure makes little mention enough of himself; and it were to be wisht that Persons so much employ’d in publick Business, would tell all their own Parts as well others Mens, and as nakedly as he seems to do in these Memoirs.
But the reason de Cros gives us, why he would have the World believe him in all he says against Sir W. T. is, Because he is first attackt, and thereupon in great Passion and Rage, which will pass for an admirable Argument, that he designs to speak nothing but truth, and for a very cunning way of being believed; tho some men perhaps may think, that whatever is said in Passion, is but just so much of nothing to the purpose, and that it commonly makes a man in what he says or does, not only as peevish as a Wasp, but as blind as a Beetle. But if he will believe right or wrong, why will not he believe in his turn? And why is not he contented to Give as well as to Take? He will not allow that Sir W. T. might several times have been Secretary of State, when Mr. Montague, and Mr. Sydney, who are named (in [Memoirs p. ]) to have been set on him by the Lord Arlington at that time to persuade him to accept it, are still alive, as well as my Lord Treasurer, who is mentioned, Mem. p. 273. to have written to him by His Majesty’s Command to come over and enter on the Secretaries Office. And p. 385. ’tis further added, That Sir W. T. received the King’s own Orders to come immediately over, and enter upon that Office, and to acquaint the Prince and States with that Resolution; which must of course have come to him through my Lord Sunderland’s hand, who Mem. p. 387. is said to have been brought into Sir Joseph Williamson’s place, and his Lordship being likewise still alive, can easily tell, whether this be true or no. Therefore, why does not de Cros himself, or some Friend for him (if he has any) enquire into the truth of these Passages which are told so positively, and wherein so many parties concern’d are still alive, tho most of them with other Titles. And indeed, tho it may be ill for Sir W. T’s private Satisfaction, that these Memoirs were printed against his Consent, and during his Life, which it appears was never intended; yet nothing could defend the Truth of them so much, as that so many Persons are yet alive, who had so great a part in all those Affairs there related, who are the best and most competent Judges of the Truth; and I never heard that any of them have yet contradicted the least part. But however, since the Monk has got into the Infallible Chair, he must be believed, there is no help, and we must like the Welsh-man, Take her own word for it. And so let him go away with all those apposite and choice Epithets he has given of this most worthy and well-deserving person, without where, or when, or why, or wherefore; For I am sure there is no way of replying to them; and he that would set about it, might as well resolve to write an Answer to a Leaf in Textor’s Epithets.
And thus I have with much ado rid my hands of a great part of De Cros’s Rubbish, as far as it endeavours to bespatter Sir W. T. in his Morals and Intellectuals. It remains now I should observe a little what he says concerning his Fortunes, which seems to turn upon these two rusty Hinges, that make as ill a noise as all the rest; the obscurity from whence he was raised to all those great Employments, and his disgrace upon leaving them, which De Cros says was immediately after his Return from Nimeguen.
For my own part I must confess I am neither old enough, nor have had Conversation in Courts, and with Publick Affairs, to give an account how Sir W. T. came into Business, or how he went out, any further than I could gather from Writings and Transactions which are publick and known to every body; or by particular enquiries from some Friends and Acquaintance of my own; and it has happened, that some of them have long known so much of that Family, as to assure me it is a very Ancient one: That Sir W. T. was born of a very Honourable Father, who was for many years of the Privy Council in Ireland to King Charles the First, and King Charles the Second, and was long possessed of one of the best Offices in that Kingdom, both for Honour and Profit; as likewise in his time a Member of several Parliaments in England: That his two younger Brothers are known to have lived always with plentiful Fortunes, and in much esteem: So that this Gentleman alone seems to have been born under the unluckiest Planet in the world, tho Heir to his Father’s Fortune, and Successor to his Office, which was so considerable; yet he only of all his Family, was in Obscurity, and lay in the Dust (for so the French Letter has it) till my Lord Arlington raised him out of both; whose beams it seems were so refulgent, as to make him shine at that distance his Foreign Employments carried him to. My Friends have likewise assured me from their own remembrance and knowledge, that Sir W. T. shined as much in a Parliament of Ireland soon after the King’s Restoration, as De Cros says he shined long in his Employments abroad; and this was several years before he came into any Foreign Employments. They told me, likewise that he was very easy in his Fortune, not only by what he had from his Father, but from his Lady, to whom God be thanked (and it is very happy for her Ladyship that) De Cros says, he has no Quarrel. By all which, and the many Employments he since passed through, and of which in one of his Essays he says, he never sought any; in my weak conception I should think he was a person, that by the Circumstances of his Humour and his Fortune, needed the Court less than the Court needed him.