THE
OBSERVATOR.
The way of Promoting Fears, and Jelousies. The People meerly Passive in the Bus'ness. Both Parts seem to Contend for the
Same Common Principles. The Rise of Jelousies.
Saturday, August 21. 1686.
TRIMMER. The Accommodating of Words, Phrases, and Texts to the Matter in hand, with the Interjecting, here and there, of Certain Emphatical Winks, and Innuendo's, to the Common People, will do the Bus'ness of Fears and Jelousies, you need never Doubt it, without any more Ceremony.
OBSERVATOR. I do no more Doubt it, then I do, that a Proper Remedy; Rightly Prepar'd; and Administer'd in the Due Time and Proportion, will Work such or such an Effect. But the Skill lyes, in the Judgment of the Distemper; The Constitution of the Patient; The Choice of the Physick; The Prescription of the Composition, the Preparation, and the Dos. Now Your way of Operating, is only the Mechanicall Part of the Bus'ness; and no more, then the giving of a Box, a Gally-pot, or a Glass, with a Note of Directions, out of One hand into Another: which Any Porter that Plyes at the Next Corner, would do as Dext'rously, as ever a Doctor of the College. The Difficulty, and the Mystery, is Over, before You have any thing to Do with it: The Poysonous, and Intoxicating Draught, Prepar'd; The Multitude set a-Gaping for't, and Your Office, is only at last, to Pour it down their Throats. There's Matter of History, and Fact, enough, 'tis true, to Satisfy any man, that People may be made as Mad with Cant, and Gibberish, as if they had taken Henbane; and that the Sting of Jelousy, will put them out of their Wits as soon as the Biting of a Mad-Dog: But we are in the Dark all this while, for the Rise, the Progress, and the Methods of Enflaming Jelousies, to bring'em up to that Pitch. Prethee let me Understand a little of their Birth, Growth, Discipline, and Education; How they are Fed, Nourish'd, and Entertain'd? What's the End, and Use of them? What Language do they Speak; or how comes it to pass, that the Same Words, and Phrases, without Any Intelligence with Grammar, Logique, Common Usage, or Propriety, should Transport Some Men into Outrages, Palpitations of the Heart, Horrors, and Tremblings, both of Mind, and of Body; and yet Work no more upon Others, then they did, before the very Letters of'em were taken out of the Alphabet? I do not call ye to a Strict Shrift upon Every Point, but I Expect you shall say something to the Whole Matter; for a Few Words, in Order, will give a man more Light to the Reason of a Thing, then as many Volumes, in Confusion.
Trim. You are in the Right; that the Craft lies in the Project, and the Preparatory Manage of this Affair, and that the Danger is gone too Far, when the Mine is already Wrought; the Powder Dispos'd, and nothing wanting to the Final Execution of the Mischief, but the Lighting of the Match, and the Applying of the Coal to the Train. You have Well and Truly enough Observed, the Wonderfull Force, that Some Certain Words, and Phrases have; upon the Affections of the Multitude; without the Least Shadow of any Logical, Grammatical, or Philosophical Reason for the Operation of them. Now you must know, that These Words, and Phrases, are made Use of, and Understood, in the way of a Cypher, or a Jargon, and not according to the Ordinary Acceptation of them, in a Regular way of Writing, or of Speaking; So that, Effectually, the Efficacy of such Words, and Phrases, is given for Granted; and how they come to Obtain that Force, remains the Single Question.
Now towards the Understanding of this Matter, you must Consider, that no State can be Supplanted, but by Turning the Peoples Hearts, against the Persons, & the Actions of their Superiors: So that in All Conspiracies to Destroy a Government, Fears & Jelousies, are the Corner Stone of the Babel. Their Hearts are no sooner Lost, but they withdraw their Bodies too, and so, by Degrees, Erect Laws, and Religions of their Own; and look upon themselves, by This time, as in Another Commonwealth.