With that view, I have sent him by my familiar the
following epistle, and admonished him, on pain of what I shall say of
him to future generations, to act with sincerity on this occasion.
#"London, May 31.#
#"Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., of Great Britain, to Lewis XIV. of France.#
"The surprising news which arrived this day, of your Majesty's having
refused to sign the treaty your Ministers have in a manner sued for, is
what gives ground to this application to your Majesty, from one whose
name, perhaps, is too obscure to have ever reached your territories; but
one who, with all the European world, is affected with your
determinations. Therefore, as it is mine and the common cause of
mankind, I presume to expostulate with you on this occasion. It will, I
doubt not, appear to the vulgar extravagant, that the actions of a
mighty prince should be balanced by the censure of a private man, whose
approbation or dislike are equally contemptible in their eyes, when they
regard the thrones of sovereigns. But your Majesty has shown, through
the whole course of your reign, too great a value for liberal arts to be
insensible, that true fame lies only in the hands of learned men, by
whom it is to be transmitted to futurity, with marks of honour or
reproach to the end of time.
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