Chrift will not then ftand us in any more ftead, than the righteousness of David or Abraham! was that really to be the cafe, how could Mr. Wefley, in particular, hope for juftification at the hands of that God, whom he has impiously compared to "Tiberius" and " the Grand Turk ?"

May your name, fir, after all that you have done, be found at last in that Book of Life, against which you have fo daringly exclaimed! May your perfon be interested in that only perfect righteoufnefs, on which you have fo unhappily trampled! And, as an evidence of your part in both, may your future conduct difplay the fpirit and breathe the language of thefe excellent lines:

"Let not this weak, unknowing hand
Prefume thy bolts to throw,

And deal damnation round the land
On each I judge, thy foe.

If I am right, thy grace impart
Still in the right to stay;

If I am wrong, O teach my heart
To find that better way

Be this your fupplication. And may your fupplica
tion be heard.

* Pope's Universal Prayer.

AN

AN

OLD FOX

TARRED AND FEATHERED.

OCCASIONED BY WHAT IS CALLED

MR. JOHN WESLEY'S

CALM ADDRESS TO OUR AMERICAN COLONIES.

"In politics I dabble too,

"Brave Jack of all Trades I!"

Cæciliane, FUR es,

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following sheet does not enter, seriously and argumentatively, into the merits of either fide of the difpute now depending between England and America. This has, already, been done, by others; and, probably, will be, by more. The intention of these pages is, 1. To hew Mr. Wefley's honefty, as a Plagiarist: and, 2. To raise a little skin, by giving the Fox a gentle flogging, as a turn-coat.

him?

SECTION. I.
ECT

"Another Face of Things was feen,
"And I became a Tory."

HEREUNTO fhall I liken Mr. John
Wefley? and with what fhall I compare

I will liken him unto a low and puny tadpole in divinity, which proudly feeks to difembowel an high and mighty whale in politics.

For it came to pafs, fome months fince, that Dr. Samuel Johnfon fet forth an eighteen-penny pamphlet, entitled, Taxation no Tyranny.

And, fome days ago, a methodist weather-cock faluted the public with a two-penny paper (extracted by whole paragraphs together from the aforefaid doctor), ycleped, A calm Address to our American Colonies. The occafion whereof was this:

There dwelleth, about 99 miles, one furlong, and thirteen inches, from a place called the Foundery, in Moorfields (next door to a noted mad-house), a prieft, named, Vulpofo.

This priest is a perfect man, and an upright: hating forgery, adultery, and covetoufnefs.

Now, he happened to buy Dr. Johnson's pamphlet abovementioned: and, upon reading thereof, he thus mufed within himself.

"This tract, called, Taxation no Tyranny, coft me one fhilling and fix-pence.

"What a man buys and pays for, is certainly his

own.

Therefore, this tract is no longer its author's, but mine.

Confequently, I fhall do no evil, if I gut the fubftance of it, and republifh it under my own

name.

"There

καιρον,

"There is an old Greek proverb, which faith, Taxagor, know thy opportunity, and feize it. There is alfo a Latin poet, who faith, malè dum recitas in cipit effe tuum.

"No tenfe like the prefent. Doctor Johnson has been, for several weeks, abfent from the kingdom, on a tour to Paris. Therefore, it is now or never. Like a mouse that has robbed a pantry, I will venture forth, with my ftolen morfel, while the cat's out of the way.

"Now, it is not that I care for government, any more than Judas cared for the poor: but I have long wifhed to be taken notice of, at court; and this pilfering may procure me fome preferment in the Church.

*

"I once begged and prayed a foreign vagrant (who ftiled himself Erafmus, bishop of Arcadia) to give me epifcopal confecration, that I might be a bishop at large, and have it in my power to ordain my ragged regiment of lay-preachers.

Notwithstanding, though I gave the man many fair speeches, he would not hearken to my voice.

"But who knows, whether, in the borrowed plumes of Dr. Johnson, I may not, per chance, obtain a penfion, if not flip into an English cathedral;

* See fome account of this curious tranfaction, in Mr. Toplady's Letter to Mr. John Wefley.

+ Efop relates, that a certain vain jack-daw picked up all the peacock's feathers he could meet with, and tuck them among his own; in hope, that the elegant spoils might pafs for the native productions of his back. The cheat was foon difcovered; and the enraged birds not only ftripped him of his artifical decoration, but made him feel the vengeance of their bills befide.

On this fable, Dr. Croxall very properly remarks, that for a man "to be barely pleased with appearing above what he really is, may justly render him contemptible in the eyes of his equals. But if, to enable him to do this with a better grace, he has feathered his neft with his neighbour's goods; he hath nothing to expect, when found out, but to be fript of his plunder, and used like a -- into the bargain."

or

or (at least) be appointed to the first American bishoprick?

"Álas, alas! a fudden thrill goes through me, and my cogitations are perplexed within me! for, before I can be made a bishop, my infamous plagiarifm may be found out.

"However, worst come to worst, what if it be? It is not the first time that my old foxfhip has been ftarted, and my impofitions have been detected.

"Many writers have luftily plundered the works of other men: but I am refolved to out-plunder, and to out blunder, them all."

SECTION. II.

AND it came to pafs, while the priest thus com

muned with his own heart, that a very aged man, in black cloathing, rendered himself vifible, and faid:

"Fear not, my fon, to do the thing which thy foul lufteth after:

"For much riches, and renown, and comfort, fhall it add unto thee.

In the Addrefs to the Colonies, Mr. Wefley expreffes himfelf thus: "I gain nothing, either by the Government, or by the Americans; and probably never fhall." P. 12. Is not this fomething Jike hanging out a fign-poft to invite cuftom? or, fi mavis, putting up a bill importing lodgings to let? or, fetting himself up to auction, faying, The party, whether Minifterial or American, that bids most for me, fhall have me?" At least, is there not, in the above declaration, a loop-hole of referve? a back door to creep out at?-Not to notice, that, in affirming he gains nothing by the Government," he is very ungrateful, and advances a known untruth. He gains" protection, at least, and toleration, from "Government," and inftead of calling this, much; has he the face, to call it "Nothing?" I fhould be glad to know, what his gratitude would term fomething?-Moreover, time was, when Mr. Wefley gained, even from American bounty and civility. Has he forgot his refidence at Savanna, and some certain incidents therewith connected?

"