"I Do not conceive, that you need be under any Apprehenfions, as to what you "call fecret Hiftory: Not but that I allow, there are fome Things that may be call'd fo in feveral of these Letters: But they are of "fuch a Nature as cannot give great Offence, even to the Perfons they concern, if I may "be permitted to guess at them: Befides, "few of them are Perfons of that Confequence .66 to be greatly regarded; many of them are dead, and the very Facts themselves are "fuch as I fhould think might, without Scru ple, be related, with the Addition even of "the Perfons Names: However, to remove all "Difficulty, on that Head, I have placed "fictitious Names over fome of the initial "Letters, where I think Reputation is con"cern'd; which you may, if you think fit, "make Use of. What you are most diffident "of, I prefume are the Letters from Hannover; but I think without a Caufe. The "Gentleman who wrote thefe Letters, who ever he be, is certainly a hearty Well"Wifher to our present happy Establishment; CC nor do I find a fingle Word in them, "whereby he may be faid to deviate in the "leaft, from that Veneration and Refpect, "which every true English-Man ought to "have, and upon all Occafions exprefs, for "that illuftrious Houfe, of which our most gracious Sovereign is, at this Time, the "Head: And tho' he do fpeak pretty freely of certain Perfons, of a more inferior DeI don't find any Thing that çan give · gree, "Offence "Offence here. The most fevere Piece of "Satyrical private History (if there be any "Thing in the Facts) is the Reign of Syl"vius, King of the Gambrivii, and Bulleroch"fius, his Co-Adjutant in the Government: "But I look upon the whole to be a Fiction, a Child of the Author's own Brain, to give "his Friend an Idea of the Inconveniencies, "that might poffibly arife from fuch a Form "of Government, as he had before defcrib'd: "Or fhould there be any Thing of Truth in "it, the Names are fictitious, and the Di"ftance of Time fo great, that it would be "difficult now, but to fuppofe, and impoffible "to fix it to any certain Period or Perfons, "As for the Allegory and Fable, which "make a confiderable, and if I may be al"low'd to speak my Mind, the most beau“tiful Part of these Letters, the Author and "his Friend have great Obligations to Foreign "Affiftance. And here I must beg Leave "to do Juftice (and to defire you, if you "fhould publish thefe Letters, to do the "fame) to a Society of Gentlemen, for whom "I, and every one who knows them, muft "profefs the highest Efteem: I mean the "Authors of the Patriot, a weekly Paper publifh'd in Hamburg, in Imitation of our "incomparable Spectators, and which is al❝low'd, by all good Judges, to come up "the nearest to the Spirit of those great Ori"ginals, of any Thing that has been pub "lish'd "lifh'd of that Nature. From thefe Patriots our Author has either tranflated, or bor"row'd, thofe fine Allegories and Fables, "which fo greatly embellifh many of his Let"ters; fuch are his Intellectual Thermometer; "his Touchfione of Sincerity; his Philofophi"cal Watch; his Defcription of the Empire of "Pathia; his Account of an extraordinary "Collection of Pictures, his Vifions, and the "like; and tho' he has taken great Liberty, "in these his Tranflations or Imitations; and "has, to make them answer his Defign, "and adapt them to the English Tongue and "Tafte, in many of them, very much devi"ated from, or made great Additions to, the "Originals; yet it is plainly difcernable, "whence they had their Rife. To introduce thefe Allegories and Fables he has painted "that beautiful Character of his learned "Friend, which makes Part of the 11th, 14th " and 16th Letters: This, likewise, he has in "Part taken from the Patriot's Character of "himself, which, however, he has very much "diverfified and extended, and has added an "agreable Account of his House and Gar"dens, Domesticks and Oeconomy, and a "diverting Relation of the Means he made "Ufe of to get into his Acquaintance and Familiarity. "THE Title you propofe of GERMAN SPY is proper enough; for these Letters 66 are really fo: But take this along with you you, that neither the Subjects, nor the Language of them are so vulgar and loose, 6. as in fome of thofe Writings, which go by "the Name of Spies. The Author's Rela❝tion of his Intriegue with a fair Nun at "Munfter has indeed fomething in it that "favours of Libertinifm: But then the Wit "and Beauty of the unhappy Fair-One feem to have been fo exquifite; As could, with a refiftless Charm, impart "That it were no Wonder if the Frailty of ever, amidst the strongest Temptations; "tho' he gives his Friend fome Hints, and "leaves it to him to form a Judgment, he "does not once, notwithstanding their Fami"liarity, tell him he was actually criminal. "In feveral of his fecret Hiftories of others "he does, indeed, difplay the Frailties of "both Sexes; but it is in fuch a Manner, as "plainly fhews his Defign to be the expofing "of Vice, and recommending of Virtue: "And he has every where taken Care not 66 to offend in Point of Language. You will "find nothing here, that can be obnoxious to "the niceft Ear, of either Sex: Nothing "but "but what may be fuppos'd to have hap"pen'd among Perfons above the common "Rank, and to have been related by one "Gentleman to another. The Author him"felf feems to have been a Perfon endued "with the Principles of Religion and Mo"rality, divested of Bigotry and Oftentation, " and the very Bent of his Allegories and "Fables is to inculcate the fame Principles, "in an agreable Manner, in others. "THE Strength of juft Obfervations, (of "which thefe Letters contain a great Number) "has a prevailing Influence, and infinuates it"Self into the Mind almost imperceptibly; and proper Examples make a more lafting Im"preffion there than one would easily imagine. "They polifh the Understanding, improve the "Judgment, and, by regulating the Tafte, tend "not a little to fhame out of the World that "Rufticity and Barbarifm, thofe Follies and "Affectations, in one Word, all that Little"nefs of Mind, which is fo effectual a Bar in "the Way of generous and noble Undertakings. "And if this be in general true, how much 66 more is it fo, when we have before us "the Examples of other Nations, and can "fee in what Particulars they excel or fall "fhort of our own. By this (as the Specta"tor juftly observes) we may unlearn fome "odd Peculiarities in our Manners, and wear off fuch aukward Stiffnesses and Affectations દ in our Behaviour, as may poffibly have been "contracted |
