Produced by Steven Gibbs, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. In memory of Steven Gibbs (1938-2009). [Transcriber's Note: This e-book, a pamphlet by Daniel Defoe, was originally published in 1713, and was prepared from _The Novels and Miscellaneous Works of Daniel De Foe_, vol. 6 (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855). Archaic spellings have been retained as they appear in the original, and obvious printer errors have been corrected without note.] AND What if the _Pretender_ should come? OR SOME CONSIDERATIONS OF THE ADVANTAGES AND REAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE PRETENDER'S Possessing the CROWN OF GREAT BRITAIN. LONDON: Printed, and Sold by _J. Baker_, at the _Black Boy_ in _Pater-Noster-Row_. 1713. [_Price 6d._] AND WHAT IF THE PRETENDER SHOULD COME? OR SOME CONSIDERATIONS, &c. If the danger of the pretender is really so great as the noise which some make about it seems to suppose, if the hopes of his coming are so well grounded, as some of his friends seem to boast, it behoves us who are to be the subjects of the approaching revolution, which his success must necessarily bring with it, to apply ourselves seriously to examine what our part will be in the play, that so we may prepare ourselves to act as becomes us, both with respect to the government we are now under, and with respect to the government we may be under, when the success he promises himself shall (if ever it shall) answer his expectation. In order to this it is necessary to state, with what plainness the circumstances of the case will admit, the several appearances of the thing itself. 1. As they are offered to us by the respective parties who are for or against it. 2. As they really appear by an impartial deduction from them both, without the least bias either to one side or other; that so the people of Britain may settle and compose their thoughts a little in this great, and at present popular, debate; and may neither be terrified nor affrighted with mischiefs, which have no reason nor foundation in them, and which give no ground for their apprehensions; and, on the other hand, may not promise to themselves greater things from the pretender, if he should come hither, than he will be able to perform for them. In order to this we are to consider the pretender in his person and in his circumstances. 1. The person who we call the pretender; it has been so much debated, and such strong parties have been made on both sides to prove or disprove the legitimacy of his birth, that it seems needless here to enter into that dispute; the author of the Review, one of the most furious opposers of the name and interest of the pretender, openly grants his legitimacy, and pretends to argue against his admission from principles and foundations of his own forming; we shall let alone his principles and foundations here, as we do his arguments, and only take him by the handle which he fairly gives us, viz., that he grants the