Dickory Cronke: The Dumb Philosopher, or, Great Britain's WonderDefoe, Daniel
Philosophy
Dickory Cronke: The Dumb Philosopher, or, Great Britain's Wonder
Defoe, Daniel
Didactic fiction; Philosophers -- Fiction
13. About this time the pope will die, and after a great many intrigues
and struggles, a Spanish cardinal shall be elected, who shall decline the
dignity, and declare his marriage with a great lady, heiress of one of
the chief principalities in Italy, which may occasion new troubles in
Europe, if not timely prevented.
14. In 1727, new troubles shall break out in the north, occasioned by
the sudden death of a certain prince, and the avarice and ambition of
another. Poor Poland seems to be pointed at; but the princes of the
south shall enter into a confederacy to preserve her, and shall at length
restore her peace, and prevent the perpetual ruin of her constitution.
15. Great endeavours will be used about this time for a comprehension in
religion, supported by crafty and designing men, and a party of mistaken
zealots, which they shall artfully draw in to join with them; but as the
project is ill-concerted, and will be worse managed, it will come to
nothing; and soon afterwards an effectual mode will be taken to prevent
the like attempt for the future.
16. 1728 will be a year of inquiry and retrospection. Many exorbitant
grants will be reassumed, and several persons who thought themselves
secure will be called before the senate, and compelled to disgorge what
they have unjustly pillaged either from the crown or the public.
17. About this time a new scaffold will be erected upon the confines of
a certain great city, where an old count of a new extraction, that has
been of all parties and true to none, will be doomed by his peers to make
his first appearance. After this an old lady who has often been exposed
to danger and disgrace, and sometimes brought to the very brink of
destruction, will be brought to bed of three daughters at once, which
they shall call Plenty, Peace, and Union; and these three shall live and
grow up together, be the glory of their mother, and the comfort of
posterity for many generations.
* * * * *
This is the substance of what he either writ or extracted from his papers
in the interval between the loss of his speech and the return of his fit,
which happened exactly at the time he had computed.
Upon the approach of his fit, he made signs to be put to bed, which was
no sooner done but he was seized with extreme agonies, which he bore up
under with the greatest steadfastness, and after a severe conflict, that
lasted near eight hours, he expired.
Thus lived and thus died this extraordinary person; a person, though of
mean extraction and obscure life, yet when his character comes to be
fully and truly known, it will be read with pleasure, profit, and
admiration.
His perfections at large would be the work of a volume, and inconsistent
with the intention of these papers. I will, therefore, only add, for a
conclusion, that he was a man of uncommon thought and judgment, and
always kept his appetites and inclinations within their just limits.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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