Junius Unmasked: Or, Thomas Paine the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of IndependenceMoody, Joel
History
Junius Unmasked: Or, Thomas Paine the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of Independence
Moody, Joel
Francis, Philip, 1740-1818; Junius, active 18th century; Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809; United States. Declaration of Independence
"In one view." Quite frequent.
"In one view." Quite frequent.
"The time is not very distant."
"The period is not very distant."
"The simple voice of nature and reason will say it
is right."
"The voice of truth and reason must be silent."
"Where nature hath given the one she hath withheld
the other."
"Nature has been sparing of her gifts to this
noble lord."
"For as the greater weight will always carry up
the less, and all the wheels of a machine are put
in motion by one, it only remains to know which
power in the constitution has most weight."
"We incline the balance as effectually by
lessening the weight in the one scale as by
increasing it in the other."
"You would fain be thought to take no share in
government, while in reality you are the
mainspring of the machine."
"One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly
of hereditary right in kings is that _nature
disapproves it_, otherwise she would not so
frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind
an ass for a lion."
"It is you, Sir William, who make your friend
appear awkward and ridiculous, by giving him a
laced suit of tawdry qualifications which _nature
never intended_ him to wear."
In the last metaphor nature personified is brought forward as the actor,
by turning to ridicule the vanity of man in assuming more than he is.
Junius, without expressing it in words, has put forward the fable of the
ass in a lion's skin, when speaking of Lord Granby's courage. But Mr.
Paine has applied the same fable to the king. The figures are
differently expressed but exactly the same.
_Paine._
"Like wasting an estate on a suit at law to
regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease
is just expiring."
_Junius._
"Like broken tenants who have had warning to quit
the premises, they curse their landlord, destroy
the fixtures, throw every thing into confusion,
and care not what mischief they do the estate."
The above is the same figure, but differently applied. This figure is
quite often used by Mr. Paine and Junius.
_Paine._
"Quitting this class of men, I turn with the warm
ardor of a friend, to those who have nobly stood
and are yet determined to stand the matter out. I
call not upon a few, but upon all, up and help us;
lay your shoulders to the wheel."--Crisis, i.
_Junius._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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