were, indeed, a few, who insinuated that it was no plot at all; but as these latter were known to be inveterate enemies to all such names and denominations, they were of course supposed to bear no good-will to their countrymen; there not being more than one in a thousand of them who does not call himself by one or other of these names: so that their opinion was almost universally treated with the contempt and scorn it deserved. The opinion that it was a Scottish plot I think, prevailed very generally in that part of Great Britain called England, and in Berwick upon Tweed. Then it began gradually to be doubted, then to be wholly disbelieved, for even a considerable time: happily it is now at this very day revived; and, by the fervent zeal and marvellous skill of those faithful guardians of our liberties, whom I have formerly spoken of, the eyes of all men are at length opened, and nobody is found so mad as to doubt it. For notwithstanding all I have said, and said most innocently, of our brethren of Scotland (an appellation we fondly gave them in times of our great distress) for the truth of which I beg leave to appeal to the honour and consciences of all my countrymen, who have ever happened to see them, converse with them, employ them, serve with them, in the navy or the army; hear them in the pulpit, at the bar, or in either houses of parliament; observe their buildings, engravings, and other arts; or read their productions; yet no true lovers of liberty can be too circumspect nor too vigilantly on their guard against the danger even of possibilities; it being an established maxim among all politicians of free countries, that Credulity is the mother of Danger, as she is the daughter of Stupidity and Ignorance, and has been the total ruin of many nations: for proof of which they produce examples from the histories of all countries; such as the secret machinations of many the most illustrious patricians and wealthiest plebeians against the constitution of Rome, in the times of Marius, Sylla, Catiline, Pompey, and Cæsar, which, by the credulity of the people, lurked for a long while undiscovered and unsuspected, until it burst forth on a sudden in open and violent attacks, and ended in the total ruin of it; yet all these were Romans. The same wicked designs were said to have been formed, not long since, by the Jesuits in France and Portugal, and to have been almost ripe for execution; but were happily discovered before it was too late, and prevented; yet these Jesuits were all Frenchmen or Portuguese. Neither are there wanting examples of this sort, even in the history of our own country, in the reigns of Charles I., Charles II. and James II. The greater part of the nobility, gentry, divines, and lawyers, were detected in a conspiracy against the lives and properties of their fellow-subjects, and the religion and liberty of this kingdom was dragged to the very brink of destruction; yet these conspirators appear, to the best of