 not arrive at great Riches, and sometimes
keep our very Nobles in Dependance, as well as habituate them to vile
Companions; wholly take them from the Improvement of their Minds, and force them
by the Losses they received, to learn and practice that infamous Dexterity upon
others.
    He was perfectly astonished with the historical Account I gave him of our
Affairs during the last Century; protesting it was only an Heap of Conspiracies,
Rebellions, Murders, Massacres, Revolutions, Banishments; the very worst Effects
that Avarice, Faction, Hypocrisy, Perfidiousness, Cruelty, Rage, Madness,
Hatred, Envy, Lust, Malice, and Ambition could produce.
    His Majesty in another Audience, was at the Pains to recapitulate the Sum of
all I had spoken; compared the Questions he made, with the Answers I had given;
then taking me into his Hands, and stroaking me gently, delivered himself in
these Words, which I shall never forget, nor the Manner he spoke them in. My
little Friend Grildrig; you have made a most admirable Panegyrick upon your
Country. You have clearly proved that Ignorance, Idleness, and Vice are the
proper Ingredients for qualifying a Legislator. That Laws are best explained,
interpreted, and applied by those whose Interest and Abilities lie in
perverting, confounding, and eluding them. I observe among you some Lines of an
Institution, which in its Original might have been tolerable; but these half
erased, and the rest wholly blurred and blotted by Corruptions. It doth not
appear from all you have said, how any one Perfection is required towards the
Procurement of any one Station among you; much less that Men are ennobled on
Account of their Virtue, that Priests are advanced for their Piety or Learning,
Soldiers for their Conduct or Valour, Judges for their Integrity, Senators for
the Love of their Country, or Counsellors for their Wisdom. As for yourself
(continued the King) who have spent the greatest Part of your Life in
travelling; I am well disposed to hope you may hitherto have escaped many Vices
of your Country. But, by what I have gathered from your own Relation, and the
Answers I have with much Pains wringed and extorted from you; I cannot but
conclude the Bulk of your Natives, to be the most pernicious Race of little
odious Vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth.
 

                                   Chap. VII.

The Author's Love of his Country. He makes a Proposal of much Advantage to the
King; which is rejected. The King's great Ignorance in Politicks. The Learning
of that Country very imperfect and confined
