MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 375-
Ta the K^'s moji excellent M -y.
Tke humble petition of ? * * * E. ef C * * *, Knight of the moj} noble order cf the Garter.
Shenvetkt
THAT your petitioner being rendered by deafnefs, as a(e- lefs and inef?.cient, as moft of his cotemporaries are by nature, hopes, in common with them, to ftare your majefty's roval favour and bounty, whereby he may be en- abled to fave or fpend, 35 he may think proper, a great deal more than he poflibly can at pre fen t.
That your petitioner having had the honour to ferve your majeiiy io feveral very lucrative employ- ments, feems thereby entitled to a lucrative retreat from bufintfs, and ro enjoy otium cum dignitate, that is, leifure and a large penfion.
Your petitioner humbly appre- hends that he has a jultifiable claim to a confiderable penfion, as he neither wants, nor deferves, but only defires, and (pardon, dread Sir, an expreffion you are pretty much ufed to) infifts upon it.
Your petitioner is little apt, and always unwilling, to fpeak advan- tageoufly of himfelf ; but as feme degree of juftice is due to one's felf as well as to others, he begs leave to reprefent, that his loyalty to your majefiy has always been unlhaken, even in the worft of times: That particularly, in the Jate unnatural rebellion, when the young pretender had advanced as far as Derby, at the head of an army of at leaft three ihoufand men, compofed of the flower of the Scotch nobili y and gentry, who had virtue enough to avow, ana courage enough to venture tieir lives in fupporl of iheir real
principles, join him.
your petitioner did not
^.. ^ as unqueiVionably he
might have done, had he been fo inclined ; but, on the contrary, raifed, at the public expence, fix- teen companies, of one hundred men each', in defence of your ma- jerty's undoubted right to the im- perial crown of thefe realms; which fervice remains to this hour unrewarded.
Your petitioner is well aware, that your majelly's civil Hit mail neceffarily be in a very weak and languid condition, after the variouj and proful'e evacuations it has un- dergone ; but, at the fame time, he humbly hopes, that an argu- ment which does not feem to have been urged againft any other penon whatfoever, will not, in a lingu- lar manner, be urged againft hun, efpecially as he has fome reafons to believe, that the deficiencies of the penfion fund will by no means be the lail to be made good by parliam.ent.
Your petitioner begs leave to ob- ferve, that a fmall penfion is dif- graceful, as it intimates oppro- brious indigence on the part of the receiver, and a degrading fort of dole or charity on the part of the giver ; but that a great one implies dignity and aiHuence on the one fide, on the other elleem and con- fideration ; which doubtlefs your majefty muft entertain in the high- eil degree for thofe great perfon- ages, whofe reputable names glare in capitals upon your eleemofynary lift.
Your petitioner humbly flatters himfelt", that upon this principle, lefs than three thoufand pounds a year will not be propofed to him, and if made gold the more agreeable.
Your petitioner perfuades him- felf, that"your majelly will not im-
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