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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vn. NOV. 20, 1920.
& cloathes then he that was weake, and not able to
-doe a quarter y e other could, this was thoughl
Injuestice. The aged and graver men to be rankec
and equalised in labours and victails cloaths &c
with y e meaner and yonger sorte thought it some
'Indignite and disrepecte unto them. And
'for men's wives to be commanded to doe
- servise for other men, as dressing their meate
'washing their cloaths &c they deem it a kind
of slaverie, neither could many husbands we'
'brooke it. Upon y e poynte all being to have alike,
and all to doe alike, they thought them eelves in y e
'like condition and one as good as another: and so
if it did not cut of [off] those relations that God
hath set amongst men ; yet it did at least much
diminish and take of [off] y e mutuall respects that
should be preserved amongst them. And would
/have been worse if they had been men of another
'condition. Let none objecte this is men's corup-
! tion and nothing to y e course itselfe : I answer
seeing all men have this coruption in them, God in
^his wisdome saw another course liter for them."
Bradford writes from the point of view of a shrewd observer of human nature, and also of one who felt the responsibility of government. Probably most people will agree with him, and will believe that this action saved the colony. But it must be remembered that the colonists had adopted communism not because they liked it but because they were compelled. It was to 'them part of the yoke of servitude imposed upon them by the adventurers, against which they had protested from the first. A hated system was not likely to succeed. No form of government more depends upon the wholehearted conviction and goodwill of all the members than communism. It requires a very strong faith in the altruism of human nature to convince those who have anything to lose. To impose communism by compulsion is not the way to make genuine converts, much less when enforced, as in Russia, by massacre and torture. " Be my brother or I'll kill you ' ' does not make for brotherhood.
G. CUTHBERT BLAXLAND. Ringshall Rectory, Stowmarket.
SWIFT AND PRINCE BUTLER,
IN 'The Public Spirit of the Whigs,' Swift compares one of Steele's statements to the logic of "poor Prince Butler," who believed that he was persecuted by Cardinal Pamfili and that he would continue to be persecuted after the Cardinal's death by his heirs and executors. The reference is elucidated by a broadside headed :
" A Malicious Man makes Reasons. To the Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled. The Humble Petition
of Prince Butler. If he is a Fool, the Pope and all
the Kings and People in Christendom are Fools,
except King William and Malicious People."
In this petition Prince Butler alleges that
on visiting Rome he was detained by
Cardinal Pamfili in his house for a year ;
that he was followed to London by the
Cardinal's emissaries who induced Charles II. '
to say that he was a madman ; and that the
Cardinal had continued to persecute him
for twenty years, and had left directions in
his will that his heirs should carry on the
persecution. This petition Prince Butler
s uppleinented by another headed :
"Pray, Money or no Money, Right or Wrong. Irish or no Irish, Bastard or no Bastard, Lawyer or no Lawyer, Bawdy or not Bawdy, Alive or Dead, read from the first to the last word in the present case."
In it he refers to his great loss of blood at the hands of physicians between 1690 and 1700 ; to his maintenance for twelve years by the Duke of Ormonde ; and to his desire to go to Vienna.
During the agitation that was carried on in the years 1699 and 1700 against the legislation prohibiting the importation of Indian silks Prince Butler was ,made re- sponsible for four broadsides, which were probably written by Charles Davenant. They are headed :
1. "Eleven Queries Humbly tendered relating to the Bill for Prohibiting the Wearing of East- India Silks, and Printed and Dyed Calicoes."
2. "Querical Demonstrations writ by Prince Butler, Author of the Eleven Queries relating to the Bill for prohibiting East -India Silks and Printed Calicoes.
3. " Prince B itler's Tale : representing the State of the Wool Case, or the East- India Case Truly Stated."
4. " Prince Butler's Queries Relating to the East- India Case."
Of these broadsides, which are preserved in the British Museum, the third and part of the fourth are in verse.
Besides the reference to him in 'The Public Spirit of the Whigs,' Prince Butler is twice mentioned in Swift's correspondence. Writing on Sept. 27, 1714, to Knightly hetwode, Swift says: " I remember Prince Butler used to say ' By my soul, there is not a drop of water in the Thames for me ' " : and writing on Apr. 18, 1720, to Swift, the Duchess of Ormonde says: "As Prince Butler said crime or no crime." By the editors of Swift's correspondence he has jeen identified as Brinsley Butler, who Became second Lord Newtown- Butler and irst Viscount Lanesborough, but this identi- ication is evidently incorrect. It is possible
