But, taking leave of what the writer says in his serious part, if he be serious in any part, I shall only just point out a piece of his pleasantry.

No man, I believe, ever denied that the time for making peace is that in which the best terms maybe obtained.

But what that time is, together with the use that has been made of it, we are to judge by seeing whether terms adequate to our advantages, and to our necessities, have been actually obtained.

Here is the pinch of the question, to which the author ought to have set his shoulders in earnest.

Instead of doing this, he slips out of the harness by a jest; and sneeringly tells us, that, to determine this point, we must know the secrets of the French and Spanish cabinets[55], and that Parliament was pleased to approve the treaty of peace without calling for the correspondence concerning it.