Note 46 — SEQUEL TO THE MILITARY ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY NEWCOME PART II
Reading edition
People are mighty apt to judge with extreme severity on the conduct of Kings and Princes, &c. &c.; and it generally happens that Men, who indulge themselves in the practices of Vice, are very liberal in the abuse of their Superiors in Rank and Fortune that shew a similar disposition, totally forgetting that themselves have been accustomed, in the course of Education, and in their commerce with the World, to the sound of wholesome Truths.
In former days a very useful and entertaining Personage was always an Appendage to the Pageantry of Courts, and in great Families—(yclept) a Fool: thro’ this lively Oracle, Truth reached the ears of the Great: but this wise custom has fallen into disuse, and unfortunately the familiars of the Great are now frequently composed of Naturals.
If those in Rank and Dignity enjoyed the advantages in common with the Mass of Mankind, and should then give themselves up to excesses, censure might be just, if that censure came from clean hands. But with the disadvantages they labour under from the earliest Age, the harsh animadversions on their conduct are Indecent, Malicious, and Uncharitable.