Selected quad for the lemma: country_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
country_n	call_v	great_a	king_n	9,010	5	3.6485	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B01985	The character of a disbanded courtier. Dedicated to the author of that famous speech, call'd, The speech of a noble peer. / By a person of quality.	Person of quality.	1682 (1682)	Wing C1970A; ESTC R175705	3,037	4

THE CHARACTE● OF A Disbanded Cour●●●● Dedicated to the Author of that Famous Speech call'd The Speech of a Noble Peer By a Person of Quality HE was Born of a considerable Family Heir to a Fortune above contemptible but with an aspiring mind by much too high flown for his Quality and his Estate His Behavior towards his King was so Loyal in times of difficulty and danger that every body who knew him knew he deserv'd Advancement advancement at least as high as that of Haman His dexterity in doing ill made him thought capable of performing admirably well if ever he came to be publ●●ly employ'd and entrusted So he was prefer'd for his Ability to the highest places of Honour and Office admitted into the Cabinet-Councils made acquainted with all the Secret Wheels and could tell how many Cogs there were in each wheel upon which the great Engine of State was turned and kept in motion By the Favor of his Prince he acquired sufficient Riches to support the splendor of a Family new rais'd to the degree of Nobility His Glory was once so eminently conspicuous that there were but a few persons below the Crown ●eem'd above him and nothing was wanting to render his Felicity as lasting a● Nature intended his Life but a heart that knew how to be grateful to a most Munificent Benefactor He thought all the Favours and Honours he enjoyed were less then the reward of his Merit that thought puff'd him up with pride such a sort of pride as is usually attended with an irrecoverable fall which was his Fortune and at his fall like that of Lucifer his Predecessor migh very well have been proclaim'd Wo to you the Inhabitants of the earth for the Devil is come down among you● Open revenge against his Sovereign being too dangerous to ●●tempt he presently resolves upon secret he exposes all the We●●nesses and Infirmities of the Court from which no Court or Ci●● or Country is or will ever be free and where he can find 〈◊〉 real faults he feigns imaginary ones and passes them off for ●●●rant By his new and false Optic he represents every Mole-hill of 〈◊〉 stake in the publick administration for a Mountain as tall as T●●…riff and as dangerous as the top of Aetna nay he Multiplies a●● Magnifies the very miscarriages which were the effect of his o●● evil Council He amuses the freest Nation in the Universe with wild rumou●● and extravagant apprehensions of Slavery under the Governm●●● of a Prince who in Acts of Favor and Mercy and Clemency 〈◊〉 exceeded all his Predecessors He fills the heads of the People full with whimsical Fears of ph●●tastick Devils Chymera's which only his Malice had rais'd on p●●pose to frighten them out of their Loyalty and their Wits a●● prepare and ripen them for Bedlam or Rebellion He makes the pretences of Liberty the Stirrup to get up 〈◊〉 Religion the Steed he Rides in pursuite of his Monstrous ●●signs With these pretences he cheats the Innocent after tickling t●●●● Fancies with the Feather of Ambition and promising to o●●● their Eyes serves them as the Apostate Angel did our Parents in ●●radice only blows into them the Dust of Disobedience and 〈◊〉 robs them 〈…〉 Jewels he undertook to bestow viz. Liber●● * Liberty is not a Freedom for every man to do what he pleases 〈◊〉 a freedom would impower the worst part of Mankind to Ruine and slave the best Just Laws well executed are the truest Liberties of Men and should be the outmost extent of their wishes and Religion † Religion does not consist in the stubborn adhering to a Faction 〈◊〉 in crying up one Party or Profession as Infallible and Censuring all 〈◊〉 as Damnable but in doing Justice and loving Mercy and walking ●●●bly with God sayes Malachi the Prophet And it is first Pure then P●●…able sayes St. Paul the Apostle which are both so much talk'd of and bot● little understood Being a Gentleman of no Religion himself he seems for all that to Espouse every Division and Sub-division of it every Faction and Person who are bold enough to stand stiff in opposition to the Ancient and Well settled Government If he be by Inclination Covetous and temperate by Nature and Habit he rather chuses to invert Nature it self than suffer a disappointment in his Designs of Revenge to which he makes a Sacrifice at once both of his Vertues and his Vices He keeps open house for Entertainment of all State-Male-Contents without consideration of Quality or Qualifications He Accompanies and Carrowses and Contracts Intimacy and Amity with the lewdest Debauchees in all the Nation that he thinks will any ways help to forward his private Intrigues He becomes all things to all men in the very worst of senses perverting the design of St. Paul that he may at least prevail upon some to be as bad as himself Nor are soft and easie men by him only deluded he is too cunning for the very Lawers themselves tho they are too cunning for all the rest of mankind a most Eminent Attorney and a famous Solicitor and a Reverend Judge are not free from the force of his Inchantments By the Subtilty of his Insinuations he bewitches to Associate with him great part of the New and of the Sons of the old Nobility the Sons of such Fathers as died in the faithful Defence of their suffering Soveraign He Deceives besides a number of other great Men and great Councellors a General of an Army a Vice-Roy of a Kingdom a Darling of the People and a Son to the Greatest and the best of Fathers upon Earth He would fain be reputed as constant as the Sun and yet this Age has produced nothing beneath the Moon more ficle and variable for he never was and 't is like never will be true to any thing save only the Eternal Resolution of doing Mischief Having lost his Honour with his Prince and the good Opinion of the best Subjects and best Men he cringes and creeps and sneaks to the meanest and basest of the People to procure himself among them an Empty and vain-glorious because undeserved Name the Patriot of his Countrey And hoping to be shortly made the little Head of the Great Rabble he would perswade them to believe that they are all betray'd and that the King himself is in the Plot against himself as well as in the Plot against them He Encourages them to strike home against those whom he calls the Enemies of the King and Kingdom pointing at the Faithful-lest and most affectionate Servants to both well knowing that th● mighty Fabrick can never be shaken till its main Pillars and Supporters be by cunning and sly Stratagem either destroy'd or undermined At last through the Divine Providence the Magical Mist he had cast before mens eyes dissipates and totally vanishes The Hypocritical vail falls off of its own accord leaving his deformity naked and openly exposed His dearly beloved Mistress Popular Applause forsakes him and to compleat his undoing he lives to see the Death and Burial of his Fame even to the very Fame of his Polities So that nothing remains to yield him Consolation after such sensible and biting Disgraces but only the Liberty he has left him to follow the great Example of King David's defeated Politition POSTSCRIPT to the Printer IF you be curious to know who is meant by this Character you may easily imagine 't is Simon de Montford Earl of Leicester in whose time the Wood Parliament Sate at Westminster He ' was one while a Prime Favourite of the King one while the meer Idol of the People sometimes a Rebell and alwayes a Rogue However If any man now alive claim a Propriety in any part of the Character you may tell him the Author is a peaceable Person and rather then stand a Suit at Law let every one take what part he calls his own and much good may it do him Farewell Re-Printed in the year 1682.