_Rose_. By your Leave, Sir _John_, tho’ the late Minister, the _Phaeton_, as you call him, may have misused his Power; I don’t see why these Gentlemen who _remain_ in the Administration should be involved in his Guilt.
_Over_. Smoke the Parson, Gentlemen; mind how cautiously he treads on _Jack’s_ Heels.——_May have misused his Power!_ How gently he touches the Sore! Then again, the charitable _Man can’t see the least Speck of Gall_ in the _Doves_ that have thrust _Jack_ from the _Barn Door_.
_Blunt_. Ah! Mr. _Overall_, that _Barn_ has made many an honest Man otherwise.
Sir _John_. I don’t think it so, Mr. Mayor; a Man truly Honest is no more to be corrupted than a Woman truly Chast. But as it is she only who is a Whore in her Heart that can be defiled, so is it he only who is a Rogue in his Heart, that can be warped from his Integrity.
_Over_. Gad, Sir _John_, I should be glad to know where your _truly Honest_ Men and _truly Chast_ Ladies grow. For in my poor Observation, I knew but one Man and one Woman that truly deserved the Epithet.
_Smooth_. Your Mother was the precious Exception of one Sex.——Ha, ha!
_Rose_. And his pious _Dad_ the other.——Ha, ha!
_Over_. Neither; among the Men, _Jack_ the late M—r was the Exception, because he was the only Minister that ever I heard or read of, who had the _Honesty_ to pretend to _none_. And among the Fair, Madame _V—te_, who held out till her H—d commanded her and conducted her himself to the Arms of her Lover.
Sir _John_. I say nothing of the Aptness of your Exception among the Fair; but really, Mr. _Overall_, you have hit it off in regard to the other Sex. The late M—r was a Prodigy in his Way. I won’t say that I ever knew a less virtuous Minister, but I will, that I never knew one made less Pretensions to Virtue.
_Broad_. He courted Virtue as he did Applause.
Sir _John_. And was he not the Honester, for not pretending to that he resolved not to practise, and for not courting that which he knew he did not deserve? But what better Pretensions have they, who, as my Friend Mr. _Overall_ terms it, thrust him from the _Barn Door_, to either Virtue or Applause? Did they not give a Sanction to all his Measures? Were not they Partners of his Guilt? And more, were they not the Partners of his Predecessor’s Guilt? Had the late Minister shewn less Contempt for them; had he wore more the Appearance of Modesty, or had more Deference for their Opinions; had he seem’d to draw with them; had he not ingross’d solely to himself the _Distribution_ of the Court _Manna_: Had he, in short, shared with his Fellow Ministers the vast Emoluments arising from the Distribution of the _Secret-Service_ Money, I fancy we should never have heard of the present unnatural _Ingraftment_.