was King of France, and
Philip, his grandson, of Spain; when England and Holland, in
conjunction with the Emperor and the Allies, entered into a war against
these two princes, which lasted ten years under the management of the
Duke of Marlborough, and was put to a conclusion by the Treaty of
Utrecht, under the ministry of the Earl of Oxford, in the year 1713.
Many at that time did imagine the history of John Bull, and the
personages mentioned in it, to be allegorical, which the author would
never own. Notwithstanding, to indulge the reader's fancy and
curiosity, I have printed at the bottom of the page the supposed
allusions of the most obscure parts of the story.
[Footnote 166: A Member of Parliament, eminent for a certain cant in
his conversation, of which there is a good deal in this book.]
[Footnote 167: A cant word of Sir Humphrey's.]
[Footnote 168: Another cant word, signifying deceived.]
[Footnote 169: Act restraining the liberty of the press, &c.]
[Footnote 170: The engraver of the cuts before the Grub Street papers.]
XXIV. THE HISTORY OF JOHN BULL.
The Occasion of the Law-suit.
I need not tell you of the great quarrels that have happened in our
neighbourhood since the death of the late Lord Strutt[171]; how the
parson[172] and a cunning attorney got him to settle his estate upon
his cousin Philip Baboon, to the great disappointment of his cousin
Esquire South. Some stick not to say that the parson and the attorney
forged a will; for which they were well paid by the family of the
Baboons.
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