the history of England would have been different.

When "the allyes and the French fought a bloudy battle near Mons"
(1709, "Malplaquet"), the Oxford honest men, like Colonel Henry
Esmond, thought "there was not any the least reason of bragging."
The young King of England, under the character of the Chevalier St.
George, "shewed abundance of undaunted courage and resolution, led up
his troups with unspeakable bravery, appeared in the utmost dangers,
and at last was wounded." Marlborough's victories were sneered at,
his new palace of Blenheim was said to be not only ill-built, but
haunted by signs of evil omen.

It was not always safe to say what one thought about politics at
Oxford. One Mr. A. going to one Mr. Tonson, a barber, put the barber
and his wife in a ferment (they being rascally Whigs) by maintaining
that the hereditary right was in the P. of W. Tonson laid
information against the gentleman; "which may be a warning to honest
men not to enter into topicks of this nature with barbers." One
would not willingly, even now, discuss the foreign policy of her
Majesty's Ministers with the person who shaves one. There are
opportunities and temptations to which no decent person should be
wantonly exposed. The bad effect of Whiggery on the temper was
evident in this, that "the Mohocks are all of the Whiggish gang, and
indeed all Whigs are looked upon as such Mohocks, their principles
and doctrines leading thus to all manner of barbarity and
inhumanity." So true is it that Conservatives are all lovers of
peace and quiet, that (May 29th, 1715) "last night a good part of the
Presbyterian meeting-house in Oxford was pulled down. The people ran
up and down the streets, crying, King James the Third! The true
king! No Usurper. In the evening they pulled a good part of the