WITH SOME FEW REFLECTIONS Extorted by, and on, the distracted State of the Times. By JOHN, EARL of STAIR. ——And beshrew my soul, But I do love the favour and the form Of this most fair occasion; by the which We will untread the steps of damned flight, And, like a 'bated and retiring flood, Leaving our rankness and irregular course, Stoop low within these bounds we have o'erlook'd, And calmly run on in obedience. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. STOCKDALE, opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly . MDCC LXXXI

Each day's experience proves the fallibility of conjecture, even when established on apparently the surest foundations. Having stated, indeed materially and substantially proved, that the annual peace expenditure of the state, if decently, not profusely, nor even amply provided for, could not be performed for less than sixteen millions five hundred thousand pounds; and having asserted, with truth, that the annual receipts have scarcely, on the most productive years of the public revenue, exceede