diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/30343.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/30343.txt | 3667 |
1 files changed, 3667 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/30343.txt b/old/30343.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbd90d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/30343.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3667 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony +in Writing (1729), by Anthony Collins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing (1729) + +Author: Anthony Collins + +Editor: Edward A. Bloom + Lillian D. Bloom + +Release Date: October 27, 2009 [EBook #30343] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDICULE, IRONY IN WRITING *** + + + + +Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Joseph Cooper, Stephanie +Eason, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + ANTHONY COLLINS + + A DISCOURSE + CONCERNING + Ridicule and Irony + IN WRITING + + (1729) + + _Introduction by_ + EDWARD A. BLOOM AND LILLIAN D. BLOOM + + PUBLICATION NUMBER 142 + WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + + 1970 + + + + GENERAL EDITORS + + William E. Conway, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + George Robert Guffey, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + + ASSOCIATE EDITOR + + David S. Rodes, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + + ADVISORY EDITORS + + Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_ + James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_ + Ralph Cohen, _University of Virginia_ + Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_ + Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_ + Earl Miner, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_ + Everett T. Moore, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Lawrence Clark Powell, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + James Sutherland, _University College, London_ + H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Robert Vosper, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + + CORRESPONDING SECRETARY + + Edna C. Davis, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + + EDITORIAL ASSISTANT + + Roberta Medford, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +Between 1710 and 1729 Anthony Collins was lampooned, satirized, and +gravely denounced from pulpit and press as England's most insidious +defiler of church and state. Yet within a year of his death he became the +model of a proper country gentleman, + + ... he had an opulent Fortune, descended to him from his Ancestors, + which he left behind him unimpair'd: He lived on his own Estate in + the Country, where his Tenants paid him moderate Rents, which he + never enhanced on their making any Improvements; he always oblig'd + his Family to a constant attendance on Publick Worship; as he was + himself a Man of the strictest Morality, for he never suffer'd any + Body about him who was deficient in that Point; he exercised a + universal Charity to all Sorts of People, without any Regard either + to Sect or Party; being in the Commission of the Peace, he + administered Justice with such Impartiality and Incorruptness, that + the most distant Part of the County flock'd to his Decisions; but the + chief Use he made of his Authority was in accommodating + Differences;...[1] + +In a comparison which likens him to Sir Roger de Coverley, there is less +truth than fiction. What they did share was a love of the countryside and +a "universal Charity" towards its inhabitants. For the most part, however, +we can approximate Collins's personality by reversing many of Sir Roger's +traits. Often at war with his world, as the spectatorial character was +not, he managed to maintain an intellectual rapport with it and even with +those who sought his humiliation. He never--as an instance--disguised his +philosophical distrust of Samuel Clarke; yet during any debate he planned +"most certainly [to] outdo him in civility and good manners."[2] This +decorum in no way compromised his pursuit of what he considered objective +truth or his denunciation of all "methods" or impositions of spiritual +tyranny. Thus, during the virulent, uneven battle which followed upon the +publication of the _Discourse of Free-Thinking_, he ignored his own wounds +in order to applaud a critic's + + _suspicions that there is a sophism_ in what he calls my + _hypothesis_. That is a temper that ought to go thro' all our + Inquirys, and especially before we have an opportunity of examining + things to the bottom. It is safest at all times, and we are least + likely to be mistaken, if we constantly suspect our selves to be + under mistakes.... I have no system to defend or that I would seem to + defend, and am unconcerned for the consequence that may be drawn from + my opinion; and therefore stand clear of all difficultys wch others + either by their opinion or caution are involved in.[3] + + +This is the statement of a man whose intellectual and religious commitment +makes him see that his own fallibility is symptomatic of a human tendency +to error. For himself, hence, he tries to avoid all manner of hard-voiced +enthusiasm. Paradoxically, however, Collins searched with a zealot's +avidity for any controversy which would either assert his faith or test +his disbelief. When once he found his engagement, he revelled in it, +whether as the aggressor or the harassed defendant. For example, in the +"Preface" to the _Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered_ he boastfully +enumerated all the works--some twenty-nine--which had repudiated his +earlier _Discourse on the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion_. +And in malicious fact he held up the publication of the _Scheme_ for +almost a year that he might add a "Postscript to the Preface" in which he +identified six more pieces hostile to the _Grounds and Reasons_.[4] + +By May of 1727 and with no visible sign of fatigue he took on a new +contender; this time it was John Rogers, canon in ordinary to the Prince +of Wales. At the height of their debate, in late summer, Collins made +practical enquiries about methods to prolong and intensify its +give-and-take. Thus, in a note to his friend Pierre Des Maizeaux, he said: +"But I would be particularly informed of the success and sale of the +Letter to Dr Rogers; because, if it could be, I would add to a new +edition thereof two or three as sheets; which also might be sold +separately to those who have already that Letter." For all his militant +polemic, he asked only that his "Adversaries" observe with him a single +rule of fair play; namely, that they refrain from name-calling and petty +sniping. "Personal matters," he asserted, "tho they may some times afford +useful remarks, are little regarded by Readers, who are very seldom +mistaken in judging that the most impertinent subject a man can talk of is +himself," particularly when he inveighs against another.[5] + +If Collins had been made to look back over the years 1676-1729, he +probably would have summarized the last twenty with a paraphrase of the +Popean line, "This long controversy, my life." For several years and in +such works as _Priestcraft in Perfection_ (1710) and _A Discourse of +Free-Thinking_ (1713), he was a flailing polemicist against the entire +Anglican hierarchy. Not until 1724 did he become a polished debater, when +he initiated a controversy which for the next five years made a "very +great noise" and which ended only with his death. The loudest shot in the +persistent barrage was sounded by the _Grounds and Reasons_, and its last +fusillade by the _Discourse concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing_.[6] + +During those five years Collins concentrated upon a single opponent in +each work and made it a rhetorical practice to change his "Adversary" in +successive essays. He created in this way a composite victim whose +strength was lessened by deindividualization; in this way too he ran no +risk of being labelled a hobbyhorse rider or, more seriously, a +persecutor. Throughout the _Grounds and Reasons_ he laughed at, reasoned +against, and satirized William Whiston's assumption that messianic +prophecies in the Old Testament were literally fulfilled in the figure and +mission of Jesus. Within two years and in a new work, he substituted +Edward Chandler, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, for the mathematician. +It need not have been the Bishop; any one of thirty-four others could have +qualified for the role of opponent, among them people like Clarke, and +Sykes, and Sherwood, and even the ubiquitous Whiston. Collins rejected +them, however, to debate in the _Scheme_ with Bishop Chandler, the author +of _A Defence of Christianity from the Prophecies of the old Testament_, +with one who was, in short, the least controversial and yet the most +orthodox of his many assailants. + +Early in 1727 the Anglican establishment came to the abrupt realization +that the subject of the continuing debate--the reliability of the argument +from prophecy--was inconclusive, that it could lead only to pedantic +wrangling and hair-splitting with each side vainly clutching victory. +Certainly the devotion of many clergymen to biblical criticism was +secondary to their interest in orthodoxy as a functional adjunct of +government, both civil and canonical. It was against this interest, as it +was enunciated in Rogers's _Eight Sermons concerning the Necessity of +Revelation_ (1727) and particularly in its vindictive preface, that +Collins chose to fight.[7] The debate had now taken a happy turn for him. +As he saw it, the central issue devolved upon man's natural right to +religious liberty. At least he made this the theme of his _Letter to Dr. +Rogers_. In writing to Des Maizeaux about the success of this work, he +obviously enjoyed his own profane irony: + + I have had particular compliments made me by the BP of Salisbury, + and by Dr Clark, who among other things sayd, that the Archbp of + Canterbury might have writ all that related to Toleration in it: to + say nothing of what I hear from others. Dr Rogers himself has + acknowledg[ed] to his Bookseller who sent it to him into the Country, + that he has receivd it; but says that he is so engaged in other + affairs, that he has no thought at present of answering it; tho he + may perhaps in time do so.[8] + + +In time Rogers did. He counterattacked on 2 February 1728 with a +_Vindication of the Civil Establishment of Religion_.[9] For Collins this +work was a dogged repetition of what had gone before, and so it could be +ignored except for one of its appendices, _A Letter from the Rev. Dr. +Marshall jun. To the Rev. Dr. Rogers, upon Occasion of his Preface to his +Eight Sermons_. Its inclusion seemed an afterthought; yet it altered the +dimensions of the debate by narrowing and particularizing the areas of +grievance which separated the debaters. Collins, therefore, rebutted it +some fourteen months later in _A Discourse concerning Ridicule and Irony +in Writing_. He had great hopes for this pamphlet, preparing carefully for +its reception. He encouraged the republication of his three preceding +works, which find their inevitable conclusion, even their exoneration, in +this last performance, and he probably persuaded his bookseller to +undertake an elaborate promotional campaign. For the new editions were +advertised on seven different days between 10 January and 27 February 1729 +in the _Daily Post_. He wanted no one to miss the relationship between the +_Discourse concerning Ridicule and Irony_ and these earlier pieces or to +overlook its presence when it finally appeared in the pamphlet shops on 17 +March. + +Collins was animated by his many debates. Indeed, "he sought the storms." +Otherwise he would not, could not, have participated in these many verbal +contests. Throughout them all, his basic strategy--that of +provocation--was determined by the very real fact that he had many more +enemies than allies, among them, for instance, such formidable antagonists +as Swift and Richard Bentley.[10] To survive he had to acquire a tough +resilience, a skill in fending off attacks or turning them to his own +advantage. Nevertheless, he remained a ready target all his life. +Understandably so: his radicalism was stubborn and his opinions +predictable. Such firmness may of course indicate his aversion to +trimming. Or it may reveal a lack of intellectual growth; what he believed +as a young man, he perpetuated as a mature adult. Whether our answer is +drawn from either possibility or, more realistically, from both, the fact +remains that he never camouflaged the two principles by which he lived and +fought: + + 1. That universal liberty be established in respect to opinions and + practises not prejudicial to the peace and welfare of society: by + which establishment, truth must needs have the advantages over + _error_ and _falsehood_, the _law_ of _God_ over the _will_ of _man_, + and _true Christianity tolerated_; private _judgment_ would be really + exercised; and men would be allowed to have suffered to follow their + consciences, over which God only is supreme:... + + 2. Secondly, that nothing but the _law of nature_, (the observance + whereof is absolutely necessary to society) and what can be built + thereon, should be enforced by the civil sanctions of the + magistrate:...[11] + + +II + +There is very little in this statement to offend modern readers. Yet the +orthodox in Collins's own time had reason to be angry with him: his +arguments were inflammatory and his rhetoric was devious, cheeky, and +effective. Those contesting him underscored his negativism, imaging him as +a destroyer of Christianity eager "to proselyte men, from the Christian to +no religion at all."[12] Certainly it is true that he aimed to disprove a +Christian revelation which he judged fraudulent and conspiratorial. In +place of ecclesiastical authority he offered the rule of conscience. For +orthodoxy he substituted "a Religion antecedent to Revelation, which is +necessary to be known in order to _ascertain Revelation_; and by that +Religion [he meant] _Natural Religion_, which is presupposed to +Revelation, and is a Test by which Reveal'd Religion is to be tried, is a +Bottom on which it must stand, and is a Rule to understand it by."[13] +Categorical in tone, the statement frustrated the Anglican clergy by its +very slipperiness; its generalities left little opportunity for decisive +rebuttal. It provided no definition of natural religion beyond the +predication of a body of unnamed moral law which is rational and original, +the archetype of what is valid in the world's religions. + +His dismissal of revelation and his reduction of Christianity to what he +called its "natural" and hence incontrovertible basis carried with it a +corollary, that of man's absolute right to religious enquiry and +profession. Here he became specific, borrowing from Lockean empiricism his +conditions of intellectual assent. "Evidence," he said, "ought to be the +sole ground of Assent, and Examination is the way to arrive at Evidence; +and therefore rather than I wou'd have Examination, Arguing and Objecting +laid aside, I wou'd chuse to say, That no Opinions whatever can be +dangerous to a Man that impartially examines into the Truth of +Things."[14] The church leadership saw in this statement and others like +it not an epistemological premise but a deliberate subterfuge, an +insidious blind to vindicate his attacks upon an organized priesthood. We +can recognize now that his opponents oversimplified his intention, that +they blackened it to make his villainy at once definitive and vulnerable. +At the same time we must admit that he often equated the ideas of +repression and clerical authority, even as he coupled those of freedom and +the guide of private conscience. + +The Anglican church was infuriated by these correlations, angered as much +by their manner of expression as by their substance. For the faithful were +frequently thrown off balance by a strategy of ironical indirection. +Sometimes this took the form of omission or the presentation of an +argument in so fragmentary or slanted a fashion that Collins's "Enemies" +could debate neither his implications nor his conclusions. At other times +he used this artful circumlocution to create his favorite mask, that of +the pious Christian devoted to scripture or of the moralist perplexed by +the divisions among the orthodox clergy. Finally, his rhetoric was shaped +by deistic predecessors who used sarcasm and satire to mock the gravity of +church authority. So much was their wit a trademark that as early as 1702 +one commentator had noted, "when you expect an argument, they make a +jest."[15] Collins himself resorted to this practice with both instinctive +skill and deliberate contrivance. + +All these methods, though underhanded, he silently justified on the +assumption that he was dealing with a conspiracy of priests: hence, he +professed that he had to fight fraud and deception with their like, and +that such craftiness, suitable "to his particular genius and temper," was +"serviceable to his cause." For these reasons even William Warburton, who +had vainly struggled to be judicious, described him as "a Writer, whose +dexterity in the arts of Controversy was so remarkably contrasted by his +abilities in reasoning and literature, as to be ever putting one in mind +of what travellers tell us of the genius of the proper Indians, who, +although the veriest bunglers in all the fine arts of manual operation, +yet excel everybody in slight of hand and the delusive feats of +activity."[16] Whatever may be said of Collins and his achievement, one +fact remains constant. He was a brilliant and persistent trickster whose +cunning in the techniques of polemic often silenced an opponent with every +substantive right to win the debate. + +He seized any opportunity to expose the diversity of ethical and +theological opinion which set one Anglican divine against another, "to +observe"--as Jenkin put it--"how the gladiators in dispute murder the +cause between them, while they so fiercely cut and wound one another." For +Collins such observation was more than oratorical artifice; it was one of +the dogmas of his near-nihilism. He commented once to Des Maizeaux upon +the flurry of critics who replied to his statement of necessitarianism in +the _Philosophical Inquiry concerning Human Liberty_: + + I was extreamly pleasd with BP Hoadley, ... as it was upon the true + and only point worth disputing with ye Preists, viz whether we the + laity are the Calves and Sheep of the Preist. And I am not less + pleasd to see them manage this controversy with ye same vile arts + against one another, as they always use towards the laity. It must + open the eyes of a few and convince them, that the Preists mean + nothing but wealth and power, and have not the least ... of those + qualitys for wch the superstitious world admires them.[17] + + +He applied this principle of divisive attack in _A Discourse of +Free-Thinking_. There in fifty-three pages he transparently ridiculed +contradictions which hedged three areas of fundamental religious belief: +_"The Nature and Attributes of the Eternal Being or God, ... the Authority +of Scriptures, and ... the Sense of Scripture."_ In accordance with one of +his favorite tricks--the massing of eminent authority--his exposition +rings with hallowed Anglican names: South, Bull, Taylor, Wallis, Carlton, +Davenant, Edwards, More, Tillotson, Fowler, Sherlock, Stillingfleet, +Sacheverell, Beveridge, Grabe, Hickes, Lesley.[18] What united these men, +he insinuated, was not a Christian commitment but a talent to disagree +with one another and even to repudiate themselves--as in the case of +Stillingfleet. In effect, the entire _Discourse_ bubbles with a carelessly +suppressed snicker. + +The clergy could not readily reply to this kind of incriminating exposure +or deny its reality. They therefore overreacted to other judgments that +Collins made, particularly to his attacks upon Christian revelation. These +they denigrated as misleading, guileful, sinister, contrived, deceitful, +insidious, shuffling, covert, subversive. What they objected to was, +first, the way in which he reduced the demonstration of Christian +revelation to only the "puzzling and perplexing" argument from prophecy, +the casual ease with which he ignored or dismissed those other "clear" +proofs derived from the miracles of Jesus and the resurrection itself.[19] +But even more the orthodox resented the masked point of view from which +Collins presented his disbelief. + +For example, the _Grounds and Reasons_ is the deist's first extended +attack upon revelation. Ostensibly it is, as we have seen, an answer to +Whiston's _Essay Towards Restoring the True Text of the Old Testament; and +for Vindicating the Citations Made Thence in the New Testament_ (1722). In +it the mathematician argued that the Hebraic prophecies relating to the +messiah had been literally fulfilled in Jesus. But this truth, he +admitted, had been obscured "in the latter Ages," only because of those +"Difficulties" which "have [almost wholly] arisen from the Corruptions, +the unbelieving _Jews_ introduc'd into the Hebrew and Greek copies of the +Old Testament, [soon after] the Beginning of the Second Century." These +conspiratorial corruptions he single-handedly planned to remove, returning +the Old Testament to a state of textual purity with emendations drawn from +sources as varied as the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Greek Psalms, the +Antiquities of Josephus, the Chaldee Paraphrases, the books of Philo. His +pragmatic purpose was to nullify the biblical criticism of historical +minded scholars as reputable as Grotius, to render useless the allegorical +interpretation of messianic prophecies. That is, he saw in the latter a +"pernicious" absence of fact, a "weak and enthusiastical" whimsy, +unchristian adjustments to the exigencies of the moment.[20] + +Collins fought not to destroy Whiston's position, which was all too easily +destructible, but to undermine the structure, the very "grounds and +reasons" with which orthodoxy supported the mysteries of its faith. To do +so, he spun a gigantic web of irony controlled by a persona whose complex +purpose was concealed by a mien of hyper-righteousness. Here then was one +motivated by a fair-mindedness which allowed him to defend his opponent's +right of scriptural exegesis even while disagreeing with its approach and +its conclusions. Here too was a conservative Christian different from +Whiston "and many other great divines; who seem to pay little deference to +the books of the New Testament, the text whereof they are perpetually +mending in their sermons, commentaries, and writings, to serve purposes; +who pretend _we should have more of the true text by being less tenacious +of the printed one_, and in consequence thereof, presume to correct by +critical _emendations_, serve _capital places_ in the _sacred writers_; +and who ... do virtually set aside the authority of the scripture, and +place those compositions in its stead." Finally, here was one who, +obedient to the spirit of God's revealed word, rejected the fallacy that +messianic prophecy had been fulfilled in Christ in any "literal, obvious +and primary sense."[21] + +But though the persona could not accept Whiston's program, he was not a +mere negativist. With growing excitement he argued for allegorical +interpretation. At this point the reader discerns that he has been duped, +that nowhere has there been a denial of Whiston's charge that the reading +of messianic prophecy in a typical or allegorical or secondary sense is +"weak and enthusiastical." On the contrary, the reader finds only the +damning innuendo that the two methods--the allegorical and the +literal--differ from one another not in kind but in degree of absurdity. +After being protected for a long time by all the twists and turns of his +creator's irony, the persona finally reveals himself for what he is, a man +totally insolent and totally without remorse. Never for one moment did he +wish to defend the scheme of allegorical prophecy but to attack it. His +argument, stripped of its convolutions and pseudo-piety, moves inexorably +to a single, negative conclusion. "Christianity pretends to derive itself +from Judaism. JESUS appeals to the religious books of the Jews as +prophesying of his Mission. None of these Prophecies can be understood of +him but in a _typical allegoric_ sense. Now that sense is absurd, and +contrary to all scholastic rules of interpretation. Christianity, +therefore, not being really predicted in the Jewish Writings, is +consequently false."[22] + +Collins continued his attack upon Christian revelation in the _Scheme_. In +the two years which separated this work from the earlier _Grounds and +Reasons_, there occurred no change in the author's argument. What does +occur, however, is a perceptive if snide elaboration upon the mask. This +is in many ways the same persona who barely suppressed his guffaws in the +earlier work. Now he is given an added dimension; he is made more +decisively rational than his predecessor and therefore more insightful in +his knowledge of rhetorical method. As a disciple of certain Protestant +polemicists and particularly of Grotius, whose "integrity," "honor," and +biblical criticism he supports, he is the empirical-minded Christian who +knows exactly why the literalists have failed to persuade the +free-thinkers or even to have damaged their arguments. "For if you begin +with Infidels by denying to them, what is evident and agreeable to common +sense, I think there can be no reasonable hopes of converting or +convincing them."[23] The irony is abrasive simply because it unanswerably +singles out the great rhetorical failure of orthodoxy, its inability to +argue from a set of principles as acceptable to the deists as to +themselves. + +Many of the clergy chafed against Collins's manipulation of this +tongue-in-cheek persona. They resented his irreverent wit which projected, +for example, the image of an Anglican God who "talks to all mankind from +corners" and who shows his back parts to Moses. They were irritated by his +jesting parables, as in "The Case of Free-Seeing," and by the impertinence +of labelling Archbishop Tillotson as the man "whom all _English +Free-Thinkers_ own as their Head."[24] + +But most of all they gagged upon Collins's use of satire in religious +controversy. As we have already seen, there were complex reasons for his +choice of technique. He was a naturally witty man who, sometimes out of +fear and sometimes out of malice, expressed himself best through +circuitous irony. In 1724, when he himself considered his oratorical +practice, he argued that his matter determined his style, that the targets +of his belittling wit were the "saint-errants." We can only imagine the +exasperation of Collins's Anglican enemies when they found their orthodoxy +thus slyly lumped with the eccentricities of Samuel Butler's "true blew" +Presbyterians. It would be hard to live down the associations of those +facetious lines which made the Augustan divines, like their unwelcome +forebear Hudibras, members + + Of that stubborn Crew + Of Errant Saints, whom all men grant + To be the true Church Militant. + +Those dignified Anglican exteriors were further punctured by Collins's +irreverent attack upon their cry of religious uniformity, a cry which was +"ridiculous, romantick, and impossible to succeed." He saw himself, in +short, as an emancipated Butler or even Cervantes; and like his famous +predecessors he too would laugh quite out of countenance the fool and the +hypocrite, the pretender and the enthusiast, the knave and the persecuter, +all those who would create a god in their own sour and puny image. + + +III + +By 1727 several of the orthodox felt that they could take no more of +Collins's laughter, his sneering invectives against the clergy, or his +designs to make religion "a Matter purely personal; and the Knowledge of +it to be obtain'd by personal Consideration, _independently of any Guides, +Teachers, or Authority_." In the forefront of this group was John Rogers, +whose hostility to the deist was articulate and compulsive. At least it +drove him into a position seemingly at odds with the spirit if not the law +of English toleration. He urged, for example, that those like Collins be +prosecuted in a civil court for a persuasion "which is manifestly +subversive of all Order and Polity, and can no more consist with civil, +than with religious, Society."[25] + +Thereupon followed charge and countercharge. New gladiators, as different +from each other as the nonconformist divine Samuel Chandler and the deist +Thomas Chubb, entered the arena on behalf of Collins. For all the dogmatic +volubility of Rogers, orthodoxy appeared beleaguered. The moderate clergy, +who witnessed this exchange, became alarmed; they feared that in the melee +the very heart of English toleration would be threatened by the +contenders, all of whom spoke as its champion. Representative of such +moderation was Nathanael Marshall, who wished if not to end the debate, +then at least to contain its ardor. As canon of Windsor, he supported the +condition of a state religion protected by the magistrate but he worried +over the extent of the latter's prerogative and power. Certainly he was +more liberal than Rogers in his willingness to entertain professions of +religious diversity. Yet he straitjacketed his liberalism when he denied +responsible men the right to attack laws, both civil and canonical, with +"ludicrous Insult" or "with Buffoonery and Banter, Ridicule or Sarcastick +Irony."[26] + +Once again Collins met the challenge. In _A Discourse concerning Ridicule +and Irony_ he devoted himself to undermining the moral, the intellectual, +and practical foundations of that one restraint which Marshall would +impose upon the conduct of any religious quarrel. He had little difficulty +in achieving his objective. His adversary's stand was visibly vulnerable +and for several reasons. It was too conscious of the tug-of-war between +the deist and Rogers, too arbitrary in its choice of prohibition. It was, +in truth, strained by a choice between offending the establishment and yet +rejecting clerical extremism.[27] Moreover, Collins had this time an +invisible partner, a superior thinker against whom he could test his own +ideas and from whom he could borrow others. For the _Discourse concerning +Ridicule and Irony_ is largely a particularization, a crude but powerful +reworking of Shaftesbury's _Sensus Communis: An Essay on the Freedom of +Wit and Humour_. + +Supported by Shaftesbury's urbane generalization, Collins laughed openly +at the egocentricity and blindness of Marshall's timid zealotry. Indeed, +he wryly found his orthodox opponent guilty of the very crime with which +he, as a subversive, was charged. It seemed to him, he said, + + a most prodigious Banter upon [mankind], for Men to talk in general + of the _Immorality_ of _Ridicule_ and _Irony_, and of _punishing_ Men + for those Matters, when their own Practice is _universal Irony_ and + _Ridicule_ of all those who go not with them, and _universal + Applause_ and _Encouragement_ for such _Ridicule_ and _Irony_, and + distinguishing by all the honourable ways imaginable such _drolling_ + Authors for their Drollery; and when Punishment for _Drollery_ is + never call'd for, but when _Drollery_ is used or employ'd against + them! + + (p. 29) + +Collins's technique continued its ironic ambiguity, reversal, and +obliquity. Under a tone of seeming innocence and good will, he credited +his adversaries with an enviable capacity for satiric argument. In +comradely fashion, he found precedent for his own rhetorical practice +through a variety of historical and biblical analogies. But even more +important for a contemporary audience, he again resorted to the device of +invoking the authority provided by some of the most respected names in the +Anglican Establishment. The use of satire in religious topics, hence, was +manifest in "the Writings of our most eminent Divines," especially those +of Stillingfleet, "our greatest controversial Writer" (pp. 4-5). + +With all the outrageous assurance of a self-invited guest, the deist had +seated himself at the table of his vainly protesting Christian hosts (whom +he insisted on identifying as brethren). "In a word," he said so as to +obviate debate, "the Opinions and Practices of Men in all Matters, and +especially in Matters of Religion, are generally so absurd and ridiculous +that it is impossible for them not to be the Subjects of Ridicule" (p. +19). Thus adopting Juvenal's concept of satiric necessity ("difficile est +saturam non scribere"), Collins here set forth the thesis and rationale of +his enemy. There was a kind of impudent virtuosity in his "proofs," in his +manner of drawing a large, impressive cluster of names into his ironic net +and making all of them appear to be credible witnesses in his defense. +Even Swift, amusingly compromised as "one of the greatest _Droles_ that +ever appear'd upon the Stage of the World" (p. 39), was brought to the +witness box as evidence of the privileged status to which satiric writing +was entitled. Collins enforced erudition with cool intelligence so that +contemptuous amusement is present on every page of his _Discourse_. + +Beneath his jeers and his laughter there was a serious denunciation of any +kind of intellectual restraint, however mild-seeming; beneath his verbal +pin-pricking there was conversely an exoneration of man's right to +inquire, to profess, and to persuade. Beneath his jests and sarcasms there +was further a firm philosophical commitment that informed the rhetoric of +all his earlier work. Ridicule, he asserted in 1729, "is both a proper and +necessary Method of Discourse in many Cases, and especially in the Case of +_Gravity_, when that is attended with Hypocrisy or Imposture, or with +Ignorance, or with soureness of Temper and Persecution: all which ought to +draw after them the _Ridicule_ and _Contempt_ of the Society, which has no +other effectual Remedy against such Methods of Imposition" (p. 22). + +For the modern reader the _Discourse concerning Ridicule and Irony_ is the +most satisfactory of Collins's many pamphlets and books. It lacks the +pretentiousness of the _Scheme_, the snide convolutions of the _Grounds +and Reasons_, the argument by half-truths of the _Discourse of +Free-Thinking_. His last work is free of the curious ambivalence which +marked so many of his earlier pieces, a visible uncertainty which made him +fear repression and yet court it. On the contrary, his last work is in +fact a justification of his rhetorical mode and religious beliefs; it is +an _apologia pro vita sua_ written with all the intensity and decisiveness +that such a justification demands. To be sure, it takes passing shots at +old enemies like Swift, but never with rancor. And while its language is +frequently ironical, its thinking makes an earnest defense of wit as a +weapon of truth. The essay sets forth its author as an _animal ridens_, a +creature that through laughter and affable cynicism worships a universal +God and respects a rational mankind. + +Brown University + + + + +NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION + +[1] _Universal Spectator, and Weekly Journal_, No. 98 (22 August 1730). + +[2] To Des Maizeaux (5 May 1717): B. M. Sloane MSS. 4282, ff. 129-130. + +[3] To Des Maizeaux (9 February 1716): B. M. Sloane MSS. 4282, f. 123. + +[4] The title page of the _Scheme_ is dated 1726. It was not advertised in +the newspapers or journals of that year--a strange silence for any of +Collins's work. Its first notice appeared in the _Monthly Catalogue: Being +a General Register of Books, Sermons, Plays, Poetry, Pamphlets, &c. +Printed and Publish'd in London, or the Universities, during the Month of +May, 1727_ (see No. 49). Yet we know that the _Scheme_ had been remarked +upon as early as March when on the 10th of that month Samuel Chandler +published his _Reflections on the Conduct of the Modern Deists in their +late Writings against Christianity_. (For the dating of Chandler's work, +see the _Daily Courant_ [10 March 1727].) We know also that the _Scheme_ +went to a second edition late in 1727 and was frequently advertised in the +_Daily Post_ between 2 January and 20 January 1728. + +[5] For the statement about the _Letter to Dr. Rogers_, see B. M. Sloane +MSS. 4282, f. 220 (15 August 1727). For that on the use of "personal +matters" in controversy, see B. M. Sloane MSS. 4282, f. 170 (27 December +1719); cf. _The Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered_ (London, 1726), pp. +422-438. + +[6] _The Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion_ was published in +London within the first four days of January 1724; see the advertisement +in the _Daily Post_ (4 January 1724). _A Discourse concerning Ridicule and +Irony in Writing_ was published on or close to 17 March 1729; see the +advertisement in the _Daily Journal_ for that date. + +[7] We can generally fix the date of Rogers's _Eight Sermons_ within the +first two months of 1727 because it was answered early by Samuel +Chandler's _Reflections on the Conduct of the Modern Deists_. (See note +4.) For the dating of Collins's rebuttal, see the _Monthly Catalogue_, No. +49 (May 1727). + +[8] To Des Maizeaux (24 June 1727): B. M. Sloane MSS. 4282, ff. 218-219. + +[9] For the dating of this work, see the _Daily Post_ (31 January 1728). + +[10] For Swift's satire, see _Mr. C---ns's Discourse of Free-Thinking, Put +into plain English, by way of Abstract, for the Use of the Poor_. For +Bentley's devastating probe of Collins's scholarly inadequacies, see his +_Remarks on the Discourse of Free-Thinking. By Phileleutherus Lipsiensis_. +Both works appeared in 1713. + +[11] _Scheme_, pp. 432-433. + +[12] Edward Chandler, _A Defence of Christianity from the Prophecies of +the Old Testament_ (London, 1725), p. ii. + +[13] _A Letter to Dr. Rogers_, p. 89. + +[14] _A Vindication of the Divine Attributes_ (London, 1710), p. 24. + +[15] Robert Jenkin, _A Brief Confutation of the Pretences against Natural +and Revealed Religion_ (London, 1702), p. 40. + +[16] For Collins on his own rhetorical skills, see _Scheme_, p. 402; +William Warburton, _Divine Legation of Moses, Demonstrated_ (London, +1846), III, 199. + +[17] Jenkin, _Brief Confutation_, p. 51; for the letter (1 July 1717), see +B. M. Sloane MSS. 4282, f. 137. + +[18] Pp. 46-99. + +[19] See, for example, the statement of John Conybeare, Bishop of Bristol, +in Joseph Spence, _Observations, Anecdotes, and Characters of Books and +Men_, ed. James M. Osborn (Oxford, 1966), I, sect. 992. + +[20] _Essay_, pp. 329-333 (for Whiston's statement of sources); pp. +334-335 (for his defense of literal interpretation). The bracketed +material indicates Whiston's manuscript emendations of his own printed +text; see the British Museum's copy of the _Essay_ (873. 1. 10) which +originally belonged to the mathematician. See Collins, _Grounds and +Reasons_, pp. 98-99, for the summary of Whiston's attack upon allegorical +interpretation. + +[21] _Grounds and Reasons_, pp. 20, 48-50. + +[22] This terse summary of the persona's argument was correctly made by +Warburton, III, 232. + +[23] _Scheme_, p. 391. + +[24] _Discourse of Free-Thinking_, pp. 15-17, 38, 171. + +[25] _Eight Sermons_, pp. 1, lxi. + +[26] Marshall, pp. 301, 337. For Samuel Chandler's contribution, see his +_Reflections on the Conduct of the Modern Deists_ (London, 1727); for +Chubb's contribution see _Some Short Reflections on the Grounds and Extent +of Authority and Liberty, With respect to the Civil Government_ (London, +1728). + +[27] Marshall's reluctance to support Rogers's extremism is seen in the +funeral sermon he preached at the latter's death (_A Sermon Delivered in +the Parish Church of St. Giles Cripplegate, May 18, 1729. Upon Occasion of +the Much Lamented Death of the Revd. John Rogers_ [London, 1729]). He +made only the most casual and indifferent reference to Rogers's work. So +obvious was this slight that it called for a rebuttal; see Philalethes (A. +A. Sykes [?]), _Some Remarks Upon the Reverend Dr. Marshall's Sermon on +Occasion of the Death of the Revd Dr Rogers_ (London, 1729). + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +This facsimile of _A Discourse concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing_ +(1729) is reproduced from a copy in the William Andrews Clark Memorial +Library. + + + + + A + DISCOURSE + CONCERNING + Ridicule and Irony + IN + WRITING, + IN A + LETTER + To the Reverend + Dr. NATHANAEL MARSHALL. + + -------- _Ridiculum acri + Fortius & melius magnas plerumq; secat res._ + + -------- _Ridentem dicere verum + Quid vetat?_ + + _LONDON:_ + + Printed for J. BROTHERTON in _Cornhill_ and sold + by T. WARNER in _Pater-noster-Row_, and + A. DODD without _Temple-Bar_. 1729. + + + + + A + DISCOURSE + CONCERNING + _Ridicule_ and _Irony_, &c. + + +REVEREND SIR, + +In your _Letter_ to Dr. _Rogers_, which he has publish'd at the End of his +_Vindication of the Civil Establishment of Religion_, I find a Notion +advanc'd by you: which as it is a common and plausible Topick for +Persecution, and a Topick by which you, and many others, urge the +Magistrate to punish [or, as you phrase it, _to pinch_] [28] Men for +controversial Writings, is particularly proper at this time to be fully +consider'd; and I hope to treat it in such manner as to make you your +self, and every fair Reader, sensible of the Weakness thereof. + +You profess to "vindicate [29] a sober, serious, and modest Inquiry into +the Reasons of any Establishment." + +And you add, that you "have not ordinarily found it judg'd inconsistent +with the Duty of a _private Subject_, to propose his Doubts or his Reasons +to the Publick in a _modest_ way, concerning the _Repeal_ of any Law which +he may think of ill Consequence by its Continuance. If he be a Man of +Ability, and well vers'd in the Argument, he will deserve some Attention; +but if he mistakes his Talent, and will be busy with what he very little +understands, Contempt and Odium will be his unavoidable and just +Allotment." And you say, that "Religion is more a personal Affair, in +which every Man has a peculiar Right and Interest, and a Concern that he +be not mistaken, than in any other Case or Instance which can fall under +the Cognizance of the Magistrate; and that greater Allowances seem due to +each private Person for Examination and Inquiry in this, than in any other +Example." + +And herein I must do you the Justice to acknowledge, that you speak like a +Christian, like a Protestant, like an _Englishman_, and a reasonable Man; +like a Man concerned for Truth, like a Man of Conscience; like a Man +concern'd for the Consciences of others; like a Man concern'd to have some +Sense, Learning, and Virtue in the World; and, in a word, like a Man who +is not for abandoning all the valuable Things in Life to the Tyranny, +Ambition, and Covetousness of Magistrates and Ecclesiasticks. + +But you observe, that "municipal Laws[30], how trivial soever in their +intrinsick Value, are never to be _insulted_; never to be treated with +_Buffoonery_ and _Banter_, _Ridicule_ and _Sarcastick Irony_. So that Dr. +_Rogers_'s grand Adversary will have from you no measure of Encouragement +to his manner of Writing." Again, you "never [31] desire to see the +Magistrate fencing in the publick Religion with so thick a Hedge as shall +exclude all Light, and shall tear out the Eyes of all such as endeavour to +see thro' it. _Sober arguing_ you never fear: _Mockery_ and _bitter +Railing_, if you could help it, you would never bear, either _for the +Truth or against it_." + +Upon which I offer these following Considerations. + +I. _First_, If what you call _Insult_, _Buffoonery_, _Banter_, _Ridicule_ +and _Irony_, _Mockery_ and _bitter Railing_, be Crimes in Disputation, you +will find none more deeply involv'd in it than our most famous Writers, in +their controversial Treatises about _serious_ Matters; as all Notions and +Practices in Religion, whether reasonable or absurd, may be equally and +justly deem'd: the Notions and Practices of Papists, Presbyterians, +Quakers, and all other Sects, being no less _serious_ to their respective +Sects than ridiculous to one another. Let any Man read the Writings of our +most eminent Divines against the _Papists_, _Puritans_, _Dissenters_, and +_Hereticks_, and against one another, and particularly the Writings of +_Alexander Cook_, _Hales_, _Chillingworth_, _Patrick_, _Tillotson_, +_Stillingfleet_, _Burnet_, _South_, _Hickes_, _Sherlock_ and _Edwards_, +and he will find them to abound with _Banter_, _Ridicule_, and _Irony_. +_Stillingfleet_ in particular, our greatest controversial Writer, who +passes for _grave_ and _solemn_, is so conscious of his use thereof, that +he confesses that Charge of the Papists against him, saying[32], "But I +forget my Adversary's grave admonition, that I _would treat these Matters +seriously, and lay aside Drollery_." And again, after a _Banter_ of near a +Page, he says[33], "But I forget I am so near my Adversary's Conclusion, +wherein he so _gravely_ advises me, that I _would be pleas'd for once to +write Controversy, and not Play-Books_." Nor did I ever hear the Divines +of the Church condemn the Doctor for his sarcastical Method of writing +Controversy. On the contrary, I remember at the University, that he used +to be applauded no less for his Wit than for his Learning. And to exalt +his Character as a Wit, his _Conferences between a_ Romish _Priest, a +Fanatick Chaplain, and a Divine of the Church of_ England, _&c._ were +spoken of as an excellent _Comedy_, and especially for that Part which the +_Fanatick Chaplain_ acts therein, who makes as comical and as ridiculous a +Figure as he does in any of the _Plays_ acted on the Stage. And in his +_Controversy_ with _Dryden_ about the _Royal Papers_, and those of the +_Duchess_ of _York_, he was deem'd to have out-done that famous _Satirist_ +in tart Repartees and Reflections; and to have attack'd the Character of +the _Poet_ with more severity, than that _Poet_, who was so remarkable for +his satirical Reflections on the holy Order, did the Character of the +_Divine_: As for example, he says to _Dryden_[34], "Could nothing be said +by you of Bishop _Morley_, but that _Prelate of rich Memory_? Or had you a +mind to tell us he was no _Poet_? Or that he was out of the Temptation of +changing his Religion for Bread?" And many Citations us'd to be produc'd +out of his Writings, as Specimens of his ironical Talent; among which I +particularly remember his _Ridicule_ of his Adversary Mr. _Alsop_, a +famous Presbyterian Wit and Divine; whose Book, which was full of low +Raillery and Ridicule, he resembles [35] to _the Bird of_ Athens, as _made +up of Face and Feathers_. And the Doctor himself adds, in Justification of +the polite Method of Raillery in Controversy, that _there is a +pleasantness of Wit, which serves to entertain the Reader in the rough +and deep way of Controversy_. Nor did Mr. _Alsop_ want Approvers of his +Raillery in his own Party. Mr. _Gilbert Rule_[36], a great _Scotch_ +Presbyterian Divine, who defended him against _Stillingfleet_, contends in +behalf of his Raillery, "That the Facetiousness of Mr. _Alsop_'s Strain +needed to have bred no Disgust, being as a Condiment to prevent _Taedium_ +and Nauseousness." And he adds, "That he knows none that blame the +excellent Writings of Mr. _Fuller_, which have a Pleasantness not unlike +that of Mr. _Alsop_." + +And this manner of writing is seldom complain'd of, as unfit to be +allow'd, by any but those who feel themselves hurt by it. For the solemn +and grave can bear a solemn and grave Attack: That gives them a sort of +Credit in the World, and makes them appear considerable to themselves, as +worthy of a serious Regard. But _Contempt_ is what they, who commonly are +the most contemptible and worthless of Men, cannot bear nor withstand, as +setting them in their true Light, and being the most effectual Method to +drive Imposture, the sole Foundation of their Credit, out of the World. +Hence _Stillingfleet_'s Popish Adversaries, more conscious perhaps of the +Ridiculousness of Popery than the common People among Protestants +themselves, fall upon him very furiously. One says[37], "That by the +Phrases, which are the chief Ornaments that set off the Doctor's Works, we +may easily guess in what Books he has spent his Time; and that he is well +vers'd in _Don Quixot_, the _Seven Champions_, and other _Romantick +Stories_. Sure the Doctor err'd in his Vocation: Had he quitted all +serious Matters, and dedicated himself wholly to Drollery and Romance, +with two or three Years under _Hudibras_, he might have been a Master in +that Faculty; the Stage might have been a Gainer by it, and the Church of +_England_ would have been no Loser." + +Another of his Adversaries says, "[38]Peruse the Doctor Page after Page, +you will find the Man all along in peevish Humour, when you see his Book +brimfull of tart biting Ironies, Drolleries, comical Expressions, +impertinent Demands, and idle Stories, _&c._ as if the discharging a +little Gall were enough to disparage _the clearest Miracles_ God ever +wrought." + +But what are these _clearest Miracles God ever wrought_? Why, the most +extravagant, whimsical, absurd, and ridiculous Legends and Stories +imaginable; such as that of _St. Dominick_[39], who when the Devil came to +him in the Shape of a _Monkey_, made him hold a Candle to him while he +wrote, and keep it so long between his Toes, till it burnt them; and his +keeping the Devil, who sometimes came to him in the Shape of a _Flea_, and +by skipping on the Leaves of his Book disturb'd his Reading, in that +Shape, and using him for a Mark to know where he left off reading: Such as +St. _Patrick_'s heating an Oven with Snow, and turning a Pound of Honey +into a Pound of Butter: Such as _Christ_'s marrying Nuns, and playing at +Cards with them; and Nuns living on the Milk of the blessed Virgin _Mary_; +and that of divers Orders, and especially the _Benedictine_, being so dear +to the blessed Virgin, that in Heaven she lodges them under her +Petticoats: Such as making broken Eggs whole; and of People, who had +their Heads cut off, walking with their Heads in their Hands, which were +sometimes set on again: Such as Failing for a hundred Years; and raising +Cows, Calves, and Birds from the Dead, after they had been chopt to Pieces +and eaten, and putting on their Heads after they had been pull'd or cut +off; and turning a Pound of Butter into a Bell; and making a Bull give +Milk; and raising a King's Daughter from the Dead, and turning her into a +Son; and the several Translations thro' the Air of the Virgin _Mary_'s +House from _Palestine_ to _Loretto_, and the Miracles wrote there; and +more of the like Kind. + +Are these, or such as these the _clearest Miracles God ever wrought_? Do +such Miracles deserve a serious Regard? And shall the _Gravity_ with which +Mankind is thus banter'd out of their common Sense, excuse these Matters +from _Ridicule_? + +It will be difficult to find any Writers who have exceeded the Doctors, +_South_ and [40] _Edwards_, in _Banter_, _Irony_, _Satire_ and _Sarcasms_: +The last of whom has written a Discourse in _Defence of sharp Reflections +on Authors and their Opinions_; wherein he enumerates, as Examples for his +Purpose, almost all the eminent Divines of the Church of _England_. And +Mr. [41] _Collier_, speaking of a Letter of the Venerable _Bede_ to +_Egbert_ Bishop of _York_, says, "The Satire and Declamation in this +_Epistle_ shews the _pious Zeal_ and _Integrity_ of the Author;" which +seems to imply, that _Satire_ and _Declamation_ is the orthodox and most +pious Method of writing in behalf of _Orthodoxy_. + +Dr. _Rogers_, to whom you write, falls into the Method of Buffoonery, +Banter, Satire, Drollery, Ridicule, and Irony, even in the Treatise to +which your Letter is subjoined, and against that _Person_ whom you would +have punish'd for that Method: When he says to him, [42] "Religion then, +it seems, must be left to the Scholars and Gentlefolks, and to them 'tis +to be of no other use, but as a Subject of Disputation to improve their +Parts and Learning; but methinks the Vulgar might be indulged a little of +it now and then, upon Sundays and Holidays, instead of Bull-baiting and +Foot-ball." And this insipid Piece of Drollery and false Wit [which is +design'd to ridicule his Adversary for asserting, that _What Men +understand nothing of, they have no Concern about_; which is a Proposition +that will stand the Test of _Ridicule_, which will be found wholly to lie +against the Doctor, for asserting the Reasonableness of imposing Things on +the People which they do not understand] is the more remarkable, as it +proceeds from one, who is at the same time for using the Sword of the +Magistrate against his Adversary. One would think the [43] _Inquisitor_ +should banish the _Droll_, and the _Droll_ the _Inquisitor_. + +One of the greatest and best Authorities for the _pleasant_ and _ironical_ +manner of treating _serious_ Matters, is that eminent Divine at the Time +of the Reformation, the great _Erasmus_, who has written two Books in this +way with great Applause of Protestants, and without subjecting himself to +any Persecution of Papists: which makes it highly proper to propose them +to the Consideration of the Reader, that he may regulate his Notions, by +what, it may be presum'd, he approves of in that Author. These two Books +of _Erasmus_ are his _Colloquies_, and his _Praise of Folly_. + +His _Colloquies_ were wrote in imitation of _Lucian_'s _Dialogues_; and I +think with equal, if not superior, Success. + +Both these Authors had an Aversion to sullen, austere, designing Knaves; +and both of them being Men of Wit and Satire, employ'd their Talents +against _Superstition_ and _Hypocrisy_. _Lucian_ liv'd in an Age when +_Fiction_ and _Fable_ had usurp'd the Name of _Religion_, and _Morality_ +was corrupted by _Men_ of _Beard_ and _Grimace_, but scandalously _Leud_ +and _Ignorant_; who yet had the Impudence to preach up _Virtue_, and style +themselves _Philosophers_, perpetually clashing with one another about the +Precedence of their several Founders, the Merits of their different Sects, +and if 'tis possible, about Trifles of less Importance: yet all agreeing +in a different way to dupe and amuse the poor People, by the _fantastick_ +Singularity of their Habits, the unintelligible Jargon of their Schools, +and their Pretensions to a severe and mortify'd Life. + +These Jugglers and Impostors _Lucian_ in great measure help'd to chase out +of the World, by exposing them in their proper Colours, and by +representing them as ridiculous as they were. But in a few Generations +after him, a new Race of Men sprung up in the World, well known by the +Name of _Monks_ and _Fryars_, different indeed from the former in +Religion, Garb, and a few other Circumstances; but in the main, the same +sort of Impostors, the same ever-lasting Cobweb-Spinners, as to their +nonsensical Controversies, the same abandon'd _Wretches_, as to their +Morals; but as to the mysterious Arts of heaping up Wealth, and picking +the People's Pockets, infinitely superior to the _Pagan Philosophers_ and +_Priests_. These were the sanctify'd Cheats, whose Folly and Vices +_Erasmus_ has so effectually lash'd, that some Countries have entirely +turn'd these Drones out of their Cells; and in other Places, where they +are still kept up, they are in some measure become contemptible, and +obliged to be always on their Guard. + +The Papists say, that these "[44]_Colloquies_, by turning into _Ridicule_ +the Devotion to the holy Virgin and Saints, the Worship of Relicks and +Images, religious Vows and Pilgrimages, have made more Hereticks than the +Works of _Luther_ and _Calvin_." And I find the reverend Mr. _Trapp_ +[after calling [45] _Reliques_, FOOLISH] celebrates _Erasmus_ for _having +abundantly_ RIDICUL'D _them_. + +His _Praise of Folly_ treats of _serious_ Matters, in such a gay, +familiar, ingenious and pleasant manner, as makes it a Work proper to be +read by intelligent People, to remove out of their Minds all Bigotry +contracted by Ignorance and an evil Education, all Peevishness, Hatred, +and Ill-nature towards one another, on account of different Sentiments in +Religion; and to form in them the natural Principles of Moderation, +Humanity, Affection and Friendship. Our learned and ingenious Bishop +_Kennet_ could not do a more signal Piece of Service to our Country, than +by translating into _English_ this Book, which the Ladies have now an +Opportunity of understanding no less than the Men; and from whence they +may see the pleasant, amiable, and just Disposition of Mind of one of the +most learned and ingenious Men that ever liv'd, as well as Author of a +great Number of religious and devotional Books; nor could the Bishop well +give a heartier Stroke at Popery, than by approving of _Erasmus_'s [46] +_laughing_ at it, and applauding his numberless _Taunts on its Impostures, +Cheats, and Delusions_. + +Our Clergy have ever treated Mr. _Hobbes_ with the greatest Mockery, +Ridicule and Raillery: As for example, _Ward_ Bishop of _Sarum_, _Brambal_ +Bishop of _Derry_, _Parker_ Bishop of _Oxford_, Dr. _Wallis_ in his +several bantering Treatises against him, _Lucy_ Bishop of _St. Davids, +Shafto_, and particularly the Reverend _Droll_, Dr. _Eachard_, in two +_Dialogues_, which, it is well known, have been universally well receiv'd +by the Clergy, and that for their Treatment of Mr. _Hobbes_ in the +ridiculing Way; for which the Author himself makes the following just +Apology, in his _Dedication_ of his _Second Dialogue_ to Archbishop +_Sheldon_, "That of all Triflers, 'tis the _Set_, the _Grave_, the +_Philosophical_, and the _Mathematical Trifler_, to which he has the +greatest Aversion; whom when he meets, very gravely making out all Men to +be rational Beasts both in Nature and Conversation, and every Man, he +pleases, a rational Rebel; and upon any Fright or Pinch a rational Atheist +and Anti-Christian; and all this perform'd with all DEMURENESS, SOLEMNITY, +QUOTATION of SCRIPTURE, APPEALS to CONSCIENCE and CHURCH-HISTORY; he must +humbly beg his _Grace's_ Pardon, if then he has endeavour'd to SMILE a +little, and to get as much out of his Road and way of Writing as +possible." These _Dialogues_ used to be much recommended to the Youth to +make them laugh at Mr _Hobbes_, who was constantly represented as +provok'd and put out of all Temper by them, and was said to have vented +this strange and impious Expression, upon its being told him, that _the +Clergy said_ Eachard _had crucify'd_ Hobbes; "Why then don't they fall +down and worship me?" + +Mr. _Selden_ has been the constant Subject of Clergy-banter, for his +_History of Tythes_; in the _Preface_ to which, "He reproaches the Clergy +with Ignorance and Laziness, and upbraids them with having nothing to keep +up their Credit but _Beard_, _Title_, and _Habit_; and their Studies +reach'd no farther than the _Breviary_, the _Postils_, and _Polyanthea_." +For this Work he was attack'd more particularly by three Divines, +_Tillesly_, _Mountagu_, and _Nettles_. And their Success was thus +originally represented[47], "That he was so gall'd by _Tillesly_, so +gagg'd by _Mountagu_, and so stung by _Nettles_, that he never came off in +any of his Undertakings with more loss of Credit." And this Jest has +pass'd much upon the World, and been continued down in many Books, where +Mr. _Selden_ is mention'd, to his Discredit with ignorant Readers, but not +with the Knowing and Learned; who, as Dr. _Wotton_ tells us[48], _have, +now Party-heats are over, acquiesced in what Mr._ Selden advanc'd; _who +first_, OF ALL CHRISTIANS, _set the Affair_ of Tythes _in a clear Light_. + +It is usually said the Comedy called _Ignoramus_, which is a Clergy-banter +upon the _Law_, was a design'd Return for Mr. _Selden_'s _History of +Tythes_. + +The Reverend Dr. _Beaumont_, late Master of St. _Peter_'s _College_ and +King's Professor of Divinity, has given us a Book, entitled, "Some +Observations upon the Apology of Dr. _Henry More_ for his _Mystery of +Godliness_;" which endeavours to render the said Doctor _ridiculous_, and +set People a _laughing_ at him, (_p._ 9. _&c._ 64.) and used to be +applauded as a complete Performance in the way of Raillery and Irony, and +was well receiv'd for being directed against a Person esteem'd Heterodox. + +Many Clergymen have written Books to banter the Works of Mr. _Locke_, +among whom Dr. _Edwards_ must have the first Place; whose _Brief +Vindication of the fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith_, which has +the _Imprimatur_ before it of _James_, _Beaumont_, _Covel_, and +_Balderston_, four _Cambridge_ Heads, was never exceeded by the most +licentious _Droll_. + +When _Sorbier_'s _Voyage_ to _England_, which was a pert and insolent +Abuse and Satire on the Nation, and written in the _French_ manner of +contemptuously treating all Countries and Men but _France_ and +_Frenchmen_, was publish'd, it was deem'd proper that a drolling and +satirical Answer should be given to it, and that the Reverend Dr. _Sprat_ +should be the _Droll_ employ'd; who perform'd his Part according to the +Expectation of the Drolling Court of King _Charles_ II. and as the +ingenious Mr. _Addison_ tells us, [49] _Vindicated the Honour of his +Country, in a Book full of Satire and Ingenuity_. + +Bishop _Beveridge_ ever pass'd for a serious and profound Divine; and his +Writings have fix'd that Character upon him among the Religious of the +High Church, who have receiv'd his _Private Thoughts_ and his Volumes of +_Sermons_, like _Manna_ from Heaven. And yet possibly never Man had two +more severe Attacks made upon him than he had; one by Bishop +_Stillingfleet_, who in _A Vindication of their Majesties Authority to +fill the Sees of the depriv'd Bishops_, &c. occasion'd by Dr. +_Beveridge_'s Refusal of the Bishoprick of _Bath_ and _Wells_, satirizes +both his _Prudence_ and his _Sincerity_; and another, by an ingenious +Bishop also, who in _A short View of Dr._ Beveridge_'s Writings_, has in a +most refin'd _drolling manner_ represented those Writings as abounding in +most absurd and ridiculous Divinity. + +But one of the justest and finest Pieces of _Irony_, and the most timely +and seasonably vented, and that deserves perpetual Remembrance, is, +_Andrews_ the grave Bishop of _Winchester_'s Irony, on _Neal_ the grave +Bishop of _Durham_; of which we have the following Relation in the Poet +_Waller_'s _Life_, prefix'd before his Works: "On the Day of the +Dissolution of the last Parliament of King _James_ the First, Mr. +_Waller_, out of Curiosity or Respect, went to see the King at Dinner; +with whom were Dr. _Andrews_ the Bishop of _Winchester_, and Dr. _Neal_ +Bishop of _Durham_, standing behind his Majesty's Chair. There happen'd +something very extraordinary in the Conversation those Prelates had with +the King, on which Mr. _Waller_ did often reflect. His Majesty ask'd the +Bishops, _My Lords, cannot I take my Subjects Money when I want it, +without all this Formality in Parliament?_ The Bishop of _Durham_ readily +answer'd, _God forbid, Sir, but you should; you are the Breath of our +Nostrils_. Whereupon the King turn'd and said to the Bishop of +_Winchester_, _Well, my Lord, what say you? Sir_, replied the Bishop, _I +have no Skill to judge of Parliamentary Cases_. The King answer'd, _No +Put-offs, my Lord; answer me presently. Then, Sir_, said he, _I think it +is lawful for you to take my Brother_ Neal_'s_ _Money, for he offers it_. +Mr. _Waller_ said the Company was pleas'd with this Answer, and the Wit +of it seem'd to affect the King." Which shews the exceeding Aptness and +Usefulness of a good _Irony_; that can convey an Instruction to a vicious, +evil, and tyrannical Prince, highly reflecting on his Conduct, without +drawing on his Resentment. + +To these famous Divines I might add the most eminent and renowned +Philosophers of Antiquity, who, either out of a Contempt of Mankind, or to +gratify their peculiar Tempers, or to correct the Vices and Follies of +Men, and to instil virtuous Maxims in those who would only receive them in +some pleasant way, set up for good Humour, Mirth, and Drollery, as their +standing Method of Life, and of Conversation with the World; and have left +behind them some of their occasional Sayings upon record, which do more +Honour to their Memories than the most elaborate Treatises would have +done, and more Good to Men; upon whom a Jest, or witty Saying, is more +fitted to operate and make Impression than long Deductions and Reasonings, +and particularly on Princes and great Men, who will receive no Instruction +but in some very artful and short Way: whereof even the rude _Diogenes_, +the _Cynick_, has given us a most incomparable Example, in his occasional +Conference with _Alexander the Great_, who was put into such Temper by the +mere Freedom and Raillery of the Philosopher, as to take every thing in +good part he said to him, and consequently be dispos'd to reflect upon it, +and to act with Discretion. At the Head of these Philosophers I place +SOCRATES, who has very generally in all Ages pass'd for the _wisest_ of +_Men_, and was declared so by an _Oracle_; which, at least, was therein +directed and influenc'd by some considerable human Authority, or by the +common Sentiments of Men at that time. His Character I shall give you in +the words of the most ingenious _Addison_, who was himself a Master of +_Humour_ and _Drollery_, and practis'd them in Perfection, and with great +Success in almost all his Prose-writings. "_Socrates_, says he[50], who +was the greatest Propagator of Morality in the Heathen World, and a Martyr +for the Unity of the Godhead, was so famous for the exercise of the Talent +[of Raillery and Humour] among the politest People of Antiquity, that he +gain'd the Name of THE DROLE.[51]" A Character that intitled him to the +greatest Merit, as it most of all enabled him to promote Virtue. + +I might also offer to your Confederation the Affair of _Comedies_; which +all polite Governments have permitted, or establish'd, in their several +populous and wealthy Cities, as the necessary and proper means to +encounter Vice and recommend Virtue, and to employ innocently and usefully +the vacant Hours of many, who know not how to employ their Time, or would +employ it amiss, by entering into [52] Factions and Cabals to disturb the +State; or by Gaming, or by backbiting Conversations about their +Neighbours. And as _Comedies_, which were originally very gross, grew by +Use more polite and refin'd in _Satire_ and _Raillery_: so the most +celebrated Wits and Statesmen, and Persons of the greatest Quality, have +engag'd and join'd with others in them, and performed with the greatest +Success and Reputation to themselves; and have been valu'd, not only for +their Talents of _Irony_ and _Drollery_, which were essential to the +Credit of such Performances; but applauded, as acting the virtuous Part of +_Droles_. + +In fine, Books of Satire, Wit, Humour, Ridicule, Drollery, and Irony, are +the most read and applauded of all Books, in all Ages, Languages, and +Countries. And as those which are exquisite in their kinds, are the +standing Entertainment of the Ingenious and Learned; so others, of a lower +kind, are to be found among the lower Readers, who sleep under all Works +which do not make them merry. + +In a word, the Opinions and Practices of Men in all Matters, and +especially in Matters of Religion, are generally so absurd and ridiculous +that it is impossible for them not to be the Subjects of Ridicule. + +For what else can be expected from Men who generally take up their +Opinions without any Inquiry into their Reasonableness or Truth, and upon +the most incompetent Grounds? I cannot be supposed to injure Mankind, if I +consider them under the Character which the very ingenious Sir _Richard +Steele_ gives of himself; who _acknowledges_ [53] that (even while he took +upon himself the Title of the _Censor_ of _Great Britain_, and in so many +fine Papers corrects his Countrymen, and particularly _the Freethinkers_, +whom he directs the Magistrate to punish with Death) _it had been with +him, as it is with too many others, that a [53] sort of an_ implicit +Religion _seem'd the most easy and most comfortable; and that a blind +Veneration for_ he knew not what, _and he_ knew not whom, _stood for every +thing important_. And he _confesses_ he _was not enough aware, that this +Implicitness of Conduct is the great Engine of Popery, fram'd for the +Destruction of_ good Nature, _as well as_ good Sense. If so great a Man +could take up with such a Method, and act the Part of a _Censor_ and +Director of others, in a Matter which he had not at all consider'd, what +can be expected else from others, but absurd and ridiculous Opinions and +Practices? + +And if some Men will fall into absurd and ridiculous Opinions, Habits, +Forms, Figures and Grimaces; there will be those who will _laugh_, nay, +cannot help _laughing_ at them. Hence most Parties laugh at one another, +without the least Scruple, and with great Applause of their own Parties; +and the Leaders of the same Party laugh with one another, when they +consider the absurd and ridiculous Opinions they profess, and how they +cheat and govern their Followers; agreeably to what _Cicero_ reports of +_Cato_[54], "_Vetus autem illud_ Catonis _admodum scitum est, qui_ mirari +se _aiebat, quod non rideret haruspex cum haruspicem vidisset_." + +I think it may be justly suppos'd, that Pope _Alexander_ and _Thomas +Becket_ could not but laugh together at the Simplicity and Weakness of +their Followers, the Papists, who receiv'd for truth the following Story. +It was told as a Fact[55], "that when _Thomas Becket_, who never drank any +thing but Water, sat at Table with _Pope Alexander_, and that his Holiness +would needs taste of his Cup; lest his abstemiousness should be known, God +turn'd the Water into Wine: so that the _Pope_ found nothing but Wine in +the Cup. But when _Becket_ pledg'd him, it was turn'd into Water again." + +_Laughing_ therefore, and _Ridicule_ in _serious Matters_, go round the +World with no inconsiderable Applause, and seem highly proper for this +World of Nonsense and Folly. To hinder _laughing_ upon such just Occasions +as are given, is almost all one as to hinder _breathing_. A very witty, +drolling, Dramatick Poet, and of the first Rank for Quality, says in a +_Prologue_ to his Auditors. + + "_Suppose now, at this Instant, one of you_ + "_Were tickled by a Fool, what would you do?_ + "_'Tis ten to one you'd_ laugh: _here's just the Case._ + "_For there are Fools that tickle with their Face._ + "_Your gay Fool tickles with his Dress and Motions;_ + "_But your_ grave Fool _of_ Fools _with_ silly Notions. + "_Is it not then unjust that Fops should still_ + "_Force one to_ laugh, _and then take laughing ill?_ + + +II. _Secondly_, If it be a Fault in those reverend Divines, mention'd in +the foregoing Article, to use _Irony_, _Drollery_, _Ridicule_, and +_Satire_, in any Case; or if the Fault lies in an exorbitant Use thereof, +or in any particular Species of _Drollery_; as, for example, such +_Drollery_ as is to be found in the polemical Writings and Sermons of Dr. +_South_; it is fit some Remedy should be employ'd for the Cure of this +Evil. And the Remedy I would propose, should not be to have the Authors +punish'd by the Magistrate, any more than for any other Faults in writing; +but either to neglect and despise it, as Rage and Scolding, which drop +into Oblivion with the Sound, and would have a Life given it by +Resentment: or to allow Men to _criticize_ and _ridicule_ one another for +their _Ironies_ and _Drollery_, and to exercise their Wit and Parts +against each other; that being the true Method to bring Things to a +Standard, to fix the Decency and Propriety of Writing, to teach Men how to +write to the Satisfaction of the ingenious, polite, and sensible Part of +Mankind: for Decency and Propriety will stand the Test of Ridicule, and +triumph over all the false Pretences to Wit; and Indecency and +Impropriety will sink under the Trial of Ridicule, as being capable of +being baffled by Reason, and justly ridicul'd. And if any kind or degree +of _Ridicule_ be absurd or _ridiculous_, that will appear so upon Trial, +no less than the low and gross _Ridicule_ prevalent among the unpolite +Part of the World: But that will never appear. On the contrary, _Ridicule_ +of certain kinds, and under reasonable Directions and Rules, and used in +proper Time, Place, and Manner, (all which also are only to be found out +and fix'd by Trial and Experience) is both a proper and necessary Method +of Discourse in many Cases, and especially in the Case of _Gravity_, when +that is attended with Hypocrisy or Imposture, or with Ignorance, or with +soureness of Temper and Persecution; all which ought to draw after them +the _Ridicule_ and _Contempt_ of the Society, which has no other effectual +Remedy against such Methods of Imposition. And to determine in some +measure the Nature and Extent of the _Irony_ I contend for, as _Just_, I +profess to approve the noble _Sarcasm_ of _Elijah_[56]; wherein he thus +mocks the _Priests_ of _Baal_, saying in effect to them, "_Cry aloud, for_ +your _Baal_ is a fine God: _He is either talking, or he is pursuing, or he +is in a Journey; or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked_." And I +concur with the _Psalmist_[57], who thought it no Indecency to say, that +_he that sits in Heaven shall laugh them_ (that is, certain Kings, who +were _David_'s Enemies) _to scorn; the Lord shall have them in Derision_: +and must judge, that _laughing to scorn_, and _deriding_ the greatest Men +upon Earth, even Kings and Princes, to be a laudable and divine Method of +dealing with them, who are only to be taught or rebuk'd in some artful +way. I also approve of the following _Sarcasm_ or _Irony_, which has a +better Authority for it than _Elijah_ or the _Psalmist_. _Moses_ +introduces God speaking thus after the Fall[58], _Behold the Man is become +like one of us, to know Good and Evil!_ And I think this Passage shews, +that the whole Affair of the _Fall_, of which we have so very brief an +Account, was a very entertaining Scene; and would have appear'd so, if set +forth at large; as indeed it does under the Hands of our Divines, who have +supplied that short Narration by various Additions, founded on +Conjectures, and particularly under the fine Hand of Dr. _Tho. Burnet_, +who has made a most ingenious Dialogue of what he suppos'd pass'd between +_Eve_ and the _Serpent_[59]. To say nothing of _Milton_'s famous _Paradise +Lost_. + +In fine, ever since I could read the _Bible_, I was particularly pleas'd +with the _History_ of _Jonas_, where such a Representation is made of that +_Prophet_'s Ignorance, Folly, and Peevishness, as exposes him to the +utmost Contempt and Scorn, and fixes a perpetual _Ridicule_ on his +Character. And let me here observe, that this _History_ has had ample +Justice done it, in an Explication thereof by _two_ [60] very ingenious +Authors, who, by most penetrating and happy Criticisms and Reflections, +have drawn the Character of _Jonas_ in a more open manner. + + +III. But, _Thirdly_, I wave my _Remedy_, and am ready to come into any Law +that shall be made to rectify this suppos'd Fault of _Irony_, by punishing +those who are guilty of it. + +The great Concern is and ought to be, that _the Liberty of examining into +the Truth of Things should be kept up_, that Men may have some Sense and +Knowledge, and not be the _Dupes_ of _Cheats_ and _Impostors_, or of those +who would keep them in the dark, and let them receive nothing but thro' +their Hands. If that be secur'd to us by Authority, I, for my part, am +very ready to sacrifice the Privilege of _Irony_, tho so much in fashion +among all Men; being persuaded, that a great Part of the _Irony_ +complain'd of, has its rise from the _want of Liberty to examine into the +Truth of Things_; and that if that _Liberty_ was prevalent, it would, +without a Law, prevent all that _Irony_ which Men are driven into for want +of Liberty to speak plainly, and to protect themselves from the Attacks of +those who would take the Advantage to ruin them for direct Assertions; and +that such Authors as _Rabelais_, _Saint Aldegonde_, _Blount_, _Marvel_, +_Thekeringil_, and many others, would never have run into that Excess of +_Burlesque_, for which they are all so famous, had not the Restraint from +writing _seriously_ been so great. + +"If [61] Men are forbid to speak their Minds _seriously_ on certain +Subjects, they will do it _ironically_. If they are forbid at all upon +such Subjects, or if they find it dangerous to do so, they will then +redouble their Disguise, involve themselves in mysteriousness, and talk so +as hardly to be understood, or at least not plainly interpreted by those +who are dispos'd to do them a Mischief. And thus _Raillery_ is brought +more in fashion, and runs into an Extreme. 'Tis the persecuting Spirit has +rais'd the _bantering_ one: And want of Liberty may account for want of a +true Politeness, and for the Corruption or wrong Use of Pleasantry and +Humour. + +"If in this respect we strain the just Measure of what we call _Urbanity_, +and are apt sometimes to take a buffooning rustick Air, we may thank the +ridiculous Solemnity and sour Humour of our _Pedagogues_: or rather they +may thank themselves, if they in particular meet with the heaviest of this +kind of Treatment. For it will naturally fall heaviest, where the +Constraint has been the severest. The greater the Weight is, the bitterer +will be the Satire. The higher the Slavery, the more exquisite the +Buffoonery. + +"That this is really so, may appear by looking on those Countries where +the spiritual Tyranny is highest. For the greatest of _Buffoons_ are the +_Italians_: and in their Writings, in their freer sort of Conversations, +on their Theatres, and in their _Streets_, _Buffoonery_ and _Burlesque_ +are in the highest Vogue. 'Tis the only manner in which the poor cramp'd +Wretches can discharge a free Thought. We must yield to 'em the +Superiority in this sort of Wit. For what wonder is it if we, who have +more Liberty, have less Dexterity in that egregious way of _Raillery_ and +_Ridicule_?" + +Liberty of _grave_ Examination being fix'd by Law, I am, I say, ready to +sacrifice the Privilege of _Irony_, and yield to have a Law enacted to +prevent it. I am, moreover, willing to leave the drawing up such a Law to +your self; who honestly and impartially say[62], that all who _droll_, let +them be of any Party, let them _droll for the Truth or against it_, should +be equally punish'd. + +Thus this grand Affair of _Irony_, _Banter_, and _Ridicule_; this last +persecuting Pretence, upon which you would set the Humours and Passions of +People, who are all at quiet, on float, and make a Fermentation, and +raise a Persecution against particular People, seems perfectly settled, by +yielding to your own Terms. + + +IV. Let me here add, that I am apt to think, that when you draw up your +Law, you will find it so very difficult to settle the Point of _Decency_ +in Writing, in respect to all the various kinds of _Irony_ and _Ridicule_, +that you will be ready to lay aside your Project; and that you will be no +more able to settle that _Point of Decency_, than you would be to settle +by Law, that _Cleanliness_ in Clothes, and that Politeness in Dress, +Behaviour, and Conversation, which become Men of Quality and Fortune in +the World, and should be habitual to them: And that, if you are able to do +that to your own Satisfaction, you will find it very difficult to engage +the Lawmakers in your Project. For I am persuaded, that if our Lawmakers +were, out of a rational Principle, disposed to give Liberty by Law to +_serious_ Opposition to publickly receiv'd Notions, they would not think +it of much Importance to make a _Law_ about a Method of _Irony_. They will +naturally conclude, that if Men may and ought to be allow'd to write +_seriously_ in Opposition to publickly receiv'd Doctrines, they should be +allow'd to write in their own way; and will be unwilling to be depriv'd of +ingenious and witty Discourses, or such as some of them will judge so, +about a Subject wherein _serious free_ Discourse is allow'd. Besides, I am +apt to think, that you, upon consideration of the Advantages which the +Church has receiv'd from the _Berkenheads_, the _Heylins_, the _Ryves's_, +the _Needhams_, the _Lestranges_, the _Nalsons_, the _Lesleys_, the +_Oldesworths_, and others, in their _Mercurius Aulicus_'s, their +_Mercurius Pragmaticus's_, their _Mercurius Rusticus's_, their +_Observators_[63], their _Heraclitus Ridens_'s, _Rehearsals_, their +_Examiners_[64], and the three Volumes against the _Rights of the Church_; +from the _Butlers_ in their _Hudibras_'s, and other Burlesque Works upon +the Religion and Religious Conduct of the Dissenters; or from the +_Eachards_, the _Tom Browns_, and _Swifts_; or from the _Parkers_[65], +_Patricks_[66], _Souths_[67], _Sherlocks_[68], _Atterburys_[69], and +_Sacheverels_[70]; in their Discourses, and Tracts against the +Nonconformists, Whigs, Low-Church-men, and Latitudinarians; and other such +ironical, satirical, and polemical Divines; and from such _drolling_ +Judges as _Howel_, _Recorder_ of London, and the Chief Justice _Jefferys_, +who, in all Causes, where _Whigs_ or Dissenters were the Persons accus'd +and try'd before them, carried on the Trial by a [71] Train of ridicule on +them, their Witnesses and Counsel: I say, I am apt to think, that you +would be unwilling to be depriv'd of what has been and may be again so +serviceable. + +I am dispos'd to think that Dr. _Snape_, who is notoriously known to have +gone into the greatest Lengths of Calumny and Satire against Bishop +_Hoadley_[72], to have fall'n upon the dissenting Clergy in a burlesque +and bantering Address to the _Peirces_, the _Calamys_, and the +_Bradburys_, and to have written a long _ironical Letter_ in the Name of +the _Jesuits_ to Mr. _de la Pilloniere_[73], will be thought a very +improper Object of Censure for such Employment of his Pen. On the +contrary, such sort of Attacks upon such Persons are the most meritorious +Parts of a Man's Life, recommend him as a Person of true and sincere +Religion, much more than the strongest Reasoning, and the most regular +Life; and pave the way to all the Riches, and Pleasures and Advantages or +Life; not only among those, who, under the Colour of Religion, are +carrying on a common _Corporation Cause_ of Wealth, Power, and Authority, +but among many well-meaning People, who allow of all Practices, which they +suppose help out the _Truth_! It seems to me a most prodigious Banter upon +us, for Men to talk in general of the _Immorality_ of _Ridicule_ and +_Irony_, and of _punishing_ Men for those Matters, when their own Practice +is _universal Irony_ and _Ridicule_ of all those who go not with them, and +_universal Applause_ and _Encouragement_ for such _Ridicule_ and _Irony_, +and distinguishing by all the honourable ways imaginable such _drolling_ +Authors for their Drollery; and when Punishment for _Drollery_ is never +call'd for, but when _Drollery_ is used or employ'd against them! + +I don't know whether you would be willing, if you consider of it, to limit +the Stage it self, which has with great Applause and Success, from Queen +_Elizabeth_'s Time downwards, ridicul'd the serious _Puritans_ and +_Dissenters_, and that without any Complaints from _good Churchmen_, that +_serious_ Persons and Things were _banter'd_ and _droll'd_ upon; and has +triumph'd over its fanatical Adversaries in the Person of _Pryn_, who +sufficiently suffer'd for his _Histrio-Mastix_, and has been approv'd of +as an innocent Diversion by the religious Dr. _Patrick_ in his _Friendly +Debate_, in the Reign of King _Charles_ II. when the Stage was in a very +immoral State. I don't know whether you would be willing even to restrain +_Bartholomew Fair_, where the Sect of the _New Prophets_ was the Subject +of a _Droll_ or _Puppet-Show_, to the great Satisfaction of the Auditors, +who, it may be presum'd, were all good Churchmen, _Puritans_ and +_Dissenters_ usually declining such Entertainments out of _real_ or +_pretended_ Seriousness. ("A certain Clergyman thought fit to remark, that +King _William_ could be no good Churchman, because of his not frequenting +the _Play-House_."[74]) + + +V. It will probably be a Motive with you to be against abolishing +_Drollery_, when you reflect that the Men of _Irony_, the _Droles_ and +_Satirists_, have been and always will be very numerous on your side, +where they have been and are so much incourag'd for acting that Part, and +that they have always been and always will be very few on the side of +_Heterodoxy_; a Cause wherein an Author by engaging, may hurt his +Reputation and Fortune, and can propose nothing to himself but Poverty and +Disgrace. I doubt whether you would be for punishing your Friend Dr. +_Rogers_, from whom I just now quoted an _Irony_ on the Author of _The +Scheme of Literal Prophecy consider'd_, or any one else, for _laughing_ at +and making sport with him; or whether you would be for punishing the +Reverend Mr. _Trapp_, who implies the _Justness_ and _Propriety of +ridiculing Popery_; when he says[75], that _Popery is so foolish and +absurd, that every body of common Sense must_ LAUGH _at it_; and when he +refers to _Erasmus_ for having _abundantly_ RIDICUL'D their _Reliques_; +and himself puts _Ridicule_ in Practice against them, by representing +their Doctrines and Practices as _ridiculously foolish_, as _despicably +childish_, and _Matter of mere Scorn_; as _monstrous_; as _Spells_, +_juggling Tricks_, _gross Cheats_, _Impostures_[76], and _wretched +Shifts_; and in fine, in representing by way of _Specimen_, all their +_Miracles_ as _Legends_; of which he says, _These and a thousand more such +like unreasonable Lies, which a Child of common Sense would laugh at, are +impos'd upon and swallow'd by the ignorant People, and make a_ VERY GREAT +_Part of the Popish Religion._ + +And this, in concurrence with Mr. _Trapp_, I also take to be the Case of +Popery, that it must make Men _laugh_; and that it is much easier to be +gravely disposed in reading a _Stage-Comedy_ or _Farce_, than in +considering and reflecting on the _Comedy_ and _Farce_ of _Popery_; than +which, Wit and Folly, and Madness in conjunction, cannot invent or make a +thing more ridiculous, according to that Light in which I see their +Doctrines, Ceremonies and Worship, the Histories and Legends of their +Saints, and the pretended Miracles wrought in their Church; which has +hardly any thing _serious_ in it but its Persecutions, its Murders, its +Massacres; all employ'd against the most innocent and virtuous, and the +most sensible and learned Men, because they will not be _Tools_ to support +Villany and Ignorance. + +"Transubstantiation, says _Tillotson_[77], is not a Controversy of +Scripture against Scripture, or of Reason against Reason, but of downright +Impudence against the plain meaning of Scripture, and all the Sense and +Reason of Mankind." And accordingly he scruples not to say, in a most +_drolling_ manner, that "Transubstantiation is one of the chief of the +_Roman_ Church's _legerdemain_ and _juggling Tricks_ of Falshood and +Imposture; and that in all Probability those common juggling Words of +_Hocus-pocus_, are nothing else but a Corruption of _hoc est corpus_, by +way of ridiculous Imitation of the Church of _Rome_ in their _Trick_ of +_Transubstantiation_." And as he _archly_ makes the Introduction of this +monstrous Piece of _grave Nonsense_ to be owing to its being at first +preach'd by its Promoters with _convenient Gravity and Solemnity_[78], +which is the common Method of imposing Absurdities on the World; so I +think that Doctrine taught with such _convenient Gravity and Solemnity_ +should necessarily produce _Levity, Laughter and Ridicule_, in all +intelligent People to whom it is propos'd, who must _smile_, if they can +with safety, to see such Stuff vented with a grave Face. + +In like manner many other Divines treat and laugh at _Popery_. Even the +solemn and grave Dr. _Whitby_ has written a Book against +_Transubstantiation_, under the Title of "Irrisio Dei Panarii, _The +Derision of the Breaden God_," in Imitation of the primitive Fathers, who +have written _Derisions_ and _Mockeries_ of the _Pagan_ Religion. + +And he takes the Materials whereof this drolling Performance of his +consists, from the _holy Scriptures_, the _Apocryphal Books_, and +_Writings_ of the _holy Fathers_, as he tells us in his Title-Page; three +inexhaustible Sources of Wit and Irony against the Corrupters of true and +genuine Religion. In like manner he turns upon the Popish Clergy the +several Arguments urg'd by the _Jewish_ Clergy in the _New Testament_, for +the Authority of the _Jewish_ Church; and answers, under that _Irony_, all +that the Popish Clergy offer in behalf of the _Authority_ of their +_Church_, in a _Sermon_ at the End of his _Annotations_ on St. _John_'s +_Gospel_. + +Nor do our Divines confine their _Derisions_, _Ridicule_ and _Irony_ +against _Popery_ to their Treatises and Discourses, but fill their +_Sermons_, and especially their _Sermons_ on the _Fifth_ of _November_, +and other political _Days_, with infinite Reflections of that Kind. Of +these _Reflections_ a Popish Author publish'd a _Specimen_, in a Book +intitled[79], _Good Advice to Pulpits_, in order to shame the Church out +of their Method of _drolling_ and _laughing_ [80] at _Popery_. But this +Book had no other effect, than to produce a _Defence_ of those _Sermons_ +under the Title of _Pulpit Popery true Popery_, vindicating the several +_Droll_ Representations made of _Popery_ in those _Sermons_. + +Of these _drolling_ Reflections cited by the Popish Author out of our +Church of _England Sermons_, take these following for a Specimen of what +are to be met with in those _Sermons_[81]. + +"Pilgrimages, going Bare-foot, Hair-shirts, and Whips, with other such +Gospel-artillery, are their only Helps to Devotion.----It seems that with +them a Man sometimes cannot be a Penitent, unless he also turns Vagabond, +and foots it to _Jerusalem_.----He that thinks to expiate a Sin by going +bare-foot, does the Penance of a Goose, and only makes one Folly the +Atonement of another. _Paul_ indeed was scourg'd and beaten by the _Jews_; +but we never read that he beat or scourg'd himself; and if they think his +keeping under his Body imports so much, they must first prove that the +Body cannot be kept under by a virtuous Mind, and that the Mind cannot be +made virtuous but by a Scourge; and consequently, that Thongs and Whipcord +are Means of Grace, and Things necessary to Salvation. The truth is, if +Mens Religion lies no deeper than their Skin, it is possible they may +scourge themselves into very great Improvements.----But they will find +that bodily Exercise touches not the Soul; and consequently that in this +whole Course they are like Men out of the way: let them flash on never so +fast, they are not at all nearer their Journey's-end: And howsoever they +deceive themselves and others, they may as well expect to bring a Cart, as +a Soul, to Heaven. + +"What say you to the Popish Doctrine of the _Sacrifice of the +Mass_.----According to this Doctrine, our blessed Saviour must still, to +the end of the World, be laid hold on by Sinners, be ground with their +Teeth, and sent down into their impure Paunches, as often as the Priest +shall pronounce this Charm, _hoc est corpus meum_: and it seems that he +was a false Prophet, when he said upon the Cross, _It is finish'd_, seeing +there was such an infinite deal of _loathsom Drudgery_ still to be +undergone. + +"For _Purgatory_, 'tis not material in it self, whether it be, or where it +be, no more than the World in the Moon; but so long as that false Fire +serves to maintain a true one, and his Holiness's Kitchen smokes with the +Rents he receives for releasing Souls from thence, which never came there, +it concerns him and his to see to it, that it be not suffer'd to go out." + +An ingenious Author, Sir _Richard Steel_, has of late made a _Dedication_ +to his _Holiness_ the _Pope_ himself, before a Book entitled, _An Account +of the State of the Roman Catholick Religion throughout the World_, &c. In +which _Dedication_, that most exalted Clergyman the _Pope_, that +[suppos'd] infallible Dictator in Religion, and most grave Person; who, if +_serious_ Matters and Persons were always to be treated _seriously_, may +vie with any other Mortal for a Right to _serious_ Treatment; is expos'd +by incomparable _Drollery_ and _Irony_ to the utmost Contempt, to the +universal Satisfaction of Protestant Readers, who have been pleas'd to see +a gross Impostor, however respected and ador'd by godly and serious +Papists, so treated. + + +VI. In fine, it is suited to the common Practice of this Nation to +ridicule _Popery_ as well as _Nonconformity_; and tho several _grave_ +Books, written among us against Popery, in the Reign of King _James_ II. +(of which yet the _Romish_ Priests complain'd, as treating the King's [82] +_Religion_ with Contempt) were then very well receiv'd and applauded for +Learning and strength of Arguing; yet, I believe, it may with more +Propriety be said, that King _James_ II. and _Popery_ were [83] _laugh'd_ +or _Lilli-bullero'd_, than that they were _argu'd_ out of the Kingdom. + +The reading the _King's Declaration of Indulgence_ in Churches 1688, had +this fatal _Jest_ put upon it by a reverend Divine, "Who pleasantly told +his People, _That tho he was obliged to read it, they were not obliged to +hear it_[84]; and stop'd till they all went out, and then he read it to +the Walls." To which may be added, the famous Mr. _Wallop_'s excellent +Comparison of that _Declaration_ upon the Instant of its Publication, to +_the scaffolding of St._ Paul_'s Church; which, as soon as the Building +was finish'd, would be pull'd down_. + +Bishop _Burnet_ celebrates, with the greatest Justness, our Taste, and +indeed the Taste of the World in this Respect, when he relates how +_Popery_ was then used among us; and he recites some of the _Jests_ which +passed and were received with universal Applause. He tells us[85], "The +Court was now (that is, in 1686,) much set on making Converts, which +fail'd in most Instances, and produc'd _Repartees_; that whether true or +false, were much repeated, and were heard with great Satisfaction. The +Earl of _Mulgrave_ (since Duke of _Buckinghamshire_) was Lord Chamberlain; +he was apt to comply in every thing that he thought might be acceptable, +for he went with the King to Mass, and kneeled at it; and being look'd on +as indifferent to all Religions, the Priests made an Attack upon him: He +heard them _gravely_ arguing for _Transubstantiation_. He told them he was +willing to receive Instruction; he had taken much Pains to bring himself +to believe in God, who made the World and all Men in it: But it must not +be an ordinary Force of Argument that could make him believe that Man was +quits with God, and made God again. The Earl of _Middleton_ had marry'd +into a Popish Family, and was a Man of great Parts and a generous Temper, +but of loose Principles in Religion; so a Priest was sent to instruct him. +He began with _Transubstantiation_, of which he said he would convince him +immediately: And began thus, You believe the _Trinity_. _Middleton_ stop'd +him, and said, who told you so? At which he seem'd amazed. So the Earl +said, he expected he should convince him of his Belief, but not question +him of his own: With this the Priest was so disorder'd, that he could +proceed no farther. One Day the King gave the Duke of _Norfolk_ the Sword +of State to carry before him to the Chappel, and he stood at the Door. +Upon which the King said to him, My Lord, your Father would have gone +farther. To which the Duke answer'd, Your Majesty's Father was the better +Man, and he would not have gone so far. _Kirk_ was also spoken to, to +change his Religion, and he reply'd briskly, that he was already +pre-engag'd, for _he had promised the King of_ Morocco, _that if ever he +chang'd his Religion he would turn_ Mahometan." When K. _James_ sent an +_Irish_ Priest to convert the D. of _Bucks_ [_Villers_] the said Duke +entertain'd the Priest with a Bottle, and engag'd him in a _Dialogue_, +which the Duke afterwards caus'd to be printed, to the no small +Mortification of all Papists, who were therein exceedingly ridicul'd, and +to the Triumph of all good Churchmen, who are never better pleas'd, than +when they have the _Laugh_ on their side. + +At this time also were publish'd two merry Books, by a couple of our +Divines, with express View to make Protestants laugh at _Popery_, as at a +_Farce_; and they were, _The School of the Eucharist_, wherein is a +Collection of ridiculous _Miracles_, pretended to be wrought to support +the Truth of _Transubstantiation_, and _Purgatory prov'd by Miracles_. + +I must not omit another incomparable Piece of Wit and Raillery against +_Popery_, publish'd at that time. It seems the famous Poet, _Dryden_, +thought fit to declare himself a _Roman Catholick_; and had, as 'tis said, +a _Penance_ injoyn'd him by his Confessor, for having formerly written +_The Spanish Fryar_, of composing some _Treatise_ in a _poetical way_ for +_Popery_, and against the _Reformation_. This he executed in a _Poem_, +intituled, _The Hind and Panther_; which, setting aside the Absurdity of +the Matters therein asserted, and of the several Arguments to maintain +them, is, in other Respects, one of the most mean Compositions that ever +the Press produc'd. Was it proper to pass over in silence such a Work, +from whence probably the Popish Party expected great Matters, as knowing +the Efficacy of Poetry, and being Witnesses of the Success the Author had +had in his _Absalom_ and _Achitophel_ against the _Whigs_? Was it proper +to write _seriously_ and _gravely_ against a Book, wherein the Author +every where aims at Wit, Irony, and Burlesque, and does himself make so +ridiculous a Figure, as to be a standing Jest throughout the whole? Was +not the Convert himself, as such, a _Jest_, or as professing any Religion, +a _Jest_; who argu'd for Pay, and spoke as he was brib'd, and would have +profess'd any Opinions, as is the Mode and Practice of the World, to which +Salary and Preferments are annexed? Some ingenious Persons of the Times +took a better Method, and agreeably to the Temper and Disposition of our +Countrymen, and to the nature of _Dryden_'s Attack, and his interested +Writing for Religion, made a Return in a Paper intituled, _The Hind and +Panther transvers'd to the Story of the Country-Mouse and City-Mouse_: Out +of which, for a Specimen of _just Irony_, and _fine Raillery_, I will give +you the following Passage. + + "_Sirrah, says_ Brindle, _thou hast brought us_ Wine, + "_Sour to my Taste, and to my Eyes unfine._ + "_Says_ Will, _All Gentlemen like it. Ah! says_ White, + "_What is approved by them must needs be right._ + "_'Tis true, I thought it bad, but if the_ House + "_Commend it, I submit, a_ private Mouse. + "_Nor to their Catholick Consent oppose_ + "_My erring Judgment and reforming Nose._ + "[86]_Why, what a Devil, shan't I trust my Eyes,_ + "_Must I drink Stum, because the Rascal lies,_ + "_And palms upon us_ Catholick _Consent,_ + "_To give_ sophisticated Brewings _Vent?_ + "_Says_ White, _what antient Evidence can sway,_ + "_If you must argue thus and not obey?_ + "Drawers _must be trusted, thro' whose hands convey'd_ + "_You take the Liquor, or you spoil the Trade._ + "_For sure those honest_ Fellows _have no Knack_ + "_Of putting off stum'd Claret for_ Pontack. + "_How long alas! would the poor Vintner last,_ } + "_If all that drink must_ judge, _and every Guest_ } + "_Be allow'd to have an understanding_ Taste? } + + +VII. I question whether High-Church would be willing to have the reverend +Author of the _Tale of a Tub_, one of the greatest _Droles_ that ever +appear'd upon the Stage of the World, punish'd for that or any other of +his _drolling_ Works: For tho religious Matters, and all the various Forms +of Christianity have therein a considerable Share of _Ridicule_; yet in +regard of his _Drollery_ upon the _Whigs_, _Dissenters_, and the _War_ +with _France_ (things of as _serious_ and weighty Consideration, and as +much affecting the Peace of Society, as _Justification_ by _Faith only_, +_Predestination_, _Transubstantiation_, or _Constansubstantiation_, or +_Questions_ about _religious Ceremonies_, or any such interested Matters) +the _Convocation_ in their famous _Representation_ of the _Profaneness_ +and _Blasphemy_ of the Nation, took no notice of his _drolling_ on +Christianity: And his Usefulness in _Drollery_ and _Ridicule_ was deem'd +sufficient by the _Pious_ Queen _Anne_, and her _pious Ministry_, to +intitle him to a Church Preferment of several hundred Pounds _per Ann._ +[87] which she bestow'd upon him, notwithstanding a _fanatick +High-Churchman_, who weakly thought _Seriousness_ in Religion of more use +to High-Church than _Drollery_, and attempted to hinder his Promotion, by +representing to her Majesty, "What a Scandal it would be both to Church +and State to bestow Preferment upon a Clergyman, who was hardly suspected +of being a Christian." Besides, High-Church receives daily most signal +Services from his drolling Capacity, which has of late exerted itself on +the Jacobite Stage of _Mist_'s and _Fogg_'s Journal, and in other little +Papers publish'd in _Ireland_; in which he endeavours to expose the +present Administration of publick Affairs to contempt, to inflame the +_Irish_ Nation against the _English_, and to make them throw off all +Subjection to the _English_ Government, to satirize Bishop _Burnet_ and +other _Whig_ Bishops; and, in fine, to pave the way for a new or Popish +Revolution, as far as choosing the most proper Topicks of Invective, and +treating of them in the way of _Drollery_, can do. + + +VIII. It is well known, that Gravity, Preciseness, Solemnity, Sourness, +formal Dress and Behaviour, Sobriety of Manners, keeping at a distance +from the common Pastimes of the World, Aversion to Rites and Ceremonies in +the publick Worship, and to Pictures, Images, and Musick in Churches; +mixing Religion in common Conversion, using long Graces, practising +Family-Worship, part of which was praying _ex tempore_; setting up and +hearing Lectures, and a strict Observation of the Lord's Day, which was +call'd the _Sabbath_, were the Parts of the Character of a _Puritan_; who, +it is to be observ'd, usually had the Imputation of Hypocrisy for his +great and extraordinary Pretences to Religion: He was also a great Opposer +of the Court-Measures in the Reign of King _James_ and King _Charles_ I. +and most zealous for Law, Liberty, and Property, when those two Princes +set up for raising Money by their own Authority, and in consequence +thereof, fell into numerous other Acts of Violence and Injustice. It is +also well known, that to quell these Puritans, and lessen their Credit, +and baffle all their Pretences, Gaiety, Mirth, Pastimes or Sports, were +incourag'd and requir'd on _Sundays_ of the People, that Churches were +render'd gay, theatrical, and pleasant by the Decorations, Paintings, +Musick, and Ceremonies therein perform'd[88]; and that the utmost Ridicule +was employ'd against some of them, as _Enthusiasts_, and against others of +them as _Hypocrites_, and against them all as factious and seditious, by +their Adversaries; who were under no Restraints, but incourag'd to write +with Scorn, Contempt, Raillery and Satire against these suppos'd Enemies +of Church and State. Nor did the great Success of the _Puritans_ in the +Field of Battle suppress that _Vein_ and _Humour_ of _Ridicule_ begun +against them; but the _Laudean_ Party still carry'd on a Paper War with +innumerable Pamphlets, which all tended more or less to make the World +_laugh_ at and _ridicule_ the _Puritans_. And I am verily persuaded, that +no History of any other Country in the World can produce a Parallel, +wherein the Principle and Practice of _Ridicule_ were ever so strongly +encourag'd, and so constantly pursu'd, fix'd and rooted in the Minds of +Men, as it was and is in Churchmen against Puritans and Dissenters. Even +at this Day the _Ridicule_ is so strong against the present Dissenters, so +promoted by Clergy and Laity, especially in Villages and small Country +Towns, that they are unable to withstand its Force, but daily come over in +Numbers to the Church to avoid being _laugh'd_ at. It seems to me a Mark +of Distinction more likely to last in the Church than any other Matter +that I can observe. Passive Obedience, the divine Right of Kings, _&c._ +rise and fall according to particular Occasions; but _Laughter_ at +_Dissenters_ seems fixt for ever, if they should chance to last so long. + +_South_'s Sermons, which now amount to _six Volumes_, make Reading _Jests_ +and _Banter_ upon _Dissenters_, the religious Exercise of good Churchmen +upon _Sundays_, who now can serve God (as many think they do by hearing or +reading Sermons) and be as merry as at the Play-house. And _Hudibras_, +which is a daily High-Church Entertainment, and a Pocket and Travelling +High-Church Companion, must necessarily have a very considerable Effect, +and cannot fail forming in Men that Humour and Vein of _Ridicule_ upon +_Dissenters_ which runs thro' that Work. In a word, High-Church has +constantly been an Enemy to, and a Ridiculer of the _Seriousness_ of +_Puritans_ and _Dissenters_, whom they have ever charg'd with _Hypocrisy_ +for their _Seriousness_. + +"After [89] the Civil War had broke out in 1641, and the King and Court +had settled at _Oxford_, one _Birkenhead_, who had liv'd in _Laud_'s +Family, and been made Fellow of _All Souls College_ by _Laud_'s Means, was +appointed to write a Weekly Paper under the Title of _Mercurius Aulicus_; +the first whereof was publish'd in 1642. In the Absence of the Author, +_Birkenhead_, from _Oxford_, it was continued by _Heylin_. _Birkenhead_ +pleas'd the Generality of Readers with his _Waggeries_ and _Buffooneries_; +and the Royal Party were so taken with it, that the Author was recommended +to be Reader of _Moral Philosophy_ by his Majesty;" who, together with the +religious Electors, it is justly to be presum'd, thought _Waggery_ and +_Buffoonery_, not only Political, but _Religious_ and _Moral_, when +employ'd against _Puritans_ and _Dissenters_. + + +IX. King _Charles_ the Second's Restoration brought along with it glorious +_High-Church_ Times; which were distinguish'd as much by _laughing_ at +_Dissenters_, as by persecuting them; which pass for a Pattern how +Dissenters are to be treated; and which will never be given up, by +_High-Church-men_, as faulty, for ridiculing Dissenters. + +The King himself, who had very good natural Parts, and a Disposition to +banter and ridicule every Body, and especially the _Presbyterians_, whose +Discipline he had felt for his Lewdness and Irreligion in _Scotland_, had +in his _Exile_ an Education, and liv'd, among some of the greatest +_Droles_ and _Wits_ that any Age ever produc'd; who could not but form him +in that way, who was so well fitted by Temper for it. The Duke of +_Buckingham_ was his constant Companion. And he had a [90] _great +Liveliness of Wit, and a peculiar Faculty of turning all things into +ridicule_. He was Author of the _Rehearsal_; which, as a most noble Author +says, is [91] _a justly admir'd Piece of comick Wit_, and _has furnish'd +our best Wits in all their Controversies, even in Religion and Politicks, +as well as in the Affairs of Wit and Learning, with the most effectual and +entertaining Method of exposing Folly, Pedantry, false Reason, and ill +Writing_. The Duke of _Buckingham_ [92] brought _Hobbes_ to him to be his +_Tutor_, who was a _Philosophical Drole_, and had a great deal of _Wit_ of +the _drolling_ kind. _Sheldon_, who was afterwards Archbishop of +_Canterbury_, and attended the King constantly in his Exile as his +_Chaplain_, was an eminent _Drole_, as appears from Bishop _Burnet_, who +says[93], that _he had a great Pleasantness of Conversation, perhaps too +great_. + +And _Hide_, afterwards Earl of _Clarendon_, who attended the King in his +Exile, seems also to have been a great Drole, by Bishop _Burnet_'s +representing him, as one, that _had too much Levity in his Wit, and that +did not observe the Decorum of his Post_[94]. In a _Speech_ to the Lords +and Commons, _Hide_ attack'd the Gravity of the Puritans, saying[95], +"Very merry Men have been very godly Men; and if a good Conscience be a +continued Feast, there is no reason but Men may be very merry at it." And +upon Mr. _Baxter_ and other Presbyterian Ministers waiting on him in +relation to the _Savoy Conference_, he said to Mr. _Baxter_ on the first +Salute[96], that if "he were but as fat as Dr. _Manton_, we should all do +well." + +No wonder therefore, that _Ridicule_, and _Raillery_, and _Satire_, should +prevail at Court after the _Restoration_; and that King _Charles_ the +Second, who was a Wit himself, and early taught to laugh at his _Father's +Stiffness_[97], should be so great a Master of them, and bring them into +play among his Subjects; and that he who had the most sovereign Contempt +for all Mankind, and in particular for the People and Church of _England_, +should use his Talent against them; and that his People in return should +give him like for like. + +It is well known how he banter'd the Presbyterian Ministers, who out of +Interest came over to him at _Breda_; where they were placed in a Room +next to his Majesty, and order'd to attend till his Majesty had done his +Devotions; who, it seems, pray'd so artfully, and poured out so many of +their Phrases, which he had learned when he was in _Scotland_, where he +was forced to be present at religious Exercises of six or seven Hours +a-day; and had practis'd among the _Huguenot_ Ministers in _France_[98], +who reported him to have a _sanctify'd Heart_, and to _speak the very +Language of_ Canaan. This _Ridicule_ he _cover'd_ with _Seriousness_; +having at that time Occasion for those Ministers, who were then his great +Instruments in reconciling the Nation to his _Restoration_. When he had no +farther Occasion for them, he was open in his _Ridicule_, and would say, +that [99] _Presbyterianism was not a Religion for a Gentleman_. + + +X. Would you, who are a Man of Sense and Learning, and of some Moderation, +be for punishing the Author of _The Difficulties and Discouragements which +attend the Study of the Scriptures in the way of private Judgment_, &c. +who is suppos'd to be a Prelate of the Church, for that Book, which is +wholly an _Irony_ about the most sacred Persons and Things? Must not the +fine _Irony_ it self, and the Execution of it, with so much Learning, +Sense, and Wit, raise in you the highest Esteem and Admiration of the +Author, instead of a Disposition to punish him? Would you appear to the +intelligent Part of the World such an Enemy to Knowledge, and such a +Friend to the Kingdom of Darkness, as such Punishment would imply? In +fine, can you see and direct us to a better way, to make us inquire after +and understand Matters of Religion, to make us get and keep a good temper +of Mind, and to plant and cultivate in us the Virtues necessary to good +Order and Peace in Society, and to eradicate the Vices that every where +give Society so much Disturbance, than what is prescrib'd or imply'd in +that Book? And can you think of a better _Form_ of _Conveyance_, or +_Vehicle_ for Matters of such universal Concern to all intelligent People +(if you consider the State of the World, and the infinite Variety of +Understandings, Interests, and Designs of Men, who are all to be address'd +to at the same Time) than his Method of _Irony_? And has not Success +justify'd his Method? For the Book has had a free Vent in several +Impressions; has been very generally read and applauded; has convinced +Numbers, and has been no Occasion of trouble either to Bookseller or +Author. It has also had the Advantage to have a most ingenious _Letter_ of +_John Hales_ of _Eton_ join'd to some Editions of it; who by this +_Letter_, as well as by several others of his Pieces, shews himself to +have been another _Socrates_, one of the greatest Masters of _true Wit_ +and _just Irony_, as well as Learning, which the World ever produc'd; and +shews he could have writ such a Book as the _Difficulties_, &c. But if you +are capable of coming into any Measures for punishing the Author of the +_Difficulties_, &c. for his _Irony_, I conceive, that you may possibly +hesitate a little in relation to the same Author, about his _New Defence +of the Bishop of_ Bangor_'s Sermon of the Kingdom of Christ, consider'd as +it is the Performance of a Man of Letters_; which, tho far below _The +Difficulties_, &c. is an ingenious _Irony_ on that _Sermon_. You may +probably, like many others of the Clergy, approve of Satire so well +employ'd, as against that Bishop, who has succeeded Bishop _Burnet_ in +being the Subject of _Clergy-Ridicule_, as well as in his Bishoprick. The +Bishop himself was very justly patient, under all Attacks by the Reverend +_Trapp_, _Earbery_, _Snape_, _Law_, and _Luke Milbourne_, in his _Tom of +Bedlam's Answer to his Brother_ Ben Hoadley, _St._ Peter_'s_ Poor _Parson +near the Exchange of Principles_; some of which were of a very abusive +kind, and such as can hardly be parallel'd; and did not call upon the +Magistrate to come to his Aid against that Author, or against any others +of the Clergy who had attack'd him with as great Mockery, Ridicule, and +Irony, as ever Bishop had been by the profess'd Adversaries of the Order; +or as ever the Bishops had been by the _Puritans_ and _Libellers_ in the +Reigns of Queen _Elizabeth_, King _James_ and King _Charles_ the First; or +as _Lesley_, _Hickes_, _Hill_, _Atterbury_, _Binks_, and other High-Church +Clergy, did the late Bishop _Burnet_. Instead of that he took the true and +proper Method, by publishing an _Answer_ to the said _Irony_, compos'd in +the same _ironical Strain_, intitled, _The Dean of_ Worcester _still the +same: Or his new Defence of the Bishop of_ Bangor_'s Sermon, consider'd, +as it is the Performance of a great Critick, a Man of Sense, and a Man of +Probity_. Which Answer does, in my Opinion, as much Honour to the Bishop, +by its Excellency in the _ironical Way_, as it does by allowing the Method +it self, and going into that Method, in imitation of his Reverend Brethren +of the Clergy, who appear to be under no Restraints from the _Immorality_ +or _Indecency_ of treating the Bishop in the way of Ridicule and with the +utmost Contempt; but, on the contrary, to be spurr'd on by the +_Excellency_ and _Propriety_ thereof to use it against him, even in the +[100] _Pulpit_, as Part of the religious Exercise on the _Lord's-day_. + + +XI. There is an universal Love and Practice of _Drollery_ and _Ridicule_ +in all, even the most _serious_ Men, in the most _serious Places_, and on +the most _serious Occasions_. Go into the Privy-Councils of Princes, into +Senates, into Courts of Judicature, and into the Assemblies of the Kirk or +Church; and you will find that Wit, good Humour, Ridicule, and Drollery, +mix themselves in all the Questions before those Bodies; and that the most +solemn and sour Person there present, will ever be found endeavouring, at +least, to crack his Jest, in order to raise a Character for Wit; which has +so great an Applause attending it, and renders Men so universally +acceptable for their Conversation, and places them above the greatest +Proficients in the Sciences, that almost every one is intoxicated with the +Passion of aiming at it. + +In the Reports made to us of the Debates in the Houses of Lords, Commons, +and Convocation, the serious Parts of the Speeches there made die for the +most part with the Sound; but the Wit, the Irony, the Drollery, the +Ridicule, the Satire, and Repartees, are thought worthy to be remember'd +and repeated in Conversation, and make a Part of the History of the +Proceedings of those Bodies, no less than their grave Transactions, as +some such must necessarily be. + +Whoever will look into Antiquity for an Account of the Lives, Actions, and +Works of the old Philosophers, will find little remaining of them; but +some of their witty, drolling, and bantering Sayings, which alone have +been thought worthy to be preserv'd to Posterity. And if you will look +into the Lives of the modern Statesmen, Philosophers, Divines, Lawyers, +_&c._ you will find that their witty Sayings ever make a considerable +Part: by reporting which great Honour is intended to be done to their +Memory. The great and most religious Philosopher Dr. _H. More_, has a +great many Pieces of Wit attributed to him in his _Life_ by Mr. _Ward_, +who represents him from his Companions, [101] _as one of the merriest +Greeks they were acquainted with_, and tells us, that the Doctor said in +his _last Illness_, to him[102], _that the merry way was that which he saw +mightily to take; and so he used it the more_. + +The great and famous Sir _Thomas More_, Lord Chancellor of _England_ in +_Henry_ the Eighth's time, was an inexhaustible Source of _Drollery_[103], +as his voluminous Works, which consist for the most part of controversial +Divinity in behalf of Popery, show, and which are many of them written in +Dialogue, the better to introduce the _drolling_ Way of Writing, which he +has us'd in such Perfection, that it is said [104] _none can ever be weary +of reading them, tho they be never so long_. Nor could Death it self, in +immediate view before his Eyes, suppress his _merry_ Humour, and hinder +him from cracking _Jests_ on the _Scaffold_; tho he was a Man of great +_Piety_ and _Devotion_, whereof all the World was convinced by his Conduct +both in his Life and at his Death. + +It is said (as I have before observ'd) of my Lord Chancellor _Clarendon_, +that "he had too much _Levity_ in his _Wit_[105], and that he did not +always observe the _Decorum_ of his Post." Which implies not only his +Approbation of _Drollery_ in the most _grave_ Business, but also his great +Knowledge of Mankind, by applying to them in that _Way_; which he knew +from Experience, and especially from the common _drolling_ [106] +Conversation in the Court of King _Charles_ the Second, would recommend +him to the World much more than an _impartial Administration of Justice_; +which is less felt, less understood, and less taken notice of and +applauded, than a _Piece_ of _Wit_; which is generally suppos'd to imply +in it a great deal of Knowledge, and a Capacity fit for any thing. + +Mr. _Whiston_[107], a famous Person among us, sets up for great _Gravity_, +and proposes a Scheme of _Gravity_ for the Direction of those who write +about Religion: He is for allowing _Unbelievers_, nay for having them +"invited by Authority to produce all the real or original Evidence they +think they have discover'd against any Parts of the _Bible_; against any +Parts of the _Jewish_ and Christian Religions, in order to their being +fully weigh'd and consider'd by all learned Men; provided at the same +time, that the whole be done _gravely_, and _seriously_, without all +_Levity_, _Banter_, and _Ridicule_." And yet this Man, having a handle +given him by Bishop _Robinson_'s Letter to the _Clergy_ of his _Diocess_ +about _New Doxologies borrow'd from Old Hereticks_, takes the advantage of +the Bishop's (supposed) Ignorance, Dulness, Stupidity, and Contradiction +to himself, and writes and prints, like a _Tom Brown_ or _Swift_, a most +_bantering_ and _drolling_ Letter, under the sneering Title of a _Letter +of Thanks to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of_ London, _for his late +Letter_, &c. whom, one would think, he should not only have spar'd, but +have applauded for his _profound Gravity_, and carrying on the Cause of +Religion in a very remarkable manner, with the most _consummate +Solemnity_. But so strong was the Temptation, so naturally productive of +Mirth was the Bishop's _Cause_, and his grave Management thereof, as that +he could not help laughing at the Bishop, by himself; and so was led on +mechanically to write in that Humour, and to publish what he wrote, and +afterwards to defend his drole _Manner_ [108] of attacking the Bishop, +against those who took _offence_ at that _Manner_ of writing. + + +XII. The burning Papists themselves are not always _serious_ with us: They +treat the Church and its Defenders as _fanatical_, and _laugh_ at them as +_such_, just as the Church does the Dissenters, and have their elaborate +Works of _Drollery_ against their Adversaries. They publish'd a Poem +against the _Reformation_, just before the Death of Queen _Anne_, which +was design'd to have given such a Stroke to the Protestant Religion among +us, under the new projected Revolution, as _Hudibras_ did to _Puritanism_ +after the _Restoration_. The Popish Editor, in the Preface to the said +Poem, says, "that the Motive of the Author (_Thomas Ward_) for publishing +the _History of the Reformation in a Burlesque Style_ (tho a History full +of melancholy Incidents, which have distracted the Nation, even beyond the +hope of recovery, after so much Blood drawn from all its Veins, and from +its Head) was that which he met with in Sir _Roger L'Estrange_'s Preface +to the second Part of his _Cit_ and _Bumkin_, express'd in these Words; +_Tho this way of fooling is not my Talent, nor Inclination; yet I have +great Authorities for the taking up this Humour, in regard not only of the +Subject, but of the Age we live in; which is so much upon the Drole, that +hardly any thing else will down with it._" + +And the ingenious Protestant Editor of this Poem at _London_, which he +allows to have some Wit in it, concludes the Remarks he makes upon it, by +saying, "One thing more we can't forbear hinting at, that a Retaliation +would be as happy a Thought as could enter into the Head of a Man of +Genius and Spirit. What a fruitful Harvest would the Legends, Tricks, +spiritual Jugglings, Convents, and Nunneries, yield to a good Poet? +_Buchanan_ in his _Franciscani_, and _Oldham_ in his _Satires_ on the +Jesuits, have open'd the Way, and we heartily wish some equal Pen would +write the whole Mystery of Iniquity at length." + + +XIII. All the old Puritan Preachers, who were originally Divines of the +Church of _England_, sprinkled and season'd their Sermons with a great +many _drolling_ Sayings against _Libertinism_ and _Vice_, and against +Church Ceremonies; many of which Sayings are reported and handed down to +us in Books and Conversation, as are also the Effects of those Sayings, +which we are told converted many to _Christ_ on the Spot, or in the +Instant of Delivery. Nor is that manner wholly laid aside, but has +continued to be kept alive by some Hands at all times; who have been +greatly follow'd for their Success in drolling upon _Sinners_, and +treating of Religion in humoursom and fantastical Phrases, and fixing that +way of Religion in some Mens Minds. + +I do not remember to have met with a more complete Drole in the Church of +_England_, or in any other of the _laughing_ or _ridiculing_ Sects, than +_Andrew Marvel_ of the grave _Puritan_ Sect, in many Works of his both in +Prose and Verse, but especially in his _Rehearsal Transprosed_; which tho +writ against _Parker_, who with great Eloquence, Learning, and a Torrent +of Drollery and Satire, had defended the Court and Church's Cause, in +asserting the Necessity of Penal Laws against the Nonconformists, "was +read from the _King_ down to the Tradesman with great pleasure, on account +of that Burlesque Strain and lively Drollery that ran thro' it," as +Bishop _Burnet_ tells us[109]. Nor were the gravest _Puritans_ and +Dissenters among us less taken and pleas'd with his Writings for their +_Drollery_, than our _drole King_; tho there are some Passages in them, +which should give just Offence to chaste Ears. + +I find also, that the _Puritans_ and _Dissenters_ have always born with, +and allow'd of, a great Mixture of _Drollery_ in their Sermons, that one +would think should offend their Gravity, and pious Ears; and that they +applaud their Ministers for such their Discourses, as much as the Church +does Dr. _South_ for the Ribaldry sprinkled thro'out his Sermons about the +most high Points in Divinity. They have always had some eminent Divines +among them who have been remarkable for such Passages and Reflections: And +these have never lessen'd their number of Auditors, nor drawn upon +themselves the Character of _Irreligious_; but have had the largest +Auditories of contributing Hearers, as well as of Churchmen, who came to +smile, and have been esteem'd very _pious_ Men. + +In fine, the _Puritans_ and _Dissenters_ have, like the Church, their +Taste of Humour, Irony, and Ridicule, which they promote with great Zeal, +as a Means to serve Religion: And I remember, that, among other things +said in behalf of _Bunyan_'s _Pilgrim's Progress_, upon the reprinting it +lately by Subscription, it was affirm'd, and that, in my Opinion, truly, +"that it had infinitely out-done _The Tale of a Tub_; which perhaps had +not made one Convert to Infidelity, whereas the _Pilgrim's Progress_ had +converted many Sinners to _Christ_." + + +XIV. The _Quakers_ are certainly the most _serious_ and solemn People +among us in Matters of Religion, and out-go the Dissenters of all other +Kinds therein: But yet the Church has no regard to them on that Account, +but takes Advantage from thence to _ridicule_ them the more, and to call +their Sincerity more in question. And I much doubt whether there was ever +a Book written against them by the Divines of any Sect with perfect +Decency, and that had not its extravagant Flouts, Scorn, Banter, and +Irony, and that not only of the _laughing_, but of the _cruel_ kind: +Wherein they copy'd after the _Jews_ of old, who while they prosecuted +_Christ_ to Death, and carried on their High-Church Tragedy against him, +acted against him the _comick Scenes_ [110] "of spitting in his Face, and +buffeting him with the Palms of their Hands, saying, _Prophesy unto us, +thou Christ, who is he that smote thee_;" and who, when they had nail'd +him to the Cross, _revil'd_ him with divers _Taunts_, in which the _Chief +Priests_, _Scribes_, _Elders_, and even the _Thieves, which were crucified +with him_, concurr'd. But yet for all this, these solemn Quakers +themselves are not altogether averse to _Irony_ and _Ridicule_, and use it +when they can. Their Books abound in Stories to ridicule in their Turn the +Priests, their great and bitter Adversaries: And they please themselves +with throwing at the Priests the _Centuries of Scandalous Ministers_, and +the Books of the _Cobler of_ Glocester. They have also their Satirist and +Banterer, _Samuel Fisher_; whose Works, tho all wrote in the _drolling_ +Style and Manner, they pride themselves in, and have collected into one +great Volume in _Folio_; in which Quaker-Wit and Irony are set up against +Church, Presbyterian, and Independent Wit and Irony, without the least +Scruple of the lawfulness of such Arms. In a word, their Author acts the +Part of a _Jack-Pudding_, _Merry Andrew_, or _Buffoon_, with all the +seeming Right, Authority, and Privilege, of the Member of some Establish'd +Church of abusing all the World but themselves. The _Quakers_ have also +encourag'd and publish'd a most arch Book of the famous _Henry Stubbe_, +intitled, _A Light shining out of Darkness_, &c. Wherein all the other +religious Parties among us are as handsomly and learnedly banter'd and +ridicul'd, as the _Quakers_ have been in any Book against them. And when +they were attack'd by one _Samuel Young_, a whimsical +Presbyterian-Buffoon-Divine, who call'd himself _Trepidantium Malleus_, +and set up for an Imitator of Mr. _Alsop_, in several Pamphlets full of +Stories, Repartees, and Ironies; in which _Young_, perhaps, thought +himself as secure from a Return of the like kind, as a Ruffian or Thief +may when he assaults Men: His Attacks were repell'd in a Book intitled +"_Trepidantium Malleus intrepidanter malleatus_; or the West Country +Wiseaker's crack-brain'd _Reprimand_ hammer'd about his own Numbscul. +Being a _Joco-satirical_ Return to a late Tale of a Tub, emitted by a +reverend _Non-con_, at present residing not far from _Bedlam_," said to be +written by _William Penn_, who has therein made use of the carnal Weapons +of Irony and Banter, and dress'd out the Presbyterian Priest in a Fool's +Coat, for a Spectacle to the Mob. It is also to be observ'd, that there +are several Tracts in the two Volumes of _William Penn_'s Works lately +publish'd, that for ingenious Banter and Irony, are much superior to the +Priests his Adversaries; and that other Quaker Authors profess to write +sometimes in a [111] _drolling Style_. + + +XV. The Jacobite Clergy have set up for great _Droles_ upon all the true +Friends of the _Establishment_. And I presume, the Body of our High +Churchmen would not willingly deprive them of the Benefit of their +_Drollery_. + +The celebrated Mr. _Collier_ [112] thus attacks Bishop _Burnet_, for his +ESSAY _on the Memory of Queen_ Mary. "This Doctor, you know, is a Man of +mighty _Latitude_, and can say any thing to serve a Turn; whose +_Reverence_ resolves Cases of Conscience backwards and forwards, disputes +_pro_ and _con_, praises and dispraises by secular Measures; with whom +Virtue and Vice, passive Obedience and Rebellion, Parricide and filial +Duty, Treachery and Faithfulness, and all the Contradictions in Nature, +are the _best_ and _worst_ things under the Sun, as they are for his +Purpose, and according as the Wind sits: who equally and indifferently +writes for and against all Men, the Gospel, and himself too, as the World +goes: who can bestow a Panegyrick upon the seven deadly Sins, and (if +there be occasion) can make an Invective against all the +Commandments.----" + +In relation to Dr. _Payne_'s _Sermon_ on the Death of that _Queen_, he +says[113], "that to go thro' it is too great a Discipline for any Man, +whose Palate hath ever relish'd any thing above _three half-penny +Poetry_." He adds, "Why, Sir, many Years ago I have heard some of it sung +about the Streets in wretched and nauseous _Doggrel_. What think you of +this? _Page_ 6. _I know not how to draw her Picture, 'tis so all over +beauteous, without any Foil, any Shade, any Blemish; so perfect in every +Feature, so accomplish'd in every Part, so adorn'd with every Perfection +and every Grace._ O rare, Sir! here's _Phillis_ and _Chloris_, and +_Gillian a Croydon_. + + "_Sh' hath_ every Feature, every Grace, + "_So charming_ every part, _&c_. + +"Tis no wonder he tells us, (_p._ 8.) of _strewing her with the Flowers of +withered and decay'd Poetry_; for the _Song_ out of which he hath +transcrib'd his _Sermon_, is of very _great age_, and hath been sung at +many a _Whitsun-Ale_, and many a _Wedding_ (tho I believe never at a +Funeral before) and therefore in all this time may well be _decay'd and +wither'd_: In the mean time, if you were to draw the Picture of a _great +Princess_, I fansy you would not make choice of _Mopsa_ to sit to it. +Alas! Sir, there was _Cassandra_ and _Cleopatra_, and many a famed +_Romance_ more, which might have furnish'd him with handsome Characters, +and yet he must needs be _preaching and instructing_ his People out of +_Hey down derry_, and the _fair Maid of_ Kent. If he had intitled it, +_The_ White-Chapel _Ballad_, and got some body to set it to the Tune of +_Amaryllis_, compos'd by _W. P. Songster_, the Character of the _Author_, +the _Title_, and the _Matter_, would have very well agreed, and perhaps it +might have passed at the Corners of the Streets; but to call it a +_Sermon_, and by _W. P._ Doctor in _Divinity_, 'tis one of the _lewdest_ +things in the World.----" + +Mr. _Lesley_ attacks the Clergy, who pray'd "that God would give King +_James_ Victory over all his Enemies[114], when that was the thing they +least wish'd; and confess'd, that they labour'd all they could against +it," saying, "good God! What Apprehensions, what Thought had those Men of +their publick Prayers; bantering God Almighty, and mocking him to his +Face, who heard their Words, and saw their Hearts? Is not _Atheism_ a +smaller Sin than this, since it is better to have no God, than so to set +up one _to laugh at him_." + +Again he says, (_p._ 123.) "It is a severe Jest, that the common People +have got up against the Clergy, that there was but one thing formerly +which the Parliament could not do, that is, to make a Man a Woman: But now +there is another, that is, to make an Oath which the Clergy will not +take." + +The same Author attacks Bishop _Burnet_'s _Speech upon the Bill against +Occasional Conformity_, by a Pamphlet intitled, _The Bishop of_ +Salisbury_'s proper Defence from a Speech cry'd about the Streets in his +Name, and said to have been spoken by him in the House of Lords upon the +Bill against Occasional Conformity_; which is one perpetual _Irony_ on the +Bishop, and gives the Author occasion to throw all manner of Satire and +Abuse on the Bishop. The beginning of this Pamphlet, which is as follows, +will let the Reader into the full Knowledge of the Design of the Irony, +and the manner of Execution. + +"The License of this Age and of the Press is so great, that no Rank or +Quality of Men is free from the Insults of loose and extravagant Wits. + +"The good Bishop of _Salisbury_ has had a plentiful Share in this sort of +Treatment: And now at last, some or other has presum'd to burlesque his +Lordship in printing a Speech for him, which none that knows his Lordship +can believe ever came from him. + +"But because it may go down with others who are too apt to take Slander +upon trust, and that his Lordship has already been pelted with several +Answers to his Speech, I have presum'd to offer the following +Considerations, to clear his Lordship from the Suspicion of having vented +(in such an august Assembly) those crude and undigested Matters which are +set forth in that Speech, and which so highly reflect on his Lordship's +self." + +He has taken the same Method of Irony to attack the said Bishop for his +_Speech_ on the _Trial_ of _Sacheverel_, and for a _Sermon_, under this +Title, "The Good Old Cause, _or_ Lying in Truth; being a Second Defence of +the Lord Bishop of _Sarum_ from a Second Speech, and also the Dissection +of a Sermon it is said his Lordship preach'd in the Cathedral Church of +_Salisbury_." And this Pamphlet, which is also a continued Banter, begins +thus. + +"No Man has more deserv'd than this good Bishop, and no Man has been more +persecuted by various Ways and Means than his Lordship, even to mobbing! +But the ugliest and most malicious of all these Arts, is that of putting +false Things upon him; to write scandalous, seditious, and senseless +Papers, and to affix his Lordship's Name! I was forc'd some Years ago to +vindicate his Lordship's Reputation from one of this sort: That Speech had +a Bookseller's Name to it of good figure, and look'd something like; but +this Speech (said likewise to be spoken in the House of Lords) has no body +to own it, and has all the Marks of _Grub_. But the nasty Phiz is nothing +to the inside. That discovers the Man; the Heart is false." + +This same Author has thought fit to attack Mr. _Hoadley_ (since a Bishop) +in the way of Banter: His _Best Answer ever was made, and to which no +Answer will ever be made_, is by his own Confession a _Farce_; when he +says in his _Preface_, "If you ask why I treat this Subject by way of +_farce_, and shew a little Merriment sometimes? it was because the +Foundation you stand upon is not only _false_ but _ridiculous_, and ought +to be treated with the _utmost Contempt_." + +Again, in his "_Finishing Stroke, in defence of_ his _Rehearsals, Best +Answer, and Best of all_," he gives us (_p._ 125.) what he calls, "A +Battle-Royal between three Cocks of the Game, _Higden_, _Hoadley_, and a +_Hottentot_;" which in the _Contents_ he calls _A Farce_, and to which he +joins both a _Prologue_ and _Epilogue_, and divers other Particulars, all +taken from the _Play-house_. + +The Reverend Mr. _Matthias Earbery_ sets up for a great Satirist and Drole +upon the swearing and Low-Church Clergy, in numerous Pamphlets of late, +more particularly in his "_Serious Admonition to Dr._ Kennet: To which is +added, a short but complete Answer to Mr. _Marshal_'s late Treatise +called, _A Defence of our Constitution in Church and State_; and a +Parallel is drawn between him and Dr. _Kennet_, for the Satisfaction of +the unprejudic'd Reader." + +He has a bantering Argument [115] to shew, that, "If in future Ages Mr. +_Marshal_'s Book should escape the just Judgment it deserves, of being +condemn'd to the _Pastry-Cooks_ and _Grocers_, an industrious Chronologist +might make an Observation to prove him too young to write it." + +The _Parallel_ is in _Pag._ 126, which being very gross _Raillery_, I only +refer you to it. + +This Mr. _Earbery_ also wrote a _Letter to Bishop_ Fleetwood, under the +Title of "A Letter to the Bishop of _Ely_, upon the Occasion of his +_suppos'd_ late _Charge_, said to be deliver'd at _Cambridge August_ 7, +1716, _&c._" in which he pursues the Ironical Scheme laid down in the said +Title, and endeavours to _vindicate_ his _Lordship from the Aspersion of +writing such a mean Pamphlet_, as the _Charge_. + +Nor do these _Jacobites_ confine their Drollery to their Adversaries +without, but exercise it on one another, as may be seen in their late +Dispute about King _Edward the Sixth_'s Liturgy. And Mr. _Lesley_ himself, +happening to engage on the side opposite to the Traditions of the Fathers, +and attacking those Traditions by Low-Church Notions and Arguments, and +thereby running counter to all his former Books, is attack'd just in the +same manner he attack'd Bishop _Burnet_, in a Book under this Title, "Mr. +_Lesley_'s Defence, from some erroneous and dangerous Principles, advanced +in a Letter said to have been written concerning the New Separation." And +it has several Paragraphs at the beginning in the very words of one of Mr. +_Lesley_'s Books against the said Bishop, as may be seen on Comparison. + + +XVI. _Christ-Church_ in _Oxford_ is no less famous for the _Drolling_, +than for the _Orthodox_ Spirit reigning there; and the former, being +judged an excellent Method to support the latter, is cultivated among the +Youth, and employ'd by the Members of that Society against all the +supposed Adversaries of the Church, and encourag'd by the governing +Ecclesiasticks there and elsewhere. + +Among the many, who have receiv'd their Education there, and been form'd +in Drollery, I will only instance in the Reverend Dr. _Atterbury_ and Dr. +_South_; who being as famous for _Drollery_ as for Zeal for Religion, and +applauded for their _Wit_ no less than for their _Orthodoxy_; and +particularly for imploying the former in behalf of the latter, seem of +sufficient Weight to bear down all Attempts to stifle their Productions. +What Considerations can make us amends for the Loss of such excellent +_drolling Writings_, which promote Religion as well as Mirth? + +With what incomparable Mockery, Ridicule and Sarcasm does Dr. _Atterbury_ +treat all the Low-Church Clergy that come in his way, together with the +_Whig_ Ministry and Administration in his several _Convocational Tracts_? +Dr. _Wake_, our present Archbishop of _Canterbury_, is represented by him +as writing so _contumeliously_ [116] of the Clergy, _that had he not +inform'd us in his Title Page who he was, we should rather have guess'd +him to have been of the Cabal against Priests and Priestcraft, than one of +the Order_; and as wholly govern'd by [117] _Interest_ in the _Debate_, +and as giving us a most [118] _shallow empty Performance_ in relation to +our Ecclesiastical Constitution, which he [119] _has done his best to +undermine_, as knowing himself to be in the wrong; and as _deserving_ any +Name or Censure, none being _too bad to be bestow'd_ on him; and in fine, +as _the least of the little officious Pens by which he expects to be +traduc'd_. + +Dr. _Bentley_ is represented as _wrote out of Reputation into Preferment_; +which, whether it be a more severe Sarcasm on the Doctor, than on the +Government, is hard to determine; and besides, it gives Applause to one of +the most drolling and bantering Performances that this drolling Age has +produc'd, I mean _Dr._ Bentley_'s Dissertations on the Epistles of_ +Phalaris, _and the Fables of_ AEsop, _examin'd_. + +Bishop _Burnet_ is a standing Subject of Ridicule with him; as are Bishop +_Nicholson_, Bishop _Kennet_, Bishop _Gibson_, Bishop _Trimnel_ [to whom +he writes a most drolling [120] Letter] and Dr. _West_; and all the +Topicks that can affect them as Scholars, as honest Men, and Clergymen, +are imploy'd to render them ridiculous, and set the World a laughing at +them, who are not in the least spar'd for their being of the Holy Order; +but on the contrary seem more loaded and baited with Sarcasms for that +reason. + +For a _Specimen_, take this Banter or Burlesque upon Bishop _Kennet_'s +Dedication of his _Ecclesiastical Synods and Parliamentary Convocations_, +&c. to the Archbishop of _Canterbury_; which Banter runs thus[121]. + + "_May it please your Grace_, + + "Mr. _Atterbury_ has lately forc'd a Dedication upon you, which + favours too much of Presumption or Design; he has presum'd to + surprize you with an unexpected Address, and appears very indecently + before your Grace, because he has taken no care to express upon this + Subject a due Respect and Reverence to the Governors in Church and + State, such as is suitable to the Christian Religion, and his + particular Function: The Reports and Authorities in his Book are + Fruits of other Mens Collections, not the immediate Effects of his + own Searches into _Registers_ and _Records_; he imperiously summons + your Grace and my Lords the Bishops to an immediate Compliance upon + pain of being pronounc'd Betrayers of the Church----This, my Lord, is + the Character of the Person _I set up_ against; but as for me, I am + quite another sort of Man, I am very well bred, a great Antiquary, + beholden to no body, _some Wits and merry Folks call me a Tool and a + Play-thing_ (_Pref. p._ 8.) But I assure your Grace, that what + Freedom soever I may have taken in taxing the Vices of the inferior + _Clergy_, (_p._ 77. 188.) and in reflecting _upon the ambitious + Designs of dignify'd Presbyters_ (_p._ 196.); yet _I am however + tender and dutiful in treating the Governors of our Church_ (p. 78.); + especially _those of them who are of the Ecclesiastical Commission + for Preferments_, (p. 311). I have a very great Respect and Reverence + for every body that will give me any thing; and how resolute soever + Mr. _Atterbury_ may be, your Grace may do what you please with + + _Your Grace's most humble_ + + _and obedient Servant_, + + WHITE KENNET. + + +But for _Drollery_, the Reverend Dr. _South_ outdoes even _Christ-Church_, +and fills all his Performances with it, and throws it out against the +Enemies of the Church, and in particular against the late Dr. _Sherlock_, +whom he thought fit to single out. I shall select some Passages from his +Writings against the said Doctor, which cannot but entertain the +High-Church Orthodox Reader, and reconcile him to a _Drollery_ so well +employ'd. + +He stiles him _a great good Man, as a certain poor Wretch_, meaning +_Prior, calls him_. + +Again, he says[122], "There is hardly any one Subject which he (that is +Dr. _Sherlock_) has wrote upon Popery excepted, that he has wrote both +for it and against it. Could any thing be more sharp and bitter against +the Dissenters than what this Man wrote in his _Answer_ to the _Protestant +Reconciler_; and yet how frankly, or rather fulsomly does he open both his +Arms to embrace them in his Sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor on +_November_ 4, 1688. Tho I dare say, that the Dissenters themselves are of +that Constancy, as to own that they were of the same Principles in 88 that +they were of in 85; but the Truth is, old Friendships cannot be so easily +forgot: And it has been an Observation made by some, that hardly can any +one be found, who was first tainted with a Conventicle, whom a Cathedral +could ever after cure, but that still upon every cross turn of Affairs +against the _Church_, the irresistible _Magnetism_ of the _Good Old Cause_ +(as some still think it) would quickly draw him out of the _Good Old Way_. +The Fable tells us of a _Cat_ once turn'd into a _Woman_, but the next +sight of a _Mouse_ quickly dissolv'd the _Metamorphosis_, cashier'd the +Woman, and restor'd the Brute. And some _Virtuosi_ (skill'd in the _useful +Philosophy_ of _Alterations_) have thought her much a Gainer by the latter +Change, there being so many unlucky Turns in the World, in which it is not +half so safe and advantageous to _walk upright_, as to be _able to fall +always upon one's Legs_." + +Again, Dr. _South_ says[123], "When I consider how wonderfully pleas'd the +Man is with these two new started Terms (_Self-consciousness_ and _mutual +Consciousness_) so high in Sound and so empty of Sense, instead of one +substantial word (_Omniscience_) which gives us all that can be pretended +useful in them, with vast Overplus and Advantage, and even swallows them +up, as _Moses_'s Rod did those pitiful Tools of the _Magicians_: This (I +say) brings to my mind (whether I will or no) a certain Story of a grave +Person, who riding in the Road with his Servant, and finding himself +something uneasy in his Saddle, bespoke his Servant thus: _John_ (says he) +_alight, and first take off the Saddle that is upon my Horse, and then +take off the Saddle that is upon your Horse; and when you have done this, +put the Saddle that was upon my Horse, upon your Horse; and put the Saddle +that was upon your Horse, upon my Horse_. Whereupon the Man, who had not +studied the Philosophy of Saddles (whether _Ambling_ or _Trotting_) so +exactly as his Master, replies something short upon him; _Lord, Master, +what need all these words? Could you not as well have said, Let us change +Saddles?_ Now I must confess, I think the Servant was much in the right; +tho the Master having a _rational Head of his own_, and being withal +willing to make the _Notion_ of _changing_ Saddles more _plain_, _easy_ +and _intelligible_, and to give a clearer Explication of that word (which +his Forefathers, how good _Horsemen_ soever they might have been, yet were +_not equally happy in explaining of_) was pleas'd to set it forth by that +more full and accurate Circumlocution." + +He says[124], _The Author_, Dr. _Sherlock, is no doubt a_ Grecian _in his +Heart_! And the tenth Chapter of the _Animadversions_ is one continued +Banter upon the _Dean_ for his Ignorance in _Greek_ and _Latin_, and even +his Inability to spell: All which he _closes_ with saying, "That St. +_Paul_'s _School_ is certainly an excellent School, and St. _Paul_'s +Church a most noble Church; and therefore he thinks that he directs his +Course very prudently, and happily too, who in his Passage to such a +_Cathedral_, takes a School in his way." + +Again, he says[125], "He cannot see any new Advantage that the Dean has +got over the _Socinians_, unless it be, that the Dean thinks his _three +Gods_ will be too hard for their _one_." + +After citing several Scurrilities of the Dean[126], (who it must be +confess'd, appears therein a great Banterer also of Dr. _South_ and his +Performance) the Dr. says, "These, with several more of the like +_Gravel-Lane_ Elegancies, are all of them such peculiar Strictures of the +Dean's _Genius_, that he might very well spare his Name, where he had made +himself so well known by his Mark; for all the foregoing +_Oyster-Wive-Kennel-Rhetorick_ seems so naturally to flow from him, who +had been so long Rector of St. _Botolph_ (with the well-spoken +_Billingsgate_ under his Care) that (as much a Teacher as he was) it may +well be question'd, whether he has learn'd more from his Parish, than his +Parish from him.--All favours of the Porter, the Carman, and the Waterman; +and a pleasant Scene it must be to see the _Master of the Temple_ laying +about him in the Language of the Stairs." + +To the Dean's Scoff, that _this Argument_, &c. _was worth its weight in +Gold, tho the_ Dean _fears it will not much enrich the Buyer_, the Doctor +replies[127], "What is that to him? Let him mind his own Markets, who +never writes to _enrich the Buyer_ but the Seller; and that _Seller_ is +himself: and since he is so, well is it for his Books and his Bookseller +too, that Men generally _buy_ before they _read_." + +In requital of the scurrilous Character of an _ingenious Blunderer_, Dr. +_South_ says[128], "He must here return upon him the just Charge of an +_impious Blasphemer_, and that upon more Accounts than one; telling him +withal, that had he liv'd in the former Times of the Church, his Gown +would have been stript off his Back for his detestable Blasphemies and +Heresies, and some other Place found out for him to perch in than the Top +of St. _Paul's_, where at present he is placed like a true Church +Weather-Cock, (as he is) notable for nothing so much, as _standing high +and turning round_." + +Again, he says[129], "And so I take my leave of the Dean's _three distinct +infinite Minds, Spirits_, or _Substances_, that is to say, of his _three +Gods_; and having done this, methinks I see him go whimpering away with +his Finger in his Eye, and the Complaint of _Micah_ in his Mouth, _Ye have +taken away my Gods which I made, and what have I more_[130]? Tho he must +confess, he cannot tell why he should be so fond of them, since he dares +undertake that he will never be able to bring the Christian World either +to believe in, or to worship a _Trinity of Gods_: Nor does he see what use +they are likely to be of, even to himself, unless peradventure to _swear +by_." + +Again, the Doctor says[131], "The Dean's following Instruction to his +Friend is certainly very diverting, in these words, where the Animadverter +charges the Dean with Absurdities and Contradictions; turn to the Place +and read it with its Context, and tell me what you cannot answer, and I +will; to which he would have done well to have added, _If I can_. But the +whole Passage is just as if he had said, Sir, if you find not +Contradictions and Absurdities enough in my Book to satisfy your Curiosity +that way, pray come to the Fountain-head, and consult me, and you shall be +sure of a more plentiful Supply." + +Again, upon the Dean's "Frequent reproaching the [132] Animadverter with +the Character of a _Wit_, tho join'd with such ill-favour'd Epithets, as +his witless Malice has thought fit to degrade it with, as that he is _a +spiteful Wit_, a _wrangling Wit_, a _satirical Wit_, and the WITTY, +_subtle_, _good-natur'd Animadverter, &c._ the Dr. says, that tho there be +but little _Wit_ shewn in making such Charges; yet if _Wit_ be a +_Reproach_ (be it of what sort it will) the Animadverter is too _just_ to +return this _Reproach_ upon the _Defender_; and withal, understands +himself, and what becomes him, too well, either to _assume_ to himself, or +so much as to _admit_ the Character of a _Wit_, as at all due to him; +especially since he knows that _common Sense_ (a thing much short of Wit) +is enough to enable him to deal with such an Adversary. Nevertheless, +there are many in the World, who are both call'd and accounted _Wits_, and +really are so; which (one would think) should derive something of Credit +upon this Qualification, even in the Esteem of this Author himself, or at +least rebate the Edge of his Invectives against it, considering that it +might have pleas'd God to have made him a _Wit_ too." + + +XVII. As things now stand, it may easily be seen, that Prosecutions for +_Raillery_ and _Irony_ would not be relish'd well by the Publick, and +would probably turn to the Disreputation and Disgrace of the Prosecutor. + +Archbishop _Laud_ has always been much censur'd for his malicious +Prosecution of _Williams_ in the _Star-Chamber_; among whose Crimes I find +the following laid to his Charge: [133] _That he said all Flesh in_ +England _had corrupted their Ways_; that _he call'd a Book intitled_, A +Coal from the Altar (written by Dr. _Heylin_, for placing the +Communion-Table at the East-end of the Church, and railing it in) _a +Pamphlet_; that he _scoffingly said, that he had heard of a Mother Church, +but not of a Mother Chapel, meaning the King's, to which all Churches in +Ceremony ought to conform_; that _he wickedly jested on St._ Martin_'s +Hood_; that _he said the People ought not to be lash'd by every body's +Whip_; that _he said_, (citing _a National Council for it_) _that the +People are God's and the King's, and not the Priest's People; and that he +doth not allow Priests to jeer and make Invectives against the People_. +And I humbly conceive, that such Matters had much better be suffer'd to go +on in the World, and take their Course, than that Courts of Judicature +should be employ'd about them. A Sentence that imply'd some _Clergymen_ +corrupt, as well as some _Laymen_, of whom _Laud_ would only allow to have +it said, that they had _corrupted their Ways_; a _Jest_ upon St. +_Martin_'s _Hood_, which, according to Ecclesiastical History, _cur'd sore +Eyes_; and a _Ridicule_ upon a High-Church Book of _Heylin_'s, by calling +it a Pamphlet, tho it was really a Pamphlet, as consisting of but seventy +Pages in Quarto; seem less _wicked_ and hurtful than disturbing, fining, +and undoing Men about them. And the having some Concern for the People, +that they should not be used as the Priest pleas'd; that the _People_ +belong to _God_ and the _King_, and _not to the Priest_; and the _not +allowing_ the _Priests_ to _jeer and make Invectives against the People_; +seem all Errors fit to be born with. + +Archbishop _Laud_ was also thought guilty of an excessive Piece of +Weakness in the Punishment of [134] _Archibald_ the King's Fool, by laying +the Matter before the Privy-Council, and occasioning him to be expell'd +the King's House for a poor _Jest_ upon himself; who, as he was a Man at +the Head of the State, should have despis'd such a thing in any Body, much +more in a _Fool_, and who should never have been hurried on to be the +Instrument of any _Motion_ against him, but have left it to others; who +upon the least Intimation would have been glad to make their court to +_Laud_, by sacrificing a _Fool_ only to his Resentment. + + +XVIII. I could have entertain'd the Reader with a great Variety of +Passages out of the Fathers of the Church, whose Writings are Magazines of +Authority, and urg'd upon us upon all Occasions by Ecclesiasticks, and are +particularly full of _Burlesque_ and _Ridicule_ on the _Gods and Religion_ +of the _Pagans_; in the use whereof they are much more unanimous, than in +the Articles of their _Creed_. But that being a Subject too great and +extensive for a Digression, I shall content my self with the few following +Reflections; which will sufficiently evince, that the _Taste_ of the +Primitive Christians was like that of the rest of the World; that they +could laugh and be as merry as the _Greeks_ and other _Pagans_; and that +they would take the Advantage of the _Pagans_ weak Cause, to introduce +_Ridicule_, which always bears hard upon Weakness and Folly, and must load +them so as to prevent a Possibility of their being remov'd by another +_Ridicule_. + +These Fathers have transfused into their Writings all the Wit and Raillery +of the antient _Pagan_ Writers and Philosophers; who it is well known +wrote a great deal to turn _Paganism_ into Ridicule; most of which now +exists no where but in the Works of the Fathers; all Books of that kind +being lost, except _Cicero_'s Books of _the Nature of Gods_, and of +_Divination_, and the Dialogues of _Lucian_; both which Authors have been +of great use to the _Fathers_ to set them up for _Wits_, _Droles_, and +_Satirists_. For a Specimen how well these antient _Pagans_ could _drole_, +and how much beholden we are to the Fathers for recording their +Drolleries, the most remarkable, I think, are some _Fragments_ of a Book +of _Oenomaus_ concerning the _Pagan Oracles_, cited and preserv'd by [135] +_Eusebius_; who has given us occasion to [136] _regret_ the loss of this +Work, as one of the most valuable Books written by the Antients on the +Subject of _Oracles_, tho those Books were _very numerous_. And it is to +be observ'd, that this Book and a great many, perhaps a [137] thousand +more, were publish'd in _Greece_, where the Imposture of _Oracles_ greatly +prevail'd, and great Wealth flow'd in, not only to the Priests of the +_Oracular Temples_, but to all the Inhabitants of _Greece_, and especially +to those who lived in the Neighbourhood of the several _Oracular +Temples_; who made a great Profit from the rich Travellers, that came from +all Parts of the World to know their Fortunes. This shews the great +Integrity and Fairness of the old _Pagans_; who would suffer not only +their supposed standing Revelation to be call'd in question, but a +Revelation that brought in as much Money, as the Chapels, Churches, and +Shrines dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, or to any of the Saints, do in +the _Roman_ Church, without calling any Man to Account for the Liberties +they took; who, as far as appears, were not expos'd [138] _to any Danger_ +thereby. It is also to be observ'd, that the merry [139] _Epicureans were +none of them ever prosecuted_, and _that_ Epicurus _himself died quietly +at_ Athens _in a very great old Age_. + +But the Book, which the Fathers made the most use of, was that arch, fly, +and drolling Performance, now lost, of _Evemerus_, which he intitled, _A +sacred History_: wherein he gave an _historical Account_ of the _Birth_, +_Country_, _Lives_, _Deaths_, and _Burials_ of the _Gods_. This Work was +translated into _Latin_ by that arch Wag _Ennius_, who himself has most +ingeniously _ridicul'd_ several Impostors or very grave Persons, in a +remarkable Piece of Poetry, which I shall give my Reader in _English_. + + "_I value not a Rush the_ Marsian _Augur,_ + "_Nor Country-Fortune Tellers, nor Town-Star-Gazers,_ + "_Nor jugling Gypsies, nor yet Dream-Interpreters:_ + "_For, not by Skill or Art, are these Diviners;_ + "_But superstitious Prophets, Guessers impudent,_ + "_Or idle Rogues, or craz'd, or mere starving Beggars._ + "_They know no way themselves, yet others would direct;_ + "_And crave a Groat of those, to whom they promise Riches:_ + "_Thence let them take the Groat, and give back all the rest._ + + +XIX. Wherefore I cannot but presume, that an Attempt to make a _Law_ to +restrain _Irony_, &c. would prove abortive, and that the Attempt would be +deem'd the Effect of a very partial Consideration of things, and of +present Anger at a poor Jest; which Men are not able to bear themselves, +how much soever they abound in _Jests_, both of the _light_ and _cruel_ +kind, on others: tho for my own part I concur heartily with you in +_making_ such a _Law_, and in leaving it to a Person of your _Equity_ to +draw it up, craving only the Liberty to propose an Amendment or Addition, +_viz._ that you would be pleas'd to insert a Clause to prevent _Irony_, +_Ridicule_, and _Banter_, from invading the Pulpit, and particularly to +prevent pointing out _Persons of Men_ [140] from thence, and reviling +them, as also reviling whole Bodies of Men: For whatever is immoral in +Print, is, in my Opinion, immoral in the Pulpit. Besides, these things +seem more improper in the Pulpit, than they can be in Print: because no +_Reprisals_ can be made in the former, as in the latter Case; where they, +or the Fear of them, may give some Check to the Disorder, and reduce +things to a tolerable Temper and Decency. If, in order to justify my +Motion, it could be thought necessary or proper here to give a Detail of +ridiculing and ironical Passages, taken from Sermons against particular +Men, and Bodies of Men, and their Doctrines, you cannot but know how easy +it would be to fill a Volume with them, without going to Authors, who have +occasionally produc'd abundance of them. And I will only mention here a +Passage in a _Volume of Sermons_, just now publish'd, of a well known +_High Divine_, the Reverend Mr. _William Reeves_, made famous by his +_Translation_ of some _Apologies of the Primitive Fathers_, which gain'd +him the Applauses of a great many _High Men_, and particularly _Hickes_, +_Dodwel_, and _Nelson_, &c. and a Recommendation from the last to the +Queen, who in the latter end of her Reign made him _Chaplain in Ordinary_, +and obtain'd for him a considerable Preferment. This Gentleman, attacking +Bishop _Hoadley_'s _Sermon_ of _The Kingdom of Christ_, says[141], "In +these last Days we have been taught to be as indolent and unconcern'd as +possible in the Service of God: A noted _Novellist_ [Bp. _Hoadley_] among +many other odd _Engines_, hath invented one, to pump out all Devotion from +Prayer, and make it a _Vacuum_. Instead of the old fervent, affectionate +way of Worshipping, he hath substituted a new Idol, a Vanity, a Nothing of +his own, _a calm and undisturb'd Address to God_.----The _Arrows_ and +_bitter Words_ Mr. _Hales_ hath levell'd against _Rome_ only, our Right +Reverend hath _pointed a-new_, and shot them full against the Church he +superintends, and with all the Force of inbred, fanatick Fury. And by this +time surely it is well known, that he is a very _warm Man_ in every thing, +but his _Prayers_." + + +XX. Instead of addressing the foregoing Papers to you, I could have +address'd them to several others; who of late have thought fit to +recognize the Right of Men, to examine into, and judge for themselves in +all Matters of speculation, and especially in Matters of mere Religion, +and to publish their Reasons against any Opinions they judge erroneous, +tho publickly receiv'd in the Country where they live, provided they do it +_seriously_ and _gravely_: which is a noble Progress in Truth, and owing +to that glorious Liberty, and Freedom of Debate, that we enjoy under our +most excellent Princes; and which extorts it even from them, who, to have +some Credit in the World, are forced to own, what would discredit them to +go on to deny, among all who have any degree of _Virtue_, _Sense_, and +_Learning_. But I was determin'd to address my self to you, as a Person of +more remarkable _Moderation_ than ordinary in your _Letter_ to Dr. +_Rogers_: And one, who had, long before, in your _Defence of the +Constitution in Church and State; in answer to the Charge of the +Nonjurors, accusing us of Heresy and Schism, Perjury and Treason_, "valu'd +[142] and commended the Integrity of the Nonjurors in declaring their +Sentiments:" and who, tho you justly charge those of them you write +against, "as attacking us with such uncommon Marks of Violence [143] as +most plainly intimate, that no Measures are intended to be kept with us by +them in the Day of their Prosperity, who in the Day of their Adversity, +even when they are most at Mercy, cannot refrain from such _raging_ +Provocations; but when reduced to the Necessity of _taking_ Quarter, +profess most plainly they will never give it:" Yet as to these Enemies, +who would destroy our Church and State, and [144] "revive upon us the +Charge of _Heresy_ and _Schism_, _Perjury_ and _Treason_, Crimes of no +small figure either in the Law or in the Gospel," you only say, that "if +you may have leave to borrow a Thought from [145] one of their own most +celebrated Writers, you would tell them, that _the Blood and Spirits were +made to rise upon such Occasions_: Nature design'd not, that we should be +cold or indifferent in our manner of receiving, or returning, such foul +Reproaches." This is great Moderation, and such as I heartily approve, +being dispos'd to forgive the Punishment due by Law to any Fault, when the +Non-execution of it will not overturn the Government. And I am willing to +hope, that since you can think that such bitter Adversaries to you, as +these licentious _Jacobites_ are, should only be smartly replied to, and +not be prosecuted by the Government, you will, upon Reflection, think, +that a merry, good humour'd Adversary should be treated as well. + +Tho I have endeavour'd to defend the Use of _Ridicule_ and _Irony_, yet it +is such _Irony_ and _Ridicule_ only as is fit for polite Persons to use. +As to the gross _Irony_ and _Ridicule_, I disapprove of it, as I do other +Faults in Writing; only I would not have Men punish'd, or any other way +disturb'd about it, than by a Return of _Ridicule_ and _Irony_. This I +think fit to conclude with, more to prevent Misrepresentation from others, +than from you; whom I look on to have too much Sense and Integrity to +mistake or misrepresent me. + +_I am Yours, &c._ + + +_FINIS._ + + + + +WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY + +UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + + +THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + +PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + +PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT + + +1948-1949 + +16. Henry Nevil Payne, _The Fatal Jealousie_ (1673). + +18. Anonymous, "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 1 +(1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation_ (1720). + + +1949-1950 + +19. Susanna Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709). + +20. Lewis Theobald, _Preface to the Works of Shakespeare_ (1734). + +22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two _Rambler_ +papers (1750). + +23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681). + + +1950-1951 + +26. Charles Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1792). + + +1951-1952 + +31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751), and _The +Eton College Manuscript_. + + +1952-1953 + +41. Bernard Mandeville, _A Letter to Dion_ (1732). + + +1963-1964 + +104. Thomas D'Urfey, _Wonders in the Sun; or, The Kingdom of the Birds_ +(1706). + + +1964-1965 + +110. John Tutchin, _Selected Poems_ (1685-1700). + +111. Anonymous, _Political Justice_ (1736). + +112. Robert Dodsley, _An Essay on Fable_ (1764). + +113. T. R., _An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning_ (1698). + +114. _Two Poems Against Pope:_ Leonard Welsted, _One Epistle to Mr. A. +Pope_ (1730), and Anonymous, _The Blatant Beast_ (1742). + + +1965-1966 + +115. Daniel Defoe and others, _Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal_. + +116. Charles Macklin, _The Covent Garden Theatre_ (1752). + +117. Sir George L'Estrange, _Citt and Bumpkin_ (1680). + +118. Henry More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus_ (1662). + +119. Thomas Traherne, _Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation_ +(1717). + +120. Bernard Mandeville, _Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables_ (1704). + + +1966-1967 + +123. Edmond Malone, _Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to Mr. +Thomas Rowley_ (1782). + +124. Anonymous, _The Female Wits_ (1704). + +125. Anonymous, _The Scribleriad_ (1742). Lord Hervey, _The Difference +Between Verbal and Practical Virtue_ (1742). + + +1967-1968 + +129. Lawrence Echard, Prefaces to _Terence's Comedies_ (1694) and +_Plautus's Comedies_ (1694). + +130. Henry More, _Democritus Platonissans_ (1646). + +132. Walter Harte, _An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad_ +(1730). + + +1968-1969 + +133. John Courtenay, _A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral +Character of the Late Samuel Johnson_ (1786). + +134. John Downes, _Roscius Anglicanus_ (1708). + +135. Sir John Hill, _Hypochondriasis, a Practical Treatise_ (1766). + +136. Thomas Sheridan, _Discourse ... Being Introductory to His Course of +Lectures on Elocution and the English Language_ (1759). + +137. Arthur Murphy, _The Englishman From Paris_ (1736). + +138. [Catherine Trotter], _Olinda's Adventures_ (1718). + + +Publications of the first fifteen years of the Society (numbers 1-90) are +available in paperbound units of six issues at $16.00 per unit, from the +Kraus Reprint Company, 16 East 46th Street, New York, N.Y. 10017. + +Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of +$5.00 yearly. Prices of single issues may be obtained upon request. +Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus. + + +THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + +WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY + +UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + +2520 Cimarron Street (at West Adams), Los Angeles, California 90018 + +_Make check or money order payable to_ + +THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA William Andrews Clark +Memorial Library: University of California, Los Angeles + +THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + +2520 CIMARRON STREET, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90018 + +_General Editors:_ William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial +Library; George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles; +Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles + +_Corresponding Secretary:_ Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark +Memorial Library + +The Society's purpose is to publish rare Restoration and +eighteenth-century works (usually as facsimile reproductions). All income +of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and mailing. + +Correspondence concerning memberships in the United States and Canada +should be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary at the William Andrews +Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, California. +Correspondence concerning editorial matters may be addressed to the +General Editors at the same address. Manuscripts of introductions should +conform to the recommendations of the MLA _Style Sheet_. The membership +fee is $5.00 a year in the United States and Canada and L1.19.6 in Great +Britain and Europe. British and European prospective members should +address B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. Copies of back +issues in print may be obtained from the Corresponding Secretary. + +Publications of the first fifteen years of the Society (numbers 1-90) are +available in paperbound units of six issues at $16.00 per unit, from the +Kraus Reprint Company, 16 East 46th Street, New York, N.Y. 10017. + +Make check or money order payable to THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF +CALIFORNIA + + +REGULAR PUBLICATIONS FOR 1969-1970 + +139. John Ogilvie, _An Essay on the lyric poetry of the ancients_ (1762). +Introduction by Wallace Jackson. + +140. _A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling_ (1726) and _Pudding burnt to pot +or a compleat key to the Dissertation on Dumpling_ (1727). Introduction by +Samuel L. Macey. + +141. Selections from Sir Roger L'Estrange's _Observator_ (1681-1687). +Introduction by Violet Jordain. + +142. Anthony Collins, _A Discourse concerning Ridicule and Irony in +writing_ (1729). Introduction by Edward A. Bloom and Lillian D. Bloom. + +143. _A Letter from a clergyman to his friend, with an account of the +travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver_ (1726). Introduction by Martin +Kallich. + +144. _The Art of Architecture, a poem. In imitation of Horace's Art of +poetry_ (1742). Introduction by William A. Gibson. + + +SPECIAL PUBLICATION FOR 1969-1970 + +Gerard Langbaine, _An Account of the English Dramatick Poets_ (1691), +Introduction by John Loftis. 2 Volumes. Approximately 600 pages. Price to +members of the Society, $7.00 for the first copy (both volumes), and $8.50 +for additional copies. Price to non-members, $10.00. + +Already published in this series: + +1. John Ogilby, _The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse_ (1668), with an +Introduction by Earl Miner. 228 pages. + +2. John Gay, _Fables_ (1727, 1738), with an Introduction by Vinton A. +Dearing. 366 pages. + +3. _The Empress of Morocco and Its Critics_ (Elkanah Settle, _The Empress +of Morocco_ [1673] with five plates; _Notes and Observations on the +Empress of Morocco_ [1674] by John Dryden, John Crowne and Thomas +Snadwell; _Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco Revised_ +[1674] by Elkanah Settle; and _The Empress of Morocco. A Farce_ [1674] by +Thomas Duffett), with an Introduction by Maximillian E. Novak. 348 pages. + +4. _After THE TEMPEST_ (the Dryden-Davenant version of _The Tempest_ +[1670]; the "operatic" _Tempest_ [1674]; Thomas Duffett's _Mock-Tempest_ +[1675]; and the "Garrick" _Tempest_ [1756]), with an Introduction by +George Robert Guffey. 332 pages. + +Price to members of the Society, $3.50 for the first copy of each title, +and $4.25 for additional copies. Price to non-members, $5.00. Standing +orders for this continuing series of Special Publications will be +accepted. British and European orders should be addressed to B. H. +Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[28] _Page_ 337. + +[29] _Pag._ 302. + +[30] _Page_ 301. + +[31] _Pag._ 307. + +[32] Stillingfleet's _Answer to several late Treatises_, &c. _Page_ 14. + +[33] _Pag._ 71. + +[34] Vindication of the Answer to the Royal Papers. _p._ 105. + +[35] _Preface to_ Unreasonableness of Separation. _p._ 62. + +[36] Rule's _Rational Defence_ of Nonconf. _p._ 29. + +[37] _Preface to_ Stillingfleet _still against_ Stillingfleet. + +[38] _Preface to a Discourse of_ Miracles wrote in the _Roman_ Church, +_&c._ + +[39] See _Stillingfleet_'s Second Vind. of the Protestant Grounds of +Faith, _c._ 3. + +[40] _Edwards's_ New Discov. _p._ 184-215. + +[41] _Ecclesiast. Hist._ cent. 8. _p._ 196. + +[42] Vind. _p._ 199. + +[43] _See_ Shaftesbury's _Characteristicks_, Vol. I. p. 61. + +[44] Memoirs de Trevoux, _An._ 1707. _p._ 396. _An._ 1717. _p._ 1200. + +[45] _Trapp_'s Popery truly stated, _p._ 123. + +[46] _Preface._ + +[47] _Heylin_'s History of the Presbyterians, _p._ 391. + +[48] _Wotton_ on the _Misna_, p. 118. + +[49] _Freeholder_, No 30. + +[50] _Freeholder_, Numb. xlv. + +[51] _See_ Cicero de Officiis, _l._ 1. _c._ 30. + +[52] _See_ Patrick_'s Friendly Debate_, Part 1, _p._ 139-141. 5_th Edit._ + +[53] _Preface to_ The State of the Roman Catholick Religion, _p._ 11. + +[54] De Divin. l. 2. c. 25. + +[55] _Rog. Hoveden_, Pars ii. p. 520. + +[56] 1 _Kings_ xviii. + +[57] _Psalm_ ii. 4. + +[58] _Gen._ iii. 22. + +[59] Archaeolog. Philos. _l._ 2. _c._ 7. + +[60] Shaftesbury _in Charact._ Vol. 3. _and_ Whitchcot_'s Sermons_: Vol. +I. + +[61] Shaftesbury's _Characteristicks_, Vol. I. p. 71. + +[62] _Page_ 307. + +[63] _How useful_ Lestrange_'s_ Observators, _which were design'd to +expose the Dissenters to Contempt and Persecution, were deem'd to the +Church at the time they were publish'd, may be judged of by Bp._ Burnet, +_who says_ [_in his_ Eighteen Papers, _p._ 90.] "_Another Buffoon was +hired to plague the Nation with three or four Papers a Week, which to the +Reproach of the Age in which we live, had but too great and too general +Effect, for poisoning the Spirits of the Clergy._" + +[64] _In this Work the Dissenters and Low Churchmen are sufficiently +rally'd and abus'd, and particularly the_ Free-Thinkers, _whose_ Creed _is +therein represented as consisting of these two Negatives_, No Queen and no +God. _Examiners_, Vol. 3. p. 12. + +_Mr._ Addison _tells us_ [Freeholder No. 19.] "_the_ Examiner _was the +favourite Work of the Party. It was usher'd into the World by a Letter +from a Secretary of State, setting forth the great Genius of the Author, +the Usefulness of his Design, and the mighty Consequences that were to be +expected from it. It is said to be written by those among them whom they +look'd upon as their most celebrated Wits and Politicians, and was +dispers'd into all Quarters of the Nation with great Industry and +Expence.----In this Paper all the great Men who had done eminent Services +to their Country, but a few Years before, were draughted out one by one, +and baited in their Turns. No Sanctity of Character, or Privilege of Sex +exempted Persons.----Several of our Prelates were the standing Marks of +publick Raillery._----" + +[65] _In his_ Ecclesiastical Policy, _his_ Defence and Continuation +_thereof, and his_ Reproof to _Marvel_'s Rehearsal transpos'd. + +[66] _In his_ Friendly Debates. + +[67] _In his six Volumes of_ Sermons, _and in his_ Books _of the_ Trinity. + +[68] _In his_ Discourse of the Knowledge of Christ, _&c. his_ Defences of +Dr. _Stillingfleet_'s Unreasonableness of Separation, _and his_ Answer _to +the_ Protestant Reconciler. + +[69] _In his Translation of_ Dryden_'s_ Absalom _and_ Achitophel _into_ +Latin _Verse, whereby he was first flush'd; and in his_ Convocational +Controversy, _and in his numerous State Libels_. + +[70] _In his_ Sermons, Rights of the Church, _and especially his_ +Character of a Low-Church-man, _drawn to abuse Bishop_ Floyd. + +[71] _Of this, the Trials of_ Penn _and_ Mead _before_ Howel, _and of_ +Baxter _before_ Jefferys, _are Master Pieces; of which last you have an +Account in_ Kennet_'s_ Compleat History of _England, Vol. 3d. and of the +former in_ the Phoenix, _Vol._ I. + +[72] Snape_'s_ Vindication against _Pilloniere_. p. 50. + +[73] _Id._ p. 63. + +[74] _The Stage condemn'd_, p. 2. + +[75] Popery truly stated, _p._ 127, 128. + +[76] _Pag._ 75, 76, 77, 79, 81, 112, 113, 120, 122, 124, 125. + +[77] _Sermons_, Vol. III. p. 299. + +[78] Rule of Faith, _p._ 347, 348. + +[79] See _p._ 57. + +[80] _Pag._ 59. + +[81] _Pag._ 57. + +[82] Burnet_'s_ History of his own Times, _p._ 674. + +[83] Ib. _p._ 792. + +[84] Ibid. _p._ 740. + +[85] Ibid. _p._ 683. + +[86] _The Protestant Mouse speaks._ + +[87] _Boyer_'s Life of Queen _Anne_, in the Annual List of the Deaths, +_p._ 65. + +[88] _A_ Clergyman _preach'd thus to his_ Auditory: _"You have_ Moses +_and_ Aaron _before you, and the Organs behind you, so are a happy People; +for what greater Comfort would mortal Men have?"_ See _Walker_'s +Sufferings, _&c. p._ 178. + +[89] _See the Article_ Heylin, in _Wood_'s Athenae Oxon. + +[90] Burnet_'s Hist._ p. 100. + +[91] _Characteristicks_, Vol. I. p. 259. + +[92] Burnet. _ibid._ + +[93] Page 177. + +[94] Burnet _p._ 95. + +[95] Kennet_'s Register_, p. 258. + +[96] _Ibid._ p. 516. + +[97] Burnet_'s Hist._ + +[98] Kennet_'s Register_, p. 111. + +[99] Burnet_'s History_, p. 107. + +[100] _See the Bp. of_ Bangor_'s Preface to the_ Answer _to the_ +Representation _of the Lower House of Convocation_. + +[101] Ward_'s Life of Dr._ Henry More, _p._ 120. + +[102] Ibid. _p._ 122. + +[103] _See the several Lives of him._ + +[104] _Life lately printed_, 1726. p. 99. + +[105] Burnet_'s Hist._ p. 95. + +[106] Temple_'s Works_, Vol. II. p. 40. + +[107] _Collection of authentick Records_, Vol. II. p. 1099. + +[108] _Second Letter to the Bishop of_ London, _p._ 3, 4. + +[109] _History_, p. 260. + +[110] _Mat._ xxvi. 67, 68. + +[111] Elwood_'s History of his own Life_, &c. _p._ 318. + +[112] _Remarks on some late Sermons_, &c. _p._ 34. + +[113] _Pag._ 52. + +[114] _Answer to_ State of the Protestants in _Ireland_, &c. _p._ 108. + +[115] _Pag._ 120, 121. + +[116] _Preface_, p. 14. + +[117] _Pag._ 11, 24. + +[118] _Pag._ 1. + +[119] _Pag._ 4, 11, 12, 13, 19. + +[120] Appendix to Parliamentary Original, &c. _p._ 14. + +[121] Some Remarks on the Temper of some late Writers, &c. _p._ 33. + +[122] Preface to Animad. _p._ 12, 13. + +[123] Animad. _p._ 114. + +[124] Ibid. _p._ 332. + +[125] Ibid. _p._ 348. + +[126] Tritheism charged, _p._ 2, 3. + +[127] Ib. _p._ 108. + +[128] Ibid. _p._ 170. + +[129] Ibid. _p._ 281. + +[130] Judg. 18.24. + +[131] Ib. _p._ 285. + +[132] Ibid. _p._ 299. + +[133] _Fuller_'s Church History, Cent. 17. B. 11. Sect. 89, Parag. 10. + +[134] _Rushworth_, Part II. Vol. I. _p._ 471. + +[135] _Prap. Evang._ l. 4. p. 209-234. + +[136] Fontenelle, Historie des Oracles. I. Dissert. c. vii. + +[137] Euseb. Id. l. 4. + +[138] _Baltus_, Suite de la Reponse a l'His. des Oracles, _p._ 283. + +[139] _Ibid._ + +[140] _Bp._ Hoadley_'s Answer to_ the Representation, _&c. Pref._ p. 12. + +[141] _Page_ 91. + +[142] _Page_ 2. + +[143] _Page_ 1. + +[144] _Page_ 4, 5. + +[145] _Mr._ Collier. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. + +Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate +both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as +presented in the original text. + +Long "s" has been modernized. + +The inclusion of two footnotes numbered 53 in intentional to reflect the +original text. + +Footnote placement in this text reflects the placement in the original, +either inside punctuation or spaced between words. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "administred" corrected to "administered" (page i) + "othodoxy" corrected to "orthodoxy" (page vi) + "Trap's" corrected to "Trapp's" (page 12) + "Rididicule" corrected to "Ridicule" (page 19) + "ridiulons" corrected to "ridiculous" (page 63) + "qustion" corrected to "question" (page 73) + +Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in +spelling, punctuation, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been retained. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and +Irony in Writing (1729), by Anthony Collins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDICULE, IRONY IN WRITING *** + +***** This file should be named 30343.txt or 30343.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/3/4/30343/ + +Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Joseph Cooper, Stephanie +Eason, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |