Selected quad for the lemma: book_n
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A58027
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A vindication of An essay concerning critical and curious learning in which are contained some short reflections on the controversie betwixt Sir William Temple and Mr. Wotton, and that betwixt Dr. Bentley and Mr. Boyle : in an answer to an Oxford pamphlet / by the author of that essay.
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Rymer, Thomas, 1641-1713.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing R2434; ESTC R35155
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20,355
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62
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much urge my own single Opinion as deliver the Sense of every Body that knew them which I could easily make appear was it not too invidious a Task But if I could not this Gentleman has effectually done it for me He has given the World a fresh and unquestionable Evidence that there is as much Vanity at least as Learning in that College as I shall prove by and by from his own Words If instead of making Amendments in my Title Page he had given me some Useful Monitions and Grave Advice and told me that it was a Rule in Satyr Parcere personis dicere de vitijs that Truth was not to be spoken at all times c. I might very probably have stood Corrected and never have troubled you nor him with this Defence But he is pleased to be scurrilous and I must go on with him to the next Accusation which is for erecting a Critical Tribunal and making you and my self the Arbitrary Judges of it Could this be made out I must confess he would have great Reason to complain of me for removing that Court of extream Justice from his Residence and for wresting the Authority out of their Hands who have more leisure and assurance to put it in Execution But I cannot imagine what brought the Whim into his Head There is not the least Ground for it in that Sentence he seems to point at in the Essay where after professing my own Inability and Unwillingness to venture upon so Nice a Topick I say In order to begin that Correspondence betwixt us which your Letter so kindly proposes and which is so much for my own Benefit I will here give my imperfect Thoughts upon c. He might as well have found out the Doctrine of Transubstantiation in these Words as any such Meaning but when a Man is resolved to say what comes next who can help it Hitherto the Essay and the Essayer as he calls me are only concerned But now you have Dr. Bentley forced in by Neck and Heels to bear me Company and take his share of the Satyr It seems he is never to escape the Gaul of their acute Pens for otherwise I cannot conceive why he is named here only to tell the Courteous Reader that he had nothing to do with this Treatise The same Argument would have brought in the Czar of Muscovy and many other great Men that never dreamt of turning Authors unless he will insist upon it that he has but two Reasons to believe the Dr. did not write it and perhaps there may be two and twenty to think the Czar did not But then he must consider again that one of the Reasons he has given is as good as one thousand and in such a Gase a little Logick with the Help of as much Philosophy would have taught him to conceal his private Resentments If Dr. Bentley had not been a Man of Self-love and Pride commoâ— Sense sure would have hindered him from dealing so very freely with Mr. Wotton and himself For I cannot see what Real Service it could do him at the bottom to wound his Enemy through his own sides The other Reason indeed I doubt was thrown in unawares or with a Design meerly to mortifie the Doctor For he no sooner says that I write a better Style than the Doctor but you may perceive he immediately recollects himself and least I should grow proud upon it calls me in the same Breath a Traducer of the University a Reviler of the Clergy an Underminer of the Church and an Overthrower of Religion And which is still more notorious for I was to expect no better Language from him he bestows the same Compliments upon the Doctor too without any regard at all to his Character One would have thought Dr. Bentley's Sermons against Atheism for I must suppose our Student has read them would have secured him in particâ—lar from such insufferable Calumnies I hope after this he will not complain of any Man's incivility There are no such Aspersions to be found in my late Piece The Liberty there taken with Dr. Aldrich is of aâ—other Nature of a much lower form For any thing I have said to the contrary he may still be an Honest Man and a good Christian. I medled not with his Morals or way of Life because it would have been an impertinent and unjustifiable way of Detâ—action which I thought bâ—low me And yet this Censor Moâ— this Correcter of my Intolâ—rable Freedoms has not boggled at it himself Whatever he may think of my Squireship I have a greater Respect for any Dignified Divine than to call him an Atheist I am not so like Almanzor as he would elsewhere have me to do all this because I dare Every Man's Reputation especially a Clergy man's ought to be Sacred The Law makes it so and has providâ—d Penalties against the Authors oâ— Libels and Deâ—amatory Books But if â—here was no Satisfaction to be had in these cases it is a mean and ungenerous thing to expose and pâ—t lish any one's Faults especially such as may really wound his Character and good Name in the World No body that had had any Notion of Honour or Good Manners would have been guilty of it when it had no relation at all to his Subject So much for my Morals In the next place you have an Account of my Learning But I would gladly know what there is in this piece that should make it gain so mighty a Reputation as you say it has and particularly how it comes to deserve your Esteem notwithstanding the aversion you are pleased to say you have to the Satyrical Stuff in it It is indeed called I should say miscalled An Essay concerning Critical and Curious Learning Which I must own is a very promising Title and one might reasonably expect somâ—thing new and delicate upon so nice an Argument It came to my Hands with an extraordinary Advantage in that it had your Recommendation I durst not pass any Censure upon it I suspended my Judgment and read it again and again but I liked it worse every time I did so I cannot indeed but acknowledge I had some little reason to be byassed when I found the Worthy and Reverend Dean of Christ Church so undecently treated and the Reputation of â—is whole Society arraigned in a most imperious and insolent Manner This Paragraph is civil enough in Conscience from a professed Adversary and if I manage it to the best advantage I shall be able to pick up a Compliment or two at least out of it which may make some little amends for his former Rudenesses First then he tells me the Essay has gained a good Reputation in General that his Friend in particular was pleased to pass a Favourable Censure upon it and that truly for his own part he is byassed upon the Dean of Christ-Church's account After this frank Confession of his Partiality I can easily forgive his calling what is said upon his College Satyrical Stuff I
A VINDICATION OF An ESSAY concerning Critical and Curious Learning In which are contained Some Short Reflections on the Controversie betwixt Sir WILLIAM TEMPLE AND Mr. WOTTON And that betwixt Dr. BENTLEY AND Mr. BOYL In Answer to an Oxford Pamphlet By the Author of that Essay Pudet haec opprobria Vobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli LONDON Printed for E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1698. A VINDICATION OF An ESSAY concerning Critical and Curious Learning c. IN Answer to an Oxford Pamphlet SIR I Little thought there would have been any Need of Defending the short Essay concerning Critical and Curious Learning c. which I â—ately Writ and Printed you know â—urely in Complyance to your Desires But I did not consider how tenderly some People are affected with any thing that looks like a Reproof It was no sooner published but out comes an acute Answer from Oxon and pronounces it a down-right Ignorant and impudent Libel and the Author of it an Atheistical Town-Wit Whether this dreadful Charge is made out or not shall be my present Inquiry and because I am not much in love with the Laâ—pooner's method of Railing in general and talking at random I will beg your Patience while I take every particular Paragraph into a distinct but short Examination Not that I think there is any thing in this Trivial Paper worth the trouble for on the other Hand Pudet recitare nugis addere pondâ—s But the Author seems to be so full of himself and writes with such a Magisterial Air that some People especially those that are byassed may be apt to fancy he has Justice on his side and that my Silence is a tacit acknowledgment of it Besides I may possibly do him himself no disservice in shewing him how unfit a Champion he is to undertake the Defence of a Publick Cause There is a vast difference betwixt the Qualifications which may make a Man appear advantagiously enough in an University and those which will render him acceptable and Eminent in the World But I do not Sir pretend to undervalue an University Education for I know the moâ—t considerable Personages of our Nation have always been those who had their first Institutions there I would only urge that a Man must have a more diffused and mixed Converâ—ation than is to be met with in a College before his Learning will sit agreeably upon him or he can hope to become a finish'd Scholar such a one I mean as this Gentleman takes himself to be I can Observe no Method in what I am about You must take it as it comes in the Confusion he has delivered it And therefore without any more Preliminary I will begin to Transcribe Viz. Sir I thank you â—or the Pamphlet you sent me the other day and because you was pleased to make it the Condition of your Giâ—t that I should return my Thoughts upon it I have here sent them by the first Post and I believe much sooner than you expected You have them in the very Order they at fiâ—st occurred to me without any manner of Correction for truly I did not think it worth my while to make any This Introduction you see affords nothing Remarkable but that our Friend is very good at Writing Letters and may be depended upon by his Correspondents for a speedy Answer let the Business they employ him about be never so Disobliging to him or Insignificant in it self unless perhaps we are to understand by the particular Character of the Words Condition and Gift that there is some pretty double Entendre couched in them I suppose his Meaning if he has any must be to inform us by way of Lawyer that some Gifts are upon Condition and some not and that where there is a Condition that Condition must be performed before the Title to the Gift can be good But let the Distinction lye where it will I wish for my part he had not thought this small Gift worth his Acceptance upon the Barbarous Condition of persecuting his Unknown Humble Servant as you shall hear he now and then does First then It is obvious to remark that the Author whoever he is has given his Essay a wrong â—itle If he had had a Mind to deal honestly with his Reader it should have run thus An Essay c. â—n which are Contained several False and Scandalous Reflections on Christ Church in Oxon. But to turn over the Title Page In his Preamble where I assure you he pretends abundance of Modesty he cannot forhear making open Proclamation that he and his Friend to whom he addresses this piece have resolved to censure and damn all Books that shall be hereafter Published To which purpose they have established a Critical Correspondence between them Wo be to all poor Writers for the future But he has given the World no reason to hope well of this Grand Design For in the present case which it seems is the first he has medled in he is far from bâ—ing so fair and equitable a Moderator as he ought or indeed as he himself would pretend to be For he has every where shewed that Dogmatical Humour and Arrogance he blames in others and has taken a most intolerable Freedom where he ought not to have done it I have but two Reasons to think that Dr. Bentley himself did not write this Treatise One is that the Matter is infinitely too Polite and the Style too Smooth and Flowing for him The other that I hardly believe his Self-love and Pride would have suffered him to have dealt so freely and justly with his own and his Friend's Characters tho' it was the most likely way to do him a real Service at the bottom For these Reasons I must acquit the Doctor and tell you that I rather believe the Author to be an Esquirâ— as he calls himself and one of those mighty Wits amongst you in Town that set uâ— for the Overthrow of Religion who the better to gain their Enâ—s lay hold on all Occasions of traducing the Universities and undermining the Dignity and Character of the Clergy And tho' I have said this of him yet it is no Wonder that he is Dr. Bentley's Friend and Acquaintance Here I have several things to account for The first is a Misnosmer But I cannot agree with him in it since I am by no means guilty of the False and Scandalous Reflections he talks of For what I have said of Christ Church in Oxon is so far from being the false or scandalous Insinuation of an Enemy that their best Friends have frequently and publickly owned the Truth of it and to quote Horace once more Dicere verum quid vetat I appeal to you or any impartial Person whether I have not left many things unmentioned that might easily have been brought in if I had had a Mind to shew my Malice But I thought my self Obliged to touch upon nothing but what lay immediately within the Argument I did not so