A LETTER TO Dr. Charles Goodall Physician to the Charter-House OCCASIONED By his late Printed Letter Entituled A Letter from the Learned and Reverend Dr. Charles Goodall to his Honoured Friend Dr. Leigh c. To which is Annexed An Answer to a Sheet of Paper Entituled A Reply to Mr. Richard Boulton c. Writ by the aforesaid Honoured Charles Leigh by Name M. D. Resident in Manchester not far from the Well near Haigh and the Well prope Boulton in Lancashire By R. BOULTON of Brazen-Nose College in Oxford Nor hath the great Number of those Escaped my Observation who finding it a much easier Task to Censure than to write endeavour to acquire the Title of Judicious by condemning all things themselves have not written or thought on Boyle Phis Es p. 1. LONDON Printed for A. Baldwin 1699. THE PREFACE to the READER THE following Sheets containing an Answer to Dr. Goodall's Letter and also an Answer to a Sheet of Paper writ by Dr. Leigh I think my self bound to make an Apology to the World upon a double Score And first for what I have said in Answer to Dr. Goodall's Letter And upon this Account all that I need to say is that had the Doctor not suffered his Letter to be Printed I had not Writ or Published what I have but since he began first he I hope or at least the World will pardon me for Relating Matter of Fact so plainly that they might judge of the Sincerity and Truth of his Letter But perhaps there are some and I hope a great many that will be unapt to believe the Grounds of the following Relation true I say I hope they will be unapt to believe it because I would not wish them to have the same Reasons to change their Thoughts of him as I have and that I have fufficient Reason to think the Character I once gave him rather what I could have wished him to be than what he is I conceive the following Certificates together with his own Letter will be self-evident Arguments I have the Copy of his Letter writ by his own Hand and the Certificate signed and witnessed by the Persons whose Names are Subscribed so that if any Body should question the Truth they shall be convinced with those Papers As for Dr. Leigh all the Apology I need to make is That I beg their Pardon for taking Notice of his Libels since Envy and Malice needs no other Answer but Cantempt And if the Doctor takes such a delight in writing Penny and Two-penny Books he may look out for some other Adversary that thinks it worth his while to hearken to him I for my Part shall entertain the same Opinion of him as the World does viz. That his Remarks are his true and real Representatives And here I shall let the World know that I take so little delight in opposing such Adversaries that for the future except I have great Reason for it I shall leave such as have not the use of their Reason to confute themselves and shall rather spend my time in making what Improvements I can in the Profession I have made choice of And as Truth and Reason shall always be the Rules by which I shall write so far as I can so if I think my self upon that Score concern'd to oppose any one that may be mistaken I shall shew that respect which is due both to their Learning and Characters but if on the contrary their Ignorance and Contempt of Learned Men deserves ill Usage I shall leave it to some body else to gave them their Merit who shall not think it time mispent to answer them I shall conclude this Epistle with this Advertisement viz. That whereas a Party of Men have imagined that by Vindicating the Colledge I opposed them I profess that by the Colledge I meant no separate Party but all such Members which had not adopted that Doctrine which I writ against and except they include themselves in that Number I shall declare that no Party shall engage me further than Truth and Reason either for or against any Body and what is the Product of that small share I have of either I shall always submit to the Candid Censure of the Learned to whom I subscribe my self London Jan. 18. 1698 9. Their Most Humble Servant R. BOULTON AN ANSWER TO Dr. Goodall's Letter Dated Decemb. 6th 1698. in a Letter to Himself SIR I Must confess it was not without a little Concern and Surprize that I found a Letter against me with Doctor Goodall's Name to it I once thought and had I not evident Reason to the contrary I should think still that Doctor Goodall was a Man of more Courage and Honour as well as Justice than to desert a Cause he had once engaged himself in of more Courage and Honour I say because it is an Argument against both to turn your Back upon what you thought Just and of more Justice because it would be unjust to engage your self in Encouraging or Patronizing that which in your Opinion was not Approved And give me leave to say this Letter which Dr. Leigh hath Printed will I am afraid call in Question your Judgment as well as Honour and Justice for if in your Judgment you thought my Book was faulty why did you Patronize it with such Zeal If the contrary why should you not have the same Opinion now as before At least Doctor it had been better to have been Silent and much more Prudent than to force me to prove what in your Letter you deny It is a thing I confess I am very loth to do and would not did I not think my Reputation concern'd in it For I am yet ready to acknowledge that I not long since thought my self very much obliged to you and as Favours received from any one shall with me be perpetual Obligations of Respect to them that bestowed them on me so I would be unwilling to do any thing which should look like Ingratitude to you For I must beg leave to say that with me Ties of Friendship shall be held inviolable if it lies in my Power and Obligations I shall ever hold as Sacred But as the Case now stands the greatest Respect I can shew you is to prove the Contents of your Letter in respect of your Reflections false without that Severity which your Usage of me really deserves for whatever you may think I am bold to say that I shall make it appear that your last Obligations and Favours have made your former of very little value Therefore to justify my self and to do you no wrong I shall answer your Letter in the same Method you have writ it first returning you thanks for the good Character you are pleased to give of my other Books The First Words which concern me are these I own your Writing to me about Mr. Boulton ' s Book as a Particular Favour he having by no means obliged me by his Rude and Unmannerly Reflections upon you who I
am sensible are not therein treated like a Gentleman or a Scholar The Language and Reflections I own to be such as no Man of good Breeding much less any Censor of the College of Physitians would pass with an Imprimatur To this Doctor I must answer That as for an Imprimatur to such a thing as that I never desired it for there was no need of it it being an Answer to such Ridiculous Reflections on me as you were pleased to say at your own Table were the Rudest and most Malicious that ever you saw in your Life and that you thought that no Doctor in Physick could write such Stuff This was your Opinion of Dr. Leigh's Remarks and as for my Answer to them I will certify any Body upon Oath that you Read the greatest part of them whilst I sat by you and that when you were weary I read the remaining part to you and that you were so far from finding Fault that you smiled almost all the while and not long after gave your favourable Opinion of them to a Learned Man of Merton Colledge in Oxford this I affirm to be true with as much Solemnity as if I were to say it upon Oath But supposing you had neither approved nor disapproved the thing I leave the World to judge whether you have not much more reason to reflect on Dr. Leigh than me he having reflected on me who never was in the least acquainted with him and consequently could not possibly disoblige him and as for me I have only turned his own Dirt upon him again The next Words I shall take notice of in your Letter are these As to his writing against Mr. Colbatch I must own that did encourage him thereto he having so rudely treated the Universities Colledge of Physitians and the most Learned Men of our Faculty and likewise Published and Defended such an Erroneous Hypothesis and raised such a Dangerous Superstructure thereon as I fear will prove fatal to many Yet notwithstanding Mr. Colbatch hath deserved Ill of Learned Men c. I cannot commend Mr. Boulton ' s Treating him in the manner he hath done which was so far from my Opinion and Good liking c. Really Doctor I am concern'd for your Reputation that you should suffer such things to be Printed which you could not but think highly disingenuous and contrary to Truth if not inconsistent with Reason it self For here you declaim against my way of treating Mr. Colbatch yet say he hath deserved Ill his Hypothesis is Erroneous Dangerous and Fatal to many Where you Justify what I have done for if his Hypothesis be Erroneous Dangerous and Fatal to many and deserved Ill if what I have writ be ill Usage it is what you here pronounce to be his Merit though in the following Words you say it is contrary to your Approbation and Good Liking Which Words if true it follows that your own Opinion is contrary to your own good Liking because what I have writ is according to it and if you fall out with your own Opinion well may you with mine But give me leave to say my Book is not only Justify'd by what you say now but was Printed and was Writ or altered according to your good Liking For before I writ one Word of it when you enourag'd me to it I told you I thought it was not worth my while to take notice of his Books and that I hated to write in such a manner as it was by some thought he ought to be treated in but to this you told me I could not handle him too roughly or some such Words and this to put it into your Memory you told me as I was walking with you cross Smithfield Again you declaimed upon the same Subject coming down Floulborn where you told me It would do the Faculty of Physick a great deal of Service which prevailed with me to gratifie your Humour though contrary to my own Inclination I then thinking your Opinion preferable to my own especially in a City where I was almost a Stranger then and the Temper of which I was then unacquainted with But you did not only approve it then but when I had writ but a small part of it you gave me leave to Dedicate it to you for though in your own Parlor you seem'd with a Smile to refuse it yet upon Reading over the Dedication you were pleas'd with another Smile to accept it telling me modestly It was more than you deserved And really I fear you have given me Reason to think it so yet I confess I am heartily sorry if I was so much mistaken in you But to proceed to your further Good-liking you not only accepted the Dedication but read over the Sheets from the Press and altered or put in what Zealous and Fervent Words you had a Mind and at the same time approved of them To convince the World of which I add these Certificates I Whose Name is hereunto Subscribed do certify that I carried several Sheets of Mr. Boulton's Book against Colbatch to Dr. Goodall who read them over whilst I was by and not only put in several Words but blotted out what he thought fit and withal repeated these Words This will Maul him And this I am ready to Testify upon Oath Witness my Hand Edward Midwinter I whose Name is hereunto Subscribed do Testify that I carried several Sheets of Mr. Boulton's Book against Mr. Colbatch to Dr. Goodall's House and delivered them to him one of which I received back from him my self several Words being put in according to his Direction And this I am ready to testify upon Oath Witness my Hand Henry Lloyd Besides these Certificates I could add Two more were there Occasion but these I suppose may be sufficient to shew that you approved of them besides when the whole Book was Printed I carried the Dedication to you which you consented to nor did you express the least Dissatisfaction concerning the Dedication when the Book was Published but only said there was to instead of of in one Place But you further say you requested me to read the Learned Mr. Boyle's Book and to imitate that Learned Author in my Answer to Mr. Colbatch Truly I remember you were commending Mr. Boyle and said He had mauld the Unmannerly Dr. Bently when I had writ about half my Answer but I can never think your Judgment so weak as to have proposed it for a Pattern Since there is no Parallel in the Case for tho' I remember you said One might see how a Gentleman could manage a Clown yet it is on all Hands agreed that as Mr. Boyle is an Ingenious Man so Dr. Bentley is a Learned Man as well as the former but Mr Colbatch sure is not a Doctor Bentley tho' you think sit to parallel them for you say Mr. Colbatch hath rais'd a dangerous a fatal and an Erroncous Hypothesis but Dr. Bentley hath not for it is not dangerous or fatal to read any thing about
Phalaris So that the Circumstances shew there is no Parallel and consequently it could be no Pattern And I hope you will not wrong your Judgment so much as to say that when a Man runs down Learning as much as he can the same Measures are to be taken as if he only erred in Criticisms for one Critick may make Remarks on another in a different way by which he may think the World will be set a Laughing and by that means Ridicule the other But when a Man as you say lays down Notions of a more Dangerous Consequence and which may be fatal to many Ridicule may set Men a Laughing that understand the Jest but it will never convince weak and unthinking Physitians nay that which is Ridicule to a Judicious Man is not Ridicule to a Man that Understands not the Unreasonableness of a thing for such cannot think it Ridiculous till they are convinced it is Erroneous and though Laughter may make an Impression upon their Lungs it never influences the Reason of those that think Laughter unreasonable and though the Weaker sort of Physitians can read a Satyr and keep the Subject before them in their Thought at the same time yet Laughter puts them out of a Capacity of Thinking and consequently of being Convinced In short it may make Men Merry for a time but it never lasts longer than their Lungs are in a violent Motion whereas a Satyr where it is due renders the Subject opposed more despicable and brings a Cloud upon it without setting the Readers Head a shaking and rendring the Sight inconstant But not to urge at present what might be said in favour of Satyrs where a Design is to influence the Vulgar and not to set Learned Men a Laughing I shall only shew you how much your Proposition of a Pattern was inconsistent not only with Reason but the Opinion of the greatest Orators that we know of For Cicero that Father of Roman Eloquence in his Oration pro Sext. Rosâ—io Amerino says Non in Omneis arbitrar omnis convenire The same Measures are not to be taken upon all Occasions For as he further says Haec enim est Causa Nova ac Singularis This is a peculiar Cause and therefore must have a peculiar Method in managing of it Again in his Book de Oratore he says Neque est dubium quin Exordium dicendi vehemens pugnax non saepe esse debeat No doubt but sometimes an Oration ought to begin with heat and earnestness According to which in his Oration pro Q. Rossio he falls upon a whole Body of Men. O! Societatem captiosam indignam c. Again the same Father of Eloquence in his Book of Oratory says it is the Part of an Orator Ut inveniat quemadmodum fidem faciat eis quibus volet persuadere quemadmodum Motum eorum Aninus afferat It 's the part of an Orator to consider what Arguments are necessary to gain Assent and what may move Mens Passions And I leave it to any candid Judge whether Laughter or Satyr are more proper where an Hypothesis is Erroneous Dangerous and Fatal to many Whether Mens Lives are to be made Subjects of Laughter or rather of more Concern But to proceed to the last Paragraph of your Letter You say I am truly sorry that in the Particulars you mention he hath not only disobliged me but many others How many I have disobliged by opposing them I am not insensible but as for your self I can assure the World it is not by writing against Dr. Leigh nor Mr. Colbatch for if it were so I had disobliged you half a Year ago for then you had read Mr. Colbatch's Answer and it is above Four Months since my Answer to Dr. Leigh was Printed though for some Reasons it was not Published so soon But you and I have not been fallen out above Seven Weeks besides if you had been disobliged with my Writing so against Mr. Colbatch by the same Reason you would have fallen out with Dr. Leigh he having writ a Two-Penny Book with worse Language than Mine and if my Answer to him disobliged you his Reflections would have had the same Effect but instead of that you are both raised to such a Pitch of Friendship that you are got to be Reverend and your Friend the Honoured though before the Reverend fell out with me the Honoured was unknown to the Reverend altogether But further if my Reflections on Dr. Leigh or Mr. Colbatch had disobliged you you 'd have disobliged your self for you did not only correct my Book but Mr. Young's against Sâ—lmon which hath as many Reflections as Mine and I am afraid that 's contrary to your Good-liking by this Time But sure you 'll not turn your Back on Mr. Young and say it 's contrary to your Good-liking No he 's a little Older than I and you 're a little more afraid of his Resentments But though Young Birds are more easily catched with Chaff than Old ones yet they are not all so ensnared but sometimes they make shift to disintangle themselves But to proceed We are to look for another Cause of your present Obligations and to seek for another Cause of our falling out which in short was this In May last I received the following Letters from you writ both upon the same Paper Dated May 26 1698. This to Mr. Richard Boulton of Brazen-Nose Colledge in Oxford As to Mr. Boulton be pleased to acquaint him that there is a Work in a certain Part of Natural History which he is very capable to perform and will be both Reputable and Advantageous to him but that for some Reasons you cannot as yet acquaint him with Particulars But let him disingage himself from all other Studies reserve himself wholly for this and come to Town as soon as his Affairs will permit This is a part of the Letter though the Persons Name is not here to be mentioned but upon the same piece of Paper I received likewise the following Lines SIR I Thank you for your very Kind and Ingenuous Letter of the 18th Instant your Gratitude expressed therein doth highly oblige me and you may be assured I will do you all the good Offices I can Your Printer hath brought but one Sheet since we Parted if you let me know his Name and House I will take some Care about the Press we all give our Service to you I am Your Sincere and Faithful Friend CHARLES GOODALL Now from this Letter it is plain you were concern'd about the Press but of that enough before And how far you have been my Sincere or Faithful Friend I leave the World to judge who have a Specimen of your Sincerity in this Letter Upon the Receiving thereof I came to Town as soon as I could possibly but too late for what was mentioned in the former part of the Letter which was to be taken for a peculiar kind of Favour to be sent for from Oxford for nothing whereas I writ
Metaphorical Glands which are made up of the Extremities of the Vessels cannot be discerned by Microscopes This is all that the Doctor alledges against my Books the remaining part of his Sheet being either Enlargements upon the wonderful Stock of Philosophy but just now mentioned or a Vindication of his own Book As to the First he tells me I no where prove Animal Spirits to be an Oyly Mucilage and he asks me Whether I ever saw it or tasted it To this I answer that I have both seen and tasted it and have already proved the Animal Spirits to be an Oyly Mucilage in my Book of the Heat of the Blood and therefore I shall refer the Reader thither it not being requisite that I should trouble my self to repeat what is there said as often as Dr. Leigh shall ask the Question afresh And since he here says Their Agility in Voluntary Motion demonstrates that they do not move slower than Blood I answer That it is no Demonstration for though the Spirits move slowly in the Nerves yet when they come to be mixed with the Blood and meet with Particles which are of a different Temper and Texture they may then become Active and many degrees more active than before So the Particles of Alkalies and Acids when kept separate in distinct Vessels have not half the Agility and Activity in their Parts as when mixed together the Result of their Mixture if Volatile being a strong Fermentation which was in neither of the separate Liquors And altho ' Gun-powder be slowly squeezed through a long pipe and out of that falls upon the Fire yet it 's Explosion when worked upon by so powerful an Agent is no argument that the Corpuscles of the Gun-powder were in as violent a Motion before the Explosion since it 's evident that they are not so that the Spirits may move slowly in the Nerves when kept separate from the Blood yet be put into a more violent Agitation when mixed with it that Agitation being no Argument of their equal Agility before but a consequence of their Mixture But to proceed to his other Objection viz. That the Metapborical Glands cannot be seen with a Microscope To this I answer that by Metaphorical Glands I mean nothing but a Commixture of the Extremities of Vessels Metaphorical Glands implying no more which appears from what I have said in my Book of Muscular Motion to which I shall refer the Reader it not being necessary to repeat what is there tho' Dr. Leigh should for Information sake ask the Question again and again But that what I have said there is sufficient to prove that there are such Glands I presume undeniable till what I have offered with submission to Reason be confuted by it and then if I cannot maintain it let it fall It is Knowledge and Truth I shall ever value above my own Opinion if it be not so but if it be I shall value it as Truth and only content my self with the satisfaction of contributing my Endeavours to the General stock of Knowledge But to satisfy the World that we are not to dis-believe what I have said of those Glands because we cannot see them I shall add a Quotation from the Honourable Esquire Boyle's Works which will shew him that there are several Truths in Nature which we believe because we have Reason for it tho' as to Sight they are imperceivable for that most ingenious and experimental Promoter of useful Knowledge who was a profound and one of the greatest of Philosophers in his History of Fludity Page 189. Sect. XX. admits of Reason to be proof where the minuteness of Bodies renders them imperceivable For he says If it be objected that the Various and Insensible Parts of Water and resembling Bodies wherein we make the Nature of Fluidity chiefly to consist is but an Imaginary thing and but precariously asserted since by our own Confession they are so small that the Particles themselves and more the diversity of their Motions are imperceptable by Sense c. We shall not deny the Objection to be plausible but must not acknowledge it to be unanswerable And the like may be said for those Glands for if we have Reason to believe there are such we are not to deny what our Reason tells us because it is not an Object of Sight and that it is the Smallness of those Glands that makes them to be imperceiptible by Sight is evident since the best Microscopes will not make the Terminations of those Vessels visible which compose them Yet I hope no Body will say that the Vessels have no ends because they cannot see them If then we allow what is beyond Contradiction viz. That the Terminations of the Vessels cannot be perceived we must allow that these Glands must be Invisible because made up of those Vessels which are too fine to be perceived and that those Vessels do communicate with one another and consequently make up such Glands I have given such Reasons in my Book and also laid down such Experiments that I need not to bring any more till those are deficient Having answered all the Doctors Objections against my Book I shall consider what he says for himself And First to pass by all that heap of loud sounding Words which is vulgarly called Bombast or Sound without Signification I shall briefly take notice that tho' I quoted Doctor Willis and shewed him that his Notion of Heat was the same with it as also that Doctor Willis had the same Notion of the Cause of Intermitting Fevers and tho' I shewed him that in Dropsies he mistakes the Effect for the Cause and that in his Dissertation of Mineral Waters he only proves what no Body denies he thinks it an Answer sufficient to deny what is evidently true and matter of Fact For he says he did not borrow his Notions from Dr. Willis neither do I say so but he acted the Plagiary to use his own Words or he stole them from him for those Words he makes use on himself But he says Dr. Willis assigns Fermentation to be the Cause of Heat and that he assigns Collision but any Body that knows the least of the Corpuscularian Philosophy would not think to come off with such mean Evasion since Fermentation implies Collision and Collision which is the Effect of Motion where it is violent enough is but calling Fermentation by another Name since Fermentation and Collision of the Parts of hot Bodies are significatively the same tho' different Sounds Again he says He does not endeavour to prove an Acid in Vitriolated Waters but that there is a perfect concocted Vitriol which is as much as to say he does not argue for an Acid but for a perfect Acid since Vitriol is an Acid so that to prove Vitriolate Waters have Vitriol in them is to prove Acid Waters have Acid in them which I suppose none denies But let the Doctor dispute the Case it 's a fine easie Subject for him he may tell his
Country-men such Amusing Stories and that there is Salt in their Porrage if he will perhaps he may convince them by the same Strain and Vigorous Arguments used at the Well near Haigh and the Well prope Boulton in Lancashire But lest People should 〈…〉 Doctor really confuted he says very little in vindication of himself thinking if he should use Arguments it would make People take Notice of his Faults the more Therefore to divert their Observations he thinks to make a Noise about a Latin Sentence and Three Latin Words as if convincing me there would attone for the whole Notions of Value in his Book taken from Dr. Willis but I don't think I need to use any Arguments to perswade Physicians to believe what I have said since it is the generally received Opinion that Dr. Leigh hath nothing in his Book of his own worth owning But to come to his Scholarship he tells me I don't understand Latin and that I must go to School again Poor good Natur'd Soul he finds the Good Effects of my last Advice and by his Quoting of Horace and Virgil c. I find he hath been at School and taken it and now like a sweet Tempered Gentleman he would needs advise me to make use of the same Means This had been a Symptom of a good Dâ—sposition in Mind had I not been mightily prejudiced for there is scarce any Body that finds Benefit by a Medicine but they usually recommend it to every Body that they have a Respect for whether they want it or not Whether I want it or not I don't pretend to say but am sure that notwithstanding his Quoting Dr. Lister I must tell him pro me is not so good Latin as Quod ad me attinet or Quatenus me refert but he hath a mind Dr. Lister should be blamed with him as when Two Children fall out about their Play the one thinks it hard to be whipped and the other saved so he must needs have Dr. Lister in for Two Words at least with all my Heart I am not against it if he must be blamed when the one hath the Ferula let the other stand by The Doctor is not angry that I find fault with Sic Regero But let him not be concerned I only think it a mean Metaphor and fitter to be used by him in the Genuine Sense of the Word than Metaphorically But he cannot let one Sentence pass I carp at a harmless Word in proclivi and say it should be in promptu but that he may be satisfied in this particular also I shall tell him I designed it as an Emblem of his Ingenuity for I did not say in Proclivi was never used but I meant that his Thoughts which were in Proclivi ought to be in Promptu which was as much as to say they were according to the Aetymology of the Word i. e. Mean and Weak instead of easie and fluent and I only expressed my self so ambiguously to catch the Doctor for I knew he 'd fall foul upon any Bait and truly I had a mind to lay up a Reserve to Banter him for I could not think the Doctor when roused would have said so little in Vindication of himself But again what shall I do now he says I fall hard upon Case and truly his Case is such that I cannot avoid it but he brings Cicero Virgil Ovid Horace and Plautus against me can I oppose them No but I can easily shew that they 'll oppose him for tho' he be so Vigorous these Quotations are against him For Opinioni haud Natura se Credidit is false Latin and to make it appear we are to consider that Cicero in his Book de Oratoriae Partionibus says Ut in simplicibus Verbis quod non Latinum sic in Conjunctis quod non est Consequens Vâ—â—uperandum est So that tho' Doctor Leigh hath joined Words if the Connection be false the Latin hath no Consequence and consequently is culpable And where the Sense of Words are not connected the Sense is broke and consequently to be blamed I shall therefore because he is so zealous upon his Sentence shew him that the Sense wants Connection and that none of the Quoted Sentences will help him For in this Sentence Opinioni haud Natura se Credidit the Person is the Accusative Case and the Thing in the Dative where if Credo be taken in a Grammatical Signification of that Word it must signifie to believe and then the English will be I believe my self to Opinion not Nature But the Doctor thinks this absurd himself let us see then what the Authorities avail The first Instance in Plautus which he brings is credere se Neptuno The Second is Credere se Coelo praepetibus pennis Virgil The remaining Instances are Credere suum animum Alicui Terence Credere uni omnia Cicero Libris Arcana Credere Horace Veritus se Credere nocti Ovid. Now in all these Credo signifies to Commit as to commit ones self to the Waves to commit ones self to the Air to commit Secrets to Writing c. But if one should say I commit my self to my Opinion and not to Nature how incoherent would the Sense be and ridiculous But perhaps the Doctor will say that Credo may sâ—gnify I give my self up to my Opinion and not to Nature if he does the Sense is not much better besides the Word Nature is used so ambiguously that I cannot tell what he gives himself up to till he informs me what he means by Nature for Nature is by some Philosophers and particularly the Honourable Mr. Boyle used to signifie the Natural State of Bodies or their Natural Texture and Modification but to say a Man gives himself up to the Natural State of Bodies or their Texture and Modification must be nothing but Absurdity and let the Doctor try if Credo will bear any other English Sense better than what I have mentioned still remembring to keep the Person either in the Accusative or Dative Case if he cannot as I am sure he cannot the Sentence is false Latin according to Cicero because false Sense and consequently Vituperandum and not only so but since Credo is used by Dr. Leigh in a different Sense from what it is in those Citations and the Authors Quoted it is impossible to use the Word Credo in their Sense so as to make Grammatical Sense of his Latin Words besides as Cicero says there must be a like Consequence or similar Signification to make the Comparison good for it is not placing any Latin Words in the same Cases and Order that makes them Justifiable except there be a parity of Sense and Reason But why do I talk of Reason to the Doctor since nothing is more Heterogeneous or disagreeable to his Head than any thing that concerns that Faculty for my Book of the Heat of the Blood contains nothing but what I hope I have given Reason for Upon which Account the Doctor fell out
with it was dissatisfied and in sine was resolved to shew his Wit to which I gave an Answer which I thought most agreeable to such a Philosopher which had so good an Effect as to bring the Doctor to a very little better Temper But since I see he will be a Two-penny Author I was resolved now to talk Reason to him finding it the properest Method to be revenged on him for if Reason before made him so mad with me it may have a stronger Influence if re-applied to a weak Head And now I shall leave the World to judge what 's become of Dr. Leigh's Reply and Dr. Goodall's Letter As for a Letter of Mine that he tells me of he hath taken a great deal of care to mis-represent it and to make it what he would have it But the Sense of what I writ was that tho' there were a great many Learned and Ingenious Men in the University they were not all such which was no Reflection since it is mod certain that those that are come fresh from School or of a small standing cannot reasonably be ranked amongst Graduates in the University And as for my Qualifying my self for a Degree in a Month or to perform the Exercise of a Day in an Hour I do not think saying so was calling the Exercise trifling for I having studied Five Years after I left Chester-School before I came there and having studied Philosophy before and read most Conttoversies of Value I do not think it much Presumption in me to say that that which Five Years hard Study had made easy to me was difficult to those that came fresh from School and I presume if Dr. Leigh should be sent to the University now which were to be wished he 'd be apt to say the Exercise was easie for when a Thing is Learnt any thing is easie and I had learnt most of those things before so that I gave my Friend an Account how easie it was to me then and how much my past Studies had made those light So that what I said was nothing but what any Batchelour of Arts will say viz. That at Four Years end they remember so well what they had learnt for the Four Years past that were they to begin the Exercise of the first Year again they could do in an Hour what a fresh Scholar could not do in Twelve And if a Batchelour at Four Years might without Reflection say so I hope in the Sixth Year of a continued and hard Study I might presume to say I could do that in an Hour which a School boy could not do in Twelve But the Doctor would needs represent me as an Enemy to the Universities that they might revenge his Cause but I here declare and say that nothing shall make me an Enemy to them as long as I have the Use of my Reason and I shall ever contribute my utmost Endeavours in Vindication of the Universities till I have Reason to the contrary which I hope I shall never have and till then as I shall make it my Business to make what Improvements I can in real Knowledge so I shall to the utmost of my Power vindicate Learning and oppose the Opposers of it POSTSCRIPT SInce the Three former Sheets were Printed I hear that Dr. Goodall is very angry that I should offer to answer his Letter in Vindication of my self And I am likewise told that a certain Friend of Dr. Leigh's thinks I have used him too hardly But as to the First I must beg Dr. Goodall's Pardon for if he 's offended he may blame himself for it I thought my self concerned to take off the unjust Imputations laid upon me and if he can think well of himself for Publishing a Letter so inconsistent with Truth I have a better Apology to make for laying down Matter of Fact As for Dr. Leigh had he writ against me as a Rational Man ought I should have answered him with that Deference which is due from me to a Graduate but if he thought fit to transgress the Bounds of Reason it was but Reason to answer him in a way he made choice of himself a Method which I by no means would have made choice of had he deserved a better Character from me than he hath amongst Learned Men. FINIS