ARGUMENT.
He'd undertake to prove, by force
Of argument, a man's no horse.
He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl,
And that a Lord may be an owl,
A calf an Alderman, a goose a Justice,
And rooks, Committee-men or Trustees.
Hudibras, Pt. I. Canto I. S. BUTLER.
Reproachful speech from either side
The want of argument supplied:
They rail, reviled; as often ends
The contests of disputing friends.
Fables: Sexton and Earth Worm. J. GAY.
Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes
Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.
The Temple: The Church Porch. C. HERBERT.
In argument
Similes are like songs in love;
They must describe; they nothing prove.
Alma, Canto III. M. PRIOR.
One single positive weighs more,
You know, than negatives a score.
Epistle to Fleetwood Shepherd. M. PRIOR.
Who shall decide, when doctors disagree,
And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?
Moral Essays, Epistle III. A. POPE.