And first, I took notice of the Exordium as a little too common and thredbare for that Author; and imagined a worse Writer might have been hard put to it, not to have found a better than, The importunity of his Friends for writing in his own defence. Besides, I thought the disguise of it was something mean, and could not conceive why, if that Author had a mind to own it, he should chuse to do it in the Third Person, rather than the First.
Another Reason is; That this Answerer makes him publickly own the Memoirs, which I could never hear he has yet done. Nay farther; He makes Him defend them in all parts; which I doubt, if he had owned them, he would not do it any further than the Truth; since for the rest, as the Publisher of them observes, they are in many places imperfect, and uncorrect, by having never been reviewed; and so may be justly liable to some Exceptions of that kind: And the Gallicisms upon which De Cros’s Advertiser says, the Criticks have been so severe, may easily discover they were not designed for the Publick in that Dress they have appeared. Now, tho this Pretended Answerer endeavours to imitate Sir W. T. in this Point, as well as in the use of several other Words which are found in the Memoirs, and he imagines a little particular; yet he has made so great a discovery in several others, that by consisting of two such different pieces, the whole lies too open to deceive. For altho such words as Blunder, [Hans-en Kelder], A man of such a Kidney with some others, may well enough become such a Scribler as I am, yet they are very unlike that Author’s Expressions, and below his Stile.
Another ground I have to conclude this Answer for a Counterfeit, is for some Quotations which I shall never suspect such a Writer as Sir W. T. would have made use of. As first, that poor Line, Canes qui latrant, &c. which looks like an English Proverb translated into very bald Latin. Then (to mention no more of them) another Quotation as unlike as the first, from Mr. Samuel Johnson, which agrees very little with that Author’s way, who is observed in all he writes, to be very tender in medling with controverted Points of State and Government.
Besides, This whole Pamphlet, tho it must be confess’d to be ingenious, and written with a great deal of Wit, yet that very strain of Witting it so much, and running things into Ridicule, makes it look very different from any thing we have yet seen of Sir W. T’s Writings: And I observe in several places of the Miscellanea, this very vein is taken notice of for a thing of pernicious Consequence to Learning and good Manners; so that if Sir W. T. be really possessed of such a Talent, he keeps it very much to himself, and must be allowed for the best Disguiser of it in the World, through all he has published; which would make his Readers think that he intended to pass rather for a Wise and Good Man, than for a Witty.
Another sufficient Reason for me to reject this Answer, is, That it makes Sir W. T. grant in some kind, the severest of de Cros’s unreasonable Slanders, of failing in his Fidelity to his Master; and to defend himself in it, by excusing it from Examples of that kind; which in my Opinion, would be to lay himself needlesly open to Censures, that I suppose, he has not deserved; and would shew such a want of Judgment in him, as I shall not be apt to believe from any other Writings but his own, and better attested than I find it here.
I shall add to all these, what I observed in an Advertisement before the First Part of the Miscellanea, where the Bookseller tells the Reader from the Author, that thenceforth he would never Publish any thing without putting his Name to it, which not finding before this Pamphlet, was another Reason to conclude it a supposititious Piece. All which put together, makes me believe Sir W. T. was no more the Author of this Answer, than of Tully’s Offices.
When I had satisfied my self in this Point, it was not easy for me to find out what the Writer of this Answer should mean by taking so much pains to make it pass for Sir W. T’s; which seems to me a very new way of Writing; and whereof I cannot give any other instance besides this, from what has occured in my Reading or Conversation. I know very well, that several Ancient Pieces which go under great Author’s Names, are found by the Learned Criticks of these latter Ages, to have been spurious; yet they were never born till long after the Death of the supposed Fathers. I know likewise, that there have been several Laws made in France; one, I am sure, in this present Century, against the Printing any Books, under severe Penalties, without setting the Author’s Name to them, and their known Name, because some having two Names, one by which they were commonly called, tho the other perhaps were the particular Name of their Family; some Persons disguised their Writings under the Name that was little known, tho it might be their own: To so nice and cautious Cares the Laws there thought fit to descend upon this matter. I remember there was an Ingenious Discourse Printed within these few years in France, upon the Custom of using borrowed or disguised Names in the Publishing of Books: But in the Censures and Complaints that Author makes of this ill Custom, I did not take notice of any one Example he mentions, further than of such Books as had been published under Names of Persons dead, or else under such as were wholly fictitious, and made at their own pleasures; Which last has peradventure appear’d in most Ages and Countries where Printing has been used, but toucht no Man farther than a Satyr of Don Quixot, or Francion, or any such like. But I have never observed, nor heard of any Example of this kind besides this Answer, where the Author, whose Name was borrowed, was alive, and in the same Kingdom, and so avowedly with the Name of a known Bookseller in the Title-page.
Whatever the intention may have been in the Writer, whether wholly innocent, or a little interessed to give Vogue to his Pamphlet, or in considering the Bookseller’s profit by making it pass for an Author’s, whose Name he knew would [help it off the] better; yet I cannot but apprehend the Example of it ill, and the Consequences of it may be worse, if it should fall into Common practice; for by this way of Writing and Publishing either Books or Pamphlets, any Man may be made a publick Defamer of himself at another Man’s pleasure, and not only so, but to accuse himself of any Crime which the Rigour of our Laws requires no man to do. As far as my Thoughts will reach, I do not conceive why it should not be as bad to counterfeit a Book as a Bond; and to wrong a Man in his Reputation, as great an Injury, as to cheat him of his Money: This must be the reason why Slander and Scandal are as sufficient a ground to maintain an Action in Law, as Damage and Battery: Nothing is an injury any farther than it is taken, and hurts a Man more or less, as he is sensible of it. Now, tho it may be true, that in every Age there may be more than Nine Worthies who put a greater value on their Money than their Honour, yet there may be every where, and at all times, some silly Foplings, who do quite the contrary; and I know no reason, why they should not pretend to be safe in the Possessions they most value, as well as the others; nor why the Law should not take some care of such poor Innocents. Nor further, can I find out why a Stationer should not be punisht for Forgery, as well as a Notary or Scrivener may be. Whether I am too serious or no, upon a Subject that may appear trivial at first sight, or whether such a Trifle be worth any legal Provisions against it, I am sure, Ha Nugæ seria ducunt in Mala; and that ’tis at least an Edg-tool which ought not to be plaid with.
I could never well comprehend the true reason, why it should be such a disgrace to be a Cuckold, or why one Person should suffer for another’s fault, how nearly soever related to him: But I can very easily apprehend the Injury of it, which is, that one Man should be out upon fathering another Man’s Children, or at the best should be in danger of it; and this seems to be meant by the word, which at first was intended, that a Man was Cuckoo’d, that is, dealt with as Cuckoos are said to do with other Birds, by laying their Eggs in their Nests, and thereby making them hatch and bring up young Ones that are none of their own, (for this is the best Etymology I can find out for a word so commonly used). Now, the same Injury may be as sensible in what concerns the Children of the Brain (as Books have been call’d) which may be as lawful and as natural Issues, and some Parents may be as fond of them, and as much concerned about them. And tho it pass for no Crime for People to expose their Children when they have no mind to own them, or think they are not able to maintain them, and they may be content any body else should father them that will; yet this is an Office no body would be forc’d upon undertaking, how little soever it may cost them, and how innocently soever it may have been intended.
I could not forbear to make this Reflection upon this Subject, if it were for nothing else but to make good my Profession in the Title-page, of being A Lover of Truth.