And, after all, you’ll think it odd,
When learned doctors will dispute,
That I should point the word of God,
And show where they can best confute.
Let lawyers bawl and strain their throats,
’Tis I that must the lands convey,
And strip their clients to their coats,—
Nay, give their very souls away.
We find also in Pope’s epistle of Heloise to Abeillard an allusion to the power of letters, as conveying ideas, which seems appropriate in this connexion as illustrating the uses of ink.
Heaven first taught letters for some wretch’s aid,