of the Psalms, and having procured from the general assembly
of the church of Scotland, a recommendation of its use to the lower
classes of grammar schools, into which I had begun to introduce it,
though not without much controversy and opposition, I thought it likely
that I should, by annual publications, improve my little fortune, and be
enabled to support myself in freedom from the miseries of indigence. But
Mr. Pope, in his malevolence to Mr. Benson, who had distinguished
himself by his fondness for the same version, destroyed all my hopes by
a distich, in which he places Johnston in a contemptuous comparison with
the author of Paradise Lost[2]. From this time, all my praises of
Johnston became ridiculous, and I was censured, with great freedom, for
forcing upon the schools an author whom Mr. Pope had mentioned only as a
foil to a better poet. On this occasion, it was natural not to be
pleased, and my resentment seeking to discharge itself somewhere, was
unhappily directed against Milton. I resolved to attack his fame, and
found some passages in cursory reading, which gave me hopes of
stigmatizing him as a plagiary. The farther I carried my search, the
more eager I grew for the discovery; and the more my hypothesis was
opposed, the more I was heated with rage. The consequence of my blind
passion, I need not relate; it has, by your detection, become apparent
to mankind. Nor do I mention this provocation, as adequate to the fury
which I have shown, but as a cause of anger, less shameful and
reproachful than fractious malice, personal envy, or national jealousy.

But for the violation of truth, I offer no excuse, because I well know,
that nothing can excuse it. Nor will I aggravate my crime, by
disingenuous palliations. I confess it, I repent it, and resolve, that
my first offence shall be my last. More I cannot perform, and more,
therefore, cannot be required. I entreat the pardon of all men, whom I
have by any means induced to support, to countenance, or patronise my
frauds, of which, I think myself obliged to declare, that not one of my
friends was conscious. I hope to deserve, by better conduct, and more
useful undertakings, that patronage which I have obtained from the most
illustrious and venerable names by misrepresentation and delusion, and
to appear hereafter in such a character, as shall give you no reason to
regret that your name is frequently mentioned with that of,

Reverend Sir,

Your most humble servan