and Booksellers. I have had Thousands
written against me, with Virulence and Scandal.

PRIOR. And what a wounding Grief must that be, to your generous Mind,
to have so much Malice returned, where so much Gratitude was due;
surely it gave you infinite Pain to be so lash'd and stigmatised, by a
Rabble, of the most invenom'd and imbitter'd Scriblers upon Earth?

SWIFT. Why, dear _Tom_, I cou'd laugh a Month at you for this. Why,
they made no more Impression on my Spirit, with their scurrilous
Pamphlets, than they wou'd have done, on my Statue, had they thrown
them at it. I ever consider'd, that Abuse from such Scriblers, who
write for a Livelihood, can no more be thought an Affront, than a
Barber's taking you by the Nose; 'tis his Trade, and the Wretch would
starve if you stopt him. What harm did all their Ribaldry do me? I
neither eat, nor drunk, nor slept the worse for it. I don't suppose,
that the scape Goat, which the _Jews_ loaded with Curses, and drove
into the Wilderness, either died by their Maledictions, or grew a whit
the leaner for them; nor was I ever the worse for all I met with. Why
_Tom_, one had as good be a sensitive Plant, as to start and fly back,
at every Touch, or every Appearance of being Touch'd, as some weak Men
do.

PRIOR. We may Reason thus, but Nature generally over masters our
Opinions.

SWIFT. Yes, when they are of opposite Sides, but in this point they
must agree. Consider, what a wretched Thing would Merit be, whose chief
support is a justly deserved good Character, if it depended for its
real Fame, on the Writings (if we must call them Writings) of envious
Scriblers, or the Tongues, of Slanderers, who wou'd both of them fain
get a Scrap of Reputation, by vilifying exalted Names. No, _Tom_, there
is something in true Merit, so independent of Applause and Censure, and
so superior to the going out, or coming into Vogue, that it frequently
takes the Injuries of such Reptiles as a kind of Homage; like the
Abuses offered by the common Soldiers, to Conquerors when they Ride in
Triumph, and which they valued as little as the senseless Phrases and
Shouts of the multitude. 'Tis time enough for true Merit and Goodness
to expect Justice from Men; when it receives the Euge of the
Omnipotent; for then only will Malice be out of Countenance, Envy
silent, and then only will Truth (the Language of Eternity) prevail!

PRIOR. Well, very well, Mr. _Dean_. But I am much mistaken, if you was
not heartily S