ation in the Court of King _Charles_ the Second, would recommend
him to the World much more than an _impartial Administration of Justice_;
which is less felt, less understood, and less taken notice of and
applauded, than a _Piece_ of _Wit_; which is generally suppos'd to imply
in it a great deal of Knowledge, and a Capacity fit for any thing.

Mr. _Whiston_[107], a famous Person among us, sets up for great _Gravity_,
and proposes a Scheme of _Gravity_ for the Direction of those who write
about Religion: He is for allowing _Unbelievers_, nay for having them
"invited by Authority to produce all the real or original Evidence they
think they have discover'd against any Parts of the _Bible_; against any
Parts of the _Jewish_ and Christian Religions, in order to their being
fully weigh'd and consider'd by all learned Men; provided at the same
time, that the whole be done _gravely_, and _seriously_, without all
_Levity_, _Banter_, and _Ridicule_." And yet this Man, having a handle
given him by Bishop _Robinson_'s Letter to the _Clergy_ of his _Diocess_
about _New Doxologies borrow'd from Old Hereticks_, takes the advantage of
the Bishop's (supposed) Ignorance, Dulness, Stupidity, and Contradiction
to himself, and writes and prints, like a _Tom Brown_ or _Swift_, a most
_bantering_ and _drolling_ Letter, under the sneering Title of a _Letter
of Thanks to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of_ London, _for his late
Letter_, &c. whom, one would think, he should not only have spar'd, but
have applauded for his _profound Gravity_, and carrying on the Cause of
Religion in a very remarkable manner, with the most _consummate
Solemnity_. But so strong was the Temptation, so naturally productive of
Mirth was the Bishop's _Cause_, and his grave Management thereof, as that
he could not help laughing at the Bishop, by himself; and so was led on
mechanically to write in that Humour, and to publish what he wrote, and
afterwards to defend his drole _Manner_ [108] of attacking the Bishop,
against those who took _offence_ at that _Manner_ of writing.

XII. The burning Papists themselves are not always _serious_ with us: They
treat the Church and its Defenders as _fanatical_, and _laugh_ at them as
_such_, just as the Church does the Dissenters, and have their elaborate
Works of _Drollery_ against their Adversaries. They publish'd a Poem
against the _Reformation_, just before the Death of Queen _Anne_, which
was design'd to have given such a St