Conduct of the Allies_, the
_Remarks_, and other such Factious Papers, as is reported, and he never
once thought fit to disown, being more Proud of the Honour done him in
it, than asham'd of the Falshood and Scandal of those Libels, it is no
strange Matter that a Man of such a Conscience should do or write any
Thing; Cursing and Swearing being not so bad as the Robberies that
Libeller has committed on the good Name of the best and greatest Men of
this Age and Nation.

The merriest part of the Project he has been hatching, for an _English_
Academy to bring our Tongue to his pitch of Perfection, is that he has
assign'd, that Task to the _Tories_, whose Wit have so distinguish'd
them in all Times. If there had ever been a Man among 'em who had a
right Notion of Letters or Language, who had any relish of Politeness,
it had been something. But as there never was one, unless it were two or
three Apostate Whigs who had been bred up by the Charity of those
Friends they deserted, that had any smattering of Learning, except in
Pedantry, nor Tast of any Books but _Eikon Basilike_, and the
_Thirtieth_ of _January_ Sermons; 'tis amazing that he shou'd be so
foolish as to fancy, that Learning which always goes by the Stile of
Common-wealth, would submit to the Arbitary Government of an Ignorant
and Tyrannical Faction. Nor is it at all strange, that those, who by
their Practices and Principles, have for above Fourscore Years been
doing their utmost to Enslave us, shou'd always have a Contempt for Wit
and Eloquence, which ever have been the Friends of Reason and Liberty.

Whoever reads the Thirty Fifth Chapter of _Longinus_ will find, that
'tis impossible for a Tory to succeed in Eloquence, and that if they
cannot impose so far on Men's Understandings, as to make Fustian pass
for Oratory, their Project of an Academy, will be as Chimerical as if
they shou'd flatter us with a Trade and Settlements in the Moon. The
Reader will not be displeas'd, to see what the Ancients thought of the
Capacity of Men of such Principles in Matters of Eloquence, and let a
long Experience among us, prove the right Judgment the _Philosopher_ in
_Longinus_ made of them 1500 Years ago. He is treating of the _Causes of
the Decay of Humane Wit_; _I can never enough admire_, said he, _how it
came to pass, that there are so many Orators in our Times, and so few of
'em rise very high in the Sublime; so Steril are our Wits now a Days; is
it not_, continues he, _beca