Every body knows, what Pains our Party-writers take in contradicting
one another, and that there are few Things, which if the one praises,
the other does not condemn. Now, if we find the _London Journal_ have a
Fling at _The Fable of the Bees_ one Day, and _The Craftsman_ another,
it is a certain Sign that the ill Repute of the Book, must be well
establish'd and not to be doubted of. Then why might not an Author
write against it, without giving himself the Trouble of reading it? It
would be hard, a Man should not dare to affirm, that it is hot in the
_East-Indies_, without having made a tedious Voyage thither and felt
it. The more therefore I reflect, Sir, on your second Dialogue, and the
Manner you treat me in, the more I am convinced, that you never read
the Book I speak of, I mean, not read it through, or at least not with
Attention. If _Dion_ had inform'd himself concerning _The Fable of the
Bees_, as he might have done, he must have met with my Vindication of
it in some Shape or other. First, it came out in a News-Paper; after
that, I publish'd it in a Six-penny Pamphlet, together with the Words
of the first Presentment of the Grand Jury and an injurious abusive
Letter to Lord C. that came out immediately after it; both which had
been the Occasion of my writing that Vindication. The Reason I gave for
doing this, was, that the Reader might be fully instructed in the
Merits of the Cause between my Adversaries and my Self; and because I
thought it requisite, that to judge of my Defence, he should know the
whole Charge, and all the Accusations against me at large. I took Care
to have this printed in such a Manner, as to the Letter and Form, that
for the Benefit of the Buyers, it might conveniently be bound up, and
look of a Piece with the then last, which was the second Edition. Ever
since the whole Contents of this Pamphlet have been added to the Book,
and are at the End of the third, the fourth, and the fifth, as well as
this last Impression of 1732. If _Dion_ had seen and approved of this
Vindication, he would not have wrote against me at all; and if he had
thought my Answers not satisfactory, and that I had not clear'd my self
from the Aspersions, which had been cast upon me, it was unkind, if not
a great Disregard to the Publick, not to take Notice of it, and shew
the Insufficiency of my Defence, which from his own Writings it is
evident, that great Numbers of the _beau monde_ must have acquiesc'd
in, or not thought