'  That  which  makes  it  particularly  difficult  to  restrain
these  sons  of  calumny  and  defamation  is  that  all  sides
are  equally  guilty  of  it,  and  that  every  dirty  scribbler
is  countenanced  by  great  names,  whose  interests  he
propagates  by  such  vile  and  infamous  methods.  I  have
never  yet  heard  of  a  ministry  who  have  inflicted  an
exemplary  punishment  on  an  author  that  has  supported
their  cause  with  falsehood  and  scandal,  and  treated  in  a
most  cruel  manner  the  names  of  those  who  have  been
looked  upon  as  their  rivals  and  antagonists.  Would  a
government  set  an  everlasting  mark  of  their  displeasure
upon  one  of  those  infamous  writers  who  makes  his  court
to  them  by  tearing  to  pieces  the  reputation  of  a  com-
petitor, we  should  quickly  see  an  end  put  to  this  race
of  vermin  that  are  a  scandal  to  government  and  a  re-
proach to  human  nature.  Such  a  proceeding  would
make  a  minister  of  state  shine  in  history,  and  would
fill  all  mankind  with  a  just  abhorrence  of  persons  who
should  treat  him  unworthily  and  employ  against  him
those  arms  which  he  scorned  to  make  use  of  against  his
enemies.'  ^

'  The  Spectator,  August  7,  1712.
^  Ibid.
