Excerpt from A Letter to the Right Reverend Author of the Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated: In Answer to the Appendix to the Fifth Volume of That Work, With an Appendix, Containing a Former Literary Correspondence

Poetry Itreated of the Poem of Job, as my under taking necefi'arily required. I gave my opinion of the age, the defign, and the nature of the Poem, ' with freedom in refpe�t to general fentiments corn mon to a number of authors, but without any re ferenceto any one particular author, or refle�tion upon any perfon whatever. I was not confcious of having given offence, nor could I fufpeft that of fence was taken. You ftgnified to me, that You. Were offended; and called upon me to anfwer to the charge of having diltented in opinion from You. I did not care to proreft again& the authoritative man ner in-which you proceeded; or to queftion your invefliture in the high office of Inquifitor General and Supreme Judge of the Opinions of the Earned, which you had long before ali'umed, and had exer cifed with a ferocity and a defpotifm without ex ample in the Republic of Letters, and hardly to be paralleled among the difciples of Dominic; exa�'ting their opinions to the f'tandard of your Infallibility, and profecuting with implacable hatred every one that prefumed to differ from you. I knew, that fuch a proteft would lead immediately to whati was willing to avoid. I obeyed your fummons: I gave you by Letter the account of myfelf, which you demanded; and, with due freedom, but, Ihope, with civility and good manners, I afferted my right of thinking for myfelf and endeavoured to'remove the grounds of your refentment. The debate ran out into fome length; but ended in an amicable manner, which was much to my fatisfa�'tion. You B perhapsperhaps may f'rill' fuppofe, that I was afraid ofyoul.' Ia will tell you fairly, what I was really afraid of It Was safraidg'xhat two Members of the famoec-1 clefiaflical Society, engaging in an open.quarrelf and a' hof'tile alternation, ('for fuch I knew it mufi: be, when You were one of the parties)'upon1�ai difference ofi'opinion, in a point not only of no1 greatsimportancefi but f01dubious asito be incapable of being. Perfe�tly fettled. Would: make a contemptible figure, and exhibit. A; i'iliiquf' lous fpe�'tacle to the Public. If. This fhould now be the cafe; I can. Only fay, that it: was not Ofemy) feekingt And that thofe, whmfhall. Atrail thinkzio worth. Their. While to inquire int01 theetrue origin and merits of this.difpute, may be able to judge-who is the aggreffor; I fhallfubjoin to this.addrefs the above-men tioneeiterary Correfpondenee, at large, and exaftly as itqpafi'ed between us.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.