Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 4.djvu/406

398 bishop's own phrase; and so make the paragraph all of a piece.

I will engage, on the other side, to paraphrase all the rogues and rascals in the Englishman, so as to bring them up exactly to his lordship's style: but, for my own part, I much prefer the plain Billingsgate way of calling names, because it expresses our meaning full as well, and would save abundance of time, which is lost by circumlocution: so, for instance, John Dunton, who is retained on the same side with the bishop, calls my lord treasurer and lord Bolingbroke traitors, whoremongers, and jacobites; which three words cost our right reverend author thrice as many lines to define them; and I hope his lordship does not think there is any difference in point of morality, whether a man calls me traitor in one word, or says, I am one hired to betray my religion, and sell my country.

I am not surprised to see the bishop mention with contempt all convocations of the clergy; for Toland, Asgill, Monmouth, Collins, Tindal, and others of the fraternity, talk the very same language. His lordship confesses he is not inclined to expect much from the assemblies of clergymen. There lies the misfortune; for if he, and some more of his order, would correct their inclinations, a great deal of good might be expected from such assemblies; as much as they are now cramped by that submission, which a corrupt clergy brought upon their innocent successors. He will not deny that his copiousness in these matters is, in his own opinion, one of the meanest parts of his new work. I will agree with him, unless he happens to