Page:The battle of the books - Guthkelch - 1908.djvu/287

 Their way of refuting Castelvetro was by pasquils, lampoons, burlesque dialogues, public speeches in the Academy, declamations of school-boys, and, in the close of all, "A short account of Messer Lodovico Castelvetro, by way of index," full of the most virulent abuses. These were the fair and honourable methods of managing their controversy: and though their adversary, while he lived, suffered much from their malice, yet posterity has been just to him, and has set an extraordinary value upon all his performances; while theirs upon this argument, (for in other things they were men of some worth), have nothing that now makes them inquired after, but the great reputation of the man they abuse. And such a man will never be called "an Italian ," but by those that copy after his adversaries in their infamous way of writing.

It's now time to draw towards a conclusion of this preface, which I shall do by informing the reader that when these papers were put to the press, I designed to have brought into this volume the Dissertations about Æsop and the rest; but this of Phalaris alone taking up more paper than I expected, I am obliged to put