Page:The battle of the books - Guthkelch - 1908.djvu/40

 MS. another stage. Bennet replied, through Boyle, to Eentley's remarks in the Dissertation, and tried to show that he was in no way to blame for the trouble that arose.

Bentley's second 'Dissertation' (1699)

In the course of the year 1698 at least six other pamphlets were published, dealing more or less directly with the controversy that had arisen, but they are none of them important.

Bentley, meanwhile, was preparing his reply. In his first Dissertation there had been one or two small mistakes which his enemies were able to expose. He determined that there should, if possible, be nothing at which they could cavil in his new work. Early in 1699 his second Dissertation appeared, this time as an independent volume. In a preface of 112 pages he replied to Bennet's representations, and to a number of new charges brought against him in Boyle's Examination The body of the book consisted of a reprint,