Page:The battle of the books - Guthkelch - 1908.djvu/41

 section by section, of his previous Dissertation;  after each section he considered at full length the objections brought against it by his antagonists, so that the book was made up of a number of papers dealing with various disputed points in classical scholarship. And except in the cases of the small mistakes already mentioned, Bentley made an overwhelming reply to everything brought against him. The learning he showed was so stupendous as almost to defeat its own purpose, for there were, perhaps, hardly a dozen men in England fit to judge his work: those who understood saw not merely that he had demolished Phalaris and his supporters, but also that he had proved himself the greatest classical scholar of his day, one worthy to rank with the greatest who had ever lived.

But public opinion did not immediately acclaim his victory. Sir Richard Jebb has pointed out that for many years the idea remained current that Boyle had defeated Bentley. The publication of the Battle of the Books in 1704 is in itself sufficient evidence that popular feeling was on the side of Boyle and his friends.

Shortly after this Dissertation was published, the Christ