Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/330

320 Manners. To this I anſwer, firſt, in that ſatire, or any other I ever wrote, I have always carefully avoided laſhing any man’s private infirmities, as being too ſenſible of my own, but if I have ſingled out any man by character, it has either been ſuch, as intending to reform others, and execute the laws againſt vice, have been the greateſt examples, and encouragers of it in their own practice; or ſuch as have been entruſted with the executive power of juſtice, and having been called upon by the laws to reform us, have been a public reproach to the magiſtracy of this nation, and ought to be puniſhed by the laws they have been protected by.

‘Secondly, I have never made any man’s diſaſters, or misfortunes, the ſubject of my ſatire. I never reproached any man for having his houſe burnt, ſhips caſt away, or his family ruined. I never lampooned a man becauſe he could not pay his debts, or for his being a cuckold.

‘Thirdly, I never reproached any man for his opinion in religion, or eſteemed him the worſe for differing in judgment from me.

‘If therefore the ſcandalous treatment I have received is juſt on me, for abuſing others, I muſt aſk ſuch, who is the man? Where is the character I have given that is not juſt? and where is the retaliation of providence, that theſe men entitle themſelves to in loading me with falſities and lies, as a juſt puniſhment for my ſpeaking truth.

‘But p-x on him, ſaid a certain ſober gentleman, he is a Whig, and what need he have meddled with his own party, could not he have left them out, there were characters enough on the other ſide? ‘Why