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with
" captious art,
"And ſnip-ſnap ſhort, and interruption ſmart;
"And demonſtration thin, and theſes thick,
"And major, minor, and concluſion quick."
Our late excellent friend, Dr. Johnſon, uſed to ſay, that an author might be ſatisfied with the publick approbation, when his name was able to carry double. In this reſpect therefore this writer ſhould ſeem to have intended me a compliment, and as ſuch I accept it; though I have not vanity enough to ſuppoſe that I can ſuſkain ſuch a heap of rubbiſh as has been raked up, to furniſh the number of pages neceſſary for the occaſion.
I will not ſtain my paper by tranſcribing any part of the vulgar ribaldry with which this production abounds. Let it reſt with the low ſocieties among whom it has been picked up, and in the bookſeller's warehouſe, where, with other neglected traſh, it will long remain in undiſturbed repoſe. But as two or three facts have been mentioned, which, however diſtorted or diſcoloured, have ſomething like the ſemblance, though nothing of the reality, of truth, I ſhall detain you for a ſhort time, ſolely with a view of obviating the effect which is ſometimes produced by ſilent contempt and unrefuted miſrepreſentation. Our
