reverend the heads and governours of colleges and halls) they winc'd like ſo many gall'd horſes, and ſaid to one another, Gentlemen, theſe are no jeſts; if we ſuffer this, we ſhall become the ſport of freſhmen and ſervitors; let us expel him, for an example to others not to take ſuch freedoms with their ſuperiors.
And Terræ-Filius was accordingly expell'd almoſt every act. Yet, for all that, ſome body was ſtill found upon theſe occaſions, endow'd with chriſtian courage enough to rebuke wickedneſs in high places, at the expence of infamy and nakedneſs; the uſual conſequences of incurring eccleſiaſtical diſpleaſure!
To put therefore an entire ſtop to this dangerous practice, of expoſing the Dons to deriſion and deteſtation, it hath been though expedient, for the ſafety of their reputations, to have no publick act at all for ſome years; and when they have, to have no Terræ-Filius: by this means obliging me to ſilence when there is moſt occaſion for me to open my mouth.
Being of a very talkative temper, and withal ſomething ſplenatick, you muſt needs think, loving readers, how uneaſy this confinement has been to me: to ſee ignorance, ſuperſtition, tyranny and prieſtcraft riding rampant in the ſeminaries of religion; to ſee barefaced, fraudulent actions daily committed by the hands that ought to adminiſter juſtice; to ſee perjury and rebellion publickly preached and inculcated into the minds of youth; to ſee the virtuous munificence of founders and benefactors ſquandered away at gaming-tables, and amongſt ſtockjobbers, or guzzled down in hogſheads of wine or toſt up in fricaſees and veniſon paſties: I ſay to ſee all this, and to ſee no publick remedy apply'd or propos'd to be apply'd to this complication of evils, would extort ſatire and indignation from the moſt lukewarm breaſt.
