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The Select Works of Jonathan Swift; Containing the Whole of His Poetical Works Embellished With Engravings
The Select Works of Jonathan Swift Containing the Whole of His Poetical Works Embellished With Engravings Author:Jonathan Swift General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1823 Original Publisher: printed for Hector McLean Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Bo... more »oks edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: PULL AND TRUE ACCOUNT or Tub BATTLE FOUGHT LAST FRIDAY, BETWEEN THE ANCIENT AND THE MODERN In St. James's Library. THE BOOKSELLER To The READER. THE following discourse, as it is unquestionably of the same author, so it seems to have been written about the same time with the former ; I mean the year 1697, when the famous dispute was on foot, about ancient and modern learning. The controversy took its rise from an essay of Sir William Temple upon that subject; which was answered by W. Wotton, B. D. with an Appendix by Dr. Bentley, endeavouring to destroy the credit of jEsop and Phalaris, for authors, whom Sir William Temple had, in the essay before mentioned, highly commended. In that Appendix, the doctor falls hard upon a new edition of Phalaris, put out by the honourable Charles Boyle, now earl of Orrery; to which Mr. Boyle replied at large with great learning and wit; and the doctor voluminously rejoined. In this dispute, the town highly resented to see a person of Sir William Temple's character and merits roughly used by the two reverend gentlemen aforesaid, and without' any manner of provocation. At length, there appearing no end of the quarrel, our author tells us, that the Books in St. James's library, looking upon themselves as parties principally concerned, took up the controversy, and came to a decisive battle ; but the manuscript, by the injury of fortune, or weather, being inseveral places imperfect, we cannot learn to which side the victory fell. I must warn the r...« less