I Am wonderfully surprised at your History of the Life of Bishop WARD,Life of Bishop Ward. p. 193. considering too that you inform the World, that Your Intellectuals are as good now as ever th [...]y were.

Pray be pleased to recollect, that a Writer of such an History should endeavour at a concise, easie decent Stile, expressing a Reverence for the Memory of the Person whose Life he describes. The Relations ought to be contrived for instruction, and chiefly set as Paterns of Imitation. Minute matters ought to be chosen with Dis­cretion, and common Passages just [Page 4] toucht and hinted at. Whereas your Narration is drest up in a Comical and Bantering Stile, full of dry Scraps of La­tin, Puns, Proverbs, sensless Digressi­ons, long tedious unedifying Tales, and not without an insipid pag. 165. Bawdy Jest, and an impious pag. 26. Ridicule of the Mora­lity of the Fourth Commandment.

I protest I cannot see one instru­cting Page in the whole History, or that tends that way, unless it is a wild and whimsical Account of the Bi­shop's Charity and Hospitality.

Would a Man of tolerable Judg­ment commend a Reverend Prelate for a good Iockey, pag. 51. and in the History of his Life describe his Mare, with Dr. Weeks's Nag, and Dr. Pope's own Nag, with an account of the Nag's unfortunate Life and Death,pag. 96 though the joynt Endeavours of the best Fa­riers were used for his recovery? What Exposition will the ill-natur'd World make, when the Author says, by way of Commendation, that his Bishop was never destitute of Friends of the fair Sex? and that he pag. 83. pro­vided Husbands for his Nieces,pag. 6. and preferr'd them? You injudicially ridi­cule him,pag. 179. when you tell the World, [Page 5] he was cheated and laughed at by Surgeons and Apothecaries; you make sport with his pag. 181. Decay of Memory, and introduce into this History a pitiful Criticism upon Ovid de Tristibus mira­culously redeemed from the Fire in Lombard-street. pag. 151. With a great deal of Solemnity you positively affirm that Dr. Barrow made use of a Tinder-Box,p. 145, 146 and had no buttons upon his Collar; for that you knew the whole mat­ter, because you were his Bedfellow. How shrewdly do you argue, that if Dr. Barrow was born in February, pag. 129. it could not be in October? Your Dis­course of sore Eyes and couching Cataracts; your Advertisement that pag. 108. Mrs. Mary Turbervile is a good Ocu­list; and that you had a disbanded Soldier for your Bed-Maker at pag. 113. Wad­ham-Colledg, &c. make such a mixture of Vanity, gossipping and quibling Folly, that I cannot chuse but recol­lect the just Character which Mr. An­thony Wood gives of your Worship to this effect, viz. ‘That Dr. Pope has spent much time in observing the Motions and Appearances of the Heavens, which is hoped will be published by him hereafter, instead [Page 6] of those vain and trivial things, as he hath hitherto done,’ Athen. Oxon. vol. II. p. 821. Thus that plain and impartial Historian.

You have fill'd your History with such Remarks, as if you had design'd to imitate the Failings of Sorbiere, and had a mind that a better Pen should record your Name by corre­cting your Errors. That I may ex­plain my meaning, I will follow your Method, and tell a Story. After Ser­mon, once upon a time, I accosted an ingenious Friend that was plodding homewards after this manner; Prithee how didst like the facetious old Doctor to day? My Friend fetch'd a deep Sigh, and replied in a melancholy note, Sir, very pert and very dull; the sorriest Man that ever stood up to the Arm-pits in Wainscot; he has methodi­sed and collected into a Sermon all the impertinent Quibbles and Sayings of the worst Preachers, and I really believe he has feloniously taken good part of what Dr. Eachard exposed in his Contempt of the Clergie.

You have borrowed your Method, Transitions, and the Arguments of your Chapters from the ridiculing [Page 7] History of Don Quixote. As thus, in the end of your Third, Fourth, Se­venth, Eighth, Ninth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Chapters of your Book, you conclude to this effect, What befel him after­wards during his stay at Cambridge shall be the Subject of the next Chapter. And how Mr. Ward behaved himself at Oxford, and what befel him there, will be the Subject of the ensuing Chapters.

The Arguments of several Chapters are in these Words, (viz.) A Conti­nuation of the precedent matter; The same matter continued; The Controversie concerning Caps and Hoods; Of what happened to Dr. Ward at Oxford, con­cerning my self; A Digression containing some Criticisms; Of the Bishop's Sick­ness and Death.

In the History of Don Quixote it runs thus; He began to speak what shall be heard or seen by him that shall hear or read the next Chapter. It shall be so, (quoth Don Quixote) and thus lifting up his Eyes, he saw that which shall be recounted in the Chapter follow­ing, Chap. 7. Lib. 3. Part. 1. Of what happened to Don Quixote going to Barcelona. (Chap. 60. Part II.) What [Page 8] befel Don Quixote going to see his Mi­stris Dulcinea del Toboso. (Chap 8. Part II.) wherein is prosecuted the former Narration of our Knight's Misfortunes. (Chap. 5. Lib. 1.) wherein is recoun­ued, prosecuted and finished the Novel of the curious Impertinent. (Chap. 5, 6, 7. Lib. 4.) Wherein the Canon continueth his Discourse of Books of Chivalry. (Chap. 21. Lib. 4.) A Digression in the Rehearsal of the despairing Verses of the dead Shepherd. (Chap. 6 Lib. 3.) How Don Quixote fell sick, of the Will he made, and of his Death.

I firmly believe, no Man will be punish'd in the next World for being dull or impertinent; but for Malice and Falshood there will be a severe account. I shall not trouble my self to examin the truth of the matters of fact through your whole History. I will only shew you your Mistakes in reference to one pag. 171. Anthony à Wood, as you are pleased to phrase it; a Name that is mention'd with Honour in places, where even that of Bishop Ward's is unknown.

ibid.You have accused him as an Inven­tor of Calumnies: But that does not ap­pear in the Characters of Dr. Ward or [Page 9] Dr. Pope. And if you will venture to name any other, I dare appeal to the World (but excepting those and their Relations who have suffered by his plain dealing Pen) whither his Pictures have not near resemblances with the Originals.

‘Dr. Ward, pag. 172, you say, in the times of the Usurpation lived peaceably at Oxford, but was far from any Com­plyance.’ Whereas the Committee for the Reformation of that Univer­sity made him Astronomy-Professor; and in October 1649. he took the En­gagement to be faithful to the Com­monwealth of England, as it was then established without a King or House of Lords, Athenae Oxon. p. 627. Vol. II. as it appear'd in the Registry belong­ing to the Committee for the Re­formation of that University, and as the Clerk belonging to that Com­mittee inform'd Mr. Wood and others many Years since. Vindication of the Oxford Historiographer, &c. p. 27.

You have added further, ‘That he went not to his Grave unpunish'd, for he liv'd to see his Book censur'd and burnt, himself expell'd the Uni­versity, [Page 10] obliged to recant,pag. 174. and give Security not to offend any more in that kind.’ And this he underwent for writing too lavishly concerning a Great Man, &c.

I will not question the Legality of that Sentence, I shall content my self to tell you that a Writer may relate a matter of fact upon an e­vidence sufficient for History, which cannot amount to a Justification in a Court of Law. There may be ma­ny things true in your Account of the Life of Bishop Ward; but I believe you can hardly bring Two Witnesses that will swear to the truth of every particular Paragraph. If the Sentence was legal, and if a Person deceased many years ago can, properly speaking, suffer by a Reflection in Histo­ry, and the Heir bring an Action of Defamation for it: History must be laid aside; all Enquiries into the Characters of Great Men in the Ages before us, and all controversial Dis­courses, where the Opinions, Con­duct, and Behaviour of our Fore-Fa­thers of necessity must be examined. The Virtues of Men ought to be [Page 11] display'd, and their Vices exposed for our instruction. And if the Hi­storian is mistaken, his Punishment is to be despised and neglected for a bad Writer.

Postulatur novo ac tunc primum audito Crimine (says Tacitus of Cremutius Cordus) quod editis Annalibus, laudato­gue M. Bruto C. Cassium Romanorum ulti­mum dixisset. He goes on a little fur­ther, Libros per aediles cremandos censuê­re Patres, sed manserunt occultati & edi­ti. Quo magis socordiam eorum irridere libet qui praesenti potentiâ credunt extin­gui posse sequentis aevi Memoriam; nam contrà, punitis ingeniis gliscit autoritas, &c. Tacit. Annal. lib. 4.

But perhaps you or some other would willingly have this Question discuss'd, viz. Whether an Injury real, or by Word, or Writing may be of­fered to a Deceas'd Person, termina­ting the Injury there, according to the Civil Law of the Romans (as Mr. Wood's Case was, and by which Law Mr. Wood's Book was condemned) so as an Action may be brought by the Heir, or Articles exhibited by way of Indictment by him or any other.

[Page 12]I shall readily give my thoughts up­on this Question; provided what I say is not construed to extend to ar­raign the Legality of the Sentence a­gainst Mr. Wood. For I thank God I have learned so much Sense and Man­ners, as to know that the Determi­nations of Courts of Judicature ought to be respected and revered; or that a Sentence may be just, tho you or I do not understand it.

To prevent Confusion in the Laws and Cases throughout the Books of the Civil Law, which may delude some unwary Persons, I shall first ac­knowlege that a real Injury, as oppo­sed to a verbal one may be offered to a dead Person, and that it is punisha­ble by way of Articles, if it affects the Heir in Reputation or Inheritance, and that an Action then also shall accrue to the Heir for Recompence; For there the Estate and Reputa­tion of the Heir himself is concer­ned: But if the Injury (for the Pro­priety of the Word thus applied shall not yet be questioned) terminates in the deceased Person only, and is so pleaded, without any regard to or for [Page 13] the Heir, I cannot find any thing in that Law sufficient to support the As­sertion. For Et si fortè Cadaveri de­functi fit injuria, cui Haeredes, bonorum­ve Possessores extitimus, Injuriarum NO­STRO nomine habemus Actionem. Spectat enim ad Existimationem nostram (that is, Haeredis) siqua ei fiat Injuria. IDEMque & si fama ejus cui Haeredes extitimus lacessatur. Dig. Lib. 47. tit. 10 De Injuriis & famosis Libellis.

And further in the sixth Paragraph, Quoties autem funeri Testatoris vel ca­daveri fit injuria, si quidem post aditam Haereditatem fiat, dicendum est Haeredi quodammodo factam. Semper enim inte­rest Defuncti Existimationem purgare; quoties autem ante Haereditatem magis Haereditati & sic Haeredi per Haeredita­tem acquiri. Denique Iulianus scribit, si Corpus Testatoris ante aditam Haeredi­tatem detentum est, acquiri Haereditati Actiones non esse Dubium. I say the Injury in these cases follows the Inhe­ritance, and is terminated in the Heir, in the Person living, and upon his ac­count only is the Complaint to be heard. And this seems very reasona­ble, for if the Estate and Inheritance [Page 14] is given to him, it ought to be his Duty to bury the Testator, to defend his Body, while above-ground, from the Rudeness of Creditors, and from the barbarous usage of any other Per­sons: and that, according to his qua­lity, a Monument should be erected in his memory, and afterwards preser­ved by him, &c.

Secondly▪ I conceive, that a Verbal Injury, or Injury by Word or Writing cannot be offer'd to a deceas'd Person by this Law, terminating the Injury there; so as an Action may be brought by the Heir for it, or that there is any such Crime or Punishment. Lest the contrary may be thought to be infer­red from the foregoing Laws, those parts must be explained which seem to look that way. As, Spectat enim ad Existimationem Haeredis siqua Defuncto fiat injuria. Idemque & si fama ejus, cui Haeredes extitimus lacessatur; for there also spectat ad Existimationem sive fa­mam Haeredis. I say the Text does not mean that this can be done by Discourse or Writing. A real Injury affecting the Reputation or Estate of the Heir himself is to be understood [Page 15] throughout the whole Law, as appears by the leading and subsequent Ex­pressions in it. The leading instances are, Offering an Injury to the Dead Carcass, whereby an Action does ac­crue to the Heir in his own name, upon this Account Spectat ENIM ad existimationem Haeredis, if an Inju­ry of that Nature is offered to it. The Reason being given upon that Instance, the Discredit coming upon the Heir must be referred to that Act, or to some other real Injury that is like it. Then follows, with reference to the Injury offered to the Heir, IDEM (que) & si fama ejus cui Haeredes extitimus, lacessatur, not by Words or Writing. but by some Real Act, as the Gloss upon the Word lacessatur intimates, and gives Directions for an Instance to the Institutions in the Title, Qui & ex quibus causis, Man. par. 1. licet au­tem. Where because the General Law of Aelius Sentius hinder'd the Manu­mising of Bond-men if it was in fraud to the Creditors, an Exception is in­troduced, and Provision is made that a Bond-man shall be made free to act as Heir to the deceased, notwith­standing [Page 16] that the Creditor suffer by his Freedom; and this, as the Text and Gloss declare, lest the Goods and E­state of the deceas'd should otherwise ignominiously be sold by the publick Cryer sub hasta; A method among the Antients accounted always scandalous. Tully pro Pub. Quinctio.

Remember I said, That the Repu­tation of the deceased was affected by some such real Act as this, in the meaning of the Law, and that it did not include any. Verbal Injury. But farther it is to be observed, that the above-cited Gloss says, Ne memoria de­functi (in that case) quâdam injuriâ adficiatur, disowning, that any Injury, properly speaking either verbal or real in a legal and strict signification of that Word, can be offered to a de­ceas'd Person. And of this Improprie­ty Hottoman the famous French Law­yer, in his Commentaries on this place, takes notice and says, UTCUNQUE est injuria hic pro contumelia accipitur, referring himself to such another im­proper Expression under the Title De injuriis & famosis libellis, in the Digest which I repeated at large above, and [Page 17] from whence, as I said before, we were referred to this place of the In­stitutions.

Injury therefore in that place of the Digest and Institutions is so called, quia non fit jure, as Ulpian gives the Etymology in a vulgar and general way, according to the opinion of Commentators, but not in its legal Sence, or proper Signification.

This is the result of those Expressi­ons, Si Fama ejus, sc. Defuncti, laces­satur, and Semper enim Haeredis interest Defuncti existimationem purgare, which if they are considered further than the bare Letter, and the Passages and References of the Gloss compared, the Injury falls only upon the Living, and that neither real non verbal can pro­perly speaking be offer'd to a deceased Person, terminating the Injury there, without any further consideration. Upon this Exposition, the Definition of Injury and other Laws are in­telligible, as Injuria est Delictum quo quid ad Contumeliam vel Dolorem alte­rius admittitur. The Word alterius supposes a Person in being, and the Words Contumelia and Dolor suppose him sensible of it.

[Page 18] Illud relatum peraeque est, eos qui inju­riam pati possunt & facere posse, excepting only the Cases of Infants and Mad­men. L. illud relatum. Dig. De Injuriis & Fam. Libel.

Injuriarum Actio neque Haeredi, ne­que in Haeredem datur. L. 13. Dig. de Injuriis.

Est certissima juris regula ex maleficiis poenales Actiones in Haeredem rei non competere, veluti furti, vi bonorum ra­ptorum, injuriarum, Damni injuriae; Sed haeredibus, hujusmodi Actiones com­petunt nec denegantur, EXCEPTA in­juriarum actione, & si qua alia similis inveniatur. Inst. Lib. 4. p. 2. non autem omnes. Where Mynsinger upon the same Paragraph, on the Words Exceptâ in­juriarum Actione, says, Quod ideo est quia haec actio non pertinet ad rem famili­arem, sed ex merâ vindictâ descendit. What can be plainer!

Homo mortuus non patitur injuriam, says Tuschus in his 389. General Con­clusion, quia non potest vulnerari, neque suspendi, neque puniri. The Exceptions to this General Rule are only some particular real Injuries, which affect the Heir, or are punishable by some [Page 19] particular Constitutions, or are esteem­ed Crimes upon some Religious Ac­counts, or are made so by the Canon Law, viz. Robbing Tombs, a Man corrupting himself with the dead Car­cass of a Woman, and the striking or wounding the dead Body of a Clergy-man, &c. Tho here I must confess Tuschus and the Author which he quotes, give a Reason quite contra­ry to the General Conclusion, viz. that those Crimes are punishable, be­cause in those particulars an Injury is offer'd to the Dead Body. But this Contradiction is reconcil'd, if in the Exceptions the Word Injury is taken in its general and loose Sense as before, according to its various Significations repeated in the Digest, or in its im­proper Sense, as Hottoman before ob­served, and not as in the above-men­tioned General Rule or Conclusion, according to its special Meaning or Legal Definition. But what if the Ex­ceptions were to be taken in the same strict Meaning of the Word as we have suppos'd it to be in the Conclu­sion? It confirms the General Rule in all other Cases, and is far from [Page 20] maintaining that an Injury by Word or Writing may be committed. Either way, in the Sense of this Compiler, that Notion is destroyed, and un­known to his laborious Collections.

Hippolytus de Marsiliis, an Author of an established Reputation, in his Com­mentaries upon the Title of the Di­gest De Quaestionibus, à num. 31. ad num. 65. has collected all the Laws and opinions of the Doctors, in what Instances a Man dead or alive doe agree or disagree, as to the Prote­ction of the Law, or in reference to legal Rights and Consequences. In their Disagreement, and that particular Rights once due are alter'd by Death, he has observed and collected twenty four Instances, and proved them by good Authorities. In their Agree­ment, where the Effect of the Law continues after Death, he has found out nine Cases, but not one Word that a dead Person may be defam'd ei­ther by Word or Writing, as undoubt­edly he may when living, but expres­ly gives the Law, That Si Titius est mortuus, non dicitur amplius Titius, telling his Reader that he would have [Page 21] him remember those Instances, for that they will scarce be found so col­lected in any oth [...]r Author.

Praeterea nec haeredibus nec in haeredes conceditur injuriarum actio, quia nihil abest ex patrimonio, neque enim in aver­tenda & minuendâ re familiari injuria versatur, sed in solâ contumeliâ, & proin­de qui ante litem contestatam moritur, nihil transmittit ad Haeredem, quia simul Vindicta extinguitur. Haersolte de A­ctionibus Civilibus & Criminalibus, in Prolegom. num. 64.

Some Authorities here cited suppose indeed the Deceased to have received the Injury while alive; but if upon his Death, before Action enter'd or Issue joined in the Cause brought by him while alive, no Person afterwards (not so much as the Heir) could continue that Action, or raise a new one in the name of the Deceas'd or in their own, either civiliter or criminaliter, we may be allowed to make a Consequence, that it is not reasonable to suppose that the Law will afford Satisfaction or a Remedy, if an Injury is pretend­ed to be offered him after his Decease.

[Page 22]An Action of Injury is a personal Action, whether moved civilly or cri­minally, and it is a Maxim that such Actions die with the Person: It is ex­tinguished and ceases, both by the Death of the Person giving the Inju­ry, and by the Death of the Person who pretends to have suffer'd. How therefore is it reconcileable, that such an Action should be supported by another, or Articles exhibited in his behalf, for a pretended Injury that commenced against him after his Death, of which he is wholly igno­rant, and for which his Heir had no Remedy, if the Ancestor had suffered while alive? For that such Actions should die with the Person is a very rational Principle; because perhaps the Sufferer himself might think it prudent to neglect the Injury, or his Interest to overlook and pardon it. Shall therefore a disinteressed Person, after his Death, take up the Quarrel and correct such prudential Forgive­ness?

In this case I wish, Sir, I had your opinion, who are a Civilian by Office, and manage Matters with a Skill and [Page 23] Learning peculiar to most of those who preside in the Ecclesiastical Jurisdicti­on throughout England.

It is to be allowed, that in the Com­mon Laws of England there is one Pre­cedent contrary to my Interpretations of the Texts of the Civil Law; but that Doctrine was never heard of till the Star-Chamber Case, mentioned in the fifth Report, and as I believe ne­ver put in practice since. It is noto­rious that the Star-Chamber would make Law, if they could not find any prepared for the purpose. But there is a vast difference between the Star-Chamber Case and the Case of Mr. Wood. Iohn Whitgift the Arch-bishop of Canterbury, the Person traduced, had been just before a Magistrate, a Privy Councellour under the then King, Iames I, and died under that Government, which had an Interest to support his Reputation. Comment que le private Homme ou Magistrate soit mort, says the Report, al temps del fes [...]uirs del Libel, uncore ceo est punishable, car en l'un Case ceo incite auters de mesme le familie, ou society, a revenge & a in­freindre le peace, & en l'autre le Libeller [Page 24] traduce & Slander le State & Govern­ment, que ne morut pas. A Man there­fore at this day by the Common Law may be punished for talking scurvily of Henry VIII. or of William the Con­queror, and the Courtiers and Magi­strates under them; for the Govern­ment never dies: and while there re­mains one of a Family to resent an Injury offer'd to his Ancestor, there is danger, and the Law will lay hold on you for it.

This seems absurd in the general Notion. There ought therefore to be reasonable Limitation and Distinction, if it can at any time be the Common Law. Otherwise the former Ages are under this Protection as well as the later; and the old Fool and Knave with the yesterday's Honest Wise Man: the Antient Disgrace and this day's Honour of Government or Fa­mily, stand upon the same Bottom.

But however, neither can this Law govern in the present Case. My Lord Chancellour Hide died in Retirement, a Private Person in France, before this present Reign or the last; out of the protection of the Laws, while living [Page 25] and under a Condemnation to perpetual Exile and Banishment. For the truth of this I refer to the 19 Car. II. enti­tuled An Act for banishing and disena­bling the Earl of Clarendon.

But it is true, Sir, there was such a Sentence or something like it as you describe. For how could a poor Me­lancholy Monkish Scholar contend with that powerful and noble Person (who was pleased to appear personally in the Prosecution, and was the greatest Officer next to the Chancellour in the University) in an inferior Court, be­fore a modest private Fellow of a Col­lege, who signed the Sentence as Judg, at the Instances of some worthy Per­sons, who wisely concluded, it was convenient to pacifie his Lordship.

One would think by the Gazette Account of it, and your Description, that his Writings were censur'd in Con­vocation by the whole University, and that there was the same Formality in the Condemnation as in that of Here­sie. But, alas, the Book was smo­ther'd in the Theatre-Court, not one Soul, besides an Apparitor, at the So­lemnity, as I could ever hear of. Not­withstanding [Page 26] all this, Mr. Wood car­ried on his Studies in the University to his dying day, frequented the pub­lick Library, took little or no notice of the Fire or Programma's, continued his Acquaintance with the Learned Men of that venerable Body, and ge­nerously gave by his Will his Printed Books and Manuscripts to the Publick Museum; where, and in the Publick Libraries, all his Works, viz. Anti­quitates Oxon. and Athenae Oxonienses, in 2 Vol. are deposited as they were first printed, as immortal Monuments of his Industry and Learning.

But that he recanted or gave Security, as you insinuate, it is utterly false, for he died in firm persuasion that he had dealt impartially with my Lord Chancellour, tho great Endeavours were used to convince him of a Mi­stake, and that his Information com­ing from angry and disobliged Cava­liers, ought to be suspected.

The Character of the Life of Dr. Pope, which is under his own Hand, in the Custody of his Trustees, as I am informed, is certainly impartial, and a Master-piece, a very honest and [Page 27] pleasant Performance. In which I sup­pose the most glorious Action of the Doctor's Life. about the Contest of Formalities is recorded.

And this you are pleased to say was of importance to his History.

I am of your opinion, that your greatest Praise, and the most glorious Action of your Life was for being concern'd in the famous Contesta­tion about Formalities, and in not giving your consent to alter the Caps in the University. For indeed this Account of Bishop Ward's Life is but a Trifle to it, and even to a Person (as you hint your self to be) thirsty of Fame and ambitious of Honour, adds a less Credit and Reputation.

But as this Stuff is intolerably vain and fulsom, so it is also false and malicious. Mr. Wood had no design to falsifie the History, or to thrust you or your Colleague out of the University Chronicles. It is perfect­ly a Mistake either in the Printer or Transcriber; for in Mr. Wood's own Book given upon his Death-bed to one of his Nephews, it stands corre­cted with his Pen, and Dr. Pope (that important thing to his History) is in­serted in its proper place. But for your further satisfaction, look into [Page 29] the Historia & Antiquitates Oxon. in the Fasti for the Year 1658. George Potter and Walter Pope are mention'd to be the Proctors, with this Remark upon the latter, Potestatem sub finem Anni impetravit Procurator junior pro­fectionem ad exteras gentes instituendi, quare vices absentis implevit Mr. Tho. Gourney è Coll. Aenaen. pag. 439.

Mr. Wood has another sort of Cha­racter given him by a Reverend and Ingenious Writer, in his Vindication of the Oxford Historiographer, and his Works, in page 29. which I shall make bold to transcribe, because I know that it is true, (viz.) ‘He did ne­ver in hast and forwardness meddle with a Subject to which he was not prepar'd by Education and a due Method of Studies. He never wrote to oblige a rising Party, or to insi­nuate into the Disposers of Prefer­ment, but has been content with his Station, and aim'd at no End but Truth. He never took up with the Transcript of Records where the Originals might be consulted, nor made use of others Eyes when his own could serve. He never wrote [Page 30] in post, with his Body and his Thoughts in a hurry, but in a fix­ed Abode and with a deliberate Pen. He never conceal'd an ungrateful Truth, nor flourished over a weak place, but in sincerity of meaning and expression thought an Historian should be a Man of Conscience. He never had a Patron to oblige or forget, and has been a free and in­dependent Writer. In a word, He confesses there may be some Mi­stakes in modern Things and Per­sons; when he could have no evi­dence but from the information of living Friends, or perhaps Enemies, but he is confident, that where Re­cords are cited, and where authen­tick Evidence could possibly be had, there he has been punctual and ex­act.’ He may further confess, that the Stile of the Author is rugged and inartificial, almost as flat as your own; But without your Quibbles and te­dious Digressions which have no con­nexion with the principal Subject.

Had he had a Skill to have given an Air to his Narrations, his Books had been more diverting; but he de­sign'd [Page 31] them for nothing else but a Record or Registry.

This, Doctor, contains Matter of good instruction to you and others. From hence you may learn not to meddle with a Subject to which you are not prepared by Education and Study. Some Men travel and con­verse, that they may be qualified to tell a Story or crack a Jest over a Bottle, and to make such Sport as you were pleased to divert your self with, when you took the chearful Cup in the Barn near Rochelle, as you were make­ing your grand Tour of France, or to come home furnished with Abilities to compose a Salisbury Canto, a Catch, or a Ballad; But if this was also your Design, you must not meddle with any thing that requires Thinking and Iudgment. If you do, we ought to accost you in those proper Expressions which you say the Vice-Chancellor did in full Convocation, viz. Egregie Pro­curator Tace.

Hence also you may conclude, that all Men are not of your opinion, that the Credit of an Historian is ruined, because he is guilty of some Defects [Page 32] and Escapes. Many things in Mr. Wood's Writings ought to be lopt off, and ma­ny things will bear an Enlargement, yet I cannot but admire the vastness of his Design, the Curiosity and Use­fulness of his Performance. We are contented that he himself should be censured where really defective. Deal with him as he has dealt with others, yet his Friends will not be under any apprehension that they shall be de­priv'd of the Honour of his Reputa­tion.

My Lord Chancellor Hyde was most certainly a brave, a loyal, and a wise but unfortunate States-man. His Coun­try, I mean the more knowing part, will always mention him with Gra­titude and Honour; But that he had all the Virtues of a perfect Hero, it is ridiculous to pretend to allow it.

Bishop Ward was a noted Mathe­matician and Astronomer, a good Di­vine, a profound Reasoner, of an affable, courtly, Gentleman-like tem­per, a publick Spirit, and a good Friend. But before he was advanced to the Episcopal See, he was suspe­cted to waver in his Opinions about [Page 33] Government, and his good Nature formerly betrayed him into some Irre­gularities; insomuch that I cannot see the necessity why he should be set in the Calendar for a Saint, or canoni­zed. But for all that, to the Honour of the Church of England; I wish all his Successors may deserve as good a Character, and have a better Hi­storian.

Had the modern Biographers been as just and sincere as the Author of Athenae Oxonienses, without Flourishes and Concealments, their Pieces had not been thrown aside with Dissatis­satisfaction, as Panegyrical, inimitable, and Romantick.

Quintus Curtius, (says one) de­serves Praise for being sincere. He says what is good and bad in Ale­xander, and never suffers the Merit of his Hero to prevent him. Where­as Eusebius shews nothing in Constan­tine but what is commendable; who nevertheless had great Failings. We may expose their chief Faults faithful­ly, but not irreverently. It is a fault in Platina to treat the Popes in such a manner. Perhaps my Friend too [Page 34] upon this account may deserve some­times to be corrected. All that I con­tend for, is, that the Biographers ought to set down the chief Vertues and Vices of those they represent. Every Historian of repute does relate the Defects of those they write of. The sacred History shews us Instances of the basest Villany in the best Ex­amples. Much rather should a Bio­grapher (whom we cannot properly call an Historian) describe his Sub­ject in its due proportion, being sup­posed, whilst he is writing, to have his Eyes and his Thoughts contracted only to that narrow compass. Bishop Burnet says, in his Preface to the Life of Sir Matthew Hale, to this purpose, ‘That since all Men have their blind Sides, and commit Errors, he that will industriously lay these together, leaving out, or but slightly touch­ing what should be set against them to balance them, may make a very good Man appear in bad Colours. So upon the whole matter, there is not that reason to expect either much Truth or great Instruction from what is written concerning Hero's or [Page 35] Princes; for few have been able to imitate the Patterns Suetonius set the World, in writing the Lives of the Roman Emperours with the same Free­dom that they had led them.’

In God's Name therefore let there be no such Prevarication in Writing Lives of private Persons, as there is no Necessity and little Temptation for it.

Diogenes Laertius, tho dry and je­june, is very plain and faithful. He tells us that Socrates Wife would scold and throw Water upon him, and that he himself would endure a Beating.

Plutarch says that the brave Cato Uticensis was a fudling Fellow and a Cuckold. That Alcibiades lisp'd, or, as one of his Translators renders it, that his Tongue was something fat; that he gave a School-Master a Box under the Ear because he would not lend him a Homer; that he had a very large Dog, and that the Athenians mightily blam'd him for cutting off his Tail, which occasioned this ingenious Reply, That he did it to divert them from saying worse things of himself; that he was a Promise-breaker, perjur'd, [Page 36] and that he got King Agis's Wife with child, &c. Plut. in vitâ Alcib.

Suppose Plutarch's Works had been censur'd because he could not have brought two Witnesses that would have sworn all this to be true? Do you think it would have ruin'd the Credit of the Historian?

In short, Cornelius Nepos, a Latin, followed the same Method in writing of his Lives, and makes the same Al­cibiades an extraordinary Man and a very naughty Spark.

Had Mr. Wood defer'd the Publica­tion of his last Volume for twenty or thirty years, the Book had found more Friends; but there is a Simpli­city and an honest Design which runs through the whole that will for ever support it, were it guilty of all those Errors which you or your Fellow-Suf­ferers have been pleased to charge it with.

The Summ of what I object is, That you have grosly abused Bishop Ward and Mr. Wood, for which all good and learned Men call loudly for Satisfaction. And tho perhaps I might have drawn up your Indictment in a [Page 37] more solemn manner, I found it diffi­cult to put on a serious countenance to confute your Jests, or something absurd to answer your Merriments with a Syllogism. If you are incorri­gible, I concur in your WISH, that you may have leave to depart in peace, for otherwise there will be little or no occasion of you in this World.