gation which fo offend the Moderns, are only short: and fignificant Words to exprefs a complex Idea. Thus tell a Modern, Sir, you have often deceived me, it would only put him upon his own Vindication; but if you call him a Cheat, you run the Rifque of a Drubbing and pray what fhould make fo wide a Difference between a Circumlocution and a Noun. Subftantive, which both exprefs the fame Thing? The fecond Caufe of this general Miftake is Ignorance of the Languages and Manners of pureft Antiquity, wherein this opprobrious Language (fo much cenfured now-a-days) was quite familiar, as I have fhewed through the whole Body of my Work. In the first Chapter I have fettled the Notion of the Term Barbarous, which was conftantly applied to every Thing that was not Greek or Roman, and ought ftill to retain the fame Signification; in confequence: of which, I have proved that the ceremonious, humble, low Manner of Speech and Addrefs of the Moderns, their pompous Titles of Honour, Coats of Arms, and all the Jargon of Heraldry and Chivalry, are Gothick and Barbarous, introduced by the Fall of the Republicks of Greece and Rome. Did ever a Citizen of any of thofe Republicks fay to his Equal or Superior, Your devoted Slave? On the contrary, the Dialect of thofe Republicks, where they call Things by their plain Names, is quite polite, as the other is unclaffical and barbarous. Polite and Civil,. the firft a Greek, the fecond a Latin Word, fignify what is customary in a well-ordered City or Commonwealth; and tho' the Ignorant may be forgiven,. it is quite fcandalous in Men of a liberal Education to find fault with calling of Names in publick Papers and Harangues, and much more fo, to make them the Subject of Quarrels, which every Body knows is Gothick. In my first Chapter, I fettle the original. Right of this Sort of Altercation, which is moft in defefible defefible and unlimited in the Female-Sex amongst all Ranks and Degrees, except between old and young Women; the latter being fuppofed to want the Protection and benevolent Affiftance of the former. Secondly, That there is no mutual Right of Altercation between different Sexes, except in the Matrimonial State. Thirdly, That the Right of Altercation fubfifts between Perfonages of equal Rank, Gods, Goddeffes, Monarchs, Generals, and publick Orators; likewife between Republican Orators and Monarchs. Fourthly, Between the People of free Governments and their Magiftrates; but not between Monarchs and their individual Subjects. I have fhewn that Antiquity abounds with Examples of all those Kinds. Homer has given us a very pompous and decent Reprefentation of the Altercation of the Divinities in a full Assembly: Juno tells Jupiter, that he was quite infufferable, furly, and referved as to her; tho' that Huffey, Venus, would get it out of him. Fupiter as fharply rebukes her for her Curiofity, and at laft threatens her with a little corporal Correction; and which is moft ftrange, poor Vulcan the Blackfmith feems to be the only civil Person in the whole Affembly (according to the modern Notion of Civility) for he speaks to his Mother not to difturb good Company. Another Time, when Juno was reproaching Jupiter for being hard-hearted to her, in not letting her get her Will of the Trojans, he tells her politely, I wish you had Priamus and all his Children raw in your Guts. Neptune rails at his Brother Jupiter moft bitterly; Let him, quoth he, govern his own Baftards, and not meddle out of his Province. What a terrible Scuffle amongft thofe Deities, when Jupiter gave them Leave each to act according to his own Inclination in the Trojan War? What fcolding, kicking, tripping up of Heels? Minerva Minerva calls Mars a Blockhead, &c. Apollo? calls Neptune a Fool, &c.—Jupiter all the while fhaking his Sides with Laughter, well-judging that it was neceffary to give the Divinities proper Opportunities to vent their Spleen at each other; nor does it appear that there was ever any Offence. taken at Words. In this Chapter, for the Benefit of the Ladies, I have made a Collection of Epithets in ufe amongst the Divinities, proper on parallel Occafions; for fure no Perfon of Quality can think herself abused in the Language of the Goddeffes? Homer, according to his ufual Propriety of Manners and Sentiments, introduceth his Heroes talking in the fame Dialect. Achilles, the first Word, calls Agamemnon, covetous, impudent, cunning Fox, Volpone, as you might fay (which, I have obferved, has always been a fatal Word for raifing Sedition) Dogey'd, Deer-hearted, drunken Sot. Agamemnon anfwers very fharply, Begone with your Myrmidons, I will take your Wench from you in fpite of your Teeth. The Poet imagined no less than three fcolding Bouts necessary to fupport this Episode, and makes Jupiter approve of the termagant Spirit of Achilles on all thefe Occafions. Hector, without any Offence, chides his Brother Paris (who by the way wanted not Courage) for being too handfome, well-dreffed, and a Favourite of the Ladies, &c. Ulyffes rebukes Agamemnon moft fharply for propofing a Retreat, and Agamemnon thanks him for it. This laudable Right of Objurgation defcended to the Heroes of later Times, which they used with great Freedom in Terms, which for Time immemorial have been in Fafhion in the Place of my Nativity. Philip, King of Macedon, afferted this Right of Scolding as a Conqueror, after the Battle of Chero nea, naa, indulged his Joy for the Victory by getting extremely drunk, dancing all Night in the Field of Battle, and going from Rank to Rank calling his Prifoners Names; Damades, one of them, with the. fame decent Freedom, told Philip, That he acted the Part of Therfites, rather than that of Agamemnon. Philip, fenfible that his Prifoner might ftill ufe his Tongue, which was not difarmed, was highly delighted with the Smartnefs of the Repartee, and for-the fake of this Bon mot difmiffed the Prisoners without Ranfom, tho' by the way, there was not fo much in it, for Agamemnon was both a great Scold and a great Captain. When polite Learning revived in this Part of the World, about the Time of Charles the Fifth and Francis the First, both those Monarchs afferted their Right of Altercation: The Lye was given, but tho' the Language was quite polite, the Challenge was Gothick. There has been an Instance of the same Nature in our own Days, and I was quite ashamed to fee Men of polite Literature cenfure the Proceeding. I have likewise collected many of the polite Com-. pliments of republican Ambaffadors and Orators to Monarchs That of Demochares the Athenian Ambaffador, who, when King Philip asked him and his Colleagues, if there was any thing in which he could ferve them, fmartly replied, Go hang yourself, that is the greatest Service you can do us: And indeed tho' it founds uncouth to a modern Ear, it was the greatest Compliment he could make; for it was as much as to fay, You must be the Terror of the Athenians as long as you live. King Philip honoured Demofthenes with the Title of the Rampart of Athens (an Appellation fuperior to any yet bestowed upon our Craftsman) and yet Demofthenes was fo far from being corrupted by his Compliment, Compliment, that he continued to exercife the Rights of his Function with his ufual Politenefs and Franknefs. The Epithets he bestows upon Philip are Perfidious, Perjured, barbarous Ufurper; a Cheat; Wickedness in the Abstract; a wretched Macedonian, born in a Corner of the World where one could not so much as purchafe a good Slave; that his Court (no doubt a very polite one) was compofed of Parafites, Proftitutes, Robbers, Bardashes, good-for-nothing Rafcals, Athenian Exiles, Mountebanks, Pantomimes (Harlequins) Ballad-makers that revelled and danced after an abfcene Manner; that Philip himfelf was what we call a Sodomite, that his Son Alexander was an Idiot, &c. As for the Jus Altercationis, the mutual Right of Scolding amongst publick Orators, Demof thenes was fo far from giving it up, or complaining of it, that he only reprimands the Orators on the other Side, for making their Exordiums of calling Names too long, and not coming fooner to their Motion. He diftinguifheth judiciously between Accufation and Invective; the first being the Allegation of a Crime punishable by Law, the laft, fome loofe Reflections which People, in the Heat of Difcourfe, thought incumbent upon them to make upon their Antagonifts. Efchines calls Heaven and Earth to witness, that none of the Rogues and Wizards of former Times ever come up to the Villainy of Demofthenes : He reproaches him for taking a Box on the Ear, and compounding it for thirty Marks; that he was a Coward, and run away at the Battle of Cheronea; he calls him wild Beaft, Iron-head, and tells him, That his Grandfather was a banished Felon, his Mother a barbarous Scythian, and himself a pitiful Attorney that took Money on both Sides; a Hangman that had murdered his Landlord, &c. Demofthenes returns his Compliments with Cheat, Difgrace of human Nature, a poor Scrivener's Clerk, Pettifogger, Seffpool |