Vulgar words in A Letter From a Clergyman to his Friend, - with an Account of the Travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver (Page 1)
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~ ~ ~ Sentence 185 ~ ~ ~
All that have read these Travels must be convinc'd I do the Doctor no Injustice by my Assertions: His Method of forming his Characters seems to be new, it looks as if he first drew up a Set of ill Names and reproachful Epithets, and then apply'd them as he thought proper, without regarding at all, whether the Persons they were so apply'd to, deserv'd such Treatment or not; and in this, tho' the concurrent Testimony of Thousands or Millions was against him, it seems to have signify'd nothing; tho' daily Experience and universal Consent prov'd the contrary, they appear to have been of no Weight with the Doctor; he knew very well t'would sufficiently answer his End if by boldly and roundly asserting whatever he thought proper, and sticking at no Method of Defamation he should make the whole appear plausible and gain Adherents; and therefore with the utmost Assurance he affirms this Woman to be a Whore, that a Bawd, this Man a Pimp, that a Pathick tho' neither of them ever gave any Reason to be thought such, or were ever thought such, before.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 186 ~ ~ ~
Whether the Doctor would like to be serv'd thus himself let the World determine, and that they may the better do it I shall give them one Instance, using almost the Doctor's own Words, and applying them to himself as thus; Doctor COPPER-FARTHING, was by Pimping, Swearing, For-swearing, Flattering, Suborning, Forging, Gaming, Lying, Fawning, Hectoring, Voting, Scribling, Whoring, Canting, Libeling, Free-thinking, endeavouring to ruin the _British_ Constitution, set aside the _Hanover_ Succession, and bring in a Popish Pretender; by prostituting his Wife, his Sister, his Daughter, advanced to be a DEAN: Now, Sir, this Character being form'd, as I observ'd, before I had concluded who to bestow it on, I am oblig'd to make some little Alteration, and to do the Doctor no injustice, I take away that whole Sentence, _by Prostituting his Wife_, _his Sister_, _his Daughter_; because being well assur'd he never had any of his own; if such have been used so by him they must have belong'd to other People: If I had not pitch'd upon the Doctor you can't but be sensible, like him, I could have made this Character have serv'd with some small Curtailings or Additions an Admiral, a General, a Bishop, a Minister of State, or any other Person I had a mind to be angry with, and was I set upon abusing an hundred of each, by the Power of Transformation, t'would be sufficient for them all.