登陆注册
5406800000387

第387章 FRANCIS ATTERBURY(3)

The answer to Bentley, which bears the name of Boyle, but which was, in truth, no more the work of Boyle than the letters to which the controversy related were the work of Phalaris, is now read only by the curious, and will in all probability never be reprinted again.But it had its day of noisy popularity.It was to be found, not only in the studies of men of letters, but on the tables of the most brilliant drawing-rooms of Soho Square and Covent Garden.Even the beaus and coquettes of that age, the Wildairs and the Lady Lurewells, the Mirabells and the Millaments, congratulated each other on the way in which the gay young gentleman, whose erudition sate so easily upon him, and who wrote with so much pleasantry and good breeding about the Attic dialect and the anapaestic measure, Sicilian talents and Thericlean cups, had bantered the queer prig of a doctor.Nor was the applause of the multitude undeserved.The book is, indeed, Atterbury's masterpiece, and gives a higher notion of his powers than any of those works to which he put his name.That he was altogether in the wrong on the main question, and on all the collateral questions springing out of it, that his knowledge of the language, the literature, and the history of Greece was not equal to what many freshmen now bring up every year to Cambridge and Oxford, and that some of his blunders seem rather to deserve a flogging than a refutation, is true; and therefore it is that his performance is, in the highest degree, interesting and valuable to a judicious reader.It is good by reason of its exceeding badness.It is the most extraordinary instance that exists of the art of making much show with little substance.

There is no difficulty, says the steward of Moliere's miser, in giving a fine dinner with plenty of money: the really great cook is he who can set out a banquet with no money at all.That Bentley should have written excellently on ancient chronology and geography, on the development of the Greek language, and the origin of the Greek drama, is not strange.But that Atterbury should, during some years, have been thought to have treated these subjects much better than Bentley is strange indeed.It is true that the champion of Christchurch had all the help which the most celebrated members of that society could give him.

Smalridge contributed some very good wit; Friend and others some very bad archaeology and philology.But the greater part of the volume was entirely Atterbury's: what was not his own was revised and retouched by him: and the whole bears the mark of his mind, a mind inexhaustibly rich in all the resources of controversy, and familiar with all the artifices which make falsehood look like truth, and ignorance like knowledge.He had little gold; but he beat that little out to the very thinnest leaf, and spread it over so vast a surface that to those who judged by a glance, and who did not resort to balances and tests, the glittering heap of worthless matter which he produced seemed to be an inestimable treasure of massy bullion.Such arguments as he had he placed in the clearest light.Where he had no arguments, he resorted to personalities, sometimes serious, generally ludicrous, always clever and cutting.But, whether he was grave or merry, whether he reasoned or sneered, his style was always pure, polished, and easy.

Party spirit then ran high; yet, though Bentley ranked among Whigs, and Christchurch was a stronghold of Toryism, Whigs joined with Tories in applauding Atterbury's volume.Garth insulted Bentley, and extolled Boyle in lines which are now never quoted except to be laughed at.Swift, in his "Battle of the Books,"introduced with much pleasantry Boyle, clad in armour, the gift of all the gods, and directed by Apollo in the form of a human friend, for whose name a blank is left which may easily be filled up.The youth, so accoutred, and so assisted, gains an easy victory over his uncourteous and boastful antagonist.Bentley, meanwhile, was supported by the consciousness of an immeasurable superiority, and encouraged by the voices of the few who were really competent to judge the combat."No man," he said, justly and nobly, "was ever written down but by himself." He spent two years in preparing a reply, which will never cease to be read and prized while the literature of ancient Greece is studied in any part of the world.This reply proved, not only that the letters ascribed to Phalaris were spurious, but that Atterbury, with all his wit, his eloquence, his skill in controversial fence, was the most audacious pretender that ever wrote about what he did not understand.But to Atterbury this exposure was matter of indifference.He was now engaged in a dispute about matters far more important and exciting than the laws of Zaleucus and the laws of Charondas.The rage of religious factions was extreme.

同类推荐
  • 佛说妇人遇辜经

    佛说妇人遇辜经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 達紀

    達紀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 亦玉堂稿

    亦玉堂稿

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 陆西星四篇

    陆西星四篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 圭塘欵乃集

    圭塘欵乃集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 病毒(蔡骏作品)

    病毒(蔡骏作品)

    冬至前夕,好友林树发来一封奇怪的邮件,“我”连夜赶往他家,在他家楼下目睹他坠楼身亡。平安夜,同事陆白公开即将结婚的消息,随后却跳江而死。元旦,地铁站台,一人似乎看到了什么无形的恐怖东西,向飞奔而来的列车纵身跳下……如有某种病毒肆虐,自杀事件频频发生。经过查证,发现所有死者均有一个共同点:经常登录一家叫“古墓幽魂”的个人网站。
  • 宫主闯天下

    宫主闯天下

    咦,这是什么地方?她们干嘛一脸感动地看着我,什么,我是你们的宫主?可是宫主是什么东东?要做什么?不用做什么,只要像女王一般高高在上就行了;没事干就修炼修炼拯救一下苍生?可是.可是我没有这样的能力啊!!!不会吧,我竟然拥有操控万物的能力,那.那是不是只要我想就可以拿闪电劈人啊?除了这个还有?你们还说没什么事呢!又骗人!不会吧,竟然是要我传宗接代,我又不是母猪,我要逃啦.谁知道一出来就遇到一只拽猴子,看我怎么戏耍它,让他乖乖跟我出去流浪。两年时间这位颠婆宫主要怎样收复帅哥们的心呢?小王爷?江湖高手?谷主......是不是都会被我迷得团团转呢?当一点一点的责任压在身上的时候,我只能尽力地让自己成长起来,可是,有一天我却发现原来这一切都是假的,我还只是那个平凡的我,这样的落差我该怎么去承受呢?本文小NP,非女尊!敬请期待!!风铃其他作品:偷窥的惩罚我的王请让我爱你顶包王妃新作——夜色迷情(2010年五月六日开始上传)
  • 胡雪岩商道

    胡雪岩商道

    《胡雪岩商道》从心性、借势、用人、协作、冒险、胆识、处世等多角度,对胡雪岩成事之道的智慧做了详尽的总结和剖析。他的为人处世,他的奋斗,他对做事业的独特见解,可以成为我们的一盏指路明灯。
  • 现代常用文体写作全书:实用企业文书写作大全

    现代常用文体写作全书:实用企业文书写作大全

    现代常用文体写作全书:实用企业文书写作大全现代常用文体写作全书:实用企业文书写作大全现代常用文体写作全书:实用企业文书写作大全现代常用文体写作全书:实用企业文书写作大全
  • 张文襄幕府纪闻

    张文襄幕府纪闻

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 痞妻,你敢反

    痞妻,你敢反

    她好歹也是他的救命恩人,不给救治费也就罢了,为了一个破玩意儿,竟然没完没了的纠缠她。打不过她也就罢了,还动不动就对她用“葵花点穴手”。爹不要她,倾心相待的男朋友知道她无权无势以后一脚踹了她,就是同父异母的兄弟也要对她斩草除根,本以为掉入悬崖会结束人生,却不想重生在一个她连报仇都没法报的陌生朝代。从此,她恨男人,恨花心的男人、因为有了他们的花心,她的母亲才遭毒害致死,因为有了他们的花心,她才惨遭人的杀害,最后连报仇的机会都没有。他是冷酷无情的一国王爷,杀人如麻,嗜血如饮,就连那笑面虎的皇帝老大他都不曾放进眼底,可却因为一次意外,让受伤的他接受她的冷嘲热讽外加被她一个小女人给拧起来摔。这种奇耻大辱怎么能让他咽得下去?第一回合,他惨败,但并不代表每次都败在她手中,他发誓要打磨她的锐气,调谁说制服一个人要拼尽全力?他只需要动动两根手指头同样可以让她俯首称臣,任她是凶悍的母老虎他也照样把她变成不能言不能行的小猫。*欢迎亲们踊跃收藏、踊跃跳坑…*片段剪辑1某男正在密室里处理公务,手下突然来报:“爷,小姐去林云寺了。”某男冷冷的斜睨了一眼紧张不安的手下,“打禅念经是好事,兴许能改改她的脾性。”“不是的。”手下擦了擦额头上的冷汗,“小姐说不想让您再缠着她,她欲准备削发,出家为尼…”“混账东西!她敢!”某男暴怒,带领几百侍卫将林云寺团团围住。寺里主持见来人气势汹汹,顷刻间也明了来人是为了哪般,于是劝道:“施主,叶施主已看破红尘,自愿出家为尼,施主又何必苦苦紧逼?”“是吗?”某男负手而立,全身上下散发着阴冷霸道的气势,“她腹中怀有我的子嗣,大师若收了她岂不是有辱佛门清誉?”本来还一脸淡然的某女顿时勃然大怒,奋勇向前,准备拼个你死我活,却突然被定在原地动弹不得。心里不由得大骂:尼玛,老娘除了初吻没了外,其他都完好无损,光是跟男人捂着被子纯睡觉都能怀孕的话,TM的世界上就没有不孕不育的女人了!*片段剪辑:2某女怀胎十月、一朝分娩,痛苦万分之时猛然大骂:“萧敖,你这王八蛋、娘诅咒你生儿子没屁眼…”外面守候的男人一身冰寒气息,双目如仇杀般射出剑光盯着叫骂声来源的方向,大掌挥下,坚硬的石桌顷刻间化为尘土,面色阴冷如鬼魅的大步朝紧闭的房门而去。
  • 萌宝驾到,总裁爹地你别跑

    萌宝驾到,总裁爹地你别跑

    惨遭渣夫、渣姐的陷害,穆挽一夜之间失去所有。五年后,一双龙凤萌宝被请去某剧组拍戏。高冷大boss眯着眸子看着两只萌娃,“这么小就出来赚钱,你爸妈知道吗?”大宝翻了个白眼,“我粑粑被砖头砸死了。”二宝眨巴着眼睛道,“帅叔叔,你和窝哥哥长得一毛一样,要不你做我们的粑粑可好?”男人笑眯了眼,点头,“好!”某天,男人将穆挽壁咚在墙角,邪笑,“放松,我只是来讨债的。”穆挽怒目,“神经病,我欠你什么了?”陆笙指着不远处两只萌娃,“穆挽,什么时候偷了我的种?”
  • 钗头凤

    钗头凤

    相爱三年,终成世间最毒的药,东风恶,欢情薄,错,错,错!山盟虽在,锦书难托,莫,莫,莫!
  • 龟系女孩的情劫

    龟系女孩的情劫

    原点设计公司,短短七年,发展迅速。创始人盛景泽年纪轻轻才华横溢,不靠家里一手把自己的事业经营起来。但是这么多年外形堪比模特的他这些年却一直形单影只,除了工作还是工作。
  • 夜店

    夜店

    这篇小说,以北京三里屯为背景,详述了两个来北京闯荡的年轻人拼搏的故事。丁迈和陶大勇虽然性格迥异,但从小一起长大的他们,就像亲兄弟一样。为了闯出一片天地,他们告别了母亲,来到了北京。机缘巧合,他们进入到了一家夜店里当保安。在这里,他们见识到了什么叫做声色犬马,什么叫做夜夜笙歌,什么叫做灯红酒绿,什么叫做鱼龙混杂。凭借出色的外形和歌声,丁迈走向了明星之路;凭借踏实和勤恳,陶大勇开始转向夜店经营。这期间,他们爱上了同一个女人;这期间,他们也渐渐的迷失了自己。北京的黑夜给了他们一切,但是,他们没有办法再将这一切还给黑夜。