The Virginia Gazette

To the Reverend Mr. HENLEY.

SIR,

Painful as it is to contend with One whose sole Aim seems to be that of Cavil and Abuse, who, without Regard to Candour or Truth, forgets the Merits of the Question, and endeavours only to mislead by affected Sarcasms, paltry Witticisms, and misplaced Ridicule, yet through this long Labyrinth of Sophistry and Error I am obliged to follow you, or remain subject to the Misrepresentations of Disingenuity and Falsehood.

It was not the Fear of being damned that induced my Silence to the first Part of your Reply, but I waited for a second Exhibition of your rhetorical Abilities, which you had promised us. That Delicacy which you show in the Beginning surprised me not a little, and I cannot withhold my Congratulations on your new Acquisition. Lov'd by the Muses, and a Friend to Truth, was your Character when given by a poetical Friend, but infinitely short of such uncommon Merit. We were therefore lately presented with a more just One, drawn by yourself, and made acquainted with the Fulness of your Worth. Thus placed on an Eminence, and it might be expected superior to the Corrosions of Envy, when you deny another the poor Privilege of a negative Encomium, we can scarce forbear crying out with Horace, Risum teneatis Amici. Your tender Regard for my Patience next claims my Attention, and I am glad it afforded you so good an Opportunity of displaying your Acquaintance with Tristram Shandy. You have endeavoured to represent me as One who thinks himself exempt from giving Reasons for his Conduct; but, in Support of yours, you overwhelm us with them. Because you would not fret my Patience you could not answer the Whole of my Letter, and because it was but just come to Hand you could not answer the Whole. He must really be an impenetrable Dunce who does not perceive, and admire, the Accuracy of such Reasoning.

You still assert the Expediency of publishing those detached Extracts, without an Attempt to refute what had been said on that Subject. To refer thereto would be a sufficient Answer, but give me Leave first to point out the Consistence and Depth of your present Argument. To show the Necessity on your own Account, it is asked how you could suppose that I (who was chosen a Guide to others, &c. and had delivered my Abhorrence of Falsehood) would have accused another without the fullest Proof! These Declarations, indeed, were not then made; but Mr. Henley's prescient Faculties enabled him to foresee, and anticipate, what, to vulgar Minds, Futurity must disclose. Your Reasoning improves as we advance, and it was necessary, on Account of your Friends, That if I could bring such a Charge (where the Word bring must mean prove, for in every other Sense you say it had been brought already) it might be in their Power to defend themselves against it; or, if that is not a sufficient Reason, that I should be obliged to support it. How amazing, Sir, are the Powers of your Mind! and who is able to fathom them! The Difficulty of finding out how your Election was carried on, without a principal Conductor, is not greater.

It was my Opinion that the Person who carried about your Paper to solicit Subscriptions might justly be considered as such, and it is my Misfortune not to comprehend the Mistake. Mr. Russell, far from being the Butt of my Malice, is an Object of Pity; and it was with Concern that I mentioned the Means made Use of to promote your Interest. When you tell me that the Character of such a Man is by no Means less respectable than my own, I can look upon it only as a Piece of undeserved Abuse, not worthy of Reply. That Means of such an infamous Nature (to use your own Expression) were used, neither has, nor can, with Truth, be denied; and whether an Election, so conducted, deserves not the Ridicule cast upon it, is left to the Opinion of others. The Terms in which it was ironically represented were such as are commonly used on these Occasions, but the Sense of them must vary according to the Difference of Circumstances.

The Words Bribery and Corruption, which have afforded you such a Handle for Misrepresentation, could not, without Absurdity, be meant literally; but will, by an easy Figure, imply unfair Means of any Sort. In this Sense, they were used; and to fix any other, would, as you own, render the Charge highly ridiculous. The Rule of All-Fours has already met with its deserved Treatment; I shall therefore pass it over, only with a Wish to know the Authority from whence it is taken, lest some should be tempted to believe that it can only be found among your elementary Rules of Poetry. You assert the Reality of your Election; and yet, when spoken of in the common Terms, it brings to your Mind Tom Thumb's Execrations, and of Course bears not the least Similitude to an Election. Great must be the Eagerness to display another's Wit which forces such a plain Confession! From some Instances of the Subtlety of your Distinctions, it might be expected that you could easily discriminate an Attempt to ridicule your Idea of an Election, from an Accusation aimed at Mr. Russell. When this is done, my Consistence may perhaps appear less Striking. If my Lucubrations (most long of the Lamp, and consequently be the Offspring of unwearied Application and Labour (a Charge never denied) how is it, that, from a grovelling Ant, I am so suddenly metamorphosed, and soar with the rapid Wing of a Vulture! Your Pen must be possessed of strange Qualities to effect such a surprising Change! The Caduceus of Mercury is not to be compared to it! Nor less to be admired is the Extent of your intuitive Faculties, which enabled you to know that I considered your Productions as the Offspring of Labour; but, unluckily, in this Instance you were misled by them: The Facility with which you wrote had often been boasted of, and as your Pieces carried no Marks of Study, or Depth of Argument, I gave easy Credit to the Imposition. To show my Readiness to pay the proper Tribute to your Merit, when discovered, I seize this fair Opportunity, which that Thankfulness for your allotted Portion of Abilities gives me, to display your Virtues, and beg Leave to recommend to universal Imitation that amiable Disposition of Heart which throbs with Gratitude for the smallest Favours.

When, with an ironical Sneer, you would represent me as a Person vain of superior Abilities, the Insinuation is as unjust as it is false. No Part of my Conduct can justify you therein; and had it been thought that the present Dispute was undertaken as a Contest for literary Fame, I would have permitted you to enjoy the Triumph. The Laurels, without Interruption, should have culled its Sweets, and presented them to the World. It is a Pity to disturb the soft Soothings of Vanity. I shall therefore only admire your wonderful Sagacity which first perceived that Mr. Bracken had discovered a new World, i. e. had still attempted to defend a Cause by false Reasoning and bad Logick. When you have shown the Inefficacy of a late Adventurer's Design, your Comparison of it to the feeble Efforts of Priam will be allowed some Merit; but you only discover how much easier the Art of Triumph is learned than that of Conquest, and that it is sometimes prudent to sing Te Deum after an Overthrow, and conceal the Mortification of a Defeat under the Acclamations of Victory.

Far from the Reward of a Smile, your Remarks on what are called my logical Investigations deserve Contempt and Indignation. To omit and pervert any Part of another's Words, with a View to injure him, is a Piece of Conduct highly base and immoral. Whether you was the real Author, or not, of the PARISHIONER of BRUTON, I said, was immaterial; but that you might be justly considered as such from your prior Knowledge and Approbation of it. Compare this with your Representation, and the Difference will be obvious. When it was considered that the Piece was wrote to serve your Interest, that you had owned your Acquaintance with the Contents of a private anonymous Letter sent to answer the same Purposes, and informed me that such a public Attack would appear against me, I thought, from these Premises, a probable Argument might be drawn for considering you as its Author, either originally or by Adoption, especially when several other Circumstances concurred to favour such a Conclusion. You, indeed, have studied the Sophistries of Logick (and never did any Cause stand in greater Need of them) but they are easily detected, and there is a wide Difference between Things in their absolute Nature, and the same Things surrounded with peculiar Circumstances, and considered in Regard to special Times, Places, Persons, and Occasions. Your next Attempt is equally successful, and must have sprung from the same Temper of Mind which dictated the preceding Conduct.

That I had Reasons for Supposing you acquainted with the Contents of the Letter has been proved, and when I also added, that it had met with the Sanction of your Approbation, none but a Person of your deep Penetration could discover that it was given as a necessary Conclusion from previous Knowledge, and not as a concomitant Circumstance. The following Remark of an eminent Logician is so applicable to this, and some other Parts of your Conduct, that I beg Leave, if it is not too great an Intrusion on your peculiar Province, to transcribe it. "Disputers, when warm, are apt to dress up the Opinion of their Adversary as they please, and ascribe Sentiments to him which he doth not acknowledge; and when they have, with a great Deal of Pomp, attacked and confuted these Images of Straw, of their own making, they triumph over their Adversary, as though they had utterly confuted his Opinion."

To prove your Right to address me in the Name of my Parishioners, we are referred to what was transacted in the Parish when vacant, and your Commission to demand of me the Pulpit commenced before I was chosen Rector of Bruton. But surely, whilst thus labouring to show your Commission, you forget the Denial of having executed it; and it is hardly worth While to prove a Right to do, what you declare has not been done. Whether the Number on the Day of Election for a Minister was greatly in your Favour, or not, is immaterial to the present Question, and, I am informed, a Mistake. The Number of Emissaries, that were employed to collect Names for you is well known, and yet one of the Vestry, a Friend of yours, who examined the Lists on each Side, publickly declared, that, after a proper Scrutiny, the Majority was greatly in my Favour. Your Suggestion also, that some of the Gentlemen of the Vestry had since relented at their Choice astonished me, and it becomes you to give up your Authority for an Assertion which is so replete with Malice, and a direct Contradiction of Truth. Do you not feel a guilty Blush overspread your Face whilst you read this? Or if your Aversion to the ruber verecundus inure be so great, that you still try not to conceal a single Scene of your Life? Whilst endeavouring to render me the Object of Ridicule and Laughter, you may be viewed with Indifference or a Smile; but when the sacred Dictates of Truth are publickly transgressed, the World will resent and punish the Violation, with Scorn and Contempt. If any Conversations have been betrayed, expose to publick Disgrace the Man who has thus abused the Confidence of Friendship. Prove also the Invention of Scandal, the printing of Children and Old Wives Tales, and then the Propriety of your Retort from Virgil will appear, otherwise it must only recoil upon yourself.

Your Abilities and Perseverance as a polemical Writer, and the cool and dispassionate Manner in which you conduct your Attacks, are well known, and leave small Room to expect your Silence. It is however requested of you first to sacrifice to Truth, to confine your future Remarks to the Merits of the Question, and not any longer tire the Publick with trivial Objections and abusive Cavils. An Attempt has not been made materially to invalidate the Reasons urged in Vindication of my Conduct, and your own Heart will tell you whether the Schoolboy's Distich may not more properly be applied to yourself than to your humble Servant,

JOHN BRACKEN.