Boyle's 'Examination' (1698) : Boyle's tutors-of whom the most important was Atterbury, afterwards Dean of Christ Church-saw that for their own credit they must attempt an answer to Bentley and some of the wits of Christ Church -Atterbury himself, Smalridge (who succeeded Atterbury as Dean), Alsop, Freind-joined in drawing up an answer to the Dissertation. In their reply (Dr Bentley's Dissertations on the Epistles of Phalaris, and the Fables of Esop, examin'd by the Honourable Charles Boyle, Esq. . . . 1698) they attempted an answer to every one of Bentley's objections, and they even went so far as to say, that his attack on the Epistles tended to convince them that they were, after all, genuine. Although the book was issued in Boyle's name it was an open secret that he had very little indeed to do with it: and to judge from the tone of a letter 1 written by Atterbury when returning the proofs of the book to him, Boyle felt by no means satisfied with their performance. He only remarked, Atterbury says, that he hoped the book would do him no harm.' But Boyle showed considerable 1 See Bibliography, p. 308. generosity in allowing himself to be used as a stalkinghorse for his tutors.1 The book although full of every sort of blunder was also full of life, and had a kind of wit. Its success was immediate: every one, except a few obscure scholars, thought that Bentley was defeated, and as Budgell says, 'the world was pleased to see a young man of quality and fortune get the better of an old critic,' 2. -a sentence which exhibits the tone of the controversy. Bentley, it may be remarked, was thirty-six years of age. Temple, who had suffered so severely at the hands of Wotton and Bentley, was delighted with Boyle's reply. He had himself begun a reply to Wotton but abandoned it, evidently feeling that he was unequal to the task and Swift took up the quarrel for him. But of this more will be said in its place. Boyle's Examination advanced the quarrel about the 1 In 1701 we hear that Bentley and Boyle have become friends and entertain a better opinion of one another than they did before. It was in this year that Atterbury issued the Short Review, (see p. xxxiv.). MS. another stage.1 Bennet replied, through Boyle, to Bentley's remarks in the Dissertation, and tried to show that he was in no way to blame for the trouble that arose. Bentley's second 'Dissertation' (1699) In the course of the year 1698 at least six other pamphlets were published, dealing more or less directly with the controversy that had arisen, but they are none of them important.2 Bentley, meanwhile, was preparing his reply. In his first Dissertation there had been one or two small mistakes which his enemies were able to expose. He determined that there should, if possible, be nothing at which they could cavil in his new work. Early in 1699 his second Dissertation appeared, this time as an independent volume. In a preface of 112 pages he replied to Bennet's representations, and to a number of new charges brought against him in Boyle's Examination. The body of the book consisted of a reprint, 1 See pp. 119-29 of the Appendix to this volume. section by section, of his previous Dissertation; after each section he considered at full length the objections brought against it by his antagonists, so that the book was made up of a number of papers dealing with various disputed points in classical scholarship. And except in the cases of the small mistakes already mentioned, Bentley made an overwhelming reply to everything brought against him. The learning he showed was so stupendous as almost to defeat its own purpose, for there were, perhaps, hardly a dozen men in England fit to judge his work : those who understood saw not merely that he had demolished Phalaris and his supporters, but also that he had proved himself the greatest classical scholar of his day, one worthy to rank with the greatest who had ever lived. But public opinion did not immediately acclaim his victory. Sir Richard Jebb has pointed out that for many years the idea remained current that Boyle had defeated Bentley. The publication of the Battle of the Books in 1704 is in itself sufficient evidence that popular feeling was on the side of Boyle and his friends. Shortly after this Dissertation was published, the Christ Church men produced another book against Bentley-A Short Account of Dr Bentley's Humanity and Justice to those Authors who have written before him 1699. In an Appendix, perhaps written by Dr King, Bennet, the bookseller, answered Bentley's statements in his second Dissertation. This book was answered on Bentley's behalf by Solomon Whateley who had recently produced a new edition of the Letters of Phalaris.1 Three other books appeared during this same year (1699) containing references to the dispute: and then there was an interval of peace. Atterbury's 'Short Review' (1701) In 1701 Atterbury, the person most concerned on the wrong side of the controversy, produced A Short Review of the Controversy between Mr Boyle and Dr Bentley, a violent attack on Bentley, concluding with a character of Dr Bentley, made up of extracts from Bentley's writings. Neither this book, nor those that preceded, prevented Bentley and Atterbury coming to have respect for one another in later years.2 In the same year Swift published the third part of 2 Jebb's Bentley, p. 85. 1 See pp. 301-3. |