Libertas, et speciosa nomina prætexuntur; nec quisquam,alienum servitium, et dominationem sibiconcupivit, ut non eadem ista vocabula usurparet.
LONDON:
Printed for W. Nicoll, in St. Paul’s Church-yard,
M DCC LXV.
[Pg 1]
There cannot be a surer proofof ignorance and folly than impertinence,whether it betrays itselfin the pertness of a coxcomb,or in the solemnity of a fop; provokeswith the petulance of wit; stupifieswith the dullness of narration; insults withthe arrogance of superior birth, fortune,or learning; fatigues with frothy declamation,or stuns with the clamour of dispute;in private and in public, over a dish oftea, or over a bottle; from the pulpit, orthe bar, or in the senate, it is always offensiveand ridiculous.
The humble and obscure writer of aPamphlet cannot, however, if he happensto mistake his talents, be justly blamed forimpertinence. He may be pitied for his[Pg 2]misfortune; but for his faults as an author,he is answerable to no man: for thereis scarce any man, who has dealt in this sortof reading, that has not had fair warning;it being more than an hundred to one, thathe has bought an impertinent Pamphlet,some time, or other, in the course of hisstudies. He cannot well fail of knowingthat such things are sometimes published;neither the writer nor the bookseller compelshim to buy; and if he suffers himselfto be imposed on by a title-page, hecan have no good reason to complain ofeither. Besides, no Pamphlet can fairly besaid to be wholly useless: it may be alwaysmade to serve, at least, some purpose;whereas I believe there is hardly any bodybut may remember to have been present,perhaps once in their lives, at a conversation,or a pleading, or a speech, or a sermon,that could serve no manner of purposebut to tire the audience, and makethe speaker ridiculous: and this must beallowed to be a very unpardonable sort ofimpertinence; for a man may throw asidea Pamphlet, if he pleases, at the first[Pg 3]page, or the first line; but he cannot decentlyget out of a company, or out of thesenate, or out of a church, whenever hemay have a mind.
I do not mean this, as an apology forauthors in general: the accidental writerof a Pamphlet, or a Paper, hardly deservesso respectable an appellation. On thecontrary, every man who wantonly andvainly usurps that sacred profession, withoutbeing possessed of a moderate share atleast, either of genius, or wit, or learning,or knowledge, besides the indispensable qualificationsand ingredients of common honesty,sincerity, and benevolence, is guilty,in my opinion, of the highest degree ofimpertinence.
But in this land of liberty, of generalwealth, curiosity, and idleness, where thereis scarce a human creature so poor that itcannot afford to buy or hire a Paper or aPamphlet, or so busy that it cannot findleisure to read it; where every man, woman,and child, is, by instinct, birth, andinheritance, a politician; where the ordinarysubject