Veracity; And the Author's Reputation is so far concern'd in a
Performance, which he owns that the _Bookseller_ will sooner rely upon
that, than his own Judgment.

To descend still to a lower Order of Criticks, you'll find very few
Coffee-Houses in this opulent City without an illiterate Mechanick,
Commenting upon the most material Occurrences, and Judging the Actions
of the greatest Councils in _Europe_, and rarely a Victualing House,
but you meet with a _Tinker, a Cobler, or a Porter_, Criticizing upon
the Speeches of Majesty, or the Writings of the most celebrated Men of
the Age.

This is entirely owing to Party, and there is such a Contagion
diffuses it self thro' the greatest Part of the World at this Time,
that it is impossible for a Man to acquire a universal Character in
Writing, as it is inconsistent for him to engage in Writings for both
Parties at one and the same Time, (whatever he may do alternately)
without which such a Character is not attainable; and these contending
Parties carry Things to that Extremity, that they'll by no means allow
the least Merit in the most perfect Author, who adheres to the
opposite Side; his Performances will be generally unheeded, if not
blasted, and frequently damn'd, as if, like _Coelus_, he were capable
of producing nothing but Monsters; he shall be in all Respects
depress'd and debas'd, at the same time an illiterate Scribler, an
auspicious Ideot of their own (with whose Nonsense they are never
sated) shall be extoll'd to the Skies: Herein, if a Man has all the
Qualifications necessary in Poetry, as an Elegance of Style, an
Excellency of Wit, and a Nobleness of Thought; were Master of the most
surprizing Turns, fine Similies, and of universal Learning, yet he
shall be despis'd by the Criticks, and rang'd amongst the damn'd