which they are maintained. Among the most ridiculous of what he calls
first principles is that of the equality of mankind. He is one of your
levellers! Marry! His superior! Who is he? On what proud eminence can
he be found? On some Welsh mountain, or the pike of Teneriffe?
Certainly not in any of the nether regions! What! Was not he the ass
that brayed to Balaam? And is he not now Mufti to the mules? He will if
he please! And if he please he will let it alone! Dispute his
prerogative who dare! He derives from Adam; what time the world was all
hail fellow well met! The savage, the wild man o' the woods is his true
liberty boy; and the orang outang his first cousin. A Lord is a merry
andrew, a Duke a jack pudding, and a King a tom fool: his name is man!

Then, as to property, 'tis a tragic farce; 'tis his sovereign pleasure
to eat nectarines, grow them who will. Another Alexander, he; the world
is all his own! Ay, and he will govern it as he best knows how! He will
legislate, dictate, dogmatize; for who so infallible? What! Cannot
Goliah crack a walnut?

As for arguments, it is but ask and have: a peck at a bidding, and a
good double handful over. I own I thought I knew something; but no, I
must to my horn book. Then, for a simile, it is sacrilege; and must be
kicked out of the high court of logic! Sarcasm too is an ignoramus, and
cannot solve a problem: Wit a pert puppy, who can only flash and
bounce. The heavy walls of wisdom are not to be battered down by such
popguns and pellets. He will waste you wind enough to set up twenty
millers, in proving an apple is not an egg-shell; and that _homo_ is
Greek for a goose. Dun Scotus was a school boy to him. I confess, he
has more than once dumbfounded me by his subtleties.--Pshaw!--It is a
mortal murder of words and time to bestow them on him.