A LETTER TO THE Reverend MR. DOUGLAS, OCCASIONED By his VINDICATION of MILTON. To which are fubjoined, Several curious original LETTERS from the Authors of the UNIVERSAL HISTORY, Mr. AINSWORTH, Mr. MACLAURIN, &C. By WILLIAM LAUDER, A. M. Quem pænitet peccaffe pæne eft innocens. Corpora magnanimo fatis eft proftraffe Leoni, SENECA OVID. Pretuli Clementiam Juris Rigori. GROTII Adamus Exful. Firft printed in the Year MDCCLR. Of this pamphlet Mr. Lauder gives the following account: "An ingenious gentleman (for whofe amazing abilities I had conceiv"ed the highest veneration, and in whofe candour and friendship "I repofed the moft implicit and unlimited confidence) advifed 66 me to make an unreferved difclofure of all the lines I had inter"polated against Milton, with this view, chiefly, that no future critics might ever have an opportunity of valuing themfelves upon fmall discoveries of a few lines, which would ferve to revive my error, and keep the controverfy eternally alive. "With this expedient I then chearfully complied, when that gentleman wrote for me the letter that was published in my name "to Mr. Douglas, in which he committed one error that proved "fatal to me, and at the fame time injurious to the public. For, "in place of acknowledging that fuch and fuch particular paffages only were interpolated, he gave up the whole Effay against Mil"ton as delufion and mifreprefentation, and thereby impofed more grievoudly on the public than I had done, and that too in terms much more fubmiffive and abject than the nature of the offence "required. 66 Though this letter, in many respects, contained not my fen"timents, as plainly appears from the contradictory Postscript "fubjoined to it; yet fuch was my infatuation at that time, and 66 implicit confidence in my friend, that I fuffered it to be printed " in my name, though I was previously informed by one of the "greatest men of the age of its hurtful tendency, which I have "fince fully experienced to my coft. 66 "That the gentleman meant to ferve me, and was really of "opinion that the method he propofed might probably prove ef"fectual for refcuing me from the odium of the public, and in "fome measure reftoring my character to the honour it had loft, I was then difpofed to believe. His repeated acts of friendship to "me on former occafions, in conjunction with a reputation univerfally established for candour and integrity, left me little "room to doubt it: though it is certainly a moft prepofterous me"thod for a criminal, in order to obtain pardon for one act of felony, to confefs himself guilty of a thousand. However, I "cannot but condemn myfelf for placing fo implicit a confidence 46 in the judgment of any man, how great or good foever, as to "fuffer his mistakes to be given to the public as my opinion." King Charles vindicated from the charge of plagiarifm, brought against him by Milton, and Milion himself convicted of forgery and a grofs impofition on the public, 8vo. 1754. P. 3. E. TO THE Reverend MR. DOUGLAS. SIR, CA ANDOUR and tenderness are in any relation, and on all occafions, eminently amiable; but when they are found in an adverfary, and found fo prevalent as to over-power that zeal which his cause excites, and that heat which naturally increases in the profecution of argument, and which may be in a great measure juftified by the love of truth, they certainly appear with particular advantages; and it is impoffible not to envy those who poffefs the friendship of him, whom it is even fome degree of good fortune to have known as an enemy. I will not fo far diffemble my weakness, or my fault, as not to confefs that my wifh was to have paffed undetected; but fince it has been my fortune to fail in my original defign, to have the fuppofititious paffages which I have inferted in my quotations made known to the world, and the fhade which began to gather on the fplen dour of Milton totally difperfed, I cannot but count it an alleviation of my pain, that I have been defeated by a man who knows how to use advantages with so much moderation, and can enjoy the honour of conqueft without the infolence of triumph. It was one of the maxims of the Spartans, not to press upon a flying army, and therefore their enemies were always ready to quit the field, because they knew the danger was only in oppofing. The civility with which you have thought proper to treat me, when you had incontestable fuperiority, has inclined me to make your victory complete, without any further struggle, and not only publicly to acknowledge the truth of the charge which you have hitherto advanced, but to confefs, without the leaft diffimulation, fubterfuge, or concealment, every other interpolation I have made in those authors, which you have not yet had opportunity to examine. On the fincerity and punctuality of this confeffion, I am willing to depend for all the future regard of mankind, and cannot but indulge fome hopes, that they whom my offence has alienated from me, may, by this inftance of ingenuity and repentance, be propitiated and reconciled. Whatever be the event, I fhall at least have done all that can be done in reparation of my former injuries to Milton, to truth, and to mankind, and entreat that thofe who fhall continue implacable, will examine their own hearts, whether they have not committed equal crimes without equal proofs of forrow, or equal acts of attonement *. • The interpolations are diftinguished by Italick characters. PASSAGES PASSAGES interpolated in MASENIUS. The word pandemonium in the marginal notes of Book I. Effay, page 10. CITATION VI. Effay, page 38. Adnuit ipfa dolo, malumque (heu! longa dolendi CITATION VII. Effay, page 41. Illa quidem fugiens, fparfis per terga capillis, K Suftulit |