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Smollett, Tobias George, 1721-1771

"The Expedition of Humphry Clinker"


The most learned philosopher of the whole collection, who had
been expelled the university for atheism, has made great progress
in a refutation of lord Bolingbroke's metaphysical works, which
is said to be equally ingenious, and orthodox; but, in the mean
time, he has been presented to the grand jury as a public
nuisance, for having blasphemed in an ale-house on the Lord's
day. The Scotchman gives lectures on the pronunciation of the
English language, which he is now publishing by subscription.
The Irishman is a political writer, and goes by the name of my
Lord Potatoe. He wrote a pamphlet in vindication of a minister,
hoping his zeal would be rewarded with some place or pension;
but, finding himself neglected in that quarter, he whispered
about, that the pamphlet was written by the minister himself, and
he published an answer to his own production. In this, he
addressed the author under the title of your lordship with such
solemnity, that the public swallowed the deceit, and bought up
the whole impression. The wise politicians of the metropolis
declared they were both masterly performances, and chuckled over
the flimsy reveries of an ignorant garretteer, as the profound
speculations of a veteran statesman, acquainted with all the
secrets of the cabinet.


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