For so gross an Insult on the People in general, I
endeavoured (but without respecting any Party in particular, as you
groundlessly insinuate) to turn the Writer into Ridicule; and
therefore made Use of the Words Mob and Rabble, to expose him more
effectually; but with very different Ideas annexed to them in my Mind
(of which I was careful to give Notice) from those they receive, when
deduced from that extraordinary Epistle. In my Animadversions on it
I personated the Public, which you charge as a Crime, tho' it is an
allowed Figure in Speech, frequently used, and particularly by those
great Assertors of _Public Liberty_, whose Names I mentioned at the
Time.
I imagined my Design lay so apparently on the Surface, that you
could not have overlooked it. However, I am far from imitating the
Example you have set me, and shall not attribute your Mistake of my
Intentions, to an impenetrable Stupidity; but I fairly place it on
the Obscurity of my Stile.
This, dear _Tommy_, will be esteem'd a very liberal Concession,
by those who consider your Unskilfulness in Language. You have not,
by your Answer, mended the Blunder I remarked in your first: Your
saying, that the same Person may be both mischievous and
contemptible, is nothing to the Purpose; for you must regard him in
different Views before you can properly affirm so differently of him:
But Mr. _Whitefield_'s Doctrine you represented simply as
mischievous, and, under that Appearance only, you pronounced it the
Object of your Contempt.
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