[ 363 ]
1. If the Fact be not true, 'tis no more a Satyr but a Slander; 'tis a LIE, and merits the Correction of the Law.
2. If the Fact be true, but is in it self no Crime, the Satyr has no Teeth, no Claws, it can neither Bite or Sting; and then again 'tis no more a Satyr; it has only a kind of close par'd Nails with which it can scratch, its own Face, and can hurt no Body else; so that 'tis no more a Satyr, nor will it bear to be call'd by that Name. But this is out of the Way here.
We insist upon the Justice of the Satyr, as well from the Nature of the Charge it brings, as from the certainty of the Fact proved by the Confession of the guilty Offenders, and the general Testimony of the Times, as above.
It remains then to speak of the Manner of the Performance, and enter upon the Vindication of it, a thing much more properly undertaken, now 'tis finish'd, than it cou'd be before it was begun.
The only Objections which can lie against the manner, I think, come into these two. (1.) The necessity of speaking a Language that is unpleasant to hear, and which, at least, seems to tread on the brink of the same Indecency which it reproves; And which also the Author has sufficiently express'd his dread of. Or, (2.) The deficiency of the Reproof from an over-restraint, and declining to express Things fully on that very Account, for fear of offending one Way, offending too much the other.
I have, with the utmost Care, avoided the first of these; I have studied to shun all Indecency of Expression, or saying any thing thatmight
