to burn up all his works; Sophocles was brought to trial by his own children as a lunatic; Horace was accused of stealing from all the minor Greek poets; and so on in the same way down to our own times.
Pope went so far as to make a collection of all the libels passed upon him, and had them preserved and bound with singular care, though I believe no one now knows where to find these scandalous splutterings of Grub Street. Swift is reported to have said to the irate author of the "Dunciad": "Give me a shilling and I will ensure you that posterity shall never know one single enemy against you excepting those whose memory you yourself have preserved." Herein is a profound truth. The malicious enemies of a great author only become known to the public through the mistaken condescension of the great author's notice.
Milton's life was embittered by the contemptible spite of one Salmasius. Who was Salmasius? we ask nowadays. We do no task {**P2 typo for "not ask"?] who was Milton. Salmasius was the author of the "Defensio Regi" or Defence of Kings, a poor piece of work long ago forgotten, and he was the procurer of foul libel against the author of "Paradise Lost," one of England's greatest and noblest men. What small claim he has to the world's memory arises merely from his viciousness, for not only did he make use of the lowest tools to aid him in conspiring against Milton's reputation, but he spread the grossest lies broadcast, even accusing the poet of having a hideous personal appearance—"a puny piece of man; a homunculus; a dwarf deprived of the human figure; a contemptible
