408 LETTER TO 



faith in those who seek for relief ?" But they 

 soon discovered their mistake in supposing that 

 the rumour must be false, because it seemed to 

 them absurd ; for in October of the same year, 

 the accusation which it contained was publicly 

 brought against them by Dr. John Latham, one 

 of the fellows of the college. " We are at- 

 tacked*/ 5 said Dr. Latham in his Harvei'an 

 oration, " by ferocious, daring, and obstinate 

 enemies, regardless of the faith which they have 



pledged for the observance of our statutes. 



I might complain at greater length of the injury 

 which they have rashly done us, but liberality 

 forbids me to say more/' 



Flagitious conduct, my Lord, ought, in my 

 poor opinion, never to pass uncalled by its 

 proper name. If vice be not termed vice, if 

 baseness and dishonour be suffered to come 

 forth into the world, without the mark of in- 

 famy, we remove one of the most powerful 

 checks upon the evil inclinations of man, and 



* " Hostis aggreditur, ferox, audax, pertinax, posthabita 

 fide de observandis [collegii] statutis. Verum enimvero 

 tametsi mihi esset occasio querendi prolixius de facta nobis 

 temere injuria, vetat amplius disserere liberalitas." These 

 quotations are from the printed copy. The author of this 

 letter did not hear Dr. Latham deliver his oration, but from 

 the reports of others he has reason to believe, that the whole 

 of the abuse, which was then thrown upon the associated 

 licentiates, has not been printed. 



