46 



ON THE ANIMAL FLUIXM. 



Marcet owns " his kind persona/ assistance in this and other 

 similar iiHjuiris" 



Charge of mis- I OWl accused uf the unwarrantable licence of «« quoting 



quotation, _\ lt it a |i CSj and placing between inverted commas words 

 which have not been used by my adverse friend." Such 

 base proceeding* I am charged withal ! As for italics I 

 knew no better than that all writers for the sake of emphasis 

 . do employ such letters either for their own words or those of 

 other writers. The word elegant so complained of is. not in- 

 tended as a quotation, it is my own word, which Dr. M. 

 misrepresents. As for inverted commas, the few passages 

 which they include I think no one would apprehend are Dr. 

 Marcet's writing, except in two or three instances. Here I 

 cannot perceive any misquotation but in one place. There 

 1 confess my heinous offence, and express sincere contri- 

 tion, .viz. for "fireside of the drawing room," in future 

 read ** the large, dismal, subterraneous laboratory is now 

 changed for the fireside of a comfortable study. 1 * 



rftronr,. Again; my respectable adversary is, I find offended, with 



what he is pleased to construe irony. I can do no more 

 than declare, whether I shall again be accused of irony, of 

 uot, that I entertained more of respect than sufficient 

 for subduing any such humour. 



«rf jocularity. Another offence \s jocularity, not suitable for the advance- 

 ment of science. If in such a vein 1 have offendingly writ- 

 ten, " I have shot mine arrow o'er the hou»e and hurt a 

 brother." This mode of writing however has the high 

 authority of a great poet, and still greater philosopher-— 



........ ridcntem dicere verum 



Quid vetat ? 



I wish I could more frequently be jocular, as so many 

 occurrences are experienced in common life to make one 

 sad. Hence I would rather live with Horace, than with the 

 melancholy moralist Jaquez. Some allowance too should 

 be made for the differing natures of individuals fvom the 

 elements being so differently mixed up. 



< c Nature hath framM strange fellows in her time, 

 Some being of such vinegar aspect, 

 That they'll not show their t»eth in way of smile, 

 Though Nestor swear the jeit be laughable." 



The 



