of argument seem to be conscious to themselves of somewhat which has deserv’d the poet’s lash, and are less concern’d for their public capacity than for their private; at least there is pride at the bottom of their reasoning.  If the faults of men in orders are only to be judg’d among themselves, they are all in some sort parties:  for, since they say the honor of their order is concern’d in every member of it, how can we be sure that they will be impartial judges?  How far I may be allow’d to speak my opinion in this case, I know not; but I am sure a dispute of this nature caus’d mischief in abundance betwixt a king of England and an archbishop of Canterbury,[21] one standing up for the laws of his land, and the other for the honor (as he call’d it) of God’s Church; which ended in the murther of the prelate, and in the whipping of his Majesty from post to pillar for his penance.  The learn’d and ingenious Dr. Drake[22] has say’d me the labour of inquiring into the esteem and reverence which the priests have had of old, and I would rather extend than diminish any part of it:  yet I must needs say, that when a priest provokes me without any occasion given him, I have no reason, unless it be the charity of a Christian, to forgive him:  prior laesit[23] is justification sufficient in the civil law.  If I answer him in his own language, self-defense, I am sure, must be allow’d me; and if I carry it farther, even to a sharp recrimination, somewhat may be indulg’d to human frailty.  Yet my resentment has not wrought so far, but that I have followed Chaucer in his character of a holy man, and have enlarg’d on that subject with some pleasure, reserving to myself the right, if I shall think fit hereafter, to describe another sort of priests, such as are more easily to be found than the Good Parson; such as have given the last blow to Christianity in this age, by a practice so contrary to their doctrine.  But this will keep cold till another time.  In the mean while I take up Chaucer where I left him.  He must have been a man of a most wonderful comprehensive nature, because, as it has been truly observed of him, he has taken into the compass of his Canterbury Tales the various manners and humors (as we now call them) of the whole English nation, in his age.  Not a single character has escap’d him.  All his pilgrims are severally distinguish’d from each other; and not only in their inclinations, but in their very physiognomies and persons.  Bapista Porta[24] could not have described their natures better, than by the marks which the poet gives them.  The matter and manner of their tales, and of their telling, are so suited to their different educations, humors, and callings, that each of them would be improper in any other mouth.  Even the grave and serious characters are distinguished by their several sorts of gravity:  their discourses are such as belong to their age, their calling, and their breeding; such as are becoming of them, and of them only.  Some of his persons are vicious,