but a Creature, only fit for a Sucking-bottle, could be Author of—­And now I think if he has given me any Crocus Metallorum, I am even with him with a Dose of Jollop, and can whisk too from one Play to another indifferently well, tho not so fast as he; for when I perus’d him first, I could compare him to nothing but an Humble Bee in a Meadow, Buz upon this Daizy, Hum upon that Clover, then upon that Butter-flower—­sucking of Honey, as he is of Sense—­or as if upon the hunt for knowledge, he could fly from hence to the Colledge at Downy, then to St. Peter’s at Rome, then to Mahomet at Mecha, then to the Inquisition at Goa—­And then buz home again to his own dormitory in Shooe-lane:  And so much for his injustice, now to his errour in Criticism again, and to proceed in defence of Don Quixot.

Mary the Buxom, he says now swears faster ’tis false, and I deny it, she is so far from swearing fast, that she does not (rude as her character is) swear at all, unless the poor interjection I’cod—­by his Authority can be made an Oath; and then if you’ll peruse him on, here is a whole page and half upon this hint, That the Ladies must have left their Wits and Modesties behind them that came, and lik’d her Words or Actions; and that her Nastiness, and dirty Conversation, is a Midnight Cart, or a Dunghil, instead of an Ornamental Scene. [Footnote:  Collier, p. 204.] Now you don’t find out our Gentlemans malicious meaning by this, but I shall inform ye.  He says, I’m sorry the Ladies brought their Wits and Modesties with them, that came to see this Character; and yet all the whole Town can witness, that as many of the Ladies as could get into the Play-House came thither, to wait upon Her late Majesty of Sacred Memory, who did me that honour only for my benefit; and who was of so nice a Temper, relating to Modesty, that if so much as a hint had been given her by those had seen it before, of such a thing as Immodesty, she had never came, much less had been diverted, as she was, when she did come; but this I take as striking at her through my sides; and I think, to use his own words, is above the Correction of the Pen. [Footnote:  Collier, p. 206.] The next is such senseless malice, or ignorance, that it deserves a hoot; he finds Manuel in Don Quixot (playing in his Farce for the Dukes diversion) addressing to the Dutchess in this manner, in a Jargon of Phrase made ridiculous on purpose:  Illustrious beauty, I must desire to know whether the most purifidiferous Don Quixot_ of the Manchissima, and the Squireiferous Pancha, be in this Company or no_.  To whom Sancho replies, imitating, as he thinks this fine stile, Why lookee, forsooth, without any more flourishes, the Governor Pancha_ is here, and Don Quixotissimo too, therefore, most Afflictedissimous Matronissima, speak what you Willissimus, for we are all ready to be your Servitorissimus_.