"
Some other satirist had a plate etched, representing Antiquity Hall--
a caricature of Tom's antiquarian engravings. It may be seen in
Skelton's book.
Thanks to Hearne, it is easy to reproduce the common-room gossip, and
the more treasonable talk of honest men at Antiquity Hall. The
learned were much interested, as they usually are at Oxford, in
theological discussion. Some one proved, by an ingenious syllogism,
that all men are to be saved; but Hearne had the better of this
Latitudinarian, easily demonstrating that the comfortable argument
does not meet the case of madmen, and of deaf-mutes, whom Tom did not
expect to meet in a future state. The ingenious, though depressing
speculations of Mr. Dodwell were also discussed: "He makes the air
the receptacle of all souls, good and bad, and that they are under
the power of the D--l, he being prince of the air." "The less
perfectly good" hang out, if we may say so, "in the space between
earth and the clouds," all which is subtle, and creditable to Mr.
Dodwell's invention, but not susceptible of exact demonstration. The
whole controversy is an interesting specimen of Queen Anne
philosophy, which, with all respect for the taste of the period, we
need not wish to see revived. The Bishop of Worcester, for example,
"expects the end of the world about nine years hence." While the
theology of Oxford is being mentioned, the zeal of Dr. Miller, Regius
Professor of Greek, must not be forgotten.
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