ity to
enter the lists with Bentley in a matter of scholarship. For this rash
deed Atterbury must be held responsible. Sir William Temple had
published a foolish but eloquently written essay in defence of the
ancient writers in comparison with the modern. In this essay he praises
warmly the _Letters of Phalaris_. Of these letters Boyle, with the help
of Atterbury and other members of Christ Church, published a new edition
to satisfy the demand caused by Temple's essay. Bentley, roused to reply
by a remark of Boyle in his preface, proved that the _Letters_ were not
only spurious but contemptible. Under his pupil's name Atterbury replied
to Bentley's _Dissertations_, and to the discussion, as the reader will
remember, Swift added wit if not argument.

For the moment Boyle's, or rather Atterbury's success, was great, for
wit and rhetoric are powerful persuasives. The authors, too, had the
Christ Church men to back them, the arch-critic having treated them with
contempt. Atterbury's share in the work, as he tells Boyle, "consisted
in writing more than half the book, in reviewing a great part of the
rest, and in transcribing the whole." His _Examination of Dr. Bentley's
Dissertations_ (1698) is a brilliant piece of work, and 'deserves the
praise,' says Macaulay, 'whatever that praise may be worth, of being the
best book ever written by any man on the wrong side of a question of
which he was profoundly ignorant.' Having taken holy orders, Atterbury
became a court preacher, and ample clerical honours fell to his share.
In 1700 he published a book entitled, _The Rights, Powers, and
Privileges of an English Convocation Stated and Vindicated_, which was
warmly applauded by High Churchmen. In 1701 he was appointed Archdeacon
of Totness, and afterwards Prebend of Exeter. He became the favourite
chaplain of Queen Anne, and when Prince George died proved the power of
his eloquence by representing 'his unassuming virtues in such high
relief that his widow could not help feeling her irreparable loss.'

Atterbury was made successively Dean of Carlisle and of Christ Church,
and in 1713 succeeded Sprat as Dean of Westminster and Bishop of
Rochester. Before making Swift's acquaintance he recommended his friend
Trelawney, Bishop of Exeter, to read the _Tale of a Tub_, a book which
is to be valued, 'in spite of its profaneness,' as 'an original in its
kind, full of wit, humour, good sense, and learning.' Atterbury's taste
for literature was