The Itch of Answering is so great, that some Authors have taken it in Dudgeon, not to have been thought worthy of an Answer; and to prevent such Disgrace a second Time, have written on Purpose that they might answer themselves. I have heard, that the learned and ingenious _Robinson Crusoe_ is in the Number of these. How can it be expected, that Men of Passions, worldly Minds, and Lay-men should escape this Infection, when the Fathers themselves in the first Ages of the _Church_, could not help writing against one another, with as much Sharpness as any modern Writers. St. _Jerom_, in Particular, is charg'd with this Weakness, in his Writings against _Lactantius_, St. _Ambrose_, St. _Hilary_, _Didymus_. 'Tis said, that _he spar'd neither Antients nor Moderns_; no not the inspir'd Elders that translated the Septuagint: Himself having translated the Bible into _Latin_, and he seem'd to be as fond of his Works as are other Translators. Our Neighbours, the _French_, have not been altogether free from this Humour of _Answering_, or rather writing against one another; as will appear by the following List of a dozen Authors of a Side; most of them of the _French_ Academy; and I might name as many more of equal Rank: _Balzac_, } {_Pere Goulu_, _Theophile_. _Godeau_, } {_Maynard_, _Vavasseur_. _Vaugelas_, } {_La Mothe Le Vayer_. _Chapelain_, } {_Boileau_, _Ligniere_. _Ablancourt_,} {_Marole_. _Menage_, } Written against {_Pere Bouhours_. _Costar_, } by {_Girac_. _Malherbe_, } {_Costar_. _Voiture_, } {_Richelet_. _Bossu_, } {_Perrault_. _Corneille_, } {_Dacier_. _Richelet_, } {_Furetiere_.