The volume containing the _Tale of a Tub_ had also within its covers the _Battle of the Books_, which was suggested by a controversy that originated in France, and had been carried on by Sir W. Temple in England, as to the relative merits of the Ancients and the Moderns. Out of this, too, arose a discussion by some _savants_, with Richard Bentley (1662-1742), the greatest scholar of the age, at their head, with regard to the genuineness of the _Epistles of Phalaris_, a subject discussed in Macaulay's essay on Temple in his usually brilliant style. Swift, in the _Battle of the Books_ sides with Temple and with Charles Boyle, the nominal editor of the _Epistles_, who, in the famous _Reply to Bentley_, fought behind the shield of Atterbury. In a combat, which takes place in the Homeric style, the enemies of the Ancients, Bentley and Wotton, are slain by one lance upon the field. The mighty deed was achieved by Boyle. 'As when a slender cook has trussed a brace of woodcocks, he with iron skewer pierces the tender sides of both, their legs and wings close pinioned to their ribs, so was this pair of friends transfixed, till down they fell joined in their lives, joined in their deaths; so closely joined, that Charon would mistake them both for one, and waft them over Styx for half his fare.' The humour of the piece is delightful, and it matters not a whit for the enjoyment of it, that the wrong heroes gain the victory. In 1708 Swift produced several pamphlets or tracts, and in one of them, the _Argument against Abolishing Christianity_, he found ample scope for the irony of which he was so consummate a master. 'Great wits,' he writes, 'love to be free with the highest objects; and if they cannot be allowed a God to revile or renounce, they will speak evil of dignities, abuse the Government, and reflect upon the ministry; which I am sure few will deny to be of much more pernicious consequence;' and he observes, in concluding the argument: 'Whatever some may think of the great advantages to trade by this favourite scheme, I do very much apprehend that in six months' time the Bank and East India Stock may fall at least one _per cent._ And since that is fifty times more than ever the wisdom of our age thought fit to venture for the preservation of Christianity, there is no reason we should be at so great a loss merely for the sake of destroying it.'