[two rules]

A
QUIBBLER

I2s a Jugler of Words, that ſhows Tricks
with them, to make them appear what they
were not meant for, and ſerve two Senſes at
once, like one that plays on two Jews Trumps.
He is a Fencer of Language, that falſiſies his
Blow, and hits where he did not aim. He
Has a fooliſh Slight of Wit, that catches at
Words only, and lets the Senſe go, like the
young Thief in the Farce, that took a Purſe,
but gave the Owner his Money back again.
He is ſo well verſed in all Cafes of Quibble,
that he knows when there will be a Blot upon
a Word, as ſoon as it is out. He packs his
Quibbles like a Stock of Cards, let him but
ſhuffle, and cut where you will, he will be
ſure to have it. He dances on a Rope of Sand,
does the Somerſet, Strapado, and half-ſlrapado
with Words, plays at all manner of Games


with Clinches, Carwickets, and Quibbles, and
talks under-Leg. His Wit is left-handed, and
therefore what others mean for right, he ap-
prehends quite contrary. All his Conceptions
are produced by equivocal Generation, which
makes them juſtly eſteemed but Maggots. He
rings the Changes upon Words, and is ſo ex-
pert, that he can tell at firſt Sight, how
many Variations any Number of Words will
bear. He talks with a Trillo, and gives his
Words a double Reliſh. He had rather have
them bear two Senſes in vain and impertinent-
ly, than one to the Purpoſe, and never ſpeaks
without a Lere-Senſe. He talks nothing but
Equivocation and mental Reſervation, and
mightily affects to give a Word a double Stroke,
like a Tennis-Ball againſt two Walls at one
Blow, to defeat the Expectation of his An-
tagonift. He commonly ſlurs every fourth or
fifth Word, and ſeldom fails to throw Dou-
blets. There are two Sorts of Quibbling, the
one with Words, and the other with Senſe,
like the Rhetoricians Figurae Dictionis & Figurae
Senteniae — The firſt is already cried down,
[^1]: Without a Lere-Serſe] A Lere-Sterſe is a ſecond or supernume-
rary Scale, as a Led-Horſe was formerly called a Lere-Harſe,
See Bailey’s Dictionary.


and the other as yet prevails; and is the only
Elegance of our modern Poets, which eaſy
Judges call Eaſineſs; but having nothing in it
But Eaſineſs, and being never uſed by any laſt-
ing Wit, will in wiſer Times fall to nothing of
itſselſ.