But in an evil hour Godolphin, stung by a nickname thrown at him by the rhetorical priest--a singularly comfortable-looking man to have so virulent a tongue, one of those orators who thrive on ill-conditioned language--resolved, contrary to the advice of more judicious colleagues, to have him impeached by the House of Commons.

The Commons readily voted the sermon seditious, scandalous, and malicious, and agreed to a resolution for his impeachment; the Lords ordered that the case should be heard at their bar; and Westminster Hall was prepared to be the scene of a great public trial.

At first Defoe, in heaping contemptuous ridicule upon the High-flying Doctor, had spoken as if he would consider prosecution a blunder.

The man ought rather to be encouraged to go on exposing himself and his party.

"Let him go on," he said, "to bully Moderation, explode Toleration, and damn the Union; the gain will be ours." "You should use him as we do a hot horse.