But Grub Street could devise no fable injurious to Montague which was not certain to find credence in more than half the manor houses and vicarages of England.
It may seem strange that a man who loved literature passionately, and rewarded literary merit munificently, should have been more savagely reviled both in prose and verse than almost any other politician in our history.

But there is really no cause for wonder.

A powerful, liberal and discerning protector of genius is very likely to be mentioned with honour long after his death, but is very likely also to be most brutally libelled during his life.

In every age there will be twenty bad writers for one good one; and every bad writer will think himself a good one.

A ruler who neglects all men of letters alike does not wound the self love of any man of letters.