Note 77 — Chapter IV · “ENGLISH BARDS, AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS”

The Apology was written in response to a scathing article on the Rosciad, printed in the Critical Review for March, 1761. This periodical, ultra-Tory in its principles, made a point of decrying, any work which was by a Whig author, or expressed any sympathy with liberal ideas. Though the editor, Tobias Smollett, was able to exculpate himself from the charge, Churchill deemed him accountable for the uncomplimentary review and, without naming him, described him in his satire as “alien from God, and foe to all mankind.”