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1,710. Defamation
"Defamation is sufficiently copious. The general lampooner of
mankind may find long exercise for his zeal or wit, in the
defects of nature, the vexations of life, the follies of opinion,
and the corruptions of practice. But fiction is easier than
discernment; and most of these writers spare themselves the
labour of inquiry, and exhaust their virulence upon imaginary
crimes, which, as they never existed, can never be amended."
Johnson: Idler #45 (February 24, 1759)
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