Roger L'Estrange

“ Especially for the running down of a Man that's Declining in his Credit already. Calumny is Base at best; though Pleasant enough somctimes, where it falls out, that One Rascal is Countermining Another. ”

“ It is a way to Confound the Good and the Bad, where Knaves have Credit enough to be Believ'd, to the Wrong of Honest Men, and the Innocent left without Means of Defence.
Hee that would live Cleare of the Envy and Hatred, of Potent Calumniators, must lay his Finger upon his Mouth, and keep his Hand out of the Ink-Pot; for to do a Good Office upon the Point of Opinion, Intelligence, Brains, or Conscience, where This Wolvish Humour prevayles, is little better then a Scandala Magnatum, or a Libel upon his Superiors: But where it happens, that there's a Fox and a Wolfe in the Case ”