About the year 1735 a book was published intituled "The Cure of Deism". The Author, Mr. Elisha Smith,* had the misfortune to be confined in the Fleet-prison for a debt of £200. Mr. Benson** was highly pleased with this work; enquired who the author was, and, having received the foregoing account, not only sent him a very handsome letter, but discharged the whole debt, fees, &c. and set him at liberty. This deserves to be recorded, as an uncommon instance of generosity and good nature; though Mr. Benson, having been thrust into the Dunciad, will probably be known to posterity only as a bad critic and architect. The following anecdote was received from a person well acquainted with him. Though a man who had spent the greater part of his life among books, yet a short time before his death he acquired an aversion to them which was unconquerable. He could not even bear the sight of any, and remained stedfast in his abhorrence of them as long as he lived.
* Elisha Smith c 1683-1740
**William Benson (1682-1754) a talented amateur architect and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons 1715-1719
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