 The book was vigorously combatted by, among others, the philosopher George Berkeley and the priest William Law.Berkeley attacked it in the second dialogue of his "Alciphron" (1732).The 1723 edition was presented as a nuisance by the Grand Jury of Middlesex, who proclaimed that the purpose of the "Fable" was to "run down Religion and Virtue as prejudicial to Society, and detrimental to the State; and to recommend Luxury, Avarice, Pride, and all vices, as being necessary to "Public Welfare", and not tending to the Destruction of the Constitution".