The Battle of the Books
Jonathan Swift worked for William Temple during the time of the controversy, and Swift's "A Tale of a Tub" (1703/1705) takes part in the debate. From its first publication, Swift added a short satire entitled "The Battle of the Books" to the "Tale of a Tub." In this piece, there is an epic battle fought in a library when various books come alive and attempt to settle the arguments between moderns and ancients. In Swift's satire, he skilfully manages to avoid saying which way victory fell. He portrays the manuscript as having been damaged in places, thus leaving the end of the battle up to the reader.
Richard Pue
The date and place of Richard Pue's birth is unknown. He established Dick's Coffee House, Skinner Row, Dublin sometime before July 1698. Pue became a freeman of Dublin in 1701 as a member of the Dyers' Guild. On 25 December 1703 he began publishing "Impartial Occurrences" with Edward Lloyd. This paper was delivered by post across the country, with Pue acting as editor until 1706. The paper ceased in February 1706, reappearing in February 1712 as "Pue's Occurences" (sic). In late December 1705, Lloyd and Pue jointly published a satirical attack on protestant dissent by Jonathan Swift called "A tale of a tub". They also printed the "Votes of the Irish house of commons" (nos 1-65) between July and October 1707 and May and June 1709.