6, WAS he not the bosom friend of Mr. Wilkes, whom he now purfues to deftruc tion ?

7. DID he not take his degrees with credit at Newmarket, White's, and the oppofition?

8. AFTER deferting Lord Chatham's principles, and facrificing his friendship, is he not now closely united with a set of men, who, tho' they have occafionally joined with all parties, have in every different fituation, and at all times, been equally and conftantly detefted by this country?

9. HAS not Sir John Moore a penfion of five hundred pounds a year?-This may probably be an acquittance of favours upon the turf; but is it poffible for a minister to offer a groffer outrage to a nation, which has fo very lately cleared away the beggary of the civil lift, at the expence of more than half a million ?

10. Is there any one mode of thinking of acting with refped to America, which the Duke of Grafton has not fucceffively adopted and abandoned?

11. Is

11. Is there not a fingular mark of shame fet upon this man, who has fo little delicacy and feeling as to fubmit to the opprobrium of marrying a near relation of one who had debauched his wife ?-In the name of decency, how are these amiable cousins to meet at their uncle's table?-It will be a fcene in Edipus, without the diftrefs.-Is it wealth, or wit, or beauty, or is the amorous youth in love?

THE reft is notorious. That Corfica has been facrificed to the French: that in fome inftances the laws have been fcandaloufly relaxed, and in others daringly violated; and that the King's fubjects have been called upon to affure him of their fidelity, in fpite of the measures of his fervants.

A WRITER, who builds his arguments upon facts fuch as thefe, is not eafily to be confuted. He is not to be answered by general affertions, or general reproaches. He may want eloquence to amufe and perfuade, but, fpeaking truth, he must always convince.

PHILO JUNIUS.

LET.

LETTER XIV.

ADDRESSED TO THE PRINTER OF THE

PUBLIC ADVERTISER.

SIR,

22. June, 1769.

THE name of Old Noll is

deftined to be the ruin of the houfe of Stuart. There is an ominous fatality in it, which even the spurious defcendants of the family cannot escape. Oliver Cromwell had the merit of conducting Charles the first to the block. Your correfpondent OLD NOLL appears to have the fame defign upon the Duke of Grafton. His arguments confift better with the title he has affumed, than with the principles he profefles; for though he pretends to be an advocate for the Duke, he takes care to give us the best reafons, why his patron fhould regularly follow the fate of his prefumptive ancestor.-Through the whole courfe of the Duke of Grafton's life, I fee a strange endeavour to unite contradictions, which cannot be reconciled. He marries to be divorced;-he keeps a mistress to remind him of conjugal endearments, and

he

he chooses fuch friends, as it is virtue in him
to defert. If it were poffible for the genius
of that accomplished prefident, who pro- .
nounced fentence upon Charles the firft, to
be revived in fome modern fycophant*, his
Grace I doubt not would by fympathy dif-
cover him among the dregs of mankind, and
take him for a guide in those paths, which
naturally conduct a minifter to the scaffold.

THE affertion that two-thirds of the nation approve of the acceptance of Mr. Luttrell (for even Old Noll is too modeft to call it an election) can neither be maintained nor confuted by argument. It is a point of fact, on which every English gentleman will determine för himself. As to lawyers, their profeffion is fupported by the indifcriminate defence of right and wrong, and I confefs I have not 1 that opinion of their knowledge or integrity, to think it neceffary that they fhould decide for me upon a plain conftitutional question. With refpect to the appointment of Mr. Luttrell, the chancellor has never yet given any authentic opinion. Sir Fletcher Norton is indeed an honeft, a very honeft man; and

* It is hardly neceffary to remind the reader of the name of Bradshaw.

the

the Attorney General is ex officio the guardian of liberty, to take care, I prefume, that it fhall never break out into a criminal excefs. Doctor Blackstone is Solicitor to the Queen, The Doctor recollected that he had a place to preserve, though he forgot that he had a reputation to lose. We have now the good fortune to understand the Doctor's principles, as well as writings. For the defence of truth, of law, and reafon, the Doctor's book may be fafely confulted; but whoever wishes to cheat a neighbour of his estate, or to rob a country of its rights, need make no fcruple of confulting the Doctor himself.

THE example of the English nobility may, for aught I know, fufficiently justify the the Duke of Grafton, when he indulges his genius in all the fafhionable exceffes of the age; yet, confidering his rank and station, I think it would do him more honour to be able to deny the fact, than to defend it by fuch authority. But if vice itself could be excu fed, there is yet a certain display of it, a certain, outrage to decency, and violation of public decorum, which, for the benefit of fociety, fhould never be forgiven. It is not that he kept a mistress at home, but that he

con