fhould be the bittereft enemy of his friends, implies a contradiction of a peculiar nature. There is

fomething in it, which cannot be conceived without a confufion of ideas, nor expreffed without a folecism in language. Sir William Draper is still that fatal friend Lord Granby found him. Yet I am ready to do juftice to his generofity; if indeed it be not fomething more than generous, to be the voluntary advocate of men, who think themfelves injured by his affiftance, and to confider nothing in the cause he adopts, but the difficulty of defending it. I thought however he had been better read in the history of the human heart, than to compare or confound the tortures of the body with those of the mind. He ought to have known, though perhaps it might not be his intereft to confefs, that no outward tyranny can reach the mind. If conscience plays the tyrant, it would be greatly for the benefit of the world, that she were more arbitrary, and far lefs placable, than fome men find her.

But it seems I have outraged the feelings of a father's heart.— Am I indeed fo injudicious? Does Sir William Draper think I would have hazarded my credit with a generous nation, by fo grofs a violation of the laws of humanity? Does he think I am fo little acquainted with the firft and pobleft charcteristic of Englishmen? Or how will

he

he reconcile fuch folly with an understanding fo full of artifice as mine? Had he been a father, he would have been but little offended with the feverity of the reproach, for his mind would have been filled with the juftice of it. He would have seen that I did not infult the feelings of a father, but the father who felt nothing. He would have trufted to the evidence of his own paternal heart, and boldly denied the poffibility of the fact, inftead of defending it. Against whom then will his honeft indignation be directed, when I affure him, that this whole town beheld the Duke of Bedford's conduct, upon the death of his fon, with horror and aftonishment. Sir William Draper does himfelf but little honour in oppofing the general fenfe of his country. The people are feldom wrong in their opinions-in their fentiments they are never mistaken. There may be a vanity perhaps in a fingular way of thinking-but when a man profeffes a want of thofe feelings, which do honour to the multitude, he hazards fomething infinitely more important than the character of his understanding. After all, as Sir William may poffibly be in earnest in his anxiety for the Duke of Bedford, I fhould be glad to relieve him from it. He may rest assured that this worthy nobleman laughs, with equal indifference, at my reproaches, and Sir William's diftrefs about him. But here let it ftop. Even

!

P

the

the Duke of Bedford, infenfible as he is, will confult the tranquillity of his life, in not provoking the moderation of my temper. If, from the profoundest contempt, I fhould ever rife into anger, he fhould foon find, that all I have already faid of him was lenity and compaffion.

Out of a long catalogue, Sir William Draper has confined himself to the refutation of two charges only. The rest he had not time to discuss; and, indeed, it would have been a laborious undertaking To draw up a defence of fuch a series of enormities, would have required a life at least as long as that, which has been uniformly employed in the practice of them. The public opinion of the Duke of Bedford's extreme economy is, it seems, entirely without foundation. Though not very prodigal abroad, in his own family at least, he is regular and magnificent. He pays his debts, abhors a beggar, and makes a handsome provifion for his fon. His charity has improved upon the proverb, and ended where it began, Admitting the whole force of this fingle inftance of his domeftic generofity (wonderful indeed confidering the narrowness of his fortune, and the little merit of his only fon) the public may ftill perhaps be diffatisfied, and demand fome other lefs equivocal proofs of his munificence. Sir William Draper fhould have entered boldly into the detail-of in

digence

digence relieved-of arts encouraged-of science patronized;-men of learning protected, and works of genius rewarded-in fhort, had there been a fingle inftance, befides Mr. Rigby, of blushing merit brought forward by the Duke, for the fervice of the public, it should not have been omitted.

I wish it were possible to establish my inference with the fame certainty, on which I believe the principle is founded. My conclufion however was not drawn from the principle alone. I am not fo unjuft as to reafon from one crime to another; though, I think, that, of all the vices, avarice is moft apt to taint and corrupt the heart. I combined the known temper of the man with the extravagant conceffions made by the ambaffador; and, though I doubt not fufficient care was taken to leave no document of any treasonable negotiation, I ftill maintain that the conduct of this minifter carries with it an internal and a convincing evidence against him. Sir William Draper feems not to know the value or force of fuch a proof. He will not permit us to judge of the motives of men, by the manifeft tendency of their actions,

nor

If Sir W. D. will take the trouble of looking into Torcy's Memoirs, he will fee with what little ceremony a bribe may be offered to a Duke, and with what little ceremony it was only not accepted.

nor by the notorious character of their minds. He calls for papers and witneffes, with a fort of triumphant fecurity, as if nothing could be true, but what could be proved in a court of justice. Yet a religious man might have remembered, upon what foundation fome truths, most interesting to mankind, have been received and established. it were not for the internal evidence, which the pureft of religions carries with it, what would have become of his once well-quoted decalogue, and of the meeknefs of his Christianity?

If

The generous warmth of his refentment makes him confound the order of events. He forgets that the infults and diftreffes which the Duke of Bedford has fuffered, and which Sir William has lamented with many delicate touches of the true pathethic, were only recorded in my letter to his Grace, not occafioned by it. It was a fimple, candid narrative of facts; though, for aught I know, it may carry with it fomething prophetic. His Grace undoubtedly has received feveral ominous hints; and I think, in certain circumstances, a wife man would do well to prepare himself for the

event.

But I have a charge of a heavier nature against Sir William Draper. He tells us that the Duke of Bedford is amenable to juftice-that Parliament is a high and folem tribunal; and that, if guilty,

he