11. Is there not å fingular mark of shame set 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 scene in Œdipus, 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 fcandaloully relaxed, and in others daringly violated; and that the King's fubjects have been called upon to affure him of their fidelity, in spite 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 anfwered by general affertions, or general reproaches. He may want elcquence to amuse and perfuade, but, speaking 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

destined to be the ruin of the house of Stuart. There is an ominous fatality in it, which even the fpurious 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 profclles; for though he pretends to be an advocate for the Duke, he takes care to give us the best reasons, 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 pronounced fentence upon Charles the first, to be revived in fome modern fycophant, his Grace I doubt not would by fympathy difcover him among the dregs of mankind, and take him for a guide in thofe 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 for himfelf. As to lawyers, their profeffion is fupported by the indifcriminate defence of right and wrong, and I confefs I have not that opinion of their knowledge or integrity, to think it neceffary that they should 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 honest man; and

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

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 lofe. 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 eftate, 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 excufed, there is yet a certain difplay 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

conftantly atttended her abroad.-It is not the private indulgence, but the public infult of which I complain. The name of Miss Parfons would hardly have been known, if the First Lord of the Treafury had not led her in triumph through the Opera Houfe, even in the prefence of the Queen. When we see a man act in this manner, we may admit the fhameless depravity of his heart, but what are we to think of his Understanding?

His Grace it feems is now to be` a regular domeftic man, and as an omen of the future delicacy and correctnefs of his conduct, he marries a firft caufin of the man, who had fixed that mark and title of infamy upon him, which, at the fame moment, makes a husband unhappy and ridiculous. The ties of confanguinity may poffibly preserve him from the fame fate a second time, and as to the diftrefs of meeting, I take for granted the venerable uncle of thefe common cousins has fettled the Etiquette in fuch a manner, that, if a mistake fhould happen, it may reach no farther than from Madame ma femme to Madame ma coufine.

THE