LETTER X.

TO MR. EDWARD WESTON.

WESTON, it seems, thought fit to reply to the imputations of JUNIUS in the preceding Letter; and to deny, that he had attempted to defend the ministry upon other principles than their own. JUNIUS, pro. voked by that reply, condescended to address this short Letter of haughty exprobration to Weston himself.

Its purport is, to prove the truth of the contested assertion in the foregoing Letter, by the unanswerable evidence of a quotation from Wes`ton's own pamphlet; to overwhelm Weston's feelings, by menaces and bitter abuse; to kindle against him the public abhorrence, by odious

accusations.

To so mean an adversary, JUNIUS would not deign to write a long, nor "yet a very elaborate epistle.

SIR,

21. April, 1769.

I SAID you were an old man without the benefit of experience. It seems you are also a volunteer with the stipend of twenty commissions; , and, at a period when all prospects are at an end, you are still looking forward to rewards, which you

An old man without the benefit of experience.] These words are, with some slight variation, quoted from the preceding Letter. They are, more remotely, a quotation from the famous speech of the late Lord Chatham, when Mr. Pitt and a young member of the House of Commons, in which he chastised the insolence of Horatio afterwards Lord Walpole, with a degree of severity and eloquence which that house had not often before witnessed. The speech, as we possess it, was, however reported by Dr. Johnson: and it, very probably, came mended from his pen.

cannot

cannot enjoy. No man is better acquainted with the bounty of government than you are.

-Ton impudence,

Temeraire vieillard, aura sa recompense.

BUT I will not descend to an altercation, either with the impotence of your age, or the peevishness of your diseases. Your pamphlet, ingenious as it is, has been so little read, that the public cannot know how far you have a right to give me the lye, without the following citation of your own words. PAGE 6-1. That he is persuaded that the motives, which he (Mr. Weston) has alledged, must appear fully sufficient, with or without the opinions of the surgeons.

2. THAT those very motives MUST HAVE BEEN the foundation, on which the Earl of Rochford thought proper, &c.

3. THAT he CANNOT BUT REGRET, that the

Earl of Rochford seems to have thought proper to

pre

lay the chirurgical reports before the king, in ference to all the other sufficient motives,' &c. LET the public determine, whether this be defending government on their principles or your

own.

THE style and language you have adopted are, I confess, not ill suited to the elegance of your own manners, or to the dignity of the cause, you have

--Ton impudence, &c.] This quotation is from Corneille; and is skilfully enough introduced,

undertaken.

undertaken. Every common dauber writes rascal and villain under his pictures, because the pictures themselves have neither character nor resemblance. But the works of a master require no index. His features and colouring are taken from nature. The impression they make is immediate and uniform; nor is it possible to mistake his characters, whether they represent the treachery of a minister, or the abused simplicity of a king.

JUNIUS.

Every common dauber writes, &c.] The meaning of this obscure similitude, almost lengthened into allegory, seems to be, that the composition of Weston's pamphlet was strikingly marked with all the bad qualities of his character. But the figure is obscure. It has the sound of lofty eloquence, but makes no distinct and forcible' impression on the mind. JUNIUS seems, in this instance, to have suffered his eye, his ear, his haste, his disdain, to impose on his understanding and his taste

He, however, at least virtually allows, in this Letter, that Weston's pamphlet might have been written without the privity of the Duke of Grafton.

LETTER

LETTER XI.

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON.

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MR. Wilkes, disappointed in his hopes from the Duke of Grafton's protection and friendship, refused all compromise with the ministry. Would he have refrained from urging on the attention of parliament, and of the public, the tale of his injuries from ministeriál persecution; perhaps, he might not have been again expelled from the House of Commons, and might have avoided any renewal of the proceedings at law, in the name of the crown, against him. But, Wilkes's purpose would not have been thus answered. He had declared to Mr. Gibbon, at an accidental meeting of conviviality, some time before the North Briton began to be published, that he intended to render himself conspicuous, and to make his fortune, amidst the political contentions which were then arising. Conspicuous he had' indeed become: but, his fortune was not yet made. Had the miniters gratified his wishes in regard to fortune, he would perhaps have been gladly quiet. But, he was not fool enough to suffer himself to be robbed, without sure compensation, of the sole estate he now possessed his noisy popularity. The contest between him and government was, therefore, to be renewed: and he was proud to renew it. Nor was it unfortunate for the laws and 'the constitution, that Wilkes's humour and interests moved him to act this part. He, certainly, gave occasion for the correction of some abuses which, having been introduced, under the pretence of necessity, during the long reign of the Whigs, had insensibly acquired almost the full authority of law. The Duke of Grafton, however avcrse from degrading the dignity of the crown by this contest, yet could not avoid it. Lord Chatham had abandoned him; and it was expected, that the Duke himself would shrink away from before the storm. He stood his ground. He was even irritated to take a part against the man who had been once his friend, not less bold than the surrender of parliamentary privilege, and the use of a General Warrant, which had been employed against Wilkes under the administration of George Grenville. JUNIUS's former Letters to the Duke, had been without effect. Mr. Luttrell, not deterred by the fate of Dingley, vacated his seat in parliament, for

the purpose of offering himself a candidate for the representation of Middlesex, in opposition to Wilkes, after Wilkes's new exclusion from the House of Commons. Government gave him all its support; those riots were restrained, which had affrighted Dingley; yet, only a petty minority of two hundred and ninety-six, could be persuaded to give him their voices at the election. The sheriffs again returned Mr. Wilkes. He was not again expelled; nor was the election declared void: but, Mr. Luttrell was found to have been duly elected; though it was at the same time owned that, in returning Mr. Wilkes, the sheriffs had done but their duty.

This Letter was, soon after that event, addressed by JUNIUS to the Duke of Grafton. It begins with contrasting that relaxation of the energy of Government which had, in different instances, distinguished the first part of the Duke's administration, with that vigour and violence with which he now transgressed the bounds of law, and trampled on the rights of the people. It endeavours to make him ridiculous, by the imputation that he kept a mistress, that he deserted for her arms his official duties, and that her beauty had faded.

It next explains, how the influence of the crown was augmented, how the rights of the people were trampled upon, how the constitution of parliament was destroyed, if not by the rejection of Mr. Wilkes, at least by the arbitrary appointment of Mr. Luttrell to represent the Freeholders of Middlesex.

It then attempts equally to alarm the Duke, to encourage the partizans of Wilkes, and to rouse the whole nation to take an eager part in the

cause.

At the close, it contemptuously, and somewhat between threatening and irony, recommends to the Duke to recede from that system of illegal violence upon which his administration had lately proceeded, and to return to the former dissoluteness of his private life, and the former careless relaxation in his exercise of the power of the Government. This Letter is a skilful and eloquent composition. Its object was, to alarm. and confound the minister, to rouse the indignation of the people, and to open the batteries of argument against the decision of the House of Commons in favour of Euttrell.

MY