be produced or Read, lest it should influence any of the Lords in their Judgments; you had the Boldness to stand forth, and casting down your Hat, with which you ought to have hid your Face;—you persisted in reading Sir William De Grey’s Letter; because your Bully, Lord Denbigh, said he would Read another to the same Purpose, if he had it.
Sir William De Grey’s Letter was then Read by your Lordship! his Opinion it seems, coincided with the Duke of Chandois’s, Lord Denbigh’s, and the two Scotch Lords, who sat for Lord Mansfield.
By these worthy Peers, my Lord, and Two silent Bishops, your Lordship’s (I mean Sir William De Grey’s) Decree, was affirmed, without a Division!
The Weak and Feeble efforts of Lord Camden, were over-powered, by your Lordship’s great Abilities; and nobly sustained by Lord Denbigh, and your other auxilliary Troops.
That Sir William De Grey’s detection, has produced in him, both Shame and Fear, is very obvious; for he never suspected you would so openly Publish his secret Instructions; as his Letter to the Appellant THICKNESS, will clearly Evince; and I make no Doubt, if I can prevail upon your Lordship, to attend to what the World thinks, and to understand what I say, you will be equally ashamed;—though I confess, not equally Criminal, with Sir William De Grey.—I say not equally Criminal, my Lord; for God forbid I should think the Crimes of so contemptable a Wretch as your Lordship, are equal to those of a Man as capable of Tortureing,
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at once, the Laws; and involving them, and a whole Family, in one common Ruin, as even Lord Mansfield himself.
Copy of Sir William De Grey’s Letter, to PHILIP THICKNESS, Esq.
SIR,
I Am very Sorry that you press me so much to speak more explicitly upon the Subject of your Letter.
I do not think that I can, with Propriety, give an Answer to the Question you are pleased to ask me.
I am, Sir,
your most Obedient,
Februrary 21, 1775 humble Servant,
WILLIAM DE GREY.
In a former Paper (No. VII.) I gave your Lordship a Copy of Sir William De Grey’s first prevaricating Letter, to the Appellant Thickness; on that Letter I made but one Comment; on this, I shall, at present, make only one other: either Sir William De Grey (I will not blot my Paper with calling him a Chief Justice) cannot Support Lord Mansfield’s Decree, and is ashamed to repeat your Lordships unmeaning Jargon, about substantive Gifts; or, he has received farther Orders.
I shall conclude this Letter to your Lordship, by observing, that there are still a few People, disposed to think Favorably of you; and to impute the black Part of this Transaction, to Sir William De Grey; because they confess the Weakness of your Head, and Lament, as a National Misfortune; that a Man of such contemptible Abilities, as your Lordship’s, and AT SUCH A TIME TOO, should disgrace the British Nation; in holding the highest Law-Department in it; without Talents to acquit yourself with common Decency, even in the Lowest; but some Men are still, willing to hope you are Honest.
Now, my Lord, for their Sake, and for your own also; either Answer the following Question, fairly, and openly, or for Ever decline holding out
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Lights to dazzle the World with false Marks of your Virtue or Integrity. Would the selling a Living to Dr. Dodd, or his Buying it of you, have been Half so Criminal, as what you are now charged with?
Did not your late deceased Brother, Mr. Benjamin Bathurst, keep his Money, when he had any, at Messrs. Hoares, in Fleet-Street?1 And did he not frequently over draw, on that very respectable House? My Lord he did;—you know he did: and did not you, his Executor, when you settled his Affairs, and possessed his Property, refuse to allow that House, a Sum of Money, your necessitious Brother, had over-drawn upon it, under the Shameful, Shameful! did I say?—under the Infamous pretence, that they could not recover it.—The Time being lapsed!
If this be true my Lord, and Facts you know are obstinate things. The World will then be as fully satisfied about the rectitude of your Heart, as they have always been about the extent of your Genius. They will then all be of one Mind, as to your Lordship, whatever they think of
JUNIUS.
I never yet knew a Man perfectly Sober, taking Pains to convince every Man he met, that he was so; but a drunken Man is always acting the Part of a Sober one: when you rung the Alarum about Dr. Dodd,2 I violently suspected YOU, and soberly set you down for the Man, all the World will now believe you to be. And therefore I must repeat what I said before, the Nation will no longer bear with you; your Lordship cannot after such FOUL PROCEEDINGS, HOLD THE GREAT SEAL.
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“Qui eorum vestigus insistunt, eorum Exitus prehorres cant.4
“Those that dare tread in their Steps, let them dread, or expect, the same dismal end.”
In my next I shall lay before the Public some farther traits of your Lordships public and private Life, for be assured I will never drop my Attention to you, while you continue to hold the Seals.
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THICKNESS, and then, in a Matter in which he was totally indifferent about the Issue, he affects to correct Lords L.D. SPENCER,5 and DENBIGH, for Interferring in nice points of Law.—This repremand, was taken in good Part,—the two Lords were instantly convinced of their Error. They made proper and public Acknowledgement, of their ignorance in the Tythe Cause; but Lord Denbighs Villainy in the former Cause, is to pass unnoticed.
JUNIUS.
On the 3d. Day of April, will be Published, (Price 1s. 6d.)
The Prophecy of RUIN, a Poem.
Printed and published for the Authors, by T. W. SHAW, in Fleet-Street, opposite Anderton’s Coffee House, where Letters to the Publisher will be thankfully received.
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