Page:Federalist, Dawson edition, 1863.djvu/32

xxx learning of scholars, their productions are greatly inferior to his. The papers of in The Federalist are marked by nearly the same superiority, both as to richness, elegance and force, which is exhibited by those of  in the Spectator. He wrote the whole work, except Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 54, which are from the pen of Mr. ; Nos. 10, 14, and 37 to 48 inclusive, from that of Mr. ; and Nos. 18, 19, and 20, in the composition of which he and Mr. were associated. Had he never been the author of any other work, his fame as a writer would have been conspicuous and durable. For, although it must be acknowledged that he has, in various instances, in The Federalist, violated the rules of classical composition, that production would, notwithstanding, have done honour to the pen of or ."

As may readily be supposed, this paragraph immediately arrested the attention of the friends of Mr. ; and by them it was generally and openly condemned. At length one of them appealed to the public, through the columns of the newspaper press; and in the following letter he joined issue with Mr. and the friends of General :&mdash;

[From the National Intelligencer, Vol. XVIII. No. 2574, Washington, Thursday, March 20, 1817 .]

"To :&mdash;

"In looking over Repository of the Lives and Portraits of Distinguished Americans, I