Page:Letters of Junius, volume 1 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/71

Rh and violent censures without dignity or moderation." WILLIAM DRAPER.

 

7. February, 1769. SIR,

OUR defence of Lord Granby does honour to the goodness of your heart. You feel, as you ought to do, for the reputation of your friend, and you express yourself in the warmest language of your passions. In any other cause, I doubt not, you would have cautiously weighed the consequences of committing your name to the licentious discourses and malignant opinions of the world. But here, I presume, you thought it would be a breach of friendship to lose one moment in consulting your understanding; as if an appeal to the public were no more than a military coup de main, where a brave man has no rules to follow, but the dictates of his courage. Touched with your generosity, I freely