1792. on orthography. 1473 
_ A fhort, but convincing answer may be given to 
the miserable farce of German campaigns, and Ger- 
man subsidies. Were the whole continent of Eu- 
rope embodied under a single sovereign, yet, while 
we pofsefs a superior navy, we can always meet him 
on at least equal terms ; and even were our navy to” 
be destroyed, our hereditary bravery is so well 
known, that few statesmen, either sleeping or wa- 
king, would dream of landing an army on the coast 
of Britain. ; 
I thall by your indulgence close my remarks on 
this memorable war in my next letter. 
Laurencekirk, Timotuy THUNDERPROOF. 
May 15. 1792- 
A WORD TO THE WISE. 
A spirit of innovation seems to be the reigning 
foible of the times. , Our neighbours, the French, 
have turned their plough fhares into swords, in or- 
der to maintain the deprefsion which they have ef- 
fected, of their ancient government, and the establifh- 
ment of a newone.. The Swedes have {hot their 
king, because he was growing old in promoting the 
welfare of his people; and the Britifh parliament 
has invented the new expedient of prohibiting inter- 
nal commerce in grain. From these political ob- 
jects, nat being able to decide whether the alterati- 
ons remarked are beneficial or hurtful, I turn away. 
my attention; but by glancing at them I am led ta 
observe another innovation in a very different mat- 
ter. The alteration of language, on which, presu- 
ming it to be an object of importance_to the literary 
