1796.] 
“author, a gentleman of Cambridge, 
“‘ from you; and the fecrecy of print- 
“ing from us both.” 
Having thus done juftice to his prin- 
cipal, the RR. biographer proceeds to 
relate the fhare he himfelf bore in this 
notable atchievement. ‘* [ thought,” he 
fays, ** the obfervations too good to be 
“loft; and the hint of the addrefs fug- 
* oefted the means of preferving them, 
“without any injury to his reputation.” 
But paufe a moment. Is there not fome- 
thing here very fufpicious in the mode 
ef expreffion? Take the words in their 
plain fenfe: ‘‘ The hint of the addrefs 
‘‘ fugeefted the neans of preferving them 
“ qwithout any injury to bis reputation.”’ Do 
they not feem to convey an infinuation 
that, unlefs under fome fuch difguife, 
thefe valuable obfervations could zot have 
been preferved without tnjury to bis repu- . 
tation ? Vt is impoffible that the learned 
Commentator,—I beg pardon, my —— 
It is really very far from my intention 
by this fimple epithet, to caft any flight 
on the reputation, which you have long 
maintained, of a refined and able critic: 
though, at the fame time, I am aware 
* how a moft amiable man, an accom- 
plithed {cholar, a candid and judicious 
critic, an able and zealous defender of 
Chriftianity, one who recommended its 
doétrines not lefs by the purity of his 
manners, than by the ftrength of his 
arguments, was loaded with illiberal in- 
vective, and perfecuted with the moft in- 
veterate rancour, as if he had been 
guilty of fome atrocious crime, little 
jhort of biafphemy—and for what? 
merely for applying this very term (fo 
inadequate to his tranfcendent metits, 
even though accompanied with other ex- 
preffions of commendation) to a friend ; 
a friend, with whom he had long been in 
the habit of communicating, without re- 
ferve, on literary fubjeéts ; a friend, who 
had been often affified by his extenfive 
learning in the execution of thofe highly 
celebrated works; which, though now 
little known, and lefs read, for a while, 
however, attraéted the attention of the 
| public, and excited that aftonifhment of 
the learned. Do not, my ——, ftartle at 
the unqualified affertion in the laft fen- 
tence. From your own attainments in 
literature, you muft know enough to, ad-’ 
Mire the erudition of fortin; you muft, 

* Sce Délicacy of Friendthip, addreffed to 
Ee. Jortin. 
Montutry Mac. No. LY. 
‘Fortin, Warburton, and Hurd. 
289 
at times, have been fenfible of his wit; 
you, therefore, cannot but know, not- 
withfianding the flippant {neers of an 
anonymous * pamphleteer, that in a li- 
terary connection between two fuch men 
as Jortin and Warburton, the latter muft 
have been very confiderably indeed the 
gainer by this intercourse. 
Excufe, my dear F , the warmth 
and length of this apoftrophe, which has 
broken from me involuntarily, and un- 
awares, on recollegtion of the injuries 
done to fo excellent a perfon, as the 
late Dr. Jortin, whom we both fo much 
re{peéted and loved. But juftice will 
have its courfe ; and never fails, in the 
end, to deal due retribution to all parties. 
As on the one fide, 
Raro antecedentem SCELESTUM 
Deferuit pede Pzena claudo, 

So on the other, 
Suum cuique decus Pofteritas rependit. 
We have now, therefore, the fatif- 
faétion of feeing all men of letters an 
virtue, with a great author of diftinguifh- 
ed eminence at their head, confpiring te 
vindicate the reputation of this great and 
good man, from the infidious attacks of 
an intercfied and malignant calwmniator. 
Kesupyorepoy edey AraSoans ecs mw 
Ladpu, yop amarnceace Toy memeecpeevoy 
MIZOZ avatAatses To929° TON OYAEN 
AITION. 
Pardon this fcrap of Greek. The 
fentiment conveyed by it, comes fo home 
to the real intention of the anonymous 
pamphleteer, whoie great bufinefs it evi- 
dently was, by that fhameful work, to 
excite in the fiery and unguarded bofom 
of the vain man to whoim he was paying 
court, a f{pirit of jealoufy and hatred 
againit one. not only innocent, tov wdey aiticr, 
but deferving, by many important fer- 
vices, as you and I well know, as the 
anonymous pamphleteer himfelf well 
knew, the warmett returns of gratitude, 
that I could not refift the temptation of 
tranferibing it. 
With this, having wandered already 
fo far out of my way, I will, with your 
leave, clofe this letter; and refume, if 
you will allow me, the fubjeét with 

which I fet out, in my next. For the 
prefent, adieu. O—WN. 
* Delicacy of Friendfhip, p. 36. 
Te 
Pp 
