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Page:Letters of Junius, volume 1 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/225

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now take the liberty, Sir, to seize your battery, and turn it against yourself. If your puerile and tinsel logic could carry the least weight or conviction with it, how must you stand affected by the inevitable conclusion, as you are pleased to term it? According to Junius, Silence is Guilt. In many of the public papers, you have been called, in the most direct and offensive terms, a liar, and a coward. When did you reply to these foul accusations? You have been quite silent, quite chop-fallen: therefore, because you was silent, the nation has a right to pronounce you to be both a liar and a coward, from your own argument: but, Sir, I will give you fair play; will afford you an opportunity to wipe off the first appellation; by desiring the proofs of your charge against me. Produce them! To wipe off the last, produce yourself. People cannot bear any longer your Lion's skin, and the despicable imposture of the old Roman name which you have affected. For the future assume the name of some modern[1] bravo and dark assassin: let your appellation have some affinity to your practice. But if I must perish,

  1. Was Brutus an ancient bravo and dark assassin; or does Sir W. D. think it criminal to stab a tyrant to the heart?