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Page:Letters of Junius, volume 1 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/241

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After all, as Sir William may possibly be in earnest in his anxiety for the Duke of Bedford, I should be glad to relieve him from it. He may rest assured, this worthy nobleman laughs, with equal indifference, at my reproaches, and Sir William's distress about him. But here let it stop. Even the Duke of Bedford, insensible as he is, will consult the tranquillity of his life, in not provoking the moderation of my temper. If, from the profoundest contempt, I should ever rise into anger, he should soon find, that all I have already said of him, was lenity and compassion.

Out of a long catalogue, Sir William Draper has confined himself to the refutation of two charges only. The rest he had not time to discuss; and, indeed, it would have been a laborious undertaking. To draw up a defence of such a series of enormities, would have required a life, at least, as long as that which has been uniformly employed in the practice of them. The public opinion of the Duke of Bedford's extreme economy is, it seems, entirely without foundation. Though not very prodigal abroad, in his own family at least, he is regular and magnificent. He pays his debts, abhors a beggar, and