124 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1758.
His Grace however did not fee either the perfon hehadfeen before, or any other perfon whom he had the leci^ reaion to foppofe to be thewriicr of the letters-; but about two months afterward5 he received the following letter as from ano- ther hand.
To his Grace the Duke of Marl- borough,
" May it pleafe your Grace, I have reafon to believe that the fon of one Barnard, a furveyor in Abingdon buildings, Weitirinflcr, is acquainted with fome fecrets that ne..rly concern your fafety ; his f.thsr is now out of town, \vhich will give you an opportuni- ty of queflioning him more pri- vately ; it wcul i be ufelefs to ■your Grace, as well as dangerous to me, to appear more publicly in thi:> aft'dir.
Your Cncere friend,
Anonymous.
- He frequently goes to Sto-
ry*s-gate coffee-houfe."
About ten days after the re- ceipt of this letter, the Duke fent a perfon, whofe name is Merrick, to Story's-gate coffee-houfe, to tell Mr. Barnard, that the D'jke defired to fpeak to him. The meffage was delivered to Mr. Bar- nard on Tuefday the 25th of April in the evening ; and he fent word by the meiTenger, Mr. Merrick, that be would wail upon Lis Grace on Thurfday morning, following, at half aa hour afier ten.
On Thurfday morning, at the time appointed, he went, and the Duke, who inftantly knew him
to be the perfon he had feen be- fore in the Park and the Abbey, took him into a room, and fhut the door. He then afked him, as he had clone at their former meet- ings, whether he had any thing to fay to liim.? and he faid, he had nothing to fay. The Duke then recapitulated all the letters, beginning vvidi the firll, and Bar- nard liltened with attention and furprife, but without any appear- ance of fear. TheDuke oblerved, th-it it feemed to him a ftrange thing to find fuch letters as thcfe written with the correflnefs of a fchoLr; to which Barnard repUed, " That a man might be very learn- ed and very poor:*' to which he might have added, that he mightbe i very daring and very wicked. The Duke then ihewed him the fourth letter, in which his name was men- tioned ; upon which Barnard faid,
- ' It is very odd j my father was
then out of town." This fpeech iheDuke thought remarkable : be- caufe, though Barnard faid his father was then out of town, the letter was without a date. Th?. Duke then told him, that if he was innocent, it behoved him, more than his Grace, to difcover the writers of the letters, efpecially the h[\; upon which he gave tha Duke a fmiie, and went away.
How thefe circumilances came to the knowledge of Mr. Fieldinfr does not appear; but Fielding fooa after took Mr. Barnard into cutlo- dy, and he was tried at the laftfcf- Cons at the Old B.iiley, for fending a threatening letter, contrary to the ftatutc.
Jn the account of the trial, as it is printed in the feflions paper, there is no mention of any evi- dence to prove the letters to be j
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