Page:Letters of Junius, volume 2 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/277

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
JUNIUS.
267

many such men as Mr. Sawbridge to represent us in parliament.—I speak from common report and opinion only, when I impute to him a speculative predilection in favour of a republic.—In the personal conduct and manners of the man I cannot be mistaken. He has shown himself possessed of that republican firmness which the times require; and by which an English gentleman may be as usefully and as honourably distinguished, as any citizen of ancient Rome, of Athens, or Lacedemon.

Mr. Townsend complains that the public gratitude has not been answerable to his deserts.—It is not difficult to trace the artifices which have suggested to him a language so unworthy of his understanding. A great man commands the affections of the people; a prudent man does not complain when he has lost them. Yet they are far from being lost to Mr. Townsend. He has treated our opinion a little too cavalierly. A young man is apt to rely too confidently upon himself, to be as attentive to his mistress as a polite and passionate lover ought to be. Perhaps he found her at first too easy a conquest.—