Page:Letters of Junius, volume 2 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/296

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286
LETTERS OF

punishment upon David's crime (taken as a breach of his divine commands) and to send his prophet to denounce it, an English jury have nothing to do either with David or the prophet. They consider the crime only as it is a breach of order, an injury to an individual, and an offence to society; and they judge of it by certain positive rules of law, or by the practice of their ancestors. Upon the whole, the man after God's own heart is much indebted to you for comparing him to the Duke of Cumberland. That his Royal Highness may be the man after Lord Mansfield's own heart, seems much more probable; and you, I think, Mr. Zeno, might succeed tolerably well in the character of Nathan. The evil deity, the prophet, and the royal sinner, would be very proper company for one another.

You say, Lord Mansfield did not make the commissioners of the Great Seal, and that he only advised the King to appoint. I believe Junius meant no more; and the distinction is hardly worth disputing.—

You say he did not deliver an opinion upon Lord Chatham's appeal.—I affirm that he