doubt before; as a moraliſt, he has taught that virtue may diſgrace; and as a patriot, he has gratified the mean by inſults on the high. Finding ſedition attendant, he has been able to advance it; finding the nation combuſtible, he has been able to inflame it. Let us abſtract from his wit the vivacity of inſolence, and withdraw from his efficacy the ſympathetick favour of Plebeian malignity; I do not fay that we ſhall leave him nothing; the cauſe that I defend ſcorns the help of falſehood; but if we leave him only his merit, what will be his praiſe?
It is not by his livelineſs of imagery, his pungency of periods, or his fertility of alluſion, that he detains the cits of London, and the boors of Middleſex. Of ſtyle and ſentiment they take no cognizance. They admire him for virtues like their own, for contempt of order and violence of outrage, for rage of defamation and audacity of falſehood. The Supporters of the Bill of
