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192
LETTERS OF
spreading fires. I have lived with this sentiment; with this I shall die.
WILLIAM DRAPER.
LETTER XXVII.
TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER.
13. October, 1769.
SIR,
IF Sir William Draper's bed be a bed of torture, he has made it for himself. I shall never interrupt his repose. Having changed the subject, there are parts of his last letter not undeserving of a reply. Leaving his private character and conduct out of the question, I shall consider him merely in the capacity of an author, whose labours certainly do no discredit to a newspaper.
We say, in common discourse, that a man may be his own enemy, and the frequency of the fact makes the expression intelligible. But that a man should be the bitterest enemy of his friends, implies a contradiction of a peculiar
