Page:Letters of Junius, volume 2 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/193

The attention I should have paid to your failings, is involuntarily attached to the hand that rewards them; and though I am not so partial to the Royal judgment as to affirm, that the favour of a king can remove mountains of infamy, it serves to lessen, at least, (for undoubtedly it divides,) the burden. While I remember how much is due to his sacred character, I cannot, with any decent appearance of propriety, call you the meanest and basest fellow in the kingdom. I protest, my Lord, I do not think you so. You will have a dangerous rival in that kind of fame to which you have hitherto so happily directed your ambition, as long as there is one man living who thinks you worthy of his confidence, and fit to be trusted with any share in his government. I confess you have great intrinsic merit; but take care you do not value it too highly. Consider how much of it would have been lost to the world, if the King had not graciously affixed his stamp, and given it currency among his subjects. If it be true that a virtuous man, struggling with adversity, be a scene worthy of the gods, the glorious contention between you and the best of Princes, deserves a circle equally attentive and respectable. I think I