LETTER XXXVIII.
TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER.
SIR,
IN my last letter I offered you my opinion of the truth and propriety of his Majesty's answer to the city of London, considering it merely as the speech of a minister, drawn up in his own defence, and delivered, as usual, by the chief magistrate. I would separate, as much as possible, the king's personal character and behaviour from the acts of the present government. I wish it to be understood that his majesty had, in effect, no more concern in the substance of what he said, than Sir James Hodges had in the remonstrance, and that as Sir James, in virtue of his office, was obliged to speak the sentiments of the people, his Majesty might think himself bound, by the same official obligation, to give a graceful utterance to the sentiments of his minister. The cold formality of
