and mine; time must have cleared up the truth to you in this particular, even through the medium of New England misrepresentation; and you will now have another account to lament over of the action on the 17th of June, in which the same tale of horror will be repeated, and the same Te Deums sung by the victorious Bostonians; but I still repeat to you, that time will clear your error and alter your sentiments. To give you my ideas, wide as they stand off from your own, would be quite useless and laborious to us both. I deplore the situation of America in every vein of my heart; I think the measures which have inflamed and misled them, have not originated with themselves; they have conceived the idea of disobedience and disorder in all its fatal extent, from the conduct of certain politicians in the heart of this realm; but those politicians have been opposers, and not abettors of administration; I pity the deluded throng, who rouse at the call of liberty, (though it is like the shepherd's-boy in the fable, who cried wolf when there was no wolf), but I have also, and you, dear Sir, it is presumed once had, some bowels of consideration for those murderers (as you call them) who are sparing neither sex, age, or condition, tearing down, burning, and destroying every thing in their way, and with rapine and plunder of the poor inhabitants, enriching themselves. And is it possible you can lend a serious ear to this nonsensical rhapsody, excusable in no one but a New England field preacher; and can you seriously transcribe so ridiculous a calumny, and send it to me as authentic news? Have not you known the temper and nature of your own brave countrymen in times past?— Have you never lived with English officers, or recollected the transactions of the late war in all its branches? When they conquered the empire of America for the Americans, did they exhibit any instances of this blood-thirsty disposition, which seems copied from a Grub-street paper of a horrid, bloody, and inhuman murder? Our natural enemies never had it to accuse us of what our natural friends now charge us; and that through the medium, not of an American, but of an English gentleman, who has left his country not many years past, and in that time, to my knowledge, been spectator of many very disorderly proceedings and insurrections in which there was no English soldier to be found to bear the blame; I believe when you went your progress into the interior of South Carolina, you would not have been sorry to have had a file of British grenadiers in your suite. I have troubled you and myself much too long upon this painful subject; I have no desire to wean your partiality from the place you are in, and the people you are with. It is in some respects a most convenient and happy partiality; and it is a pity to awaken reason and judgment when they are buried in so sweet and innocent a slumber. I have been at Peterborough lately, where I saw some late friends of yours, some bloody Englishmen, who I suppose would roast and eat you for an American, if you was to come amongst them again. This you may at least expect, that there is plenty of tar and feathers provided for you, but I am apt to think they would rather give you the fowl than its feathers. I do not shew your letter to Mrs. Cum. or any of your old friends; she would not thank you for your character of the king's troops, having lately lost the bravest and the best of brothers, (but joy be for the Americans!) he was an inhuman Englishman, and one of the king's troops. I have never worn a cockade, so I may conclude myself, as usual, Dear Sir, Your most faithful friend, And obedient Servant, RICHARD CUMBERLAND. INDEX. A. ADDISON, remarks on Tickell's elegy on his death, 86, 87. Ancestors of Cumberland, See Bentley and Cumberland. Anecdotes of Spanish Painters, by Cumberland, notice of, 397. Anecdotes, remarkable, of the thief who stole Dr. Bentley's plate, 19. Of Anonymous Criticism, remarks on its abuses, 569–573. Armageddon, a poem by Mr. Townsend, absurd examination of, by Cum- Armourer, a comic opera, by Cumberland, Sec Wat Tyler. Arundel, a novel by Cumberland, remarks on, 493-504. Holds a distin- Ashby, Edmund, receives Cumberland to board with him in Peter Street, Atterbury, Bishop, anecdote of, 38. B. Badcock, William, Esq. marries Cumberland's second daughter, Sophia, Banishment of Cicero, a tragedy by Cumberland, 124. Remarks on, 124, Barnes, Joshua, Dr. Bentley's opinion of, 37. Battle of Hastings, remarks on Cumberland's tragedy of, 322-334. Imi- Beckford, Mr. Alderman, character of, 118. Bentinck, Lord Edward, son to the late Duke of Portland, marries Cum- 4 His gentle rebuke for making Bentley, Dr. Richard, an illustrious ancestor of Cumberland, 11. His Bentley, Mrs. wife of Dr. Richard Bentley, 22. Betty, Master, remarks on his acting, 467. Daughter of Sir John Saint Johns, ib. Her Bickerstaff, Cumberland's controversy with, 159, 160. Bland Burges, Sir James, warmly commended by Cumberland, 475. As- Blank verse, remarks on, 57. Box Lobby Challenge, a play by Cumberland, notice of, 547. A humorous |