was enlivened by a project for burning the city
which some ardent patriots entertained and partially executed. Several
such schemes were laid in the course of the war, and each one of the
principal cities was doomed to fire; though, in the interests of peace
and goodwill, I hope it will be remembered that these plans never
originated with the cruel government of a tyrant king, but were always
proposed by gentlemen on the Continental side, who vowed that, rather
than remain under the ignominious despotism of the ruffian of Brunswick,
the fairest towns of America should burn. I presume that the sages who
were for burning down Boston were not actual proprietors in that
place, and the New York burners might come from other parts of the
country--from Philadelphia, or what not. Howbeit, the British spared
you, gentlemen, and we pray you give us credit for this act of
moderation.

I had not the fortune to be present in the action on the White Plains,
being detained by the hurt which I had received at Long Island, and
which broke out again and again, and took some time in the healing. The
tenderest of nurses watched me through my tedious malady, and was eager
for the day when I should doff my militia coat and return to the quiet
English home where Hetty and our good General were tending our children.
Indeed I don't know that I have yet forgiven myself for the pains and
terrors that I must have caused my poor wife, by keeping her separate
from her young ones, and away from her home, because, forsooth, I wished
to see a little more of the war then going on. Our grand tour in Europe
had been all very well. We had beheld St. Peter's at Rome, and the
Bishop thereof; the Dauphiness of France (alas, to think that glorious
head should ever have been brought so low!) at Paris; and the rightful
King of England at Florence. I had dipped my gout in a half-dozen baths
and spas, and played cards in a hundred courts, as my Travels in Europe
(which I propose to publish after my completion of the History of the
American War) will testify. [Neither of these two projected works of Sir
George Warrington were brought, as it appears, to a completion.] And,
during our peregrinations, my hypochondria diminished (which plagued me
woefully at home); and my health and spirits visibly improved. Perhaps
it was because she saw the evident benefit I had from excitement and
change, that my wife was reconciled to my continuing to enjoy them; and
though secretl