fatuity. The way being
thus prepared, what was first insinuated is now openly expressed in the
next sentence. The word "_folly_" is applied to the conduct of the king
of England in the face of his subjects, and the application rendered
doubly severe by the gravest irony. Still, there is one relief. Allusion
is made to his "unbounded goodness of heart," from which, in the
preceding chain of insinuations, these errors of judgment had been
deduced. The next sentence takes this away. It directly ascribes to the
king, with an increased severity of ironical denial, some of the meanest
passions of royalty, "a capricious partiality for new faces," a "natural
love of low intrigue," "the treacherous amusement of double and triple
negotiations!" It is unnecessary to remark on the admirable precision
and force of the language in these expressions, and, indeed, throughout
the whole passage. There had been just enough in the king's conduct, for
the last seven years, to make the people suspect all this, and to weaken
or destroy their affection for the crown. It was all connected with that
system of favoritism introduced by Lord Bute, which the nation so much
abhorred. Nothing but this would have made them endure for a moment such
an attack on their monarch, and especially the absolute mockery with
which Junius concludes the whole, by speaking of "the anxiety of the
purest of all _possible_ hearts for the general welfare!" His entire
Letter to the king, with all the rancor ascribed to it by Burke, does
not contain so much bitterness and insult as are concentrated in this
single passage. While we can not but condemn its spirit, we are forced
to acknowledge that there is in this and many other passages of Junius,
a rhetorical skill in the evolution of thought which was never surpassed
by Demosthenes.

[E] 5. The Duke of Grafton, first Lord of the Treasury. It is
unnecessary to remark on the dexterity of connecting with this mention
of a treasury, "sinking under its debts and expenses," the idea of its
head being a gambler loaded with his own debts, and liable continually
to new distresses and temptations from his love of play. The thought is
wisely left here. The argument which it implies would be weakened by any
attempt to expand it. Junius often reminds us of the great Athenian
orator, in thus striking a single blow, and then passing on to some
other subject, as he does here to the apostasy of the Duke of Grafton,
his inconsistency, c