'Edinburgh, Feb. 28, 1778.
'MY DEAR SIR,
'You are at present busy amongst the English poets, preparing, for the
publick instruction and entertainment, Prefaces, biographical and
critical. It will not, therefore, be out of season to appeal to you for
the decision of a controversy which has arisen between a lady and me
concerning a passage in Parnell. That poet tells us, that his Hermit
quitted his cell
"... to know the world by sight,
To find if _books_ or _swains_ report it right;
(For yet by _swains alone_ the world he knew,
Whose feet came wand'ring o'er the nightly dew.)"
I maintain, that there is an inconsistency here; for as the Hermit's
notions of the world were formed from the reports both of _books_ and
_swains_, he could not justly be said to know by _swains alone_. Be
pleased to judge between us, and let us have your reasons[618].
'What do you say to _Taxation no Tyranny_, now, after Lord North's
declaration, or confession, or whatever else his conciliatory speech
should be called[619]? I never differed from you in politicks but upon two
points,--the Middlesex Election[620], and the Taxation of the Americans by
the _British Houses of Representatives_[621]. There is a _charm _in the
word _Parliament_, so I avoid it. As I am a steady and a warm Tory, I
regret that the King does not see it to be better for him to receive
constitutional supplies from his American subjects by the voice of their
own assemblies, where his Royal Person is represented, than through the
medium of his British subjects. I am persuaded that the power of the
Crown, which I wish to increase, would be greater when in contact with
all its dominions, than if "the rays of regal bounty[622]" were to "shine"
upon America through that dense and troubled body, a modern British
Parliament. But, enough of this subject; for your angry voice at
Ashbourne[623] upon it, still sounds aweful "in my mind's _ears_[624]."
'I ever am, my dear Sir,
'Your most affectionate humble servant,
'JAMES BOSWELL.'