Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1802-10-09
Fran 5be tRIcHMoNDl RECORDER.
RRES O Nd ENCE
BETWEEN
HIS ExcELLHNcY, TIL. JEFFERSON,
PR ESI D E N &
OF THE
u N IT Ed S t A E = S,

dliagreeabie bunneiS 70 diiGioie TUG NC
poht of confidence in particular, the
publication of letters, which had never
been competed for the INFECTION of the
public eye, Preients anindelicate, aluipie-
Gus, and painful circamaance. In Erg
land. where the trade of book building
has rifen to great perfection, and has de-
fcended TO great deprayity, The practice
of FULFILLING private letters is one ipecass
of fraud, thai has been mott ,treaeheroutly
and mott diligently cultivated. For IN
Rance, The Reverend MIR. Maaon, eler
gyman of correct manners, and of Iefpec
table talents, had been, for the greater
part of his life, corresponding with the
beautiful and admired poet, MIR. Gray.
We refer TO the inimitable an,hor of an
An Eegy 4vrittsn in Csanty ChA,eb
Ya,d. AS ioon as the Rey'd. Mr.. Ma
fon found that he had fairly furvived Mr..
Gray, he did not think Of any better en-
ploymens, than that ofpubliihing allthofe
epiaolary eccentricities, which, in the mo-
ment of vivaci.y, Mr.. Gray had addref-
fed to him in a ferries of about thirty
years. We DO nor exactly know any O.
Their way of earning money, which is, to
our feelings 70 irrevocably, & exceedingly
difreputable, as that in whiehthe Rey'e.
MIR. Mafon acquired the price of his LIFE
eyMr.Gray. Suipicious that he was not
ioaiciently to be deipifed by poHerity, as
long as nameike his can dream of being
remembered, he commenced lawful a
CANT a. London bookseller, who had by
mere accident, reprinted about thirty
two lines of MIR. Gray's -pofhnmous po-
e,ry. An Englifh jury, that ineaina--
bic infitut;on, as D.. Blaekfone calls II,
gave verdict again& Mr.. John Murray,
for enc hundred pounds fterling. The
parton put the penalty into his pocket.
We never were able to learn that Mr..
GRAY wrote letters to Mr.. Mafon, with
previous intention that they were to be
fold and purchafed after his death, in or
der to crafty the fenGbiiities of a York
flare parton. Among other elegant and
digni6ed expreGions, which this inv aluable
correspondence tranfmitted to the Britifh
world, one which follows, was contained
in letter, dated from Edinburgh. Mr.
GRAY is therein made to inform the public,
that, for fome days, he had been refidiog a
the houEe of DR.. ,Robertfon, the memora;
BILE hiforian, the SailuG Of the Englifh
language g But, am afraid fays
he, /" of Edinburgh, and the ifeb." This
is the way in which one of your pofhu-
NOUS editors treated the confidence of the
friends of his youth. This is the fort of
correspondence which has exhibited under
the name ola cIaficsl fcholar, of a virtucus5
man and o, an admired poet. We hope
that very few of the readers of !" The
Recorder" would be folicitousto pocketa
iam ofxnoney by telling the copy right Of
fuch publication.
This is one fpecimen of the respectable
amufement of FULFILLING confidential let
tiers. We haaen TO difpatch two infances,
out of many that might be ieleeted from
the fame clais. The late Phillip, earl of
ChsRer6eld, wrote iome hundreds of let
tiers to his natural fon. He therein de.
forbes him as a weak man. Mr.. Stan
hope was married. He died. His lord
hip, died, ALTO and as foon as they were
both fairly buried, the widow of Mr..
Starbope carried rhe whole private and
confidential manufeript TO bookseller.
The fale was extremely exteniiye. 1t
produced, upon the memory OF her huf.
band, and of her father-in- law, the mott,
unlimited torrent of contempt q reproach.
The lady pockesed the money, and imll-
ed internally at the imPatience OF the
world.
We Hnall only produce one other IN
fance the poiible coniequenee of pub.
lining letters. The Rev'd. Lawrence