On this he did not then explain himself; but when he afterwards came
to do business with the Assembly, they appear'd again, the disputes
were renewed, and I was as active as ever in the opposition,
being the penman, first, of the request to have a communication
of the instructions, and then of the remarks upon them, which may
be found in the votes of the time, and in the Historical Review I
afterward publish'd. But between us personally no enmity arose;
we were often together; he was a man of letters, had seen much of
the world, and was very entertaining and pleasing in conversation.
He gave me the first information that my old friend Jas. Ralph was
still alive; that he was esteem'd one of the best political writers
in England; had been employ'd in the dispute between Prince Frederic
and the king, and had obtain'd a pension of three hundred a year;
that his reputation was indeed small as a poet, Pope having damned
his poetry in the Dunciad; but his prose was thought as good as any
man's.
<15>The Assembly finally finding the proprietary obstinately persisted
in manacling their deputies with instructions inconsistent not only
with the privileges of the people, but with the service of the crown,
resolv'd to petition the king against them, and appointed me their
agent to go over to England, to present and support the petition.
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