4568. LEE (Richard Henry), As a Writer.—
[John] Marshall, in the first volume
of his history [of Washington], chap. 3, p. 180,
ascribes the petition to the King, of 1774 (1
Journ. Cong. 67) to the pen of Richard Henry
Lee. I think myself certain it was not written
by him, as well from what I recollect to have
heard, as from the internal evidence of style.
His was loose, vague, frothy, rhetorical. He
was a poorer writer than his brother Arthur;
and Arthur's standing may be seen in his Monitor's
letters, to insure the sale of which, they
took the precaution of tacking to them a new
edition of the Farmers' letters like Mezentins,
who, “Mortua jungebat corpora vivis”.—
To John Adams. Washington ed. vi, 193.
Ford ed., ix, 418.
(M.
1813)
