any accommodation. Nay, James Lee, of whom. I have before fpoken, pro-
eeeded, indifcreetly, to attempt to intimidate me from my defign, by pretending
himfelf to have a right to my brother’s manufcripts. H i e letter to me on that oecafion
may ferve to (hew the manner in which I was befet, and what methods were taken,
to induce me, if poffible, to relinquiih my right.
T o S T AN F IE LD PARKINSON.
S I R ,
I have heard of your unaccountable behaviour to my good friend do&or Fothergill relative to. your
intending to publilh your brother’s papers, after he hadipafled his-word" for your- making no-improper
ufe of them, contrary to the-intention- o f the lender, for they was oijly lent as a peice of indulgence,
which the doder begediot you, the ufe you intend to make of this indulgence in my opinion carrys
with it the colour of an a&ion fo fraught with ingratitude and raatchlefs impudence that ihould yom
proceed in it, you. will bring a lafting ftaimon your name and family, and may be followed by the ruin;
of both . . ;
I little thought that a brother of my late worthy friend Sidney Parkinfon, could.have even thought
of fuch a peice of treachery,, it makes me ihudder at your vicious, turn of mind , while I Umante even
having had any knowledge of a man.of fuch wretched principles. I advife you to defiil, and take
fhame ore you before it is a late, and that you wilt for the fake of your family fave your reputation,
which once loft is feldom to be recovered.
One thing more.I muft tell you which=pcrhaps you think I did not know, which is that in, your brother’s
w ill, that he left with his filler before he went abroad, he left fome legacys to my daughter Anns,
amongeft other things fome paintings that was in your hands. I have likeways heard there was fome-
thing left to me in the will Mr. Banks brought home. You have taken no notice of thefe things to.
-me I imputed your fcUinct to your avarice and did not flunk it worth, my while to diftnrb you about i t .
butfincc I have heard o f your determination, I muft tel) you if you, proceed further in. your publica,
tion lam determined- to call you to-an account, the papers you. are about topnbliih, U by right mine,
I have Mr. Banks’s word foe it that your brother left them to- me. and I will ihfput your title tonhemv.
as I have witnefs’s o f your brother leaving on to me as my property.. Confider the contents of this letter
and,¿alike a man of honour, or confider the confequence o f doing wrong.
Vineyard 26th Nov. 17.7.2. I am, is’r.
JAMES L E E .
To this firange epiftle I returned the following anfwer.
' JAMES L E E , / n th Mfo, 1772.
I received a letter from thee laft Friday, the contents of which, as coming from- the friend of my:
dear brother, greatly amazed me, as tluui charge!) me therein with crimes of the blackeft dye i but an
they
they are only chargés, without foundation, the greater part being, according to thy own confeffion,
Founded on hearfay evidence, le an eafily clear myfelf from them, and ihall therefore anfwer them in
^the order in which they appear in thy letter.
Thou fayeft I intend to publiih my brother’s papers^ notwithftanding Dr. Fothergill gave his word
that I ihould make no improper ufe of them, contrary to the intention o f the lender — From which
I infer that thou art of opinion that by publiihing my brother’s papers I (hall make an .improper ufe of
th em - I cannot fee any impropriety at all in publiihing what is my own'property, not only in my
•own opinion but that of all my friérids. And that my brother’s papers were fuch I ihall make appear
when I cotfté to anfwer another.par t c f thy letter: And being my property, Dr. Fothergill had no authority
for faying I (hould not make ufe of them. He might as well have faid I ihould not fell another
piece of furniture out o f my {hop. That I did not;, being .prefent, contradift what the dodtor faid,
was Ieonfefs, a fault, but owing to the hurry and confufion I was’ in at that time through the altercation
ibetween j . Banks and myfelf. ,
I always had, and ftill have the greateft regard for Dr. Fothergill, having in many inftances experienced
his friend/hip. I ihould be forry thy charge, of ingratitude in me towards him ihould be true —
j have ftated the cafe between him and me, refpe&rng my intended publication, to many of my friends,
•and they were all clearly of opinion that the dodtor- remained entirely excufed from any thing he had faid
Tefpedting the papers, and the blame, if any, Whblly devolved on me.
. Jn regard to what thou Jiaft advanced, that th"e papers were lent as a piece 6f indulgence which the
«dodtor begged for me, I muft beg leave to çontradidl theè, and to tell thee that thou wert mifinformed :
the dodlor at the time I was with him at Jofeph Banks’s houfe, never fpoke about the papers till I had
demanded them as my property, and which I had done feveral times before. Jofeph Banks produced
them before the dodlor fpake about them, and in all probability they would have given me without any
condition, as Jofeph Banks never requefted any.
I had been for a long time paft furprized at not hearing from,' or feeing, thee, efpecially as I had
wrote to thee of my intentions reipedting my brother’s Journal but the great fecret, or reafon thereof
is at laft come out. - It fee ms then that thou haft heard that I have kept fome legacies-bequeath’d to thy
•daughter Ann, which were left in my brother’s will,that he dappfited in my fitter’s hands before he
-went abroad ; amongft other things, fome paintings that were in my hands : -And, that by a will .Jofeph
Banks brought over there was fomething left to thee, which I have taken* no notice of to thee.
This, is a heavy charge,-but from which (as.I have already faid) I can eafily exculpate myfelf.
Tn the will left with my fifter, a copy of which Dr. Fothergill has, and to which I have aaminiftred,
is the following claufe.
“ 3dly, I defire that my paintings on vellum, is’r. may be given to thofe .for whom they are
« marked on the back, and whatever utenfils that are ufeful in painting or drawing to Mr. Lee’s
“ daughter, my fcholar.”
. I have, accordingly, as bound by folemn affirmation at Dbdlors Commons, fént thy daughter all my
brother’s drawing and painting utenfils, that I received from Jofeph Banks or had by me, and have
difpofed of the paintings as directed by my brother in his own hand writing on the back o f them ; if
any o f them had been marked for tny daughter ihe wou’d of courfe have had them with the'utenfils.
I I - . Among