236 THE HISTORY OE THE ORDER OR [book III.

of the dignities, and tried bj his peers, does themmuch honour, no doubt.

Writers at this distance may allow him the ad-vantage of whatever loss of papers, or ratherproofs; and own they find no evidence strongenough to condemn him. Tercier does not men-tion the unhappy nobleman at all, no more than ifhe had never read Bourbon (as he takes care totell us he had), or observed the silence of Fon-tanus. Is it not fair to conclude that neither didTercier believe the accusation any more than theconscientious lawyer whose careful taciturnity heimitates?

Not that Bourbon might not have intendedwell (like many of the judges of Byng), hurriedalong by the public voice, in all likelihood uncon-sciously. On certain occasions the best of us areover-liable to grievous weakness. It is very re-markable that nothing corroborative has everturned up against the gallant Portuguese, whilelittle by little, all vestiges of the accusations in thearchives, if they ever existed there, have totallydisappeared; which, added to his constant de-nial to the end, and the glory and conspicuouscandour of his antecedent conduct during a longlife, prevent the possibility of tarnishing his me-mory at present. But if Bourbon be erroneous on

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