PRIMARY DOCUMENT

Letter to Mr. Winkfield, Virginia Gazette (November 30, 1775)

CONTEXT

This pseudonymous letter, published in the Virginia Gazette on November 30, 1775, is addressed to Winkfield, a man enslaved by the College of William and Mary.

FULL TEXT

To Mr. Winkfield, superintendant of the hall of William and Mary college.

No one, of your colour, has ever established a more respectable character than yourself. Executive of your literary abilities, you have ever been distinguished for your spirit and candour. I myself once knew you did possess these excellent qualifications in no small degree. Why then will you suffer your good name to be so abused, to be so shamefully prostituted? You, I am confident, never could be the author of that meanly equivocating piece bearing your signature. You are, and have long been, an eye witness to the truth of all the Inquisitor’s assertions; you are conscious he has not aggravated, but palliated, the numberless and flagrant abuses which have so long reigned within the walls of our alma mater. I beg, therefore, that you will call forth that crafty fox to justice, expose him in his proper colours, and re-establish your former good character.

Philinquisitor.

CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
Virginia Gazette. Letter to Mr. Winkfield, Virginia Gazette (November 30, 1775). (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/letter-to-mr-winkfield-virginia-gazette-november-30-1775.
MLA Citation:
Virginia Gazette. "Letter to Mr. Winkfield, Virginia Gazette (November 30, 1775)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 08 Dec. 2023
Last updated: 2021, January 28
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