Ex Libris . K. OGDEN SJu^u^h? ^--t^ //:\ i-^f f-i THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES X / ; i^ ^ •»»'-'^»»,. / /,.(- . '^p ft//, n f,Jf. ./. / / /-i__^. THE GEORGIAN K R A : MEMOIRS OF THE MOST EMINENT PERSONS, WHO HAVE FLOURISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN, FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE FIRST TO THE DEMISE OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOLUME I. THE ROYAL FAMILY; THE PRETENDERS AND THEIR ADHERENTS; CHURCHMEN ; D ISSENTERS; AND STATESMEN. LONDON : VIZETELLY, BRANSTON AND CO. FLEET STREET. MDCCCXXXU. LONDON : Vr/FTKI.LY, BRANSTON, AND CO. PRINTEUS, FLKET STHEKT. PREFACE, IjIOGRAPHY is generally admitted to be one of the most amusing and instructive subjects in the whole range of literature. It illustrates history; reveals the trifling causes of great events; renders us familiar with the character and habits of eminent individuals ; displays the consequences of human conduct, under its various modifications ; and combines the fascinations of romance with the sober dignity and sterling value of truth. A strong, and perfectly natural curiosity is felt, even as to the biography of illustrious persons who have flourished at remote periods, or in foreign climes : but their lives are destitute of that peculiar interest which is attached to those of our cotemporary fellow-country- men, and immediate predecessors. Under this conviction, the present work has been undertaken. Its object is, to present a luminous view of men and measures during a recent and most im- portant period of British Historv — namely, from the accession of George the First to the demise of George the Fourth. In comparison with the Elizabethan or the Modern Augustan, (as the reign of Anne has been designated,) that which may be appro- priately tenued The Georgian Era, possesses a paramount claim to notice : for not only has it been equally fertile in conspicuous cha- racters, and more prolific of great events, but its influence is actually felt by the existing community of Great Britain. It is rendered memorable by the accession of a new family to the throne ; — by the intrigues and daring exploits — the final discomfiture, romantic adven- tures, and great sufferings, of the Pretenders and their adherents ; — by the revolt of the American colonies, and the foundation of a mighty empire in the East ; — by the awful struggles of this country with nearly all the nations of Europe, and the domestic excitement produced by the French Revolution ; — by the mutiny of the fleet, — 1 CS6.^'^'^ -. . -^.f V->- %^ \Lr.- v- ^ /'jrf PREFACE. the rebellion in Ireland, — and the alarm of an invasion ; — by the dazzling career of Napoleon, his final overthrow at Waterloo, and the captui'e of Paris ; — by the military achievements of Granby, Wolfe, Eliott, Coote, Albemarle, Clive, Lake, Cornwallis, Abercromby, Wellington, Moore, Anglesea, Hill, and other distingnished com- manders ; — by the naval victories obtained by Rodne}', St. Vincent, Howe, Hawke, Duncan, Hood, and Nelson ; — by the successful labours of Cook, Anson, Carteret, Bruce, and other voyagers and travellers, and the spirited endeavours made to find a north-west passage ; — by the astonishing advance of science in all its branches ; — by the discovery of vaccination; — by extraordinary improvements in manvifacture, — the vast extension of commerce, — the increased spii'it of speculation, — the fluctuations of public credit, — the South Sea Scheme, and the Bubble Companies of 1S2.5 ; — by controversies of singular interest among the dignitaries of the established church, and the important foundation of Methodism ; — by political contests of almost unprecedented bitterness, many of them marked by the circum- stance of the heir-apparent supporting the opposition ; — by the close imprisonment of one Queen Consort, and the inti-oduction of a bill of pains and penalties against another ; — by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, — the emancipation of the Catholics, and the strenuous exertions made to obtain a change in the representation of the people ; — by the nimnber of masterly productions in literature and the arts, and by the rapid advancement of general knowledge. The present Work includes memoirs of the most eminent persons in evei-y influential class of life, who have flourished within this im- portant period; and these are pi-opcrly classified, and chronologically arranged in their respective divisions, so as to display a sketch of the progress of National Events and Public AfRiirs, Theology and Juris- prudence, Naval and Military Operations, Philosophy and Science, Political and Rural Economy, Inland and Maritime Discovery, Literature, Music, Fine Arts, and the Drama, not only during the whole of the Georgian Era, but for a considerable period previous to its commencement, — a retrospective view being necessarily taken of the career of those who were living at the accession of the Brunswick family to the throne of Great Britain, — to which event many of them were conspicuous accessories, — while the memoirs of eminent cha- racters, still in existence, or recently deceased, are, of course, brought down only to the termination of the Era, — namely, the demise of George the Fourth. PREFACE. By any other system, than that which has been pursued in these vohnnes, it would be impossible, perhaps, to deal justly with such a vast number of lives in so comparatively limited a space. In a more extensive work, — a biographical dictionary, for example, — the memoirs of cotemporaries, of fellow-countrymen, of associates in arms, in enterprise, or in policy, are, on account of the alphabetical arrangement, posited far apart; the compiler is, therefore, necessarily compelled to repeat at length the narrative of those public transactions, in which they individually bore a sliare : while, in these volumes, the lives being classified, general circumstances, after having been stated fully, in the memoir of that individual who has contributed chiefly to their consummation, are noticed briefly, whenever it becomes necessary to allude to them again. A few memoirs of eminent persons, accidentally omitted in the body of the work, are located in Appendices to the respective classes, at the end of each volume, among summary sketches of those who have been mere satellites to their more illustrious cotemporaries. All the lives have been originally compiled, and entirely re- written ; and many of the memoirs, particularly those of recent worthies, are, in the strictest sense of the term, original ; so that, however brief they may appear, they compose all that can be gathered, worthy of record, relative to the individuals of whom they treat. Every possible exertion has been made, both on the part of the Editor and his assistants to elucidate doubtful points, to reconcile con- flicting authorities, and to rectify the errors of preceding writers. No public event, or private anecdote, of interest or importance, has been either negligently omitted, or wilfully concealed ; so that, it is hoped, the volumes may be said to form at once a work of entertainment and reference. Reliance has never been placed on any single biography ; various authorities have invariably been consulted, and existing memoirs of cotemporary chai-acters have been corrected by careful comparison with each other. A judicious use has also been made of the valuable diaries, autobiographies, and original letters of eminent persons, which have recently been brought to light. Wherever in- formation was suspected to lurk, thei-e it lias been diligently sought : in addition to the more grave and obvious sources, anecdotal, mis- cellaneous, and periodical works, — even fugitive pieces, and foreign literature, — have been adventurously explored. In many cases. 6 PREFACE. reference has been made, witli material advantage, to the existing relatives of departed worthies ; and, in some, an inspection of im- portant famil)^ papers has been obtained. The Editor fearlessly asserts an unimpeachable claim to strict impartiality ; in summing up the charactei's, he has acted under no influence but that of his own judgment. Not only has he spurned any truckling to party feeling, but that lamentable transmission of error, as well with regard to opinion as matter of fact, from generation to generation, which arises from the ready faith reposed in the statements of distinguished authors, he has, in numerous cases, successfully checked. Laiu'els, originally awarded by private friendship, bigoted admiration, or political partisanship, are, in the present Work, torn from thp brows of the undeserving, and transferred to those of such meritorious individuals as have been visited with obloquy, either through ignorance of their merits, personal pique, public clamour, or party bitterness. Many persons of great abilities have met with no literary advocates ; while others, of doubtful claims, have had their " nothings monstered " by adulatory biographers, although treated with apathetic indifference by those who were most competent to judge of their qualities: — an attempt has been made to remedy such evils in these volumes ; the judgment pronounced on each indivi- dual, being, it is sincerely hoped, commensurate with his merits, however it may differ from his standard reputation. London, Jamtary, 1832. CONTENTS. THE ROYAL FAMILY. Page Adelaide, Duchess of Clarence .... 135 Adolphus Fred. Duke of Cambridge 139 Alfred, Prince 473 Amelia, Princess 141 Amelia Sophia, Princess 54 Anne, Princess of Orange 53 Augusta, Duchess of Brunswick .. 62 Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge .. 139 Augusta, Princess of Wales 47 Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex 139 Caroline Augusta, Princess 473 CarolineMatilda, Queen of Denmark 103 Caroline, Princess 473 Caroline, Queen of George II 29 Caroline, Queen of George IV 105 Charlotte, Princess, of Saxe Coburg 141 Charlotte, Queen of Wirtemberg . . 137 Edward Augustus, Duke of Vork.. 100 Edward, Duke of Kent 138 Elizabeth Adelaide, Princess 473 Elizabeth Caroline, Princess 55 Elizabeth Caroline, Princess 473 Elizabeth, of Hesse Homberg .... 473 Elizabeth, Princess 473 Ernest Aug. Duke of Cumberland. . 138 Frederica Charlotte, Du chess of Vork 1 29 Frederica, Duchess of Cumberland 138 Page Frederick Augustus, Duke of York 12i» Frederick, Prince of Wales 47 Frederick William, Prince 473 George the First 17 George the Second 29 George the Third 63 George the Fourth 105 George Frederick, Prince 473 George, Prince 473 George William, Prince 473 Henry Fred. Duke of Cumberland 101 Louisa Anne, Princess 103 Louisa, Queen of Denmark 61 Mary, Duchess of Gloucester 1 40 Mary, Princess of Hesse 61 Octavius, Friuce 473 Sophia Charlotte, Q. of Geoige III. 63 Sophia Dorothea, Queen of George 1 . 17 Sophia Dorothea, Queen of Prussia 46 Sophia Matilda, P. of Gloucester. . 473 Sophia, Princess 473 Victoria, Duchess of Kent 138 Victoria, Princess 473 William Aug. Duke of Cumberland 55 William Fred. Duke of Gloucester 140 William Henry, Duke of Gloucester 101 William Henry, Duke of Clarence. . 135 CONTENTS. THE PRETENDERS AND THEIR ADHERENTS. Page Anderson, Robert 478 Balmerino, Lord 179 Bernard!, John 474 Berwick, Duke of 474 Cameron, Archibald 186 Cameron, James, of Lochiel 1 85 Carnwath, Earl of 175 Coppock, Thomas 478 Cromartie, Earl of 192 Uawson, James 479 Derweutwater, Earl of 182 Dickson, Serjeant 478 Forbes, Lord 1 79 Forster, Thomas 175 Grant, Colquhoun 479 Johnstone, Chevalier de 478 Keith, James 476 Kenmure, Viscount 105 Eilmarnoch, Earl of. 188 Lovat, Lord 169 Ulacdonald, Angus, of Keppoch. . 477 Macdouald, Flora 480 Page Macgregor, Malcolm 478 Mackintosh, Brigadier 178 Mar, Earl of 172 Marischal, Earl 171 Murray, Lord Charles 476 Murray, Lord George 189 Nairn, Lord 166 Nithisdale, Earl of 187 Ormond, Duke of 166 Perth, Earl of. 192 Ratclitfe, Charles 184 Stewart, Andrew, of Inverliayle . 476 Strathallau, Viscount 182 Stuart, James Frederick Edward . . 145 Stuart, Charles Edward 153 TuUibardine, Marquess of 475 Wharton, Duke of 477 Widdrington, Lord 187 Wintoun, Earl of 181 Wogan, Nicholas 474 York, Cardinal 164 THE CHURCH. Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester .. 204 Balgiiy, John 490 Balguy, Archdeacon of Winchester 504 Barrington, Bisliop of Durham .... 510 Bute, Julius 503 Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich 510 Benson, Christopher 628 Bennett, Bishop of Cloyne 514 Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne 219 Berriman, William 498 Blackburne, Archdeacon of Cleveland 237 Blomfield, Bishop of London 264 Bold, John 494 Boulter, Archbishop of Armagh ... 492 Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury 520 Burnet, Bishop of SaUsbury lUO Burnet, Thomas 483 Burton, John 500 Butler, Bishop of Durham 224 Chishull, Edmund 491 CONTENTS. Page Clarke, Samuel 212 Cleaver, Bishop of St. Asaph 511 Conybeare, Bishop of Bristol 499 Coplestone, Bishop of Llandaff.. . . 526 Crewe, Bishop of Durham 481 Cumberland, Bishop of Peterboro' 481 Daubeny, Archdeacon of Sarum .. 513 Dawes, Archbishop of York 493 Delany, Dean of Down 49*5 Derham, William 485 Disney, John 494 Dodd, "William 244 D'Oyley, George S25 Edwards, Thomas 508 Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury 515 Fleetwood, Bishop of Ely 485 Gibson, Bishop of London 209 Gisborne, Thomas 521 Grey, Richard 228 Grey, Zachary 498 Hare, Bishop of Chichester 493 Hawker, Robert. 519 Heber, Bishop of Calcutta 262 Herring, Archbishop of Canterbury 223 Hlldesley, Bishop of Sodor and Man 50 1 Hinchcliffe, Bishop of Peterborough 508 Hoadly, Bishop of Winchester .... 214 Holmes, Dean of Winchester .... 618 Hooper, Bishop of Bath and Wells 484 Horae, Bishop of Norwich 247 Horsley, Bishop of St. Asaph 250 Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury 523 Hurd, Bishop of Worcester 243 Jackson, Dean of Christchurch. . .. 514 James, Bishop of Calcutta 527 Jones, William 507 Jortin, Archdeacon of London 233 Kaye, Bishop of Lincoln 526 Pa^e Kett, Henry. 522 Kennett, Bishop of Peterborough . . 203 Kennicotf, Benjamin 241 King, Richard 518 Kirwan, Dean of Killala 259 Lavington, Bishop of Exeter 495 Law, Bishop of Carlisle 2.'^4 Law, William 497 Lloyd, Bishop of Oxford 526 Lowth, Bishop of London 23S Lowth, William 48*5 Maddox, Bishop of Worcester 50] Magee, Archbishop of Dublin .... 523 Mansell, Bishop of Bristol 5)8 Mant, Bishop of Down and Connor 525 Marsh, Bishop of Peterborough .. 621 Middleton, Conyers 2I8 Middleton, Bishop of Calcutta .... 524 Milner, Joseph 5]2 Moss, Dean of Ely. 490 Newton, Bishop of Bristol 236 Newton, John 506 O'Beirne, Bishop of Meath 516 Ogden, Samuel 505 Paley, Archdeacon of Carlisle 255 Pearce, Bishop of Rochester 222 Porteus, Bishop of London , . 249 Pott, Archdeacon of London 522 Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury 21 1 Powell, Archdeacon of Colchester 505 Rennell, Thomas 597 Richmond, Legh 525 Romaine, William 240 Rutherforth, Archdeacon of Essex 503 Sacheverell, Henry 210 Scott, James 509 Scott, Thomas 515 Seeker, Archbishop of Canterbury. . 225 10 CONTE NTS. Page Sherlock, Bishop of London 215 Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph 504 Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph 514 Smalbrolv-e, Bishop of Lichfield 493 Smalridge, Bishop of Bristol 487 Snape, Andrew 492 South, Robert 482 Stackhouse, Thomas 495 Sutton, Archbishop of Canterbury 261 Sykes, Arthur Ashley 221 Talbot, Bishop of Durham 486 Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury 195 Thomas, Bishop of Salisbury 499 Tomline, Bishop of Winchester .. 519 Toplady, Augustus Montague 511 Townson, Archdeacon of Richmond 504 Page Travis,' Archdeacon of Chester .... &1 1 Tucker, Dean of Gloucester 502 Van Mildert, Bishop of Durham . . 523 Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury. . 20 1 Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester . 229 Waterland, Daniel 217 Watson, Bishop of Llandaff. 252 Welchman, Archdeacon of Cardigan 489 Wells, Edward 489 Wesley, Samuel, the elder 436 Wesley, Samuel, the younger .... 499 Whislon, William 206 Whitby, Daniel 484 Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man 488 Woolston, Thomas 491 THE SENATE. Althorpe, Viscount 565 Auckland, Lord 549 Barnard, Sir John 535 Barr^, Colonel 544 Barrington^ Viscount 640 Bath, Earl of 285 Bathurst, Earl 535 Beckford, William 637 Bedford, Duke of 539 Bexley, Lord 397 Bolingbroke, Viscount 281 Burdett, Sir Francis 409 Burke, Edmund 318 Bute, Marquess of. 30" Camden, Marquess of 560 Canning, George 401 Carlisle, Earl of 654 Chandos, Duke of 634 Charlemont, Earl of 544 Chatham, Earl of 800 Chesterfield, Earl of 296 Colchester, Lord 558 Combe, Harvey Christian 556 Coningsby, Earl of 530 Courtenay, John 548 Craggs, James 536 Creevey, Thomas 562 Dartmouth, Earl of 557 Donoughmore, Earl of 557 Duigenan, Patrick 546 Elliott, Sir Gilbert, Baronet 556 Fitzpatrick, Richard 553 Fitzwilliam, Earl 653 Fox, Charles James 345 Francis, Sir Philip 336 Goderich, Viscount 417 Gordon, Lord 555 Grafton , Augustus, Duke of 330 CONTENTS. 11 Page Grafton, Charles, Duke of 288 Grant, Charles 552 Granville, Earl of 289 Grattan, Henry 361 Grenville, George 306 Grenville, Lord 393 Grey, Earl 394 Guildford, Earl of 315 Halifax, Earl of 531 Hare, James 555 Harrowby, Earl of. 6G0 Hervey, Lord John 538 Hill, Sir Richard, Baronet 546 Holland, Henry, Lord 299 Holland, Henry Richard, Lord 415 Horner, Francis 565 Hume, Joseph 564 Huskisson, William 400 Hutchinson, John Hely 543 Lansdovvne, William, Marquess of 332 Lansdowne, Henry, Marquess of.. 416 Lauderdale, Earl of 559 Liverpool, Charles, Earl of 310 Liverpool, Robert Banks, Earl of. . 413 Londonderry, Marquess of. 893 Lyttelton, Lord 304 Marchmont, Earl of 529 Melcombe, Lord 293 Melville, Viscount 335 Mendip, Lord 540 Methuen, Sir Paul 533 Moles worth, Viscount 530 Newcastle, Duke of 294 Norfolk, Duke of 551 Onslow, Arthur 537 Orford, Earl of 272 Oxford and Mortimer, Earl of .... 265 Paulett, Lord 533 Page PauU, James 5G;5 Peel, Sir Robert 413 Pelham, Henry 298 Perceval, Spencer 391 Pitt, William ;^81 Portland, Duke of 334 Ponsonby, George 557 Richmond, Duke of 547 Rigby, Richard 543 Roche, Sir Boyle, Baronet 548 Rockingham, Marquess of 329 Ro?e, George , 550 Russell, Lord John 420 Sandwich, Earl of 541 Sandys, Lord 539 Saville, Sir George, Baronet 542 Sawbridge, George 545 Selwyn, George Augustus ....... 542 Sheridan, Richard Brinsley 364 Shippen, William 533 Shrewsbury, Duke of 5.30 Sidmouth, Viscount 377 Somerset, Duke of 532 Spencer, Earl 559 Stanhope, Earl of 267 Sunderland, Earl of 270 Tierney, George 378 Townshend, Viscount 268 Townshend, Charles 309 Trumball, Sir William 529 Waithman, Robert 561 Wilberforce, William 389 Wilkes, John 312 Whitbread, Samuel 379 Whitworth, Earl 550 Windham, William 360 Wood, Matthew 5C3 Wyndham, Sir William 536 12 CONTENTS. DISSENTERS. Page Belsham, Thomas 5al Benson, J oseph 580 Benson, George o74 Bradbury, Thomas 568 Brown, Simon ....', 571 Calamy, Edmund 424 Chalmers, Thomas 582 Chandler, Samuel 428 Clarke, Adam 402 Clarke, Mattheiv 567 Disney, John 580 Doddridge, Philip 429 Erskiue, Ebeuezer 570 Evans, John 570 Evans, John 581 Fleming, Caleb 574 Fletcher, John William 579 Fordyce, James 577 Foster, James 573 Furueaux, Philip 577 Gale, John 569 Gib, Adam 576 Gill, John 572 Hall, Robert 4C3 Pase Harwood, Edward 678 Hill, Rowland 400 Huntington, William 455 Irving, Edward 468 Jay, William 467 Larduer, Nathaniel 427 Leland, John 572 Lindsey, Theophilus 449 Lowman, Moses 570 Mason, John 575 Neal, Daniel 569 Ortou, Job 576 Palmer, John 578 Pomi'ret, Samuel 567 Kobiuson, Robert 451 Toulmin, Joshua 579 Towgood, Micajah 575 Watts, Isaac 425 Wesley, John 433 Wesley, Charles 575 Whitefield, George 443 Williams, Daniel 423 Wright, Samuel 571 THE ROYAL FAMILY. THE ROYAL FAMILY. GEORGE THE FIRST, AND HIS CONSORT SOPHIA DOROTHEA. The ancestors of the illustrious House of Brunswick may be traced, by the ge- nealogist, up to the year of our Lord 390 : they were connected, at an early period, with the royal family of England, by the marriage of Henry, surnamed the Lion, to Matilda, daughter of Henry the Second, from whom George the First was lineally descended. His grand- father, George, was one of the seven sons of William, Duke of Brunswick Luneburg ; who, on the demise of their father, in order to support the dignity of their family, resolved that only one of them should form a matrimonial con- nexion; the issue of which, it was de- termined, should eventually succeed to all the honours and possessions of their house. The brothers decided by lot which of them should marry ; and the chance fell upon the sixth brother, George. He was accordingly united to Anna Eleanora, daughter of the Land- grave of Hesse Darmstadt; and his son, Ernestus Augustus, in 1680, became sole heir to his father and uncles; the latter having kept the fraternal compact so faithfully, that Achmet the First said, it would be worth making a journey for the purpose of beholding them. Ernestus Augustus, the first Duke of Hanover, was married, in 1G58, to Sophia, daugliter of Frederick, King of Bohe- mia, by JSIatilda, the daughter of James the First, King of England. This prin- cess (Sophia) was a woman of uncom- mon beauty and masculine intellect. At seventy-three, according to a co- temporary writer, she possessed all the comeliness and vigour of youth, had not a wrinkle in her face, and read without spectacles. The chairs of the presence- chamber, and the ornaments of the electoral chapel, were all embroidered with her own hands. She was the firm friend and protector of Leibnitz and other learned men of her day. She spoke five languages, including English, so well, that by her accent it was doubt- ful which of them was her native tongue. Her wit was sprightly, her judgment solid and penetrating, and her piety exemplary. The succession of her family to the throne of this country had long been her darling object; and her death has been attributed to the chagrin she felt at her son's intended visit to England being strongly depre- cated by Queen Anne. In the evening of the 8th of June, 1714, she wascauglu in a violent shower of rain, while in her orangery ; and hastening to get under cover, her attendant reminded her that she was walking too fast, as she had been indisposed for a day or two : " I believe I am," she replied, and immediately dropped down and expired. This event took place when the electress was in the eighty-fourth year of her age. Her son, George Lewis, was born at Hanover, on the 28th of May, 1660. Judging from the great accomplishments of his mother, the reader might expect that his education would have been careful and complete; but the contrary was the fact. His father, Ernestus, though a man of some talent, feeling no admiration for scholastic acquire- ments, probably connived at his inat- tention to study, which must have been gross indeed, as he never even acquired the language of the people, over wl'.om, by the provisions of the act for securing 18 THE ROYAL FAMILY. a protestant succession, he expected to reign. His morals were most culpably neglected: he was permitted to abandon himself to licentious pleasures, appa- rently without the least restraint ; and his habits and ideas at length became irrevocably depraved. It is but justice to add, that this dissokite young man, at an early period of his life, was, it is said, so good-natured, as to have been incapable of wilfully indicting pain on any human being. In the twenty-second year of his age he was united, against his inclination, to the Princess Sopliia Dorothea, who was then about sixteen. Of the causes which led to this imprudent match, and its unfor- tunate consequences, the following is a brief narration : — The princess being tlie only child of the Duke of Zell by his Duchess Eleonora D'Emeirs, (a woman of comparatively mean birtli, but great beauty,) and the acknow- ledged heiress to his dominions, her uncle and aunt, the Elector of Hanover and his wife, were desirous of forming an union between her and their son George Lewis, so that the whole Duchy of Luneburg might devolve upon their descendants. Proposals for a marriage •were consequently made by the elector, which met with the decided approbation of tlie Duke of Zell : but the young princess and her mother felt a strong objection to the alliance; the one, be- cause she disliked her ambitious sister- in-law, the electress, and the otlier, on account of her attachment to a young Prince of Wolfenbiittel. Nor was the proposed bridegroom himself at all favoural)le to the match; he having, as well as the princess, set his heart on another object. The paternal authority over these young victims to the Moloch of political expediency was, however, irresistible ; and they were utjited on the 21st of November, 1G82. The unfortunate princess was neg- lected, if not hated, by lier husband, almost from the day of tlieir marriage. The palace in which she resided, either by his permission or connivance, was constantly polluted by the presence of his mistresses; and, for a period of ten years, during whicii she gave birth to two children, afterwards George the Second, King of England, atui Sophia Dorothea, Queen of Prussia, she is said to have endured a series of indignities. which were as irritating as they were unmerited. The sympathy of her bro- ther-in-law. Prince' Philip, afforded her great consolation ; but it unhappily involved her still more deeply in mis- fortune. Count Philip de Koenigsmarck, who had previously acquired an infa- mous notoriety in England, by insti- gating some wretches to assassinate a Mr. Thynne, was selected, either by the prince or his sister-in-law, to be the bearer of messages between them. The imprudent Sophia treated this vain and ambitious man with so much fami- liarity, as to excite suspicions deroga- tory to her honour ; wiiich were consi- derably increased by a report, that Koenigsmarck had boasted of his pe- culiar influence over her, during a drunken frolic, at the court of Denmark. On his return to Hanover, he was narrowly watched, by command of the elector ; who, discovering that stolen interviews actually took place between his daughter-in-law and the count, peremptorily ordered the latter to join Prince Philip in Hungary. The count, however, prevailed on the princess to' allow him a farewell audience, and he was admitted to her bed-chamber at midnight. The elector, by means of his emissaries, received immediate in- telligence of the circumstance; and, in a paroxysm of rage, he placed two of his guards in a passage which led to the apartment of the princess, with orders to intercept Koenigsmarck's re- treat, and despatch him on the spot. They, accordingly, stabbed the count to the heart as he attempted to retire, and threw his body into the common sewer of the palace. The princess was shortly afterwards placed in confine- ment at the castle of Dahlen, whence she was, some time after, removed, on the approach of a French army, and sent home to her fiither and mother; but after a year's residence at Zell, notwithstanding the importunities of her parents that she might remain with them, she was taken back to Dahlen, wJiere she died, a few months only before her husband. She was never acknowledged by George the First as Ids queen ; being, for the last twenty years of her life, spoken of only as Princess of Zell. It has been asserted, that the sole object on her part, in her interviews GEORGE THE FIRST. 19 with Koenigsmarck, whatever might have been his motives, and notwith- standing the familiarity with which she treated him, decidedly was to make arrangements for her flight from the electoral palace, where she was con- stantly insulted by the presence of her husband's concubines, to seek an asylum in France ; pursuant to the advice of her friend, Prince Philip, communicated to her through their mutual confidant, the count. That her crime was inerely imprudence, has been surmised from the alleged fact, that George twice made proposals of reconciliation to her : first, on his father's death: and, secondly, on his accession to the English crown. She, however, indignantly refused his offers, saying, " If I am guilty, I am not worthy of him : if I am innocent, he is not worthy of me !" The taste exhibited by the prince, in the selection of his mistresses, was outrageously bad. One of them. Ma- demoiselle Schulemberg, maid of honour to his mother, and afterwards Duchess of Kendal, was so destitute of charms, that one evening, while she was waiting behind the chair of the electress at a ball, the latter said, in English, to Mrs. Howard, afterwards Countess of Suffolk, and one of the mistresses of George the Second, " Look at that tall mawkin, and think of her being my son's passion!" By this lady, George had a daughter, the Countess of Wal- singliam, afterwards maiTied to Lord Cliesterfield ; and some reasons exist for supposing that he was actually united to her, by what is denominated, in Germany, a left-handed marriage, which imparts none of the privileges of royalty to the wife, nor the rights of inheritance to her children. His other acknowledged mistress, Madame Kil- mansegge, Countess of Platen, after- wards created Countess of Darlington, by whom he also had a daughter, the future Lady Howe, was an absolutely gigantic figure, as corpulent and ample as the duchess was long and emaciated. She is described as having had large, fierce, black eyes, rolling beneath lofty arched eye-brows, two acres of cheeks spread with crimson, an ocean of neck that overflowed and was not distin- guishable from the lower part of her body, and no portion of which was re- strained by stays. On the death of his father, in 1698, George succeeded to the electorate ; and rather a favourable change took place in his character : so that he ac- quired a degree of respectability which, from his previous follies, could scarcely have been anticipated. He was placed at the head of the imperial army, after the battle of Blenheim ; but the jea- lousies of his confederates induced him to give up his command, after having retained it during three campaigns. He did not, however, on this occasion withdraw his own forces from the allied army. Attached to his native country, and contented with his electoral dignities, he seems to have viewed his splendid prospects, as the successor to the throne of Great Britain, with remarkable in- difference, and to have left his in- terests to the gratuitous protection of Ills adherents. Queen Anne, who liad long been in a declining state, wearied, or to speak more properly, tortured, by the cabals of a divided cabinet, some members of which favoured her own latent wish for the restoration of her brother, while tlie remainder were fu- rious partisans of the House of Hanover, at length sunk into a lethargic condi- tion, which terminated in her death, on the 1st of August, 1714 : and the elector was immediately proclaimed by the name of George the First. Late in the evening of the 5th of August, Lord Clarendon, the English ambassador at the court of Hanover, haying received an express announcing the royal demise, repaired with all pos- sible haste to the palace of Herenhausen; at two hours after midnight he entered the chamber of the elector, and, kneel- ing, saluted him King of Great Britain : but the ambassador's homage, it ap- pears, was received with mortifying serenity. The sovereign appeared to be ex- ceedingly secure of his new subjects ; for, when some one in his presence spoke of the dangerous principles of the presbyterians, and alluded to the deatli of Charles the First, he replied, with a pleasant indifference, " I have nothing to fear, for the king-killers are all on my side." He seemed in no haste to leave Herenhausen ; nor did he commence his journey till the 31st of August. On the eve of his departure, he ordered the 20 THE ROYAL FAMILY. excise on provisions to be abolished, and the insolvent debtors throughout the electorate to be discharged. He reached the Hague on the 5th of Sep- tember, but did not embark until the 16th, and arrived at Greenwich on the 18th of the same month. He made his public entry into London on the 20th ; and his coronation took place with the usual solemnities on the 20th of October. At the first court which he held, he treated some of the late queen's minis- ters with marked contempt, and others with coldness. Lord Oxford was per- mitted to kiss the king's hand, but re- ceived no further notice. Chancellor Harcourt,who had prepared and brought with him a patent for creating the king's eldest son Prince of Wales, was fortliwith turned out of his office. The Duke of Ormond, who was captain- general, and had come with great splendour to pay his court, was inform- ed that the king had no occasion for his services, and was not allowed even to come into the royal presence. Pursuant to an order, despatched by the king previously to his departure from Hanover, Bolingbroke had already been dismissed; and his majesty appeared bent on depressing, as much as possible, all the open and secret enemies of his houie. In the early part of his reign, or, at least, on his arrival in this country, George the First was far from unpo- pular ; but his decidedly foreign appear- ance and manners, when they became known, lowered him materially in public estimation. His two German mistresses, who were created Duchess of Kendal, and Countess of Darlington, shortly after his accession, became seriously offensive to the people, by whom they were satirically called the may-pole and the elephant and castle. It is related of one of these ladies, that being abused by the mob, she put her head out of the coach, and cried, in bad English, "Good people, why you abuse us? We come for all your goods." — " Yes, d — n you," answered a fellow in the crowd, " and for our chattels too !" Nor does the king appear to have been infinitely delighted with his new subjects : he sighed for liis beloved electorate, and spoke and acted like a man ill at ease, in a strange iiouse, and longing to be at home again. " This is a very odd country !" said he : " the first morning after my arrival at St. James's, I looked out of the window, and saw a park with walls, and a canal, which they told me were mine. The next day, Lord Chetwynd, the ranger of my park, sent me a brace of fine carp out of my canal ; and I was told I must give five guineas to Lord Chetwynd's man for bringing me my own carp out of my oini canal in my own park !" Of oysters he was remarkably fond ; but, for some time, he could not re- concile his palate to those of this coun- try. " The cursed English oysters," he exclaimed pettishly, " have such a very queer taste !" It was at length disco- vered, by means of a German page, that oysters, in Hanover, being necessarily conveyed a considerable distance over- land, were always tainted: stale oysters, were, therefore, at once procured, which, it seems, proved exceedingly grateful to the sovereign's palate. One of the most important circum- stances in the early part of this king's reign, was the impeachment of some of the Tory leaders for the share they had taken in the treaty of Utrecht : and their conduct was visited, in the opinion of a still large and powerful par- ty, with unnecessary rigour. Inflam- matory papers were circulated, to a great extent, against the new monarch ; one of these, in allusion to the white horse in the Hanoverian arms, had for its motto the following passage from the book of Revelations : " I looked, and beheld a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death ; and Hell followed with him !" Various parts of the country were agitated by tumults; and, at length, about the middle of September, in 1715, the Earl of Mar proclaimed the Pre- tender, as James the Third, at Castle- town in Scotland. He soon collected an army of ten thousand men. and an in- surrection followed in Northumberland, under the Earl of Derwentwater ; but that nobleman was compelled, in the early part of November, to surrender, with many of his partisans. On the same day, a bloody, but indecisive battle was fought at Sheriffmoor, between Mar and the Duke of Argyle. On the 25th of December, the Pretender landed at Peterhead ; but he displayed so little GEORGE THE FIRST. 21 judgment, his plans were so ill arranged, and the insurrection in his favour met with such faint support from the Knglish Jacobites, that in the February follow- ing he found it prudent tore-imbark for France. A terrible scene of blood atid ven- geance ensued : the meaner throng of prisoners suffered without exciting much sympathy ; but on the condenmation of the Lords Derwentwater, Nitliisdale, and Nairne, with many other noblemen, an universal sentiment of compassion prevailed. In consequence of divers petitions presented to the house of peers, a motion was made, and carried by a majority of five voices, that tlie house should address the throne to re- prieve such of the condemned lords as really deserved mercy. But the king haughtily answered, that on this and all other occasions he would do what he thought most consistent with the dignity of the crown and the safety of the people. The Countesses of Der- wentwater and Nithisdale, and Lady Nairne, threw themselves at his feet, and with affecting earnestness implored him, but in vain, to extend his cle- mency towards their unhappy husbands. The Earl of Nithisdale, however, es- caped, and some of the other prisoners were ultimately released, but their par- don came too late to be graceful. \\ hen the great Lord Somers heard of the rigour displayed towards the Jacobites, he shed tears, and asked of his inform- ant, if the proscriptions of Marius and Sylla were about to be revived. Notwithstanding the severities of the early part of his reign, some anecdotes have been adduced to show that the king entertained no feelings of enmity towards the unfortunate Stuarts ; and that he was even capable of gene- rously excusing those who evinced at- tachment to the exiled family. In one of his Hanoverian journeys, according to Walpole, his coach broke down, and he sent for aid to a neighbouring cha- teau. The possessor conveyed the king to his house, and begged he would ac- cept of some refreshment. While the repast was preparing, George amused himself by looking at some paintings ; and, perceiving among them a portrait of an unknown person, in the robes and with the regalia of the kings of England, he asked whom it repre- sented. His host, with some einbar- rassment, replied, that in his journeys to Rome, he had become acquainted with the Chevalier, to whom he was indebted for the picture in question. The king instantly removed the distress and confusion of his host, by saying : " Upon my word, it is very like the family." A military officer, who had been particularly intimate with him in Han- over, abstained from paying his usual visits, as soon as George became King of England ; and, on being asked the reason of his absence, said, " I will still smoke a pipe with him as Elector of Hanover, but I cannot admit that he is Sovereign of Great Britain." George never resented this message, but often lamented the loss of his old compa- nion's society. Previously to the king's arrival in this country, a proclamation had been issued, offering, in case the Pi^etender should land in any part of the British isles, the simi of £100,000 for his ap- prehension. At the first masquerade which the king attended in this country, an unknown lady, in a domino, invited him to drink a glass of wine at one of the side-tables; he readily assented, and the lady filling a bmnper, said, " Here, mask, the Pretender's health!" — Then filling another glass, she presented it to the king, who received it with a smile saying, " I drink, with all my heart, to the health of every unfortunate prince." Soon after his accession, the Duchess of Buckinghamshire, natural cliild of James the Second, having been refused a passage in her carriage through St. James's park (a privilege confined to members of the royal family, and the great officers of state), wrote a letter to the king, affirming that he was an usurper ; that his claims to the privilege of going through the park were inferior to her own ; and otherwise abusing him in very gross terms. Far from being seriously offended at this epistle, George laughed, and said, " Oh la folle ! la folle ! qu'on la laisse passer !" Peccadillos like these, it would have been not merely undignified but absurd to have visited with the royal displea- sure : they occurred too, it seems pro- bable, before any open attempts were made by the Pretender to deprive the kins? of his new dominions: and, in 22 THE ROYAL FAMILY. fact, these anecdotes prove nothing, but that he pardoned what it would have been ridiculous in him to have seriously noticed. The oftenders were, in two cases, foreigners, over whom, perhaps, he had no power; and in the others, women. The fault of one of them, who does not appear to have been even a subject of George the First, consisted in his having a picture of an acjuaint- ance, who happened to be his royal guest's enemy : the others wrote or spoke a few w ords, not to the Jacobites, but to the king himself To those who bore arms against him after the Pre- tender had been openly proclaimed in his dominions, he certainly exhibited no exalted mercy. Phlegmatic as he had appeared on taking possession of the throne, he suddenly evinced a san- guine temperament on his rights being disputed; and although, by the laws of the land, he was not unjust, he seems to have been rather ignobly ungenerous. He did not seize the glorious oppor- tunity, which his good fortune, and we may add, the justice of his cause afforded him, to be greatly lenient to a vanquished and prostrate enemy ; but endeavoured to secure his new kingdom by an effusion of blood, which, as it evidently tended to aggravate rather than extingiush the discontents of the Jacobites, might have been spared with equal security to himself, and advantage to his successor. In 1716 the disaff"ection to the House of Brunswick induced its staunch ad- herents, the Whigs, who were in office, to propose the famous septennial act ; by which a power was assumed, not merely of increasing the duration of future parliaments, but even of prolong- ing the existence of that assembly by wliich it was enacted ; so that, although only elected by the nation for three years, it conferred on itself the power of sitting for seven. This iniquitous and totally indefensible bill, after a long aiul violent struggle, was passed, and of course received the royal assent. In 1717, the king and his ministers were exceedingly unpopular. Oaken l)oiighs worn on the 2'Jlli of May, and white roses on the lOtli of June, the l)irtli-day of the Pretender, were the badges of the disaffected. Oxford, and especially the University, was the focus of disloyalty ; and it was deemed expe- dient to send a military force there, in order to prevent any seditious or trea- sonable attempts. Cambridge being more complaisant, received a royal present of books ; and Dr. Trapp wrote the following epigram on the occasion : Our royal master saw, with lieedCul eyes. The wants of liis two Universities : Troops he to Oxford sent, as tinowing why Tllat learned Ijody wanted loyalt> ; But hooks toCanihridjje gave, as welt disreriiing How that right loyal hody wanted learning. Sir William Browne, retorted, as it was said, impromptu : The King to Oxford sent a troop of horse. For Tones know no argument but force ; V^'lth equal care, to Cambridge books he sent, For \A higs allow DO force but argument. In this year, during the king's visit to Hanover, the Prince of Wales was left guardian of the realm, in which station he acquired such popularity as appeared to revive those feelings of animosity, which his father had exhibited towards him on previous occasions. He was ordered to remove from St. James's palace to a private residence; the princess had permission to accompany him, but their children were retained under the king's roof. Shortly after, the sovereign forbad all such persons as should visit the prince to enter his presence. His feelings on this sub- ject carried him so far, that he could listen to schemes for the exclusion of his heir-apparent from the throne, and the consequent restoration of the banished family. It is even asserted by Walpole, in his Reminiscences, and elsewhere, that Queen Caroline found, in the cabinet of George the P'irst after his death, a proposal from Lord Berke- ley, for securing the prince, and con- veying him secretly to America. A reconciliation ultimately took place between George the First and his son ; but it appears to have been equally insincere on both sides. In 1718, a plan was formed to assas- sinate the king, by a political fanatic, named James Shepherd, a youtli imder nineteen years of age. He had imbibed from childhood the highest principles of monarchical right; and regarding George the First as an iisinper, lie had coolly resolved to put him to death. On the 21tli of January, he wrote to one Leake, a nonjuring clergyman, that he GEORGE THE FIRST. 23 was certain, if the reigning prince were removed, the true king (meaning the Pretender) might be restored without bloodshed. He offered to invite his majesty liome ; and on his arrival, pro- mised to smite the usurper in his palace. He owned the chance of his suffering a cruel death ; and that he might the better support it, desired to receive the holy sacrament daily until he made the attempt. Leake, much alarmed, carried the letter to a magis- trate, and Shepherd was apprehended. He gloried in his design, and said it had been three years in his contempla- tion. On his trial he disdained to make any defence, but owned the truth of the charge, and declared he died a willing martyr to his principles. At the place of execution, he was publicly ab- solved by Arne. a nonjuring priest, and died with great firmness. His political fanaticism seems to have amounted so clearly to positive insanity, that a cell in a madhouse would have been much more proper for him than a halter at Tyburn. Few circumstances, in the reign of George the First, were more remarkable than the formation and ! uvsting of the South Sea bubble. On the 7th of April, 1720, an act was passed, invest- ing the South Sea Company with power to take in, by purchase and subscrip- tion, both the redeemable and unre- deemable debts of the nation, to the amount of thirty-three millions, at such rates as should be settled between the company and the respective proprietors. In return, the company consented that the interest on their original capital of nine millions four hundred thousand pounds, as well as the interest on the public debt, should, after Midsummer, 1727, be reduced to four per cent, and be redeemable by parliament. Exclusive of this reduction, the company were to pay into the exchequer four years and a half purchase of all the long and short annuities that should be subscribed, and one year's purchase of such long annuities as should not be subscribed ; amounting to seven millions sterling: for raising which sum they were em- powered to open books of subscription, to grant redeemable annuities, and to convert the money so raised into addi- tional stock. The dangers of the pro- ject soon appeared : a wild spirit of speculation seized the whole nation ; the successive subscriptions filled with amazing rapidity ; and the directors declared a dividend of thirty per cent, for Christmas, 1720, and fifty per cent, for the next twelve years. The transfer price of stock rose, in a very short lime, from one hundred and thirty to one thousand ; so that those who were in the secret of the plot, were enabled to realize vast fortunes before the bubble burst. In a few months the stock fell with greater rapidity than it had risen; and the victims, awaking from their golden dreams, found themselves re- duced to a deplorable state of distress and ruin. The king, being in Germany when this catastrophe happened, was sent for, express, to discuss with his ministers, the means of quelling the disturbances it had occasioned, and of restoring public credit which it had almost destroyed. A committee of the house of commons proceeded, with great diligence, to investigate this disas- trous affair, which was styled, in the report, a train of the deepest villany and fraud, hell ever contrived for the ruin of any nation. It appeared, that a great number of the parliamentary supporters of the bill had been bribed by its unprincipled projectors; and the profits of the company were found to amount to thirteen millions. Some of the guilty parties were heavily mulcted, and many judicious steps were taken to relieve their dupes; but the public credit had sustained an injury which it did not recover for many years. It is curious that France had but just re- covered from the effect of a similar misfortune, in the rise and fall of the Mississippi Company, projected by the famous Law. In 1721, a bill was proposed for the suppression of blasphemy, which enacted, that words spoken against the being of God, the divinity of Christ, or tlie Holy Ghost, or the doctrine of the Trinity, should be punished, by imprisonment, for an indefinite term, unless the offender would renounce his error ; but, after various animated de- bates, it was rejected. In the same session, provision was made for paving off a debt of £550,000, on the civiflist, which had been incurred by the pro- fligate expenditure of some of the mi- nisters. The king, however, declared it to be his intention to cause a re- 24 THE ROYAL FAMILY. trenchment to be made in all his future expenses. In 1722, the partisans of the Pre- tender began once more to bestir them- selves in his favour, on the supposition, doubtless, that the shock produced by the failure of the South Sea project would be favourable to tlieir designs. The measures of government, however, were at once so judicious and prompt, that the conspiracy was crushed in embryo. Several noblemen were ar- rested on suspicion : Bishop Atterbury was exiled for life ; but only one person, Christopiier Layer, a barrister of the Temple, suffered capital punishment. He was convicted of high treason, in enlisting men for the service of the Pretender. At this period, a very dis- graceful tax of £100,000 was levied on the estates of Roman Catholics. In 1725, a royal messagewas delivered to parliament, requiring the sum of £500,000, to discharge the debts of the civil list. This enormous arrear had been incurred in the short space of three years ; because, as the message stated, his majesty had found it im- possible to make any considerable re- trenchments. The nation were amazed at this demand, but the money was voted by a large majority. In May, 1725, George the First re- vived the ancient Order of the Bath, which had lain dormant since the coro- nation of Charles the Second, and celebrated the installation of the new knights, with great pomp, in West- minster Abbey. In January, 172C, the King encoun- tered a violent storm at sea, on his return from his yearly visit to Hanover; he was in great danger for two days, and landed, with extreme difficulty, at Rye, in Sussex. It would be difficult to give a stronger proof of liis attach- ment to the electorate, than the alacrity he dis])layed in hastening to his be- h)ved country the moment he could detach himself from tlic burtiien of public business. These visits naturally excited di.^content in England, and produced several satirical effusions against the monarch, his ministers, and his mistresses ; among which, was a poem entitled Tlic Regency, written by Samuel, brother of the celebrated John Wesley. Of this prodiiction, which appears to have obtained more notice than it deserved, the following is a spe- cimen : — As soon as the wind it came fairly about, Tiiat kept the king in, and his enemies out. He determined no longer confinement to tiear, And thus to the duchess bis mind did declare : Quoth be, my dear Kenny, I've been tired a long while, \^'itb livir)g obscure in this poor little isle ; And now Spain and Pretender ba^e no more mines to spring, I'm resolved to go home and live like a king. The duchess, in reply, approves of the monarch's intentions ; and after ludi- crously describing the Regency, by which the kingdom was to be governed during his absence, she says, On the whole, I'll behang'd, if all over the realm. There are thirteen such fools to be put to the helm ; So for this time be easy, nor have jealous thought, They hav'n't sense to sell >ou, nor are worth being bought. 'Tis for that (quoth the King, in very bad French,) I chose them for my Regents, and you for my wench ; And neither, I'm sure, will my trust e'erbelraj', For the devil won't take you, if 1 turn you away. Notwithstanding the danger which had attended his return from Germany in 1726, in the following simimer, al- though now an old man, the king deter- mined on visiting his electorate. He, ac- cordingly, embarked at Greenwich on the3rdof June, and landed in Holland on the 7th. In the progress of his journey, he was attacked with a kind of lethargic paralysis, which he foresaw would be speedily mortal, and exclaimed to his attendant, " I am a dead man." But his desire to reach his electoral capital was so great, that he caused himself to be carried on to Osnaburg. Having lost all sense and motion on his arrival at that place, his further progress was impossible; and he died on the 11th of June, 1727, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and the thirteenth of his reign. He was buried at Hanover, on the 3rd of the following September. The person of the king. saysWalpole, is as perfect in my memory as if I saw him but yesterday : it was that of an el- derly man, rather pale, and exactly like his pictures and coins ; not tall, of an aspect ratlier good than august, with a dark tie wig, a plain coat, waistcoat and breeches, of snuff-coloured cloth, with stockings of the same colour, and a blue riband over all. In his old age, the king was guilty GEORGE THE FIRST. 25 of the wickedness and folly of taking an additional mistress. This person was Anne Brett, eldest daughter, by her second husband, of the repudiated wife of the Earl of Macclesfield, the unnatural mother of Savase, the poet. We learn from Walpole, that Miss Brett was very handsome, but dark enough, by her eyes, complexion, and hair, for a Spanish beauty; and that a coronet was to have rewarded her compliance, had not the king died before it could be granted. He often dined, after shooting, at Sir Robert Walpole's house on Richmond Hill ; where he indulged his partiality for punch to such an extent, that the Duchess of Kendal enjoined the Ger- mans who usually accompanied him, to restrain him from drinking too much : but they went about their task with so little address, that the king took offence, and silenced them by the coarsest epithets in their mother tongue. He was particularly reserved, and hated the parade of royalty. When he went to the opera, it was in no state ; nor did he sit in the stage box, or for- wards, but behind the Duchess of Kendal and Lady Walsingham, and in the second box, afterwards allotted to the maids of honour. His favourite play was Henry the Eighth : one night he attended closely to the scene in which Henry commands Wolsey to write letters of indemnity to those counties, in which the payment of taxes had been disputed ; and he no- ticed, particularly, Wolsey's whisper to Cromwell, — Let it be noised. That through our intercession, this revokemeut And pardol) comes, " You see, George," said he, turning to the Prince of Wales, " what you have one day to expect !" He appears to have entertained a very low opinion of the political in- tegrity of his courtiers, and the honesty of his household. He laughed at the complaints made by Sir Robert Wal- pole against the Hanoverians, for selling places ; and would not believe that the custom was not sanctioned by his English advisers and attendants. Soon after his first arrival in this coun- try, a favourite cook, whom he had brought from Hanover, grew melan- choly, and wanted to return home. The king having inquired why he wished to quit his household, the fellow replied, " I have long served your majesty honestly, not suffering any thing to be embezzled in your kitchen ; but here, the dishes no sooner come from your table, than one steals a fowl, another a pig, a third a joint of meat, a fourth a pie, and so on, till the whole is gone ; and I cannot bear to see your majesty so injured I" The king, laughing heartily, said, " My revenues here enable me to bear these things ; and, to reconcile you to your place, do you steal like the rest, and mind you take enough !" The cook followed this advice, and soon became a very expert thief. The following curious circumstance, with regard to church preferment in this reign, has been related : — The king was very partial to Dr. Lockier, and seeing him one day at court, desired the Duchess of Ancaster to ask him to join his evening party. The doctor, however, declined the honour, send- ing his duty to the king, and hoping he might be excused just then, as he was soliciting preferment from the mi- nisters, and feared it might do him harm, should it be known that he had the honour of keeping such good com- pany. George laughed, and said, he thought he was right. In a few weeks. Dr. Lockier kissed hands for the Deanery of Peterborough ; and, as he rose from kneeling, the king good- humouredly whispered in his ear, " Well, now, doctor, you will not be afraid to come in the evening, I hope." He was equally partial to Dr. Younger, who, when abroad upon his travels, had spent some time at the court of Hanover. On his accession, George the First found his reverend acquaintance was deputy-clerk of the closet. The king eagerly renewed the intimacy that had previously subsisted between them ; and in the closet, as the doctor wailed behind the royal chair, the king often talked with him in high Dutch. He used to call him his little dean ; and was so conde- scending to him, that the deputy- clerk was looked upon as a favourite, and likely to gain higher preferment. This was disagreeable to the ministers. 26 THE ROYAL FAMILY. Dr. Younger being suspected of tory- ism ; and they sent him an official discharge. The king soon missed him, and asked what had become of his little dean. " He is dead, sir," was the reply. " Dead!" said his majesty, " I am sorry for it, for I meant to liave done something for him." Shortly after, the king went a progress into the west of England, and, among other places, visited Salisbury ; where, per- ceiving Dr. Younger in the cathedral, he called to him eagerly, and said, " My little dean, I am glad to see you alive ; they told me you were dead : but where have you been all this time, and Avhat has prevented my seeing you as usual?" The doctor replied, that he had been dismissed from his office ; and that, after he had received an official letter, stating that the king had no further occasion for his services, he thought that it would have ill become him to have given his majesty any further trouble. " Oh !" said the king, warmly, " I perceive how this matter is ; but," added he, with an oath, " you shall be the first bishop that I will make." It happened, however, that Dr. Younger died before any of the bishops, so that he was not benefited by his sovereign's intentions. Such a barefaced imposition, as is recorded in the foregoing anecdote, would scarcely have been practised, even on such a king as George the First, had he understood the lan- guage of this country ; his knowledge of which, up to the last day of his life, was exceedingly limited. Prince Wil- liam, afterwards Duke of Cumberland, when a child, being carried to his grandfather on his birth-day, the king asked him at what hour he rose. " When the chimney-sweepers go about," re- plied the child. " Vat is de chimney- sveep?" inquired the king. "Have you been so long in England," said the boy, " and do not know what chimney- sweepers are? Why," continued he, pointing to Lord Finch, afterwards Earl of Winchelsea, who was a re- markably swarthy man, " they are like that man ihere." Sir Robert Walpole, says Lord Oxford, governed George the F'irst in Latin, his majesty not speaking l^nglish, and his ministers no German, nor even French. The king is said to have possessed some relish for humour. He derived amusement even from the coarse drol- leries, by which his predilection for the electorate was held up to ridicule by the poetasters of the day. He once jocosely asked Doctor Savage why, during his long stay in Rome, he did not convert the pope. " Because, sir," replied the doctor, " I had nothing better than the papacy to offer his holiness." In the early part of this reign, a gentleman, living in the city, had been several times brought before the council, on sus- picion of jacobitism, but nothing con- clusive could be proved against him. When the rebellion broke out, the sus- pected person wrote to the secretary of state, intimating, that, as of course, at such a critical period, he should be ap- prehended on a charge of Jacobitism, he begged the favour of being arrested in the course of a day or two, — for in the following week he intended going into Devonshire. The king, on being asked what he would have done with this individual, replied, " Poh ! poh ! there can be but little harm in one who writes so pleasantly." About a year before the king's own death, that of his imfortunate consort, the Princess of Zell, took place : and her royal husband, most iniquitously, caused her will, together with that of her father, the Duke of Zell, to be burnt; in order, as it was believed, to deprive his own son, the Prince of Wales, of some important bequests. Walpole declares, that he had this fact from Queen Caroline. A female fortune-teller had warned George the First to take care of his wife, as he would not survive her a year ; and the king gave such credit to the predic- tion, that, on the eve of his last de- parture to the continent, he took leave of his son, and the Princess of Wales, with tears, telling them that he should never see them more. It was certainly his own fate that melted him, says Walpole, not the thought of quitting for ever two persons he hated. He did his son the justice to say, " II est fougueux, mais il a de I'honneur;" but for Caroline, he termed her, to his con- fidants, " Cette diablesse, madame la princesse !" About the same period, in a tender mood, he promised the Duchess of Kendal, that if she survived him, and it were possible for the departed to GEORGE THE FIRST. 27 return to this world, he would make her a visit. The duchess, on his death, so much expected the accomplishment of this engagement, that a large raven, or some black fowl, flying into one of the windows of her villa, at Isleworth, she was persuaded it was the soul of her departed monarch, so accoutred, and received and treated it with great respect and tenderness. Among tlie few acts of munificence, or intercession on behalf of the unfor- tunate, attributed to George the First, are the following: — Dining at Guildhall with the Lord flavor, a few days after his coronation, he ordered £1000 to be paid into the hands of the sheriffs, for the relief and discharge of poor debtors. In 1718, several galley slaves, who had been condemned solely for their religion, were liberated at Marseilles, owing to his urgent representations; and during the royal progress in 1722, he gave orders for releasing many crimi- nals, and all the prisoners confined for debt in the gaols of the towns through which he passed, at his own expense. In 1724, he sent a letter to each of the Universities, declaring his intention to establish professorships of modern his- tory, with a yearly salary of £400 each : and he further ordered, that his almoner shovdd select twenty -four preachers, from the two Universities, to officiate, alternately, in the chapel at Whitehall, with a stipend of thirty pounds a year each. Notwithstanding he professed never to forsake a friend, to endeavour to do justice to every person, and not to fear any man, on the whole, this mo- narch's character was the reverse of admirable. With scarcely one positive virtue, he possessed numerous vices. His youth was profligate, his manhood un- principled, and his old age libidinous. He was upon bad terms with his mo- ther ; inflicted the most irreparable injuries on his wife ; and treated his only son with malicious harshness. Although he is reported to have said to a German nobleman, who had con- gratulated him on being sovereign of Great Britain and Hanover, " Rather congratulate me on having such a subject as Newton in the one, and as Leibnitz in the other ;" and notwith- standing his foundation of th^ professor- ships of modern history, — his donation of the Bishop of Ely's library, which cost him six thousand guineas, to the University of Cambridge, — the inclina- tion he exhibited, but which was, it appears, thwarted by his ministers, to present Desaguliers with a valuable living, — and the notice with which he honoured Vertue, on that artist having engraved his portrait, from a picture by Kneller, — George the First evidently possessed no taste, either for literature or science. If genius flourished during his reign, it was not on account of royal patronage. His military talents appear to have been respectable ; and the man- ner in which he managed his elector- ate before he became King of England, was highly creditable to his judgment. Toland says, in a pamphlet published about the year 1705, I need give no more particular proof of his frugality in laying out the public money, than that all the expences of his court, as to eating, drinking, fire, candles, and the like, are duly paid every Saturday night ; the officers of his army receive their pay every month, and all the civil list are cleared every half year. He was greatly annoyed by the want of confidence in his economy, displayed by his British subjects; lamenting to his private friends that he had left his electorate to become a begging king ; and adding, that he thought it very hard to be constantly opposed in his application for supplies, which it was his intention to employ for the benefit of the nation. The various treaties in which he engaged, are so numerous and unin- teresting, that it would be needlessly trespassing on the reader's patience, to detail the whole of them. The chief objects of his foreign policy seem to have been the enlargement of his elec- toral dominions, and the counteraction of attempts threatened, or made, by continental powers, in favour of the Pretender. After having entered into treaties of defensive alliance with France, Holland, and the Emperor, in 1715 he purchased, from Denmark, the Duchies of Bremen and Verden, wl]ich that power had conquered from Sweden. One of the articles of this bargain was, that George the First, as Elector of Hanover, should declare war against the Swedish monarch, Charles the Twelfth ; who, on his part, formed an 28 THE ROYAL FAMILY. alliance with the Czar, one of the objects of which avowedly was to seat the Pretender on the throne of Great Britain. On the death of Charles the Twelfth, the Swedes entered into a pacific negotiaiion with George the First, which terminated in the cession of Bremen and Verden to Hanover, for a million of rix-doUars. Prior to this treaty, England had become involved in a war with Spain, arising out of the discontent of the latter power, at the arrangements made by the quadruple alliance, with regard to Sicily and Sardinia. The Spanish fleet had been nearly destroyed by an English squadron, under Byng ; and Lord Cobham had made a descent on Spain, captured Vigo, and destroyed two line-of-battle ships, with an im- mense quantity of naval stores. Spain, on the other hand, had despatched six thousand troops imder the command of the Duke of Ormond, to raise the standard of the Pretender, in Scotland ; but the ships, in which they were em- barked, received so much damage in a storm off Cape Finisterre, that only two frigates, containing about three hundred men, reached their destina- tion. On landing, they were joined by a few highlanders ; who, however, were soon compelled to disperse by the king's forces, and the Spaniards sur- rendered themselves prisoners of war. Humbled by her defeats, Spain, in 1721, entered into a treaty of peace with this country. Secret articles were, at the same time, concluded between France, Spain, and England, by which the latter engaged not to oppose the views of Spain on Ttaly, while Spain and France guaranteed the possession of Bremen and Verden to Hanover, To induce Spain to enter into this arrange- ment, George the First is said to have declared his intention of abandoning Gibraltar, in a letter, written with his own hand, to the Spanish king. In 1725, when the famous treaty of Vienna was concluded, he suspected, but as it would seem erroneously, that, by secret articles between Spain and the emperor, force was to have been em- ployed to put the former in possession of Gibraltar, and measures taken for supporting the Pretender's views on the British crown. That the latter was one of the objects of the treaty of Vienna, he asserted, in a speech to his parliament ; but the imperial re- sident in London denied the allega- tion, and boldly charged the king with stating a falsehood. Meanwhile, George the First had formed new defensive alliances with some of the continental powers ; and, supposing Russia to have entered into the views of Spain and the emperor, he had sent a squadron, under Sir Charles Wager, to block up her fleet in the port of Revel ; a measure which so provoked Russia, that she openly acceded to the obnoxious treaty of Vienna. Admiral Hosier had also been despatched to the West Indies, with a powerful fleet, to prevent the Spanish galleons from quittinsj their harbours; but, as he was not authorized to commit any direct hostilities, unless the gal- leons put to sea, he remained in a state of tantalizing inaction, while the Spa- niards removed their treasures overland to Panama. Most of the men employed in this absurd expedition, and Admiral Hosier himself, fell victims to the cli- mate. Spain, on the other hand, had actually attacked Gibraltar, which was so ably defended by Lord Portmore, that, after the trenches had been opened four months, no progress was made by the besiegers. At length the court of Madrid, at the intervention of that of Versailles, acceded to terms of accom- modation, and the preliminaries of a general peace were signed, at Paris, on the 20th of May, 1727. In these transactions, George the First acted with no great dignity as a monarch ; and, apparently, with but little feeling for the welfare of his British subjects. Hanover was his hobby : and, by tracing the course of events, it will be seen, that the greater part, if not all, of the quarrels between this country and foreign powers, during his reign, may be attributed, either di- rectly or remotely, to the king's passion for the aggrandizement of his trumpery electorate. GEORGE THE SECOND. 29 GEORGE THE SECOND, AND HIS CONSORT CAROLINE. George Augustus, King of Great Britain, was the son of George the First, and the unfortunate Sophia Dorothea, of Luneburg-Zell. He was born at Hanover, on the 30th of October, 1683. The Electress Sophia, his grand- mother, had the chief direction of his education, which does not appear to have been better than usually falls to the lot of princes. Though far from a bigot in religion, he was yet supersti- tious. He is said to have been a firm believer in the existence of vampires, and to have been more than once angry with Sir Robert Walpole, for speaking irreverently of those imaginary blood- suckers. In 1705, the young prince married Wilhelmina Dorothea Carolina, eldest daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg Anspach, by whom he had several children. During the campaign of 1708, he served, as a vo- lunteer, under the command of Marl- borough ; at the battle of Oudenarde, he charged the enemy, at the head of the Hanoverian dragoons, with great bravery, and had his horse killed under him. Possessing, in a high degree, both the courage and avarice which adorned and disgraced his military tutor, the young prince seems to have imbibed but a very small portion of the duke's professional skill. Prior to the death of Queen Anne, the friends of his family, in this country, were de- sirous that he should make his public appearance at the English court; but the queen, it appears, sent the Earl of Clarendon, ambassador to Hanover, to persuade the elector not to permit his son to come over. The elector thought fit to obey the queen's plea- sure, though greatly against the will of his mother ; which that princess, it is added, (but the fact is very doubtful,) who was a high-spirited woman, laid so heavily to heart, that she fell sick, and died in a few days after. On the accession of his father to the British throne, he was so elated, that he said, to an English nobleman, " I have not one drop of blood in my veins which is not English, and at the service of my father's subjects." This declaration was, probably, a genuine effusion of feeling; for, although it subsequently appeared that his political affections were by no means confined to England, he ever seemed de^iroas of governing it in a constitutional spirit, according to the measure of his ability and knowledge. The prince accompanied his father to England ; he was shortly afterwards created Prince of Wales ; and, during the king's visit to Hanover, in 171(i, was appointed guardian of the realm. In this situation, however, he excited the jealousy of his father. Reports of his affability and condescension to all parties were circulated, with an inten- tion to contrast them with the coldness and reserve of the king, over whom he had the great advantage of being partially acquainted with the English language ; whicli he is said to have spoken correctly, though with a strong German accent. The great popularity of the Princess of Wales also contri- buted to alienate the king's affection from his son ; and their disagreement and separation formed a tolerably accu- rate prototype of that which afterwards occurred between George the Second and Prince Frederick. During thedifferencesbetweenGeorge the First and his son, Walpole, and the other leaders of that sub-division of the Whig party, which was out of power, rallied round the prince. It was not long before .Walpole discovered, as he thought, a mode of achieving a triumph over the ministers ; but he objected against the particulars of the scheme being laid before the prince, "because," said he, with his usual coarseness, " the fat , his wife, would betray the secret, and ruin all." This expres- sion was afterwards repeated to the princess ; pnd, it is said, she naturally felt much incensed against Walpole, for speaking of her in such a manner ; but the crafty statesman found means to pacify her, before she had it in her power materially to thwart his political 30 THE ROYAL FAMILY. designs. At length, through his inter- position, an apparent, ahhough not a real, accommodation of the differences between George the First and the prince was effected. The king gave a strong proof that his jealousy was not extinct, by never again consigning to his son the government of att'airs during his absence : the prince, how- ever, from the period of the recon- ciliation, seldom formally opposed his father's government, but passed his time chiefly in the society of a few select friends; of whom, the Earl of Scarborough, and Sir Spencer Comp- ton, were the most favoured. At the time of his accession, which took place on the death of his father, June the 11th, 1727, George the Second bore the character of a prince of high integrity, honour, and veracity. It is related, that on the morning after the news arrived of the demise of George the First, Lady Suffolk was surprised, on visiting the new queen, to observe the portrait of a lady, in royal robes, hanging up in her majesty's dressing- room ; and, in the bed-chamber, a half- length of the same person, neither of which Lady S. had ever seen before. They were portraits of the king's mo- ther, which he had hitherto kept con- cealed, not daring to produce them while his father lived. One of them he is supposed to have afterwards sent back to Hanover; and it may here be mentioned, to liis credit, that he was scrupulously exact in keeping in each country whatever belonged to it. He caused a knife, fork, and spoon of gold, formerly belonging to Queen Anne, which he well remembered to have seen on his first arrival in England, to be sent back from Hanover, where he discovered them during his first visit to the continent, after he had become King. It is a curious fact, that he could not recollect having noticed any thing of consequence, appertaining to the de- ceased queen, about the palace, besides those comparatively trifling articles ; such a clearance having been made of her majesty's jewels, or so rapidly had they been elistributed by George the First among his German mistresses, that the I'rincess Caroline obtained only a pearl necklace. Tlie account of the death of George the First was first brought to Walpole, in a despatch from Townshend, who had accompanied that monarch to the continent. The minister instantly re- paired to the palace at Richmond. The new king had then retired to take his usual afternoon nap. On being informed that his father was dead, he could scarce- ly be brought to put faith in the intel- ligence, until told that the minister was waiting in the ante-chamber with Lord Townsliend's despatch. At length, he received Walpole, who, kneeling, kissed his hand, and inquired whom he would please to appoint to draw up the ad- dress to the privy council. '■ Sir Spencer Compton," replied the king, an answer which signified Sir Robert's dismissal. Sir Spencer was a worthy, formal character, so destitute either of ambition or ability, that on receiving the king's commands, he actually be- sought, and availed himself of, Walpole's assistance in preparing the draft. The king, during the latter part of his father's life, had taken such offence at Sir Robert's conduct, as to have fre- quently declared, that if he came to the throne, Walpole should never hold a post in the administration. Sir Robert had, also, as we have already related, seriously offended the queen, while Princess of Wales; but he won her entirely to his interest, at this critical period, by privately acquaint- ing her, that if he were not turned out of office he would procure her a settle- ment of £100,000 per annum, to be- come payable on the king's demise. Sir Spencer Compton having publicly spoken of £G0,000 a year as the in- tended jointure, her majesty saw the policy of forgetting the afiront she had received from Walpole, and exerting her powerful influence over the king, in his behalf. " Tell Sir Robert," sai\l she, to the messenger who had brought his (iroposals, " that the fat has forgiven him. " To the astonishment of the public, Walpole so completely triumphed on this occasion, that all the ministers remained in office, except the Earl of Berkeley, first lord of the admiralty, who resigned in favour of Admiral Byng, Sir Robert's personal friend. At the first comicil held by the new sovereign, Dr. Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, produced the late king's will, and delivered it to George the GEORGE THE SECOND. 1 Second ; concluding that, of course, it would be opened, and publicly read. The monarch, however, quietly put the will in his pocket, and walked out of the room without uttering a word. The poor prelate was so astonished, that he wanted either courage or presence of mind to demand the publication of the instrument, or, at least, that it should be registered. No one present was willing to seize an honour wliich the trustee declined ; and, as the king never after mentioned the will, whispers only, by degrees, informed the public that it was burnt ; or, at least, tliat its injunctions were not fulfilled. What its contents were, has never been posi- tively ascertained; but it was reported, that the roval testator had bequeathed £40,000 to the Duchess of Kendal, and a large legacy to his daughter, the Queen of Prussia. Of the latter, de-' mands were said to have been after- wards frequently and roughly made by her son, the great Fred.irick; between whom, and his uncle, George the Second, much animosity existed. Lord Chesterfield, who had married the Coun- tess of Walsingham, the Duchess of Kendal's niece and heiress, resenting his own proscription at court, was be- lieved to have instituted, or, at least, to have threatened, a suit, for the re- covery of the supposed legacy to his wife's aunt ; and it was confidently asserted, that he received £20.000 in discharge of the claim. Horace Walpole, from whom we have these particulars, further states, that Lady Suffolk made the only plausible shadow of an excuse that could be offered, for George the Second's conduct in this afHiir: she stated, that his father had burnt two wills in his favour; probably those of his maternal grandfather and grand- mother, the Duke and Duchess of Zell ; or one of them might, perhaps, have been that of his mother. Walpole pro- perly adds, that the crime of the first George could only palliate, not justify, the criminality of the second ; for the latter did not punish the guilty, but the innocent. The day after the arrival of the news of the late king's death, the parlia- ment met in conformity to the act of settlement, and was prorogued by com- mission to the 27th. On that day the new monarch came to the house of peers ; and in his speech from the throne gave the usual assurances of love for the constitution, and of a de- termination to secure the civil and religious rights of the people. The opposition was probably paralyzed by the re-appointment of the old ministers, and business proceeded with but little impediment. The entire revenue of the civil list, which produced about £l 30,000 a year more than the £700,000 granted to George the First, was settled on the king for life; and a jointure of £100,000 per annum was voted to the queen in case she should survive her consort. On the 17th of July, after a speech, in which the king expressed his gratitude for their zeal and affection, parliament was prorogued and shortly after dissolved. As the same men were continued in office, of course the same public measures were pursued as during the latter part of the preceding reign. The interposition of the queen, in political affairs, appears to have operated bene- ficially for the country. She was not unacquainted with the F.nglish consti- tution ; and often prevailed upon the king to consent to measures which he at first opposed, because they clashed with his native predilections for Han- over, or his passion for military glory. Notwithstanding the various amours in which he was engaged, he appears to have loved her as much as he was capable of loving any woman : a dis- tinction which she well merited ; for she united much of the gentleness of the female character to a masculine strength of understanJing, which often caine in aid of the king's feebler intel- lect, and quietly indicated the right course of action, without assuming any merit for the service. She had the rare good sense to see and acknowledge her own errors, without feeling, or seeming to feel, any distaste towards those who opposed them. She once formed a design of shutting up St. James's Park, and asked Sir Robert Walpole what it would cost to do it. " Only a crown, madam," was the reply; and she in- stantly owned her imprudence with a good-natured smile. When, during the king's absence on the continent, she found her authority as regent insulted, by the outrageous proceedings of the Edinburgh mob, who had violently put 32 THE ROYAL FAMILY. Captain Porteus to death, she expressed herself with great indignation, not only against the authors of the tragedy, but the magistrates who had suffered it to take place. " Sooner," said she, to the Duke of Argyle, " than submit to such an insult, I would make Scotland a hunting field !" " In that case, madam," answered the high-spirited nobleman, " I will take leave of your majesty, and go down to my own country to get my hounds ready." Such a reply would have irritated a weak mind, but- it calmed that of the queen. She dis- claimed the influence she really pos- sessed over her husband, always affect- ing, as Walpole relates, in the king's company, if any one were present, to act the humble, ignorant wife. Even if the prime minister came on business which had previously been settled be- tween him and the queen, she would rise, curtsey, andoffer to retire. " There, you see," the king would exclaim, " how much I am governed by my wife, as they say I am — ha, ha ! it is a fine thing to be governed by one's wife !" To this the queen would reply, " Oh ! sir, I must be vain indeed to pretend to govern your majesty." Thus, by an affectation of humility, may a strong mind govern a feeble one, which would, perhaps, rebel against any obvious assumption of control. Her political influence excited little less surprise than did the retention of the old ministry, which was the first instance of its exertion. As the king was known to have a mistress, it was considered by the opposition a matter of course that iiis wife was a mere cypher; and all female power and in- fluence was supposed to be lodged with Mrs. Henrietta Howard, afterwards Countess of Suffolk. This lady was a daughter of Sir Henry Hobart, of Buckling, in the county of Norfolk, and the wife of Charles Howard, who, al- thougli a younger son, eventually suc- ceeded to his father's title of Earl of Sn'ffolk. About the close of Queen Aime's reign, Howard and his wife went to Hanover with a view of con- ciliating the favour of their future sovereign. England, however, had no occasion to mourn for the gold tliey carried to Germany, for so limiicd were their circumstances, that Mrs. Howard is said to have sacrificed her beautiful head of hair to defray the expenses of a dinner, which her husband found it expedient to give the Hanoverian mi- nisters. This was at a time when enor- mous full-bottomed wigs, which often cost twenty or thirty guineas each, were in fashion. Mrs. Howard was very much in favour with the intelligent Electress Sophia, and on her son's accession to the crown, she was appointed woman of the bedchamber to the Princess of Wales ; whose royal husband, however, does not appear to have entertained any particular partiality for Mrs. Howard until some time after this period. The most promising of the young lords and gentlemen of the Whig party in power, and the liveliest and loveliest of the young ladies, formed the new court of the Prince and Princess of Wales, on their arrival in this country. The apartment of the bed-chamber women in waiting consequently became the fashionable rendezvous of the most eminent wits and beauties of the day. Distinguished for universal admiration, even among this galaxy, was Miss Bellenden, one of the maids of honour, whom Horace Walpole describes as having a charming air, face, and per- son, with such agreeable manners, that she was afterwards invariably men- tioned by her cotemporaries as the most perfect creature they had ever known. The prince frequented the waiting-room, and soon felt a stronger inclination for Miss Bellenden than he had ever entertained for any other female except his wife. But his gallantry was indelicate, and his avarice disgusting. One evening, while sitting by her, he took out liis purse and counted his money over, until the giddy girl lost her patience, and cried out, "Sir, I cannot bear it! If you count your money any more I will go out of the room." In fact, her heart was en- gaged, as the prince, finding his love fruitless, at length suspected. He was even so generous as to promise her, that if she would discover the object of her choice, and would engage not to marry without his knowledge, he would consent to the match, and be kind to her husband. She gave him the promise he exacted; and then, lest he should throw any obstacle in the way, married, without ills knowledge, Colonel Campbell, one of the grooms of his GEORGE THE SECOND. 33 bed-chamber ; and who, long after- wards, succeeded to the title of Duke of Argyle. The prince never forgave her for breaking her word ; and whenever she went to the drawing-room, as from her husband's situation she was some- times obliged to do, though trembling at what she knew she had to undergo there, the prince always stepped up to her and whispered some harsh reproach in her ear. Mrs. Howard now became the prince's favourite : it is not probable that love for his person had any sliare in the sa- crifice she made of her virtue ; and George, although amorous, took unto himself a mistress rather to prove he was not governed by his wife, and from a silly idea, that gallantry was becoming, than from a fondness for variety. Mrs. Howard would probably have preferred the advantages of her situation to its eclat ; but secresy would by no means have answerdthe prince's purpose : the lady's husband, of course, became ac- quainted with the intrigue, to which he gave additional publicity, by vocife- rously demanding her before the guards and other persons, in the quadrangle of St. James's palace. He afterwards wrote a letter to her, which he procured the Archbishop ofCanterbury to place in the hands of the princess, who was thus af- forded the pleasiue of delivering it per- sonally to her husband's mistress. Some apprehensions, it seems, were enter- tained that Howard woidd attempt to take possession of his frail spouse by force ; for, when the usual time arrived for the prince and his court to remove to Richmond, as Mrs. Howard, being only woman of the bedchamber, could not, according to etiquette, be permitted to ride in the same coach with the princess, where, it was presumed, she would have been safe, the Duke of Argyle and his brother took her to their house at Richmond, several hours before the departure of the prince and princess from their town residence. Shortly afterwards a negotiation was commenced with the obstreperous husband, which ended in his selling his wife for a pension of twelve hun- dred a year. Walpole describes this lady as having been of a just heigiit, well made, ex- tremely fair, with the finest light brown hair, and features regular and agree- able rather than beautiful. She was remarkably genteel, and always dressed with taste and simplicity. Her perso- nal charms had sutiered hut little dimi- nution up to the period of her death, at the advanced age of seventy-nine. Her mental qualifications were by no means shining ; her eyes and countenance showed her character, which was grave and mild. She preserved uncommon respect to tlie end of her life, and from the propriety and decency of her be- haviour, was always treated as if her virtue had never been questioned ; her friends even affecting to suppose that her connection with the king had been confined to pure friendship. Through the king's disinclination to grant any favours to a mistress, and the queen's ascendancy over the minister as well as her consort, Mrs. Howard's influence was so limited, that she suc- ceeded only in very subordinate recom- mendations, except in procuring a ba- rony and a good place for her brother. The king had seen and lamented that his father had been governed by his mistresses, and was so extremely cau- tious to avoid a similar error, that the Countess of Yarmouth, the only one among his own concubines who pos- sessed any real influence over him, once requested an influential person to procure'a trifling place for one of her servants, but charged him not to men- tion to the king that it v.as at her re- quest ; ''because," she added, "if it be known that I have applied, 1 have no chance of succeeding." Considering her situation, as the es- tablished mistress of a sovereign, Mrs. Howard's pecuniary acquisitions were but moderate ; and it appears, although a rigid economist, she found herself straitened for money after her retire- ment from court, on account of the lapse of some annuities which she had obtained on the lives of persons whom she survived. Even during the zenith of her favour she was not only subject to mortifications from the queen, but to insult from the king, and a slavish at- tendance on both. Although the queen used to call her " My good Howard," she took a malicious pleasure in em- ploying her in the most servile offices about her person. One day while Mrs. Howard was engaged in putting on the queen's handkerchief, the king came 34 THE ROYAL FAMILY. in, and snatched it off, exclaiming, " Be- cause you have an ugly neck yourself you wish to hide her majesty's." It was his custom to visit her every even- ing at nine ; but with such dull punc- tuality, that he frequently walked about his chamber for ten minutes with his watch in his hand, if the stated minute had not arrived. Mrs. Howard had been early af- fected with deafness ; but the king appears to have made little or no ob- jection to her on this score, while she was young; but after she had passed the meridian of life, he said, in a letter to the queen, who dreaded his con- tracting an attachment for a more blooming beauty, and had even pre- vented Mrs. Howard from leaving the court as early as she wished to do, " I don't know why you will not let me part with a deaf old woman, of whom I am weary." She retired from her unenviable situation in the palace about the year 1735, and her first husband being dead, married a Mr. George Berkeley, whom she survived. The remainder of her life was spent in retirement, chiefly at a villa near Twickenham. We turn with pleasure, from the private life of the king, to public af- fairs. The new parliament assembled on the 23rd of January, 1728, and mi- nisters soon found that the election had procured an accession to the number of their supporters in the house. The members had hitherto been divided into Tories, Hanoverians, and Jacobites ; but these appellations were now dropped, and only two political sects were spoken of, namely — the court party and the country party. Throughout the greater part of this reign, there seem to have been two points of controversy, on which the strength of ministers was put to the proof in every session ; these were the national delit and the standing army. Tiic former, on the accession of George the Second, amounted to thirty mil- lions, which was then deemed an enor- mous amount ; its constant increase formed a reasonable ground of com- plaint and alarm ; while demands for new supplies were made, and invariably granted, session after session, notwith- standing the remonstrances of the coun- try party, who protested, that govern- ment incurred large expenses without prescience or necessity; and, that the rapid increase of the national debt, would, by multiplying the taxes, soon become an intolerable burthen, espe- cially on the lower classes of the com- munity. In the month of April, 1728, the king paid a visit to Cambridge, with a large retinue of persons of rank ; and after dining in the hall of Trinity Col- lege, he so far overcame his natural parsimony, as to present the simi of £2,000 to the university, to defray the expenses of his entertainment. Shortly afterwards. Sir Charles Hotham was sent to Berlin, as minis- ter plenipotentiary, to propose a mar- riage between the Prince of Wales and the eldest daughter of his uncle the King of Prussia ; and another between the heir-apparent to the thi-one of Prussia, and the King of England's second daughtei-. His Prussian majesty insisted, in reply, that his heir-apparent was quite as worthy of the Princess Royal of England, as George the Second's eldest son was of the Princess Royal of Prussia : and that, although he had no objection to one of the proposed unions taking place, he would not con- sent to botli. The negotiation termi- nated by no means amicably between the two monarchs, whose personal en- mity, at length, arose to such a height, that they seriously thought of settling their disputes by a duel. George the Second being at Hanover, and his royal brother-in-law at Saltzdahl, near Brunswick, it was determined that the territory of Hilderheim should be the place of meeting. His Britannic ma- jesty's intended second was Brigadier General Sutton ; and Colonel Derscheim was selected to fill that important office on the part of the King of Prussia. Borck, Frederick's ambassador to the court of St. James's, from which he had been abruptly dismissed, imme- diately repaired to his master, at Saltz- dahl ; but finding him in a terrible rage with his royal brother-in-law, he deemed it prudent to feign approbation of tlie intended combat, and offered to be the bearer of a cliallenge. But shortly afterwards, the king having become a liitle calmer, he ventured to address him in the following manner : " Sire, I allow that your majesty's GEORGE THE SECOND. 35 quarrel is not to be terminated any other way than by a duel ; but your majesty being just recovered from a most serious illness, and your health not being yet by any means re-es- tablished, a relapse may occur on the day before, or, perhaps, at the very hour of the important meeting ; and in tiiat case, what would the world say ? How the King of England would boast ! What scandalous constructions might be put on the circumstance ! What an odious suspicion of your majesty's courage might ensue ! Therefore, I ask, if you do not think it would be better to take no steps in the affair for a fortnight?" The king is said to have reluctantly acquiesced in the proposed delay ; the challenge was not sent ; and the ministers on both sides gained suf- ficient time to effect a reconciliation between the royal disputants. In November, 1730, we find it re- corded, that the king and queen, re- turning from Kew Green to St. James's, were overturned in their coach, near Lord Peterborough's, at Parsons' Green, about six in the evening; the wind having blown out the flambeaux, so that the coachman could not see the way ; but their majesties received no injury. In 1732, Sir Robert Walpole brought a bill into parliament, for an extension of the excise, which excited so violent a clamour, that the proposed measure was abandoned. Public rejoicings took place on this occasion : Walpole was burned in efHgy by tlie populace ; and the opposition, elated with their success, soon after made an attempt to repeal the septennial bill, and bring back triennial parliaments, as settled at the revolution. The motion was rejected by the majority ; but as on this occa- sion the country party seemed to have gained strength, ministers thought pro- per to dissolve the parliament, and to call another bv the same proclamation. In 1736, Frederick, Prince of AVales, was married to Augusta, Princess of Saxe-Gotha, and, soon afterwards, very serious differences occurred between the sovereign and his son, principally, al- though other grave causes of offence existed, on account of the prince having omitted to acquaint his royal parents with the pregnancy of the princess until the month in which her accouche- ment took place ; and having hurried her, at a most critical period, from Hampton Court to St. James's palace, where she was delivered of the Princess Augusta two hours after her arrival. The king considered this conduct as an insult to himself and the queen, and ordered his son to quit the palace with his family as soon as the Princess of Wales could safely be removed. The heir-apparent accordingly, soon after, retired to Norfolk-house, and became so positively identified with the opposition, that the king, at length, issued an order forbidding all those who visited the court of the prince and princess to ap- pear in his majesty's presence at any of the royal palaces. About this period, an English noble- man, who had more than once quietly endured a gross affront from a peer of equal rank, was a very assiduous tale- bearer of the improprieties of the prince to his father, and once even had the audacity to call the heir-apparent a fool ; upon which the king turned short upon him, and said, '• JMy lor duke, by gar me no tank you for van fine speech of fool ; and learn from me, dat do de buys of Brunswick may have produced as many fools as any van sovereign buys in Europe, it never yet vaas known to produce van coward or poltroon, my lor duke!" In 1737, Walpole brought in a bill to limit the number of playhouses, and to place dramatic writings under the cen- sorship of the lord chamberlain ; which, although it was powerfully opposed by Lord Chesterfield, as an infringement on the liberties of the press, was carried through both houses of parliament. On the 20th of November in this year (1737), Queen Caroline died of an inflammation in her bowels, and was buried on the 17th of the following month, in Westminster Abbey. She had for some time been ruptured, but until her last illness nobody was aware of the fact, except the king, her German nurse, and one other person. Although labouring under such a dangerous complaint, which she was exceedingly anxious to conceal, she made it so in- variable a rule never to refuse a desire of the king, that when the royal family was at Richmond, she walked several miles with him every morning; and more than once, when she had the 3G THE ROYAL FAMILY. gout in her foot, dipped her whole leg in cold water to be ready to attend him. The pain, adds Walpole, her bull<, and the exercise, threw her into such fits of perspiration as vented the gout ; but those exertions hastened the crisis of her distemper. George the Second always preferred the queen to any other woman ; nor did he ever describe his idea of a beauty, but he drew the picture of his wife. ' Sir Robert Walpole, who knew him well, asserted that the king loved Queen Carohne's little finger better than Lady Suffolk's whole body. She is described as having been very hand- some at the time of her marriage, nor did the small pox, which she after- wards took, materially affect her beauty. Her countenance was indicative either of majesty or mildness, as she pleased : her eyes were very expressive, her voice captivating, and her hands beautifully sinall, plump, and graceful. In the beginning of his amour with Madame de Walmoden, the king, who invariably confided his attachments to the queen, often said, in his letters from Hanover to her majesty, " I know you will love the Walmoden, because she loves me ;" and so notorious was her acquiescence in his intrigues, that, about this time, Blackbourn, the Archbishop of York, told her one day, that he had been talking to her minister, Walpole, about the new mistress, and was glad to find her majesty was such a sensible woman as to like her husband should divert himself. In her epistles to the king, who complained of their brevity when they were nineteen pages long, she ap- proved of his incontinence, for which she furnished him with the excuse that she was old and unworthy of him. By thus consenting to, or rather encouraging, his ruling vice, she preserved her in- fluence over him undiminished, and made herself the mistress of his mis- tresses. For some years, however, previously to her last fatal illness, the queen's constitution seemed gradually to give way, and she lost much of her habitual cheerfulness, on account, perhaps, of her constantly strugging to conceal her vexation at the open and shameless licentiousness of the king; which, ac- cording to Walpole, rendered her mi- serable, notwithstanding her apparent content. Her immoral and disgusting acquiescence in her husband's amours, by which, for the sake of securing her own influence over him, she allowed the palace to become a brothel, has induced a suspicion that she had no love for the king ; and was, therefore, invulnerable to jealousy. The Duke of Grafton insisted that she loved no- body ; and hearing a tale of a German prince, for whom sVie was said to have entertained an affection before her mar- riage, he exclaimed, " G — d! madam, I wish I could have seen the man you could love." " Why," said she, " don't you think I love the king?" " G— d! madam," replied the duke, " I wish I was King of France, and I would be sure whether you do or do not." She appears to have taken great de- light in ornamental gardening : Queen Caroline, says Daines Barrington, threw a string of ponds, in Hyde Park, into one, so as to form what is called the Serpentine River, from its being not exactly straight, as all the ponds were before. She is likewise well known to have planted and laid out the gardens, both of Richmond and Kensington, upon a larger scale, and in better taste than we have any instance of before that period. She seems, also, to have been the first introducer of expensive buildings in gardens, if one at Lord Barrington's is excepted. The king did not interfere with his wife in these pursuits ; as, he said, he did not care how she flung her own money away. After her death, however, it was dis- covered, that she was in debt to the treasury, to the amount of .3S20,000 or upwards. To her eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, notwithstanding the aversion he displayed towards her, she behaved, for some time, with great kindness ; but, at length, felt so indignant at his conduct, that she refused to admit him into her presence, even when she knew herself to be at the point of death. This is an additional proof, to those already given, of the stern resolution which has been generally attributed to Queen Caroline by her cotempo- raries. Her good sense and kindness of disposition are strikingly exem- plified in the following anecdote: — One of the princesses having, without the least occasion, suffered a lady in wait- GEORGE THE SECOND. 37 ing to stand by her chair for a consi- derable time, when the royal offender came, as usual, to read to her majesty in the evening, the queen would not permit her to sit down, but kept her standing, until she was nearly ex- hausted ; and then, alluding to the manner in which the princess had treated the lady in waiting, observed, " You are now, my dear, capable of feeling how improper it is, unneces- sarily to make those who are about you the victims of etiquette." She v^as one of the earliest supporters of inoculation in this country ; having, when Princess of Wales, permitted Dr. Mead, immediately after the success of the operation had been ascertained on some condemned criminals, to inoculate two of her daughters. Gay's opera of " Polly " gave her such extraordinary offence, that the Duchess of Queensbury, who, out of friendship for the author, thought proper to defend it, was ordered to quit the court. On this occasion, her grace stated, by letter, to their majesties, that she was surprised, and well pleased, at receiving so agreeable a command as forbidding her the court, where she never came for diversion, but to bestow a very great civility upon the king and queen. To the study of divinity, she is said to have been extremely partial. She told Sale, the celebrated oriental scholar, that, during breakfast, she amused her- self by reading Butler's Analogy of Religion to Human Nature; a book which Hoadly, Bishop of Winchester, said, always gave him the head-ache if he only looked into it. She was, how- ever, accused of affecting a fondness for learning which she did not possess, and her religious opinions were suspected of having been far from orthodox. It is even asserted, that she refused to take the sacrament, when Archbishop Potter went to her for the purpose of administering it. The courtiers in the ante-room crowded round the prelate, it is added, as he retired, anxiously inquiring, " My lord, has the queen re- ceived ?" but he eluded the question, by replying most devoutly, " Her majesty was in a heavenly disposition!" Still it must not be concealed, that she is said to have died in a manner worthy of a christian. When very near her end. she inquired of one of the physicians in attendance, " How long can this last?" "Your majesty will soon be eased of your pains," was the reply. " The sooner the better," said the queen : and she then most fervently engaged in extempore prayer. Shortly afterwards, she twice desired that cold w ater might be thrown over her, to sup- port her strength, while her family put up a final petition in her behalf. " Pray aloud," said she, " that I may hear you." She then faintly joined them in repeating the Lord's prayer ; and, at its conclusion, calmly laid "down, waved her hand, and expired. The king, it appears, duly appre- ciated the loss he sustained by the death of his consort. During her ill- ness, he had watched by her bed-side, with unabated attention, and could scarcely be prevailed on to take any rest or refreshment. As soon as the first emotions of grief had subsided, he delighted to talk of her, to recount her virtues, and conjecture how she would have acted on occasions of difficulty. He continued the salaries of all her officers and nominal servants who were not taken Into his own household, and commanded a list of her numerous periodical benefactions to be laid before iiim ; saying, it was his intention that nobody should be a sufferer by her death but himself. Shortly after her demise, Walpole had an interview with the king, who, with a flood of tears gushing from his eyes, gave a confidential detail of the inimitable virtues of his royal consort; he particularly dwelt on the great relief and assistance which he had found from her noble and calm dis- position, in governing so humouisome and inconstant a people as the English ; adding, that he must, for the future, lead a helpless, disconsolate, and un- comfortable life, and that he did not know what to do, nor which way to turn himself. Some time afterwards, one morning before his hour of rising, the king said to Baron Brinkman, one of his German attendants, " I hear you have a picture of my wife, which she gave you, and which is a better likeness than any in my possession ; bring it to me." When it was brought, the king seemed greatly affected ; and, after a short pause, he said, " It is very like ; put it upon the 38 THE ROYAL FAMILY. chair at the foot of my bed, and leave it till I ring the bell." At the end of two hours, the baron was summoned, and the king said to him, " Take this picture away ; I never yet saw the woman worthy to buckle her shoe." Madam de Walmoden, afterwards Lady Yarmouth, who had been the king's mistress at Hanover, during his latter visits to his continental do- minions, came over to England shortly after the death of Queen Caroline. She had two sons, both of whom bore her husband's name, but the younger of them was suspected to have been the king's child, and consequently obtained considerable homage from the courtiers. Lord Chesterfield, on going to the pa- lace to kiss hands, when he was ap- pointed secretary of state, found a fair young lad in the antichamber, whom he concluded to be Lady Yarmouth's supposed son by the king; the earl, accordingly, began to be profuse in his attentions to the boy, and prodigal in expressions of prodigious regard for his mamma. When he had done, the lad said, " I suppose your lordship takes me for master Louis ; but I am only Sir William Russell, one of the pages." Hitherto, the nation, during the reign of George the Second, had been at peace ; but it was doubted whether the blessing had not been secured by some sacrifice of public honour. This feeling was so prevalent, that in 1739, the ministry, in spite of their pacific policy, were compelled to enter into a war with Spain, on the ground of the insults and injuries offered to Britisli subjects and tlieir commerce, in South America. The first act of open hos- tility on our part proved eminently auspicious; Admiral Vernon having, with a force deemed very indequate to the enterprize, attacked and destroyed the fortifications of Porto Bello. This exploit rendered the war exceedingly popular ; and supplies were cheerfully granted for carrying it on with vigour. Anson was sent with a squadron to distress the enemy in the South seas. After an absence of three years, he returned in his only remaining ship, with which he had gallantly engaged and taken a richly laden Spanish gal- leon. A powerful armament was also fitted out against Carthagena, which, as it appears, througli gross mismanage- ment, entirely failed in its object, and tended materially to accelerate the overthrow of Walpole and his coadju- tors. The public voice was against them, and the Prince of Wales threw all his influence into the scale of their opponents. At length, on the 28th of January, 1742, they were in a mino- rity of one, on a question relating to the Chippenham election; on the 2nd of February their defeat was more signal ; on the 3rd the house was adjourned to the 18th ; and in the interval Wal- pole resigned, and was made Earl of Orford. When he went to take leave of the king, his majesty was affected even to tears, and frequently sought his advice on public affairs, during the brief period between the minister's poli- tical downfal and decease. The king's old and inefficient fa- vourite, the Earl of Wilmington, was placed nominally at the head of the new government, with the title of first lord of the treasury ; Mr. Sandys was made chancellor of the exchequer, and Lord Carteret (afterwards Earl of Granville) one of the secretaries of state. These were the principal changes in office, and the policy, both internal and external, of the new ministers was soon found not to differ materially from that of their predecessors. The people had now become dis- gusted with naval operations ; they sighed for a renewal of the victories in Flanders, and the king warmly sympathized with them in their in- clination. Accordingly, on the death of Charles the Second, France and other foreign powers having conspired to divest his daughter, Maria The- resa, of her inheritance, George the Second, who had been guarantee of the pragmatic sanction, sent a body of British and Hanoverian troops into Flanders to oppose her enemies ; but the national expectation was most bit- terly disappointed through want of skill in the commanders. A gleam of glory, however, with no permanent advantage, resulted from the battle of Dettingen, which was fought in 1743. The French, in order to prevent the junction of the Austrian and British forces, assembled an army of sixty thousand men upon the east side of the river Mayne. The Earl of Stair, to whom the command of liis Britannic majesty's troops had GEORGE THE SECOND. 39 been entrusted, suffered himself to be surrounded by the enemy, near the village of Dettingen ; and had the French acted with prudence, the British and Hanoverian troops must have been compelled to surrender. The enemy, however, rashly ventured on making a direct attack, which wa5 so vigorously and resolutely met that t'ney were driven back across the Mayne, with consider- able loss. The king himself was present at this battle, and behaved with his ac- customed bravery. He rode a vicious charger, which carried liim, against his will, out of the heat of the conflict, to a considerable distance : at length, with the assistance of Ensign, afterwards General, Trapaiid, he succeeded in stopping the horse, and dismounted, exclaiming, with ludicrous but truly characteristic energy, "Aha! now dat I am upon mine own legs, I am sure dat I sal not run away !" During this battle the French gens d'armes were repulsed with great slaughter, in an attack on the Scotch Greys; and, many years after, the king, having highly extolled the martial appearance of some troops, at a review, was sneeringly asked by the French ambassador, who was present, if he had ever seen the gens d'armes ; " No," replied the king, " but I can tell you, and so can dey, dat my Grevs have." An ode, in honour of the success of the British arms, in 1743, was set to music, and frequently performed in the great council chamber, at St. James's, before the king and court. His majesty, on these occasions, invariably arrayed himself in the dress, including the hat and scarf, which he had worn when serving under Marlborough, at the bat- tle of Oudenarde. In this suit, which had become obsolete through the change of fashion, the king strutted about the circle, to the great amusement of his court. One day, while thus absurdly exhibiting himself, some person pre- sent gave utterance to the following lines : — Sare such a day was never known ! Such a king '■ and such a throne '. This couplet was so much relished by the assembly, as to be repeated in full chorus. The king, of course, heard it, but had not sufficient acuteness to per- ceive its irony ; and one of the courtiers having applauded it. a general clapping of hands ensued, which so pleased his majesty, that he expressed himself as being highly flattered at the compli- mentary couplet, and the civil manner in which it had been received. The interference of the king at the battle of Dettingen, so disgusted the Earl of Stair, that he resigned his com- mand, which his majesty subsequently confided to his second son, William, the celebrated Duke of Cumberland, who, in the following year, (1744,) was defeated at Fontenoy, with considerable loss ; and the French, during the re- mainder of the war, maintained a tri- umphant ascendancy over the British and Hanoverian troops in Flanders. In 1745, the northern Jacobites having invited the young Pretender to raise his standard in Scotland, Charles Edward embarked in a French frigate, and landed at the head of a few fol- lowers, sometime in the month of July. Having been joined by several Highland clans, he routed the royal troops at Preston-Pans, boldly marched over the borders, and advanced as far as Derby ; but the king's forces, under the Duke of Cumberland, who had come over from Flanders for the pur- pose of being placed at their head, en- countering the insurgents at Culloden, on the 16th of April, 1746, obtained a decisive victory, by which the Pre- tender's cause was utterly ruined. The duke acted with horrid barbarity after the battle, against the Jacobites, so many of whom were also subsequently executed, that George the Second, in a spirit of humanity, which does him much credit, on being requested to sign the death-warrant of Dr. Cameron, an adherent of the exiled family, ex- claimed, — " Surely too much blood has already been spilled for this cause !" The young Pretender escaped with difficulty to the continent, after a series of exceedingly romantic adventures : in one of which, after a reward of £30,000 had been proclaimed for his capture, he sought and obtained the protection of a poor Highlander, named Mac Jan, who was afterwards convicted, and ex- ecuted at Inverness, for stealing a cow: an offence, it is said, of which he had been guilty, to relieve the dreadful dis- tress of his family. George the Second felt much chagrined, when he was 40 THE ROYAL FAMILY. made acquainted with the fidelity and fate of poor Mac Jan : and declared, that had his conduct to Charles Edward been communicated to him in time, the Highlander should have been placed above the necessity of committing the crime for which he had suffered. The young Pretender is said to have subsequently visited this country on more than one occasion, for the purpose of ascertaining the state of public feel- ing in his favour. The king, it is re- lated, one day asked Lord Holdernesse, then secretary of state, where Charles Edward was? — " Upon my word, sire," was the reply, " I don't exactly know; I suppose in Italy ; but I'll consult my last despatches." — " Poh, poh ! man," said the king, " don't trouble your head about despatches; I'll tell you where he is : he is now at No. , in the Strand, and was last night at Lady 's rout. What shall we do with him ?" Lord Holdernesse proposed call- ing a council ; but the king said, '• No, no ; we can manage the business with- out a council. Let him stay where he is at present; and when the poor man has amused himself with looking about London, he will go home again." While the rebellion was raging, he went one day to the council-board, some lime after the members had as- sembled, and on asking the subject of deliberation, he was told, that they were considering how to take care of his sacred person. " Gentlemen," said his majesty, " take care of yourselves ; for myself, I am resolved to die King of England." Had not the Duke of Cumberland been successful, it is positively asserted, that the king would have personally taken the field against the rebels ; and no doubt exists, but, had need been, he would have fought for his crown, with courage equal to that displayed by Richard Plantagenet, at the battle of Bosworth. Although lie was not destined to draw his sword, it is stated, that despicable as literature was, in his opinion, he ac- tually wielded a pen in support of his rights ; having corrected the proofs for press, of a pamphlet against the Jaco- bites, written, at Earl Grower's request, by Dr. Webster. Before tlie battle of CuUoden, ad- ditional troops being required to act against the rebels, the king was exceed- ingly desirous of strengthening his forces in the north by those regiments of the guards which had recently arrived from the continent ; where, although the campaign was by no means fortu- nate, they had eminently distinguished themselves ; but he felt some delicacy in calling upon them to march against an enemy, so recently after their fatigues and exploits abroad. In this dilemma, by the advice of an experienced gene- ral, he called a military levee, at which the principal officers of the guards attended, to whom he delivered the following brief but exceedingly busi- ness-like speech: — "Gentlemen, you cannot be ignorant of the present pre- carious situation of the country ; and though I have had such recent instances of your exertions, the necessity of the times, and the knowledge I have of your hearts, induce me to demand your ser- vices again. All of you who are willing to meet the rebels hold up your right hands ; all you who may, from particu- lar reasons, feel it an inconvenience, hold up your left." In an instant, every officer elevated iiis right hand ; and the king was so affected at their alacrity, that he burst into tears and immediately retired. The next day the guards marched to Finchley ; and Hogarth, as it is well known, some time afterwards painted a humorous picture on this subject, which he had determined to dedicate to George the Second, but altered his resolution on account of the following dialogue, which took place be- tween the king and a nobleman in wait- ing : — " Who is dis Hogarth ? "inquired the king. " A painter, my liege," was the reply. " I hate bainting, and boetry too," quoth the sovereign ; " neider de one nor de oder ever did any good." " The picture, please your majesty, must undoubtedly be considered as a bur- lesque." " What, a bainter burlesque a soldier ! He deserves to be bicketed for his insolence. Away wid his trumpery !" Dull as George the Second evidently was, he does not appear to have been altogether inaccessible to broad humour. On one occasion, during his return through Holland from Hanover, his carriage broke down, and he was compelled to seek shelter and refresh- ment, with Lord Delaware, and three or four of his servants, at a Dutch public GEORGE THE SECOND. 41 house, the master of which charged nearly a hundred pounds for the royal entertainment, which merely consisted of coffee for the king and his lordship, and gin for the attendants. " Are coffee and gin very rare articles in these parts ?" inquired Lord Delaware. '■ No, but kings are," replied the Dutchman. The king laughed at this reply, called the fellow a clever rogue, and ordered the bill to be paid. After he had ceased to attend the theatres, Macklin's farce of Love a la Mode having been acted with much applause, he sent for the manuscript, and had it read to him, by a sedate old Hanoverian gentleman, who, being but little acquainted with English, spent eleven weeks in puzzling out the au- thor's meaning. The king, however, it is said, was much pleased with the piece, and highly enjoyed the Irishman's get- ting the better of his rivals, and gaining the lady's hand. He is reported, alio, to have had his risibility greatly excited by the following ludicrous circum- stance: Heidegger, who was a sort of reformer of masquerades and operas, and who is celebrated in the Tatler as the Swiss Count, having been purposely made drunk at an entertainment given by the Duke of Montague, at the Devil Tavern, near Temple Bar, he was laid on a bed, in a state of insensibility ; and Miss Salmon was introduced to take a mould of his face, from which an excel- lent cjist was afterwards made, and co- loured in imitation of life. The duke next procured a suit of clothes exactly resembling Heidegger's; in which, wiih the assistance of the mask, a person of Heidegger's height and bulk was en- gaged to personate the latter, at a mas- querade, conducted by Heidegger, and honoured by the presence of his ma- jesty and the Countess of Yarmouth. No sooner was the king seated, than Heidegger ordered the musicians to play the national anthem ; but im- mediately that his back was turned, the false Heidegger appeared, and commanded them to strike up the Ja- cobite measure of " Over the water to Charley." All who were not in the plot felt vvofully dismayed. Heidegger stamped liked a madman, and the king and the countess, who had, doubtless, been let into the secret, laughed immo- derately. " God save the King" was re-commenced, and Heidegger again retired; but he had only proceeded to the next room, when his malicious fac- simile appeared in the gallery, and, imitating Heidegger's voice and man- ner, swore at the nmsicians, and en- joined them on pain of his displea- sure to resume " Over the water to Charley." The orchestra obeyed, and a repetition of the previous scene ensued. At, length the duke told the amazed Heidegger that the king was in a violent passion ; and that he had better go to his majesty and beg pardon for the musicians, who were evidently mad. Heidegger accordingly approached the king, and was about to make a humble apology, when the counterfeit advanced, and protested that the obnoxious tune had not been played at his instigation. " It is clearly," said he, pointing to the true Heidegger, " the work of that devil in my likeness." Heidegger, who had not seen his imitator before, stared, turned pale, and could not utter a word. The counterfeit was then directed to terminate the hoax by taking off his mask. The king felt very indignant at being opposed, as he frequently was, by his ministers, and sometimes obstinately persisted in having his own way. Per- ceiving that the name of a general, whom he admired, was omitted in a list of promotions, his majesty inquired for what reason that particular person's name had been so unaccountably passed over. " The man is mad," replied the minister. " Oh! is he?" said the king, " then let him be advanced and em- ployed, so that he may have an oppor- tunity of biting a few of my other generals." A somewhat similar instance of the king's opposition to the wishes of his ministers, with regard to a military pro- motion, has been recorded. An officer, named Otway, having the rank of colo- nel in the service, was advised by his friends to present a statement to the king, complaining that several junior colonels had been appointed to regi- ments over his head. He accordingly employed the chaplain of his corps to draw up the necessary petition to his majesty, which concluded with the usual words, " And your petitioner shall ever pray," &c. The colonel objected to this phrase, and said to the chaplain, " You have ended the petition as though it 42 THE ROYAL FAMILY. were your own." The chaplain in vain contended that the conclusion was re- gular ; the colonel insisting that, as the petition came from a soldier, and not a clergyman, fight ought to be substi- tuted for pray ; and it was eventually forwarded to" the king with this ter- mination: "And your petitioner shall ever fight," &c. The king was much pleased at the oddity of the expression, and soon afterwards gave Otway a va- cant regiment, which the ministers were exceedingly desirous of bestowing on one of their supporters in parliament. We find another case, in which a brave soldier was, perhaps, as much indebted to his ludicrous ignorance, as to his services, for the king's favour. At the termination of that glorious battle, in which Wolfe expired in the arms of victory, a gallant Scot, named Donald Macpherson, sat down by a heap of the enemy who had fallen victims to his prowess, and after wiping the perspira- tion from his sunburnt brow, regaled his nostrils with a hearty pinch of snufF. The king having heard of the circum- stance, on the regiment's return from Canada, expressed a desire to see the valiant old highlander, who was ac- cordingly taken to court by his captain, and introduced to the royal presence. The king graciously presented his hand for Donald to kiss ; but the old soldier, being totally ignorant of the ceremonies of a palace, thought his majesty wanted snuff, and thrust his horn into the royal hand, to which he gave a very hearty squeeze. The sovereign laughed, took a pinch from the horn in great good humour, and, as it appears, without asking any one's leave, made Donald a lieutenant, with liberty to retire on half-pay for life. A young lieutenant of marines, who had lost both his legs at the siege of Fort St. Philip, having in vain memorialized for some addition to his half-pay, at length represented his case to the king, who not only presented him with £500 smart money, but insisted on his being granted a pension of jg200 a year. In the contest of obstinacy between the king and his " faithful servants," the latter, however, were frequently successful. A lucrative office having become vacant, liis majesty promised it to one of his personal friends ; but his ministers determined that it should be given to an adherent of their own. The king was made acquainted with their resolution, and when Lord Chesterfield went to him with the blank appoint- ment for the purpose of asking, as a matter of form, in whose name it should be filled up, the king exclaimed pet- tishly, " Give it to Belzebub, if you like." " Would it please your majesty," askd the earl, taking up a pen, " that the document should be addressed as usual, — ' To our trusty and well-be- loved cousin?' " The king smiled, and Lord Chesterfield, who had come pre- pared for an angry discussion, carried his point without difficulty. Soon after the rebellion, the king felt so disgusted at the conduct of the minis- try, who, he stated, held him completely in thraldom, that he solicited the Earl of Bath's assistance in re-modelling the administration. The earl, rather re- luctantly, consented, and some steps were taken to further the sovereign's wishes; but the ministers, having ob- tained information of what had trans- pired, before the king's plans were matured, threw him into a state of the greatest consternation by unexpectedly resigning their offices. In a few days they were recalled, although the king, whom circumstances had placed in their power, felt so indignant against them, that he begged the Earl of Bath to ex- pose the whole transaction in a pam- phlet. " Rub it in their noses," said he, " and if it be possible, make them ashamed." An accoimt of the affair was accordingly written, but never published, the manuscript having been, either accidentally or designedly, burnt by the author. In 1748, the war,from which England had derived neither honour nor ad- vantage, was terminated by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The long enmity that had subsisted between George the Second and his son Frederick, Prince of Wales, was terminated by the death of the latter in 1751. The king was playing cards when he received intelligence of this event, and we have two opposite ver- sions of his behaviour on the occasion. According to one of them, he evinced no emotion or grief, but rose calmly from his seat, and leaning over the cliair of Lady Yarmouth, whispered to her in GEORGE THE SECOND. 43 German, " Freddy is dead." Accord- ing to the other account, he approached the countess, looking extremely pale and shocked, and said to her, in a low- tone, " II est mort !" Walpole states, that, a few days after, the king went to see the princess, when a chair of state being placed for him he refused it, and sat down on the couch by her side and wept with her. His subsequent be- haviour to the princess, was, on the whole, much more kind and affectionate than probably she had anticipated. Al- though no precedent existed for the appointment of a female to the regency, on the death of a reigning sovereign, during the minority of the heir-ap- parent, and notwithstanding the cha- grin of the king's son, William, Duke of Cumberland, who appears to have fully expected the important trust would have been confided to him, one of the earliest measures of government, after Frederick's demise, was a legislative enactment, by which the princess dow- ager was named regent, in the event of the king's demise before the heir- apparent should have attained the age of royal majority. In 1755, serious disputes occurred between Great Britain and France, re- lative to their respective possessions in Canada, which produced hostilities be- tween the two nations in the following year. Although the fall of Majorca, the lamentable affair of Admiral Byng, the capitulation of an Hanoverian army, which had been placed under the com- mand of the Duke of Cumberland, and the consequent loss of the electorate, were very inglorious to this country, the war, at length, under the spirited admi- nistration of the great Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, was prosecuted with such vigour, that the British arms were triumphant in every quarter of the globe. France lost her power in the East Indies; Guadaloupe and Senegal were taken ; the battle of Minden, in some measure, retrieved the national honour in Germany ; an expedition, under the gallant Wolfe, was eminently successful at Quebec, and the whole of Canada yielded to the British troops. On account of his long opposition to government, which had rendered him obnoxioustotheking, Pitt found it rather a difficult task to achieve his ascendancy; and the more so as George the Second had conceived a very early and violent antipathy to that great minister's nomi- nal coadjutor, the Duke of Newcastle ; particularly on account of his grace's deficiency in method and exactness, which the king considered as cardinal virtues in a statesman. He said, on one occasion, to a confidant, " You see I am compelled to take the Duke of Newcastle as my minister, who is not fit to be chamberlain in the smallest court of Germany." At one period, while his grace was in power, many serious complaints were made relative to the settlement of public accounts. The king, at length, became acquainted with the alleged grievances, and warmly remonstrated with the duke on his carelessness and inattention ; pro- testing that he was determined, at once for his own satisfaction and that of his aggrieved people, to look into the papers himself. " Is your majesty in earnest ?" asked the duke. The king replied in the affirmative, and the duke promised to send him the accounts. At an early hour on the following morning, the king was disturbed by an extraordinary noise in the court-yard of his palace, and, looking out of the window, he perceived a cart or a wagon laden with books and papers, which, on inquiry, he found had been sent by the Duke of Newcastle. Shortly afterwards the minister himself appeared, and the king asked him what he meant by sending a wagon-load of stationery to the palace. " These are the docu- ments relative to the public accounts," replied his grace, " which your majesty insisted on examining ; and there is no other mode of forwarding them except by carts or wagons. I expect a second load will arrive in a few minutes." " Then, my lord duke," replied the king, " you may make a bonfire of them for me. I would rather be a galley-slave than go through the rub- bish ; so away with it, and countermand the cart which you say is coming ; but pray let me hear no more complaints on this subject." On another occasion, he sent, in a fury, for the duke's brother, Mr. Pelham, and inquired, in a coarse and angry manner, why the civil list had not been paid. Pelham replied that he had been compelled to use the money for some public and more important purpose. 44 THE ROYAL FAMILY. The king, however, would not admit of this excuse ; and swore, if the arrears were not instantly paid, he would get another minister. " I am determined," said he, " not to be the only master in my dominions who does not pay his servants' wages." One day, it appears, that he was actually without a shilling in his pocket ; for it is related that a half idiot labourer, while the king was inspecting the progress of some repairs at Kensington, having asked his ma- jesty for something to drink, the king, although oftended, was yet ashamed to refuse the fellow, and put his hand into the usual receptacle of his cash ; but, to his surprise and confusion, found it empty. " I have no money," said he, angrily. " Nor I either," quoth the labourer ; " and for my part, I can't think what has become of it all." The latter years of George the Second's life were passed as regularly as clock-work. At night he had cards in the apartment of his daughters, the Princesses Amelia and Caroline, with Lady Yarmouth, two or three of the late queen's ladies, and as many of the most favoured officers of his own house- hold. Every Saturday in summer, he carried that imiform party, but without his daughters, to dine at Richmond. They went in coaches and six, in the middle of the day, with the heavy horse-guards kicking up the dust before them, dined, walked an hour in the garden, and returned in the same dusty parade ; and his majesty fancied him- self the most lively prince in Europe. But although willing to be considered gallant to the last, it seems the king was too wise to take a young wife in his old days. When he was in Ger- many, in 1755, the Duchess of Bruns- wick Wolfenbiittel waited on him with her unmarried daughters; the elder of whom was so handsome and accom- plished that the king wished his grand- son, the heir-apparent, to marry her; who, however, influenced by his mother, dccliiied the match. The king, on this occasion, told Lord Waldegrave, with great eagerness, that had he been only twenty years younger, she should not have been subjected to a refusal from the Prince of Wales, for he would at once have made her Queen of England. Shortly before the king's deatli, an embarrassing accident happened at court. The Duchess of Hamilton, pre- viously the beautiful Miss Gunning, was presented to his majesty on her mar- riage: the king was greatly pleased with her natural elegance and artlessness of manner, and indulged in a long con- versation with her, in the course of which he inquired what striking public sights she had witnessed. " Oh !" said the thoughtless duchess, " I have seen so much, that there is only one sight in the world which I wish to behold, and that is a coronation." The lady was not conscious of the slip she had made, till the king took her hand, and, with a sigh, exclaimed, " I apprehend you have not long to wait ; you will soon have your desire." On the 25th of October, 1760, he rose about his usual hour of seven, without any apparent indisposition. He called his page, drank his chocolate, and in- quired the direction of the wind, as if anxious for the arrival of the foreign mails : he then opened the window, and said he would walk in the gardens. This passed while the page attended him at breakfast ; but shortly after leaving the room, the page heard a deep sigh, im- mediately followed by a heavy fall, and returning hastily, found the king had dropped from his seat, as if in attempt- ing to ring the bell ; he said faintly, " Call Amelia," and then expired. He was instantly raised, and laid upon the bed; the princess came as quickly as possible, and was told, on entering the room, that her father was no more ; but being a little deaf, she did not under- stand what was said ; she, therefore, ran up to the bed-side, and stooped tenderly over the king, thinking he might wish to speak to her in a low voice, but then discovered, to her horror and astonish- ment, that he was dead. On opening the body, all the vital parts appeared to have been in a decaying state, but the immediate cause of his death was a rupture of the right ventricle of his heart. At his accession, he is described as having had a pleasing and expressive countenance, prominent eyes, and a Roman nose. In person he was well- proportioned, but below the middle size ; which circumstance, a popular ballad of the day, alluding to Richard, after- wards Lord Edgecumbc, who was very diminutive, thus notices: GEORGE THE SECOND, 45 When EHgecumbe spoke, the prince, in sport, Laugh'd at the merry elf; Rejoic'd to see within his court One shorter than himself. '* I'm glad," cried out the quibbling squire, ** IVIy loti-ness makes your highness /iiV/it)"." The character of George the Second requires no nicety of delineation : its main features are broad, and glaringly obvious. His abilities were scarcely above mediocrity. He was decidedly brave, but possessed a very limited portion of military skill. Incontinency was his predominant failing, but he never suffered his sexual attachments to interfere materially with the public interest. His love of uniformity was so remarkable, that Lord Hervey said of him, " He seems to think his having done a thing to-day an unanswerable reason for his doing it to-morrow." He neither felt nor affected the least admiration for art, science, or litera- ture. He occasionally attended the theatres, but his dramatic taste was contemptible. When he attended the representation of Richard the Third, although Garrick sujiported the princi- pal character, he thought the man who played the lord mayor was by far the best actor in the company ; and said repeatedly, during the latter part of the performance, to one of his attendants, " Will not dat lor mayor come again ? I like dat lor mayor; when will he come again i One night he went to see The Mayor of Garratt acted at the Haymarket Theatre : on alighting at the entrance, he was received by Foote, grotesquely dressed for the part of Major Sturgeon. Perceiving so extra- ordinary a figure bowing and stumping about before him, the king turned to his lord in waiting, and, with amaze- ment depicted in his looks, inquired who the man in regimentals was, and in what corps he served. Few men were more deeply impressed with the value of money, although he occasionally startled those about him, by being unexpectedly liberal, as in the cases of his donation to the university of Cambridge, and his submitting to the extortion of the Dutch inn-keeper. One evening, while passing by a closet in which wood was kept for the use of the bed-chamber, he dropped some guineas, one of which having rolled under the door, he said to the page in waiting, " We must get out this guinea : let us remove the fuel." In a short time, with the attendant's aid, he found tiie guinea, which, however, he gave to his fellow- labourer, as a reward for the exertions of the latter, in helping him to take the wood out of the closet, observing, " I do not like any tiling to be lost, but I wish every man to receive the value of his work." He was strongly attached to etiquette ; but on many occasions, as in the pre- ceding and following instances, he ap- pears to have liberated himself, al- most unconsciously, and with amusing oddity, from its trammels. One after- noon, a person who had been passing an hour or two with some of the royal servants, in an upper apartment of the palace, on his return, slipping down a flight of steps, burst open the door of a room at the foot of them, with such involuntary violence, tliat he fell, com- pletely stunned, on the floor. When he recovered his senses, he found him- self extended on the carpet, in a snug apartment, under the hands of a neat little old gentleman, who washed his head very carefully with a towel, and applied sticking-plaster to the cuts wliich he had received in his fall. When this was done, the little okl gentleman picked up the intruder's wig and placed it properly on the head of its owner ; who now rose, and was about to express his gratitude for the kindness which had been shewn to him, but his benefactor, with a dignified frown, pointed to the door, and the man retired in amazement The room into which he had fallen was the royal closet ; and the good Samaritan, it is scarcely necessary to add, was the king himself. Of tlie hastiness of George the Second's temper, several examples have been given : but it was never, perhaps, more ludicrously displayed than in his first interview with Dr. Ward. The king, having been afflicted for some time with a violent pain in his thumb, for wliich his regular medical attendants could afford him no relief, he sought the assistance of Ward, whose famous pills and drops were then in great es- timation. The doctor, being aware of the king's complaint, went to the palace, at the time commanded, with, it is said, a specific concealed in the hollow of his hand. On being admitted to his ma- 46 THE ROYAL FAMILY. jesty's presence, he, of course, proceeded to exaniine the roj'al thumb ; which he suddenly wrenched with such violence, that the king called him a cursed rascal, and condescended to kick his shins. He soon found, however, that the doctor, had as it were, magically relieved his thumb from pain : and so grateful did he feel to Ward, whom he now termed his Es- culapius, that he prevailed on him to accept a handsome carriage and horses, and shortly afterwards, presented his nephew, who subsequently became a general, with an ensigncy in the guards. Like his father, George the Second had a strong predilection for his con- tinental dominions ; which was some- times thwarted, and occasionally taken advantage of, by his ministers. Lord Granville, wishing to procure the ap- pointment of Dr. Taylor to the resi- dentiary of St. Paul's, obtained his point with ease, notwithstanding the king started some scruples at first, by affirm- ing, that the doctor's learning was cele- brated all over Germany ! In a conversation with Waldegrave, the king said that his British subjects were angry at the partiality he displayed towards the electorate ; although he desired nothing more to be done for Hanover, than what we are bound to do for any country whatever, when it was exposed to danger entirely on our account. The king added the following among other curious remarks, on this occasion : he allowed the English con- stitution to be a good one, and defied any man to show that he had infringed it in a single instance ; but that as to our laws, we passed nearly a hundred every session, which seemed made only to afford us the pleasure of breaking them. SOPHIA DOROTHEA, QUEEN OF PRUSSIA. This princess, daughter of George the First, by the unfortunate heiress of Zell, was born in 1684, and, though wholly neglected by her father, became, under the care of her grand-mother, the Electress Sophia, a highly accom- plished and amiable woman. She was married on the 28th of November, 1706, to Frederick William, of Brandenburg, who shortly after became King of Prussia. The queen was by no means a happy wife, or a joyful mother. Her children, one of whom was Frederick the Great, were separated from her in their in- fancy ; and, like their mother, lived in constant dread of their father's stupid and capricious tyranny. This parsimo- nious barbarian scarcely allowed his consort a sufficient income for her sub- sistence : so that, but for a paltry al- though most acceptable allowance, of £800 per annum, privately transmitted to her by George the Second, she would have been destitute of all the comforts and even many of the necessaries of life. Never, says Voltaire, were suljjects poorer, or king more rich. According to that author f whose statements, however, must be taKen cum grano salts), he bought up the estates of his nobility at a despicable price ; farmed out his lands to tax-gatherers, each of whom held the double post of collector and judge: so that if a tenant did not pay his rent on the day it became due, the collector put on his judicial robes, and condemned the defaulter in double the debt; and if the collector and judge did not pay the king his arrears in full, on the last day of the month, the following morn- ing his majesty mulcted him in the same ratio, as he had mulcted the landholder. The king had an ambassa- dor at the Hague, who, having cut down and used for fuel, some of the trees in the garden of Houslardick, which then belonged to the royal house of Prussia, his most gracious sovereign, as he was informed by his next despatches, stopped his year's salary to defray the damage. The poor ambassador, in a fit of despair, cut his throat with the only razor he had ; but his life was saved by an old valet, who happened to come to his assistance. The king had a hundred and twenty millions of crowns in the cellars of his palace ; his apart- ments were filled with articles of mas- sive silver; and he gave to his queen, in charge only be it observed, a cabinet, FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES. 47 the contents of which were all gold. When he took his walk through the town, after having reviewed his re- giment of guards, many of whom were seven feet high, every body fled at his approach. If he met a woman in the street he would tell her to begone home, and at the same time give her a kick, a box on the ear, or a few strokes on the shoulders with his cane. His son, wearied with his brutality, determined to quit the country ; but parental eco- nomy had deprived him of the means of travelling, even as the son of an English tradesman; and he was obliged to borrow a few hundred ducats for his intended journey. Two young men, one named Kat, and the other Kelt, were to have accompanied him ; but the king obtained information of the project, and arrested the trio. Kelt afterwards es- caped; but Kat was executed, and the prince's head was held outof a window, by some grenadiers, at his father's command, in order that he might be obliged to behold the melancholy spec- tacle. On another occasion, the king oi-dered the daughter of a schoolmaster, for whom his son had affected a pas- sion, to be conducted round Potzdam, where she resided, by the common hangman, and then whipped in the prince's presence. After having regaled him with this spectacle, he sent him to a citadel in the midst of a marsh, where he kept him for six months in a sort of dungeon, without a single servant; and then graciously permitted him to have a soldier for an attendant. Suspecting that his daughter Wilhelmina was concerned in the prince's intended elopement, he proceeded to kick her out of a large window, which reached from the ceiling to the floor ; and her mother, (the subject of our present article,) who was present at this achieve- ment, with great difficulty saved her, by catching hold of her petticoats. The princess, continues Voltaire, received a contusion on her left breast, which mark of her father's affection she preserved through life, and did me the honour of permitting me to see it. The queen survived her brutal hus- band ; and in the aftectionate and dutiful solicitude of her son, whom his father once thought of beheading, as Voltaire states, because he wrote verses, she found many consolations for the evening of her days. Her health had never been robust, yet she lingered on through many years of great bodily and menial suffering, till the spring of 1757, when she expired in the seventy-third year of her age. Formed to be the charm and grace of an amiable and polished circle, she was consigned to the arms of a savage, who, totally insensible to her fascina- tions, and incapable of appreciating her fine qualities, treated her so unjustly, that it may with truth be said, there was scarcely a greater slave in Prussia than its queen. FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES, AND HIS CONSORT AUGUSTA. Frederick lewis, eldest son of George the Second, was born at Hanover, on the 20th of January, 1707. Great pains were apparently taken to teach him the English language, but he was by no means well educated. His morals were so wretchedly neglected, that in childhood, he was remarkable for treachery and deceit; and while yet a youth, drank, gambled, and even kept mistresses. One day, says Wal- pole, when the prince was but a mere boy, his governor was complaining of him : the queen, whose way, as the king said, was to excuse him, said, " Ah ! je m'imagine que ces sont des tours de pages." The governor replied, " Pliit a Dieu que ces fussent des tours de pages ! Ces sont des tours de laquais et de coquins." When this hopeful youth became a man, we find him, on one occasion, exultingly exclaiming, " I have just nicked Doddington out of £5,000, and he has no chance of ever getting it again." Nearly all the vices of his younger days seem to have grown up with him: and his laxity of principle, even at mature years, was so evident, 48 THE ROYAL FAMILY. tliat his friends have, upon occasion, been compelled to vindicate his heart at the expense of his head. In 1717, he was created Duke of Gloucester ; in the following year, he was installed a knight of the garter; and in 1726, he became Duke of Edinburgh. In the twenty- second year of his age, he first came to this country, and shortly after his arrival, was made Earl of Ches- ter, Prince of Wales, and a member of the privy council. He soon became exceedingly popular; but lost his credit at court, in proportion as he gained the good will of the public. He evidently felt no great veneration for his parents; whom he thwarted, rather than obeyed : and instead of supporting the king's government, betrayed a strong bias towards the opposition, of which, he eventually became the head. Soon after he came to England, pro- posals were made for his marriage with the Princess Royal of Prussia, but her father objected to the terms offered, and the negotiation ended in a personal difference between the two monarchs. No great period elapsed before the prince was on the brink of a private union with a lady of rank, in this country. The old Duchess of Marl- borovigh, knowing that he was in great want of money, and felt no re- pugnance to giving the king offence, offered him the hand of her favourite grand-daughter. Lady Diana Spencer, with a fortune of £100,000. The prince consented to the proposal; a day was fixed for his being secretly united to Lady Diana, at the duchess's lodge, in the great park at Windsor ; and the marriage would, in all probability, have taken place, had not Sir Robert Wal- pole discovered the prince's intentions, in time to prevent him from carrying them into effect. In February, 173fi, a message was sent, by two privy-councillors, by the king to his son, with whom he was then at variance, proposing a match between the prince, and Augusta, daughter of Frederick the Second, Duke of Saxe Gotlia. This princess was born on tlie lS)tii of November, 1709, and was said to be possessed of very superior mental endowvnents and considerable beauty of person. The prince having ex- pressed his satisfaction at the proposed alliance, the necessary preliminaries were adjusted ; and on the 25th of April, the intended bride arrived at St. James's palace, where the prince paid her a visit. The next day, he dined with her at Greenwich ; and on the following morning, her highness, it is stated, came in his majesty's coach, drawn by six horses, from Greenwicli to Lambeth ; and was brought from thence to St. James's, in the queen's chair. Her highness was received by their majesties with extreme tender- ness. She dined with the prince and the rest of the royal family. At eight o'clock the procession began to the chapel, where the marriage was so- lemnised by the Bishop of London. Supper was served, at ten o'clock, in the great state ball-room, which was crowded with spectators. About twelve o'clock, it is added, the illustrious pair were put to bed, when the king did the bride the usual honours, and company were admitted to see them. Early in the session of 1737, Pul- teney, afterwards Earl of Bath, then the most violent antagonist of his former friend, the minister, Sir Robert Walpole, moved an address, in the house of commons, for increasing the heir-apparent's income to £100,000 per annum, out of the civil list. The mo- tion was opposed with great determi- nation by ministers, as an infraction on the king's prerogative, and it was ne- gatived, on a division, by a majority of twenty. This measure considerably in- creased the king's displeasure against his son ; who, on the other hand, felt highly exasperated, that out of a civil list of £800,000, his father should only allow him £50,000 per annum. Shortly after- wards, Bubb Doddington advised him to apply to parliament for an additional grant; but the prince declared, that the people had done enough for his family already ; and, that he would rather beg his bread from door to door, than be a further charge to them. The unpardonable absurdity of the prince, on the birth of his first child, Augusta, led to a positive rupture be- tween his royal highness and the king. He brought the princess, in the middle of the night, and when she was in actual labour, from Hampton Court to St. James's palace, where she was put into an unprepared bed, for which the prince and Lady Archibald Hamilton F R i: D E R I C K , PRINCE OF WALES. 49 were obliged to air sheets. Early the next morning, the queen visited her daughter-in-law, and asked Lady Hamilton " How she dared to bring away the princess in that manner ?" Upon which, her ladyship turned to the prince, and said, "You see, sir! I told you it would be laid upon me." The prince made no apology, nor did he even utter a word to his mother; but when he conducted her to her coach, finding a crowd had assembled at the gate, he kneeled down in the dirt, and humbly kissed her hand. A few months atterwards. when on her death-bed, she declared that she would not insult his father, to whom he had acted most iindutifully, by either pardoning or even receiving him into her presence. The king's anger on the occasion was so great, that he sent the prince a message, stigmatising his conduct as having been, for some time, void of all real duty; intimating also that he should not reside in the palace, until he withdrew his confidence from those by whom he had for some time past been advised; and commanding him to quit St. James's as soon as the princess could with safety be removed. The prince, in consequence of this mandate, retired with his family to Kew, and afterwards resided for some time at Cliefden and Norfolk-house. In 1742. Seeker, then Bishop of Lon- don, was directed to acquaint the prince, that if his royal highness would write such a letter as might be consistent with his majesty's honour to receive, he and all who were in his confidence should be kindly received at court; £50,000 per annimi should be added to his revenue ; £200,000 should be granted to pay his debts, and every ar- rangement made to give him satisfac- tion. The prince immediately replied. That he had the utmost duty for the king, and whenever he thought fit to admit him to his presence, he would throw himself at his majesty's feet, without insisting on any terms ; but that while Sir Robert Walpole ma- naged affairs, he would take no part in them ; for he considered Sir Robert as a bar between the king and himself. " Indeed," added the prince, " I take this message to come from him, and not from my father." Sir Robert soon after resigned; the prince's friends immediately took office ; and we find it recorded, under date of the 17th of February, 1742, that, " as the first happy eflfect in the change of ministry, the Prince of "Wales, on this day, waited on the king at St. James's, and was received in the most gracious and affectionate manner ; on which oc- casion there was a very splendid court ; and a guard was immediately ordered to attend his royal highness at Carlton- house." This reconciliation was, how- ever, by no means cordial : the father and son met, indeed, on a few great occasions, but there was neither warmth nor sincerity in their intercourse, and they soon relapsed into their former state of mutual disgust. The prince obtained almost as much popularity by patronising authors and wits, as he did by quarrelling with the king, and countenancing an opposition to tiie ministry. When the Rambler appeared, he sent some persons of his court, to ascertain from Cave, the book- seller, the name of its author, towards whom he expressed a desire of extend- ing his protection. He gave Tindal a gold medal worth forty guineas; honoured Pope with a complimentary visit; and sent Glover, the author of Leonidas, a bank-note for £500, to extricate him from some embarrass- ments which prevented him from pay- ing his usual visits to the little court of his royal highness, at Leicester-house. Nor was he merely a patron of men of letters, having made some attempts at authorship himself. It is asserted by Seward that the prince actually wrote a piece, called " "The History of Prince Titi," which was printed in 173fi. A French copy of the work appeared in the same year, which lias been said, we know not with what truth, to have been the original. The prince, it is said, had placed his manuscript for correction in the hands of Ralph, the historian, among whose posthumous papers it was found by that gentle- man's executors. There exists little doubt that he did, on some occadons, indulge in lite- rary composition ; his attempts, how- ever, if we may judge from the follow- ing specimen, (a poetical address to the princess,) were not exceedingly successful : — 50 THE ROYAL FAMILY. 'Tis not the liquid brightness of those ej-es, That swim with pleasure and delight ; Nor those heavenly arches which arise O'er each of them, to shade their light : Tis not that hair which plays with every wind, Axid loves to wanton round thy face ; Now straying round the forehead, now behind Retiring with insidious grace : Tis not that lovely range of teeth so white, As new-slK>rn sheep, equal and fair ; Nor e'en that gentle smile, the heart's delight, W'itii wbicll no smile could e'er compare : 'Tis not that chin so round, that-neck so fine. Those breasts that swell to meet my love. That easy sloping waist, that form divine. Nor aught below, uor aught above; Tis not the living colours over each. By nature's finest pencil wrought. To shame the full blown rose, and blooming pca^h. And mock the happy painter's thought : No, — 'tis that gentleness of mind, that love So kindly answering my desire ; That grace with wiiicli you look, and speak, and move. That thus has set my soul on fire- At the time the prince paid these com- pliments to, his wife, he was living in adultery, to her knowledge, with more than one mistress. Among his favor- ites were Lady Archibald Hamilton, who is said to have been neither young nor handsome within his memory ; Miss Vane, who had no other charms than being a maid of honour ; and Lady Middlesex, who was very short, plain, and yellow. His chief passion, says Walpole, was women ; but, like tlie rest of his race, bea'.uy was not a necessary ingredient. He was, how- ever, in the same author's opinion, notwithstanding his gross infidelity, a very good husband ! A French gentleman, also, in a letter to a friend, which has been printed, unaccountably testifies to tlie connubial excellence of the prince. The writer also speaks higidy of tiie tenderness dis- played, by his royal highness, towards the young princes and princesses. " I have met him," he continues, " twenty times in his chaise, with one child before him, whom he caressed as much as if this had been an only one ; and wiien,aftera short absence, he returned to his family, his embraces wt-re often mixed with tears. He relied on the affection of the people for the safety of his p'-MSiin, walking the streets un- guarded, and only followed by a couple of servants. In tliis way, he visited va- rious manufactories, where he liberally rewarded the workmen. Sometimes, in rowing-matches on the river, he would distribute the prizes with his own hand ; he would olten converse familiarly with the fishermen, on matters belong- ing to their business, rewarding them handsomely for their industry. He would enter, uncercinoniously, into the hut of a labourer, neither^ disdainiiig to sit down with the family, nor to partake of their humble repast ; but informing himself of their occupations, and relieving theii wants as for as lay hi his power. The following instance of his goodness, I witnessed myself: — being in the park one morning, at the moment the prince entered his chair, a ragged soldier approached it : the prince did not see him till the chair- men had taken him up ; biu then, per- ceiving the cripple, he ordered them to stop. ' Where did you lose your arm, my friend ?' said he. ' At Fontenoy.' ' You look pale ; are you in bad health?' 'Yes, sir; since the loss of my arm, I have remained so feeble, that the least labour throws me into a fever.' ' And why have you not ap- plied to be put on the list of out-pen- sioners?' ' 1 have been promised that ; but, wanting a friend, many less mise- rable have been preferred before me.' J had kept my eyes on the prince, and could perceive his countenance express the most lively sensibility. Having ordered his gentleman to give the poor fellow four guineas, he said, ' My friend, come and see me, and I will endeavour to get you into Chelsea.'" The circumstances related in this letter, if true, are highly creditable to the prince. .Several other instances are recorded of his alleged kindness and generosity to the distressed ; but, on the whole, his character was by no means :miiable. He affected, for it can scarcely be supposed that he felt, a great jealousy for the liberties of parliament. I'o a deputation which waited on him, for the purpose of soliciting him to support a clause of the Tything bill, in favour of the Quakers, he is said to have delivered the following answer : — " As I am a friend to liberty in general, and to toleration in particular, I wish you may meet with all proper favour ; but, for myself, I never gave my vote in parliament ; and to influence my friends, or direct my servants, in theirs. FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES. 51 does not become my station. To leave them entirely to their own consciences and understandings, is a rule I have hitherto prescribed to myself, and pur- pose through life to observe." " May it please the Prince of Wales," rejoined Andrew Pitt, who was at the head of the deputation, " I am greatly affected with thy excellent notions of liberty, and am more pleased with the answer thou hast given us, than if thou liadst granted our request." As a striking contrast to this anec- dote, it is stated, that the prince one day said of Lord Doneraile, who had not conducted himself in parliament to the satisfaction of his royal high- ness, " Does he think I will support him. unless he does as I would have him ? Does not he consider that who- ever may be mv ministers, I must be king?" He was easily accessible to flattery, and passionately fond of gaming; an affected admirer of learning; decidedly generous, but contemptibly insincere. Walpole satirically says of him, that he resembled his pattern, the Black Prince, in nothing but in dying before his father. It appears th it he v.'as de- sirous of acquiring a martial reputa- tion, and solicited the command of the king's troops during the rebellion, but rather through jealousy of his brother, the Duke of Cumberland, than true courage. During the siege of Carlisle, he caused a representation in paste of its citadel to be served up at his table with the dessert, which his royal high- ness, at the head of the maids of honour, bombarded with sugar-plumbs. Kis death took place on the 20th of March, 1751. On the 12th of that month, although he had previously been ill of a pleurisy, the prince went to the house of lords ; but he caught a cold and relapsed during the same night. On the day of his death he had a violent fit of coughing, and, at length, laid his hand upon his breast, and said, "Je sens la mart !" The princess, who was in the room, ran towards him, and found that he had already expired. The cause of his death was the break- ing of an imposthume, which had been occasioned by the blow of a tennis-ball. Soon after his decease, the following proposed epitaph for his monument was anonymously circulated:— Here lies Fred, W ho was alive, and is dead. Had it been his father, I had much rather ; Had it been his brother, Still better than another; Had it been his sister, No one would have missed her ; Had it been the whole generation. Still tietter ibr the nation ; IJut since 'tis only Fred, Who «as alive, and is de.ad, There's no more to be said. The violent spirit of party, according to Bubb Doddington (Lord Melcombe). was displayed even at the prince's fu- neral. " The whole bedchamber were ordered to attend from ten in the morn- ing till the interment, but there was not the attention to order the board of green cloth to provide them a bit of bread ; and these gentlemen, of the first rank and distinction, in discharge of tlieir last sad duty to a loved and loving mas- ter, were forced to bespeak a great cold dinner from a common tavern in the neighbourhood ; at three o'clock, in- deed, they vouchsafed to think of a dinner, and ordered one ; but the dis- grace was complete — the tavern dinner was paid for and given to the poor." The princess, of whom Walpole said, she had never said a foolish thing, nor done a disobliging one, since her arrival, though placed in a very diiScult situ- ation. — young, uninstructed, and be- sieged by jarring interests — was, at the death of her husband, already themothei of eight children, and expected in a few months to give birth to a ninth. She remained for four hours in the room, after her royal husband's decease, be- fore she could be convinced that he was, in reality, dead. Her attendants put her to bed at six in the morning, l>ut she rose again at eight, and burnt all the prince's private papers. The people evinced great commiser- ation for the widow and her orphans ; and George the Second treated them with unexpected kindness. The prin- cess was made guardian of her eldest son, in case of the king's demise during the young prince's minority ; and in November, 1752, on her re-appearance in public, she received the same ho- nours as had been paid to the queen during her majesty's life. Yet it may be reasonably doubted, whether the king felt entirely satisfied with her ma- nagement (>f the young heir-apparent, 52 THE ROYAL FAMILY. who was kept in positive seclusion, at Leicester-house, and entirely under the dominion of the princess dowager and her confidential friend, the Earl of Bute ; whose extraordinary intimacy with her royal liighness is thus spoken of by the gossipping Walpole: " It had already been whispered, that the assi- duities of Lord Bute at Leicester-house, and his still more frequent attendance in the gardens at Kew, and Carlton- house, were less addressed to the Prince of Wales than to his mother. The eager- ness of the pages of the back stairs to let her know whenever Lord Bute ar- rived, and some other symptoms, con- tributed to dispel the ideas that had been conceived of the rigour of her widowhood. On the other hand, the favoured personage, naturally osten- tatious of his person, and of haughty carriage, seemed by no means desirous of concealing his conquest. His bows grew more theatric ; his graces con- tracted some meaning ; and the beauty of his leg was constantly displayed in the eyes of the poor captivated princess. When the late Prince of Wales aSected to retire into gloomy allies with Lady Middleton, he used to bid the princess walk with Lord Bute. As soon as the prince was dead, they walked more and more, in honour of his memory. The young Prince of Wales lived shut up with his mother and Lord Bute, and must have thrown them into some difficul- ties ; their connection was not easily reconcileable to the devotion which they had infused into the mind of the prince ; the princess could not wish him always present, and yet dreaded his being out of her sight. His brother Edward, who received a thousand mortifications, was seldom suffered to be with him ; and Lady Augusta, now a woman, was, to facilitate some privacy for the princess, dismissedfrom supping with hermother, and sent back to cheesecakes, with her little sister, l^lizabeth, on pretence, that meat at night would fatten her too much." The latter years of her life were embittered by the afflictions of her fa- vourite daughter, the premature death of her youngest son, and tlie abuse that was heaped upon her, by the public and the press, after her son's accession. Popular clamour ran so exceedingly high against her, on account of the influence which she was supposed to possess over the young king's mind, that her residence was threatened with destruction, by a mob. On this occa- sion, even at a moment wlien the horrid yells of the populace rendered her al- most inaudible, she is reported to have said, " How I pity these poor deluded people ! I hope they will know better by-and-by." For some time before her death, George the Third and his queen visited her every evening at eight o'clock; but when her illness became alarming, they went to her at seven, pretending they had mistaken the hour. On the night of the 8th of February, 1772, they remained with her until nine ; she talked to them as usual, and after their departure, said to one of her medical attendants, " I think I shall have a good night's rest." She expired, how- ever, at six o'clock on the following morning; and on the ICth of the same month, her remains were interred in Westminster Abbey. On account of the paucity of well- authenticated facts, relative to the con- duct of this princess, it is impossible to delineate her general character. She has been the subject of much adulation on the one hand, and bitter obloquy on the other. Serious accusations have been made against her, which have neither been satisfactorily substantiated nor disproved. It has been feebly ar- gued that her conduct with regard to her son's education, could not have been reprehensible, because, after his acces- sion, he treated her with extraordinary kindness. George the Third was, how- ever, far from an efficient judge of what constituted a good education ; and, had he been pre-eminently quali- fied to form a correct opinion on that subject, the filial love which he evinced towards his mother could scarcely be accepted as a proof that he approved of the manner in which he had been educated. Of her benevolence, no doubt exists : nor can it be denied that she was possessed of many good quali- ties. She gradually paid off, out of her own income, the heavy sums in which her husband was indebted at the time of his decease. Her temper was placid: and the consideration slie evinced for those about her, exceedingly laudable. Bishop Newton, her chaplain, states, ANNE, PRINCESS OF ORANGE. 53 that " the calmness and composure of her death, were farther proofs and at- testations of the goodness of her life ; and she died as she had lived, beloved and lamented most by those who knew her best." ANNE, PRINCESS OF ORANGE. The princess Anne, eldest daughter of George the Second, was born on the 22nd of October, 1709. From her childhood, she manifested a very im- perious temper; and, as she grew up, became remarkably proud and ambi- tious. One day, while yet very young, on being reproved by the queen for wishing she had no brothers, that she herself might succeed to the crown, she exclaimed, with energy, " I would die to-morrow, to be queen to-day !" In the year 1725, it is said that propo- sals for a marriage were made between Louis the Fifteenth and this princess, by the Duke of Bourbon, Regent of France ; who had then recently broken off' the intended union of the young king with a Spanish princess. The ofiVr was, however, very properly declined : for had it been accepted, the princess must have abjured the protestant faith, and the alUance would, decidedly, have irri- tated many of the warmest friends to the house of Brunswick in this country. It was subsequently proposed, that the heir of the house of Orange should be her husband. On this occasion, George the Second, being perfectly aware of that prince's great deformity, could not refrain from apprising her of the hideous ugliness of her intended bridegroom, and offered her permission to refuse his proposals. She replied that she would marry him if he were a baboon. " Well, then," said her fa- ther, " there is baboon enough for you." The prince's offer having been ac- cepted, about May, 1733, after much debate, £80,000 was voted by parlia- ment, as a marriage portion for the princess ; but in a mode which was thought very disrespectful, that sum being granted as one of the items in a general bill of supply, a clause of which, gave jglOjOOO to the distressed persons emigrating to Georgia. The prince arrived in the early part of November, at Somerset-house ; where, however, he was attacked by indisposition, and the marriage was consequently deferred. Many preparations had been made for the ceremony, and a boarded gallery, through wliich the procession was to pass, darkening the windows of the old Duchess of Marlborough, she observed, " That she wished the princess would take away her orange-chest." Early in March, 1734, the prince having recovered, visited various public places, and on the I4th of that month, was united to the princess royal. On this occasion, the prince is described, by the writers of the day, as having been dressed in a cloth of gold suit ; and the bride, in virgin robes of silver tissue, having a train six yards long, which was supported by ten dukes' and earls' daughters, all of whom where attired in robes of silver tissue. At twelve o'clock, the royal family supped in public. About two, the bride and bridegroom retired, and were afterwards seen by the nobility, sitting up in their bed-chamber, in rich undresses. The princess died of a quinsey, on the 11th of October, 1751, after an ill- ness of only three days. According to VV^alpole, although he was an absolute monster, his consort had been immo- derately jealous and fond of him. At his decease, she became gouvernante to her son : she received her father's letters of condolence and advice on the occasion, in the most haughty and in- sulting manner; nor did any part of her subsequent conduct evince either good sense or political wisdom. On the death of Queen Caroline, hoping to succeed to her majesty's influ- ence, the princess came from Holland, on pretence of ill health ; but the king, being aware of her plan, sent her to Bath as soon as she arrived, and pe- remptorily ordered her back to Hol- land, without suffering her to pass two nights in the metropolis. 54 THE ROYAL FAMILY. Her death took place on the 12th of January, 1759. During her last mo- ments, the aggrandisement of her family still occupied her Ihouglits, and she died the same ambitious and imperious creature that she had lived. Shortly before her final struggle, she caused to be laid before her, and signed, a con- tract for her daughter's marriage with the Prince of Nassau Walherg, and a letter to the states general, entreating their consent to the match. PRINCESS AMELIA SOPHIA. Amelia sophia eleonora, the second daughter of George the Se- cond, was born on the .30th of May, 1711. Although highly accomplished, she passed her life in celibacy, but, appar- enily, not without attachments. The Dukes of Grafton and Newcastle, it was believed, paid her great attention ; and, according to Walpole, the wooings of the former were so far from being dis- agreeable, that the princess and the duke hunted two or three times a week together; and on one occasion staid out unusually late, lost their attendants, and went together to a private house in Windsor Forest, to the great indignation of the queen, who, had she not been prevented by Sir Robert Walpole, would have made the king acquainted with the circumstance. No event of her life excited more in- terest than the dispute in which she involved herself by shutting Richmond Park, of which she was ranger. An action was brought against her by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood on this occasion, but the princess was par- tially successful on the trial of the cause. Proceedings having been re- newed, the princess, by advice of the attorney-general, allowed ladders over tlie walls. The people of Richmond were not, however, satisfied with this concession, but persisted in their suit, and, at length, succeeded in estabUshing their right to gates for passengers. On this, the princess, whose conduct had been very unconciliating throughout the affair, indignantly abandoned the rangership. She is described by Walpole as having been meanly inquisitive into what did not relate to her, and foolishly commu- nicative of what was below her to know ; impertinent even where she had no resentment, and insolent, although she had lost her beauty and acquired no powei-; but an excellent mistress to her servants, steady to her favourites, and nobly generous and charitable. Her manners and dress were ex- ceedingly masculine. It was her cus- tom to pass much time in her stables, particularly when any of the horses were ill. She wore a round hat, and a riding habit in the German fashion ; and if any credit may be attached to the following anecdote, her appearance, at one period of her life, must have been ex- traordinary for a person of her sex and rank : — George the Fourth, when Prince of Wales, in order to illustrate an obser- vation which he had made, that men frequently obtain credit for good deeds which they had never even thought of performing, stated, that one day he was accompanied, in a drive to Hagshot, by Lord Clermont; who, as it was rather cold, wore a white great coat and a kind of flannel hood, to protect his ear? and neck ; and that, thus arrayed, several persons on the road, mistaking his lordship for the Princess Amelia, ex- claimed, " What a good young man the prim'e is, thus to be the companion of his fathei's deaf old aunt, during her morning drives!" It appears that she was extremely short-sighted, as well as very deaf; but her conception was so quick, that she apjjeared to see and hear even better than other people. She rose early, and either stood or walked about the room while drinking her coffee or chocolate. Of cards she was passionately fond, and took an im- mense quantity of snufF. One evening, a general officer, in the public rooms at Hath, perceiving her box lying open on the table at which she sat, presumed to help himself out of it. The princess, PRINCESS ELIZABETH CAROLINE. who observed him, instantly signified her displeasure at his audacity, by commanding her attendant to throw the remaining contents of the box into the fire. She died on the 31st of October, 1786. PRIxVCESS ELIZABETH CAROLINE. This princess, the third daughter of George the Second, is described as hav- ing been one of the most excellent of women : her parents, to whom she was devotedly attached, are said to have placed such confidence in her veracity, that, on any disagreement occurring among their children, they were accus- tomed to say, " Send for Caroline, and then we shall know the truth." Pos- sessed, as she was, of high rank, emi- nent virtue, beauty of person, and at- tractive manners, this princess enjoyed but a very small portion of worldly happiness. Lord Hervey, whom Pope severely ridiculed under the appellations of " Sporus," and " Lord Fanny," suc- ceeded in making a deep impression on her heart, apparently for the pur- pose of forwarding his political views, or gratifying his vanity. On the death of that nobleman, to whose children the princess behaved with great kind- ness and generosity, she retired from the world, and prepared herself for death ; which she appears to have de- sired, rather than dreaded: for, when urged to comply "ith some request to which she was exceedingly averse, she said, " I would not do it to die ;" and when her last illness ended in a mor- tification, she exclaimed, " I was afraid I should not have died of this !" For many years she occupied two chambers in St. James's palace, which were so situate, that she could not see any external objects; and very few persons, except her own relatives, were per- mitted to visit her. She was exceed- ingly generous and charitable ; but, at the same time, so unostentatious, that many of the objects of her bounty, among whom were the wretched in- mates of the metropolitan gaols, did not know who was their benefactress, until the sudden cessation of their sup- plies, on the death of the princess, dis- covered the source from which they had flowed. She died, after a very protracted illness, on the 28th of December, 1787. WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, DUKE OF CUMBERLAND. This prince, third son of George the Second and Queen Caroline, was born on the 15th of April, 1721. The little we know of his childhood, is sufficient to prove that he began, at an early age, to manifest considerable decision of character. He was a favourite with his grandfather, George the First, at whose imperfect English, however, he frequently laughed, and whose blunders he delighted to ridicule. Having dis- pleased his mother one day, she sent him up to his chamber; and when he appeared again, she asked him what he had been doing. " Reading," re- plied the boy. — "Reading what?" — " The Scriptures."—" What part of the Scriptures?" — " That part where it is written, ' Woman ! what hast thou to do with me V " He was educated in the same manner as the heir-apparent ; over whom, however, he manifested a great superiority, as well in mind as manners. He had scarcely been eman- cipated from the nursery, when his ex- traordinary predilection for a military life became apparent : at a somewhat later period, although still in his boy- hood, he assumed a princely gravity of deportment ; and listened, with de- liberate attention, to the discussions of the senate and the council-chamber. While yet very yoiuig, he was created Duke of Cumberland ; and, in 1743, he 56 THE ROYAL FAMILY. made his first campaign, with George the Second, in Germany. He received a severe wound at Detcingen, where he behaved with great gallantry. In 1745, though scarcely twenty-four years old, and utterly deficient in ex- perience, he was imprudently placed at the head of a great army. Early in that year, Marshal Saxe, accompanied by the King of France and the Dauphin, having invested Tournay with an im- mense body of forces, the allies, com- manded by the Duke of Cumberland, assisted by Konigseg and Waldeck, though far inferior in number to the enemy, determined to make an effort for the relief of the place. On the 11th of May they accordingly commenced a resolute attack on the besiegers, who were encamped under cover of the village of Fontenoy. The enterprise was deemed a singular instance of mi- litary rashness. Such, however, was the intrepidity of the English and Hanoverian infantry, that the French, being driven beyond their lines, were in imminent danger of a defeat ; but the Dutch forces, which formed a part of the allied army, failing in an attempt on Fontenoy, and the duke not making a judicious use of his first success, by dividing the column of attack after he had broken the enemy's centre, Saxe was enabled to bring up his reserve ; and the allies were enclosed, so to speak, within a circle of fire, from some re- doubts which they had passed, masked batteries on their wings, and artillery which played upon them with fearful execution in front. Thus situated, it became less an object with them to contend for victory, than to effect a retreat; and after the most heroic ex- ertions, they succeeded in extricating themselves from their terrific position, but at a sacrifice of more than ten thousand men. Although the loss of the French was supposed to have been equally great, the defeat proved fatal to the allies, on whom the campaign closed in a manner exceedingly disastrous. The memory of the duke's misfor- tunes abroad was speedily obliterated by bis success against the rebels at home. Late in the summer, the young Pretender had landed in Scotland, obtained possession of Edinburgh, and proclaimed his father king of Great Britain ; at Preston-Pans, he had defeated Sir John Cope ; and, flushed with success, had penetrated far into the south of England, when the Duke of Cumberland assumed the command of the forces destined to oppose him. By a well- concerted manoeuvre, the rebels, while the duke's advanced guard was posted at Newcastle-under-line, caused him, says Chambers, to remain where he was, under an idea that they were about to meet him, and, thus got past him, on the road to London, so far as Derby; which, however, they speedily evacuated; and, followed by the duke, at the head of his dragoons, and a thousand mounted foot, commenced their retreat towards Scotland. In the neighbour- hood of Penrith, the rear-guard was overtaken by the royal troops, and a skirmish ensued, in which the latter were repulsed, with considerable loss. Carlisle, which had been garrisoned by the young Chevalier, soon afterwards surrendered ; and the duke, deeming his presence in the north no longer necessary, resigned his command to "Wade and Hawley, and on the 5th of January, 1746, returned to London. In less than a fortnight after his de- parture, the royal forces were routed by the insurgents, at Falkirk; and, on the 30th of the same month, the duke set out for Scotland, to resume the chief com- mand. After various movements of minor importance, a general and decisive en- gagement took place, at Cnlloden, on the 16th of April. During the preceding night, the rebels had made an attempt to surprise the royal camp; which, after a most harassing march, they were compelled to abandon, and returned, fatigued, disconsolate, and nearly half- famished, to their former position ; where the royal troops, who had set out in pursuit of them before day-break, ar- rived about one o'clock in the afternoon ; and Charles Edward, who might have retired, with safety, to a more secure post, and there refreshed his men, re- solved at once to hazard an engage- ment. The Highlanders, on this oc- casion, rushed to the charge with all the courage and impetuosity which they had displayed at Preston- Pans and Fal- kirk; but, the shock of their attack was steadily received, and the musquetry and artillery of their antagonists did such prodigious execution among them, that they were very soon thrown into WILLIAM, DUKE OF CUMBERLAND. 57 visible disorder ; the cavalry of the royal army then advanced upon their flank ; and, in less tiian thirty minutes, the battle was converted into a general rout of the rebels, great numbers of whom, in consequence of orders having been issued by the duke to give no quarter, were slain in the pursuit. It is even affirmed, that unnecessary and wanton barbarities were committed on the persons and families of the Pre- tender's adherents, long after the cessa- tion of resistance ; and that the Duke of Cumberland sullied the glory of his victory, by displaying a savage ferocity against the vanquished. In extenuation of his conduct, it has been suggested, that he probably conceived extreme severity to have been necessary for the immediate termination of the rebellion ; and that those who, as it is said, he caused to be recklessly sacrificed on this occasion, were not the troops of a foreign state, with which the country was at war, but subjects who were, or very recently had been, in arms against their sovereign. The means, whether just or unjust, which he adopted to render his victory decisive, were cer- tainly successful, and Scotland returned to its allegiance ; or, at least, the royal ' forces met with no further serious oppo- ! sition. The young Pretender with difficulty escaped to the continent, and several of his best friends were con- demned to the scaffold. In proportion to the alarm occasioned by the young Pretender's appearance ; in the field, was the enthusiastic gra- titude displayed by the people towards his conqueror ; whose courage and con- duct, when contrasted with the folly and cowardice of Hawley and Cope, his predecessors in command, raised him at once in public estimation to the pin- nacle of military fame. Six thousand pounds were collected in the metropolis, and placed at the disposal of the duke, to be distributed in gratuities to the sol- diers who had Ibught at Culloden ; and his '-elegant letter" to the lord mayor, acknowledging the gift, was extolled as a truly noble composition. A charitable meeting, at Guildhall, subscribed for twelve thousand pairs of breeches, twelve thousand woollen caps, ten thousand pairs of worsted stockings, one thousand blankets, twelve thou- sand pairs of woollen gloves, and nine thousand spatterdashes, in order to in- crease the comfort of the troops ; for whose benefit the judges contributed £1200; and even the players, glow- ing with patriotism, performed gratui- tously. " The whole amount," says the British Chronologist, " of three nights acting the Beggar's Opera, pro- posed by Mrs. Cibber, who acted Polly gratis, making £600, was paid by Mr. Rich into the Chamber of London, for the encouragement of the soidiers. Every comedian played gratis, and the tallow-chandlers gave the candles." From the same source we learn that, on the 25th of July, when the duke ar- rived at Kensington, from Scotland, '-all the bells in London and Westminster rung, and in the evening were illumi- nations and bonfires, with continual firing of guns for several hours, and all demonstrations of the greatest joy from the people of all ranks." The duke soon afterwards obtained a more substantial reward ibr his exploits than mere popu- larity : the parliamentary allowance of £15,000 per annum, which had been granted to him in 1739, being raised to £40,000 per annum, by acclamation. The king appointed him ranger of Windsor great park, and he was elected chancellor of the university of St. Andrews, the minutes of his election being presented to him in a splendid gold box. He continued for a long period to be the popular idol, and was designated, par excellence, as "the duke." In 1747, when the royal yacht, in which he was returnin.; from Germany, was nearly lost in a storm, the sympathy of all classes rose to such an extraordinary pitch, as if the national safety had depended on him alone. In 1751 he incurred some odium for his project of improving the discipline of the armv, by the introduction of German severity to the military code. Abundance of room for improvement, no doubt, ex- isted; but the means he adopted to pro- duce it were the reverse of judicious. He became a Draco in legislation ; and, in his amended mutiny bill, the penalty of death, says Walpole, came over as often as the curses in the commina- tion on Ash-Wednesday. Such a sys- tem was likely neither to be popu- lar nor efficient in this country; and, accordingly, while it tended materially 58 THE ROYAL FAMILY. to tarnish the duke's reputation, and to countenance the reports of his cruelty to the Scotch after the battle of Cullo- den, it pi'oduced no amehoration in the army. The duke's behaviour on the death of his brother, the Prince of Wales, was far from amiable. When intelligence of the event was commimicated to him, he said, sneeringly, " It is a great blow to this country, but I hope it will re- cover it in time." He probably thought that the chief obstacle to his future im- portance was removed by his brother's decease ; and calculated, no doubt, on becoming sole regent, in the event of the king's death during the minority of Prince George. His want of feeling on the occasion materially decreased his popularity, which had already for some time been on the wane. Elegies on the deceased prince were cried about the streets, to which were added such ex- clamations as the following: "Oh! that it was but his brother !" " Oh! that it was but the butcher I" So rooted an opinion of his severity had been formed by the people, that the probability of his becoming regent excited general consternation. Some even imagined tiiat advantage would be taken of the youth of the prince's children to raise the duke to the throne. George the Second appears to have rather participated in the general feeling against his son on this occasion ; and an act was passed nominating the Dowager Princt-ss of Wales regent, in the event of the king's demise before Prince George should have attained the age of royal majority. When the king caused his plans on tliis suliject to be communicated to the duke, tlie latter coolly returned his thanks and duty, and added, " For the part allotted to me, I shall submit to it, because his majesty commands it." He, however, considered a most unmerited aflfront to have been i)ul upon him, by the ap- pointment of tile princess dowager, in- stead of himself, to tlie regency; and declared to liis friends, that "lie now felt his own insignilicance, and wished the name of William could be blotted out of tile iMiglish aimals." A mortification of a slighter sort soon followed : — In iiis apartment there were few ornaments but arms ; and, one day, Prince George having paid him a visit, to amuse the boy, he took down a sword and drew it. The young prince turned pale and trembled, supposing that his uncle intended to kill him. The duke was dreadfully shocked, and complained to the princess that scandalous preju- dices had been instilled into the child against him. In November, 1751, he fell from his horse, while hunting at Windsor. Re- fusing to be blooded, he grew dan- gerously ill, and was given over by the physicians, but happily recovered. When urged to take advantage of the uneasiness manifested by the king on this occasion, and solicit his majesty to get the regency bill repealed, he said, " I would rather bear the ignominy that has been laid upon me, than ven- ture to give the king the uneasiness of reflecting, if it were but for two hours in his own room, on the injury he has done me." The duke was keenly sensitive to any thing which he thought affected the national honour. In 175C, on being informed of the loss of Minorca, he ex- claimed, " We are undone ! Sea and land are cowards ! I am ashamed of my profession!" His conduct after- wards, during the prosecution of Admi- ral Byng, is described at having been extremely harsh and vindictive. Party prejudice, however, then ran so high, that, without suspecting his own injus- tice, many an otherwise conscientious person became the tool of the blackest malice, in abetting the designs of his political friends. In 1757, the French having made an irruption into Germany and threatened Hanover, the king wished the duke to take the command of the continental forces, and, at length, wrung from him a reluctant consent. Accordingly, in the month of April, his royal high- ness embarked for the field of action ; and, on his arrival in Germany, found himself at tlie head of an allied army amounting to fifty thousand men. The French, under Marshal D'Etrees, ad- vancing from the Rhine, the passage of which the duke had in vain been urged to dispute, the allies were compelled to retire beyond the Weser. D'Etr<5es passed that river also without oppo- sition, and on the 25th of July attacked the duke in his camp at Hastenbech. While the battle was yet doubtful, his WILLIAM, DUKE OF CUMBERLAND. 59 royal highness, from a defect, not of courage, but of judgment, appears to have given orders for a retreat. The confederates accordingly retired, hard pressed by the marshal, first to Nieu- burg, then to Verden, and finally to Stade. D'Etrees, on being urged to embrace a favourable moment of at- tack, replied there was no occasion for fighting. It soon became apparent that the marshal was right ; for, find- ing that his further advance was pre- vented by the German ocean, that he was enclosed on the right and left by the Elbe and Weser, and that the enemy had taken possession of all the passes as his troops had receded, the duke was compelled, in the month of September, to submit to terms of capitulation. A convention was accordingly signed at Closter-Seven, by which it was de- clared that the electorate of Hanover should be left in the hands of the French, and that the whole confederate army, amounting to forty thousand men, should be disarmed and dis- banded. Walpole, in his memoirs of George the Second, is at great pains to vindicate the duke's conduct in this campaign ; and asserts that, though unsuccessful, the battle of Hastenbech was peculiarly glorious to his royal highness, as it afforded him opportu- nities of evincing the most consummate military skill : but such was far from being the general opinion. The convention of Closter-Seven, however, seems to have been concluded in obedience to the express command of George the Second ; but when news of the event arrived in England, where it excited universal clamour, he thought proper to disavow the whole transaction. Two messengers were despatched to recal the duke, who, early in October, returned to Kensington. He said to Mr. Fox, on his arrival, " You see me well, both in body and mind : I have written orders in my pocket for every- thing I did." His haughty nature could ill brook the coldness with which he was received ; and, on his father saying in his hearing, " Here is my son, who has ruined me and disgraced himself," he came to the resolution of resigning all his employments ; and from that period, passed his life in comparative retirement. In 1759, a rumour was circulated of an intended French invasion, and it was generally supposed that the Duke of Cumberland would have been called to the head of the army. During a conversation which he had with the Duchess of Bedford on this subject, he stated that he did not believe the com- mand would be offered to him, but when no wise man would accept it and no honest man would refuse it. At this period the duke had become enormously fat : in the summer of 1760, he had a stroke of the palsy; which, although he soon recovered his speech and the use of his limbs, was con- sidered by his friends, on account of the grossness of his constitution, as an omen of his decease at no very distant period. Shortly afterwards occurred the sudden death of George the Second, who had often hinted that he should Uave the purchased German principalities to the duke: but he had either never intended, or forgotten, to make such an arrange- ment. The duke had, however, now become fully reconciled to retirement ; though still a young man he had out- lived his ambition, and all his feelings and passions were sobered down either to apathy or content. On the 31st of October, 1765, he visited at court, apparently in good health and spirits ; he afterwards dined in Arlington Street, and took tea with the Princess of Brunswick, without ex- hibiting any symptoms of indisposition ; but a few minutes after his return home he was attacked with a shivering fit, and almost as soon as the king's phy- sician arrived, he fell breathless on a sofa, and expired. Walpole states, that the duke was one of the only five great men he could pretend to have seen. He was un- doubtedly brave, although he displayed the cruelty of a coward. He appeared to have a natural inclination for war, but, apparently, despised renown. It was an observation of his, " That dur- ing the height of his popularity, his satisfaction was allayed by thinking of Vernon" — that admiral being about the same period, with very little reason, the idol of the public. He was not contented with flattery, but expected blind obedience from those beneath him. He felt so extraordinary and unlimited a respect for the royal autho- rity, that had his brother, whom he 60 THE ROYAL FAMILY. appears to have despised, become king, he would, in alt probability, have treated him with the most unconditional defer- ence. Politics he considered unworthy of his notice, and refused to attend cabinet councils, even on occasions when his advice would, perhaps, have been valuable. He despised money, but was much addicted to gambling. He was fond of women, but always felt averse to matrimony. Lord Gran- ville, at one time, greatly annoyed him by negociating a match for him with the King of Denmark's sister. The duke consulted Sir Robert Wal- pole, then retired from public affairs, how to avoid the marriage with which he was thus threatened. Sir Robert advised bim to seem willing to consent to it, provided the king would make him a large settlement. He adopted this plan, and the alliance was no longer urged. He appears to have affected a lofty elevation of character, which posterity will scarcely allow him to have pos- sessed. He evinced the littleness of his mind by his attention to military trifles. To him, the establishment of a proper pattern for spatterdashes, ap- peared to be an object of considerable importance; and the slightest trans- gression of martial etiquette was visited with his severe displeasure. He af- fected, on some occasions, a dignified humility, and a philosophical indiffer- ence, which, however, but ill concealed the proud swellings of his heart, and his strong inclination for power. Notwithstanding the encomiums which he received from some of his cotemporaries, who, in estimating his talents as a commander, judged rather from the national importance of the battle of Cidloden, than the real mili- tary skill of the conqueror, it may be safely asserted, that no general ever purchased reputation at a cheaper rate. Kven the meritof his success, at thehead of regular troops over the raw forces of the Pretender, must, in some measure, be attributed to the advice of Lord Stair; and when we contrast the comparatively insignificant victory of CuUoden, — and insignificant it certainly was, viewed as a martial achievement, although, per- haps, it determined the fate of the nation, — with the duke's previous de- feat at Fontenoy, and his subsequent disasters at Hastenbech, we cannot but smile at finding him elevated by his admirers above all heroes, either an- cient or modern. The success which the insurgents had obtained over the royal forces, previously to the duke's appointment to oppose them, may be attributed principally to the impru- dence or irresolution of the king's commanders : at the battle of Culloden they were a match in no respect for those to whom they were opposed. The success of the duke, on this oc- casion, can, therefore, scarcely be said to balance even the least of his defeats. He was successful only against a force of brave but undisciplined highlanders, without efficient arms or skilful com- manders ; being invariably beaten when opposed to troops who were on a par with his own, in every particular, per- haps, except the very important one of having a man of military talent and ex- perience at their head. After the battle of Hastenbech, a French officer, notic- ing the fine martial appearance of an English prisoner, observed, " If we had had many such enemies as you, we should not have conquered." To this the man replied, " There were thousands of better soldiers than I am, but not one D'Etr^es to lead them." On another occasion, an English cap- tive having told some French officers that they had nearly made the duke prisoner at Fontenoy, one of them said, " We took care not to do so : he does us more service at the head of your army." Marshal Saxe once sneer- ingly said of him, " He is the greatest general of his age, for he has main- tained several thousand men on a spot of ground where I should never have billetted so many rabbits." The duke, on hearing of this, is said to have ob- served, that his men were well enough fed to fight the French on any ground : and it is true that they did occasionally fight, but, while under his command, never could manage to beat thetn. There are a few facts recorded, illus- trating the more amiable parts of the duke's character, which it behoves us not to omit. On one occasion having missed his pocket-book at Newmarket, just before the horses started, he de- clined making any bets, observing that he had already lost money enough for that morning. At the conclusion of the MARY, PRINCESS OF HESSE. (jl races, he was presented with his pocket- book by a half-pay officer, who had found it near the stand, shortly after it had been dropped by the duke, but who had had no opportunity of return- ing it. " I am very glad, sir," said the duke, " that it has fallen into such hands; keep it: had it not been for this accident, its contents would pro- bably have been, by this time, dispersed among the blacklegs of Newmarket." During his march against the rebels, he was, one day, presented with a pe- tition for assistance, from a destitute lad, whose father had been many years in the royal household. The duke ordered the boy into his presence, and, giving him some money, said, " In con- sideration of your father's fidelity, and hoping that you are worthy of being his son, when the present troubles are over, should my life be spared, I will endeavour to provide you with some permanent situation." After the re- bellion was ended, the boy proceeded to London, and obtained an interview with the duke, by whose recommendation he soon obtained a comfortable place. While the duke was in Germany, a Serjeant of excellent character having performed a daring exploit, the duke thought proper to give him a commis- sion. But this elevation in rank by no means increased the man's happi- ness; he could no longer associate with his former companions, and his brother officers treated iiim with degrading neglect. At length, he told the duke how unpleasantly he was situated, and entreated permission to resume his hal- berd. The duke desired him to let the matter rest for a day or two; and the next morning, on parade, walked up to him, when he was standing apart from the other officers of the regiment, familiarly took his arm, and, on being invited by Lord Ligonier to dine at the mess, replied, " With much plea- sure, but I must bring my friend here with me." " Oh ! certainly," said his lordship ; and thenceforth the duke's " friend " never had occasion to com- plain of being slighted by any indi- vidual in the service. MARY, PRINCESS OF HESSE. This princess, the fourth daughter of George the Second and Queen Caroline, is characterized as having been the mildest and gentlest of her race. She was born on the 22nd of February, 1723. On the 8th of May, 1740, being then only in the eighteenth year of her age, she was married, in the chapel at St. James's, to Frederick, Prince of Hesse, with whom she em- barked for the continent, on the 6th of the following month of June. The prince, her husband, is said to have treated her with great inhumanity. In 1754, he abjured the protestant religion, and turned Roman Catholic. This change of creed in a prince of the empire was viewed with much surprise, and subjected him, in the event of his succeeding his father, to various heavy restrictions; which, if possible, increased the acerbity of his temper, and the brutality of his be- haviour. After passing many years of her life in hopeless sorrow and unre- sisting submission, death, at length, relieved the princess of her tyrant ; and she spent the remnant of her days in ease and tranquillity. Her death took place on the 14th of June, 1771. LOUISA, QUEEN OF DENMARK. Louisa, youngest daughter of George the Second, was born on the 7th of December, 1724. She was almost ido- lized by her mother, and much admired by the public for her personal graces, her temper, and her talents. In 1743, her hand was solicited by Frederick, Prince Royal of Denmark. On the 27th 62 THE ROYAL FAMILY. of October in that year, she was united to him, by proxy, at Hanover, and he soon after ascended the Danish throne. Like her father, he kept a mistress, to shew that he was not governed by his wife ; and lier death, like that of her mother, was occasioned by a rupture. Slie had declared to the Duke of Cum- berland, before her departure from this country, that, however unhappy she might be in Denmark, she would never trouble her relations with any complaints ; nor did she, until the last day of her life, when she wrote them an exceedingly pathetic letter. She expired, in the prime of her life, after a terrible operation, which lasted an hour, on the 8th of December 1751. AUGUSTA, DUCHESS OF BRUNSWICK. 1 HIS princess, the first child of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was born on the 31st of July, 1737. She was the favourite of her parents, on ac- count of her beauty and gentleness of disposition. She received a very caieful education, and became highly accom- plished. In 1763, she was demanded in marriage by the hereditary Prince of Brunswick Wolfenbiittel, and no ob- stacles being raised to the match, the nuptials were solemnized on the 16th of January, 1764, in the great council chamber, at St. James's palace. On this occasion, her brother, George the Third, presented her with a diamond necklace worth j£'30,000 ; Queen Charlotte gave her a gold watch, set with jewels, of exquisite workmanship ; and her mo- ther, the princess dowager, gave her a diamond stomacher of immense value. In a few days after their marriage the royal pair proceeded to the continent, where they resided for many years, in a state of enviable domestic happiness. The fruits of their union were six chil- dren ; one of whom became, in 179.5, the wife of George, Prince of Wales, after- wards George the Fourth. Unluckily for the princess, her hus- band, who had succeeded to the ducal chair, on the demise of his father, ac- cepted the command of the Prussians against the troops of republican France. His territories were shortly afterwards entered by the enemy ; the duchess was compelled to seek refuge in Eng- land ; and in the autumn of 1806, the duke fell in the field of battle, while leading on the Prussians against the French. His son and successor after- wards met with a similar fate. On her arrival in this country, the duchess found the king, her brother, infirm, blind, and about to be visited with that most dreadful of calamities, the loss of reason ; and her daughter, after- wards Queen Caroline, not only living in virtual widowhood, but deprived even of the society of her own child. The declining years of the duchess were, therefore, it cannot be doubted, unhappy, rather than otherwise. Early in 1813, a species of epidemic cough, accompanied with shortness of breathing, which was then prevalent in the metropolis, attacked the duchess, and greatly aggravated an asthmatic complaint with which she had long been afflicted. On the 21st of March she was confined to her bed, but without being considered in danger. On the 22nd the Princess of Wales quitted her, after a visit of some hours duration, without any idea tliat the duchess was near her dissolution ; shortly before nine, on the same even- ing, however, she was seized with vio- lent spasmodic attacks, which termi- nated her existence in about twelve hours. Her remains were interred in Westminster Abbey. GEORGE THE THIRD. 63 GEORGE THE THIRD, AND HIS CONSORT SOPrIA CHARLOTTE. George, the first son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the Princess Augusta, was born on the 24th of May, 1738. He was a seven months' child, and, in consequence of his weakness, was privately baptized on theday of his birth. Doubts were entertained as to the pos- sibility of rearing him ; and, contrary to court etiquette, a nurse was selected for him from a very humble class of the community. Under the manage- ment of this woman, who appears to have been the wife of a gardener, he rapidly gained strength ; and the alarm of his parents, that he would be in- capable of surviving even the minor diseases of infancy, was soon entirely dissipated. Although the delicate child had been confided to the care of this lowly, but robust individual, contrary to precedent, yet, in obedience to the custom of the court, it was absurdly intimated to the woman, that the royal baby could not be permitted to sleep with her. " Not sleep with me!" she exclaimed, bluntly and indignantly ; " then you may nurse the boy your- selves." No arguments could induce her to waive her objection on this point ; and the parties concerned, at length condescended to permit the nursling to be her bedfellow. Many years after, either from misfortune, or her hus- band's extravagance, she was frequently in great distress for money : on such occasions, she invariably applied to the prince ; who, if he had not the means of relieving her, would actually weep at his inability. He was publicly baptized on the 22nd of June, by the name of George Wil- liaiTi Frederick : the King of Prussia and the Duke of Saxe Gotha were his god-fathers by proxy, and the Queen of Prussia was his godmother, also by proxy. On the first anniversary of his birth- day, a Lilliputian military band, con- sisting of about sixty lads, all under twelve years of age, sons of wealthy citizens, formed into close column be- fore Norfolk- house; and, wilh drums beating, and colours flying, marched up to the drawing-room, where the were received by their elected colonel, the baby prince, and had the honour of kissing his hand. On the 20th of January, 1741, lie was first publicly prayed for: a recon- ciliation (externally at least) having taken place between his father and the king, and the royal child appears to have been admitted familiarly into the presence of his grandfather. One day his majesty and the little prince being in the library together, the latter was so noisy that the king threatened to put him out of the window into the garden ; and finding his threat of no avail, carried it into execution. The sovereign continued at his business without thinking any more of his grandson ; until, being about to retire, Dalton, the librarian, reminded him that the young prince was a prisoner in the garden. "God bless me!" ex- claimed the king, " I had forgotten the child ;" and opening the window, he set the future monarch at liberty. In 1744, Prince George, being nearly six years old, was taken from the nur- sery and placed under the care of Dr. Francis Ayscough, who is thus spoken of by Walpole : — " Mr. Pelham said, I know nothing of Dr. Ayscough. — Oh ! yes, I recollect I was told by a very worthy man, two years ago, that he was a great rogue." " The princess," says the same author, " found that Prince George, at eleven years of age, could not read English, though Ays- cough, to make amends, assured her he could make Latin verses." In 1748, George the Second directed Baron Steinberg to ascertain what pro- gress the royal children had made in their education. The baron having accordingly examined them, told Prince George that he should report his great proficiency in Latin to the king; '• but," added he, " I wish you were a little more perfect in your German grammar." "German grammar!" ex- claimed the boy, squinting at the baron, 04 THE ROYAL FAMILY. " why, any dull child can learn that." Shortly after, it was determined that he should receive the garter, and he was taken to his grandfather for that purpose. On being led into the royal closet, he began a set speech, which had been taught him, by some of the Carlton-house court; but the king inter- rupted him, by crying " No, no!" In a few moments, the boy attempted to proceed with his address ; but those tremendous sounds, which had before stopped him, being again uttered in a louder tone, the little orator's lips were closed with fear. Goupy, the artist, who was the young prince's drawing master, one day found his pupil standing a prisoner behind his father's chair. " Sit down, Goupy," said the I'rince of Wales, " and finish your design." But the artist represent- ing that It was impossible for him to use his pencil with any spirit while his little friend was in disgrace, the young prince was forthwith relieved. A number of years afterward-, his royal pupil, who had long before ascended the throne, met poor Goupy, then eighty-four years of age, and in deep distress, tottering from Kensington to- wards London, with bailiffs at his heels. The king, who was in his carriage, directed the servants to stop, and thus hailed his old preceptor: — •' How now, Goupy ! How now ! — What's the mat- ter?" The aged artist replied, that his personal freedom was in imminent jeopardy ; but, added he, " as I once took your majesty out of confinement, I trust you will not suffer me to be placed in it." " Oho, Goupy !" said the king ; " Bailiffs, eh ? I can't stop the law, you know : let it take its course. But, — d'ye hear, Goupy? — Ramus shall settle this business, and I'll take care to secure you from such dangers in future." In 1749, Lord North, father of the future premier, who is described by Waipole, as having been an amiable, worthy man, of no great genius, unless compared witli his successor, was ap- pointed governor to the young prince. About this period, the tragedy of Cato was pertbrnud, at Leicester house, by the royal children, assisted by some of the young nobility and gentry. Prince George, who spoke the prologue, played Fortius; I'rince Edward, Juba; and the Princesses Augusta and Elizabeth, Marcia and Lucia. The instruction of the young performers, on this occasion, was confided to the celebrated Quin ; who, many years after, on hearing of the graceful mode in which George the Third had delivered the first speech from the throne, exclaimed, "exultingly, " Ay, 'twas I that taught the boy to speak !" On the 12th of July, 1750, Prince George, represented by the Earl of Inchequin, was installed a knight of the garter. The death of his father took place in the spring of the follow- ing year: and it is related by Waipole, that the young prince, on hearing of the event, "cried extremely ;" although it has been affirmed, that he was hated by the Prince of Wales, who lavished his paternal regard on his second son, Euward. For the father to detest his heir had been the fashion of the family during two or three generations past ; and Prince Frederick, apparently ex- pecting that the custom would still be kept up, sent for his eldest son, early in 1751, and, embracing him tenderly, said, " Come, George, let us be good friends while we are suffered to be so." Soon after the death of Prince Fred- erick, an act of parliament was passed, vesting the regency and guardianship of the heir-apparent in the princess dowager, assisted by a council, in case of the king's demise during the mi- nority of his grandson ; who, on the 20th of April in this year (1751), was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. Lord Harcourt now became governor, in the room of Lord North ; and Hayter, Bishop of Norwich, and Andrew Stone, preceptors to the heir-apparent. The new governor, according to Waipole, thought he discharged his trust con- scientiously, if on no account he neg- lected to make the prince turn out his toes ; Stone was proud, very able, and very mercenary ; and the bishop a sen- sible, well-bred, honest, and zealous man, the natural son of Blackbourn, the jolly old Archbishop of York, who had all the matmers of a man of quality, though he had been a bucaneer, and was a clergyman. Differences soon occurred between the parties to whom the education of the young prince was intrusted. The GEORGE THE THIRD. 65 particulars of their quarrels are neither interesting nor clearly related. It will be sufBcient to state a few of the cir- cumstances, and tlie result of the whole. The bishop appears to have blamed Stone for permitting his pupil to read " The Revolutions of the House of Stuart," and other improper books ; and, in return, was accused of having ejected Scott, a sub-preceptor, one morning, from the prince's chamber, by an im- position of hands, that had at least as much of the flesh as the spirit in the force of the action. In the course of the disputes, Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, said, in reply to some state- ment made by the bishop relative to Lord Harcoui t, " Pho ! he's a cypher, and must be a cypher, and was put in to be a cypher." On the 6th of De- cember, 1752, the governor resigned ; and, in a few days after. Bishop Hayter followed his lordship's example. Lord Waldegrave, at the earnest re- quest of the king, and after repeated assurances of the submission and trac- tability of Stone, accepted the vacant office of governor; and Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Peterborough, a man of fair character, became the chief preceptor. Lord Bute, although he held no office about the prince, now began to take a share in his education ; and about, or probably before, this period, laid the foundation of his future influence over the heir-apparent's mind. When the prince was in his four- teenth year, the princess dowager, in a conversation with Lord Melcombe, stated that he was very honest, but she wished he was a little more forward, and less childish, for his age. She said that she really did not well know what his preceptors taught him; but to speak freely, she was afraid not much : — that they were in the country, and followed their diversions, and not much else that she could discover. She observed, that when Stone talked to the prince of the frame and nature of government, he seemed to give a proper attention ; but she did not think the bishop at all fitted to convey knowledge to children, for she did not well understand him herself, his thoughts seeming to be too many for his words. The prince, she added, was not particularly partial to any one about him, but his brother Edward; and she was glad of it, for the young people of quality were so vicious that they frightened her. On another occasion, when Lord Melcombe told her, " it was to be wished that he could have more company, she seemed averse to the young people, from the excessive bad education they had, and from the bad examples they gave." In 1754, the prince began to attend his mother's evening assemblies. At this period, it has been asserted, that he not only displayed a taste for gene- ral literature, but evinced so singular a predilection for controversial writings, that he purchased and gave away an hundred pounds' worth of Leland's polemic writings against the Deists. In the following year, 1755, George the Second contemplated a match be- tween the prince and one of the nieces of the King of Prussia. " The sudden- ness of the measure, and the little time left for preventing it," says Walpole, " at once unhinged all the prudence of the princess. From the death of the prince, her object had been the government of her son. She had taught him great devotion, and she had taken care that he should be taught nothing else. She saw no reason to apprehend, from his own genius, that he would escape her ; but bigotted, and young, and chaste, what empire might not a youthful bride (and the princess was reckoned artful) assume over him ! The princess thought that prudence, now, would be most imprudent. She instilled into her son the greatest aversion to the match ; and he protested against it!" In the fol- lowing year, the princess proposed an union between the heir-apparent, and a female of the house of Saxe Gotha ; but it was instantly reprobated by the king, who, after expressing himself in terms of asperity, said, " he knew enough of that family already." Wlien the prince attained the age of royal majority (eighteen) in 1756, the ministry persuaded the king to offer him a handsome allowance out of the civil list, with a suite of apartments at St. James's, and another at Kensington- palace : his royal highness accepted the allowance, fjut, refused to quit his mo- ther. Meetings of the opposition now took place, almost daily, at Leicester- house, to the great alarm of the Duke of Newcastle and his colleagues in office, who endeavoured, but in vain, " to get GO THE ROYAL FAMILY. possession of the prince." His estab- lisliment was at length arranged ; but in such a manner as to suit the views of liis mother and Lord Bute. The lat- ter became groom of the stole, and Andrew Stone was appointed secretary. The princewas graciously permitted, by those who ruled him, to negative the appointment of his sub-preceptor Scott, to any employment about his royal per- son ; because, as it appears, Scott had once said to him, in the presence of Lord Waldegrave, on the prince's hav- ing pleading idleness as an excuse for his inapplication, ''Sir, yoursis not idle- ness : your brother Edward is idle ; but you must not call being asleep all day being idle." During the years 1757-8, the in- fluence of Lord Bute with the prince appears to have been unbounded. Wal- pole even insinuates, that, by various misrepresentations, he induced him to neglect his mother ; finding it easier to govern a raw youth than an experi- enced woman. His countryman, Home, the author of Douglas, having produced the indifferent play of Agis, Lord Bute compelled his pupil to attend the per- formance on tluee successive Saturday nights. It was also attributed to his lordship's influence, that the prince, at this period, patronized various political authors whose writings were obnoxious to government. Among these were Smollett, who had been imprisoned for libel ; and Shebbeare, who had stood in the pillory for abusing George the l'"irst. About this time, the prince, accom- panied by Lord Bute, took a trip to Scotland. While changing horses at Edinburgh, they were recognized by a cavalry officer, who, anxious to know what important business had brought the heir-apparent and Lord lUite to North Britain, immediately took horse, and actually dogged them from Edin- burgh to Glasgow, thence to the West of Scotland and the Isle of Bute, and afterwards, by anotlier route, back to the inn at Edinl)urgh where he had flrst di^covered them. The prince did not take his seat in parliament, as Duke of Cornwall, until I75i). On tiie 4th of February, in the following year, he went down to the house as one of the royal conmiis- sioners, and gave the king's assent to several new bills. He appeared in public on some other occasions, but the principal part of his time was passed in retirement, and he was still remarkably timid and retiring. On the 25th of October, in this year, (1760,) the decease of George the Se- cond took place; and, on the following morning, his grandson, now George the Third, accompanied by Lord Bute, who, it was expected, would soon reap the harvest of his attentions to his royal pupil, proceeded from Kew to St. James's palace. On his arrival, the young monarch was presented by Mr. Pitt, secretary of state and head of the administration, with a paper, on which were written a few sentences, which, the minister hinted, might form the basis of the king's speech to the privy-council. The young sovereign thanked Mr. Pitt, and added, that he himself had already adjusted the sub- stance of his intended speech. The council met at Carlton-house, and the king, although much embarrassed and agitated at first by the novelty of his situation, soon acquired confidence, and addressed them with unexpected dig- nity and grace. Before the death of George the Se- cond, the people had entertained but a humble opinion of their future mo- narch, whose education had been no- toriously defective, and of whom his grandfather was known to have said, " The boy is good for nothing but to read the Bible to his mother." On his accession, however, to the great delight and surprise of his subjects, he dis- played so many popular qualities, that not to be exceedingly loyal was to be obnoxiously singular. " Everything," says Walpole, speaking of the com- mencement of the reign, " goes on with great propriety and decency ; the civilest letter to Princess Emily ; the greatest kindness to the duke j the ut- most respect to the dead body. There is great dignity and grace in the king's manner. I don't say this, like my dear Madame Sevigne, because he Was civil to me, but the part is well acted. He has all the appearances of being amiable: there is great grace to temper nmch dignity, and good nature which breaks out on all occasions." It is difficult to reconcile the state- ment of our amusing author, that the GEORGE THE THIRD. 67 greatest respect was shewn to " the dead body," with the fact, that, three days after his royal grandfather's de- mise, the young king caused a notice to be issued by the lord chamberlain, intimating that drawing rooms would thenceforth be held two days in each week, namely, on Wednesdays, and after divine service on Sundays. The Sabbath drawing-rooms were, however, soon discontinued as being irreverent. During the two last reigns, the royal mistresses had formed a settled ap- pendage to the household ; the con- tinence of the new monarch, therefore, was greatly admired. He has, how- ever, been suspected of having engaged, soon after his accession, in an amour with a fair quakeress ; and it is certain that he was deeply attached to the beautiful Lady Sarah Lenox; (married afterwards to a baronet, and divorced ;) but he did not attempt to seduce her, nor would he violate his ideas of royal dignity by raising her to the throne. This lady has been described in glow- ing terms by Walpole. " There was a play," he says, '■ at Holland-house, acted by children ; not all children, for Lady Sarah Lenox and Lady Susan Strangeways played the women. It was Jane Shore : Charles Fox was Hastings. The two girls were delightful, and acted with so much natine, that they ap- peared tlie very things they repre- sented. Lady Sarah was more beauti- ful than you can conceive, and her very awkwardness gave an air of truth to the sham of the part, and the antiquity of the time, whicli was kept up by her dress, taken out of Montfauron. Lady Susan was dressed from Jane Seymour. I was more struck with the last scene between the two women, than ever I was when I have seen it on the stage. AVhen Lady Sarah was in white, with her hair about her ears, and on the ground, no Magdalen of Corregio was half so lovely and expressive." In his speech, on the opening of parliament, in November, the king said, with considerable feeling, " Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Briton ; and the pecu- liar happiness of my life will ever con- sist in promoting the welfare of a people whose loyalty and warm affec- tion for me I consider as the greatest and most permanent security of my throne ; and I doubt not but their steadiness in those principles will equal the firmness of my invariable resolution to adhere to and strengthen this ex- cellent constitution in church and state, and to maintain toleration inviolable." Although, in common conversation, the king spoke with a rapidity which often made him unintelligible, in public he declaimed with as much true modula- tion as almost any man in his dominions. Yet he had but a mean opinion of ora- tory, for he once said, " ] am sure that the rage for public speaking, and the extravagant length to which some of oin- most popular orators carry their ha- rangues in parliament, is very detri- mental to the national business; and I wish it may not, in the end, prove in- jurious to the public peace." At a very early period of his reign, he laudably endeavoured to divest pulpit eloquence of its usual laudatory person- alities to royalty. Wilson, the pre- bendary of Westminster, having been guilty of some fulsome adulation to the young monarch, in his chapel, he re- ceived an admonitory message from his majesty, who stated that he went to church to hear God praised, and not himself. Some time afterwards he issued an order, prohibiting those clergymen who should preach before him from paying him any compliment in their discourses. The king added considerably to his popularity by recommending parlia- ment to enact, and it was accordingly enacted, that the commissions of the judges, which, since a short time after the Revolution, had been determinable on the death of the sovereign by whom they were signed, should remain in full force, notwithstanding the royal demise. On this important occasion the king said, " That he looked upon the inde- pendence and uprightness of the judges as essential to the impartial adininistra- tion of justice; as one of the best secu- rities of the rights and liberties of his subjects; and as most conducive to the honour of the crown." Parliament was dissolved on the 19th of March, 1761, after having settled the civil list at £'800,000 per annum, which it was provided should be paid out of the aggregate fund. On the writs for the new elections being issued, tlie king declared, that no money should 68 THE ROYAL FAMILY. be spent to procure the return of mem- bers favourable to the government ; "for," said he, "I am resolved to be tried by my country '." The ministry was now partially changed : Lord Bute became secretary of state, in the room of Lord Holdernesse, and Viscount Barrington succeeded Mr. Legge as chancellor of the exchequer. The next important circumstance of this year, (1761,) was the selection of a consort for the king. According to one account, he followed the dictates of his own judgment and inclination in fixing upon a wife ; and, as it would appear, fell in love with his future queen, on perusing a copy of a letter which she had written to Frederick, King of Prussia. No sooner had he read the epistle, than, as it is said, he exclaimed to Lord Hert- ford, " f his is the lady whom I shall select for my consort: here are lasting beauties, on which the man who has any mind may feast and not be satiated. If the disposition of the princess but equals her intellect, I shall be the hap- piest man, as I hope, with my people's concurrence, to be the greatest monarch, in Europe." Among other different versions of the affair, is the following: — The king's known attachment to Lady Sarah Lenox, fomented as it was by Fox, afterwards the first Lord Holland, in- duced the princess dowager and Lord Bute to engage the young monarch in a matrimonial connexion, without the least delay. Tlie princess dowager wished to select a consort for her son from the family of Saxe Gotha ; but as the members of it were supposed to possess an hereditary disease, her de- sire was over-ruled. A Scotch colonel, named Graeme, was then sent, by Lord Bute, to the various courts in Germany in quest of a princess perfect in her form, of pure blood, and healthy constitution ; possessed of elegant accomplishments, particularly music, to which the king was nuich attached ; and of a mild, obliging disposition. Such were the colonel's instructions; and his choice fell on Sophia-Charlotte, the second daughter of Charles-Lewis-Frederick, Duke of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, by his consort Albertina-F.lizabeth, daugliter of the Duke of Saxe Hildburgliausen. This princess was born at tlie palace of Mirow, on the 16tii of May, 1744. The preliminary part of her education was conducted by her mother, with the assistance of Mademoiselle Seltzer, a highly accomplished lady of noble birth; and in 1751, Madame de Gra- bow, a woman of great erudition, and possessed of such poetical talent as to be termed " The German Sappho," was appointed her governess. Under this able teacher, she not only became a good German scholar, but obtained a thorough knowledge of French, Italian, history, geography, &c. To the zea- lous instructions of M. Gentzmer she was indebted for considerable infor- mation in the science of mineralogy. She drew well, danced with much grace, and displayed considerable skill in vocal as well as instrumental music. In ad- dition, her mind was imbued with the most reverential sentiments for religion and morality, which the example of her family taught her to estimate above all mere worldly advantages. During the continental war, which desolated the fiiirest provinces of Ger- many, from 1756 to 1763, the duchy of Mecklenburgh suffered severely ; its towns and villages were occupied by the troops of Prussia, who levied heavy contributions on the inhabitants, and compelled the young men to enlist. Many families, in order to preserve a wreck of their property, made their escape to Hamburgh and Lubec ; and at length the country was almost depopu- lated. Under the impulse of strongly- excited feelings, which the miseries of her native land more than justified, the princess sent the following letter to the King of Prussia ; a copy of which, after- wards falling into the hands of George the Third, excited in the bosom of that monarch, as we have already stated, an attachment towards its feeling and elo- quent writer : — " May it please your majesty, " I am at a loss whether I should con- gratulate or condole with you on your late victory over Marshal Daun, Nov. 3rd, 1760, since the same success which has covered you with laurels, has over- spread the country of Mecklenburgh with desolation. 1 know, sire, that it seems unbecoming my sex, in this age of vicious refinement, to feel for one's country, to lament the horrors of war, or to wish for the return of peace. I GEORGE THE THIRD. 69 know you may think it more properly my province to study tiie arts of pleas- ing, or to inspect subjects of a more domestic nature ; but, however unbe- coming it may be in me, I cannot resist the desire of interceding for this un- happy people. " It was but a very few years ago, that this territory wore the most pleasing appearance : the country was culti- vated, the peasant looked cheerful, and the towns abounded with riches and festivity. What an alteration, at pre- sent, from such a charming scene ! I am not expert at description, nor can my fancy add any horrors to the pic- ture ; but, surely even conquerors them- selves would weep at the hideous prospects now before me. The whole country, — my dear country, — lies one frightful waste; presenting only objects to excite terror, pity, and despair. The employments of the husbandman and the shepherd are quite suspended ; for the husbandman and the shepherd are become soldiers themselves, and help to ravage the soil which they formerly cultivated. The towns are inhabited only by old men, women, and children ; while, perhaps, here and there a war- rior, by wounds or loss of limbs ren- dered unfit for service, is left at his door, where his little children hang round him, ask the history of every wound, and grow themselves soldiers before they find strength for the field. But this were nothing, did we not feel the alternate insolence of either army, as it happens to advance or retreat, in pursuing the operations of the cam- paign. It is impossible, indeed, to ex- press the confusion which they, who call themselves our friends, create ; for even those from whom we might expect relief only oppress us with new cala- mities. From your justice, therefore, it is, sire, that we hope redress ; to you, even children and women may com- plain, whose humanity stoops to the meanest petitions, and whose power is capable of repressing the greatest wrong!" Soon after the receipt of this admi- rable epistle, (wliich, judging from the indisputable productions of her pen, was more likely to have been tran- scribed than composed by the princess,) Frederick issued strict injunctions " to revive a sense of order in the army ;" and his soldiers were drilled into feelings of humanity. On the 8th of July, at an extraordi- nary council, which was very nume- rously attended, the king stated, that " ever since his accession to the throne, he had turned his thoughts towards the choice of a princess for his consort ; and that, after mature deliberation, he had come to a resolution to demand in marriage the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, — a princess dis- tinguished by every eminent virtue and amiable endowment." This announce- ment very much surprised the greater part of the council, the preliminary negotiations for the marriage having been conducted with extraordinary secresy. On the 15th of August the treaty was concluded; and prepara- tions were immediately made to con- duct the bride to this country. The Earl of Harcourt, and the Duchesses of Ancaster and Hamilton, the two finest women at the British court, were se- lected to accompany her ; and the royal yacht, in which she and her suite were to embark, was ordered to be convoyed by a fleet under the command of Lord Anson. The separation of the princess and her family was exceedingly affecting. At Mirow, the place of her nativity, she finally parted from her elder sister, who, but for the marriage of Sophia Charlotte with George the Third, would, it is asserted, have formed a matrimonial connexion with one of his subjects. Her suitor, a Scotch duke, was resident at Strelitz, and treated as the favoured lover of the elder princess, when overtures for the hand of her sister, Sophia Charlotte, were made on behalf of the King of England : the courtship was consequently broken off, to the deep regret of the duke and his intended bride, both of whom died un- married. The princess received great honours during her journey. On Monday, the 24th of August, she left Stade, in the Admiralty barge, accompanied by her brother. Lord Anson, and Earl Har- court, and in about an hour reached the yacht ; the royal standard was im- mediately hoisted at the main-top- mast-head, the admiralty flag at the fore-top, and the union at the mizen. All the ships then fired a salute of 70 THE ROYAL FAMILY. twenty-one guns each ; and the prin- cess, overcome by her feelings, ex- claimed, " Is it possible that I can be worthy of these honours!" On ac- count of the unfavourable state of the weather, the squadron did not proceed to sea until the 28th ; even then the wind was adverse, and ten days elapsed before the admiral could reach an English port. Flamborough Head was twice in view during tlie voyage, but the ships were driven to sea again, and all of them sustained some damage. The two duchesses were extremely ill ; but the princess, who had never seen the sea befoie, bore the voyage with little inconvenience. At length, on Sunday, the 6th of September, the royal yacht entered Harwich roads; but no preparations having been made for the reception of the princess, she did not land until the next morning. Walpole states, that nothing was ever equal to the bustle and uncertainty of the town at this time. He adds, " I for- give history for knowing nothing, when so public an event as the arrival of a new queen is a mystery, even at this very moment, in St. James's-street. The messenger that brought the letter yesterday morning, said she arrived at half an hour alter four at Harwich. This was immediately translated into landing-, and notified in those words to the ministers. Six hours afterwards it proved no such thing, and that she was only in Harwich road ; and they recollected that half an hour after four happens twice in twenty-four hours, and the letter did not specify which of the ticices it was. Well ! the bride- maids whipped on their virginity; the New road and the parks were thronged ; the guns were clioaking with impa- tience to go off; and Sir James Lowther, who was to pledge his majesty, was actually married to Lady Mary Stuart. Five, six, seven, eight o'clock came, and no queen ! She lay at Witham, at Lord Abercorn's, who was most tran- quilly in town ; and it is not certain, even, whether she will be in town to night. She has been sick but half an hour ; sung and played on the harpsi- chord all the voyage, and been cheerful the whole time." About noon, on the eighth, she was met at Romford, by the king's ser- vants; and soon after entered the royal carriage, dressed entirely in the Eng- lish fashion, having a fly cap, with rich laced lappets, a stomacher ornamented with diamonds, and a gold brocade suite with a white ground. From Mile End she was escorted, by the Life Guards, to St. James's. On her ar- rival at the palace, tiie Duke of York handed her out of the carriage; and the king raised her up and saluted her, just as she was about to drop on her knee to pay him obeisance. It was, however, afterwards rumoured that the king, on first seeing his bride, shrunk back from a feeling of disappointment, her personal graces being far from striking. But Walpole says, " In half an hour, one heard of nothing but pro- clamations of her beauty ; every body was content, every body was pleased. At seven," he continues, "one went to court; the night was sultry. About ten, the procession began to move towards the chapel ; and at eleven they all came up into the drawing-room. She looks very sensible, cheerful, and is remarkably genteel. Her tiara of diamonds was very pretty, her sto- macher sumptuous; her violet-velvet mantle and ermine so heavy, that the spectators knew as much of her upper half as the king himself. You will have no doubt of her sense by what I shall tell you : — on the road they wanted her to curl her toupet : she said she thought it looked as well as that of any of the ladies sent to fetch her; if the king bid her, she would wear a periwig, otherwise she would remain as she was. When she caught the first glimpse of the palace she grew frightened, and turned pale. The Duchess of Hamilton smiled, — the princess said, ' My dear duchess, you may laugh — you have been married twice ; but it is no joke to me.' Her lips trembled as the coach stopped, but she jumped out with spirit, and has done nothing but with good humour and cheerfulness. She talks a great deal, is easy, civil, and not dis- concerted. At first, when the bride- maids and the court were introduced to her, she said, " Moi\ Dieu, il y en a tant, il y en a tant I" She was pleased when she was to kiss the peeresses ; but Lady Augusta was forced to take her hand and give it to those that were to kiss it, wliich was prettily humble and good-natured. While they waited for GEORGE THE THIRD. 71 supper, she sat down, sung, and played. Her French is tolerable ; she exchanged much both of that and German with the king. They did not get to bed till two." The Archbishop of Canterbury per- formed the marriage ceremony : the princess was given away by the Duke of Cumberland ; and the beautiful Lady Sarah Leno.x, with some other unmar- ried daughters of dukes and earls, bore the bride's train. On the Sunday after their marriage, the royal couple appeared in public at the chapel-royal. The next evening they went in chairs, attended by the horse-guards, to Drury-lane theatre, where the queen, for the first time in her life, saw a dramatic entertainment ; theatrical performances having been interdicted at Mecklenburgh, as tending to produce idleness and dissipation. In her progress to the theatre she was much alarmed by the pressure of the people towards her chair. The streets, on this occasion, were filled with count- less multitudes, and two persons were trampled to death by the crowd, at the play-house doors. Extraordinarypreparations were now made for the approaching coronation : to the fronts of tiie houses, on each side of the platform, scaffoldings were fixed for seats, for wliich the proprietors asked enormous prices; those in the Abbey were let at ten guineas each. So great was the rage to witness the pageant, that the husband of a lady, who was in an advanced state of pregnancj-, paid one hundred and forty guineas for two rooms, commanding a view of the plat- form, where she could be attended by her nurse and accoucheur. The ceremony took place on the 22nd of September : thousands had sat up in the open air all night; and long before it was day-iight, all the scaffoldings were crowded. The fol- lowing is an abridgment of a letter, written by an eye-witness of the spec- tacle : — " First, conceive to yourselves the fronts of all the houses that could command the least point of view lined with scaffolding, like so many galleries or boxes, raised one above another to the very roofs. These were covered with carpets., and cloths of different colours, which presented a pleasing variety to the eye : and if you consider the brilliant appearance of those seated in them, many of whom were most splendidly dressed, you will imagine that this was no indifferent part of the show. A rank of foot soldiers was placed on each side within the plat- form, and on the outside were sta- tioned, at proper intervals, parties of horse-guards. As soon as it was day- break, we were diverted with seeing the coaches and chairs of the nobility passing along with much difficulty ; and many persons richly dressed were forced to leave their carriages, and be escorted by the soldiers to their places. Their majesties came in chairs from St. James's to Westminster-hall, about nine o'clock. In spite of the pains taken to have everything in order, some curious blunders were committed. They actually forgot the sword of stale, the chairs for the king and queen, and even the canopies ; so tliat, as a sub- stitute for the first, they were forced to borrow the lord mayor's sword, and to keep their majesties waiting till mat- ters were arranged in the hall. It is not in the power of words to describe either the beauty of the spectacle, or the joy of the multitude, when the royal pair passed. It was observed, that as they turned the corner which commanded a view of Westminster bridge, they stopped to look at the people, the appearance of whom, un- covered, and gradually rising in a dense mass from the groinid, resembled a pavement of heads and faces." When the king approached the altar, in order to receive tlie sacrament, he asked if he should lay aside his crown. The Archbishop of Canterbury replied, that there was no order in the service on the subject. " Then there ought to be," rejoined the king. He immedi- ately took off his crown, and wished that of her majesty to be also removed ; but being told it was fastened to her hair, he said it might remain, but must be considered only as a part of her dress. The most valuable diamond in the king's crown fell out, during his return from the abbey to the hall, but it was soon afterwards found and restored. Bishop Newton, speaking of his majesty's deportment at the corona- tion, declares " that no actor in the character of Pyrrhus, in the Distressed Mother, not even Booth himself, who 72 THE ROYAL FAMILY. was celebrated for it in the Spectator, ever ascended the throne with so niucli grace and dignity." The following anecdotes, relative to the ceremony, are principally gleaned from the lively Walpole: — "At the dinner, Earl Talbot, as lord steward, on the second course being served up, rode from the hall-gate to the platform steps. The earl piqued himself on backing his horse down the hall, and not turning its rump towards the king ; but he had taken such pains to dress it to that duty, that it entered back- wards ; and, at his retreat, the specta- tors clapped, — a terrible indecorum, but suitable to such Barthol(5mew-fair doings. He had twenty demeles, but came out of none creditably. He had taken away the table of the Knights of the Bath, and was forced to admit two in their old place, and dine the others in the court of requests. Sir William Stanhope said, ' We are ill- treated, for some of us are gentlemen.' Beckford told the earl it was hard to refuse a table to the city of London, whom it would cost ten thousand pounds to banquet the king, and that his lordship would repent it, if they had not a table in the hall ; upon which they had one. To the barons of the cinque ports, who made the same complaint, he said, ' If you come to me as lord steward, 1 tell you it is impossible ; if as Lord Talbot, I am a match for any of you.' " The champion acted his part admi- rably. His horse was the identical charger which George the Second rode at the battle of Dettingen. Many per- sons of quality, in the galleries, let down handkerchiefs tied together, and strings with baskets suspended to them, earnestly requesting some of the good things from the tables, to satisfy their craving appetites. Some of the peer- esses were dressed on the preceding night, slept in arm-chairs, and were waked if they tumbled tiieir heads. Lady Townsliend said, she should be very glad to see a coronation, as she had never seen one. " Wiiy," said Walpole, " madam, you walked at the hist." " Yes, child,"' said slie, " but 1 saw nothing of it : I looked to see who looked at me." 'I'he king having complained of the strange paucity of precedents as to the ceremonies. Lord Effingham owned that the Earl Marshal's office had been strangely neglected ; " but," added he, " I have taken such care, that the iie.rt coronation may be regulated in the most exact manner imaginable." Lady Cowper, for some time, " refused to set a foot with my Lady M. ; and when she was at last obliged to associate with her, set out on a round trot, as if she designed to prove the antiquity of her family, by marching as lustily as a maid of honour of Queen Gwinevir." Probably no great public festival ever passed oft" with more 6clat than the coronation of George the Third : the king and queen were both young, and exceedingly popular ; it happened at a moment of great national prosperity ; the political heads of the government were remarkably acceptable to the people, and not a single accident oc- curred during the day. But amid all the bustle of pageantry, politics were not neglected. The king evinced an inclination for procuring a general peace : in this, he differed from his great minister, Pitt, and the prin- cipal part of his subjects. Being told that if he were determined on pacific measures, the premier would, in all probability, resign, the king replied, " I am determined not to be the only slave in a country, where it is my wish to see all the people free." On the 5th of October, Pitt retired from office, and Lord Bute became the head of the administration. Cardinal Stopponi, on being told, at Rome, of the change which had taken place in the English cabinet, could not believe his informant: " For what heir," said he, " on coming to a considerable estate, and finding it excellently well ma- naged by a steward, would dismiss that steward merely because he had served his predecessor?" At this period, principally through the lofty spirit and political sagacity of Pitt, the affairs of the nation were in a most prosperous state. The aimy and navy were highly efficient, and flushed with recent conquests ; the revenue flourished, commerce was in- creasing, the people were loyal, and, perhaps, no prince had ascended the throne of his ancestors with more flat- tering prospects than George the Tliird. To those, tiierefore, who, like Cardinal GEORGE THE THIRD. 73 Stopponi, perhaps, were unacquainted with the ascendancy of Lord Bute over the king's mind, the change in the English ministry must have appeared extraordinary. In a life of Pitt, it is insinuated, that the king was anxious to be rid of that statesman ; feehng, as he did, awed in the presence of, and ill at ease in his intercourse with, a man whose personal dignity was so over- whelming. This may reasonably be doubted, especially as the king was, at least at this period, eminently dignified himself: and the expulsion of the Ti- tanic statesman from the cabinet, may, with more safety, be attributed to the influence of Bute. On the 6th of November, the king opened the new parliament, with a speech from the throne, in which he stated, that having made an ineffectual attempt to bring about a general peace, nothing remained but to prosecute the war with vigour. The last splendid scene of this year of pageants was the civic feast, on the 9th of November, which all the royal family attended. The king and queen, on this occasion, went to the house of David Barclay, silk mercer, a member of the society of Friends, opposite to Bow church, to witness the lord mayor's procession. Barclay was the son of the author of the Apology for the Quakers; he had reached his eighty- first year, and this was the third occa- sion on which a king of England had become his guest. The following is an abridgment of a letter, written by one of his daughters, relative to the visit in question, which was published in the Gentleman's Magazine of De- cember, 1808 : — " About one o'clock, papa and mamma, with sister Weston to attend them, took their stands at the street door, where my two brothers had long been to receive the nobility, more than a hundred of whom were then waiting in the warehouse. As the royal family came, they were con- ducted into one of the counting-houses, which was transformed into a very pretty parlour. At half-past two, their majesties came, which was two hours later than they intended. On the second pair of stairs was placed our own company, about forty in number, the chief of whom were of the Puritan order, and all in their orthodox habits. Next to the drawing-room door were placed our ownselves, I mean my papa's children ; none else, to the great morti- fication of our visitors, being allowed to enter: for as kissing the king's hand without kneeling was an unexampled honour, the king confined that privi- lege to our own family, as a return for the trouble we had been at. After the royal pair had shewn themselves at the balcony, we were all introduced, and you rhay believe, at that juncture, we felt no small palpitations. The king met us at the door, (a condescension we did not expect) at which place, he saluted us with great politeness. Ad- vancing to the upper end of the room, we kissed the queen's hand, at the sight of whom we were all in raptures, not only from the brilliancy of her ap- pearance, which was pleasing beyond description, but being throughout her whole person possessed of that inex- pressible something that is beyond a set of features, and equally claims our attention. To be sure, she has not a fine face, but a most agreeable coun- tenance, and is vastly genteel, with an air, notwithstanding her being a little woman, truly majestic : and, I really think, by her manner is expressed that complacency of disposition which is truly amiable ; and though 1 could never perceive that she deviated from that dignity which belongs to a crowned head, yet, on the most trifling occa- sions, she displayed all that easy be- haviour that negligence can bestow. Her hair, which is of a light colour, hung in what are called coronation ring- lets, encircled with a band of diamonds, so beautiful in themselves, and so pret- tily disposed, as will admit of no de- scription. Her clothes, which were as rich as gold, silver, and silk could make them, was a suit, from which fell a train, supported by a little page in scarlet and silver. The lustre of her stomacher was inconceivable. The king I think a very personable man. All the princes followed the king's example in complimenting each of us with a kiss. The queen was up stairs three times; and my little darling, with Patty Barclay and Priscilla Ball, were introduced to her: I was present, and not a little anxious on account of my girl, who kissed the queen's hand with so much grace, that I thought the VOt.. I. 74 THE ROYAL FAMILY. princess dowager would have smothered her with kisses. Such a report was made of her to the king, tliat miss was sent for, and afforded liim great amuse- ment by saying, ' that she loved the king, though she must not love fine things, and that her grandpapa would not allow her to make a curtsey.' Her sweet face made such an impression on the Duke of York, that I rejoiced that she was only five instead of fifteen. When he first met her, he tried to persuade miss to let him introduce her to the queen ; but she would by no means consent, till I informed her he was a prince ; upon which, her little female heart relented, and she gave him her hand, — a true copy of the sex. The king never sat down, nor did he taste anything during the whole time. Her majesty drank tea, which was brought her on a silver waiter by bro- ther John, who delivered it to the lady in waiting, and she presented it kneel- ing. The leave they took of us was such as we might expect from our equals ; — full of apologies for our trouble, and their entertainment; which they were so anxious to have explained, that the queen came up to us, as we stood on one side of the door, and had every word interpreted. My brothers had the honour of assisting the queen into her coach. Some of us sat up to see them return, and the king and queen took especial notice of us as they passed. The king ordered twenty-four of his life guards to be placed opposite our house all night, lest any of the canopy should be pulled down by the mob, in which there were one hundred yards of silk damask." The entertainment at Guildhall was so magnificent, that when the royal family retired, the king, addressing himself to the lord mayor, said, " To be elegantly entertained, I must come into the city !" This fete cost upwards of £7,000 ; and one of the foreign ministers described it as a banquet fit only for one king to give to another. On the 2nd of December, the royal assent was given to a bill for settling the queen's dowry (in case her majesty should survive the king,) at £100,000 per annum. A patent also passed the privy seal, by which a yearly sum of £40,000 was granted to the queen, for the better support of her dignity. The king continued to be very popular. Walpole, in a letter dated about this period, states, that his majesty was evidently desirous of giving general satisfaction. " I saw him yesterday," he continues, " and was surprised to find the levee-room had lost so entirely the air of a lion's den. This sovereign does not stand in one spot, with his eyes royally fixed on the ground, and dropping bits of German news ; he walks about, and speaks to every body." In January 1762, a declaration of war was issued against Spain. In May, Lord Bute succeeded the Duke of Newcastle as first lord of the trea- sury, and preliminaries of peace were signed between this country, and France and Spain, on the 3rd of the following November. The people, how- ever, were by no means pacifically in- clined, or contented with the political ascendancy of Lord Bute ; wliose admi- nistration was attacked with unsparing severity by several popular writers, particularly by the celebrated John Wilkes, in his periodical paper called the North Briton. The arrest of Wilkes, and the seizure of his papers under a general warrant, issued by the secretary of state for the home depart- ment, increased the indignation and clamours of the people; Lord Bute was execrated througliout the country, and the king himself became exceedingly unpopular. The removal of the fa- vourite, and the appointment of George Grenville to the head of the treasury, having failed to allay the national irri- tation, Pitt, it is asserted, was, at length, summoned to court, and re- quested to make arrangements for Ibrming a new ministry ; but he pre- sumed, it is added, to dictate such arro- gant terms, that, rather than submit to them, the king said he would place the crown on Pitt's head, and submit his own neck to the axe. In 1764, the king suggested to Grenville the taxation of America as a grand financial measure for relieving the mother country from the heavy war expenses which had chiefly been incurred tor the security of the colonies. The minister was startled, and raised objections to the proposal, wliich, how- ever, were overruled by the king, who plainly told him that, if he were afraid to adopt such a measure, others might GEORGE THE THIRD. 75 easily be found who possessed more political courage. At length, Grenville reluctantly brought the subject before parliament ; and, in spite of a violent opposition, the stamp act. so important in its consequences, was passed in the following year. The most alarming irritation prevailed among the colo- nists. In the lower house of represen- tatives at Virginia, Patrick Henry, a popular orator, exclaimed, " Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Crom- well, and George the Third — " Cries of "Treason!" here interrupted the speaker ; but, after a moment's pause, he continued, " And George the Tliird may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it." Early in this year the king was at- tacked by an indisposition of six weeks' duration, wliich is suspected to have been similar in its nature to, though less in its degree than, the malady which ob- scured the latter part of his life. Soon after his recovery, he went down to the house of peers, and, in a speech from the throne, proposed a legislative enactment, by which he might be enabled, under the sign manual, from time to time, to appoint the queen, or some other member of the royal family, guardian to the heir-apparent and re- gent of the kingdom. The bill was soon afterwards brought into parliament, and eventually passed ; although it met with so much opposition in its progress, even from some of the mi- nistry, who wished the term " royal family" to include only the descendants of the late king, to the exclusion of the princess dowager, that a change in the administration ensued. The Rockingham party, which now came into power, procured the repeal of the odious and impolitic stamp act ; but, notwithstanding this and some other popular measures of the new cabinet, it was dissolved in the summer of 1766. The Duke of Grafton suc- ceeded Lord Rockingham as first lord of the treasury, and Pitt (then Earl of Chatham) took ofBce as lord privy seal. In the following year, Charles Towns- hend, chancellor of the exchequer, pro- posed the taxation of certain articles imported by the American colonists ; and, early in 1768, Lord Chatham re- tired, in deep disgust, from the adminis- tration, which, during the preceding autumn, had been weakened by the succession of Lord North to Charles Townshend, as chancellor of tiie ex- chequer. Some other official changes took place ; one of the most important of which, perhaps, was the appointment of Lord Hilsborough to the new colo- nial secretaryship. The aspect of affairs in America grew more serious every hour: the deputies of Massaciiusets declared tax- ation by the British parliament to be illegal ; a scheme for a general congress of the difterent states was proposed ; and an open rupture with the mother country was evidently approaching. Blind to the consequences of their fatal policy, the king and his ministers, how- ever, persisted in those measiu-es, with regard to the transatlantic colonic-:, which, eventually, produced a dismem- berment of the empire. The unpopularity of George the Third, in 1709, had nearly reached its greatest height. The ' proceedings against Wilkes were viewed wiih deep indignation ; his outlawry, and, after its reversal, the punishment of fine and imprisonment inflicted on him for his political writings, tended to increase, rather than to depress, his zeal against government, and his influence over tiie discontented. After having been ex- pelled the house of commons for his comments on a letter written by one of the ministers, he was so repeatedly and perseveringly returned by the Middle- sex freeholders, that, at length, the persons in power, who were resolute in their determination to keep him out of parliament, audaciously procured his opposing candidate, Luttre!, to be declared duly elected, although the latter had been in a minority of nearly one thousand on the poll. During these proceedings, the metropolis was disgraced by a succession of dreadful riots: the piemises of Barclay, the Quaker, in,Cheapside, were wantonly damaged, apparently for no other reason than because he had enter- tained the king during his majesty's visit to the city ; and a hearse, with a man seated on the box, in the habit of an executioner, who ferociously brandished an axe, was driven into the court-j^ard of St. James's, amid the most frightful yells and execrations of the mob. The king, who was then in 76 THE ROYAL FAMILY. the palace, exhibited no symptoms of alarii), but cahnly gave such orders as were necessary for the restoration of public tranquillity, and which his con- fidential servants were too much agitated to issue. He soon after dis- played another strong proof of his firmness : several of the rioters were capitally convicted for wantonly de- stroying property at Bethnal-green, where it was deemed expedient that they should be executed : the timidity of ministers, however, produced some discussions as to the danger of carry- ing the sentence into effect; but the king, having ascertained from the judges that the proceeding was perfectly legal, personally gave the necessary directions on the subject to the civil power. A deficiency in the civil list, to the amount of half a million, increased the exasperation of the people against go- vernment ; over which a positive tri- vmiph was achieved, about the same period, by the persecuted champion of the disaffected, the notorious Wilkes; who obtained a verdict with £4,000 damages against Lord Halifax, for the arrest of his person and the seizure of his papers, under a general warrant, the issue of which was declared to have been illegal. At the close of this unpropitious year, Junius published his famous letter to the king, who is said to have wept while he perused it. This terrible epistle, which was read and applauded throughout the country, so completely paralyzed some of the feeble and fool- ish members of administration, that they were incapable of making a single effort to preserve their places. The Duke of Grafton resigned all his em- ployments in January, 1770 ; but, un- fortunately, he was succeeded in the premiership by Lord North, who in- creased rather than alleviated the na- tional calamities. Popular clamour kept pace with mi- nisterial folly : blood was already spilled in America ; and the city of London delivered a bold address and remonstrance to the king, for which, being censured in the reply from the throne, they voted a second address, declaratory of their deep concern at having fallen under his majesty's dis- pleasure. The king, in his answer, stated tliat it was his duty to express, as he did, the disgust he felt at their sentiments; and Beckford, the lord mayor, in rejoinder, is said to have de- livered extemporaneously the spirited speech which is engraved on the pe- destal of his statue at Guildhall. Doubts, however, have been enter- tained as to his having used the lan- guage attributed to him on this oc- casion ; but it is quite clear, that, to adopt his own phrase, he repeated something as much to the purpose as he could ; and, on the next appearance of the lord mayor and corporation at the palace, Beckford was desired never to reply to an answer from his majesty again. In 1771, certain printers were ordered into custody of the serjeant-at-arms for having published the parliamentary de- bates : one of them, on being carried before Alderman Wilkes, was immedi- ately discharged ; and the lord mayor and Alderman Oliver, both of whom were members of tlie house of com- mons, having acted in the same manner on a similar occasion, were committed to the tower, where they remained in custody until the prorogation of parlia- ment. These contemptible measures, and the unsuccessful prosecution of Woodfall, the printer of the famous letter addressed by Junius to the king, materially increased the feelings of bitterness entertained by the people against the sovereign and his minis- ters. The former could scarcely ever appear in public without receiving the most unequivocal marks of aversion ; while, strange as it may appear, the latter gradually increased in strength, until all opposition to their impolitic pro- ceedings became hopeless. In 1772, at the express recommenda- tion of the king, who felt highly in- dignant at the recent union of his brotlier, the Duke of Cumberland, with Mrs. Horton, an act was passed, whereby all members of the royal family, if under twenty-five years of age, were thenceforth prevented from marrying without the king's consent ; or, although above that age, if their intended alliance should be disapproved of by parliament. The discontented colonists at length broke out into acts of open violence : three sloops, laden with tea, were en- tered, in the port of Boston, by armed GEORGE THE THIRD, 77 persons in disguise, who threw the cargoes overboard. In consequence of this outrage, a royal message was de- livered to parliament, recommending the adoption of such measures as the occasion seemed to require ; and Lord North introduced some severe bills against the colonists, which, although warmly opposed, passed through both houses of parliament, and received the royal assent. These injudicious enact- ments were followed by the meeting of a general congress at Philadelphia ; and, shortly afterwards, the American states declared themselves indepen- dent. The disasters which befel the mother country in her subsequent un- successful struggle with the colonists, it scarcely falls within the province of the biographer to record : suffice it, at least in this place, to say, that, after a long war, during which, France, Spain, and Holland, hostilely interfered in behalf of America, the independence of the United States was formally ac- knowledged. In 1777, the king applied for an addition of £100,000 per annum to the civil list; but the grant met with con- siderable opposition, principally be- cause it was suspected that the civil list revenues were employed by mi- nisters to increase their influence in parliament. On the 25th of June, in this year, while the king was proceed- ing to the little theatre in the Hay- market, an insane female rushed up to the royal chair, dashed her arm through the glass, and would probably have committed some serious assault on his majesty, but for the interference of the police. During the year 1778, the king visited the fleet at Spithead, inspected the works at Chatham, the batteries, storehouses, &c. at Sheerness, and the dock yard at Portsmouth. He also gratified his predilection for military reviews at Winchester, Warley, Cox- heath, and other places, and acquired some popularity by his urbane deport- ment to all classes of the community during his progresses. In 1779, the political horizon was exceedingly gloomy. In addition to the contest with her colonies, Great Britain had become involved in hostilities with Spain ; her military force was wasting away in America, the navy had ceased to be triumphant, commerce had fallen into decay, ministers appeared to feel their own incapacity, and the sovereign was hated by a great portion of his people. He still, however, persisted in his former principles ; and, while a small party applauded his firmness, the public in general loudly censured his obstinacy. During the riots of 1780, which were occasioned by the repeal of certain penal statutes against the Catholics, the king sat up for two nights in the queen's riding-house, and received hourly reports of the movements of the mob. While London was on fire in several places, he presided at a privy council, which was summoned to con- sider the legahty of firing on actual rioters before the reading of the act. The question was decided in the affirmative, but none of the ministers had sufficient courage to sign the ne- cessary order for the direction of the troops. At length, the king com- manded the attorney-general, Wedder- burne, to write down his opinion, (which coincided with that of the council in general on the subject,) and then coolly placed his signature at the foot of the order. His firmness, however, was totally free from cruelty, or even ex- cessive severity ; for when the mob attempted to break into St. James's palace, he ordered the soldiers not to fire, but, if possible, to keep off the rioters with their bayonets. In 1782, Lord North resigned, and the Rockingham party went into office : but the new administration soon afterwards broke up, on account of the sudden death of the premier. Lord Shelburne was now placed at the head of the treasury, and Pitt, son of the great Earl of Chatham, became chancellor of the exchequer. In 1783, a general peace was con- cluded, and the United States procured a formal acknowledgement of their in- dependence. When Adams, the first American envoy, attended at the levee, the king, to whom he was personally disagreeable, received him with digni- fied composure, and said, " I was the last man in England to acknowledge the independence of America, but, having done so, I shall also be the last to violate it!" Adams's own account of the interview is as follows: — " The 78 THE ROYAL FAMILY. king asked me, whether I came last from France, and, on answering in the affirmative, he put on an air of faniili- arit)', and, smiling, or rather laughing, said, ' There is an opinion among some people, that you are not the most at- tached of all your countrymen to the manners of France.' I was surprised at this, because I thought it an mdis- cretion, and a descent from his dignity. I was a little embarrassed, but deter- mined not to deny the truth on the one hand, nor leave him to infer from it any attachment to England on the other. I threw off as much gravity as I could, and assumed an air of gaiety, and a tone of decision, saying, ' That opinion, sir, is not mistaken ; I must avow to your majesty I have no attach- ment but to my own country.' The king replied, as quick as lightning, ' An honest man will never have any other.' " Early in this year took place the me- morable coalition between the parties respectively headed by Fox and Lord North, who soon succeeded in over- throwingthe administration, and forcing themselves into office. To the king they were particularly obnoxious, and their political ascendancy had a power- ful effect on his spirits. He became dejected and uncommunicative; but no sooner did Fox introduce his famous India bill, than all the firmness of his character seemed to return. He openly declared his aversion to the measure, and, as soon as it was re- jected by the lords, he sent a message to Fox and North, commanding them immediately to return him their seals of office by a messenger, as a personal interview with them would be dis- agreeable to him. On the following day, Pitt became prime minister. During the very remarkable parlia- mentary contest which ensued, the in- trepidity and firmness of the king was above all praise ; it obtained, as it de- served, the applause of the nation, and was attended with the most trium- phant success over the coalition. The king declared that, rather than throw himself into the arms of an overbearing faction, whose politics he detested, he would resign the crown, and retire to Hanover; and when Pitt, almost over- whelmed l)y the opposition majorities, said to him, " Sire, I am mortified to see that my perseverance has been of no avail, and that I must resign at last;" the king replied, " If so, I must resign too." On the 2nd of August, 1786, a woman, named Margaret Nicholson, attempted to assassinate his majesty, at the garden entrance of St. James's palace. While he was in the act of receiving a paper from her, she struck at him with a knife, which pierced his waistcoat ; but, fortunately, did him no injury. She was about to repeat the thrust, when a yeoman of the guard caught her arm, and, at the same moment, a footman wrenched the knife from her grasp. The king, with extraordinary coolness, said, " Don't hurt the woman — poor creature ! — she is mad." She after- wards underwent a long examination before the privy council, and no doubt appearing of her insanity, she was at once consigned to Bethlem hospital. In the month of July, the king was so indisposed, that he went to Chelten- ham for the purpose of drinking the waters, from which he appeared to derive much benefit: but his indispo- sition re-appeared in a very alarming form soon after his return to Windsor. About the middle of October, 1788, he was attacked by a bilious fever: this, however, did not prevent hiin from attending a levee in town on the 24th ; but immediately afterwards he displayed such peculiar symptoms, that his phy- sicians thought proper to apply a blister to his head. For some time before he had complained of weight or pressure on the brain, and entertained a presen- timent of approaching insanity. One evening, at a private concert, he went up to Dr. Ayrton, and said, " I fear, sir, I shall not be able long to hear music ; it seems to affect my head, and it is with some difficulty I bear it. Alas ! the best of us are but frail mortals!" Mental aberration soon ensued; and Dr. Warren, the king's physician, de- clared that there was no immediate chance of his recovery ; but Dr. Willis, who was subsequently consulted on the case of the royal patient, expressed a belief that the malady would be of short duration. This ditterence of opinion produced great excitation in the minds of the people, with whom the king was now decidedly popular. In parliament. Fox and the opposition were staunch GEORGE THE THIRD. 79 believers in the prognostication of War- ren, while Pitt and his coadjutors con- fided in the opinion of Willis. All the royal pliysicians were examined, with great severity, at the bar of the house of commons : Warren now affirmed ihe king's case to be absolutely desperate ; while Willis, on the contrary, with equal confidence, predicted his majesty's re- covery in a few months. As, however, no hopes existed of his speedily resuming the duties of his station, a regency became indispen- sable. The debates on this subject were fierce and protracted. Both parties in the house agreed that the heir-apparent should be regent ; but while Fox con- tended that, under existing circum- stances, the prince had an inherent right to exercise tlie royal authority in its utmost plenitude, Pitt advocated the necessity and legality of imposing various restrictions on his authority. The bill had reached its last stage, when the king suddenly recovered. Various indications of his return of reason had been noticed almost simul- taneously; but no idea appears to have been entertained, even by those who were about him, of his perfect restora- tion to sanity, until the 22nd of Febru- ary, 1789, when he wrote the following note to his prime minister: " The king renews with great satis- faction his communication with Mr. Pitt, after the long suspension of their inter- course, owing to his very tedious and painful illness. He is fearful that during this interval, the public interests have suffered great inconvenience and diffi- culty. It is most desirable that imme- diate measures should be taken for restoring the functions of his govern- ment; and Mr. Pitt will consult with the lord chancellor to-morrow morning, upon the most expedient means for that purpose ; and the king will receive Mr. Pitt at Kew afterwards, about one o'clock." The next morning, Pitt waited upon the king, who was evidently quite ra- tional; and among other equally per- tinent observations, said to the minis- ter, " I made several promises before my illness, and they must now be ful- filled." Shortly before he wrote to Pitt, he had inquired of his attendant, why a pier glass in his apartment had been covered with baize ; the attendant being unwilling to confess that it was to prevent the king from perceiving what a dreadful alteration had taken place in his appearance, replied, '• The glass, sire, was supposed to have re- flected too much light." " How could that be," said the king, " when it is placed where no light can fall on it?" A little while after, on awaking from a sound and refreshing sleep, he said, " I have been in a strange delirium for some dayspa^r!" When he was informed that his illness had been of more than two months' duration, he remained in an attitude of devotion for several minutes, but made no further remark on the subject. On the 12th of March, the king sent a message to parliament, announcing his complete recovery : bonfires, illumi- nations, and other demonstrations of public joy, succeeded. On the 17th, her majesty caused Kew palace to be decorated with several thousand lamps, and a transparency of the king, be- neath which were the following lines, written, it is said, by the queen herself; who, on some other occasions, published her affectionate, but rather unpoetical, eifusions in a similar manner: — Our prayers are heard, and Providence restores A patriot king to tiless Britannia's shores. But not to Britain is the Itliss contin'd ; All Europe hails the friend of human kind. If such the general joy, what words can shew The change to transport from the depths of woe, In those permitted to embrace again, The best of fathers, husbands, and of men ! The king determined not to appear in public until he could attend, in St. Paul's cathedral, to return solemn thanks for his recovery ; but, on the 25th of March, the queen held a draw- ing room, and, on the loth of April, visited Covent-garden theatre, with two of the princesses. At her entrance, the shouts of welcome, from an im- mense audience, were so loud and long continued, that she was overpowered by her feelings, and burst into tears. After " God save the King" had been five times repeated, it was again called for; and some short delay occurring in the re-appearance of the performers, the anthem was enthusiastically sung, or rather, vociferated, by the audience. On the 23id of April, the king, ac- companied by his family, proceeded to St. Paul's, in the midst of an immense I 80 THE ROYAL FAMILY. concourse of spectators. On this occa- sion, tiie queen evinced great elation of spirits ; but tlie king, according to Bishop Tomline, seemed completely occupied with the religious duty he was about to perform : walking with a grave and devotional air to his pew, he instantly fell on liis knees, and seemed wholly absorbed in the services of the day. So extravagant was the loyalty of the public at this period, that the congregation were with difficulty re- strained from bursting out into plaudits. Shortly afterwards, in a conversation with Hardinge, chief justice of Brecon, the king said that his iUness had been a perfect bliss to him, because it proved how confidently he might rely on the support of his people. On the 25th of June, the king, ac- companied by the queen and three of the princesses, proceeded to Weymouth: while there, he received several letters, threatening him with assassination, but he so utterly disregarded them, that he often rode out, accompanied only by an equerry and a groom, and some- times walked on the beach wholly un- attended. On the 21st of January, 1790, a large stone was thrown with great violence into the king's carriage, during his majesty's progress to the house of lords, by a half-pay lieutenant, named James Frick, whose insanity being clearly established, he was committed to Bethlem hospital. On this circum- stance, I'eter Pindar wrote the follow- ing epigram : — ** Folks say, it was lucky the stone missetl the hvad^ M hen lately at Cx-sar 'twas thrown ; I think, ver}' tliff^reiit from thousands indeed, Twas a lucky escape for the stone," At this period, a war with revolu- tionized France became inevitable: and the commencement of hostilities af- forded great satisfaction to the king, with whose feelings on the subject those of the majority of his subjects appear to have been in iinison. On the ;ird of February, 1794, a horrible accident occurred at the Hay- market theatre, which the royal family visited that evening. Tlie entrance to the pit was by a descent of twenty or thirty steps; and when the doors were opened, the foremost of the crowd that had collected, were borne down and trodden under foot by those behind, who rushed into the theatre amid the dying screams of their unhappy victims. Fifteen persons were killed on this oc- casion ; and twenty others so dreadfully injured, as to be rendered cripples for life. The awful circumstance was com- municated to the royal family after the performances, when the king expressed liis determination never to visit the Haymarket theatre again. At this period, the splendid achieve- ments of the French armies, under Na- poleon, had cast a gloom over the pros- pects of Great Britain ; which, however, was somewhat dissipated by the naval victory of Lord Howe. The royal fa- mily visited the triumphant fleet, after its return to port, and the king presented a diamond-hilted sword to the admiral, as well as gold chains to several of the officers under his command. Although loyalty appears by no means to be a connnon result of na- tional prosperity, yet popular clamours against the party in power, hatred of the sovereign, and, occasionally, high treason, are, in this country, at least, but too often, the consequences of un- avoidable discomfiture abroad, or cala- mity at home. George the Third, so lately the Dagon of his people, had now lost their " golden opinions," and become as unjustly odious as he had before been undeservedly idolized. On the 29th of October, 1795, an attempt was made to assassinate him while he was proceeding to the house of lords, to open parliament in person. The Earl of Onslow, one of his attend- ants, has given a circumstantial account of the occurrence, of which the follow- ing is an abridgment : — " Soon after two o'clock, his majesty, attended by the Earl of Westmoreland and myself, set out from St. James's in his state coach. The multitude of people in the park was prodigious : a sullen silence prevailed through the whole, very few individuals excepted. No hats, or, at least, very few, pulled off; little or no huzzaing — and frequently aery of ' Give us bread !' ' No war ! and once or twice ' No king!' — with hissing and groaning. Nothing, however, material happened, till we got down to the nar- rowest part of the street called St. Margaret's ; when, the moment we had passed the office of ordnance, a small GEORGE THE THIRD, 81 ball, either of lead or marble, passed through the window-glass on the king's right hand, and out of the other door, the glass of which was down. We all instantly exclaimed, ' This is a shot!' His majesty shewed, and I am per- suaded felt, no alarm ; much less did he fear. We proceeded to the house of lords, where the king read his speech with peculiar correctness, and even with less hesitation than usual. He joined in the conversation on the sub- ject, while unrobing, with much less agitation than anybody else : and after- wards, on getting into the coach, he said, ' Well, my lords, one person is proposing this, and another is supposing that, forgetting that there is One above us all who, disposes of everything, and on whom alone we depend!' On our return to St. James's, the mob threw stones into the coach, several of which hit the king, who took one out of the cuff of his coat, where it had lodged, and gave it to me, saying, ' I make you a present of this, as a mark of the civilities we have met with on our journey to-day.' " One of the horse- guards detected a ruffian close to the carriage, in the act of throwing a large stone at the king, and would have cut the man down, had not his majesty put his head out of the window, and com- manded him on no account to shed blood. The mob were so violent and determined, that Storey's Gate having been closed against them, they at- tempted to break it open with sledge- hammers ; and would, in all proba- bility, have succeeded, had not the military interposed. The king alighted in safety at the palace ; but the state carriage was nearly demolished in its progress to the royal mews. Shortly afterwards, he rashly set out, in his private coach, towards the queen's house ; but having now no guards to protect him, his life was in imminent danger. The mob attacked his vehicle with savage fury, and one miscreant had already attempted to force the door, when an Irish gentle- man, of great height and strength, took a brace of pistols from his pocket, and kept the mob off the carriage until it reached the palace, where, by main force, he cleared the way for his ma- jesty to alight. It is stated, but the fact is doubtful, that, in gratitude for this signal service, the king desired Mr. Dundas to confer some profitable place on his deliverer ; and that, on being told, some time afterw-ards, that no vacancy had occurred, so that his preserver was still without a reward, he said to the minister, " Then, sir, you must make a situation for him." A new office, it is added, with a salary of £6.50 per annum, was consequently created, to which the Irish gentleman received an immediate appointment. On the 1st of February, 1796, while the king and queen were returning from Drury-lane theatre, a large stone was thrown with great violence at their carriage. It broke tiirough one of the glass panels, and hit the queen on the face. A few days afterwards, a strange woman was discovered in Buckingham- house, near her majesty's apartments : on being interrogated as to what busi- ness had brought her to the palace, she said, " Mrs. Guelph, the queen, who is my mother, holds some property be- longing to me ; and if it is not imme- diately given up, I shall be driven to commit some horrid act." Her insanity being evident, she was sent to Bethlem hospital. In the course of the year, some at- tempts were made to negociate a peace with France, by the king's express desire; but they wholly failed, and the difficulties of the country were aug- mented by a war with Spain. In 1797, during the alarm of a French invasion, the people of this country were seized with a volunteer mania, which was warmly encouraged by the king ; as, if it did not tend to deter the enemy from attempting to carry their threatened project on England into ex- ecution, it brought patriotism and loyalty into fashion, and subdued the spirit of disaffection. At a grand review of volun- teers, in Hyde park, the citizen soldiers having huzzaed the king with great enthusiasm, he rode up the line, and said, good-humouredly, " I thank you for your loyalty; but this is unmilitary, and we must not have rules violated." On the 19th of December, his ma- jesty, with the whole of the royal family, went in procession to St. Paul's cathe- dral, to return thanks to God for the recent victories of Howe, St. Vincent, and Duncan. In 1798, public distress in this country 82 THE ROYAL FAMILY. appeared to have reached its climax : a subscription was opened to meet tlie exigencies of the state, to which the king subscribed £20,000 out of the privy purse. To add to the national gloom, the Irish rebellion broke out in this year : the spirit of party was also violently displayed in the parliamentary debates ; and the king excited consider- able dissatisfaction, by personally eras- ing the name of Fox iVom the list of his privy-counsellors. Notwithstanding these circumstances, the great body of the people of England, in 1799, were so eminently loyal, pa- triotic, or, perhaps, absurd, that there was scarcely an able-bodied burgher or farmer in the country, who did not occasionally carry arms and wear a red coat, as a member of some volunteer corps. The king attended a great num- ber of reviews during this and the fol- lowing j'ear. On the 15th of May, (1800,) a grand military spectacle, at which his majesty was present, took place in Hyde park : while the troops were firing in companies, a person of the name of Ongley, who was standing near the king, received a musket- ball in his thigh. Suspicion having arisen, that it had been aimed at his majesty, the cartouch-boxes of the troops were rigidly inspected, but nothing was found by which the delinquent could be iden- tified ; and it was afterwards suggested, that a ball-cartridge might have been given out to one of the men by mis- take. The king behaved with what may fairly be termed his hereditary courage on this occasion. In the evening, a play having been previously commanded at Drury-lane, he accompanied the queen to the theatre, in spite of the earnest remonstrances of his ministers, to whom he declared that he feared nothing, and would not disappoint the people. A moment after he had entered his box, and while he was in the act of bowing to the audience, a man who sat in the middle of the pit, near the orchestra, fired a horse-pistol at him ; but the assassin's arm iiaving fortunately been a little elevated by a person near him, who had observed his intent, the charge lodged in the roof of the royal box. The culprit was iinmediately seized, and the pistol, which lie had dropped, was found beneath the seat. Terror and indignation were depicted on every countenance except that of the king, who stepped back, with admirable com- posure, to the door of the box, and prevented the queen from entering. " Keep back, keep back," said he ; " they are firing squibs for diversion, and perhaps there may be more." He then, according to the account of a gentleman who was present, returned to the box, advanced to the front, and, with folded arms, and a look of great dignity, in which one might have read the sentiment, " Now, fire, if you please!" — presented himself to the audience ; which, after a moment of silent, but intense admiration, burst into acclamations which absolutely shook the theatre. At length, the queen and princesses entered, and they warmly urged the king to return home ; but he replied, " No ; sit down and be calm ; there is no danger : we will stay and see the entertainment out!" The loyalty of the spectators was raised to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by his majesty's firmness. " God save the king," was thrice repeated, with the addition of the following stanza, by Sheridan : — *' From every latent foe, From the assassin's blow, Goil save t)ii-' kiiigl O'er him thine arm extend, For Britain's sake defend, Our father, prince, and friend, God save the king '. " The man, who had thus attempted the king's life, on being interrogated, said, " I have no objection to tell who I am. It is not over yet. There is a great deal more to be done. My name is James Hatfield : I served my time as a working silversmith ; but after- wards enlisted in the 15th light dra- goons, and have fought for my king and country." The Duke of York now entered the room where the exami- nation took place. " 1 know your royal highness," continued Hatfield ; " God bless you ! you are a good fel- low ! I have served with your high- ness, and I got these," he added, point- ing to a deep cut over his eye, and another long scar on his cheek; "and more than these, in fighting by your side. At Lincelles I was left three hours among the dead, in a ditch, and was taken prisoner by the French. I had GEORGE THE THIRD. 83 my arm broken by a shot, and received eight sabre wounds in my head ; but I recovered, and here I am !'' On being asked what had induced him to attempt the hfe of the king, he said, " I did not attempt to kill the king ; I fired the pistol over the royal box. I am as good a shot as any man in England ; but 1 am weary of lite, and wish for death, though not to die by my own hands. I was desirous of raising an alarm, and hoped the spectators would fall upon me ; but they did not. Still I trust my life is forfeited !" It subsequently ap- peared, that, after having behaved, for a number of years, like a brave and good soldier, he had been discharged on account of insanity, (which was sup- posed to have been occasioned by a wound in his head,) and admitted an out-pensioner of Chelsea hospital. When the king returned to the queen's house, he said, " I hope and pray that the poor creature, who has committed the rash assault upon me, may enjoy as sound a repose as I trust that I shall this night !" He adopted no additional precautions for his per- sonal safety, observing to those who advised him to do so, " I know that any man in my dominions, who chooses to sacrifice his own life, may easily take away mine ; but I hope, if any one attempts such an act, he will do it promptly, without any circumstances of barbarity !" Sheridan soon after- wards complimented him for the extra- ordinary resolution he had displayed. " Had your majesty abruptly quitted the theatre," said he, " the confusion would have been awful." " I should have despised myself for ever," replied the king, '■ had I but stirred a single inch : a man, on sucli an occasion, should need no prompting, but imme- diately feel what is his duty, and do it." Hatfield was subsequently indicted for high treason, but the jury being satisfied that he was of unsound mind, he was committed to Bethlem Hospital. He was living at the time of the demise of his intended victim's successor, and, for a long period, was an object of great interest to the visitors of the noble establishment to which he had been consigned, until, at length, Martin, the incendiary of the cathedral at York, became, to his great indignation, more popular in Bethlem than himself. On the 22nd of July, in the same year, (1800,) the Union Act was passed. During the discussions on this mea- sure, Pitt, with a view to conciliate some of its opponents, had held out hopes that it would be followed by some concessions to the Catholics ; but the king being of opinion that he could not consent to their admission to poli- tical power, without violating the spirit of his coronation oath, Pitt and his coadjutors retired from office early in 1801. They were succeeded by the Ad- dington administration ; and scarcely had the new arrangements been com- pleted, when the king was attacked with a very alarming illness, which seemed to threaten a return of his men- tal disorder. The complaint was a dis- tressing, feverish irritability, precluding all repose ; and, as it continued for seve- ral weeks, insanity seemed its neces- sary termination. Mr. Addington, hav- ing observed the efficacy of hops as a sedative, advised the king to use a pil- low stuffed with them, which enabled him to rest, and led to his recovery, when all other remedies were found futile. To this circumstance the minis- ter was indebted for his well-known nickname of" The Doctor." Military triumphs were so rare at this period, that the victory of Alexandria occasioned much rejoicing. The Egyp- tian expedition had been planned by Lord Melville; Pitt had never cordially supported it, and the king's concur- rence to it was signified in the follow- ing words: — "I consent, with the ut- most reluctance, to a measure, which seems to me to peril the flower of my army upon a distant and hazardous expedition!" Lord Melville was in retirement at Wimbledon, when the news arrived of the battle of Alex- andria : the king, soon afterwards, w hile breakfasting with him, filled a glass of wine, and bidding the queen, and all the guests, to follow his example, he drank, " To the health of the minister, who, in opposition to the opinion of his col- leagues, and the avowed reluctance of his sovereign, dared to plan and for- ward the Egyptian expedition 1" The new minister was anxious for peace; and, in September, the prelimi- naries of the treaty of Amiens were signed. The king's consent to the necessary negociations is said to have 84 THE ROYAL FAMILY. been most reluctantly given, as he con- sidered the peace impolitic, unsafe, and unwise. It has even been asserted, that Lord Hawksbury affixed his sig- nature to the articles, not only without the king's approbation, bvit without his knowledge. The fact seems scarcely credible ; and, perhaps, his known dis- like to the treaty may have been exag- gerated into this assumption of the regal power on the part of his ministers. The peace was destined to be of short duration ; for, in May 1803, much to the satisfaction of the' public, war was again declared against France. The king, on this occasion, absurdly at- tempted to shield Hanover from danger, by declaring, that although he had pro- claimed war against France, as King of Great Britain, he deprecated hostili- ties being commenced by that power against his electorate ; which, however, early in June, was over-run by the French troops under Mortier. On the 14th of February, 1804, the king became suddenly and alarmingly indisposed. It was said, that his com- plaint was rheumatic, but an opinion prevailed, to a considerable extent, that his mind, on this occasion, was more affected than his body. The symptoms, however, gradually abated, and a trip to Weymouth completely re-established his majesty's health. It being quite evident, that the Ad- dington cabinet was incapable of ad- vantageously conducting the affairs of the nation, early in May, Pitt, with his friends and adherents, again went into power. So great a misunderstanding had existed for a considerable time between the Prince of Wales and his royal father, that they had not met ; and the here- ditary variance between the sovereign and the heir-apparent was thus per- petuated to the fourth generation. On the 12th of Noveniber, however, a re- conciliation took place, which appeared to be sincere and cordial on both sides. On the 2Gth of February, 1805, an enteitainnient of unequalled magni- ficence, the expense of which exceeded £50,000, was given by the king, at Windsor castle. This was followed, on the 23rd of April, by a grand in- stallation of the Knights of the Garter. The king's vivacity, on this occasion, was absolutely boyish. He ran to and fro between the queen and the Prin- cess of Wales, and rapidly addressed the latter in the following words : — " You must stop the week out at Windsor — all, all the week. I'll take no excuse. No ! no ! you must stay ! I have got something for your amusement every day — every day !" Hearing Mr. Wind- ham say something in praise of the spectacle, he turned round suddenly, exclaiming, " Ah, Windham ! You are there : I hope you like it, eh?" Shortly afterwards he said to Lord Winchelsea, " Winchelsea! Winchelsea! do you see my horse ? I mounted him fresh since I came into the park, as I always do ; I have had him twenty years, and he is good now. Do you know the secret ? I'll tell you, Winchelsea — I know his worth, and I treat him accordingly. That's the right way, Winchelsea!'' Early in 1806, died the king's fa- vourite minister, Pitt, and the Grenville party, which Fox had joined, went into office. For some time past the king's sight had been materially affected ; but at the beginning of this year, his power of vision was rather improved, and he could clearly distinguish objects at the distance of twenty yards. Of his mode of Uving, at this period, a late writer has given a very minute account, of which the following [are the most interesting particulars. The king was less abste- mious than he had formerly been. He slept on the north side of the castle, in a large room, on the ground floor, which had been furnished in a modern style, but without a carpet, under the direction of the Princess Elizabeth. He generally rose about half-past seven, and immediately proceeded to the queen's saloon, where one of the princesses received him. He then at- tended divine service in the chapel ; breakfasted with the queen ; and us\ially rode out on horseback, if the weather were fine, and if otherwise, he played at chess. He dined alone, at two o'clock ; but visited, and took a glass of wine and water with the queen and prin- cesses at five. After that hour he fre- quently attended to public business in his study. The evening was passed at cards, in the queen's drawing-room, witli a select party of the neighbouring nobility, &c. When the castle clock struck ten, visitors departed ; supper GEORGE THE THIRD. 85 was then set out, but as a matter of form only, for none of the family par- took of it, and their majesties retired to rest at eleven. In 1807, Lord Grenville, and his col- leagues, attempted to change the king's opinions with regard to Catholic eman- cipation ; but his majesty was inflexible, and declared, " That although he had firmness sufficient to quit his throne, and retire to a cottage, or place his neck on a block, if his people required it, yet he had not resolution to break the oath which he had taken, in the most solemn manner, at his corona- tion !" Shortly afterwards, (on the 24th of March,) Lord Grenville received a note from the king, stating, that his majesty would be ready to receive the resignations of his ministers at noon on the following day. The premier and his colleagues, accordingly, gave up theirsealsofoffice thenextmorning; and the Perceval administration succeeded. In the summer of 1808, Louis the Eighteenth, his queen, and the Duchess of Angouleme, came to England : they met with a very kind reception from his majesty, but their royal character was not recognized. The Prince of Orange, with his two children, and also above twelve thousand French emi- grants, had, long before, sought and found refuge in this country. On the 25th of October, 1809, the venerable monarch commenced the fiftieth year of his reign, and a jubilee took place on the occasion. London, and all the principal cities in the king- dom, were illuminated ; and large sums were raised, by subscription, for the benefit of the poor. The queen gave a grand entertainment at Frogmore, at which however, his majesty did not appear. The rapid decay of his sight, at this period, considerably affected his spirits. He would often shed tears during the performance of Handel's Total Eclipse, a composition to which he was exceedingly partial ; and, one morning, the Prince of Wales, on en- tering his royal father's apartment, found him pathetically reciting the fol- lowing passage from Milton : — ** oh dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noou ! Irrevocably dark I Total eclipse. Without all hope of day I Oh I first created beam 1 and thou great Word, Let there be lij^ht, and light was over all ; \Mjy am 1 thus deprived thy prime decree ?" Of the king's appearance, during his walks on the castle terrace, in the sum- mer of 1810, the following is an abridged account, taken from " An Excursion to Windsor," by the Rev. John Evans; — At seven o'clock in the evening, a little door in the castle was thrown open, and two attendants led the venerable monarch, with great care, down a flight of steps, to the terrace. Two of the princesses then took him by the arms, and paced backwards and forwards with him for an hour. He looked ruddy and full; his voice was sonorous, and he conversed with cheerfulness, though when he attempted to speak quick, it was not without hesitation. His want of sight was apparent, for his hat was drawn over the upper part of his face, and he felt about with his cane. Up to this period the king had not dis- continued his rides : he was still able to mount on horseback with consider- able agility ; but it had now become necessary for him to have the assistance of one of his servants in guiding his horse. The Princess Amelia, the king's youngest and darling child, had long been in a declining state of health ; and towards the close of this year,(1810,) her situation became hopeless. " Nothing," said one of the official attendants, '• could be more striking than the sight of the king, aged and nearly blind, bending over her couch, and speaking to her about salvation through Christ, as a matter far more interesting to them both than the highest privileges and most magnificent pomps of royalty !" The prospect of her speedy dissolution, and his daily sorrowful interviews with the princess, atone of which she silently placed a ring on his finger, inscribed with the words, " Remember me," had a powerful effect on the king's mind. On the 25th of October, Mr. Perceval was informed that an alarming altera- tion had taken place in his majesty's deportment; and, by the 1st of Novem- ber, he had betrayed such positive indi- cations of mental disease, that it became expedient to make parliament ac- quainted with the facts. Early in De- cember, it was admitted that the malady had assumed so violent a character that but slight hopes could be entertained of his majesty's restoration; and after much animated discussion, a regency 86 THE ROYAL FAMILY. bill, similar 'to that proposed by Pitt, in 1788, was passed. In 1811, tlie conduct of the king, on several occasions, induced the royal family and tlie public to entertain a hope tliat he might ultimately recover. In February, he had an interview of two hours' duration with the Prince Regent, and appeared several times on the terrace, at VVindsor. On the 20th of May he was sufficiently well to take an airing on horseback. He afterwards went to the queen's apartments, and congratulated her on the return of her birth-day. But a violent relapse soon followed ; and though he sometimes knew those about him, and appeared susceptible of religious consolation, his recovery at length became hopeless. At intervals he still took a lively in- terest in politics. His perception was good, though mixed up with a number of erroneous ideas ; his memory was tena- cious, but his judgment unsettled ; and the loss of royal authority seemed con- stantly to prey on his mind. His ma- lady seemed rather to increase than abate, up to the year 1814; when at the time of the arrival of tlie allied sovereigns in England, he evinced in- dications of returning reason, and was made acquainted with the astonishing events wliicli had recently occurred. The restoration of Hanover to the House of Brunswick, it is said, afforded him particular satisfaction. He even expressed a wish to see the royal visitors, which, of course, it was not deemed proper to indulge. The queen, one day, found tlie af- flicted monarch engaged in singing a hymn, and accompanying himself on the harpsichord. After lie had con- cluded the liymn, he knelt down, prayed for his family and the nation, and ear- nestly supplicated for the complete res- toration of his mental powers. He then burst into tears, and his reason suddenly left him. But lie afterwards had occa- sional lucid moments. One morning hearing a l)ell toll, he asked who was dead. " Please your majestv," said an attendant, " Mrs. S ." ' " Mrs. S ," rejoined the king, " she was a linen-draper, and lived at the corner of street. Ay, she was a good woman, and brought up her family in the fear of God : — she is gone to heaven ; — I hope I shall soon follow her!" At length deafness was added to his other calamities: and his manner and appearance are described as having been pitiable in the extreme. He became firmly impressed with the idea that he was dead ; and said to his attendants, " I must have a suit of black, in memory of George the Third, for whom I know there is a general mourning." In 1817, he appears to have had a faint glimmering of reason again ; his sense of hearing also was not only re- stored, but became so reinarkably acute that he could readily distinguish, by their footsteps, those who approached or passed him. He also recollected that he had made a memorandum, many years before, which was found in the precise place he described, to destroy a favourite horse, on a day,when he would attain a certain age, and he requested that the animal might be shot ac- cordingly. In November, 1817, the queen, whose health had for some time past been de- clining, visited Bath, for the purpose of drinking the waters ; and while there, she received intelligence of the death of the Princess Charlotte, which, it is said, produced a most serious effect on her debilitated frame. On the 23rd of May, 1818, she held her last drawing-room; and in the following week attended an examination, at the Mansion-house, of the children educated in the national schools. She never appeared in public again. Her disease was a hopeless anasarcous (dropsical) affection of the whole system; but it does not appear that she was made acquainted witli her dangerous state until the day before she died. Up to that time, slie had expressed great anxiety to go to Windsor, lor the purpose of seeing the king ; and on be- ing told tliat she must resign all hopes of again quitting Kew, which had been her place of residence for some months past, she appeared to be dreadfully shocked ; but shortly afterwards dic- tated and signed her will with great calmness. In a few hours she became lethargic, and expired without a strug- gle, on the 17th of November, 1818. Her remains were deposited in the royal mausoleum, at Windsor, on the 2nd of the following month. In her youth, although certainly not beautiful, the queen's person is said to have been very agreeable. She was of GEORGE THE THIRD. 87 a middling stature, but her form was fine, and her deportment graceful. Her hands and neck were particularly well formed. She had a round face, a light complexion, auburn hair, lively blue eyes, a flat nose turned up at the point, rosy lips, but rather a large mouth. An anonymous writer has thus described her appearance in 1777 : — " She has an elegant person, good eyes, good teeth, a Cleopatra nose, and fine hair. The ex- pression of her countenance is pleasing and interesting; it is full of sense and good temper." The writer adds, " She loves domestic pleasures; is fonder of diamonds than the Queen of France, as fond of snuff as the King of Prussia, is extremely affable, and very pious." During the latter part of her life the queen was very thin, and remarkably pale. The piety and the purity of her mo- rals have never been questioned : as a wife, her conduct was most exemplary ; and few women have performed the duties of a mother so admirablj'. A lady of high rank having, one day, said to her, " My children must be doing well, for they have plenty of servants to attend to them," the queen exclaimed, " What ! do you leave them entirely to attendants ? I dare not do so ; for it is impossible that servants, however good, can have the feelings of a parent !" The lady attempted an excuse, but the queen interrupted her by saying, " There can be no apology for the neglect of our first duties : it is enough that you are a mother and converse with one; and I should be sorry to suppose you indifferent where your sensibilities ought to be most acute." Under her auspices the British court, which, during the two preceding reigns, had been disgustingly licentious, be- came completely reformed. She suf- fered no lady to be presented to her whose character was not above suspi- cion. It is stated, that a woman of high rank, but whose reputation was ques- tionable, having prevailed on a peeress, who was a favourite at court, to solicit permission to visit the queen's drawing- room ; and her majesty having given an unqualified refusal to the request of the fair petitioner ; the latter exclaimed, " Alas! what shall I say to her lady- ship?" " Tell her," replied the queen, " that you did not dare to ask me." Although she was inflexible, with re- gard to the exclusion of improper per- sons from her court, the queen was, generally speaking, condescending, affable, and kind. One night, a lady, who attended her to the theatre, being far advanced in pregnancy, strove in vain to conceal the dreadful exhaustion, produced by standing, pursuant to eti- quette, behind her majesty's chair. The queen perceiving her distress, begged her to be seated ; the lady thanked her majesty, but hesitated to take a chair ; until her royal mistress said, " Pray be seated, madam, or I too must stand." The conduct of her majesty during one of the royal visits to Weymouth has been thus described : — " She was easy of access, and would not suffer the meanest persons to be excluded from her presence. She was never angry at the most uncourtly approach, nor of- fended by the most importunate peti- tioner." In Smith's account of Nollekens it is stated, that the queen was one day unexpectedly announced to Mrs. Garrick, at Hampton, while that lady was engaged in preparing onions for pickling; but she not only prevented Mrs. Garrick from putting them aside, but condescendingly took a seat, and assisted her to peel them. The queen was generally supposed to have been of a parsimonious disposition ; and it must be admitted, that in striving to be laudably economical, she was oc- casionally guilty of meanness. It is said, but the story is scarcely credible, that at one period, when the popular feeling was unusually strong against negro sla- very, she refused sugar to her servants, because she could not conscientiously permit the use of an article which had been cultivated by ineans so hostile to religion and humanity. "A Miss Jenner, of Gloucestershire," says Dr. Wolcot, " with her mother, viewing the palace of St. James's, and entering the royal dressing-room, where a cushion full of pins lay on the toilette, the young lady expressed a strong desire for hav- ing one of the queen's pins to carry into the country, and was reaching out her hand to take one; when the at- tendant caught her hand, saying it was impossible, as her majesty would cer- tainly yind it out. — 'D'ye think I might change a pin?' said the lady. ' Miss,' replied the attendant, ' it is 8J^ THE ROYAL FAMILY. probable her majesty may not find that out, so I'll run the risk !' " However paltry the queen's conduct may have been with regard to trifles, no doubt exists of her great liberality to the distressed. She disbursed at least jgSOOO a year, and frequently more, in charitable donations. Numerous in- lances of her benevolence have been recorded, which are as creditable to her judgment as to her feelings. She par- ticularly directed her attention towards thereUefofthoseofherownsex; among the most favoured objects of her charity, were respectable widows, whom mis- fortunes had reduced to a state of po- verty, and the destitute daughters of naval and military o£iicers,who had died in the service of their country. Her be- nevolence was altogether devoid of os- tentation : had it been more notorious, the queen would, in all probability, have been more highly esteemed; for during a considerable period, she was unpo- pular, solely, or at least principally, on account of her domestic parsimony. At one time she suffered much in the estimation of a large portion of the pub- lic, through her alleged unjust harshness towards the Princess of Wales ; and at another, she was severely censured for not having been present at the fatal accouchement of her grand-daughter. But the queen's advocates justify her conduct in the one case, by pleading the suspicions attached to the character of her daughter-in-law, and her con- stant practice of not countenancing any woman, however exalted or nearly al- lied to her, whose reputation was sullied even by the breath of slander ; and on the other, by positively affirming, that the queen had expressed a strong de- sire to attend her grand-daugliter's accouchement, but that the Princess Charlotte personally besought her in the most urgent manner, to follow the re- commendation of the royal physicians, who had advised her to have recourse to the Hath waters without the least delay. To conclude, Queen Charlotte ap- pears to have been rather severely correct than amiable in her conduct. Rigidly virtuous herself, she could not overlook the slightest blemish in the reputation of otliers. She might per- haps have been more lenient, had her rank been less exalted : but feeling the importance of her situation, and the effect her example might have upon society, she refused to allow not only the dissolute, but the suspected, to enjoy the honours accorded to those who were either pure or fortunate enough to be free from reproach. To her high honour, it may be said, that she was one of the best wives and mothers in the king's dominions; and by the force of her example, domestic duties became fashionable. She laud- ably forbore to meddle with politics; never attempting to exercise any im- proper influence over the king's mind with regard to public affairs. She in- dulged in no unwarrantable luxuries, and set no bad example, except that of taking snuff, for which she was most liberally censured and nicknamed. She was accomplished, industrious, a lover of science, and to some extent, an admirer of the arts. She was mean, rather than avaricious ; but her amusing parsimony was more than extenuated by her un- obtrusive benevolence. George the Third never became ac- quainted with the queen's death, or the subsequent appointment of the Duke of York to the office of custos of his person. He now occupied a long suite of rooms, in which were placed several pianofortes and harpsichords : at these he would frequently stop during his walks, play a few notes from Handel, and then stroll on. He ate with a good appetite, and his bodily health was unimpaired. He generally wore a blue robe de chanibre, tied with a belt, in the morning ; and a silk plaid dress in the afternoon. He seemed cheerful, and would sometimes talk aloud, as if addressing some nobleman ; but his discourse bore reference only to past events ; for he had no know- ledge of recent circumstances, either political or domestic. In 1819, the following account of him appeared in a French paper: — " The atigust old man has been long deprived of sight, and wears a long floating beard. He wanders constantly through his apartments amidst the phantoms of his fancy, which represent to him all the beings that were dear to him. He speaks and replies to them. Sometimes he sits for hours with his head resting on both hands : then he recovers, and thinks himself among GEORGE THE THIRD. 89 celestial spirits, rushes forward, and sinks exhausted with his feelings. Formerly, he would make his ser- vants sit down before him ; and ima- gining himself in parliament, would address them vehemently, until he fell into a kind of delirium. When at his meals, he supposed himself surrounded by his family ; and, preserving his love of music, he would go to the pianoforte, or catch up a violin, and execute pieces from memory with astonishing pre- cision." This is, perhaps, a fancy sketch, yet it agrees, in most particulars, with ascertained facts. At the latter end of the year, his appetite began to fail, and he appeared to derive but little nourishment from his food. In January, 1820, it was found impossible to keep him warm; his remaining teeth dropped out, and he was almost reduced to a skeleton. His weakness rapidly increased ; on Thursday, the 27th, he was wliolly con- fined to his bed; and, at thirty-five minutes past eight, on the evening of Saturday, the 29th of January, 1820, he breathed his last, without the slightest convulsion or apparent pain. At the time of his death he was in the eighty- second year of his age. His remains were interred in the royal vault at Windsor. In stature, George the Third was somewhat above the middle size. In consequence of a slight bend in the knee-joints, he looked best on horse- back. In his youth he had been ac- counted handsome : his eyes were blue, his hair was particularly light, his countenance florid, and his demeanour prepossessing. In a memoir of this monarch, written shortly after his demise, it is stated, that Lord Camden, soon after his accession, said, " I see already that this will be a weak and inglorious reign ;" and that when the famous Charles Townshend was asked for a character of the new monarch, he replied, " He is very obstinate." These opinions were, to a certain extent at least, prophetic. His mother, the princess dowager, disgusted at the controul which English minis- ters exercised over the sovereign, had continually impressed on her son this lesson : — " George, be king!" He en- deavoured, apparently, to act up to her advice : it was his continual wish to exercise his authority personally, and to be his own minister. No limited monarch ever had a more decided in- fluence on public affairs : he repeatedly brought into operation the most dan- gerous prerogatives of the crown ; changed ministers and dissolved parlia- ments with unwavering boldness ; and, rather than give up an idea, or change an opinion, whether right or wrong, was prepared to descend from his throne, or lay his head on the block. The re- sult of his councils was the loss of America, and the creation of an enor- mous national debt. But the disasters of his reign were, perhaps, more than balanced by its glories : if the nation lost her colonies in the west, she gained an immense empire in the east. The triimiphs of Rodney, Duncan, Howe, St. Vincent, Nelson, Aber- crombie, and others, which took place while he exercised the kingly functions, would have increased the splendour of the brightest era in history ; and if he be made to incur much of the odium attendant on the misfortunes, he cer- tainly ought, on the other hand, to derive some credit for the splendid successes, of his reign. Of the excellence of his intentions, both to the public and to his family, there can be no doubt. He was, un- questionably, a good husband ; and, ac- cording to his judgment, he acted, as a monarch and a father, in the manner that was most conducive to the welfare of his subjects, and the honour and hap- piness of his children. He had many fine redeeming qualities: his disposition was benevolent, his probity unimpeach- able, and his manners approaching almost to patriarchal simplicity. If his obstinacy were censurable on some oc- casions, his unflinching firmness, even in the face of danger, was truly admirable on others. Few monarchs have exhi- bited more lofty, and, at the same time, unostentatious heroism, than George the Third did, during the factious and malignant opposition of Fox and Lord North to the administration of Pitt. He appears to have invariably acted up to the dictates of his conscience ; and was, on more than one occasion, willing to risk his crown rather than swerve from that course which appeared to iiim to be lawful and just. Many of his faults, a few of his virtues, and the great 90 THE ROYAL FAMILY. mass of prejudice existing against him during the early part of liis reign, are to be ascribed to the pecuHarity of his education. His mother and Lord Bute so unwarrantably protracted his puerile thraldom, that he may almost be said to have stepped from his leading strings to a throne. The manner in which he conducted himself on his accession, tends materially to prove that, with better preceptors, he would have be- come a better king. He possessed a large share of the personal courage which has been ascribed, with some truth, to his family in general ; and the morality and decorum of his conduct afforded a happy contrast to the extra- ordinary lewdness and gross profligacy of his predecessors. He was eminently pious ; and once gave utterance to the noble wish, " that the day might come in which every poor child in his do- minions would be able to read the Bible !" His reverence for religious ce- remonies was strongly evinced during the preparations for an installation : a nobleman having carelessly inquired if the new knights would be obliged to take the sacrament, the king, with a very severe countenance, replied, " No ; that religious institution is not to be mixed with our profane cere- monies. Even at the time of my coronation, I was very unwilling to take the sacrament ; but when I was assured that it was indispensable, and that I must receive it, I took off the bauble from my head, before I even approached the commimion table. The sacrament, my lord, is not to be pro- faned by our Gothic institutions." In the book of common prayer which he ordinarily used, at the pas- sage, " Guide and defend our most gracious sovereign lord, King George," he had effaced the words, " King George," and written, " thy servant." He would not tolerate the slightest inattention in a place of worship. It was his custom to roll up the printed form of prayer, and beat time with it to the music of the choir ; and, oc- casionally, he would point with it to portions of the service, when any of his attendants seemed negligent. One Sunday, during the performance of divine service at the chapel royal. Sir Sydney Smith, who was present, appeared very restless, changed his position repeatedly, and, at length, placed himself immediately before the royal desk, when the king gave him a tap on the head with his paper scroll, to remind him of his inattention. An eminent divine having suffered some fashionable assemblies to take place under liis roof, the king is said to have rebuked him, by letter, in the following terms : — " My good Lord Primate, " I could not delay giving you the notification of the grief and concern with which my breast was affected, at receiving an authentic information that routs have made their way into your palace. At the same time, I must signify to you my sentiments on this subject, which hold these levities and vain dissipations as utterly inexpedient, if not unlawful, to pass in a residence for many centuries devoted to divine studies, religious retirement, and the extensive exercise of charity and be- nevolence ; — I add, — in a place where so many of your predecessors have led their lives in such sanctity as has thrown lustre on the pure religion they professed and adorned. From the dis- satisfaction with which you must per- ceive I behold these improprieties, not to speak in harsher terms, and still more pious principles, I trust you will suppress them immediately ; so that I may not have occasion to shew any further marks of my displeasure, or to interpose in a different manner. May God take your grace into his Almighty protection! — I remain, &c." The king is said to have been very well acquainted with the works of many of the old divines. He once asked a young clergyman, if he were familiar with the writings of Bishop Andrews and Jeremy Taylor. The clergyman replied, that his attention had been chiefly directed to the productions of more recent divines. " Sir," exclaimed the king, with great warmth, " there were giants in those days !" Although decidedly averse to the ad- mission of Catholics to political power, he was a warm advocate for toleration. Many of his own servants were dis- senters. " The Methodists," said he, " are a very quiet kind of people, and will disturb nobody ; and if I learn that any person in my employ disturbs them, he shall instantly be dismissed." GEORGE THE THIRD. 91 Malowny, a priest, having been con- victed of celebrating mass in the county of Surrey, and the judge who tried him having humanely recommended him as a proper object for royal mercy, the king said, " God forbid that difference in religious opinion should sanction per- secution, or admit of one man within my realms suffering unjustly. Issue a pardon for Mr. Malowny, and see that he be set at liberty." In 1802, a dignified churchman, while preaching before the king, quoted a passage, which so struck his majesty, that he subsequently inquired the name of its author; who, it appeared, was the minister of a Baptist congregation in some part of Yorkshire. The king immediately procured the sermon from which the extract in question had been taken, and perused the whole compo- sition with such extraordinary pleasure, that he expressed a strong wish to con- fer some benefit on its author. Shortly afterwards, a merchant's clerk was found guilty of forgery at the York assizes, and sentenced to death ; but, at the earnest intercession of the Baptist mi- nister, and although the two Perreaus, Dodd, and others, had previously suf- fered for the same offence, the crimi- nal's life was spared. George the Third's temperance has been attributed to the advice of his uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, who is reported to have said to him, " You will certainly become as obese and un- wieldy as myself, long before you attain my age, unless you not only take much exercise, but be rigidly abstinent." From that day, it is added, the king imposed a very severe restraint on his appetite: he generally dined alone, and partook only of the plainest food, of which he restricted himself to a com- paratively small quantity. A leg of mutton and caper-sauce was his fa- vourite dish : of cheesecakes he was particularly fond ; and a cherry-pie was served at his table every day in the year. He drank but little ; and, for a considerable period of his life, the small quantity of wine which he took was invariably diluted. The only appearance of state at his private din- ners was the regular attendance of the master-cook, who tasted every dish be- fore it was carried away by the pages in waiting. The royal children were rarely indulged with delicacies : their food being generally of a remarkably plain description. The Duke of Montague having stated, in reply to an inquiry made by the king as to the health of his grace's grand-children, that they were all doing remarkably well, and that he had just left them heartily en- joying their oatmeal pottage, his ma- jesty directed that the young princes and princesses should breakfast on that simple dish for the future. The maids of honour were, for a long period, sent to bed supperless, until at length they made a complaint on the subject to the lord steward ; which, coming to the king's knowledge, his majesty said, that the regimen adopted by himself and the queen could not be altered ; " but," added he, " I shall order such an ad- dition to be made to their salaries, as will enable them to provide themselves with moderate suppers for the future." No doubt exists of the domestic fru- gality of the queen ; and, it is said, that the monarch was so thoroughly converted to her majesty's economical opinions, as to have become a mean man by his own fireside. Reynolds states, that having written an interlude, by royal command, for private per- formance at the palace, after a consi- derable delay, he was presented with five pounds as the price of his labours ; although he could have obtained at least thrice that amount for the pro- duction from the managers of one of the public theatres. He returned the money ; and, on being afterwards re- quested to write another piece for a similar purpose, respectfully declined the order. Nicolai, the singer, appears, from the following anecdote, to have had even greater reason to complain of their majesties than Reynolds: — A royal page called on Nicolai one day to require his attendance at an evening concert, to be given at Buckingham- house. " What !" exclaimed Nicolai, "on the old terms, I suppose! — No- thing ! — My compliments to the king and queen, and tell them I am better engaged." In his agricultural pursuits, the king has been accused of exhibiting a paltry desire for gain that was altogether be- neath the dignity of a monarch. He converted large portions of his parks 92 THE ROYAL FAMILY, into farms; the produce of which he regularly sent to market, and sold. His land is said to have been so well ma- naged, that it yielded him a very con- siderable profit ; and he acquired the reputation of being a good practical farmer. He was even a contributor to Arthur Young's Annals of Agricul- ture ; and his communications, which were signed Ralph Robinson, Windsor, are stated to have contained many judi- cious remarks. He imported a number of Merino sheep from Spain ; and de- meaned himself so far as annually to dispose of a certain portion of his flock by public auction. As long as the spe- culation was profitable, he persuaded himself that it was better to sell his rams than to give them away ; " because," as he said, " any body might accept a sheep and neglect it ; but nobody would buy one who did not mean to take care of it." Although the king was the reverse of munificent in his agricultural pursuits, and, at least, countenanced an undig- nified parsimony in his palace, on num- berless occasions he exhibited an exalted degree of generosity and benevolence. He was not only charitable to the dis- tressed ; liberal, in many instances, to the talented ; but bounteous and kind to the enemies of his house. He is said to have contributed largely to the maintenance of the Pretender ; and to have allowed Cardinal York, the last of the Stuarts, a pension of i£4000 per annum. He sent the following message to a gentleman in Perthshire, who, as he heard, had absolutely refused to take the oath of supremacy : — " Carry my compliments to him, — but what? — stop ! — no — he may, perhaps, not re- ceive my compliments as King of Eng- land ; — give him the Elector of Hano- ver's compliments, and tell him, that he respects the steadiness of his prin- ciples." Among the literary men on whom he conferred benefits, were Johnson, Sheridan, Beattie, Blair, and Rousseau, to each of whom he granted a pension. Of the opinions of tlie latter, however, lie is said to have disapproved ; but Johnson's talents he appears to have held in considerable estimation. John- son occasionally visited the library at the queen's house ; and one day, while he %vas there, the king unexpectedly entered ; having come for the purpose of seeing Johnson, with whom he im- mediately entered into conversation. The king inquired about the libraries at Oxford, where Johnson had lately been, and asked the doctor if he was then engaged in any literary work. Johnson replied in the negative, adding, " I have already told the world what I know, and must now read to acquire more knowledge." The king said, " You do not borrow much from any body." Johnsonreplied, that he thought he had done his part as a writer. " I should have thought so too," rejoined the king, " if you had not written so well!" The king then observed, that Johnson must have read a great deal. " I think more than I read," said John- son ; " in the early part of my life I read a great deal, but having grown ailing, I have not read much, compared with others, — Dr. Warburton, for in- stance." The king said, he had heard Warburton's knowledge was so vast, that he was equally qualified to speak on all subjects, his learning being like Garrick's acting, universal. His majesty then spoke of the controversy between Warburton and Louth, and asked what Johnson thought of it. "Warburton," replied the doctor, " has most general — most scholastic learning; Louth is the more correct scholar. I do not know which of them calls names best." The king said, " 1 am of the same opinion. You do not think, then," continued his majesty, " there was mvich argument in the case?" Johnson replied, he thought not. " Why, truly," said the king, " when once it comes to calling names, argument is pretty well at an end." The king next asked, what Johnson thought of Lyttleton's History, then newly published. Johnson said, he considered the style pretty good, but that Lyttleton had blamed Henry too much. '■ VVhy," said the king, " they seldom do those things by halves." '' No, sir," replied Johnson, " not to kings." But, fearing to be misunderstood, he added, " That for those who spoke worse of kings than they deserved, he could find no excuse ; but that he could more easily conceive how some might speak l)etter of them than they deserved, without any ill intention ; for as kings had much in their power to give, those who were favoured bv them would GEORGE THE THIRD. 93 frequently, from gratitude, exaggerate their praises ; and as this proceeded from a good motive, it was certainly excusable, as far as error could be ex- cusable." The king inquired what he thought of Dr. Hill. Johnson answered, that he was an ingenious man, but had no veracity ; and mentioned an assertion of his, that he had seen objects mag- nified to a much greater degree, by using three or four microscopes at a time, than by using one. " Now," added Johnson, " every one acquainted with microscopes knows, that the more of them he looks through, the less the object will appear." " Why," said the king, " this is not only telling an un- truth, but telling it clumsily ; for if that be the case, every one who can look through a microscope will be able to detect him." That he might not leave an unfavourable impression against an absent man, Johnson added, " Dr. Hill is, however, a very curious observer, and if he would have been contented to tell the world no more than he knew, he might have been a very considerable man, and needed not to have recourse to such mean expedients to raise his reputation." Some conversation fol- lowed on the literarj' journals of the day, in the course of which Johnson observed, that the Royal Society had now a better method of arranging their materials than formerly. " Ay," said the king, '' they are obliged to Dr. Johnson for that." He then expressed a wish to have the literary biography of the country well executed, and pro- posed such a work to Johnson, with which desire the doctor readily com- plied, and to this circumstance we pro- bably owe his Lives of the Poets. After the interview, Johnson said to the librarian, '• Sir, they may talk of the king as they will, but he is the finest gentleman 1 have ever seen !" He sub- sequently declared, that the king's man- ners were those of as fine a gentleman as one might suppose Louis the Fourteenth or Charles the Second to have been." Not long after this interview, the king said, alluding to the sceptical writers of the day, " I wish Johnson would mount his dray-horse, and ride over them." Dr. fSeattie has left the following cir- cumstantial account of the first inter- view which he had with the king and queen : — " Tuesday, the 24th of August, 1773; — set out for Dr. Majendie's, at Kew green. He informed me that the king would see me at twelve. At that hour we went to the king's house. We had been only a few minutes in the hall, when the king and queen came in from an airing; as they passed, the king called me by name, and asked how long it was since I came from town. " I shall see you," says he, " in a little while." We waited for some time, the king being busy, and then we were called into the library, where the king was walking about, and the queen sitting in a chair. 1 had the honour of a conversation with them for upwards of an hour, on various topics, in which both their majesties joined, with a degree of cheerfulness, affability, and ease, that was to me surprising, and soon relieved my embarrassment. They both complimented me on my Essay, which, they said, they always kept by them ; and the king said, he had one copy of it at Kew, and another in town. ' I never stole a book but one,' said his majesty, 'and that was yours ; I stole it from the queen, to give it to Lord Hertford to read.' He had heard that the sale of Hume's Essays had fallen since the publication of my work. He asked me when the second part would be ready for the press ; and I told him, if my health was good, I might finish it in two or three years. He asked how long I had been in composing my Essay ; praised its cautious tone, and said he did not wonder it had taken five or six years. He asked about my poems, and I said, there was only one poem of mine which I valued (meaning the Minstrel). We talked much on moral subjects, from which their majesties let it appear, that they were warm friends to Christianity, and disinclined to believe that any thinking man could be an atheist, un- less he imagined he had made him- self; — a thought which pleased the king exceedingly, and he repeated it several times to the queen. They greatly commended the moderation and mild behaviour of the Quakers. I was asked many questions about the Scots universities. The king inquired what I thought of Lord Dartmouth. I said, his air and manner were not only agreeable, but enchanting, and that he seemed to me one of the best of 94 THE ROYAL FAMILY. men. ' They say that Lord Dartmouth is an enthusiast,' said the king, ' but, surely he says nothing on the subject of rehgion but what evey christian may and ought to say !' He asked whether I did not think the Enghsh language on the decline. I answered ' yes' and the king agreed, naming the Spectator as one of the best standards of the language. When 1 told him, that the Scots' clergy sometimes prayed a quarter, or even half an hour at a time, he asked, whether that did not lead them into repetitions. I said it often did. ' That,' said he, 'I don't hke in prayers; and excellent as our liturgy is, I think it somewhat faulty in that respect.' ' Your majesty knows,' said I, ' that three services are joined in one.' ' True,' he replied, ' and that circumstance also makes the ser- vice too long.' From this he took oc- casion to commend the composition of the liturgy : ' Observe,' said he, ' how flat those occasional prayers are, that are now composed, in comparison with the old ones.' When I mentioned the smallness of the church livings in Scot- land, he said, ' He wondered how men of liberal education would choose to become clergymen there ;' and asked, ' whether, in the remote parts of the country, the clergy, in general, were not very ignorant?' I answered, ' No, for that education was cheap in Scot- land, and that the clergy, in general, were men of good sense and competent learning.' We discoursed on many other topics. The queen bore a large part in the conversation, and both their majesties shewed a great deal of good sense, acuteness, and knowledge, as well as of good nature and affability. At last, the king took out his watch, which Dr. Majendie and 1 understood as a signal to withdraw ; we accord- ingly bowed to their majesties, and I said, ' I hope. Sir, your majesty will pardon me, if I take this opportunity to return you my humble and most grate- ful acknowledgements for the honour you have been pleased to confer upon me.' He answered, ' I think I could do no less for a man wlio has done so much service to the cause of Christianity.' The queen sat all the while, and the king stood, sometimes walking about a little. The queen speaks English with surprising elegance, and little or nothing of a foreign manner, so that if she were -only a private lady, one would notice her as one of the most agreeable women in the world. Her face is much more pleasing than any of her pictures ; and in the expression of her eyes, and in her smile, there is something peculiarly engaging," Beattie subse- quently had another interview with his majesty, at which, however, nothing worthy of repetition occurred. It is said that the king, at one time, contemplated the creation of a new order of knighthood, for the reward of literary merit : and that ministers were willing to support his views on the subject, until he proposed that the knights should receive salaries with their ribbons ; to which objections were raised, on the score of the large ex- pences in which a long and vigorous war had involved the nation ; and the project was ultimately abandoned. He displayed a strong inclination to encourage painting ; although he ap- pears to have been rather deficient in pictorial taste. In 1765, he granted a charter to the society of artists, and knighted its first president, Reynolds; to whom, however, he never gave any commission, apparently preferring the works of Coates and Ramsay, two in- ferior cotemporary painters, to those of the highly-gifted Sir Joshua. He was even averse to any proposition for the advancement of the art which emanated from the president, to whose idea of gratuitously embellishing Saint Paul's by the combined efforts of all the most eminent living painters in the country, his majesty expressed so great a dis- like, that it was necessarily abandoned. But Benjamin West, who succeeded to the president's chair on the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds, was a great fa- vourite with the king ; for whom, in the course of thirty years, he executed sixty- four pictures, and received during that period £34,187. It is related by Angelo, that, on being shown a landscape, which Wilson had painted, by command, for the royal collection, the king exclaimed, " Hey ! what ! Do you call this painting ? Take it away; I call it daubing!— Hey, — what! — 'Tis a mere daub!" He then inquired what Wilson expected for his performance, and being told one hun- dred guineas, he declared that it was the dearest picture he ever saw: — " Too GEORGE THE THIRD. 9") much — too much," added his majesty ; " tell him I say so." Opie, the selT- taught artist, having painted a picture, which attracted the king's notice, his majesty desired that it might be brought to Buckingham-house, where Opie, ac- cordingly, soon afterwards presented himself with his painting ; for which, however, the king gave him only ten guineas, observing that he could not afford any more for it. George the Third was particularly fond of music, and afforded consider- able encouragement to its professors. To Handel's oratorios he was scarcely ever weary of listening. Angelo re- lates that, during one of the royal con- certs, a violent thunder-storm came on, whereupon the king exclaimed, " How sublime ! — What an accompaniment ! — How this would have delighted Handel 1" Soon after hostilities had first commenced between this country and America, at an oratorio which he at- tended, the following lines in Alex- ander's Feast are said to have had an extraordinary effect upon him : — The princes applaud with furious joy, Aud the king seized a Bambeau with zeal to destroy. He rolled up his book of the perform- ance into the form of a truncheon, which he flourished over his head, and, starting on his feet, exclaimed, " Bravo ! bravo ! Encore ! encore !" His en- thusiastic call for the repetition of the words was generally, but, perhaps, very erroneously, attributed to the warmth of his feelings against the refractory colonists. The king, in many instances, dis- played a laudable desire for the ad- vancement of science. He patronized Cook, Byron, and Wallis, the navi- gators ; Herschel, the astronomer ; and Ramsden, the celebrated mathematical instrument maker ; and placed large sums at the disposal of the Royal Society. During the dispute in 1779, as to the best form for conductors to secure buildings from lightning, which Banks and others, in opposition to Franklin, declared would be of greater efficacy if made with blunt instead of sharp ends, " The king," says Wol- cot, " being rather partial to blunt con- ductors, thought to end the matter at once, by avowing his belief in the superiority of nobs. To confirm his opinion, nobs were actually fixed on iron rods at the end of Buckingham- house. Nor was this all : he wished the Royal Society to declare that Frank- lin was wrong ; but the president re- plied, he could not reverse the order of nature." Ramsden, who was a very dilatory man, on one occasion positively pro- mised to make the king an instrument, which his majesty had ordered, by a particular day. Months, however, elapsed before it was completed ; and then Ramsden refused to take it to the palace, unless the king would promise not to reprove him for his want of punctuality. " Well, well," said the king, " let him come; since he is con- scious of his fault, it would be hard to reprimand him for it." Soon after, Ramsden went with his instrument to the king, who observed, with a good- natured smile, "Well done, Ramsden; you have kept your promise, on this occasion, to the very day of the month, and made a trifling mistake only as to the year." Henry Angelo attributes to the king a considerable knowledge of architec- ture, and states that his majesty de- signed the ■ small temple in Kew gardens, engraved in the works of Chambers, and the old gate entrance for St. James's park to Carlton-house gardens. He was fond of the me- chanical arts, and is said to have been a good practical turner : at one time, he had a large room in Buckingham- house fitted up with lathes, and em- ployed the ingenious Pinchbeck, either to assist or instruct him in working them. The king rose early, often at six o'clock ; and the two following hours he termed exclusively his own. He was so exceedingly fond of riding, that, whenever the weather permitted, during a considerable portion c ' his life, he passed much of the interval between the hours of breakfast and dinner on horseback. He frequently went from Kew, on his hack, to attend a levee or council at St. James's, in the midst of a heavy shower ; and re- peatedly rode for several hours at re- views, (in which he took great delight,) with no covering but his ordinary dress, and often without a hat, during the most boisterous weather. For a number 96 THE ROYAL FAMILY. of years, he hunted regularly during the season, and followed the hounds with as much ardour as any of his yeomen prickers. One day, the stag having taken water at Hampton, a number of sportsmen in the royal hunt rode up to the toll-gate on the bridge, shouting, " The king! the king !" They were permitted to pass without paying, but Feltham, the gate-keeper, stopped a second party, who attempted to ob- tain a free passage by uttering the same cry. " I tell you what," said he, " I give £400 a year for the bridge, and before I open the gate I'll have your money. I've let King George through, — God bless him ! — and I know of no other king in England. If you have brought the King of France with you, he sha'n't pass toll free." His majesty, on being made acquainted with the circumstance, ordered the toll to be paid for all his attendants ; and, many years afterwards, having occasion to cross the bridge, he said to the' gate- keeper, whose name and person he perfectly remembered, " No fear of the King of France coming to-day, Feltham." The tenacity of his memory was astonishing : he knew the names, num- bers, and uniform, of every regiment in the service ; and could at once par- ticularise every sea-worthy vessel in his navy. West, the painter, declared that, during the progress of his paint- ings at Windsor, he never made an alteration, however minute, in any of them, that was not detected by the king. Garrick asserted that the king • was not only perfectly well acquainted with most of the early English dramas, but that he recollected the names of their authors, and the dates of their production respectively. When he was at Weymouth, pending the alterations at Windsor castle, he corresponded re- gularly with the architect; and, from his vivid remembrance of every part of the building, suggested hints for various improvements, which had escaped the notice of those who were employed on the spot. It has been asserted that he recog- nized the persons and remembered the names of individuals many years after they had been introduced to him, although lie had never seen or heard of them in the interim. In a conversation with Lord Amherst relative to a list of commissions, which had been presented for signature, the king found that an officer had been nominated to a com- pany over the head of an old lieutenant, who, as Lord Amherst stated, could not purchase. The king was struck with the old lieutenant's name, and on reference to a large folio, entirely in his own hand writing, found some cir- cumstances recorded which were greatly to the honour of the poor subaltern ; who, at the express command of the king, was immediately appointed to the vacant company. When his majesty visited the exhi- bition at Somerset House, he delighted in discovering, without the aid of the list, for whom the principal portraits were meant to be likenesses. " It was highly interesting," Cosway often re- marked, " to observe the king's quick perception of the person intended by a portrait, if he had ever seen the in- dividual." He is said to have been greatly amused with caricatures, even with those in which his own person or pur- suits were held up to ridicule ; and to have heartily enjoyed the satirical ef- fusions of Peter Pindar, which were re- gularly forwarded to his majesty, on the day of publication. The following instance of his own humour has been recorded : two privates of the life- guards having gone through the sword exercise before him, Lord Cathcart inquired if his majesty would permit two of tlie youngest officers to display their skill in the use of their weapons. The king consented, and when the young gentlemen had concluded their exhibition, he requested that the two oldest officers on the ground, (Lord Cathcart and Major Barton) would also give him a specimen of their dexterity in the exercise, which they accordingly did, to his majesty's infinite amusement. A few anecdotes of his excursions to Worcester, Tewkesbury, and Chelten- ham, have been related, which are not, perhaps, unworthy of repetition. On the morning of his arrival at Worcester, he was recognised while walking alone on the bridge, and a crowd soon colU cted about him. " This, I suppose," said . he, " is Worcester new bridge." "Yes, please your majesty," replied a dozen voices. " Then, my boys," exclaimed GEORGE THE THIRD. 97 the king, " let's have a huzza !" A tremendous shout ensued, in which the sovereign most lieartily joined. The next morning he was in the streets by half-past five o'clock : at the residence of Colonel Digby and Colonel Gwynn, he found a female servant cleaning the door-way, whom he requested to shew him where the " fellows" slept, and personally roused them from their slumbers. When he visited the Guild- hall, the mayor offered him a jelly, which, however, the king unexpectedly declined, saying, " Altiiough I never yet did take wine in the forenoon ; yet. on this pleasant occasion, I will venture on a glass." Some rich old mountain was immediately handed to him, and he drank, " Prosperity to the city of Worcester !" At Cheltenham, he said to the queen, " We must walk about for two or three days to please these good people who wish to see us, and then we may walk about to please ourselves." As he rode into Tewkesbury , observing several per- sons on the walls of the bridge, he said to them, " My good people, I am afraid that some of you may fall ; don't run such hazards for the sake of seeing your king ; I will ride as slowly as you please, that you may all see him." While strolling early one morning, he met a countryman walking at a very brisk rate, and thus accosted him : — " You seem to be very warm, my good fellow — eh?" "Yes, sir," was the reply, " I have come a long way : I want to see the king." " Friend," said his majesty, " you see him before you : here is half-a-guinea ; refresh yourself after your fatigue." On another oc- casion, perceiving a woman working alone in a field, during harvest, he asked her what had become of her companions. " They are gone," said she, " to see the king." " Why do you not go?" inquired his majesty. " I would not give a pin to see him," re- plied the woman ; " besides, the fools will lose a day's work, which is more than I can afford, for I have five children to keep." " Well, then," said his majesty, giving her some money, " you may tell your compa- nions, who are gone to see the king, that the king came to see you." During his frequent rambles about Windsor, when he resided at the castle, George the Third frequently entered into familiar conversation with the per- sons whom he happened to meet. The following dialogue occurred one day, be- tween his majesty and a young clown : — " Who are vou, bov ? — who are vou — eh, eh ?" "'l be a pig-boy." " Where did you come from ? — who do you work for here ? — eh ?" " I be from the low country, out ofwork at present." " Don't they want lads here ? — not want lads, eh?" " I doan't know; all about liere belongs to Georgy." " Georgy ! — who's Georgy ?" " He lives at the castle yonder, but he does no good for I." The king immediately gave the lad employment on his farm, and told him, if he were a steady lad, "Georgy" might be a friend to him. He thus addressed a stable boy whom he met near the castle: — " Well, boy! what do you do ■" — what do they pay you ?" " I help in the stable, 'out they only give me victuals and clothes," said the lad. " Be content; / have no more," was the king's answer. Visiting his stable, one morning, he found the grooms disputing so loudly that his arrival was unnoticed. " I don't care what you say, Robert," quoth one, " but everybody else agrees, that the man at the Three Tuns makes the best purl in Windsor." "Purl! purl!" exclaimed the king: " Robert, what's purl i" The manner of making the beverage having been explained to him, the king said, " Very good drink, no doubt ; but, grooms, too strong for breakfast." Five years afterwards, on entering the stables one morning, he asked a boy, to whom he was un- known, where all the men were. " 1 don't know, sir," replied the lad ; " but they will soon be here, for they expect the king." " Ah, ah !" said his majesty, " then run, boy. to the Three Tuns, and say the king expects them ; — to tlie Three Tuns, boy, d'ye hear? They are sure to be there, for the land- lord makes the best purl in Windsor !" In August, 1785, while on his return with the queen from Egham races, a remarkably fine child attracted his notice. " Whose son are you, boy, eh ?" inquired his majesty. " My father is the king's beef-eater," re- plied the little fellow. " Indeed !" ex- claimed the monarch ; " then down on your knees, sir, and you shall kiss !)8 THE ROYAL FAMILY. the queen's hand." The boy boldly answered, " No, but I won't though ; because it would dirt my new breeches." During one of his walks in the severe winter of 1785, two boys, who did not know the king, fell on their knees and besought him to afford them relief; their mother, they said, had been dead three days ; and their father was stretched by her on some straw, — sick, helpless, and destitute of money, food, and fuel. The king went with them to their miserable hovel, and found that the boys had not exaggerated the distress of their un- happy surviving parent, to whom his majesty immediately gave some money ; and, on his return to the castle, sent an ample supply of food and raiment to the hovel. The man ultimately recover- ed, and the boys were provided for at his majesty's expense. The king and the Prince of Wales, one day, when rambling near Windsor, found a man vainly endeavouring to get the wheel of his cart out of a hole in the road, into which it had simk : they im- mediately volunteered their assistance, and with some difficulty, the king, the prince, and the carter, by their joint efforts, liberated the wheel. In grati- tude for their services, the carter pro- posed to treat his unknown friends with some ale at the next public-house : they, however, not only declined his offer, but to his great astonishment, pre- sented him with a couple of guineas. On another occasion, a pair of horses having bolted up a by-lane with the carriage, the king, who happened to witness the circumstance, as soon as the coachman had succeeded in stopping the animals, offered to hand out a lady who was riding in the vehicle : she however, thought proper to keep her seat, and requested the king, whom she did not know, to oblige her by as- sisting her man to back the horses out of the lane. His majesty complied with her request, and in "a few minutes, the carriage was again on the main road. Being overtaken by a sudden and heavy fall of rain, while riding near Stoke, he took shelter in a cottage, where he found a girl roasting a goose. Requesting her to put his horse in an adjacent siied, she agreed to do so, on condition that he would not let the goose burn in her al)sence. While slie was out, her father entered, and found his sovereign very busily basting the bird at the fire. He had good sense enough not to seem to recognise the monarch, who entered familiarly into conversation with him on the disad- vantages of roasting with a string ; and before his departure, took an oppor- tunity of placing five guineas on the dresser, in a paper on which he had written with a pencil, " To buy a jack." The king, on some occasions, evinced much impatience, if accidentally or pur- posely intruded on : strangers, while visiting Windsor castle, were directed on no account to notice his presence, if they met him in any of the public apartments; and he often gave those whom he honoured with private inter- views a hint to depart, by significantly looking at his watch. Never, perhaps, was his patience more severely tried than at a private audience which he granted to Lord George Gordon, a man who was neither remarkable for his loyalty nor wisdom. On being admitted to the king's presence, his lordship very unceremoniously locked the door, which the lord in waiting had purposely left open. He then said that he had an excellent pamphlet in his pocket, which he would do himself the honour and his majesty the pleasure of reading. He accordingly began the pamphlet, and the king listened very patiently, until it began to grow dark, when his majesty observed, " I am sorry, my lord, that light fails you ; but some other day — " " Please your majesty," re- plied Lord George, " there is no time like the present; and as for light, a little of that will suffice for me." He then familiarly poked the fire, the blaze of which enabled him to continue the pamphlet, which he read to the last word. The king now expected to be released: but to his amazement. Lord George said, " Please your majesty, I will next read you ten or eleven excel- lent letters that I have received from your protestant subjects in Ireland, which never were nor ever will be surpassed." He then commenced the letters ; and this vexatious interview lasted for two hours longer; at the termination of which, the fire having gone out, or ceased to blaze. Lord George departed. Among the more remarkable dicta of George the Third, which have not GEORGE THE THIRD. 99 been incorporated into the preceding portion of this article, are the following : " At a levee, soon after the experiment on gunpowder had been made," says Bishop Watson, " the Duke of Rich- mond informed the king, that they were indebted to me for a great improvement in its fabrication. On my saying that I ought to be ashamed of myself, inas- much as it was a scandal in a Cliristian bishop to instruct men in the mode of destroying mankind, the king an- swered, ' Let not that afflict your con- science, for the quicker the conflict the less the slaughter.'" Passing a handsome new house, he asked who was the owner, and on being informed that it had been recently pur- chased by his card-maker, he said, " Then I presume his cards have all turned up trumps." Having bought a horse, the seller handed him the animal's pedigree, which the king immediately returned, saying, '■ Take it back: it will do just as well for the next horse you sell." Lord Bateman, waiting on him one day, as master of the stag hounds, to know when they should be turned out, the king gravely replied, " I cannot exactly tell, but I can inform you that your lordship was turned out about an hour ago!" " One day," says Smith, in his ac- count of Nollekens, " when Cobb, the upholsterer, (who was remarkable for the absurd pomposity of his behaviour,) was in the library at Buckingham- house, giving orders to a workman, whose ladder was placed before a book which the king wanted, he desired Cobb to hand him the work, which in- stead of obeying, he called to his man, ' Fellow, give me that book !' Upon which the king arose, and asked Cobb what his man's name was. ' Jenkins,' answered the upholsterer. ' Then,' said the king, ' Jenkins, you shall hand me the book!'" On seeing Reynolds's portrait of Fox, the king said, " Very like — fine specimen of art ; but Gillray is the better limner : nobody hits off Fox hke him. Gillray is the man for the man of the people — eh ! — like as my profile on a tower halfpenny — eh !" During the progress of some altera- tions in the grounds near Windsor castle, he told Colonel Price that he meant to have a certain tree cut down, and then rapidly asked the colonel's opinion, in a manner indicating that he expected an absolute approval of his intention. The colonel, however, respectfully intimated that he differed in opinion with his ma- jesty on the subject. " Ay," said the king, " that's your way ; you continually contradict me !" '• If your majesty," replied the Colonel, " will not conde- scend to listen to the honest senti- ments of your faithful servants, you can never hear the truth." After a short pause, the king said, in a very kind manner, " You are right, Price ; and the tree shall stand." Gainsborough having said to him, that painters ought to design the fashions for female dress, the king replied, " I am of the same opinion, Gainsborough. Why do not you, and Sir Joshua, set about it ? But they are bewitching enough as it is, — eh? — Gainsborough ! eh ?" Gresse, the artist, one of the teachers to the royal family, was a man of extra- ordinary bulk. The king often visited his residence at Cookham; and one day, while going up a very narrow, crooked staircase, whicl^ led to Gresse's bed-room, his majesty whispered to the lord in waiting, " It is a wonder how Gresse climbs up to his dormitory ; but it will be a much greater wonder how he will be brought down, if he should die here, for there's no flexibility in a coffin, — eh ! — my lord, — eh !" To conclude, George the Third ap- pears to have possessed many amiable and some noble qualities. He was en- titled, perhaps, to more respect as a man, than admiration as a monarch. In private life his virtues would not have been so inadequately appreciated, nor his defects so glaringly obnoxious, as they were in the exalted station which it was his fortune to fill. The great blemish of his character was an undig- nified pertinacity in cleaving to opinions after the most disastrous consequences had evinced their absurdity. His great virtue consisted in the admirable sub- serviency of his conduct to the dictates of his conscience. Few men have equalled, — scarcely any have excelled him, in purity of motive. If his mea- sures were often attended with unhappy results, his intention in originating them was, nevertheless, above impeach- 100 THE ROYAL FAMILY. ment. If, while endeavouring to benefit Great Britain, he frequently plunged the nation into calamity, a want of wis- dom is to be attributed to him, rather than a want of patriotism. But it is impossible to excuse, or account for his singular obstinacy in not retracing, or at least, arresting his steps, when the path he had erroneously chosen was evi- dently beset with dangers; unless it may be presumed, he still thought that, although difficult and perilous, it would eventually lead to the accom- plishment of an object, which, in his honest opinion, it was desirable, or per- haps indispensable, to achieve. His daring perseverance under the most un- promising circumstances, was, it must be admitted, occasionally rewarded with triumphant advantages ; and the recol- lection of his success in these cases, it is probable, strengthened him in his predominant error. During his long reign, opinions frequently fluctuated with regard to his character: when his unflinching adherence to his own opinions proved fortunate at last, he was lauded for his firmness; when a contrary result occurred, he was abused for having been unpardonably pertina- cious. He was a slave, upon conviction, to consistency; than v.hich, no bugbear but gross superstition has so materially checked the improvement of individuals and society at large. On the whole, however, it is probable that few of his predecessors, if placed in similar extra- ordinary circumstances, would have done more good and less evil in their day, than George the Third. EDWARD AUGUSTUS, DUKE OF YORK. Edward Augustus, son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was born on the 14th of March, 1739. In his second or third year his medical atten- dants suspected that he laboured under some deeply-seated internal complaint ; and by the time he was twelve years old, it became evident that he had an imposthunie in his side. He was com- pelled to undergo an operation, which, although successfully performed, is said to have not altogether re-established his health. In 1752, he was created a knight of the garter ; and inl756, the king granted him an allowance of £5,000 per annum. In 1758, he embarked as a volunteer with the expedition against Cherbourg ; at the taking of which he was present, and manifested great intrepidity. Hav- ing afterwards distinguished himself on several otiier occasions, he received the freedom of the city of London in a gold box ; and a handsome compliment from the Recorder for his early entrance into the naval service of his country. He had previously been created Duke of York, and appointed one of the members of his brother's privy council; but he never took any part in public affairs. It is related of this prince, that going one day to St. James's, evidently in a state of great dejection, the king^ his brother, asked him why he was low- spirited. "How can I be otherwise," said the duke, " eternally pestered as I am, by my creditors, without having a penny to pay them ?" The king imme- diately presented him with a thousand pound note ; every word of which the duke gravely read aloud, and then marched out of the room, singing, loudly and cheerfully, " God save great George our king," &c. When Bubb Doddington showed the duke a room, on the first floor of his (Doddington's) house, absurdly paved with marble, observing, at the same time, that it ought, perhaps, to have been on the ground; the duke replied, " Be easy, sir, it soon will be there." He took great delight in travelling, and was beloved wherever he went, on account of his liberality and agreeable manners. He died at Monaco, in Italy, of a malignant fever, after an illness of fourteen days only, on the 17th of September, 1767. His remains having been embalmed, were brought over to England, and interred in Westminster Abbey. WILLIAM HENRY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER. 101 WILLIAM HENRY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER. William henry, son of Frede- rick, Prince of Wales, was born on the 25th of November, 1743. In the course of his education, he supplied the want of brilliant talent by great diligence, and succeeded in becoming a man of considerable acquirements. From his boyhood he evinced a great predilec- tion for the army ; and while yet very young, served with much credit to him- self in several continental expeditions. He became colonel of the first regiment of foot-guards and gradually attained the rank of senior field marshal in the British service. He was, however, never intrusted with any important command. Shortly after attaining his majority, on which occasion he had been created Duke of Gloucester, he became ena- moured of Maria, the Counters Dowager of Waldegrave, to whom he was pri- vately married on the 6th of September, 1766. George the Third, his brother, was highly incensed at this match; he refused to receive the bride at court ; and, consequently, the duke and duchess proceeded to Italy, where they re- sided for a considerable time. Their union was not generally known until 1772, when, in consequence of a bill having been brought into parliament, relative to royal marriages, the duke thought proper publicly to acknowledge the duchess as his wife. In 1776, he returned to England; his children by the duchess were shortly afterwards acknowledged as his legal heirs ; and a reconciliation took place between his royal highness and the king. During the duke's residence in Italy he was presented with several paint- ings, and exquisite specimens of ancient sculpture, by the pope ; from whom he received various flattering marks of civility and respect. It is related, that while the duke was at Rome, his car- riage, one exceedingly muddy day, happened to enter at one end of a street precisely as that of his holiness appeared at the other. The pope and the duke, when within a short distance of each other, ordered their respective vehicles to stop, and several messages passed between the parties as to who should move forward first, the pope feeling re- luctant to take precedence in this respect of the duke, and the duke of the pope. Meantime, a great number of the popu- lace were silently waiting in the mud to receive the papal benediction. Atlength, this extraordinary dispute of mutual humility was terminated by the duke's caniage being driven slowly past that of the pope, in consequence of his holiness having stated, by one of his messengers, that he should be obliged to return home if his roval highness would not condescend to pass on. The duke bore the character of a humane, well-meaning man ; and, es- pecially during the latter part of his life, enjoyed considerable popularity. He died on the 2Gth of August, 1805, and his remains were interred in West- minster abbey. HENRY FREDERICK, DUKE OF CUMBERLAND. Henry Frederick, son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was born on the 7th of November, 1744. His perverse intractability of temper, in boy- hood, rendered him exceedingly trou- blesome to his tutors. For fine clothes and costly ornaments, he displayed, at an early period, a weak predilection; but evinced no anxiety to support the dignity of his birth by moral excel- lence or mental acquirements. He was created Duke of Cumber- land, October 18, 1766, and, at the same time, received a liberal provision from parliament. Still no favourable change took place in his disposition: a mere 102 THE ROYAL FAMILY. lounger in society, he dissipated liistime in tlie most frivolous amusements, or the practice of low and contemptible vices. By degrees, he rendered himself ridiculously notorious ; and, at length, the absurdity of his conduct, when enamoured of the Countess Grosvenor, made him the laughing-stock of the whole country. This lady, whose maiden name was Harriet Vernon, ap- pears to have been respectably con- nected, but had no fortune. One day, about the year 1764, being caught in a shower of rain, while she was walking in Kensington gardens. Lord Grosvenor, Struck with her beauty, offered her, and a young lady who was with her, seats in his carriage. The proposal was ac- cepted, and his lordship accompanied them home. An intimacy between the earl and Miss Vernon ensued ; and, in a short time, he led her to the altar. In 1770, as it is stated, the Duke of Cum- berland " began to idolize her." On one occasion, his royal highness fol- lowed her to Eaton-hall, near Chester; and meetings between them took place in the adjacent fields so frequently as to attract the notice of the neighbour- hood. The duke lodged at an obscure public-house in Hanford ; and though his real rank was unsuspected, yet the fineness of his linen, the ornaments of his watch, and the splendour of his rings, which, with consummate weak- ness, he delighted to display, induced the landlord, who probably feared that he was employed in some illegal prac- tices, to hint that his departure would be agreeable. The duke immediately quitted the house, and passed many of the following nights in barns and hovels, near the usual place of his rendezvous with her ladyship. Lord Grosvenor brought an action of crim. con. against him, and obtained a verdict for ,£10,000 damages. At the trial of the cause, the plaintift''s counsel put in several of the duke's letters to the countess; the perusal of which is said to have been attended with great laughter. One of them con- tained the following passage: — " I got to supper about nine o'clock, but I could not eat, and so got to bed about ten." Scarcely had these degrading pro- ceedings ceased to be the subject of public conversation, when, nuieh to the annoyance of the royal family, the newspapers announced, that the Duke of Cumberland had, on the 2nd of October, 1771, married Lady Ann Luttrell, (a woman much older than himself,) eldest daughter of the Earl of Carhampton, and widow of Mr. Christopher Horton, of Derbyshire. This new act of folly and supposed in- sult to the sovereign, on the part of his weak-minded brother, not only pro- duced an order, forbidding the duke and his consort from appearing at court, but a message to parliament recom- mending a legislative provision for pre- venting any of the royal family from marrying without the consent of the king. Accordingly, a bill was passed though not without violent opposition, enacting that none of the royal family being under the age of twenty-five years, should contract marriage with- out the sovereign's sanction: but that, on attaining the above age, they might be at liberty, should such sanction be withheld, to solemnize the proposed union, ii^ after having announced to the privy-council the name of the per- son they wished to espouse, an entire year should elapse without either house of parliament addressing the king against it. Deprived of the society of his rela- tions, and generally excluded from the fashionable world by his imprudence, the duke lived very uncomfortably with his wife, who died in his lifetime without issue. A person named Olivia Serres, subsequently to his death, stated her- self to be a daughter of the duke by a second marriage : but her claim to the rank of a princess was not recognized by government. It would be a difficult task to ascer- tain in wliich the duke was most de- fective, — in judgment or in morals. He sinned as often against decency as sense. Perhaps the best excuse for his trans- gressions will be found in his natural weakness of intellect : he appears to have had neither discrimination to avoid error, nor strength of mind to abandon it when discovered. He died on the 18th of September, 1790, in the forty- fifth year of his age, of an inveterate scrofulous malady, with which he had long been afflicted. CAROLINE MATILDA, a U E E N OF DENMARK. 103 PRINCESS LOUISA ANNE. This princess, the daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was so extremely small and delicate, at her birth, which took place on the 8th of March, 1749, that it was deemed ad- visable to have her immediately bap- tized : but she passed through the perils of infancy, and seemed, for some time, gradually to gain strength. Her disposition was remarkably gentle ; and her intense desire for the ac(|uisition of knowledge, delighted, while it alarmed ' her family, lest her health might be injured by too much application. As she advanced towai'ds womanhood, that latent malady, the existence of which had, for some years, been indicated by the peculiarly bright vermillion hue of her cheek, became more developed ; and after suffering much from a hectic cough, which at length put on the ap- pearance of a rapid consumption, and rendered all medical skill imavailing, she expired on the 13th of May, 1768. CAROLINE MATILDA, QUEEN OF DENMARK. Caroline matilda, the post- humous child of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was born on the 11th of July, 1751. The dawn of her life was sorrow- ful, its meridian stormy, and its close melancholy. She is described as having been a tallj fair, graceful girl, of elegant manners, liberal acquirements, and amiable disposition. The terms of her marriage with Prince Christian, of Den- mark, were settled in January, 1765; but on account of the extreme youth of the parties, the ill-fated alliance did not take effect until two years afterwards. During the interval. Princess Caroline lost much of that endearing vivacity, for which she had previously been remark- able ; well-founded apprehensions as to her future happiness agitated her mind ; and she became pensive, re- served, and evidently unhappy. In the mean time. Prince Christian ascended the throne of Denmark, and the marriage was at length celebrated by proxy, on the 1st of October, 1766. The young bride, then only in her sixteenth year, embarked for the continent, with deep regret, almost immediatelyafter the ceremony had been performed. From the first moment of her arrival in Denmark she became an object of commiseration. Her husband was a haughty, irritable, jealous, semi-barba- rian ; repulsive even in his few moments of fondness; and, at other times, gloomy, remorseless, vindictive, and tyrannical, yet, in some respects, contemptibly weak and pusillanimous. Soon after his marriage, actuated by a restless desire of change, he aban- doned his throne and young bride, to visit foreign countries. In 1768, he arrived in England, where he was treated with formal magnificence but real coldness, on account of the illiberal treatment whicli the young queen had already experienced at the Danisli court, not only from the king himself, but, through his culpable neglect, from her imperious stepmother. His conduct at the British capital appears to have been by no means dignified. " I wish," said his queen, in a letter to one of her sisters, " that the king's travels had the same laudable objects as those of Cyrus : but I find that the chief visitors of his majesty are musicians, fiddlers, and persons designed for employments still more inglorious." Horace Walpole has thus described this prince : — " He is as diminutive as if he came out of a kernel in the fairy tales. He is not ill made, nor weakly made, though so small ; and though his face is pale and delicate, it is not at all ugly, yet has a strong cast of the late king, and enough of the late Prince of Wales, to put one upon one's guard not 104 THE ROYAL FAMILY. to be prejudiced in his favour. Still he has more royalty than folly in his air ; and, considering he is not twenty, is as well as one expects any king in a pup- pet-show to be. He arrived on Thurs- day, supped, and lay at St. James's Yesterday evening, he was at the queen's and Carlton-house, and, at night, at Lady Hertford's assembly. He only takes the title of Altesse, (an absurd mezzo-tertnine,) but acts the king exceedingly ; struts in the circle like a cock-sparrow, and does the honours of himself very civilly." After quitting England, he passed into France and Germany, and returned to his dominions in the course of the following year. On re-assuming the reins of government, he clearly demon- strated that he had gained no valu- able accession of knowledge during his absence. A physician, and political adventurer, named John Frederick Struensee, the son of a clergyman at Halle, in Saxony, by whom he had been attended during his travels, acquired so absolute an ascendancy over him, as to obtain the supreme direction of affairs. With the rash presumption incident to sudden and unmerited prosperity, this man attempted various innovations in the state, which rendered him exceed- ingly odious. The very high favour in which he evidently stood with the queen, who, it is said, had made use of his in- fluence, to bring about a i-econciliation between herself and the king, gave rise to imputations against her majesty's character. She was accused of havmg frequently been alone with him, and of having, on many occasions, treated him with indecorous familiarity. At length, an extraordinary court revolution, conducted by the queen dowager. Prince Frederick, (her son,) and Count Rantzau, overthrew the fa- vourite. On the night of the IGth of January, 1772, they roused the king from his sleep, and, by their assurances that his life was in danger, procured his signature to a warrant for the immediate arrest of Struensee and her majesty." The former was soon after convicted of high treason, and sen- tenced to lose his right hand, *^ be beheaded, and then quartered. In his last moments, he was attended by Dr. Munter, who wrote an elaborate account of his conversion from scepticism. The queen was consigned, with much indig- nity, to the castle of Cronenburg, and, for some time, her life was in danger; a capital process being meditated against her, with a view to bastardize her issue, in order that Prince Frederick, the king's brother, might become presumptive successor to the throne. Through the strenuous remonstrances of the court of St. James's, backed by the appearance of a British fleet in the Baltic, she was, however, at length, allowed to retire from the Danish do- minions, under the conduct of Sir Robert Keith, who conveyed her to the city of Zell, in the electorate of Hanover; where she died, on the 10th of March, 1775, in neglect and obsciuity. As it is impossible to ascertain the truth of the allegations made against Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark, any attempt to give a correct esti- mate of her character must needs be fruitless. There appears to be little doubt of her having betrayed some symptoms of levity ; these, however, are asserted, by some of her advocates, to have been the mere innocent sallies of a lively young woman, with her hus- band's confidential physician; while others boldly, but unsuccessfully, en- deavour to justify them by the negli- gent and unfeeling conduct of tlie king. If she were only imprudent, the unhappy queen has a strong claim on our commiseration ; but if she really dishonoured the king's bed, an offence of which she was accused, but not satis- factorily proved to have been guilty, she was, notwithstanding his improper behaviour, exceedingly culpable ; not only for breaking her marital vow, from which his brutality had not ab- solved her, but for deeply wronging herself, and exposing her issue, and the country, to the horrors of a disputed succession. GEORGE THE FOURTH. 105 GEORGE THE FOURTH, AND HIS CONSORT CAROLINE. The birth of George Augustus Frederick, eldest son of George the Third and Queen Charlotte, took place at St. James's palace, on the 12th of August, 1762. As heir-apparent, he was born Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothsay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, as well as hereditary High Steward of Scotland; and, a few days after his birtli, he received, by patent, the title of Prince of Wales. Having acquired the rudiments of learning under the superintendence of his mother, his further education was en- trusted, in 1770, to the Earlof Holder- nesse, as governor; Dr. Markham, as preceptor ; and Cyril Jackson, as sub- preceptor. The young prince was now secluded from society, and coerced to severe ap- plication. Dr. Markham, on entering upon his important duties as chief instructor to the heir-apparent and his next brother, had asked George the Third how he wished to have the young princes treated. " Like the sons of any private gentleman," was the reply ; " if they deserve it, let them be flogged : do as you did at Westminster." Markham, it is said, did not fail, when it appeared necessary, to act up to these instructions ; and his pupils, by dint of constant study, rapidly acquired such a proficiency m the classics, as was supposed to be highly creditable to themselves and honourable to their teachers. Notwith- standing the clamours that have been raised against the restraint practised at this period of his education, it does not appear, s\ibsequently, to have met with the disapprobation of the prince ; who, on the contrary, long after he had reached maturity, expressed his grati- tude for the benefits he had derived, as well from the zeal and services of Markham, as those of the sub-preceptor, to whom, so late as 1809, he offered a bishopric ; which, hewever, Jackson, on account of his advanced age, thought proper to refuse. Nor does the severity of his tutors seem to have bad the effect of breaking his naturally high spirit. In 1772, his father, having given him, as he conceived, some unmerited offence, he revenged himself by shouting, at the door of the king's room, " Wilkes and Number Forty-five for ever !" — an expression, than which scarcely any- thing, at that time, as the prince knew, was more obnoxious to his majesty's ears. On reaching his twelfth year, a piece of ground was set apart for the heir- apparent, and his brother, the Duke of York, in Kew gardens. They cropped it with wheat, which they reaped, thrashed, winnowed, and ground ; they then made the flour into dough, and divided it into loaves ; these they baked, and afterwards distributed them among the royal family. In 1776, for some cause, as to the nature of which, con- jecture, though busy, was apparently unsuccessful. Lord Holdernesse and the two preceptors resigned. The latter were succeeded by Bishop Hurd and the Rev. Mr. Arnald, and Lord Bruce became the new governor ; but, in a few days after his appointment, he either retired or received his dismissal, in consequence, it was reported, of his having committed a blunder in Greek, which his elder pupil had somewhat pertly corrected. The chief direction of the young princes' future education was now con- fided to the Duke of Montague, to whom the jusior members of the royal family had previously been indebted for the restriction of their morning re- past to plain oatmeal-porridge. The discipline established by Markham and Jackson, appears to have suffered no relaxation during the preceptorship of thtir successors. Arnald, who had doubtless heard of George the Third's avowed sentiments as to the correction of his sons, personally inflicted the birch on one of the royal pupils, (it does not appear which,) when the latter was fifteen or sixteen years of age. Indignant at his conduct, the two princes, when, on a subsequent occasion, Arnald was about to repeat what they deemed his gross offence, 106 THE ROYAL FAMILY. attacked him together, tore the rod from his grasp, and chastised him with it in such a manner that he never thought proper to raise his hand against either of them again. Up to his eighteenth year, the prince had been absurdly restricted to the society of his relatives and tutors ; and, although at that age he had attained his majority as heir-apparent, and was honoured with a small separate estab- lishment at Kew, the restraint and se- clusion in which he had been brought up, was even then but slightly relaxed. He contrived, however, at this period, so far to elude the vigilance of those under whose care he was placed, as to indulge in an amour with the beautiful and accomplished Mrs. Robinson. This lady, although not above a year older than the prince, had for some time been married : she was an actress, and had first attracted his notice when per- forming Perdita, in the Winter's Tale. A correspondence between them forth- with commenced ; they frequently had stolen interviews, by moonlight, on the bank of the Thames, near Kew ; and their attachment, for some time, ap- peared to be mutually fervent. Having, by his desire, resigned her theatrical engagements, his royal highness gave her, as a compensation for the sacri- fice, a bond for £20,000, payable on his attaining the age of twenty-one ; and, as that period approached, ar- rangements were in progress for attach- ing her to his establishment, which was then about to be formed. At the moment, however, when the prospects of Mrs. Robinson were, in her own opinion, brightest, the prince, having, as she suspected, formed a new con- nexion, sent her " a cold and unkind letter, briefly informing her that they must meet no more." Two years after their separation, he was prevailed upon, with much difificulty, to relieve her, in some degree, from the pecuniary em- barrassments into which the connexion had plunged her, and, at the same time, to redeem his bond for £20,000, by granting her an allowance of jg500 a year. In June, 1783, a parliamentary pro- vision was made for his establishment ; £100,000 being voted to him as an outfit for his household, and half that amount per annum by way of income. In the following November, he took his seat among the peers, and, for some short _ time, supported government ; but, like the preceding heirs-apparent of his family, he soon joined the oppo- sition, and obtained popularity at the expense of his father's displeasure. As it was anticipated, from the seclusion in which he had previously been kept, and his evident appetite for pleasure, he indulged freely, on coming of age, in all kinds of dissipation. The politi- cal opinions and private characters of his gay and talented associates, were equally offensive to the king ; who saw him, with deep regret, becoming daily more and more entangled in the tram- mels of a party opposed to the adminis- tration, and sharing in all the sensual excesses and fashionable follies to which some of its leaders were notoriously addicted. At length, during the great contest between the coalition and Pitt, some offence being taken at his sitting under the gallery of the house of com- mons during the debates, where his presence, it was said, might tend to in- fluence the votes, he suddenly avowed his disgust for politics, and abandoned himself wholly to pleasure. Soon after his breach with Mrs. Robinson, he had formed an attach- ment with the famous Mrs. Crouch, on whom he lavished presents with reck- less profusion. Nearly at the same period commenced his connexion with Mrs. Fitzherbert, a Roman catholic lady of good family, nearly seven years older than himself, and who had already been twice married. Her per- son and manners had so fascinating an effect on her royal lover, that, according to rumour, a marriage between them was privately celebrated, for the pur- pose of satisfying her conscientious scruples. In 1787, RoUe, the member for Devonshire, alluded to the presumed circumstance in the house of commons. Fox, however, with (as he stated) the express authority of the prince, denied the truth of the report in such positive terms, that Mrs. Fitzherbert never would speak to " the man of the people" again. Fox, it is said, subsequently became convinced that she was some- thing more than the prince's mistress, and felt highly indignant at having been betrayed by his royal highness's instruc- tions into the utterance of a falsehood. GEORGE THE FOURTH. 107 This affair was biouglit before parlia- ment during a debate (in 1787,) rela- tive to the pecuniary difficulties by which the prince had already become embarrassed. On the settlement of his income in 1783, his friends were de- sirous of procuring for him the same yearly allowance as had been granted to liis father under similar circumstances. 'I'he king, however, would not consent to his receiving more than half the de- sired amount. The prince's advocates strenuously protested against the in- efficiency of the sum, but the monarch was firm ; and the prince's yearly in- come was settled at only £50,000. Although his royal highness was en- titled to an additional revenue of £13,000 a year, out of the duchy of Cornwall, it was, with confidence, fore- told that he would inevitably get into debt; and the prediction was soon veri- fied. His expences greatly exceeded his means, and he adopted a variety of ex- pedients to raise sufficient funds for the satisfaction of his creditors ; all of which having apparently proved fruit- less, he, at length, solicited pecuniary assistance from his father. The king, however, was so irritated by his ex- travagance, that he not only declined to interfere in his affairs, but even re- fused to grant him an interview, when his royal highness hurried from Brigh- ton to Windsor, for the purpose of con- gratulating the monarch on his recent escape from Margaret Nicholson's at- tempt to assassinate him, of which, the prince had heard entirely by accident ; no formal communication having been made to him on the subject. He now broke up his splendid es- tablishment at Carlton house, dismissed his servants, and intimated his resolu- tion of living in a state of retirement, so that he might be enabled to save such a portion of his income, as would, in a few years, liquidate his debts, wliicli by this time amounted to up- wards of £160,000. His seclusion was, however, but brief: Carlton house soon displayed its usual gaieties again, and the prince was persuaded to suffer his affairs to be brought under the notice of parliament. Alderman Newnham, accordingly, during a debate on the budget, in- quired of the minister, if government intended to propose any measure for the heir-apparent's relief from his embarrassments. Pitt replied in the negative ; but, after several violent de- bates on the subject, a royal message was brought down to the house, by which the king announced his inten- tion of adding £10,000 per annum, out of the civil list, to the prince's income, and solicited the assistance of parlia- ment to extricate him from his diffi- culties ; having, as he stated, a well- grounded expectation, that his royal highness would avoid contracting any debts for the future. Accordingly, on the following day, the house voted £161,000 to satisfy the prince's cre- ditors, and £20,000 for the completion of Carlton house. George the Third having become in- sane, at the latter end of the year 1788, the minister, Pitr, on the 10th of De- cember, proposed the appointment of a regency. Fox, on this occasion, im- prudently insisted on the prince's ab- solute right to the full prerogatives of the throne, during the king's illness ; Pitt, on the contrary, contended that it was at once constitutional and ex- pedient, to repose in his royal highness the executive power, subject to certain restrictions. He proposed that the care of the king's person, and the manage- ment of the royal household, should be entrusted solely to the queen ; that the prince, while regent, should confer no title of peerage except on such of his majesty's children as had attained the age of twenty-one ; and that he should neither grant any pension, save during the king's pleasure, any offices in reversion, or any places whatsoever, except such as were by law conferred for life, or during good behaviour. The prince and his friends highly disap- proved of this scheme; and on the 1st of January, 1789, a very able and elaborate disquisition on the proposed measure, written by Burke, was de- livered in the name, and as containing the sentiments, of his royal highness, to the lord chancellor, Thurlow. " The plea of public utility," it was stated in tills document, " must be strong and urgent, which calls for the suspension of rights essential to the supreme power, or which can justify the prince in con- senting, that in his person an experi- ment should be made, to ascertain with how small a portion of kingly power 108 THE ROYAL FAMILY. the executive government may be carried on." Pitt, however, soon brought forward his propositions, which were, at length, adopted, although vigorously opposed by Fox and his party, in the house of commons, and notwitlistanding the solemn remonstrance of the Dukes of York and Cumberland, and fifty-five other peers, against the intended res- trictions. On the 30th of January, a deputation from both houses waited on the prince, and formally announced his appointment to the office of regent. He accepted the trust, and the bill had already been read in the commons (on the 12ih of February), when the king suddenly recovered. In the meantime, an unprovisional regency had been voted to the prince, in the Irish parliament, whose resolu- tions on the subject the lord-lieutenant having refused to transmit, were brought over by the Duke of Leinster, and other delegates, who presented them to his royal highness about a week after the monarch had resumed the exercise of his kingly functions. The prince now solicited the favour of an interview with his father, probably for the purpose of vindicating his conduct during the recent debates, which, however, was sternly refused ; and his royal highness (whose partisans, thwarted, by the king's restoration to health, in their ardent hopes of attaining political su- premacy, were now somewhat crest- fallen) again abandoned politics for more agreeable pursuits. About this time he is said to have been enamoured of the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, who was then separated from her husband ; but his advances do not appear to have met with a favour- able return. He also formed an attach- ment for the Countess of Jersey : still Jiis affection towards Mrs. Fitzherbert had suffered but little abatement. A sumptuous residence was prepared for her at Brigliton, which he had pre- viously raised from obscurity into fashionable eminence, by making it his usual place of abode during the summer months ; her furniture and equipages were magnificent ; and, in diamonds, she is said to have been almost as rich as Queen Charlotte. For some time previously to 1790 he had patronized horse-racing and pugilism ; but, in that year, having at- tended a prize-fight in which one of the boxers was killed, he ceased to support the ring, declaring that he w^ould never be present at such a scene of murder again; and, in 1791, he disposed of his stud, on account of some apparently groundless suspicion being attached to his conduct, with regard to a race, in the event of which he had little or no real interest. In the midst of his dissipation, fop- pery, and extravagance, he was not altogether destitute of laudable ambi- tion. It is supposed that he attempted, but without success, to obtain the vice- gerency of Ireland; and also vainly solicited the favour of being permitted to join the British forces under the Duke of York, in Holland. An ap- parent reconciliation at length took place between the prince and his father ; who, on the failure of issue by the marriage of his second son, appears to have evinced considerable anxiety to remove the heir-apparent's scruples against a royal union ; to avoid which the prince is stated, on more than one occasion, to have emphatically said, that he would willingly forfeit his right to the crown. His increasing embarrassments, which had been materially augmented by the erection of a fantastic pavilion at Brighton, eventually, however, induced him to consent to a match with his cousin, the Princess Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, (born on the 17th of Mav, 1768,) daughter of George the Third''s favourite sister and the Duke of Bruns- wick, on condition that his debts, which amounted to nearly £70,000, should be forthwith discharged. The bride elect was in her twenty- seventh year, high-spirited, accom- plished, of a prepossessing appearance, and, according to the journals of the day, " of great taste in dress, and much goodness of heart." She spoke English with great fluency ; and on her arrival in this country, which took place on the 5th of April, 1795, she appears to have used her best endea- vours to win the affection of her royal relatives. By the prince, she was re- ceived with flattering politeness and respect ; by the king, with great cor- diality; but by his consort, with de- cided coolness. She had been attended. GEORGE THE FOURTH. 109 during her journey from Greenwich to London, by Lady Jersey, who had artfully extracted from her the secret of her having an attachment for a young German, which was, of course, immediately communicated to the prince; whose deportment towards her, on the day after her arrival, was con- sequently rather reserved. On the 8th, their marriage was cele- brated at the chapel royal, St. James's, and on the following day they pro- ceeded to Windsor, whither they were accompanied by Lady Jersey, for whose establishment in his household, the prince had peremptorily provided. The princess soon discovered his close in- timacy with her ladyship, whose dis- missal, on appealing to the king, she eventually procured : her royal high- ness, also, no doubt, became acquainted with the fact, that Mrs. Fitziierbert had procured from him a superb man- sion in Park lane, a magnificent outfit, a pension of £10,000 per annimi, and an assurance, that, notwithstanding his marriage, the attention which he had previously shewn her should still be continued. The mortification of the princess was speedily increased, by learning that the heir-appurent had re- luctantly consented to an union with her, merely lo obtain relief from an enormous load of debt ; previously to the settlement of which, an investiga- tion of his affairs took place, and many disclosures ensued, with regard to his conduct and character, that severely wounded her pride, and aggravated her resentment. Feeling highly indignant at the neglect with which she was treated by the prince, she remonstrated with him on the subject in such terms, that his dis- inclination towards her evidently in- creased. She returned the queen's continued coldness with disdain ; and, rather imprudently, made use of some very sarcastic terms with regard to her majesty, and other members of the royal family, in a packet of letters for her friends at Brunswick ; which she entrusted, for delivery, to a clergyman named Randolph, who was about to depart for Gennany ; but, finding oc- casion to defer his journey, he for- warded them to the residence of her royal highness, at Brighton, under an envelope addressed to Lady Jersey, whose dismissal from the pavilion had not yet taken place. They never reached the hands of the princess: and her royal highness expressed a most firm belief, that they had been malig- nantly distributed among the members of the royal family, for the purpose of adding to the difficulties of her painful situation. The king continued her stedfast friend ; but, notwithstanding her pregnancy, she was treated with increasing coolness by the prince; who, shortly after the birth of the Princess Charlotte, in January, 179C, sent her proposals for a separation, to which she promptly acceded ; at the same time insisting, that their intercourse, even in the event of her daughter's decease, should never be renewed. In the meantime, a statement of his debts had been laid before the house of commons ; by which it appeared, that his extravagance had been bound- less. His farrier's bill alone amounted to £40,000. Several animated debates took place on the subject ; and the prince's conduct was animadverted on with great severity. After a protracted discussion, parliament eventually deter- mined that a jointure of £50,000 per annum should be settled on the prin- cess ; that £28,000 should be granted to purcliase jewels and plate for the royal couple ; and a further sum of £26,000 for finishing Carltonhouse : that the prince's future income, exclu- sive of his ducal revenues, should be raised to £125,000 ; out of which, such an annual deduction was to be made, as would pay off his debts in the course of nine years. In answer to a pro- posal, that the accumulation of receipts from the duchy of Cornwall, during the minority of the prince, and which amounted to upwards of £230,000, should be appropriated to the satisfac- tion of some of his creditors, it was insisted, on behalf of the king, that if the prince were entitled to the ducal arrears, his majesty had a claim, equally valid, for the whole cost of his royal highness's education and first establish- ment ! Commissioners were now appointed to examine the prince's alleged debts ; many of which were rejected as ground- less, and among others, an annuity of £1,400 to Mrs. Crouch was dis- allowed, because it had been granted 110 THE ROYAL FAMILY. " without any valuable consideration." For the admitted claims, debentures, payable with interest, were given ; and the prince retired into comparative se- clusion, in order to save a sufficient sum out of the residue of his income, for the discharge of what Earl Moira, in the house of lords, termed certain demands on his royal highness's honour ; which are supposed to have been loans obtained by him from the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, the Duke of Orleans, and some other foreigners of dis- tinction. By degrees his debts were liquidated, and he emerged from his temporary retirement ; but, he seems to have felt no inclination to attract the notice of the public, until the threatened inva- sion of this country by the French, on the rupture of the peace of Amiens, in 1803. The prince had, for some time before, been colonel of a dragoon regiment, which, it is said, he kept in a state of the most admirable discipline, and manoeuvered with uncommon skill. He had ardently studied the principal authorities on the science of war, and, in theory at least, was supposed to be an excellent tactician. His predilec- tion towards a military life appears to have been so powerful as to have led his associates to believe that he would almost have waived his right to the succession for the command of an army. With such feelings, it is by no means surprising that he solicited promotion, and active employment on the coast, with considerable earnestness. Govern- ment, however, refused to comply with his request. He then addressed a spirited letter to Mr. Addington on the subject, in which he stated, that, as no event in his future life could com- pensate him for the misfortune of not participating in the honours and dangers tliat awaited the brave men destined to oppose an invading enemy, he could not forego the earnest re- newal of his application. " All I solicit," continued the prince, " is a more ostensible situation ; for, situated as I am, a mere colonel of a regiment, the major-general commanding the brigade, of which such regiment must form a part, would justly expect and receive the full credit of pre-arrange- ment and successful enterprise." No reply having been given to this letter, he repeated the application ; but his services were coolly declined. He now made a direct and eloquent appeal to the king himself, from whom he implored permission " to display the best energies of his character, to shed the last drop of his blood in support of his majesty's person, crown, and dignity. In this contest," continued he, " the humblest of your subjects have been called upon ; it would, there- fore, little become me, who am the first, and who stand at the very foot- stool of the throne, to remain a tame, an idle, and a lifeless spectator of the mischiefs which threaten us, uncon- scious of the danger which surround us, and indifferent to the consequences which may follow. Hanover is lost — England is menaced with invasion — Ireland is in rebellion — Europe is at the foot of France; — at such a moment the Prince of Wales, yielding to none of your servants in zeal and devotion, to none of your children in tenderness and affection, presumes tO' approach you, and again to repeat those offers which he has made to your majesty's ministers." " Ought I not," he also asked, " to share in the glory of the victory, when I have every thing to lose by defeat ? The highest places in your majesty's service are filled by my brothers ; to me alone no place is as- signed. I am not thought worthy to be the junior major-general of your army. If I could submit in silence to such indignities, I should, indeed, de- serve such treatment, and prove, to the satisfaction of your enemies and mine, that I am entirely incapable of those exertions which my birth and the circumstances of the times pecu- liarly call for." The king, in answer, briefly stated, that if the eneiny should land, his royal highness would have an oppor- tunity of shewing his zeal at the head of his regiment. The prince then entered into some correspondence on the subject with the Duke of York, to whom he had unjustly attributed the failure of his applications ; and towards the close of the year, warmly remon- strated against the omission of his name in a list of promotions : the affection, however, of the royal brothers suffered no abatement. At length, intelligence having been GEORGE THE FOURTH. Ill received by the minister, of a projected invasion on the south-eastern coast, he requested that his royal highness, vrho was about to quit London for Brighton, would postpone his journey until further j information as to the point threatened \ by the enemy could be obtained. The i prince warmly replied, " If there be any reason to imagine that invasion will take place directly, I am bound by the king's precise order, and by that honest zeal which is not allowed any fitter sphere for its action, to hasten instantly to my regiment. If I learn that my construction of the word ' intelligence' is right, I shall deem it necessary to repair instantly to Brighton." Shortly afterwards, Fox having failed to obtain any explanation, in parliament, as to the motives of government in refusing the prince a command, his royal high- ness published the whole of the cor- respondence that had taken place on the subject, which procured him some return of the popularity he had pre- viously forfeited by his dissolute habits and gross extravagance. In 1804, his royal highness claimed the privilege of educating the young princess, with a view to separate his daughter from her mother. The king insisted that his niece had a natural right to the guardianship of her child, at least, for the present ; but, to prevent disputes between the parents, he re- solved, on the principle that his grand- daughter belonged to the state, to take her under his own protection. The prince remonstrated, but the king, as usual, was firm to his purpose. All his arrangements, with regard to the education of the royal child, were, however, made with the full know- ledge and concurrence of the Princess of Wales, and the object of his inter- ference, on this occasion, avowedly was, " to support the authority of his beloved niece as a mother." For some time after the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, her royal highness had remained at Carlton house, but, eventually, she took up her residence at Charlton, a village in the neighbourhood of Blackheath. The king still interested himself warmly in her behalf, but by the queen and the princesses she was rarely even visited. On parting from the prince, she had been offered an income of £20,000, which, however, she refused ; preferring to submit her accounts, from time to time, to his royal highness, for examination and settlement. At length, she contracted various debts to the amount of £30,000; but these were cheerfully paid out of the droits of the admiralty. x\lthough, at this period, her habits were retired, she was re- markably popular ; the public regard- ing her as an innocent and unoffending victim to the prince's unpardonable recklessness, and the sticcessful intrigues of at least one of his mistresses. Hitherto, the character of the princess appears to have been irreproachable ; but towards the close of the year (1804) some extraordinary rumours, with re- gard to her conduct, were publicly cir- culated ; and early in 1805, the Duke of Sussex informed the king, that Sir John Douglas, who resided near the residence of the princess, had put him in pos- session of circumstances, which might eventually affect the succession. A commission of inquiry was soon after issued; and depositions were taken, by which it appeared, that her royal high- ness had, at the least, been guilty of great imprudence. Lady Douglas de- posed that the princess, in 1802, had admitted herself to be in a state of preg- nancy ; which, although her ladyship ascribed it to Sir Sidney Smith, the princess intimated her intention of attributing to her royal husband, as she had, during the year, slept two nights at Carlton house. Sir John Douglas swore that her royal highness, in 1802, appeared, in his opinion, to be preg- nant ; but her personal attendants, although one of them had witnessed some familiarities between her royal highness and Captain Manby, proved, to the satisfaction of the commissioners, that the principal charge against her was totally destitute of foundation. An adopted child, which Sir John and Lady Douglas had supposed to have been her own, was, in fact, according to the evidence, the son of a woman named Austin, whose husband worked in the dockyard at Deptford ; and her alleged familiarities with Sir Sidney Smith and Captain Manby, were alone disproved. With respect to the former gentleman, she observed, in a letter addressed to the king, after the commis- sioners, by their report, had acquitted 112 THE ROYAL FAMILY. her of guilt, but accused her of in- discretion, tliat, " if his visiting fre- quently al Montague house, both with Sir John and Lady Douglas, and with- out them; at luncheon, dinner, and supper; and staying with the rest of the company till twelve or one o'clock, or even later ; if these were some of the facts which must give occasion to un- favourable interpretations, they were facts which she could never contra- dict, for they were perfectly true." She admitted, also, that Sir Sidney had often visited her at early hours in the morning, and that she had been alone with him on several occasions. " But," she added, " if suffering a man to be so alone is evidence of guilt, from whence the commissioners can draw any imfavorable inference, I must leave them to draw it ; for I cannot deny that it has happened frequently, not only with Sir Sydney Smith, but with many others ;— gentlemen who have visited me; — tradesmen who have come for orders ; — masters whom I have had to instruct me in painting, music, and English; that I have received them witiiout any one being by. 1 never had any idea that it was wrong thus to see men of a morning. There can be nothing immoral in the thing itself : and I have understood it was quite usual for ladies of rank and character to receive the visits of gentlemen in the morning, though they might be themselves alone at the time. But if this is thought improper in England, I hope every candid mind will make allowance for the different notions which my foreign education and habits may have given me." To this letter, which had evidently been drawn up as a vindication of the princess, by her legal advisers, Perceval and Scott, no answer was returned ; but, on a subsequent application by her royal highness to the king on the sub- ject, his majesty replied that he felt assured of her innocence, and altiiough, from her own admission, she had been guilty of imprudence, he was advised that a necessity no longer existed for him to decline receiving her into his royal presence. Her reception at comt was, however, for some time delayed, on account of the prince having insisted on his right to obtain the opinions of his own legal advisers on the examinations; and the irritated princess speedily resolved to vindicate her character by publishing the whole particulars of the inquiry. The evidence was accordingly ar- ranged, and sent to press under the superintendence of Perceval, who pro- posed to lay it before the public, under the title of " The Book ;" but having soon afterwards taken office with his friends, he earnestly recommended the king to receive the princess " in a manner suitable to her rank and station." Her royal highness con- sequently appeared at court, and the intended publication was suppressed. In 1805, the prince encouraged the coalition of Grenville and Fox against Pitt ; on whose decease, in the following year, his royal highness contributed, by his exertions and influence, to pro- cure the return of his friend. Fox, to political power. By the death of that celebrated statesman, soon after his acceptance of office, in 1806, the chief connecting link between tlie Whigs and his royal highness, was decidedly broken : he still, however, for some time, continued to act with, and, in some degree, to be governed as to poli- tical affairs, by their advice. In May, 1807, the Princess of Wales attended a drawing-room held by Queen Charlotte, at which she was received by the nobility present with the most unequivocal testimony of respect and affection. She visited the court on tlie king's birth-day in the following month: on this occasion, she met and entered into conversation with the prince; but nothing beyond a polite and formal in- terchange of compliments took place between thein ; and, from the absence of all cordiality in the deportment of his royal highness, it was confidently predicted, that a renewal of their more intimate intercourse would never take place. This was, in fact, their last meeting, either in public or private. In October, 1810, George the I'hird became permanently deranged : and a restricted regency was again proposed to the prince, by Perceval, then at the head of the cabinet. The friends of his royal highness re-asserted his claims to the royal prerogative without limi- tation ; but, after much discussion on the subject, an act was passed, similar in its provisions to the bill which had GEORGE THE FOURTH. 113 been brought forward by Pitt, during the king's mental alienation, in 1788 ; the restrictions were, however, to cease at the expiration of twelve months. The state of public affairs, at this time, was truly critical. With the ex- ception of Spain and Portugal, the whole continent of Europe was under the absolute power, or inunediate in- fluence, of Buonaparte, who appeared to be determined on the aimihilation of Great Britain's wealth and domi- nion. The war in the peninsula had been prosecuted with varying success since 1808; but the occasional victories of the British troops seemed only to increase the number of their enemies, and to render the accomplishment of a happy termination to the contest not merely more difficult, but, apparently, hopeless. At home, the prospect was not less gloomy. The expenditure of the nation exceeded its income, and the burthens imposed on the people produced much discontent, and general distress. On assuming the reins of govern- ment, the prince acted with great firm- ness and discretion. As soon as the regency bill had passed, he entrusted the preparation of his answer to the parliamentary addresses on the occasion to Lords Grey, Grenville, and Moira. The proposed assistance of the latter was, however, declined by the two former ; who, in consequence of their varying in opinion, as to the tenour of the proposed address, not only witli each other, but also with the regent, adopted language which was at once unsatisfactory to his royal highness and to themselves. The prince then solicited Sheridan to assist hmi in drawing up an answer more consonant to his views : Lords Grey and Grenville, however, although they, at length, and after much discussion, agreed to the draft prepared by Sheridan, warmly remonstrated on his interference. The disunion that ap- peared to prevail among the leaders of that party with which he had long been connected, so disgusted the regent, that contrary to the expectations of the na- tion, and as much to the surprise of the minister as to the disappointment of the Whigs, he declared his intention of continuing the premier, Spencer Perceval, in office. On the 19th of June, 1811, he gave a gorgeous fete at Carlton house, in celebration of the king's birth-day; and with a view to benefit those branches of trade which had suflfered severely by the late discontinuance of court splendour, he intimated his wish that the whole of his guests should appear in articles of British manufacture. By tliese and other equally judicious mea- sures, he acquired so much popularity, that, on his attending a representation of Cato, at Covent garden theatre, when John Kenible, as the hero of the tragedy, delivered the two following lines, the spectators indulged in an en- thusiastic tumidt of applause, which continued for several minutes: Thy virtues, prince, if I foresee ari>;ht, Wilt one day make thee great. In the course of thesame year, (1811,) the regent, in consideration of the ex- cessive weight of taxes, under which the people already laboured, refused the offer of a large income from parliament. This unexpected self-denial procured him an increase of public esteem : the general discontent which had lately prevailed, began at the same time to abate ; and the prospect abroad became considerablymore cheering; the French being now completely driven out of Portugal by the i?ritish troops, who, in the following year, added much to their reputation for valour and tactics, by achieving a splendid victory over the enemy at Salamanca. The restrictions on the regency ceased in 1812; and expectations were again entertained that the Whigs would speedily take office. It was even insinu- ated, that the continuance of the Perceval administration had been en- tirely owing to the opinions entertained by the royal physicians, that the king's recovery was by no means hopeless. All speculation on the subject was, however, soon set at rest. The regent, in a letter addressed to the Duke of York, expressed a wish, that " some of those persons with whom the early habits of his public life were formed, would strengthen his hands, and con- stitute a part of his government." The duke immediately made known the sentiments of his brother to Lord Grey ; but the W'hig leaders peremptorily re- fused to form a coalition with Perceval. 114 THE ROYAL FAMILY. On the assassination of that minister, in May, 1812, the Marquess of Wellesley was authorized to form an administra- tion ; but Lords Grey and Grenville were so uncompromising, that when the prince expressed a wish to retain his household, they haughtily intimated that nothing could be done on their part, until all its members had resigned. They even talked of- riding rough-shod through Carlton house." The nego- tiation consequently failed ; and on the 8th of June, 1812, the Earl of Liver- pool (a thorough Tory) was chosen first lord of the treasury. A splendid succession of victories in the peninsula, which led to its final abandonment by the French, and the failure of afi invasion of Russia by Napoleon, induced the latter, in the second year of the regency, to make proposals for a peace with this country, which were, however, rejected. In- subordination, produced by great dis- tress, in the manufacturing districts, during the summer, led to severe legisla- tive enactments, and the introduction of an armed force among the disturbed dis- tricts. In the course of the same year, some workmen, who were employed to repair a portion of St. George's chapel, at Windsor, discovered the coffin of Charles the First, which was opened in the presence of the regent, who, much to his honour, would not permit the most minute relic of the unfortunate monarch to be abstracted. In January, 1813, after some years of comparative retirement, the Princess of Wales sent a letter, for the regent, to Lord Liverpool, wlio returned it un- opened, with an intimation that the prince was not disposed to renew a correspondence which had long before, as he thought, entirely ceased. It was, subsequently, again forwarded to the earl, but with as little success ; and the princess then thouglit proper to lay it before the public, for whose eye it had been evidently designed, through the mediiun of the daily press. Her royal highness, by the letter in question, insisted that the impediments which had long existed to her free and con- stant communion with the Princess Charlotte should be at once removed. Much angry discussion ensued ; and it was at length determined, by a com- mission, constituted by the regent, of church dignitaries and law officers of the crown, that, under existing circum- stances, it was decidedly proper to restrict the intercourse of her royal highness with the young princess. All the proceedings of 1806 were then made public ; a re-examination of Sir John and Lady Douglas before a competent tribunal was solicited ; the corporation of London, with infinite folly, solemnly congratulated her royal highness " on her happy escape from the conspiracy aimed against her house and her life ;" and the princess apparently derived consolation for her disappoint- ment, in the vulgar applause of a mob. The war on the continent was pro- secuted witli the utmost vigour : Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, and other foreign powers, coalesced against France ; its territories were invaded ; and his enemies evinced a resolute determination to crush the power of Napoleon for ever. England was still at war with America: but notwith- standing the great distress of the people in general, the destruction of ma- chinery by the Luddites, and the violence displayed in the manufacturing districts, a spirit of loyalty and pa- triotism appeared to prevail. Public rejoicings and illuminations for the successes of the allied powers over the French, almost put a stop to the ordi- nary routine of business ; parliament granted immense loans and subsidies, in order to carry on the war with vigour ; and a succession of splendid and expensive fetes, given by the regent, would, decidedly, have tended to procure him unqualified popularity, but for the debateable point of his conduct towards the princess; who, escorted by the Duke of Gloucester, thought pi-oper, tacitly, to excite the sympathy of the people, by making her appearance, altogether unexpectedly, at a grand entertainment, in Vauxhall gardens, over which the Duke of York had condescended to preside. The year 1814 is rendered memo- rable for the fall of Napoleon, his exile to Elba, and the restoration of the Bourbons. On the 20th of April, Louis the Eighteenth, emerging from his seclusion at Hartwell, pubhcly entered London, amid the applauses of the people, and escorted by the regent ; on whom, the French monarch, in the GEORGE THE FOURTH. 115 enthusiasm of his gratitude for the favours he had received in this country, conferred the order of St. Esprit, by investing the prince with his own ribbon and star. His royal highness accompanied the restored monarch to Dover, whence the latter sailed for his hereditary dominions, on the 24ih of April, 1814. Early in June, the Em- peror of Russia, the King of Prussia, Blucher,Platoflr, and otherdistinguished foreigners, paid a visit to this country; and, in honour of their presence, Queen Charlotte announced her intention of holding two drawing rooms, at wliich, it was intimated to the Princess of Wales, that her royal highness could not be received, the regent having determined never to meet her in public or private again. The illustrious visitors were enthusiastically received by the people, and welcomed with princely magnificence at court. A few days after their arrival, tliey were ac- companied by the regent to the opera- house, which they had scarcely entered when the princess appeared in a box immediately opposite them. The prince was evidently surprised ; but he re- tained his self-possession, and bowed towards her thrice ; his illustrious com- panions followed his example, amid the acclamations of an immense audi- ence. His royal highness subsequently attended them to Oxford, and dined with them at two sumptuous enter- tainments in the city of London, — the one given by the merchants, and the other by the lord mayor and corpora- tion. During his progress through the streets, on these occasions, he was incessantly hissed, and many of the mob vociferated, at intervals, " Your wife! where's your wife?" He was so incensed at his reception, that he made a resolution, which he never broke, under no circumstances what- ever to dine in the city again. Not- withstanding his resentment, he con- ferred the dignity of a baronet on the lord mayor (Domville), because, as he said, it had always been customary for the sovereign, on visiting his faithful city of London, to confer a mark of favour on its chief magistrate. The royal visitors returned to the continent on the 27th of June. Peace had previously been proclaimed, to the great delight of the people, who testified their joy at the welcome event by illuminations, as well in various parts of the country as in the metro- polis. Early in July, the alleged insuffi- ciency of the income allowed to the Princess of Wales was submitted to the consideration of parliament by some of her friends. Ministers, on this occa- sion, intimated that the prince had not the slightest wish to interfere with her domestic comforts, nor was he inclined to permit any pecuniary question to exist between them. A few days after- wards. Lord Castlereagh, a leading member of the cabinet, proposed that her royal highness should be allowed £50,000 per annum ; but, at the sug- gestion of Mr. Whitbread, on behalf of the princess, who, as he stated, lelt a full sense of the burthens of the nation, the proffered income was de- creased by £15,000 a year. On the 7th of the same month, the regent returned public thanks, in great state, at St. Paul's cathedral, for the restoration of the blessings of peace. A fortnight afterwards he gave a superb entertainment to the Duke of Welling- ton, to whose conduct and skill as a commander, the successful termination of the war was chiefly attributed. A number of splendid fetes succeeded, which were concluded by a public festival of extraordinary magnificence, on tiie 1st of August, the centenary of the house of Brutiswick's accession to the throne of Great Britain. On the 9th, the Princess of Wales, feeling herself but ill at ease in this country, departed, with the regent's consent, but rather against the opinions of her friends, for Brunswick. Slie was ac- companied by a few persons of rank, six domestics, and the boy Austin. A pacification with America was effected at the close of the year ; but the universal peace which had been thus attained, was soon disturbed by the return of Napoleon to France. He was received with enthusiasm by his former subjects, and, to adopt the language which he himself used on the occasion, his eagle flew from spire to spire until it alighted on the steeple of Notre Dame. Louis the Eighteenth fled, and war against France was im- mediately declared by the allies. The celebrated battle of Waterloo followed : 116 THE ROYAL FAMILY. the combined forces again entered Paris ; Louis was re-established ; and the fallen emperor, who had placed himself in the hands of the English, was sent to St. Helena, where he ex- pired on the 5th of May, 1821. The peace which ensued on the final overthrow of Napoleon was not ac- companied by its proverbial attendant, plenty. On the contrary, distress, to an alarming extent, prevailed through- out the country ; violent clamours arose against the corn bill, tumults of a most serious nature took place, and several rioters were executed. In 1816, a fleet, under the command of Lord Exmouth, bombarded Algiers, which had recently attacked Bona ; wliere a number of poor Italians, who traded under the protection of the British flag, were savagely massacred by the pirates. After enduring a most destructive fire of six hours' duration, the dey thought proper to make a most humble apology for the insult his sub- jects had offered to England, to deliver up all the christian captives in his do- minions, and to pledge himself that the piracies of the Algerines should be en- tirely abolished. The death of Sheridan, in the course of this year, (1816,) occurred under circumstances which reflect indelible disgrace on many of his quondam associates, who, though sufficiently opulent to relieve his necessities without injuring themselves, suffered him to linger through the last days of his life in such deep distress, that he was in constant fear of having the bed on which he lay taken in execution. The regent made him a niggardly offer, which the expiring orator indig- nantly rejected, first of £50, and finally of £200, with a proviso that the money should not be applied " to satisfy troublesome people." In 1817, the prince, who continued to be unpopular, was fired at on his re- turn from opening the session of parlia- ment in person. The bullets passed through the windows of his carriage, without doing any other mischief. This attempt on his life led to the extension of the act, passed in 1795, for the se- curity of the king's life, to that of the regent; and the tunndts that occurred, the inflammatory puMications that ap- peared, and the general disaffection attendant on distress which prevailed, induced ministers, who appear by their descriptions to have magnified the evils actually existing, to procure a suspen- sion of the habeas corpus act, and to pass some other highly unpopular laws against meetings of the people and the liberty of the press. The death of the Princess Charlotte, which occurred at the latter end of this year, threw her father into such a paroxysm of grief as to bring on a violent inflammatory at- tack. The loss of his mother, who died in the following year, is also said to have affected him severely. He appears to have invariably felt a warm attach- ment for the queen, by whom, in return, he was, under every circunistance, and at all times, most tenderly beloved. In 1819, the distresses of the people were not yet alleviated, nor their dis- content appeased. On the 18th of January, a meeting, to which the magistrates had refused to give their sanction, took place at Manchester, for the purpose of petitioning parliament against the obnoxious corn laws : vari- ous other places followed the example ; and the spirit which had, by this time, obtained among a large mass of the population, was truly fearful. At Stock- port, the propriety of destroying the bank was seriously discussed. Female reform societies were organized, by which mothers and sisters were urged to engraft on the minds of those children with whom they were con- nected, " a deep-rooted hatred of their tyrannical rulers." Pikes were manu- factured, and military discipline was secretly practised by the discontented in various parts of the disturbed dis- tricts. In defiance of a proclamation which had been issued against political meetings, nearly eighty thousand per- sons, chiefly of the lower orders, as- sembled on the 16th of August, 1819, near St. Peter's church, at Manchester, for the purpose of discussing some pub- lic questions. The business of the day had scarcely been commenced, when a body of yeomanry cavalry, brandishing their swords, dashed through the crowd, and claimed Mr. Henry Hunt, the chairman of the meeting, as their prisoner. He quietly surrendered him- self; but the assembled multitude con- tinuing the shouts of defiance and execration with which they had received GEOKGE THE FOURTH. ir the yeomanry, a tumult ensued, and the volunteer dragoons, with more zeal than discretion, gallopped about the field, trampling the defenceless people beneath the feet of their horses, and in- discriminately cutting at men, women, and children, with their swords. Those of them who were tried for their con- duct on this occasion, notwithstanding several of the people had been mortally wounded, received their acquittal, and the corps to which they belonged ob- tained the thanks of the magistrates and the approbation of the regent. An increase, rather than a diminution of turbulence, followed these proceed- ings: early in 1820, serious disturbances occurred in several manufacturing dis- tricts, and many of the chief offenders were taken and executed. Ministers, at this period, had spies in their em- ploy, who, it is said, on several oc- casions, actually instigated to sedition those unhappy beings whom they after- wards denounced. In the metropolis, a few desperate men, subsequently known as the C'ato-street conspirators, formed a plot to assassinate the prince, as well as the leading members of the administration : government was, how- ever, made acquainted with the whole of their proceedings ; and shortly be- fore the period arrived when they had determined on attempting to carry their murderous design into execution, se- veral of them were seized, and after- wards executed for high treason. The demise of George the Third took place on Saturday, the 29th of January in this year ; and, on the fol- lowing Monday, the new monarch was proclaimed. For some days after his accession, he laboured under an inflam- mation on the chest, which had nearly proved fatal ; but, on the 10th ot" Fe- bruary, he was declared convalescent. A new parliament assembled in April, and the king opened its first session in person. His levees and drawing-rooms at this period were much crov> ded ; and, generally speaking, he appeared to be popVilar. Preparations were soon commenced for his coronation ; but, on the 12th of July, that ceremony was indefinitely postponed, in consequence of the unexpected return to this country of Queen Caroline, at whose conduct, since 1814, it now becomes necessary to give a retrospective glance. On quitting England in that year, she had assumed the title of Countess of Wolfenbuttel, and visited various parts of Italy and Germany. At Milan, she took into her service an Italian, named Bartolomeo Bergami, in the capacity of courier ; but he was soon elevated from that menial station to the office of chamberlain, and all the members of his family, with the excep- tion of his wife, obtained employment in the princess's household. His sister, the Countess Oldi, was subsequently appointed one of her ladies of honour. At Naples, in January, 1815, she gave a grand masked ball, which she at- tended; and, in the garb of the genius of history, placed a laurel crown on the bust of King Joachim Murat. By this time, nearly all her English atten- dants had quitted her ; and Bergami was soon afterwards permitted to take a seat at her table. Having purchased an elegant villa on the banks of the lake of Como, she resided there until November, when she visited Palermo, and went to court, accompanied by Bergami as her chamberlain. In January, 1816, she embarked for Syracuse, in the Clorinde, commanded by Captain Pechel, who having seen Bergami, shortly before, as a menial, refused to dine with him ; and the princess, consequently, declined that gentleman's company and table. In Sicily, she obtained for Bergami the title of Knight of Malta, and after- wards that of Baron della Franfina. Here, too, she presented him with her portrait. In the course of the suc- ceeding six months, she visited Tunis, Utica, Malta, and Athens. She after- wards proceeded to Constantinople, Ephesus, and Jerusalem, where she took upon herself to found a new orderof knighthood, entitled The Order of St. Caroline, of which she consti- tuted Bergami grand master. At Jaffa, she reimbarked on board her polacre, and, the weather being sultry, caused a tent to be fitted up for herself and Bergami, on the deck, under which, for several weeks, they reposed at night without the presence of any other person. Returning to her villa at Como, she purchased a splendid seat for her favourite, which was subse- quently called the villa Bergami. She then revisited Germany ; whence she 118 THE ROYAL FAMILY. proceeded to Rome ; and continued to travel, almost without intermission, up to the period of George the Third's demise. During her various journies, she displayed considerable liberality. In Sicily, she daily distributed money among the indigent ; at Tunis, she ransomed several slaves ; at Athens, she presented a large sum to the new aca- demy, liberated all the debtors from the prisons, and left a purse with tlie government for the relief of necessitous objects. To the conventual fathers of Jerusalem, she exhibited extraordinary munificence ; and at Rome, she gave a large sum to the poor. While absent from England, death had deprived her of her friends, George the Third and the Duke of Kent ; of her duughter, the Princess Charlotte ; and of her brother, the Duke of Brunswick, who was slain at Waterloo. During the latter portion of her resi- dence on the continent, rumours oi her indiscretion reached this country : she was consequently treated with marked disrespect, by the British ambassadors at foreign courts, and commissioners were secretly sent out to Milan, to make inquiries as to her conduct. Their report was so decidedly unfavourable to the princess, that the regent, it is said, would have taken immediate mea- sures to obtain a divorce, but for the dissuasions of his confidential advisers, who were of opinion, that the princess would neither return to this country, nor even claim the title of queen-consort, in the event of her husband's ascending the throne, if her parliamentary allow- ance were continued; one of her agents having made a proposal to that effect, in June, 1819. Accordingly, soon alter the demise of George the Third, Lord Liverpool addressed a letter on the subject to Mr. Brougham, one of the queen's advisers, in which his lordship adverted to the proposition, as an over- ture that had come directly from the princess; who, however, so far from admitting that such was the fact, as- sumed a toneof defiance, which equally astonished lier enemies and friends, and intimated her intention of returtiing immediately to England. She was met on her journey (at St. Omer) by Mr. Brougham and Lord Hutchinson, the latter of whom was instructed, by government, to offer her £50,000 per annum, on condition that slie would continue to reside abroad, and renounce the title and dignity of queen-consort ; and, in case of her. refusal, he was charged to threaten her with criminal proceedings, and severe penalties. She rejected the proposal with indignation ; hurried to Calais, where she embarked in a common packet-boat, (the ad- miralty having refused her a royal yacht,) and reached Dover on the 5th of June, 1820. On her arrival in London, accom- panied by Lady Anne Hamilton and Alderman Wood, she proceeded to the residence of the latter, amid the accla- mations and blessings of an iinmense multitude. On the evening of the same day, the king sent a message to par- liament, recommending that an inquiry, as to her conduct abroad, should be immediately instituted ; and a com- mittee for that purpose was accordingly appointed. Before, however, any fur- ther steps, hostile to the queen, were taken by government, an attempt at negotiation was made, and the Com- mons, in an address, prayed that she would forbear to press the adoption of those disputed points, on which any material difference of opinion rested. But the queen gave a decided negative to their application, and all hope of an adjustment was evidently at an end. On the 5th of July, Lord Liverpool brought in a bill of pains and penalties, founded on the report of the committee of inquiry, against the queen, by which she was impeached of adultery with Bergami. On the 21st of August, wit- nesses (chiefly her former servants) were called to substantiate the charges ; and the case in support of the bill closed on September the 7th. The queen's de- fence, conducted by Messrs. Brougham and Denman, occupied forty-nine days, and ended on November the Cth. The second reading of the bill was carried by a majority of twenty-eight; and the third, through a manoeuvre of tiie queen's friends, by a majority of nine only. Ministers then thought proper to abandon the measure; a course, against which several peers entered their pro- test. It seems that some of the bishops had opposed the bill on account of the divorce clause which it contained : that a few noble lords had voted against it. GEORGE THE FOURTH. 119 because they did not approve of the precise mode of proceeding which had been adopted ; that several had done so, because they deemed the proposed penalties insufficient ; and that others, again, had refused to give the measure their support, because the king was known to have been guilty of the offence with which he had charged his wife. During the proceedings, which occu- pied more than five months, the queen frequently attended the house of lords. Her popularity was almost unprece- dented : scarcely a day elapsed in which the road to her residence was not thronged with processions of her parti- sans ; she received numberless ad- dresses, as well from different parts of the country as the metropolis ; when she appeared in public, her carriage was constantly followed by an ap- plauding mob ; the abandonment of the bill of pains and penalties was celebrated as though it had been a national triumph ; and, finally, the queen went to St. Paul's, attended by a vast concourse of people, to return public thanks for her deliverance from " a conspiracy against her honour and life." The king, on the 23rd of January, 1S21, opened parliament in person, and recommended, in his speech from the throne, that a separate provision should be made for the queen ; who, on her part, distinctly stated that she sliould decline any pecuniary grant until her name was restored to the liturgy, from wiiicb, by the king's express command, it had been excluded. Ultimately, however, sbe thought proper to accept an income of j£50,000 per annum, which parliament had voted to her. A day was at length fixed for the coronation ; and no sooner had it transpired, than the queen insisted on her right to be crowned ; but her claim was disallowed, and her attendance at the ceremony expressly prohibited. She strongly protested against this command ; and, during the splendid ceremony, which took place on the 19th of July, 1821, she made an unsuc- cessful attempt to enter Westminster abbey. She is said to have been ex- ceedingly mortified at her exclusion, which, it is even asserted, had a serious and visible effect on her spirits and health. The coronation was conducted with such unexampled splendour, that, ac- cording to Sir Walter Scott, it threw into the shade all scenes of similar magnificence, from the field of the cloth of gold down to modern times. The monarch had actually superintended some of the preparations for the cere- mony, with an anxiety which was by no means consistent with the dignity of his station. He gloried in tailors ; and, on this occasion, full scope was afforded for the indulgence of his pre- dominant weakness. The dresses of such official personages as had to ap- pear in the procession, were arranged under his immediate direction. His deliberations, as to all the parts of his own costume, were frequent and anxious ; and when bis gorgeous attire was at length completed, he caused one of his attendants, a tall, fine- looking fellow, to put it on, and walk to and fro in his presence, so that he might judge of its effect. He appeared to take great delight in the whole of the splendid pageant, during which he conducted himself with his accustomed personal dignity and grace. " When presiding at the banquet," says Sir Walter Scott, " amid the long line of his nobles, he looked every inch a king !" Dtu-ing the session of parliament, in this year, a bill was brought in for the removal of the civil disabilities of the catholics, which, after having passed the coinmons, was rejected by the lords : its limited success, and ultimate failure, however, met with but little attention, on account of the all-engrossing topics of the queen's trial and her husband's coronation. Her majesty's life was now rapidly drawing to a close. On the 31st of July, while attending Drury lane j theatre, site complained of illness : in- flammation of the bowels followed, and she soon felt convinced that her ! chequered career was about to be ter- minated. On the morning of the 7th 01 August, some favourable symptoms occurred, but, in the course of the day, it became evident that her dissolution j was at hand. She spoke calmly and with resignation of her approacliing I death ; thanked her friends for their kindness towards her ; and humbly, but confidently, commended her soul 120 THE ROYAL FAMILY. to God. She then fell into a slumber, which continued for about three hours : on awaking, she grasped Lady Anne Hamilton by the arm, exclaiming, " God Almighty bless you!" and ex- pired without a struggle. With the exception of a few trifling legacies, the whole of her property was bequeathed to William Austin. She had expressed a wish, that her remains should not be buried in this country; accordingly, on the 15th of August, they were removed from her residence, Brandenburgh-house, in order to be conveyed to Brunswick. In opposition to the directions issued by government, as to the route of the funeral proces- sion, it was forcibly conducted, after a violent conflict between the life-guards and the populace, through the city of London. Her remains were embarked at Harwich, in the Glasgow frigate, and, on the 24th of August, they were deposited, at Brunswick, with but little ceremony, between those of her fatiier and brother. Queen Caroline was of the middle stature, and, when young, she is said to have been handsome in face, and elegant in person ; towards the latter period of her life, she became corpulent, and did not display even the remains of those charms which she is described as having possessed when in her prime. Her manners are reported to have been eminently pleasing. The acute and discerning Canning said, on one occa- sion, in the house of commons, that she had been the grace, the life, and ornament of that society in which she moved. She evidently possessed a strong mind, a kind heart, and a mas- culine spirit. Of her youth but little is known ; of the early part of her woman- hood, enough has been ascertained to entitle her to a strong claim on our pity. No woman was ever more de- cidedly a victim to expediency : the prince, when enthralled by other at- taclimenls, and with a decided aver- sion to matrimony, married her, merely to obtain relief from pecuniary em- barrassments. His conduct, in placing a woman about her person, on her arrival in this cotmtry, whose interest and inclination it was to render the unfortunate princess disgusting, is totally indefensible : by so doing lie injured Ikt and seriously disgraced himself. But his attachments to others of her sex, however notorious and culpable, afforded her no just pretext for being indiscreet ; and that she was so, previously to quitting this country, in 1814, is evident even from her own statement. Up to that period, she appears to have avoided positive guilt ; but an attempt to vindicate her con- duct while abroad, would, at this time, be ridiculous. The popularity she acquired, on her return to England, is no proof of her innocence : it is to be attributed rather to the general disloyalty which then happened to exist; to the obnoxious men who were in power; to the violent spirit of partisanship ; to the absence of any other public excitement, and the incli- nation invariably exhibited by the people, to have some popular idol — " the Cynthia of a minute;" to the com- parative refutation of those charges which had previously been made against her ; to the ignorance which, for some time, prevailed as to her character on the continent; to the treachery, and system of secret espionage, which had been adopted in order to ascertain and prove her guilt ; to the spirit- stirring cry of " injured innocence" set up in her behalf; to her being a woman who had decidedly been wronged, — a queen who courted the people's applause ; and finally, and, perhaps, chiefly, to the strong commisseration and influence of her sex. Her bold- ness in returning to England, for the purpose of meeting the charges with which she was menaced, has been set up by some of her advocates as a proof of her conscious purity. It certainly was the precise course which, under such circumstances, any virtuous woman, with a spirit as daring as that of Queen Caroline, would have pursued; but the guilty and the innocent often act pre- ciselv alike, when placed in the same situation. Had the queen accepted the offer of government to live abroad, on the proposed mcome of £50,000 per annum, but divested of her title and dignity, she would have tacitly ad- mitted, that the alternative charges with which she was threatened were founded on facts. Besides, it is quite clear, that she had no idea of the extensive information which govern- ment possessed relative to her conduct; GEOPGE THE FOURTH. 121 nor was she at all aware, that the case against her would be supported by the testimony of those witnesses who were afterwards examined, in the house of lords, on the part of the crown. Immediately after his coronation the king paid a visit to Ireland. He landed at Howth, on the I3th of August, and expressed a wish to remain in privacy until after the burial of the queen, with whose death he had been made ac- quainted on the preceding day, at Holyhead. But his desire to be decent, on tills occasion, it was, according to some writers, impossible to gratify, on account of the resistless enthusiasm of his Irish subjects, vast crowds of whom accompanied him to the vice-regal lodge, in Phoenix park, where he ad- dressed them with extraordinary good humour, and shook hands, indiscrimi- nately, with all those who were happy enough, in their own estimation, to come within his reach. He made his public entry into Dublin on the 17th ; and after having received numerous proofs of loyalty and attachment, from all classes of people in and about the Irish capital, he reimbarked for Eng- land on the 5th of September; but, the weather being tempestuous and the wind contrary during his passage to Milford haven, he did not arrive at Carlton house until ten days after- wards. His conduct, while in Ireland, was eminently judicious and concili- ating : catholics and protestants were equally welcome at his levees; he con- ferred the order of St. Patrick on the Earl of Fingal, a Roman catholic peer; and not only evinced a most anxious desire, during his visit, to crush that spirit of party by which the Irish had long been made wretched, but, on his departure, most earnestly recommended them, in a farewell epistle, communi- cated through Lord Sidmouth, no longer to allow their religious distinc- tions to be the cause of public ani- mosity, or personal bitterness. Shortly after his return to England, he set out fur Hanover, where he arrived on the 8th of October. In the course of his progress thither, he attended a grand review of troops, who, under the direction of the Duke of Wellington, attempted a mimic representation of the battle of Waterloo, on the spot where the actual contest had taken place. During his absence abroad, which continued until November the 11th, the sovereign authority was exe- cuted by a regency of lords justices. Early in 1822, Mr. Peel succeeded Lord Sidmouth as secretary of slate for the home department. Ireland, at this period, was much agitated by tumults, for the suppression of which it became necessary to have recourse to some severe penal enactments. A rapid im- provement in the condition of the rest of the united kingdom was at the same time evident, and the king's popularity considerably increased. In the autumn of this year, he would, it is said, but for the dissuasion of his cabinet, have again proceeded to the continent, for the pur- pose of attending a congress of sove- reigns and ministers, which had been appointed to be held at Verona. About the middle of August, he paid a visit to Scotland, where he received such flat- tering attention, that he emphatically called its inhabitants, " a nation of gentlemen." On the 1st of September, he returned to Carlton house, and im- mediately afterwards. Canning was ap- pointed to the post of secretary of state for foreign affairs, recently held by the Marquess of Londonderry, who had committed suicide during his majesty's absence. Lord Liverpool still continued premier, but the new secretary infused so much of his liberal spirit into the administration, that, in the course of the following year, England seceded from that unjust and unpopular league of the principal European powers, generally termed The Holy Alliance, to which she had long been a party. The year 1824 was rendered me- morable by the formation of a great number of joint stock companies, which, for a considerable period, engrossed pub- lic attention, and eventually produced the most disastrous consequences. A wild spirit of adventure pervaded all ranks of the community. The most absurd schemes were eagerly received and enthusiastically supported. Almost every avocation, every necessary of life, and every article of commerce, formed the subject of a proposed association, a few shares in which, it was believed, would raise the fortunate holder to com- parative influence. The most successful companies, as bubbles, were those, whose avowed objects were most ridiculous 122 THE ROYAL FAMILY. and impracticable. Generally speaking, the parties by whom they were started, had no intention of attempting to carry them into effect ; their views being limited to a traffic in the shares, which, by a variety of iniquitous tricks, were raised, by those who jobbed in them, to an artificial price, which even deluded intelligent men of business, many of v^'hom became victims, on this occasion, to their folly and cupidity. Some mem- bers of parliament, and several com- mercial and professional persons, of pre- vious respectability, took a culpable part in these transactions ; but the con- sequences, in some cases ruinous, and in others disgraceful to themselves, were but of little moment compared with such as befel the country at large. The eyes of the speculators were soon opened to the frauds and the follies of those whom they had blindly followed, and a violent re-action took place. Despondency, fear, and distrust, suc- ceeded to pecuniary faith, rashness, and unlimited credit. A run upon the bankers, equally ridiculous in its origin and fatal in its effect^, was the consequence, and the nation was in- volved in lamentable distress. The bubble, which had attracted the uni- versal admiration of " children of a larger growth," in 182-1, burst in 1825 ; ynd its results were most severely felt, not only during the remainder of that, but nearly throughout the following year. In the course of 1825, the victories achieved by the British troops over tiie Burmese, had materially augmented the extent of our empire in India. During the same year, a bill for the relief of the catholics passed through its various stages in the commons, but was lost in the upper house, principally, perhaps, on account of the Duke of York having solemnly opposed it, in a speech, which, it was suspected, em- bodied the opinions of his majesty on the subject. Spain leaving committed some un- warrantable aggressions on Portugal, in 1826, the princess regent of the latter coinitry appealed to England on the subject, and a body of Britisli forces was despatched, with laudable promptitude, to Lisbon, for the pro- tection and support of " our ancient allv." To the king, Brighton had now ceased to be delectable ; buildings were erected between his residence and tiie sea ; a blacksmith refused either to sell or remove his obnoxious forge from the immediate vicinity of the pavilion; into which visitors had been too co- piously admitted ; and, to complete the sovereign's disgust with his once fa- vorite marine retreat, some discontented or humorous person had written, with a diamond, on a pier glass, in the principal apartment, " Who pays for all this ?" To his former appetite for personal display and popular admira- tion had now succeeded a singular love of seclusion ; and, henceforth, he re- tired, during the sunmier months, to the royal cottage at Windsor, which has, with some propriety, been termed the most splendid and luxurious her- mitage in the world. In 1827, the king was much affected by the loss of his favourite brother, the Duke of York ; soon after whose decease the Earl of Liverpool became totally incapacitated for public li ie, by a severe paralytic affection, and Mr. Canning was appointed premier. Several of the ministers consequently resigned, and a new cabinet was formed, which, how- ever, had existed only three or four months, when its popular and talented leader expired. Lord Goderich was then placed at the head of the adminis- tration ; but he retained office only until the following year, when most of the leading Tories, with the Duke of Wellington at their head, returned to power. The Duke of Clarence, who had been appointed lord high admiral during the premiership of Canning, soon disagreed with the new ministry, and resigned. The test and corporation acts were now repealed j and, in the following year, (1829,) the catholic question was brouglit forward as a ministerial measure, which, after much clamour and a most determined opposition, was triumphantly carried through botli houses of parliament, and received the royal assent. This was the last im- portant occurrence of the reign. The young queen of Portugal had previously arrived in this country, in consequence of intelligence having reached her, while on her passage from Brazil to Portugal, that her uncle, Don GEORGE THE FOURTH. 123 Miguel, the regent, to whom she was betrotiied, had assumed the sovereign authority. The usurper had, some time before, paid a visit to Englanri. and the king had received him with ii i^e kind- ness than even at that time he justly deserved. The young queen, during her abode in this country, was treated with great cordiality. The king be- haved with much tenderness towards her ; partly, it is said, on account of tlie striking re^emblance which she bore to his daughter, when about the same age. She was not, however, re- cognized as Queen of Portugal by the British government; and, eventually, she returned to Rio Janeiro, under the care of her mother-in-law, the new- Empress of the Brazils. Tiie latter part of the king's life was embittered by frequent attacks of the gout ; and, in some measure, on this account, but principally, it is said, owing to his abhorrence of being ex- posed to the gaze of the vulgar, he seldom appeared in public. At length, he held his courts entirely at Windsor, and passed nearly the whole of his time, in comparative seclusion, at the royal cottage ; where the Marchioness of Conyngham and her family formed the chief portion of his domestic circle. With Mrs. Fitzherbert he had long ceased to hold any particular inter- course. When the weather permitted, he drove about Windsor park, in his poney phaeton, and occasionally amused himself by angling in Virginia Water. On Ascot course, he usually appeared in public during the races; and here only could he be seen without great difficulty by his subjects ; the most extraordinary vigilance being used, on other occasions, to save him the pain even of a passing glance from a casual observer. He was partial to the light literature of the day; and as his life drew towards a close, but before he was attacked with his last illness, it is stated, that Miss Chester frequently attended ar the royal cottage for the purpose of gratifying his majesty's in- clination for good dramatic readings. His predilection for building, which had long been notorious, continued in full for-ce almost up to the day of his death. He personally superintended the im- provements at Windsor castle ; in which he took such extraordinary interest. that, when unable to walk, he fre- quently raused himself to be taken in a wheel-chair through the rooms which were under alteration. In January, 1830, he was attacked by a catarrh, which, assuming an in- flammatory form, it was necessary to subdue by repeated depletion. The loss of blood produced considerable de- bility; and, towards the end of March, the existence of an organic disease of the heart became evident. His extre- m^ities were soon after dropsical, and an effusion of water on the chest at length took place. Early in April, his symp- toms had somewhat abated; and on the 12th, he took a drive in Windsor park. Immediately afterwards he grew worse; and, on the 15th, a bul- letin was issued, stating, that he la- boured under a bilious attack, accom- panied by an embarrassment in his breathing. The public, at this period, and for some time afterwards, on ac- count of the ambiguity of the bulletins, were not aware of the true nature or extent of the king's disease; nor does it appear that, until about a month be- fore his death, he himself became ac- quainted witli his dangerous situation. The improvements at Windsor castle were still continued, and he evinced particular anxiety that a new dining- room should be completely ready for the reception of visitors, before his birth-day, in August. Towards the end of May, his disorder was so far alleviated, that he transacted some public business ; but a relapse speedily ensued, and he became incapable of writing his name: an act of parliament was consequently passed, to legalize the sign-manual to public documents by means of a stamp. His medical advisers at length informed him that his case was hopeless ; and he is said to have received the awful announce- ment with firmness and resignation. His breathing daily became more dif- ficult, and the close of his earthly career was evidently fast approaching. On the 26ih of June, about three o'clock in the morning, a blood-vessel burst in his stomach, while his attendants were removing him from his bed to a chair: aware that his dissolution was at hand, he exclaimed, "Oh, God! this is death !'' and almost immediately afterwards expired. 124 THE ROYAL FAMILY. Endowed by nature with remark- ably handsome features, and a form so finely proportioned, that at one period of liis life, it was deemed almost the best model of manly beauty in exist- ence, George the Fourth, during tlie early part of his manhood, eclipsed the whole of his gay associates in fasliion and gallantry, as mucli by personal attractions, as pie-eminence in birth. Byron describes him as having pos- sessed " fascination in his very bow ;" and it is said, that a young peeress, on hearing of the prince's attentions to one of her fair friends, exclaimed, " I sincerely hope that it may not be my turn next, for to repel him is impos- sible." Towards the middle period of his life, he became so enormously fat, that four life-guardsmen could not, without difficulty, lift him on horse- back ; but, as he advanced in years, although still corpulent, his inconve- nient obesity gradually diminished. The expression of his features was haughty, and strikingly indicative of voluptuousness; in deportment, he was graceful but not dignified ; in manners, artificially urbane and supremely gen- teel ; in disposition, selfish; and in temperament, indolently luxurious. From his premature manhood to the last year of his life, he appears to have been a refined sensualist. Afflicted by a love of externals, he was a slave to the pitiful ambition of being the most finished gentleman in Europe ; and it must be admitted, that his labours to achieve tliis object were decidedly suc- cessful. If he did not wear the crown with supreme dignity, he certainly took off his hat with more grace than the most renowned or accomplished of his predecessors. As a royal fop, he has scarcely had an equal in any age or country. His tailors were as fre- quently with him as his ministers of state: to him a well-cut coat appeared to be almost the master-piece of human skill, and a crease in his pantaloons nearly tantamount to petty treason. While regent, and during a great por- tion of his reign, he seemed to delight in shewing his subjects with how nmch grace he bore the honours of regality. Satiated, at length, with public admi- ration, he became an eccentric beau; tenderly solicitous as to the unim- peachable fashion of his attire, and, at the same time, fastidiously averse to personal publicity. Exclusiveness eventually became his hobby, and the curiosity of the people his cliief annoyance. The manufac- turers of some splendid silk hangings, intended to have been used in the de- coration of the new palace, erecting for him on the site of Buckingham house, were rigidly enjoined neither to expose any part of their work during its progress, nor to withhold an inch of the patterns. His cottage at Windsor was so surrounded by trees, that its chimnies alone were visible from the top of the long walk : admission to the grotesque fishing villa at Virginia Water was forbidden under pain of his severe displeasure ; and he had avenues laid out, to the extent of nearly thirty miles, in the surrounding parks, which were sacred to the use of himself and his immediate attendants. At certain points of these avenues outriders were stationed, while his majesty drove out in his poney -phaeton, to prevent strangers from offending hiin by their approach. If he had occasion to cross the Frogmore road, in order to enter the opposite park, some of his suite were despatched towards the gate through which he intended to drive ; and if they returned with intelligence, that any person was loitering in the public thorougli fare, his majesty's course was immediately altered. Even the un- satisfactory language of the bulletins, issued during his last illness, it has been confidently asserted, arose from the royal patient's morbid aversion to any particulars of his malady, or any details of its progress, being submitted to the public. Although culpably extravagant at his outset in life, he is said to have become parsimonious of the privy purse as he advanced in years. From his mean- ness to Mrs. Robinson, his subsequent prodigality to her successors in his affections could scarcely have been an- ticipated. He was, perhaps, quite as much to blame for the one as the other. To the first object of his attachment he appears to have been, for some time after their separation, not merely un- generous, but unjust; to the mistresses of his more mature years, at once pro- fuse and slavishly devoted; to his wife, the mother of his legitimate child, GEORGE THE FOURTH. 125 harsh, negligent, insulting, and even cruel. The royal abode, during his reign, lost the purity it had acquired under the auspices of Queen Charlotte, and retrograded to the state in which it had been left by his libidinous great- grandfather. He never aspired to emu- late the personal virtues of George the Third; the example of his private life, on the contrary, being decidedly per- nicious. At the commencement of his career he was a libertine ; — at its close he was the same. Of his religious opinions we know nothing: but it is essential to state, that he was by no means utterly destitute of amiable quali- ties; and that his positive errors were entirely those of selfishness, indolence, and voluptuousness. He was tenderly attached to his mother : his love for the Princess Charlotte was boundless: and his affec- tion for his brother, Frederick Augustus, the companion of his boyhood and youth, a])peared to be most fervent, and unalterable either by time or circum- stances. Soon after the duel between the Duke of York and Colonel Lennox, the latter appeared at a court ball given in honour of the king's birth day. " The prince, who danced with the princess royal," according to the newspapers of the day, " was so far down the set, that the colonel and his partner were the next couple. The prince paused, looked at the colonel, and led her royal highness to the bottom of the dance. Observing this, the queen approached the heir-apparent, and said, ' You are heated, sir, and tired ; I had better put an end to the dance.' ' I am heated,' replied his royal highness, 'andtired, not with dancing, but with a portion of the company.' He then emphatically added, ' I certainly never will countenance an insult oflfered to my family, however it may be regarded by otliers.' " He has been accused of having de- serted early political connexions, on ac- quiring his hereditary pre-eminence : the disappointment of the Whigs in not being called to office, on his elevation, was, however, to be attributed prin- cipally to their disunion. His private conduct towards his friend and asso- ciate, the unfortunate Sheridan, has been severely, and with much justice, reprehended : but it is fair in his be- half to state, that although he made a contemptible and totally inadequate offer to relieve the wants of the dying orator, yet, on a previous occasion, (in 1804,) he had, in some measure, evinced, to use his own language, that sincere regard which he had professed and felt for Sheridan during a long series of years, by appointing him to the re- ceivership of tile duchy of Cornwall. His friendship for Fox w-as constant to the last. When that distinguished statesman lay on his death bed, the prince called on him daily, and dis- played, according to Trotter, the most indubitable proofs of sincere grief at the prospect of Fox's approaching dis- solution. He scarcely ever forgot an injury, an affront, or a marked opposition to his personal wishes. The cordiality which had previously subsisted between his majesty and Prince Leopold, entirely ceased, when the latter volunteered a visit to Queen Caroline on her return to this country, in 1820 : Brougham and Denman, tor the zeal with which they had advocated the cause of their royal client, were, during a long period, deemed unworthy of those legal ho- nours to which their high talents and long standing at the bar, justly entitled them; and Sir Robert Wilson was arbi- trarily dismissed from the service, for his interference at her majesty's funeral. On account of his unpopular reception. by the mob, when he accompanied the allied sovereigns to Guildhall, in 1814, he never afterwards honoured the city with his presence ; and when Rossini rudely declined the repetition of a piece of music, in which the king had taken a conspicuous part, at a court concert, his majesty turned his back on the com- poser, to whose works, from that mo- ment,hedisplayed the most unequivocal dislike. But, on the other hand, some cases have been recorded, in which his conduct was unquestionably tolerant and forgiving. He allowed Canning, an avowed supporter of the queen, to retain office, without taking any part in the ministerial proceedings against her majesty ; and at the last stage of his earthly career, sent the Duke of Sussex, with whom he had long been at va- riance, his own ribbon of the order of St. Patrick, with an assurance of his most sincere affection. Erskine, while attorney-general to the prince, had so 126 THE ROYAL FAMILY. offended his royal highness, by accept- ing a retainer iVom Paine, on a prose- cution being instituted against the latter for publishing the Rights of Man, that his immediate resignation was re- quired. But, some time afterwards, Erskine was desired to attend at Carlton house, where the prince re- ceived him with great cordiality, and, after avowing his conviction that, " in the instance that had separated thein, his learned and eloquent friend had acted from tlie purest motives, he wished to give publicity to his present opinion on the subject, by appointing Mr. Erskine his chancellor." On one occasion, at the opening of a session of parliament by George tlie Third in person, his royal highness, who was then very much in debt, having gone down to" the house of lords in a su- perb military uniform with diamond epaulettes, Major Doyle subsequently remarked to him, that his equipage had been much noticed by the mob. " One fellow," added the major, " prodigi- ously admired, what he termed ' the fine things which the prince had upon his shoulders.' ' Mighty fine, indeed,' replied another ; ' but, mind me, they'll soon be upon our shoulders, for all that.' " " Ah, you rogue !" exclaimed the prince, laughing, " that's a hit of your own, I am convinced : — but, come, take some wine." Much of his laxity of conduct is, doubtless, to be attributed to the ab- surdity of his education, and to the peculiar situation in which he was placed, when he commenced his public career. On acquiring manumission from paternal control, during the con- tinuance of which he had been coerced rather than reasoned into propriety of deportment, he was, according to his advocates, immediately surrounded by temptations which young men of better education and stronger minds would have been unable to resist; and what- ever fine qualities he might naturally have possessed, were either nipped in their bud, or blighted in their blossom, by a combination of disastrous circum- stances. Colonel M'Mahon is said, on his death-bed, to have given him the character of being one of the kindest men alive. It is certain that, to his servants, he was, in many cases, ex- ceedingly considerate and indulgent ; that several acts of benevolence to- wards distressed individuals, havr, on gooa authority, been attributed to him; and that at the council-board, when- ever a report from the recorder was presented, he invariably evinced a strong inclination to temper justice most liberally with mercy. It is related of him, that he restored a fatherless boy, who had been dis- charsjed for purloining oats, to his em- ployment, on the lad's expressing contrition and promising to amend. " Avoid evil company," said the prince, on this occasion ; " be diligent, be honest, recover your character, and you shall never be taunted, by any person in my service, for the offence which I have forgiven." A few years after he had become of age, the prince solicited the loan of jgSOO from a gentleman, in a manner so remarkably urgent, that the lender resolved, if possible, on ascertaining to what purpose the money was to be applied. With some difficulty he dis- covered that, having accidentally heard of the distressed situation of an officer, who, although he had a wife and six children, was on the point of being compelled, by a clamorous creditor, to sell his commission, the prince had determined on saving him from utter ruin, by presenting him with the sum in question ; which, in order to prevent any mistake, his royal highness had himself carried to the officer's lodgings, in some obscure court in the neighbour- hood of Covent Garden. At St. Germaine, he caused a splendid monument to be erected for the re- ception of James the"Second's recently discovered remains ; and the Stuart papers were afterwards arranged and published by his express command. Literature, science, and the fine arts, during his reign, were far from being destitute of royal encouragement. To music he was particularly attached : he performed well on the violoncello, and at the Sunday concerts, given by per- sons of quality, towards the close of the last century, he frequently played the principal bass with Crosdill, his teacher. He also sang with considerable taste, and often displayed his vocal powers in glees, &c. at his own parties, both be- fore and after his accession. Attwood, who was the son of one of the persons GEORGE THE FOURTH. 12: in his household, is said to have been indebted to the prince for his musical education at Vienna, under Mozart. To Michael K^-lly, he allowed £100 per annum, and, in addition, procured him a free benefit at the opera house yearly. Lindley, and J. B. Cramer, were honoured witli his especial re- gard. At the latter part of his life, he liad a private band of unequalled excel- lence. Cramer, the leader, it is said, notwithstanding the strong antipathy entertained by the king towards men of colour, employed, as kettle-drummer, a person, who although a native of England, was " of so dark a hue, that, at a short distance, lie might be mistaken for a recent importation from the coast of Guinea." On the new performer's first appearance in the royal nmsic room, the king was evidently dis- pleased ; but on approaching towards the band, and perceiving that the of- fensive individual was, in fact, many shades lighter than ebony, he said to Cramer, " 1 perceive, sir, tnat you wish to accustom me to a black drummer by degrees." He patronised the drama, and during the early and middle portion of his career, was rather partial to the society of actors; with Johnstone, the Irish comedian, he condescended to be on remarkably kind and familiar terms. When Lewis's son was about to depart for India, Johnstone solicited from the prince the favour of a letter of introduc- tion for the young man, " which," said the actor, " would be the making of him." The prince paused for some moments, and Johnstone expressed a fear that he had taken too great a liberty. "No," replied the prince, "but I am considering whether a few lines from my brother Frederick, would not be more beneficial." In a day or two afterwards, his royal highness sent Johnstone a letter for young Lewis from him-elf, and another from the Duke of York. He had some inclination for scientific pursuits, and highly respected those who were eminent for mechanical in- ventions. He contributed largely to- wards tiie erection of a monument to the memory of Watt. Of his medical information, slight as it undoubtedly was, he is said to have been particularly proud. Carpue had demonstrated to him the general anatomy of the human body, in his younger days ; and for a number of years, ttie ingenious Weiss submitted to his inspection all the new surgical instruments, in one of which the king suggested some valuable im- provements. His taste in architecture w^as almost beneath censure; he squandered enor- mous sums on grotesque edifices that blemished the spots which they were intended to adorn. It seems probable, however, that to his zealous encourage- ment of building many splendid im- provements in the metropolis may, in some measure, be attributed. In fur- niture, he appears to have admired the costly and magnificent, rather than the chaste. Previously to the last dinner which he gave to his ministers, he had a sumptuous sideboard prepared for the display of his most gorgeous service of plate on that occasion: it was inlaid with gold, lined with looking-glass, and altogether so obnoxiously glaring, as even to overpower the surrounding decorations. Tiie king, however, would not consent to its removal ; but, at the same time, allowed a magnificently de- corated arch which its lower part sup- ported, to be cut away, directing that the remainder of the gewgaw sliould be left untouched, for the use to which it had originally been destined. His talents were, undoubtedly, above the level of mediocrity : they have, however, been greatly overrated, on the supposition that several powerfully written documents, put forth under his name, but composed by some of his more highly- gifted friends, were his own productions. His style was, in fact, much beneath his station : it was inelegant, destitute of force, and even occasionally incorrect. He read his speeches well, but not excellently : he possessed no eloquence, although, as a convivial orator, he is said to have been rather successful. At one time, while an associate of Sheridan, Erskine, Fox, &c., he af- fected, in conversation, to be brilliant, and so far succeeded, as to colloquial liveliness, that during their festive intercourse, according to the witty barrister's own admission, " he fairly kept up at saddle-skirts" even with Curran. Notwithstanding this compli- ment, his pretensions to wit appear to 128 THE ROYAL FAMILY. have been but slender: the best say- ings attributed to him being a set of middling puns, of which the following is a favourable selection : — When Lang- dale's distillery was plundered, during the riots of 1780, he asked why the proprietor had not defended his pro- perty. " He did not possess the means to do so," was the reply. " Not the means of defence !" exclaimed the prince, " and he a brewer — a man who has been all his life at ca?'^and tierce !" — Sheridan having told him that Fox had cooed in vain to Miss Pulteney, the prince replied, '• that his friend's at- tempt on the lady's heart was a coup munqui." — He once quoted from Sue- tonius, the words, '-Jure csesus vi- detur," to prove, jestingly, that trial by jury was as old as the time of the first Caesar. — A newspaper panegyric on Fox, apparently from the pen of Dr. Parr, having been presented to his royal highness, he said that it reminded him of Machiavel's epitaph, " Tanto nomini nullum Par eulogium," — A cavalry officer, at a court ball, ham- mered the floor with his heels so loudly, that the prince observed, " If the war between the mother country and her colonies had not terminated, he might have been sent to America as a repub- lication of the stamp act." — While his regiment was in daily expectation of receiving orders for Ireland, some one told him, that country quarters in the sister kingdom were so filthy, that the rich uniforms of his corps would soon be lamentably soiled : " Let the men act as dragoons, then," said his royal highness, "and scour the country." — When Home Tooke, on being com- mitted to prison for treason, proposed, while in jail, to give a series of dinners to his friends, the prince remarked, that " as an inmate of Newgate, he would act more consistently by establishing a A>o ample a provision, andwitli an accomplished, youthful, and amialile wife, who is said to have been ten- dtrly attached to him, it appeared pr(il)able that his domestic career would have been peculiarly felicitous. 15ut the reverse was tiie case. By his profligacy and extravagance he soon lost the affections of liis vvi;e. and be- camt- involved in pecuniary difficulties, from the thraldom of wliich he could never afterwards emancipate himself. Within six years from their union, the duke and duchess parted ; her royal highness, umch to her honour, on this melancholy occasion, sought comfort in a seclusion, which appears to have been embittered by no reproaches of her conscience, rather than in reckless gaiety and fashionable dissipation. In 1793, the Duke of York, assisted by Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and Sir Wil- liam Erskine, was placed at the head of a body of British forces, destined to aid the grand army, commanded by the Prince of Saxe Cobourg, in Holland. During the campaign tliat ensued, and in which, at first, the allies were decidedly successful, his royal high- ness evinced much intrepidity ; parti- cularly at the siege of Valenciennes, which surrendered to the troops under his command, on the 26th of July, 1793. In the following month, he be- sieged Dtinkirk ; from the investment of which he was, however, compelled to retire with the loss of his artillery; and as soon as the allied forces had withdrawn into winter quarters, the duke returned to England. Early in 1794, he again embarked for the continent, and, on the 26th of April, defeated a French corps of 35,000 men, under General ('hapuy. After having obtained some minor successes, he was attacked, on the 18th of May, by the celebrated Pichegru, and routed at all points. The duke displayed his usual spirit in this battle; and even narrowly escaped falling into the enemy's hands; but unhappily for the brave men whom he commanded, his skill was lamentably unequal to his courage. On the 8th of July he re- ceived a reinforcement of 10,000 men under Earl Moira. He was, however, still unable to make head against Pichegru, who forced him to cross the INleuse. and on the 19th of September, after a sanguinary contest, to retreat beyond the Waal. Success continued to attend the French forces, and at length, on the 14th of April, 1795, the skeleton of the British army embaiked in the Weser for England. During the same year the duke was appointed commander-in-chief. In 1799, his royal highness was again sent out, at the head of a body of troops, to act against the French in Holland. He commenced the campaign with an DUKE OF YORK. 131 army of 35,000 men, including Russians, wliich, however, was fatally reduced in numbers, on the 19th of September, by the loss of some thousands of his auxiliaries, who were surprised by the enemy while cooking their dinners. ! 'I'he duke, subsequently, achieved some, victories over the enemy ; but at the I loss of such a number of men, that on I the 17th of October, he found it expe- I dient to enter into a convention with I the French general, by which it was stipulated, that in consideration of the I surviving portion of the duke's army being permitted to evacuate Holland, several thousand seamen, then pri- soners of war in England, should be given up to the French government. On account of his disasters abroad, the duke's reception at home was cool and even upbraiding. He was bitterly reproached for want of jud<^ment; and, during a considerable period, laboured under severe public dis- pleasure. Various circumstances con- tributed to the continuance of his un- popularity, which reached its zenith, in 1809, on account of the charges, then brought forward, in the house of com- mons, against his royal highness, as commander-in-chief. He was accused of having allowed a female, named Mary Anne Clarke, who had long been his kept mistress, to influence him in awarding military preferments. It was proved that some individuals, after hav- ing bribed this woman to exert her interest with the duke in their behalf, had obtain promotion ; but, as no satis- factory evidence was adduced, that his royal highness had guiltily participated in her schemes, a motion for general inquiry into his conduct was negatived by a majority of eighty-two. A strong opinion, however, prevailed, that Mrs. Clarke had, either through the duke's weakness, or want of vigilance, duped him out of commissions, to the great prejudice and disgrace of the service; and his royal highness, consequently, after having sent a letter to the speaker of the house of commons, declaratory of his innocence, thought proper to resign. The charges were originated, it is said, by a person named M'CuUum, who, conceiving himself to have been, in some manner, injured by the duke, determined, if possible, on effecting his ruin. With this view, and after much labour, he procured evidence of j\Irs. Clarke's corrupt disposal of her influence over the duke, which he forthwuh communicated to those who brought forward the charges against his royal highness in the house of commons. Although lodging in a garret, and fre- quently passing twenty-four hours without food, M'CuUum, as it is stated, laboured night and day to achieve his object,- and perished of want shortly after the duke's resignation. I\Irs. Clarke, having differed with his royal highness, thredtened further ex- posures, unless he granted her a pen- sion ; which being refused, she wrote, and caused to be printed, a volimiinous account of her intmiacy with the duke, illustrated with a great number of his letters. The work was advertised, and on tbe eve of publication, when the duke thought proper to purchase her silence by complying, it is said, with her previous demand. This woinan evidently possessed extraordinary acute- ness. Many years after her separation from his royal highness, she appeared as a witness in the court of king's bench, while Lord Ellenborough was chief justice. On her cross examination, counsel asked her this question : '• Un- der whose protection are you at pre- sent, madam ?" " Under Lord Ellen- borough's," was the ingenious and evasive reply. One of the first acts of his elder brother, on becoming regent, in 1812, was the re-appointment of the duke to the exalted post of commander-in- chief. His official conduct, during the remainder of his life, was not only above reproach, but worthy of the most unqualified approbation. On the death of Queen Charlotte, in 1818, he was appointed custos of the king's person, with an allowance of £10,000 a-year for his trouble. His accept- ; ance of so extravagant a remuneration, for paying a few additional visits to his I afflicted father, was much censured ; but I pressing pecuniary embarrassments, \ arising from love of high play, losses on the turf, and the heavy arrears of ; debt, produced by past imprudence, rendered this accession to his income , exceedingly desirable ; and he con- sented, without the least scruple, to receive it, although the country was then in a state of extraordinary distress. 132 THE ROYAL FAMILY. The death of the Duchess of York took place on the 6th of August, 1820. In person she was rather below the middle size : she had blue eyes, fair hair, and a light complexion. During her long seclusion at Oatlands, al- though somewhat eccentric, she was certainly amiable, patient, inoffensive, and beneficent. She founded and en- dowed schools for the destitute children in her neighbourhood; institu'ed and encouraged benefit societies, and al- lowed pensions to a number of aged individuals. In these, and various other charitable acts, she dispensed a considerable portion of her income ; but it must be confessed that some part of the residue was much less laudably employed in the gratification of her expensive and absurd attach- ment to the brute creation. Every fine morning, her motley pack of poodles, pugs, and lap-dogs, was formally taken out for an airing in the park. Their progeny were not un- frequently boarded out, under careful superintendence; and, as a climax to the absurdity of the duchess, with re- gard to her canine favourites, a patch of ground, near her residence, was set apart for their burial-place, where the name, character, and services of each were recorded on a tomb-stone placed af the head of its grave. The ridiculous excess to which she carried her benevo- lence to animals, is strikingly at vari- ance with the good sense and sound feeling which she displayed on other subjects. It is related, to her credit, that when her foreign servants de- clined being present at the delivery of a charity sermon by an itinerant me- thodist, in a barn, atWeybridge, on the plea that they did not understand English, she replied warmly, " You had no objection, some time ago, at my request, to attend the performance of a play, in the same place, when you knew less of the language than you do at present ; you shall, therefore, all go with me to hear the sermon." The remains of her royal highness were deposited in a small vault, which had been prepared, by her own orders, nruler Weybridge church. On the 25th of April, 1826, the duke delivered a speech, more remarkable for energy than ekxjiience, in the house of lords, against catliolic emancipation, which rendered him exceedingly popu- lar with that class of persons whose ideas on the question coincided with his own. It was as follows : " My Lords, I present a petition to your lordships, praying that further con- cessions may not be made to the Roman catholics. I so seldom address the house, that I shall probably take no part in the debate upon the relief bill. Allow me now, therefore, to declare my sentiments upon this most important matter. My lords, twenty-five years have now passed since measures of this nature were- first contemplated, but professedly with ample securities for the established church ; securities ad- mitted and avowed to be necessary. What the effect of the proposal of such measures was, at that day, your lordships know. The fear that the sovereign might be called upon to differ from his parliament, in the discharge of his duty, to adhere to his coronation oath — the contract which he had made at the altar of God — led to affliction, and to the temporary dismissal of the best, the honestest, and the wisest minister the crown ever had. That minister always held out that there must be sufficient securities for the protestant establish- ment — for the maintenance of those principles which placed the sovereign upon the throne, — and that, with such securities what ought to be satisfactory to the Roman catholics, might safely be granted, ^^'hat is the case now, my lords ? You are to grant all that can be asked, and without any satis- factory securities. 1 am a friend to complete toleration ; but political power and toleration are perfectly different. I have opposed the concession of political power from the first moment in which it was proposed. I have so acted throughout, imder a conviction, whenever I have been called upon to act, that I was bound so to act ; I shall continue to oppose such concession to the utmost of my power. The church of England, my lords, is in connexion with the crown. The Roman catholics will not allow the crown or the par- liament to interfere with their church : are they, nevertheless, to legislate for the protestant church of England ? My lords, allow me to call your attention to what must be the state of the kitig upon the throne (here he read the J DUKE OF YORK. 133 coronation oath :) the dread of being called upon — of having it proposed to iiim, to act contrary to his understand- ing of that oath, led, or naturally con- tributed to his late majesty's sufferings, in the last ten years of his life. My lords, if you have taken oaths, and differ about their meaning, those who think the proposed measures contrary to their oaths, are overcome by a majority. They do their duty, — they act according to their oaths, — the measure is carried, without their violating their contract with God. But recollect that it is not so with the king. He has a right, if he is convinced that it is his duty, to refuse his assent when the measure is proposed to him. His refusal is a con- stitutional bar to the measure. His consent, if given contrary to his under- standing of his oath, is that for which he must ever be responsible. My lords, I know my duty, in this place, too well to state, what any other person may or may not feel, with respect to these measures ; — what any other person may or may not propose to do, or to forbear doing. I speak for myself only — for myself only I declare an opinion and determination. But I apprehend I may, in this place, be allowed to call for your attention to what may be the state of the sovereign, to whom measures may be proposed, who is not to con- sider what oath might have been ad- ministered to him, and taken by him, but who has taken an oath, according to which, and by which, and to what may be his conviction as to the obliga- tion which that oath has created, he must conceive himself bound to act. in consenting or withholding consent. My own opinions, are well known : they have been carefully formed, and I cannot change them. I shall con- tinue to act conformably to them, in whatever circumstances and in what- ever station I may be placed, so help me God!" Up to this period, the duke liad been remarkably healthy ; but his con- stitution now began to break up with alarming rapidity. For some time, he appears to have indulged a hope that his life might yet be considerably pro- longed ; but, in the course of the sum- mer, he became aware of his danger, and, on visiting his intended palace for the last time, he was heard to ejaculate, " I shall never live to see it completed." At the duke's request, Sir Herbert Taylor had solemnly pro- mised, as soon as his case should be considered desperate, to acquaint his royal highness with the fact. Accord- ingly, on the 19th of August, Sir Herbert informed him that, in the opinion of his medical attendants, the symptoms of his disease, which was dropsy, had become decidedly serious. The duke received tliis intimation with great calmness, and slept unusually well during the following night. Shortly at'terwards he sent for the Bishop of London, from whom he received the sacrament. On the 3rd of September he suffered the operation of tapping ; from which, however, he derived only temporary relief. Recourse was, sub- sequently, had to other powerful ex- pedients, with a view to check the progress of his malady ; and they so far succeeded, that his royal highness lived through the year; but, after liaving endured great agonies, which he bore with admirable resignation, he expired on the 5th of January, 1827. In person, the Duke of York more nearly resembled George the Third, perhaps, than any of that monarch's other children ; and, to adopt the lan- guage of Sir Walter Scott, he spoke rather with some of the indistinct- ness of utterance peculiar to his royal father. His features were manly and handsome, his form was large and robust, and his deportment particularly urbane. In politics, with which, however, he seldom meddled, the duke was a thorough Tory. His intellectual powers did not merit admiration, nor his moral qualities respect. He appears to have been an easy dupe to the rapacity of his associates, as well as an unresisting slave to his own passions. His bravery bordered on rashness, and his generosity on profusion. By reason of his extravagance, those acts of kind- ness, which materially added to his popularity, were performed at the ex- pense of his creditors. Few men have been at once so much beloved and so recklessly dissipated. His whole career was profligate, yet not absolutely de- praved : there were many fine re- deeming points in his character, which so dazzled the public, that, towards 134 THE ROYAL FAMILY. the latter part of his life, the darker shades became almost imperceptible. The immediate influence of his errors was circumscribed ; his indiscretions severely afflicted a few, but they were neither felt nor mucli censured by the many. His frank and familiar manners, and the known kindness of his disposition, obliterated, from the memory of the multitude, his at- tachment to the gaming-table, his de- votion to the turf, his expensive gallantry, his neglect of an inoffensive wife, his enormous debts, his defeats in Flanders, and his once unpopular con- duct as commander-in-chief. Neither of his faults were, in the opinion of the people, without some extenuation or counterpoise. The whole of his indis- cretions were attributed, in the gross, to the generous warmth of his temper- ament, to the restraint of his early years, and to the strong temptations with which he had been assailed on his entrance into life. If a spendthrift, he was evidently benevolent ; notwith- standing his rank, his condescension was boundless ; although separated from his wife, he had always treated her with respect ; and his imprudence as a general, and the disasters of his campaigns abroad, were deemed un- worthy of remembrance, when con- trasted with his zeal, and successful exertions, as commander-in-chief, to ameliorate the state of the army, not onlv in discipline and efficiency, but in satisfaction and comfort; for which, on two occasions, in 1814 and 1815, he had deservedly been lionoured with the approbation of parliament. During the latter part of his life, lie was incapable of holding tangible pro- perty, as, tliough his person was sacred, any effects that he might possess were liable to be taken in execution, at the suit of his creditors. It is said that his carriage, on one occasion, having been seized in the street, his royal highness was compelled to alight, aiul went to a levee, whither he was proceeding in a hackney coach. For a long period, being without any settlrd residence of his own, he was constantly the guest of one or other of his friends ; even during his last illness, he was without a liome, and ended his days under the hospitable roof of the Duke of Rutland. Although carelessly profuse in his ex- penditure, the duke sometimes evinced a laudable feehng of consideration for his creditors, and a singular economy in trifles. One day, he said to Messrs. Rundell and Bridge, of Ludgate hill, to whom he was deeply indebted, " Your profits are so large, that I presume you are making a handsome fortune." " AV e should, perhaps, be rich, your royal highness," was the reply, " if people would pay us." The duke immediately laid down a gold snuff-box, wliich he had been about taking on credit, and, the next morning, forwarded Rundell and Bridge a checque for £300, in di- minution of his account. Having or- dered a new blue ribbon, it was sent to him as usual, with a gold buckle attached ; for which, however, he di- rected that a gilt one should be substi- tuted. Not long afterwards, although laboming under an enormous and con- stantlv increasing load of debt, he be- san to erect a palace, the ultimate cost of which would not have been less than £200.000! No doubt exists of his kindness of heart, or that, had not his purse been completely drained by his extravagance, he would have been eminently bounti- ful to the deserving. Before his sepa- ration from the duchess, he severely reprimanded a servant, whom he de- tected in the act of churlishly driving a female mendicant from his door. " She's only a soldier's wife," said the servant. " Onli) a soldier's wife !" exclaimed the duke ; " and pray, sir, what is your mistress but a soldier's wife ? Fetch the woman back, and let her necessities be forthwith relieved." Andrewes, once the oldest soldier in the armv, was accosted by the duke, during a review on Lexden heath, in the following terms : " Well, Andrewes, what age are you, pray ; and how long have voubeen in the service?" '• I am now ninety," replied the veteran, " and I entered the army at twenty." " You have worn tiiat suit of regimentals," observed the duke, " for a number of years, I should think." " About forty, I believe," replied Andrewes. " Ah !" said tlie duke, feeling the skirt of the old man's coat, " they don't make such cloth now-a-days." ""No, egad!" re- joined the veteran, " nor such men either!" Within a few days his royal DUKE OF CLARENCE. 135 highness caused the old soldier, who had long retired from active service, to be placed on full pay, without employ- ment, for the remainder of his life. Althoui;h strongly opposed to eman- cipation, in private he evinced as much kindness to catholics as to protestants. JI'Dermott, a respectable priest, who had once been in the army, having written to the duke, while commander- in-chief, stating, that he had two sons, who were well educated, and felt a strong inclination for the service, but that he was so impoverished that he could not, for either of them, purchase a commission, his royal highness im- mediately inquired into the truth of the statement, and finding it correct, con- ferred on each of the young men a military appointment. The greater part of a regiment who were Roman catlio- lics, having represented to the duke that their colonel would only permit them to attend chapel in the afternoon, so that they lost the ceremony of liigh mass, which was performed in the morning, his royal highness gave posi- tive orders that the grievance of which they complained should be forthwith redressed. Many other anecdotes have been re- corded, in proof of his liberality and benevolence, but they are of too little interest to merit repetition. One lauda- ble trait in his character, mentioned by Sir Walter Scott, it would, however, be unjust to omit. Two officers were con- tending at his table, on the subject of implicit obedience to a military superior. One of the disputants declared that he would not scruple, in compliance with orders from the commander-in-chief, to commit an act w'hich he knew to be unlawful, on the ground that in so doing, he should be, morally, as well as legally, a passive and irresponsible agent. The other, on the contrary, stated, that for his part, he should always avoid any violation of the laws or liberties of his country, even at the hazard of being shot for disobedience. " Spoken like yourself!" exclaimed the duke; " and I trust that every British officer would be as unwilling to execute, as the head of the army to issue, any thing like an illegal command." WILLIAM HENRY AND ADELAIDE, DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CLARENCE. William henry, third son of George the Third, was born on the 21st of August, 1765. He is described, in his childhood, by Mrs. Chapone, niece to Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Win- chester, as being little of his age, but so sensible and engaging, that he won the bishop's heart. " His conversa- tion," continues Mrs. Chapone, " was surprisingly manly and clever for his age; yet, with the young Bullers, he was quite the boy, and said to John BuUer, by way of encouraging him to talk, ' Come, we are both boys, you know.' " So early as 1778, he was entered as midshipman, on board the Prince George, a ninety-eight gun ship, conmianded by Admiral Digby. His father had pre\io!isly declared, that he should win his way to promotion in the same manner as the most friendless lad in the fleet; and the young prince was accordingly placed on a level, in every particular of duty and discipline, with his fellow midshipmen. He served in the engagement between Rodney and the Spanish admiral, Don Juan de Langara ; w^ho, on being brought as a prisoner on board the Prince Geoige, observed, with great animation, of young William Henry, whom he saw doing duty as a midshipman, " Well may England be mistress of the ocean, when the son of her king is thus em- ployed in her service!" Rodney, in his despatches announcing the victory he had gained, stated that he had called a captured man-of-war the Prince Wil- liam, " in consequence of her having had the honour to be taken in the pre- sence of his royal highness." The young prince was in action at the subsequent capture of a French man- of-war, and three other vessels; and 136 THE ROYAL FAMILY. served, during a great portion of the residue of his time as a midshipman, in the West Indies, and off Nova Scotia and Canada. The following anecdotes of this part of his naval career are strikingly illustrative of his character : — During his first trip to sea, having had some altercation with one of his brother midshipmen, of the name of Sturt, the latter said to him pettishly, " I would teach you better manners, sir, if you were not the king's son." The prince, in reply, stated, that he was above being mean enough to derive any ad- vantage over his associates from the superiority of his birth, and offered, at once, to fight his opponent, after the manner of seamen, across a chest. Sturt, however, declined the proposed contest ; which, he said, would be unfair, on account of the superiority that he possessed over his royal highness in years and strength. This generous objection so charmed the prince, that he immediately offered his hand to Sturt; a reconciliation took place, and they soon became much attached to each other. While the prince was at Port-Royal, in 1783, a midshipman, named Lee, was condemned to be shot, for dis- respect to a superior officer. " The whole body of midshipmen," says a young gentleman in the service, who was then on the same station, " were deeply affected at this sentence, but they knew not how to obtain a mitiga- tion of it, as Mr. Lee was ordered for execution, while they had not time for an appeal to the admiralty, and con- sidered a petition to Admiral Rowley useless. However, Prince William generously came forward, — drew up a petition, — to which he was the first to set his name, and solicited the rest of the midshipmen in port to follow his example. He then carried the petition to the admiral himself, and, in the most urgent manner, begged the life of an uniiappy comrade; and Mr. Lee is re- prieved. We are all grateful to our iuimane, brave, wortiiy prince, who has so nobly exerted himself in saving the life of a brotlier sailor." During the same year. Prince William succcss- fuilv interceded with the governor of Louisiana lor the lives of .some English- men, wlio had been sentenced to death for a violation of fidelity to the Spanish government: their pardon, as he ob- served in a letter of thanks to the governor on the occasion, was the most agreeable present that his excellency could have offered him. Having served his full time as a mid- shipman, he was promoted in the ordi- nary manner; and, for several years, commanded the Pegasus frigate. On the 20th of May, 1789, he was created Duke of Clarence and St. Andrews, and Earl of Munster. He shortly after- wards took his seat in the house of lords, and frequently spoke in defence of the war with revolutionized France. In 1790, he became rear admiral of the blue; but, notwithstanding his gal- lantry, his intimate acquaintance with naval tactics, and his notoriety as a strict disciplinarian, he was not per- mitted to gratify his ardent inclination to engage again in active service. On the 11th of July, 1818, he was united, at Kew palace, to Adelaide Louisa Theresa Caroline Amelia, daughter of the Duke of Saxe Coburg Meinengen, (born on the 13tli of August, 1792) who, on account of the excellence of her disposition, and the unimpeachable purity of her morals, had been strongly recommended to the notice of his royal highness, by Queen Charlotte, his mother. Parliament hav- ing granted an addition of £6000 per annum only, to the duke's income, on this occasion, the royal couple, fearing that their allowance was too limited for them to live with proper dignity in this country, after having passed a few days in retirement at St. James's palace, pro- ceeded to Hanover. Long before his marriage, the duke had formed a con- nexion with the fascinating Mrs. Jordan, the fruits of which were several chil- dren, who have all received the strongest proofs of paternal affection on the part of their royal parent, the cause of whose sudden and final separation from their mother still remains a mystery. Mrs. Jordan died in France, about two years before the duke's union with the Prin- cess Adelaide. At the latter end of the year 1819, the duke and duchess set out on their return to England ; and just before the close of 1820, she became the mother of a seven months' child, (the Princess Elizabeth) who died in her infancy. On three other occasions, QUEEN OF WIRTEMBERG. 137 twice in 1819, and again in 1821, the duchess had the misfortune to be pre- maturely confined. On the death of his brother, Frederick Augustus, in 1827, the duke being ren- dered by that circumstance heir-pre- sumptive to the crown, obtained an additional parliamentary grant, whicli raised his income to nearly £40,000, per annum. In the course of the same year, he was appointed lord high admiral. While in this important sta- tion, his meritorious conduct procured him the warm attachment of the navy, and the most hearty approbation of the public. When the Duke of Welling- ton became premier, some objections were made to the expense of his pro- gresses, in consequence of which his royal highness thought proper to resign. The frankness and affability of his manners, his sterling good sense, the liberality of his opinions, and the zeal with which, in 1829, he advocated the cause of the catholics, insured him a continuance of that high popularity which he had attained while in office, up to the period of his elder brother's demise : to record his subsequent career does not fall within the plan of this work; we follow the illustrious subject of our present notice only to the foot of the throne, — the period of his accession being the allotted bourne of our labours. CHARLOTTE AUGUSTA MATILDA, QUEEN OF WIRTEMBERG. 1 HE eldest daughter of George the Third, Charlotte Augusta Matilda, was born on the 29th of September, 17C6. She received a careful education, and her talents being naturally good, she became a very well-informed and accomplished woman. On the 18th of May, 1797, she was married, at St. James's palace, to Frederick Charles William, here- ditary Prince of Wirtemberg, whom she accompanied to Germany, early in the following month. Her marriage portion was £lOO,000, one half of which was invested for her separate use in the government securities of this country. By the treaty of Luneville, in 1803, her husband, who had found it expedient to form an alliance with the French, was raised to the dignity of elector ; at the convention of Presburg, his then aggrandized dominions were converted into a monarchy ; and he was pro- claimed king of Wirtemberg on the 1st of January, 1806. His conduct as one of the members of the Rhenish con- federacy, afforded especial gratification to Napoleon Buonaparte ; who, on more than one occasion, visited the queen at her court, and, according to the Moniteur, bestowed on her a variety of splendid presents. The king died, without issue by her, on the 30th of Oc- tober, 181C, and she soon afterwards retired to the castle of Louisburg, where she displayed such active benevo- lence, as speedily to acquire the grati- fying appellation of " The good Queen Dowager." When George the Fourth went to the continent, shortly after his corona- tion, she met him on his progress, and sportively welcomed him at the en- trance of a house, in front of which she had caused to be erected the sign of the Hanover Arms. In the spring of 1827, she visited this country ; and, during her residence here, she found it necessary to undergo the operation of tapping ; from which, however, she derived no permanent relief. While on her return to the continent, a violent storm for some time threatened de- struction to the vessel in which she had embarked. Her conduct, on this occasion, was admirably serene : " I am here," said she to her attendants, " in the hands of God, as much as if I were at home in my own bed." Soon after she had reached Wirtemberg, she was found to labour under symptoms of water on the chest ; but no appre- hensions of immediate danger were entertained, and she continued to re- ceive the visits of her friends, with whom she conversed in her usual vi- vacious manner, until two days before her demise, which took place on the 6th of October, 1828. 138 THE ROYAL FAMILY. Her character appears to have been decidedly admirable. By the people of Wirtemberg she was regarded with the utmost affection and respect ; and the children of her husband, by his first wife, loved and honoured her as though she had been their own mother. EDWARD AND VICTORIA, DUKE AND DUCHESS OF KENT. Edward, the fourth son of George the Third, was born on the 2nd of November, 17C7. His education was commenced in this country, and com- pleted at Hanover. He entered the army at an early age, and soon became an enthusiastic admirer of military discipline. Having attained the rank of colonel, he served during the years 1790 and 1791, under General O'Hara, at Gibraltar, where he rendered him- self so unpopular by his strictness, that his regiment repeatedly inutinied, and his life is stated to have been, on more than one occasion, in considerable peril. On quitting Gibraltar, he was sent out as commander of the forces in Canada. In 1794, he received orders to join the expedition under Sir Charles Grey, against the French West India islands ; and, during the campaign that ensued, his impetuous bravery procured him the general admiration of his companions in arms. He headed the flank division at the storming of several strong and important forts in Martinique and Guadaloupe ; and so brilliant were its exploits, that, " The Flank Corps" became a standing toast, as well at the admiral's table, as at that of the commander-in-chief. The prince was subsequently appointed go- vernor of Gibraltar, where the rigorous measures which he adopted for the purpose of repressing various abuses in the garrison, produced such excitement and insubordination, that it was deemed prudent to recal him. In 1799, he was created Duke of Kent, and obtained a parliamentary grant of £12,000 per annum. A large portion of this allow- ance he set apart for the liquidation of his debts; and, in the year 1816, he went abroad in order to abridge his ex- pences. On the 29th of May, 1818, he was united to Victoria Maria Louisa, widow of the late Prince of Leinengen, (by whom she had had two children), and sister to the Prince of Saxe Cobourg, who was then in the thirtieth year of her age, having been born in 1788. The duke and his amiable bride, whose character has been most highly and deservedly eulogized, shortly after- wards arrived in this country, and were re-married according to the rites of the church of England. In 1819, the duchess gave birth to a daughter, (the Princess Victoria) ; and, in the latter part of the year, with a view to the re- establishment of her health, which had been materially affected by her con- finement, she proceeded to Sidmouth, in Devonshire, where the duke, who had accompanied her royal highness, was attacked by an inflammation of the lungs, and died, after a brief illness, on the 23rd of January, 1820. His person was tall and athletic; his appearance dignified ; his understand- ing strong ; his deportment affable, and his bravery chivalrous. The course which he pursued in politics, appears to have been almost invariably tolerant, hberal, and conciliatory. Towards the latter part of his life, he had become exceedingly popular, and his death was deeply regretted by the nation. ERNEST AUGUSTUS AND FREDERICA, DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CUMBERLAND. Ernest Augustus, fifth son of George the Third, was born on the .5lh of June, 1771. He received his educa- tion at the university of Gottingen, where he was entered, July 6, 178(5, with his two younger brothers ; each being DUKE OF SUSSEX. 139 accompanied by a governor, a preceptor, and a gentleman. They were lodged in one house, and had their table fixed at six hundred crowns a week, including two grand institution dinners, to which the professors and some students were invited. They were taught German by Professor Meyer; Latin by Heyne ; religion by Less, ecclesiastical coun- sellor ; and morality by counsellor Feder; for which duties, each received an appointment of one thousand crowns per annum. On the 23rd of April, 1798, his royal highness was created Duke of Cum- berland and Tiviotdale, and obtained a parliamentary income of £12,000, which was increased in 1819, to£l8,000 per annum. In 1815, he married Frederiea Sophia Charlotte, of Meck- lenburgh Strelitz, widow of the Prince of Salms, (born on the 20th of May, 1778,) with whom the duke remained on the continent for a very considerable period, l^ie duchess visited this coun- try, for the first time, in 1829, during which year she appeared at a drawing- room lield by George the Fourth. AUGUSTUS FREDERICK, DUKE OF SUSSEX. ± HIS prince, the sixth son of George the Third, was born on the 27th of January, 1773. He received his educa- tion on the continent, where he formed an union, which was solemnized ac- cording to the forms of the church of Rome, with Lady Augusta Murray, a daughter of the Earl of Dunmore. " Lady Augusta," ludicrously observes a cotemporary writer, " soon became pregnant, and returned to England; his royal highness did the same." On their arrival in this country, they were again married by banns, in St. George's church, Hanover square, and the duke proposed to resign whatever claims he might possess as a member of the royal family, on condition that his marriage should not be disturbed : it was, how- ever, some time afterwards declared illegal and invalid by the ecclesiastical court, as being contrary to the provi- sions of the royal marriage act. No sooner was the sentence published than Lady Augusta, who had become the mother of two cliildren, separated from his royal highness, and the remainder of her life was passed in dignified re- tirement. The prince was created Earl of In- verness and Duke of Sussex, in 1801, when he obtained a parliamentary grant of £12,000 per annum, to which a yearly addition of £9,000 was sub- sequently made. His attachment to the Whigs, the frankness with which he avowed his political sentiments, and the course which he adopted with regard to the differences in the family of the king, his brother, rendered him a stranger at court during the reign of George the Fourth ; with whom, how- ever, during his majesty's last illness, the duke was cordially reconciled. As a speaker, he possesses considerable facility : his opinions are decidedly liberal, and his manners frank and con- descending. ADOLPHUS FREDERICK AND AUGUSTA WILHELMINA, DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE. AdOLPHUS FREDERICK, the seventh son of George the Third, (by whom he was much beloved,) was born on the 24th of February, 1774. He received a military education, and en- tered the army at an early age. In 1793, he served with the British forces before Dunkirk, and on the 13th of September, in that year, he is stated to have returned to England, wearing a coat that exhibited several sabre marks, and a helmet, through which he had 140 THE ROYAL FAMILY. been wounded in the eye. In 1794, he attained the rank of colonel: in the following year he was raised to the dukedom of Cambridge, and parliament granted him a yearly allowance of £12,000, which was subsequently raised to £27,000 per annum. In 1803, he was placed at the head of an army of 14,000 men, destined for the defence of Hanover: but, finding on his arrival in the electorate, that its inhabitants evinced but little inclina- tion to aid him against the enemy, he soon solicited his recal, and after some delay, procured permission to return to England, leaving the army under the command of Count Wal- moden, who was shortly afterwards compelled to surrender. The duke gradually rose to the rank of field-marshal, and on the restora- tion of Hanover, he was appointed its governor- general. On the 7th of May, 1818, he married Augusta Wilhelmina Louisa, niece of the Landgrave of Hesse. This amiable and accomplished lady was born on the 25th of July, 1797: her education is said to have been con- ducted with remarkable care, and her union with his royal highness is stated to have been attended with the de- cided approval of the whole of their respective relatives. The private conduct of the duke ap- pears to have been always unexcep- tionable : his public career can scarcely be said to have been brilliant; but al- though it may have procured him little applause, it has decidedly entitled him to public esteem. His political opinions have rarely been censurable ; as an orator, he may be pronounced acute, well-informed, correct, but not alto- gether eloquent. His habits are said to be studious, and his acquirements as a scholar are reputed to be much more considerable than is generally supposed. On the whole, the duke, who has never courted notoriety, appears to be de- serving even of a larger share of ad- miration and respect than he actually I enjoys. WILLIAM FREDERICK AND MARY, DUKE AND DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER. William Frederick, son of William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, by his wife, the Countess Dowager of Waldegrave, was born at Rome, in January, 1776. His education was completed at the university of Cam- bridge ; which he had but recently quitted when he entered the army. He served a campaign under the Duke of York, in Holland, and subsequently attained the exalted rank of field- marshal. In 1816, he married Mary, tiie fourth daughter of George the Third, born on the 25th of April, 1776, to whom he was supposed to have been long attached. On this union taking place, he stipulated that it should by no means be expected to influence his public conduct : he, accordingly, con- tinued to support his previous political connexions, the Whigs ; and while the bill of pains and penalties against Queen Caroline was pending, he uniformly acted in her majesty's favour. The duke has always kept within the bounds of his income, which is stated to be £14,000 per annum ; he is utterly de- void of ostentation ; and frequently ap- pears, either alone or accompanied by the duchess, (with whom he is said to enjoy great domestic felicity,) in the streets of the metropolis, and at its places of public amusement', with much less of " pomp and circumstance," than many whom he surpasses as much in rank as affability. PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 141 PRINCESS AMELIA. Amelia, youngest daughter of George the Third, was born on the 7th of August, 1783. In childhood and youth, altliongli delicate, she pos- sessed great vivacity : her talents were good, and her temper excellent. Un- fortunately, she was afflicted with a glandular disease, which, even in its incipient state, occasioned her consi- derable suffering ; and shortly after she had entered her twenty-fourth year, it assumed a hopeless form ; but she lingered, in great agony, which she bore with the most admirable resignation, until the latter end of 1810. Her death took place on the 2nd of November in that year. George the Third appears to have been particularly fond of her royal highness; and it is even asserted, that his last mental aberration was mate- rially accelerated by the deep grief with which he contemplated the prospect of her approaching decease. PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF SAXE COBOURG. 1 HE only child of George the Fourth by his consort, Caroline of Brunswick, was born on the 7th of January, 1796, and baptized Charlotte Caroline Au- gusta, on the 11th of the following month. Bishop Porteus describes her, in 1801, as having been " a most cap- tivating and engaging child. She re- peated," continues he, " several of her hymns with great correctness and pro- priety; and being told, when she went to Southend, in Essex, she would then be in my diocese, she fell down on her knees, and begged my blessing." Her education was conducted, first under the superintendence of the Countess of Elgin, and subsequently under that of the Baroness de Clifford. She was removed from the immediate guardianship of her mother, about the period when the delicate investigation of the charges made by Sir John and Lady Douglas against the Princess of Wales took place, and was placed at Warwick house, by command of George the Third, who had claimed the pri- vilege of bringing her up under his own protection, as she was a child of the state. Queen Charlotte, whom the young princess appears to have hated, exercised, it is said, a secret inter- ference as to her studies, and employed Hannah More to write an elementary work for her use. In 1809, Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, became her preceptor, and Doctors Nott and Short his assistants. At an early period of her life, she had dis- played much waywardness and caprice ; and although she at length became suf- ficiently tractable and diligent to pass through her studies in a manner deci- dedly brilliant, yet, her naturally high and irritable spirit was still unsubdued. When in her thirteenth year, the bishop, her tutor, having deemed it expedient mildly to rebuke her for some inattention, she snatched oflT his wig, dashed it on the floor, and indig- nantly quitted the room. At another time. Queen Charlotte, who had pre- viously sent her a handsome shawl, having reminded her that she had not yet acknowledged the gift, the princess took the present alluded to from her shoulders, and thrust it into the fire. As, however, she advanced towards womanhood, her pride and violence of tempersubsided, and she became, on the whole, of a decidedly amiable, but still lofty and uncompromising character. To her mother, who was rarely per- mitted to see her, she displayed great affection ; and the coolness with which the Princess of Wales was treated by most of the royal family, appears to have occasioned her considerable pain. In 1814, her attempts to indulge in a J 142 THE ROYAL FAMILY. closer correspondence with her mother than had previously been permitted, excited the anger of the prince regent, who intimated, in rather harsh terms, his intention of removing her, without delay, to his own residence. The young princess, however, contrived to quit Warwick house unperceived, stepped into a hackney coach, and drove off to her mother's house at Blackheath. After some negotiation, and on receiving an assurance that she should not be immured, nor treated with severity, she was eventually pre- vailed upon to trust herself to the re- gent's protection. The Princess of Wales soon after- wards went to Italy, and all restraint upon her royal daughter was then re- moved. In the following summer, dur- ing an excursion to the coast, the young princess accepted an invitation to go on board the Leviathan man-of-war ; on reaching which, she said to the lieutenant who escorted her party, " I resign the accommodation-chair, pro- vided to hoist us on deck, to the bishop and the ladies: do you, sir, take care of my clothes, and I will go up the ladder." The young Prince of Orange was long considered her accepted lover ; but in 1814, Prince Leopold of SaxeCobourg began to be honoured with her especial notice; and, on the 2nd of May, 1816, she was united to him at Carlton house. Parliament, on this occasion, voted i£CO,000 as an outfit to the royal couple ; j610,000 per annum as pin money for the bride; and j650,000 a year during their joint and several lives. Previously to her marriage, one of the ministers waited on her, for the purpose of settling some details, re- lative to her income ; but not deeming his propositions sufficiently liberal, she addressed him in the following terms: — " My lord, I am heiress to the throne of Great Britain, and my mind has risen to a level with the exalted station I am to fill : therefore, I must be pro- vided for accordingly. Do not imagine that, in marrying Prince Leopold, I ever can, or will, sink to the rank of 3Iistress Cobourii: — Entertain no such idea, I beg of you." The princess and her husband, soon after their marriage, retired to Clare- mont, where they enjoyed much do- mestic happiness, until the fatal ac- couchement of her royal highness, in November, 1817. On the 5th of that month, she gave birth to a still-born male child. On the following morning, although she had been supposed, " to be doing extremely well," she was at- tacked, first with faintness, and soon afterwards with convulsions. Her me- dical attendants, on being summoned, found her at the point of death. She received the announcement of her ap- proaching dissolution with extraordi- nary calmness, and continued to express her affection to Prince Leopold by the most eloquent signs, even up to the moment when she expired. The grief exhibited by the people for her loss, was entirely without a parallel : her death being almost as deeply and ge- nerally lamented, as though she had been a member of every family in the kingdom. In person, she was of the middle stature, stout, but of elegant propor- tions : her eyes were blue, large, and intelligent ; her complexion was un- usually fair ; the expression of her fea- tures dignified ; and her whole appear- ance prepossessing. Her spirit was high, her temper irritable, and her inclination somewhat despotic; but, on the other hand, her affections were warm, her mind was cultivated, and her benevolence boundless. She had been brought up in sound moral, religious, and constitutional principles; and, had she lived to ascend the throne, it seems probable that, with many of the frail- ties, she would have displayed all the better qualities of an Elizabeth. THE PRETENDERS AND THEIR ADHERENTS. THE PRETENDERS AND THEIR ADHERENTS. JAMES FREDERICK EDWARD STUART. -l HE parents of this unfortunate prince were James the Second, and Maria D'Este, sister to Francis, Duke of Modena, who were united in 1673. The bride was then only in her fifteenth year, by no means beautiful, and so poor, that the king of France paid her marriage portion. She possessed, how- ever, in the opinion of her consort, an inestimable charm, in being strongly attached to the Roman catholic faith. For the first fourteen years of her marriage she had no children ; but at length it was announced, in the Lon- don Gazette, that her majesty had be- come pregnant ; and, on the lOth of June, 1688, she was delivered of a son. The birth of a Prince of Wales excited an extraordinary ferment in the nation : the catholics gloried in the event; but the majority of the pro- testants broadly insinuated, that the pretended heir-apparent was not the queen's child. One party asserted that she had never been pregnant; a second insisted that she had miscarried ; and a third allowed that she had borne a son, but contended that the royal infant liad died soon after its birth. These imputations of fraud appear, however, to have been utterly destitute of foun- dation. On the 15th of October, the young prince was christened James Frederick Edward. On account of the gloomy aspect of affairs in this country, the queen withdrew with him to France early in the following month ; and before the year closed, his father had ceased to be a reigning king. The exiled monarch died at St. Ger- maine, on the 16th of September, 1701. Just before his dissolution took place, he conjured the young prince, in the most earnest manner, " never to barter his salvation for a crown, or to let any worldly views wean him from his at- tachment to the holy catholic faith." In pursuance of a pledge which Louis the Fourteenth had given the expiring monarch, James Frederick was, imme- diately after his father's demise, ac- knowledged (but without ceremony) as King of England by the French court. The pope, the King of Spain, and the Duke of Savoy, did him the same empty honour ; but no steps were taken to procure his restoration. In England, acts of attainder were passed against him, and also against his mo- ther ; who, however, succeeded in ob- taining £50,000, as a composition for the unpaid balance of her dowry, by means of a suit in chancery. The acts of attainder were followed by the introduction of a bill abjuring the Pretender, and declaring William the Third to be rightful king of these realms ; against the passing of which, however, several members, in both houses, solemnly and vehemently pro- tested. During the reign of Queen Anne, the Jacobite party in this country increased, as well in political influence as numbers. The queen herself, who was a daughter of James the Second by his first wife, although she had as- cended the throne to the exclusion of James Frederick, still regarded him as a brother. On one occasion, when a proposal was made in her presence, at the council board, to set a price upon his head, she burst into tears, and abruptly left the room. So strong was her aversion to the Elector of Hanover, that she did all in her power to prevent any of his family visiting England ; and no doubt exists, but that, had she 146 THE PRETENDERS. possessed the power of peremptorily nominating her successor, James Fre- derick would have ascended the throne on her demise. In 1706, he sent over an agent, named Hooke, to confer with his adherents in England and Scotland ; and they, in return, despatched a Captain Stratton as their representative, to his little court at St. Germaine. At this time, although his friends, the Tories, " were for keeping quiet during the queen's life," the Scotch Jacobites, who appear to have been enthusiastically attached to the descendant of their native kings, evinced so strong an inclination to rise in his behalf, that an insurrection would probably have taken place, had not Stratton failed in obtaining any assurance of help from Louis the Fourteenth, whose powers were then fully employed by the forces under the Duke of Marlborough. In 1707, Jacobitism was openly pro- fessed in all the chief cities in Scot- land; and the rejoicings in Edinburgh on James Frederick's birth-day were as open and general, as though he had been seated on the throne. In 1708, the French king secretly fitted out an expedition against Scotland, at Dun- kirk, which it was determined the Pretender should accompany ; and the most sanguine hopes were entertained of its success ; the Scotch being, at that time, exasperated against government by the act of union, which liad re- cently been passed. The day before James Frederick, who now assumed the title of the Chevalier de St. George, departed from St. Germaine, Louis the Fourteenth presented him with a dia- mond-hilted sword, and wished him success in the approaching contest. The Chevalier stated in answer, " That if it should be his good fortune to get possession of the throne of his ances- tors, he would not content himself with returning his thanks by letters and ambassadors, but would shew his gra- titude by deeds ; nay, he would come in person to acknowledge the royal protection and assistance which he had experienced." " The best I can wish you, sir," replied the French king, " is, that I may never see you again!" After some delays, tiie Chevalier em- barked with the French armament ; which, however, was compelled to return to France without having landed a single soldier in Scotland. Shortly afterwards, the Chevalier joined the French army in Flanders, and ap- peared in arms against those whose allegiance he claimed, at the battle of Oudenarde ; where, according to the French writers, he displayed prodigies of val(4ur, while the Dutch accounts, on the contrary, state, that he calmly witnessed the contest from the summit of a steeple. Humbled by defeat, Louis the Four- teenth at length offered to acknowledge Queen Anne as rightful sovereign of these kingdoms, and no longer to afford the Chevalier an asylum in France. No pacification, however, was effected, and James Frederick still continued to reside at St. Germaine. In Scotland, he had lost none of his adherents : and they continued to display their sentiments in his favour, with an audacity which appears, at that time, to have been by no means remarkable. In 1711, the Duchess of Gordon sent a medallion portrait of him to the faculty of ad- vocates at Edinburgh; and, on a dis- cussion taking place as to the propriety of receiving it, the meeting decided, by a large majority, (sixty-three against twelve,) that the duchess should be thanked, in the warmest terms, " for having presented them with a medal of their sovereign lord the king." Soon after the peace of Utrecht, the French minister at the Hague declared, that his sovereign would no longer countenance the Chevalier, or any of his adherents : and when, on the death of Queen Anne, James Frederick posted to Versailles, Louis the Fourteenth not only refused to see him, but requested that he would immediately quit the French territories. " I am surprised," added he, " at the Chevalier's return to my dominions ; knowing, as he does, my engagements with the house of Hanover, and that I have aleady ac- knowledged George the First." The Chevalier appears to have in- dulged in a hope that he should have succeeded Queen Anne : but notwith- standing several meetings were held, for the purpose of procuring a repeal of the act of settlement, and of con- ferring on her majesty the right of ap- pointing a successor, and although he possessed a number of powerful friends JAMES FREDERICK EDWARD STUART. 147 in this country, nothing decisive was effected on his behalf; and his cause was ruined, as much by the weak and vacillating conduct of the Tories, as by the skilful and energetic measures of the Elector of Hariover's Whig supporters. On the day before the arrival of George the First at Greenwich, a pro- clamation was issued, offering a reward of £100,000 for the apprehension of the Pretender, on the event of his landing in this country ; and soon after- wards, James Frederick sent copies of a spirited declaration of his rights, to most of the English nobility. These documents being dated at Plombieres, in the territories of the Duke of Lor- raine, the latter received a remon- strance from England, for harbouring the personal enemy of the king. The duke replied with civility, but still permitted the Chevalier to reside in Lorraine. The zeal of the Scotch Jacobites, on behalf of James Frederick was mate- rially increased by their antipathy to the reigning monarch ; and at length, early in September, 1715, he was pro- claimed king, at Castletown, and his standard set up by the Earl of Mar. A large body of his adherents speedily assembled ; many parts of England, as well as a large portion of Scotland, were decidedly in his favour ; he was openly proclaimed in Cornwall ; and at Oxford he was so popular, that a collegian there thus addressed one of his friends in London : — " We fear nothing, but drink King James's health daily." Had he appeared among his friends at this auspicious period, there would have been some probability of their exertions being crowned with success ; but omit- ting to take the tide of his affairs at its flood, he loitered abroad, until his ad- herents had become so disheartened by defeat, and diminished in numbers, as to be totally incapable of making any important attempt on his behalf; and amused himself by issuing a long declaration from Commercy, when he ought to have been at the head of his troops, fighting a battle on the borders. " The Scots," says Bolingbroke, who at that time was the Chevalier's secre- tary of state, " had long pressed him to come amongst them, and had sent frequent messages to quicken his de- parture, some of which were delivered in terms much more zealous than res- pectful." At length, on the 22nd of December, 1715, he arrived at Peterhead, in the north of Scotland, " when," says Bo- lingbroke, "there remained no hope of a commotion in his favour among the English, and many of the Scotch began to grow cool in his cause. No prospect of success could engage him in this expedition, but it was become neces- sary for his reputation. The Scotch reproached him for his delay, and the French were extremely eager to have him gone." From Peterhead he proceeded, ap- parently at his leisure, with a few ad- herents, who, as well as himself, were disguised as naval ofiBcers, through Newburg and Aberdeen, to Fetterosse, where he was met by about thirty noblemen, including the Earl of Mar, and a small party of horse. He now appeared in public, and went through the absurd mummery of forming a court, appointing his officers of state, conferring the honour of knighthood on some of his adherents, and granting peerages to others. He was proclaimed with a solemnity which his circum- stances rendered truly ridiculous, in front of his lodgings ; and received va- rious congratulatory addresses on his accession. Having re-issued the Commercy de- claration, he sent copies of it all over Scotland, and many of the constituted authorities thought proper to publish it, in obedience to his orders. On the 2nd of January he quitted Fetterosse, and early on the morning of the 5th made his public entry into Dundee, where he remained a full hour on horse- back, in the market-place, permitting the people, indiscriminately, to kiss his hand. On the 7th he arrived at the pa- lace of Scone, where the coronation of the Scottish kings had formerly been cele- brated. Two days afterwards he visited Perth, but returned to Scone in the evening, after having reviewed a small body of troops, in the highland cos- tume, which, it is said, he had never before seen. He then issued several proclamations, by one of which hs ap- pointed his coronation to take place on the 23d of January, and called a grand council of the rebel chiefs, to whom he delivered the following speech : — 148 THE PRETENDERS. " I am now, on your repeated invi- tation, come amongst you. No other argument need be used of the great confidence I place in your loyalty and fidelity to me, which I entirely rely on. 1 believe you are convinced of my intentions to restore the ancient laws and liberties of this kingdom : — if not, I am still ready to confirm to you the assurance of doing all you can require therein. The great discouragements which presented were not sufficient to deter me from placing myself at the head of my faithful subjects, who were in arms for me; and whatever may ensue, I shall leave them no reason for complaint, that I have not done the utmost they could expect from me. Let those who forget their duty, and are negligent of their own good, be answerable for the worst that may happen. For me, it will be no new thing if I am unfortunate. My whole life, even from my cradle, has shewn a constant series of misfortunes ; and I am prepared (if so it please God) to suffer the threats of my enemies and yours. The preparations against us will, I hope, quicken your resolutions, and convince others, from whom I have promises, that it is now no time to dis- pute what they have to do. But if they are unmindful of their own safety, it will be my greatest comfort, that I have done all that could be expected from me. I recommend to you what is necessary to be done in the present conjuncture, and, next to God, rely on your counsel and resolution." This address produced a flash of en- thusiasm in the council ; which, how- ever, reflection speedily extinguished; and before the meeting broke up, it was determined that the enterprise should be abandoned, as being utterly hopeless. But it was necessary, for the Chevalier's safety, that the people should not become acquainted with the result of their leaders' deliberations, until the Chevalier had effected a retreat. Preparations for the defence of Perth, against the approaching royal army, were therefore made ; some villages in the outskirts were even burnt, on the ostensible motive, that a besieging force might occupy them, to the immi- nent danger of the town ; and expresses were sent out to hurry in all tlie ex- pected reinforcements. It appears, that although without money, food, or arms, the Chevalier wished to maintain Perth, or even to hazard a battle. " The enemy," says the Earl of Mar, " was more than eight thousand strong, and we had but two thousand five hundred that could be relied on ; we were in the midst of a severe winter ; were without fuel ; and the town was utterly indefensible. We therefore retired to Montrose, where there is a good harbour. It was now represented to the Chevalier, that as he had no immediate hope of success, he owed it to his people to provide for his safety, by retiring beyond sea. It was hard to bring him to think of this, though the enemy was in full march towards us, and our only chance was to retreat among the mountains : besides, that while he was with us, the danger to all parties was increased, owing to their eagerness to seize his person. At length he consented, though with great unwillingness, and I dare say no con- sent he ever gave was so uneasy to him." After having forwarded to the Duke of Argyle, the king's general, a con- siderable sum, for the relief of those whose property had been destroyed in the burnt villages near Perth, he di- rected that nearly all the remainder of his money should be distributed among his adherents, reserving little or nothing for himself. Fearing some obstruction to his departure, he ordered his horses and guard to be drawn up in front of the house where he lodged, as though he intended to proceed on the march with his forces. He then slipped out at the back door, and having reached the water-side undiscovered, embarked with those whom he had selected as the companions of his flight, on board a small vessel, which had been destined to carry a gentleman on an embassy to some foreign court. After a voyage of five days, although nine men-of-war were cruizing off the coast to prevent his escape, he arrived, on the 8th of February, in safety, at Gravelines. " The Chevalier," says Bolingbroke, " was not above six weeks in his ex- pedition. On his return to St. Gei-- maine, the French government wished him to repair to his old asylum with the Duke of Lorraine before he had time to refuse it. But nothing was JAMES FREDERICK EDWARD STUART. 149 meaned by this but to get him out of France immediately. I found him in no disposition to make sucli haste, for he had a mind to stay in the neighbour- hood of Paris, and wished to have a private meeting with the regent. This was refused; and the Chevalier, at length, declared that he would in- stantly set out for Lorraine. His trunks were packed, his chaise was ordered to be ready at five that afternoon, and I sent word to Paris that he was gone. At our interview he affected much cor- diality towards me ; and no Italian ever embraced the man he was going to stab with a greater show of affection and confidence. Instead of taking post for Lorraine, he went to the little house in the Buis de Boulogne, where his female ministers resided ; and there he continued lurking for several days, pleasing himself with the air of mystery and business, whilst the only real busi- ness which he should have had at that time lay neglected. The Thursday fol- lowing, the Duke of Ormond brought me a scrap of paper in the Chevaliei's handwriting, and dated on the Tues- day, to make me believe it was written on the road, and sent back to his grace. The kingly laconic style of the paper was, that he had no further occasion for my services, accompanied by an order to deliver up all the papers in my office to Ormond, all which might have been contained in a moderate-sized letter-case. Had I literally complied with the order, the duke would have seen, from his private letters, how meanly the Chevalier thought of his capacity ; but I returned those papers privately." Notwithstanding the failure of his recent attempt in Scotland, the Cheva- lier still possessed a great number of well-wishers on both sides of the Tweed. Oxford was still eminently disloyal: white roses, the avowed sym- bol of Jacobitism, being openly worn there on James Frederick's birth-day. Having been compelled, at the in- stance of George the First, to retire from Avignon, which he had for some time matle his place of residence, the Chevalier crossed the Alps, and repaired to Rome, where he was received with great cordiality by the pope. His ha- bits had hitherto been so disgracefully licentious as to render him contemptible even to his own servants ; and his best friends, as much in the hope that matrimony would reform him, as for the purpose of continuing his race, ear- nestly urged him to marry. He, accord- ingly, made proposals, in 1718, to espouse a daughter of the Emperor of Russia; but, principally through the intrigues of George the First, his offers were rejected. Before this period, the king of Sweden, in order to annoy the English monarch, had professed a warm friendship towards him, without, however, making any effort in his behalf; and the Chevalier began to despair of obtaining assistance from foreign princes, when, in 1718-19, Cardinal Alberoni, prime minister of Spain, sent him a pressing invitation to visit the court of Madrid. The emissaries of the English government watched him so closely, that, in order to effect a secret retreat from Italy, he was compelled to have recourse to stratagem. Exchanging dresses with his courier, whom he sent forward with instructions, to declare, if he were stopped, that the clothes he wore were his own, the Chevalier followed at some distance, and safely reached Neturno, where he embarked for Spain, and ar- rived in Catalonia without accident. The Spanish court received him in a most gratifying manner, and a power- ful armament was prepared at Cadiz for the invasion of England in his be- half; but the expedition was so de- cidedly unsuccessful, that, on account of bad weather, the greater part of the vessels were disabled, having only approached within many leagues of their destination. Meanwhile, a treaty for his marriage had been concluded with Clementina Maria, a daughter of Prince Sobieski, eldest son of John, King of Poland. The princess, to the deep dishonour of all the parties concerned in the transac- tion, was seized while passing through the Tyrol, in her journey towards Rome, on the instigation, it is said, of the British minister at Vienna. After having been kept a close prisoner for some time, at Inspruck, early in May, 1719, she escaped, in the disguise of a page, to Bologna, where she was married to James Frederick by proxy. So eager did she feel to behold her husband, who was still in Spain, that she was 150 THE PRETENDERS. with diiRculty prevented from proceed- ing at once to Madrid. Tlie Chevalier soon afterwards returned, and, in com- memoration of her escape, caused a medal to be struck, bearing her por- trait, and the legend, " Clementina, Queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland," on one side ; and, on the other, a female figure in a triumphal car, drawn by horses at full speed, with the words, " Fortunam causamque sequor;" and underneath, " Deceptis custodibus, 1719." The Chevalier expected a vast fortune with his wife ; but he only received a portion out of the Sobi'eski estate, which, on account of its previous en- cumbrances, was of very little value. He had two children by the princess — Charles Edward and Henry Benedict; but as matrimony had not the effect of weaning him from his former illicit courses, it added but little to his hap- piness. In 1720, his avowed friend, the King of Sweden, entered into a solemn en- gagement with George the First, to render the Chevalier no assistance ; and, in the following year, died Cle- ment the Eleventh, whose favour and protection he had for a long time en- joyed. The expiring pontiff, in the presence of several cardinals, recom- mended the exiled prince moststrongly to whomsoever should succeed to the papal chair; entreating that he might be permitted to reside, so long as he pleased, in the palace which he had for some time past occupied, that his pen- sion might be continued until he re- covered his crown, and that his legiti- mate views might, on all occasions, be zealously forwarded. In 1722, the Chevalier sent to this country a declaration of his rights, wliich was voted a scandalous libel by parlia- ment, and ordered to be publicly burnt at the exchange. For several years afterwards, James Frederick and his personal adherents amused themselves by forming visionary schemes for his restoration ; but, at lengtli, he became indolent, and apparently iiopeless. He took no part in the romantic expedition of his eon, in 1745. " By the aid of God," said the young Pretender to his father, when preparing to depart for Scotland, " I trust I shall soon be able to lay three crowns at your feet." — " Be careful, my dear boy," replied the Che- valier, " for I would not lose you for aU the crowns in the world." The failure of his son's attempt to procure his restoration does not appear to have had any material influence on his health, however it might have af- fected his spirits. During the remainder of his long life, he resided at Rome, under the protection of the pope, but neither honoured nor beloved. He lived to be pitied by the house of Hanover, and almost forgotten by the children of those of his party who would willingly have died for his benefit. The follow- ing is an abridgment of Keysler's notice of James Frederick, published in 1756: — " The figure made by the Pretender is in every way mean and unbecoming. The pope has issued an order that all his subjects should style him King of England: but the Italians make a jest of this, for tliey term him, ' The local king, or king here,' while the real possessor is styled ' The king there,' that is, in England. He has an annual income of 12,000 scudi, or crowns, from the pope, and though he may re- ceive as much more from his adherents in England, it is far from enabling him to keep up the state of a sovereign prince. He is very fond of seeing his image struck on medals; and if king- doms were to be obtained by tears, which he shed plentifully at the mis- carriage of his attempts in Scotland, he would have found the medallists work enough. Not to mention the former medals, the one at present in hand, shews that his life is not very thick set w-ith great actions, for it relates to the birth of his eldest son, and represents the busts of the Pretender and his lady, with this legend — ' Jacob. III. R. Clementina R.' On the reverse is a lady with a child on her left arm, leaning on a pillar, as the emblem of constancy, and with her right hand pointing to a globe, on which is seen England, Scotland, and Ireland — the legend ' Providentia obstetrix,' and be- low, ' Carolo Princ. Vallias, nat. die ul- tima A. 1720.' The Pretender gene- rally appears abroad with three coaches, and his household consists of about forty persons. He lately assumed some authority at the opera, by calling ' En- core!' when a song that pleased him was performed ; but it was not until JAMES FREDERICK EDWARD STUART. 151 after a long; pause that his order was obeyed. He never before affected the least power. At his coming into an assembly, no English protestant rises up, and even the Roman catholics pay him the compliment in a very su- perficial manner. His pusillanimity, and the licentiousness of his amours, have lessened him in every body's es- teem. " His lady is too pale and thin to be thought handsome ; her frequent mis- carriages have brought her very low, so that she seldom stirs abroad, unless to visit a convent. She allows her ser- vants no gold or silver lace on their liveries, and this proceeds from what is called her piety ; but it is partly owing to her ill health, and partly to the jealousy, inconstancy, and other ill qualities of her husband; and one of these provocations affected her so much, that she withdrew into a convent, whilst the Pretender, to be more at liberty to pursue his amours, went to Bologna. But the pope disapproved of their separate households, and to induce him to return to Rome, and be recon- ciled to his lady, discontinued his pen- sion. Yet the reconciliation was merely formal; he pursues his vices as much as ever, and she can never entertain a cordial affection for him again. Mr. S — , who affects to be an antiquary, narrowly watches the Pretender and his adherents, being retained for that purpose by the British ministry. A few years since, Cardinal Alberoni, to save the Pretender's charges, proposed that the palace Alia Langhara should be assigned for his residence. This house lies in the suburbs, and in a private place, and has a large garden with a passage to the city walls, so that the Pretender's friends might have visited him with more privacy, and he himself be absent without its being known in Rome. This change was objected to, on the part of England, by Mr. S — , and did not take place ; but a new wing was built to the Pretender's old mansion, he having represented it as too small for him." For five years before his death, James Frederick was too infirm to leave his room. He lost his wife on the 18th of January, 176.5, and his own death took place on the 12th of the same month, in the following year. His remains were interred with extraor- dinary magnificence. Some interesting observations occur with regard to the Chevalier's cha- racter, in Bolingbroke's letter (before quoted) to Sir William Windham, from which tlie following are extracts : " The Chevalier's education renders him in- finitely less fit than his uncle, and, at least, as unfit as his father, to be King of England : add to this, that there is no resource in his understand- ing. He is a slave to the weakest pre- judices ; the rod hangs like the sword of Damocles over his head, and he trembles before his mother and the priest." " His religion is not founded on the love of virtue and the detes- tation of vice; the spring of his whole conduct is fear — fear of the horns of the devil, and of the flames of hell. He has all the superstition of a capu- chin, but none of the religion of a prince." " When the draught of a declaration, to be circulated in Great Britain, (that dated at Commercy,) was to be settled, his real character was fully developed. He took exception against the passages in which the se- curity of the protestant church was promised. He said, he could not, in conscience, make such a promise ; and asked warmly, why the Tories were so anxious to have him, if they ex- pected those things from him which his religion did not allow. I left the draughts with him, that he might amend them ; and, though I cannot absolutely prove it, I firmly believe that he sent them to the queen, to be corrected by her confessor. Queen Anne was called, in tlie original, ' his sister, of blessed and glorious memory ;' in that which he published, ' blessed' was left out. When her death was mentioned, the original said, ' when it pleased Almighty God to take her to himself:' this was erased, and the fol- lowing words inserted : — ' when it pleased God to put a period to her life.' He also refused to allow the term of ' blessed martyr' to be applied to Charles." Horace Walpole thus spoke of James Frederick, in 1752 :— " The Chevalier de St. George is tall, meagre, and melan- choly in his aspect : enthusiasm and dis- appointment have stamped a solemnity on his person, which rather creates 152 THE PRETENDERS. pity than respect. He seems the phan- tom which good-nature, divested of reflection, conjures up, when we think on the misfortunes, without the de- merits, of Charles the First. Without the particular features of any Stuart, tlie Chevalier has the strong lines and fatality of air, peculiar to them all." " He never gave the world very fa- vourable impressions of him : in Scot- land, his behaviour was far from heroic. At Rome, where to be a good Roman Catholic, it is by no means necessary to be very religious, they have little esteem for him : but it was liis ill treat- ment of the Princess Sobieski, his wife, that originally disgusted the papal court. She who, to zeal for popery, had united all its policy, — who was lively, insinu- ating, agreeable, and enterprising, — was fervL-ntly supported by that court, when she could no longer endure the morti- fications that were olFered to her by Hay and his wife, the titular Countess of Inverness, to whom the Chevalier had entirely resigned himself. The Pretender retired to Bologna, but was obliged to sacrifice his favourites, before lie could re-establish himself at Rome. The most apparent merit of the Cheva- lier's court, is the gieat regularity of his finances, and the economy of his exchequer. His income, before the rebellion, was about £23,000 a year ; arising chiefly from pensions from the pope and from Spain, from contribu- tions from England, and some irregular donations from other courts : yet, his payments were not only most exact, but he had saved a large sum of money, which was squandered on the unfor- tunate attempt in Scotland. Besides the loss of a crown, to which he thought he had a just title; besides a series of disappointments from his birth ; be- sides that mortifying rotation of friends, to whicli his situation has constantly | exposed him, he has, in the latter j part of his life, seen his own little court, and his parental affections, torn [ to pieces, and tortured by the seeds of ; faction, sown by that master-hand of ' sedition, the famous Bolingbroke ; who insinuated into their councils a project for the Clievalier's resigning his pre- tensions to his eldest son, as more j likely to conciliate the affections of the English to his family. The father, ' and the ancient Jacobites, never could be induced to relish this scheme : the boy and his adherents embraced it as eagerly as if the father had really had a crown to resign. Slender as their cabinet was, tliese parties divided it." In opposition to Bolingbroke, the Earl of Mar, a devoted adherent to the Stuarts, describes the Chevalier as having possessed " all the great and good qualities that are necessary for making a people every way happy;" and Lesley, a non-juring divine, whom the prince entertained in his household, for the purpose of officiating to the protestants in the family, declares that he was magnanimous, tolerant, and devout ; courteous, sensible, and dili- gent. Bolingbroke, it is probable, exag- gerated some of the Chevalier's vices: Lesley and Mar, on the other hand, and particularly the former, have given him virtues which, in reality, lie never possessed. There were apparently but few, if any. bright points in his cha- racter. His courage is at least questi- onable ; his dilatory conduct, in not joining his adherents until his cause was ruined, although, according to Bolingbroke and Mar, not without ex- cuse, is altogether unexplained; and his assumption of the empty forms of sovereignty at Perth and Fetterosse, wliile at the head of a defeated rem- nant of his friends, was vain, silly, and contemptible. The absence of power, only, appears to have prevented him from displaying the more obnoxious qualities of his race. In him, the blood of Mary of Modena had deteriorated, rather than improved, that of the Stuarts. Bigotry descended to him as an heir-loom ; but he disgraced the religion he professed, by scrupidously following its forms while his conduct was totally at variance with his prin- ciples. Unrestrained by marriage, he became grey before he had ceased to be incontinent. At once weak and licentious, he not only entertained mistresses, but courted their advice and direction in his most important affairs. What can be said in his fa- vour? — This: he was badly educated; and thrown, at an early age, upon the world, a royal wreck, without pilot or helm. CHARLES EDWARD STUART. 153 CHARLES EDWARD STUART. XhE subject of our present article, Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir, eldest son of James Frederick Edward Stuart, the Pretender, and Maria Cle- mentina, his wife, was born at Rome, on the 30th of November, 1720. His education, it is alleged, was neglected, on account of his governor having been in the pay of the British court. In his youth, he made a tour through the north of Italy, under the title of the Count of Albany ; but with this exception, up to 1744, his residence appears to have been invariably at Rome. At the latter end of 1743 he was sum- moned to Paris, for the purpose of joining a body of forces, which the French government had destined for the invasion of Britain : accordingly, on the 9th of January, 1744, he departed from Rome, under tlie avowed intention of going to hunt the boar, and rode post to Genoa; where he embarked in a felucca, and proceeded by Monaco, to Antibes ; whence he continued his journey to Paris, with all possible des- patch. Notwithstanding the precautions he had taken to conceal his movements, the British government obtained infor- mation of his arrival at Antibes, on his way to the French capital, and immediately called upon his most Christian majesty to give orders, in pursuance of treaties then existing, for Charles Edward's removal from the territories of France. A few days after this application had been made, a French fleet, of fifteen sail of the line and five frigates, appeared off Torbay; and it was understood, that a large body of troops was about to be em- barked in transports at Dunkiik, for the purpose of making a descent, under convoy of the fleet, on the British coast. The greater part of our naval force was at that time in the Mediterra- nean ; but, by great exertions, twenty- one sail of the line, and several frigates, were soon collected from the different parts of the channel, and despatched, under the command of Sir John Norris, to blockade Dunkirk. On the 23rd of February, one of the frigates made the signal for an enemy's fleet in sight ; and the English ships having the tide with them, beat down the channel against the wind, and at four in the afternoon, came up with tlie French, off Dunge- ness : but as the tide was spent, both fleets were compelled to come to an anchor. In the mean time, Marshal Saxe, who had been appointed to the com- mand of the land forces, arrived with the young Pretender, at Dunkirk, and began to embark his troops. During the following night, the French admiral, sensible of his inferiority, gave orders that all iiis ships should run down the channel ; and the whole of the English fleet, with the exception of two sail of the line, parted from their cables, by stress of weather, and drove. In this critical posture of affairs, it was feared that the invading army would be able to reach England unmolested, before Sir John Norris could return to the Downs : but all apprehensions from the French armament had now become groundless ; — a large portion of the troops having perished on board some of the trans- ports, which it appears, were wrecked by the gale that had driven the English fleet from its anchorage. A great quan- tity of warlike stores was also lost ; and the expedition was abandoned, as being utterly hopeless. Charles Edward now retired to Gra- velines, where he assumed the name of the Chevalier Douglas. During the summer, he earnestly solicited the French government, by means of his agents, to make another effort in his behalf; and early in the following win- ter, he proceeded to Paris, for the purpose of personally urging his suit. Failing to procure any positive as- surance of immediate aid, he became impatient, and determined, contrary to the advice of his friends, on embarking for Scotland at the first favourable op- portunity; and on trying his fortune, unassisted by foreign troops, at the head of his father's adherents. Accordingly, on the 20th of June, 1745, soon after the battle of Fontenoy, in which the 154 THE PRETENDERS. British army had been defeated, Charles Edward left Nantes in a fishing boat, and proceeded to St. Nazaire, where he embarked on board a frigate of sixteen guns, called the Doutelle. He was shortly afterwards joined by the Elizabeth, an old sixty gun ship, which had been granted by the French government, to two merchants of Irish extraction, who were also proprietors of the frigate. These persons had not only lent Charles Edward their vessels, but had also furnished him with all the arms and money they could procure. To what extent they assisted him in these particulars does not appear ; but it is certain, that he set out on his ex- pedition against the existing govern- ment of Great Britain, with a few at- tendants, five or six hundred broad- swords, about two thousand muskets, and rather less than four thousand pounds in cash. Soon after the Doutelle and Elizabeth had set sail from Belleisle, the latter was attacked by the Lyon man of-war, of sixty guns; an obstinate contest en- sued, in which the Elizabeth was so much disabled, as to be obliged to abandon her consort and return to port. Charles Edward pursued his course in the Doutelle, which, after avoiding another man-of-war, was safely brought to an anchor between South Uist and Erisca. The young Pretender imme- diately landed on the latter island, in the assumed character of a young Irish priest, and despatched a messenger, to inform Boisdale, Cianronald's brother, of his arrival. lie passed the night at Erisca, and returned on board the Dou- telle, on the following morning. Bois- dale soon afterwards arrived, but flatly refused to persuade his brother, or young Clanronald, his nephew, who was then at Moidart, to take up arms in Charles Edward's behalf: nor would he under- take a mission from the prince to Mac- donald and Macleod, those chiefs having lately, as he stated, expressed their de- termination not to join the Jacobite standard, unless Charles Edward should land in Scotland at the head of a body of regidar troops. Unmoved by tlie entreaties of the young adventurer, lioisdale soon after q\iitted the frigate, with a determination to take no part in so rasli an enterprise. Charles Edward then pursued his course towards the main land; and hav- ing brought the Doutelle to an anchor near Moidart, he sent a boat to the shore with a letter for young Clanronald, who, with his cousin, Kinloch Moidart, soon came on board. Almost driven to des- pair by the refusal of Boisdale to assist him, Charles Edward, with great emo- tion, besought the two chieftains to stand by their prince in his utmost need. But Clanronald and Moidart, although warmly attached to his family, replied that it would be pulling destruction on their heads to join him in asserting his rights, without concert at home, or as- sistance from abroad ; and in spite of all his arguments and entreaties, they were preparing to depart, when a younger brother of Kinloch Moidart, who stood on the deck, armed at all points, at- tracted Charles Edward's notice, by the emotion which he betrayed on hearing Moidart and Clanronald refuse to take up arms for one whom he con- sidered to be their lawful prince. " Will you not assist me?" said Charles Ed- ward, turning briskly towards him. " I will, I will !" was the spirited reply; " although no other man in the High- lands should draw a sword in your cause, I am ready to die for you!" This gallant declaration had an im- mediate effect on Clanronald and Moi- dart, for they at once agreed to do their utmost in Charles Edward's behalf. The young Pretender then went ashore, with the Marquess of TuUibardine, Sir Thomas Sheridan, and three or four more of his adherents, who had come with him from France, and proceeded to Boradale, on the estate of Clanronald. Cameron of Lochiel was next made acquainted with his arrival, and soon appeared at Boradale, for the purpose of dissuading Charles Edward from persisting in his rash attempt. He had called on his brother, John Cameron, of Fassefern, while on his way to Boradale, and stated his determination not to implicate himself in so desperate an undertaking. Fassefern approved of Lochiel's resolution, but advised him to impart it to the prince by letter. " No," said Lochiel, "1 ought, at least, to wait on him, and state my reasons, which admit of no reply." "Brother," replied Fassefern, " I know you better than you know yourself. If once the prince sets eyes upon you, he will make you CHARLES EDWARD STUART. 155 do whatever he pleases." Lochiel, how- ever, confident of his inflexibility, went on to Boradale, and with all the elo- quence he possessed endeavoured to per- suade the prince to return to France, and reserve himself and his friends for a better opportunity. But Lochiel's arguments and entreaties had no effect on the young adventurer. " In a few days," said he, " with the handful of friends who are about me, I will erect the royal standard, and proclaim to the people of Britain, that Charles Stuart is come toclaim the crown of his ancestors, — to win it, or to perish in the attempt ! Lochiel, who, my father has often told me, was our firmest friend, may stay at home, and learn from the newspapers the fate of his prince I" " No," said Lochiel, " I'll share the fate of my prince, and so shall every man over whom nature or fortune has given me any power." It is an admitted fact, that had this interview terminated otherwise than it did, the hopes of Charles Edward must have been destroyed in their bud ; for none of the other chiefs would have joined the young Chevalier, if Lochiel had declined to assist him. On the morningof the 19th of August, Charles Edward, attended by about twenty-five of his adherents, proceeded to Glenfinnin, where he was met by Lochiel, at the head of seven hundred of the Camerons, escorting two com- panies of the king's troops whom they had surrounded and made prisoners. The Marquess of Tullibardine then un- furled the young prince's standard, and Macdonald of Keppoch soon afterwards arrived with three hundred men. Sir John Cope, the commander-in- chief for Scotland, now put himself at the head of a body of the king's forces, at Stirling ; but notwithstanding he had received positive orders from the lords of the regency, (the king being abroad,) to march into the Highlands, and at- tack the rebels wherever they might be, he declined giving them battle, on ac- count of the strength of a position which they had taken, on the summit of Cor- ryarak, and marched towards Inverness. Charles Edward immediately proceeded in a different direction, with a view of getting possession of Edinburgh. On the 4th of September he entered Perth, where he remained for several days, and proclaimed his father at various places in Angus and Fife. He was now joined by the titular Duke of Perth, and Lord George Murray, brother to the Duke of Atliol, whom he made lieutenant-general of his army, which had been daily increasing in numbers since he had first set up his standard at Glenfinnin. Lord George is described as having been a man of so much mili- tary talent, that had Charles Edward, as the Chevalier Johnstone states, given him the sole command, and then gone to sleep, when he awoke he would have found the crown of Great Britain en- circling his brows. On the 16th of September, the rebels marched towards Edinburgh, of which Lochiel and his followers obtained pos- session, without difficulty, the next morning. About ten o'clock the main body of the Highlanders marched into the king's park, where a vast number of persons had assembled, for the pur- pose of seeing the prince. His figure and presence, according to Home, who was present on the occasion, were not ill suited to his lofty pretensions. He was tall, handsome, of a f;iir com- plexion, and wore the Highland dress, with the star of St. Andrew at his breast. The Jacobites compared him to Robert Bruce, whom he resembled, as they thought, in figure as in fortune ; the Whigs, however, said that he looked like a gentleman and man of fashion, but not like a hero ; and that even when about to make a triumphant entry into the palace of his ancestors, he appeared melancholy and languid. Within three days after Charles Ed- ward's arrival at Edinburgh the battle of Preston Pans was fought, in which the royal forces, under Sir John Cope, suffered a complete and most inglorious defeat. Johnstone asserts that the Highlanders, on this occasion, threw their opponents' ranks into irretrievable confusion, by slashing, with their broad- swords, at the noses of the horses, which, on being wounded, turned round, and, becoming unmanageable, threw the whole line into disorder. Charles Edward, it is said, would have led his adherents on to the charge at this battle, but for the remonstrances of his chiefs, who declared, that if he per- sisted in his avowed intention of taking the post of danger, they would at once return home and make the best terms 156 THE PRETEND ERS. they could for themselves, as their uttev ruin would be inevitable, if any acci- dent occurred to him, even although the contest should terminate in theirfavour. The prince was consequently obliged to content himself with accompanying the second line of his forces ; which had merely to join in the pursuit, the royal troops having been broken and routed by the impetuous charge of the first. The next morning Charles Edward returned to Edinburgh with his vic- torious army, and immediately began to exercise, as prince regent, various acts of sovereign authority. He appointed a council, ordered regiments to be levied for his service, and held drawing-rooms, which were, for the most part, bril- liantly attended, and generally ended in a public supper and a ball. It is re- lated, in a narrative of James Maxwell, of Kirkconnell, published in the notes to Waverley,that while the young Che- valier was at Edinburgh, it was proposed to send one of his prisoners to London, to demand a cartel for the exchange of prisoners taken on both sides during the war, and to consider the refusal of the court of St. James's tantamount to a declaration, that they meant to give no quarter ; in which case the prince would have been justified in retaliating, and might thereby have prevented his ad- herents from being executed as traitors, when taken by the royalists. But al- though this measure was justly regarded as very important by the prince's friends, he could not be brought to accede to it ; declaring, that it was beneath him to make empty threats, and that he never could take, in cold blood, those lives which he had saved, in the heat of action, at the peril of his own. Meanwhile, a large body of the royal troops, with six thousand Dutch auxilia- ries, had arrived from Flanders, and Charles Edward saw that further inac- tion would be fatal to his cause. Many deliberations were held by his council, as to what would be the best course to adopt ; and it was, at length, determined, to push the enterprise to the utmost, by marching at once into England. Ac- cordingly, on the last day of October, the rebels, whose numbers were now some- what under six thousand, quitted Edin- burgh, and proceeded towards Carlisle, which capitulated to them on the Hth of November. On the 29th they reached Manchester, where they were joined by two or three hundred men. But, except in this instance, scarcely any testimonies of zeal for the cause of the Stuarts was exhibited by the English, and the situation of Charles Edward became daily more dangerous. He, however, boldly pursued his course, by regular marches, through Macclesfield to Derby, where he arrived on the 4th of December. He was now nearer London than the royal army under the command of the Duke of Cum- berland ; but the rashness and folly of a further advance had become so evident, that the majority of the chiefs determined on a retreat towards the north with all possible expedition. The young prince, it appears, was ex- ceedingly averse to a retrograde move- ment. In the march forward he had always been up at break of day, and usually accompanied the men on foot j but, during the retreat, he rose late, and when he appeared, mounted a horse, and rode straight on to his quarters, apparently absorbed in gloom and discontent. The Duke of Cumberland, as soon as he had obtained information of their re- treat towards the north, pursued the re- bel forces with the whole of his cavalry and some mounted infantry. A portion of his troops came up with them on the 29th of December, at Clifton, near Pen- rith, and a skirmish ensued, in which the royalists were defeated. On the fol- lowing day, Charles Edward and his followers entered Carlisle, which they garrisoned with three hundred men, (who surrendered in a few days after- wards,) and proceeded towards Glasgow, where they levied a heavy contribution on the inhabitants, the greater part of whom were violent Anti-Jacobites. On the 17th of January, 1746, after some movements of minor importance, the insurgents attacked a body of vete- rans, under the command of Hawley, at Falkirk, over whom they achieved a victory which was at once glorious to themselves, and disgraceful to their opponents. They derived, however, but little ulterior advantage from their splendid success on this occasion ; the approach of the Duke of Cumberland's army compelling them, shortly after- wards, to raise the siege of Stirling castle, and retreat into the Highlands, CHARLES EDWARD STUART. 157 A long period elapsed before another general action took place. Charles Ed- ward eventually fixed his head-quarters at Inverness, and the duke encamped in the neighbourhood of Nairn. The 15th of April being his royal highness's birth- day, it was supposed that his men would drink so freely on the occasion, that they might, without much difficulty, be surprised during the night. Charles Edward determined on making the at- tempt: the rebels, accordingly, began their march towards the position occu- pied by the royal army, about eight in the evening, in two columns, the first of which was led by Lord George Murray, and the second by the prince in person. On account of the darkness of tlie night, great confusion occurred during the march, and the Highlanders were so widely dispersed, that on arriving witliin a mile of the English, Lord George saw the absolute necessity of halting until the straggling parties came up. Charles Edward, however, insisted on hazarding an immediate attack, which Lord George not only opposed, but, finding the prince obstinate, he gave orders for an immediate retreat, al- ledging that it would be daylight before the insurgents could reach the enemy's camp, when the king's troops might destroy them with ease. Charles Ed- ward was dreadfully incensed, on this occasion, against Lord George, whom he accused, but without the least foun- dation, of treachery, and publicly de- clared, that no one, for the future, should command his army but himself. An alarm having been given, the duke's forces pursued tiie insurgents with great rapidity. On the arrival of the latter at CuUoden, although they were dreadfully fatigued by their march, and had eaten only a biscuit each during the preceding day, Charles Edward rashly and obstinately determined on giving the enemy battle, in spite of the remonstrances of Lord George, and his other experienced leaders, who urged him, but in vain, to retire to the high grounds, beyond the waters of the Nairn, where he could have refreshed his men, and set the duke at defiance. " We might," says Lord George, in one of his private letters, "have retreated to this secure post, even when the enemy were in sight ; and why it was not done, let them answer who were resolved against a hill campaign, as they called it. What I can aver is, that myself and most of the clans were for this operation ; and the prince could have supported the fatigue as well as any person in the army. It's true there were some of our sleek gentlemen who could not have undergone it : so we were obliged to be undone for their ease." The rebels advanced to the attack with their usual impetuosity; but the royal troops received them with unexpected fiminess : the artillery, according to Johnstone, swept away whole ranks of them at once, and they who had charged like lions, soon fled in the greatest disor- der. Charles Edward, who had posted himself on an eminence behind his se- cond line, with two troops of cavalry for his guard, had his face bespattered with dirt by a cannon ball, and a servant who stood near him with a led horse was killed. Johnstone accuses the prince of not acting with proper spirit in this crisis of his affairs. " It was," says our author, " a moment when he ought to have displayed the courage of a grenadier, by immediately advancing to put himself at the head of his army, and commanding himself those manoeuvres which he wished to be executed. In the "desperate expedition on which he had entered, though it was proper that he should guard against danger, he ought to have done so in a manner which showed that hfe or death was equally indifferent to him ; con- ducting himself with valour and pru- dence, according to circumstances." Lord Elcho also declares, that he earnestly besought the prince to charge the enemy at the head of his left wing, which remained unbroken, and either achieve a victory, or fall like a man of honour; but tiiat, his counsel being declined, he left the prince, swearing never to look upon his face again. It is, however, asserted by Home, that, but for the entreaties of his friends, the prince would have advanced to rally the Highlanders, when he saw them re- pulsed ; and, in another account of the battle, by an eye witness, it is stated, that such entreaties would have been ineffectual, had not Sir Thomas Sulli- van seized the bridle of the prince's horse, and turned the animal com- pletely round. The prince left the field, with a few of 158 THE PRETENDERS. his guards and attendants, and crossed the river Nairne, at a ford about three miles distant, where he dismissed most of his followers, and proceeded to Gorth- leek. Having taken some refreshment and changed his dress, he set out for Invergarie, about ten o'clock the same night, and reached that place early on the following morning. All his atten- dants now took leave of him, except Sullivan, O'Neal, and Burke, one of Alexander Macleod's servants, who was retained as a guide. From Invergarie he went on to Locharkaig, and thence to Glenbeisdale, where he remained for two or three days. In the meantime, Lord George Murray had taken precautions to guard the passes into the Highlands; and two days only after the defeat at Culloden, many noblemen and chieftains, with about five thousand men, had collected, without any previous concert, at Ruth- ven. Lord George sent a messenger to the prince, to acquaint him with these and other propitious circumstances, and invited him to come and place himself at the head of his adherents, who were eager for the renewal of hostilities, and whose numbers w'ould doubtless, in a few days, amount to eight or nine thousand, at the least. On the 20th of April, Lord George's messenger re- turned to lluthven, as Johnstone states, with the following " inconsiderate and heart-breaking" answer from Charles Edward : — " Let every man seek his safety in the best way he can." Accord- ing to another authority, the young Pretender thanked his adherents for their attachment, and complimented them on their bravery, but, at the same time, recommended them to think only of their own preservation until a more favourable opportunity should occur of exerting themselves in his bL-hdlf. From Glenbeisdale, the young ad- venturer went to Horadale, where he embarked in a boat with eight oars, on the 26lh of April, and after having been tossed about in a violent storm during the night, landed, with great dif- ficulty, the next morning, at Rossinish, ill Benbecula, one of several islands lying due west of Scotland, and wliich, together, are termed the Long Island. Stormy weather still continuing, Charles Edward, and his companions, Sullivan, O'Neil, Burke, Donald Macleod, (a pilot), and the boatmen, were compelled to remain for two days and nights at Rossinish, in a miserable hut, and with nothing to subsist on but a little oat- meal and water. On the third day they endeavoured to reach Stornaway, in the island of Lewis, another of the Long Island group, where Charles had been informed he could hire a vessel to carry him to France ; but they were obliged to put in at Glass, whence the pilot proceeded, in another boat, to Stornaway, and succeeded in hiring the vessel. Macleod then sent for the prince, who immediately put to sea, but was compelled, by the boisterous state of the weather, to land at a distant part of the island of Lewis ; whence, setting out on foot, during a dark rainy night, he lost liis way, through the ignorance of his guide, and did not arrive at Stornaway until eleven o'clock the next morning. In the meantime, the master of the ship, having heard for whom Macleod had hired it, refused to abide by his bargain. Charles then returned to his boat, and coasted the Long Island towards South Uist, another of the group, where he arrived about the middle of May, after having narrowly escaped being taken prisoner by asloop-of-war during his progress. Clanronald, the proprietor of the greater part of the island, kindly assisted him with various necessaries, of which he had become dreadfully in want, and placed him in a house, where he remained for above a fort- night. But his condition soon after became apparently desperate, and he passed nearly the whole of the month of June amid perils from which it is almost miraculous that he effected liis escape. A number of vessels of war, up to forty gun ships, were lying off the Lang Island, and from fifteen hundred to two thousand men were traversing it in search of him ; a guard was placed at every ferry, and no one was permitted to quit it without a passport. His health had become affected by the hard- ships he had undergone, and, as a climax to his distress, it was nunoured, as Johnstone asserts, that the commanders of the various parties who were in search of him, had received orders from the Duke of Cumberland to make no prisoners, from which it was understood CHARLES EDWARD STUART. 159 that they were expected to kill the prince if he fell into their hands. Through the devoted attachment of the islanders, who informed him of every movement of the troops, he was enabled to avoid his enemies, whose posts he often passed and repassed during the night, but not without extraordinary hazard. At length he was delivered from the perils which surrounded him, by Flora Macdonald, a step-daughter of Macdonald of Armidale, in Skye, who was senior captain of the companies belonging to that island, which were then posted at South Uist. She hap- pened to be on a visit at the house of her kinsman, Clanronald, when O'Neil came to him, with a message from Charles Edward. Having expressed her earnest desire to befriend the prince, O'Neil shortly afterwards introduced him to her at a farm-house. Although greatly debilitated, Charles Edward dis- played, at this interview, to use his fair deliverer's own words, a cheerfulness, magnanimity, and fortitude, remarkably great, and incredible to all but such as then saw him. She was so struck with his forlorn situation, that she at once consented to conduct him to Skye, in the dress of a maid-servant. Returning to Clanronald's, she procured from her step-father a passport, in which her disguised attendant was mentioned as a Betty Burke, an excellent spinner of flax, whom Captain Macdonald warmly recommended to his wife. The evening before his departure, Charles Edward, in his female attire, met jSIiss Macdonald and Lady Clanronald on the sea-shore : while they were at supper, a messenger came to acquaint the latter that General Campbell and Captain Ferguson, of the navy, had arrived, with a number of soldiers and marines, in quest of the j'oung adventurer, at Clanronald's. Four armed cutters soon after ap- peared in sight, from the crews of which Charles Edward concealed himself as they passed, by retiring behind some rocks near the shore. The next morn- ing he left South Uist in a six-oared boat, with Miss Macdonald and a man servant. On approaching Waternish, in Skye, a party of militia levelled their guns at the boat, but the fugitives pro- ceeded on their course, and landed in safety near Mugstot, the seat of Sir Alexander Macdonald. Flora went forward to prepare for the young Cheva- lier's reception, but as there were several of the king's officers in the house, he walked on to the residence of Sir Alex- ander's factor, Macdonald of Kings- burgh, where he passed the night. On the following morning, while Flora was putting on his cap, Kingsburgh's wit'e desired her, in Gaelic, to ask for a lock of his hair : Flora declined, and said to Mrs. Macdonald, " Why cannot you ask him yourself?" The prince then inquired what they were talking about, and on being told what had passed, he placed his head in Flora's lap, and de- sired her to cut off a lock, which she immediately did, and gave one half of it to Mrs. Macdonald. After breakfast, he went out with Kingsburgh to a neighbouring hill, where he exchanged his female apparel for a Highland dress. With the assistance of a guide, whom Kingsburgh had provided, he soon reached Port-Ree, at which place Flora Macdonald, who had travelled by another road, in order to prevent discovery, again met, and finally parted from him. From Port-Ree, he went in a boat, with two of Macleod's sons, to the little island of Rasay ; which, having been concerned in the rebellion, had recently been laid waste by a party of royalists. The houses were all burnt, and the cattle destroyed, so that Charles Edward and the two young Macleods were com- pelled to live in a cowhouse, and to sub- sist upon such scanty fare, that the prince soon determined on returning to Skye. On his way back, the weather became so boisterous, that the crew of the boat wished to put about, but the prince en- couraged them to proceed by exclaiming, " Caesarum vehis ! Providence, my boys, that has carried me through so many dangers, will no doubt preserve me for a nobler end than this !" He then cheer- fully sang them a Highland song, and took his turn in lading the water out of the boat. Having landed in safety, he took leave of the two Macleods; to the younger of whom he presented a case, con- taining a silver spoon, knife, and fork, which he desired him to keep until they met again. He then went off with Captain Macleod, a relative of the Macleods of Rasay, to whom, after they had walked a mile together. 160 THE PRETENDERS. without speaking, he said, " I commit myself entirely to your care : take me to Mackinnon's bounds, in Skye." Thi- ther, they accordingly proceeded ; the prince, while it was daylight, carrying a small bundle, in order to pass for the servant of his companion. After tra- velling all night, they arrived at the place of their destinaiion, and the laird, with a Captain Mackinnon, embarked with the prince, (who now dismissed Macleod,) in a sailing boat, for Loch- nevis, a lake in the main land, where they put him ashore on the 5th of July. The royal troops in the neighbour- hcod, soon obtained information of Charles Edward's landing, and formed a line of posts, so as, if possible, to pre- vent his escape. Having made his way to Boradale, the prince sent for Mac- donald of Glenaladale, who immediately came to him with another of his ad- herents of the same name, who had formerly been in the French service. After some consultation, it was deter- mined that, with the help of the two Macdonalds, he should endeavour to get through the line of posts that had been established for his detention : but this was a fearful undertaking, for cen- tinels were placed at such short dis- tances from each other, that it was im- possible in the day time to evade them, and during the night, fires were lighted at every post. A couple of men con- stantly patrolled between every two of these fires, each moving regularly from one to the other, so that they met and crossed each other in their progress; and it consequently happened that at one period of their transit, they were marching back to back, towards the two fires, leaving the dark space between them altogether unguarded. Between two of these posts a rivulet had worn a channel in the rock ; up which, in the dead of night, Charles Edward and the two Macdonalds crept ; then, watch- ing for the moment when the centinels crossed each other, they passed on, and safely accomplished their escape. Macdonald of Glenaladale now pro- posed to conduct the prince towards the Koss-shire Highlands, where tiie Mackenzies, having taken no part in the rebellion, had not yet been visited by the king's troops. Thither they ac- cordingly proceeded, on foot; and after having suffered great privations, at length reached the braes of Kintail, inhabited by a barbarous clan of the Macraws, of whom necessity enforced them to seek assistance. At the house of Christopher Macraw, under the plea that they were ready to perish, the prince and his companions obtained food and shelter ; for which, however, they paid most liberally. It appears that Macraw, in the course of conversation, exclaimed against the Highlanders who had taken up arms for the Stuarts ; and said, that those who knew where to lay their hands on the prince, would act wisely in delivering him up, and taking the £30,000 oflTered by govern- ment for his capture. During the night, another Mac- donald, who had served in the rebel army, arrived at Macraw's, and in- stantly recognizing the prince, warned Glenaladale to beware of their host. He also stated, on being apprized of their intention to seek refuge in the Ross-shire Highlands, that the royal troops were tlien actually in the country of the Mackenzies, and advised the prince to make the best of his way towards Corado, in the most remote part of which there were seven men, living together, the greater part of whom had fought in his behalf; and who, he was sure, would never betray him. This counsel being adopted, Charles Edward and his two friends proceeded, under the guidance of the third Macdonald, towards Corado. On arriving within a short distance of the cave, where the seven men alluded to had taken up their abode, Glenala- dale and Macdonald the guide went forward, and found six of the seven dining on a sheep which they had recently killed. After some conversa- tion, he brought in the prince, whom lie introduced to them as young Clan- ronald, than whoin they had previously declared, that nobody could be more welcome, for tiiey would obtain food for him at the sword's point. But no sooner did they behold Charles Ed- ward than they recognised, and fell on their knees before him. With these men the prince remained for above five weeks ; during which period they procured him a welcome supply of linen, &c. by waylaying some officers' servants, and despoiling them of their masters' portmanteaus. About CHARLES EDWARD STUART. 161 this time, a most heroic act of self- devotion, with a view to preserve Charles Edward's life, was performed by Rode- rick Mackenzie, one of his adherents, and to whom he was supposed to bear some slight resemblance. While re- posing in a hut, which he had entered with some of his followers, including Mackenzie, for shelter, the prince was suddenly roused to be told that no pos- sibility existed of saving himself, the hut being completely surrounded by royal troops. " Then we must die like brave men, with swords in our hands," exclaimed Charles Edward. " No, my prince," replied Mackenzie, '• a re- source still remains : I will take your name, and face one of the approaching parties. I know what my fate will be ; but while I keep our adversaries em- ployed, your royal highness may find means to escape." He then darted forth, sword in hand, towards the royal troops; and, upon falling covered with wounds, he exclaimed, " You know not what you have done : I am your prince!" The soldiers cut off his head, and conveyed it to the Duke of Cum- berland, who immediately carried it, packed in his post chaise, to London ; where several persons deposed that its features were, to all appearance, iden- tical with those of the young Pretender. The royal troops in Scotland, conse- quently, became less vigilant ; and Charles Edward, who had contrived to escape from the hut, while his enemies were occupied with poor Mac- kenzie, was, for some time afterwards, in much less danger than he had pre- viously been. But his perils were not yet ended. Cameron of Clunes, having appointed to meet him, on a certain day, near the head of Glencoich, where Cameron had a little hut for his own security, Charles Edward and his companions proceeded, on a very stormy night, along the tops of the mountains, to Drumnadial, where, after much difficulty, he had his promised interview with Cameron, with whose assistance he hoped to reach his two adherents, Lochiel and Cluny. Cameron, however, informed him, that it would not be safe for him to proceed further at that time ; and Charles Edward, therefore, remained upon the mountain until Macdonald of Lochgary, and Dr. Cameron (Lochiel's brother), were sent by Lochiel and Cluny in quest of him. Under the guidance of Cameron of Clunes, they soon reached the prince's hiding-place. Perceiving them approach, and being ignorant as to whether they were friends or foes, his two companions, Cameron's son, and Peter Grant, one of the men of the cave, proposed an immediate flight ; to which Charles Edward strongly objected, saying that they should certainly be overtaken or shot ; and that the best thing they could do was to conceal themselves behind the stones, and fire upon their enemies as the latter advanced. Fortunately, however, they %-ery soon recognized Cameron of Clunes, and a friendly parley ensued. It was then agreed that Dr. Cameron should go among his brother's people, in Lochaber, to procure intelligence, while Macdonald watched the motions of the troops, from the east end of Loch-lochie. One morning, during their absence, after having passed the previous night on the mountain, the prince beheld a party of troops de- molishing his hut in the vale, and carefully searching the adjacent wood. The adventurer and his friends now deemed it prudent to retreat to a greater distance : they accordingly pro- ceeded to a neighbouring hill, on which they passed the whole day without food. In the evening they set forward towards a certain place in the moun- tains, where Cameron of Clunes, had promised to meet them with provisions ; but the journey was so toilsome, that Charles Edward became exhausted be- fore they reached the appointed spot, to which his faithful companions were consequently obliged to support him. At length, Dr. Cameron and Mac- donald of Lochgary, returned with intelligence that the passes were less strictly guarded than they had been for some time past ; and it was resolved that Charles Edward should attempt to cross Locharkaig, and proceed to the hiding-place of Cluny and Lochiel. After some romantic adventures, he reached Corineuir on the 19th of August, and soon afterwards met with the two chiefs, who conducted him to a remote part of the mountain Benalder, where he remainded until the 13th of Septem- ber, when Cameron of Clunes brought VOL. I. 162 THE PRETENDERS. him the welcome inteUigence that two French frigates had arrived off the coast to convey him to France. Charles Edward and his friends immediately set out for Boradale, which they did not reach until the 29th, as they could travel only by night. The next day he embarked, with about a hundred of his adherents, to whom he had sent notice of his intended departure, and, after a nine days' voyage, landed near Morlaix, in Brittany. On Charles Edward's arrival at Fon- tainbleau, he was received with great cordiality by the King of France, who made him a present of eight hundred thousand livres, and assigned him a residence in the palace of St. Germaine. But his importunities and imprudence soon gave such offence to the court of Versailles, that, it is said, he was con- fined for some time at the castle of Vincennes; and, on the conclusion of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, he was compelled to quit France. He then joined his father in Italy. According to some accounts, he ventured to visit England so early as 1747 ; but the fact is doubtful. It is quite clear, however, that he appeared in London at the latter end of 1750. Dr. King, of Oxford, who was in the interest of the Stuarts, being in the metropolis during the month of Septem- ber in that year, was sent for by Lady Primrose, who introduced him to the young Chevalier in her dressing-room. ilis friends abroad had, it appears, formed a scheme, which Charles Ed- ward soon found to be impracticable, and he, consequently, remained in London only five days. Dr. King states that he never heard the young Chevalier express any generous senti- ments, or speak with sorrow of those who had perished in his cause. The doctor adds some other interesting par- ticulars relative to the subject of our notice, of which the following is an abridgment. The prince was indiffer- ent as to religion, being a catholic with the catholics ; and, in externals at least, so mucii a protestant, when among protcstants, as to carry an English com- mon prayer-book in his jiocket. He lost many of liis adiicrents by retaining, in spite of their representations, a Scotch mistress, of tlie name of Walkensliaw; who, as her sister happened to be in the service of the reigning family, was supposed to be employed as a spy by the British court, to betray his secret schemes and correspondence, with which it was known he had the folly to entrust her. He peremptorily re- fused to part with her even for a limited period. " I have no particular regard," said he, " for the female in question ; but I will not submit to receive di- rections for my private conduct from any one." Disgusted by his refusal to comply with their reasonable wishes on this subject, his adherents ceased to trouble themselves about him, and gradually became reconciled to the existing go- vernment. It appears, however, that he opened a correspondence with some of them in 1755, when, in consequence of some disputes between the two courts, France seems to have medi- tated an invasion of England; and Charles, it is said, even proceeded to Nanci, for the purpose of holding a conference with Count Lally on the subject ; but the existing differences being soon accommodated, the design of invasion was abandoned, and Charles Edward returned to Rome. He visited England at least once after this period. Earl Marischal told David Hume, that the prince actually witnessed the coronation of George the Third ; and a gentleman, to whom his person was known, is said to have thus addressed him, on that occasion, in Westminster-hall : — " Your royal high- ness is the last of all mortals whom I expected to have seen on this occasion." "it was curiosity," replied Charles, " that brought me here ; but I assure yon, that the person who is the object of all this pomp and magnificence is the man I envy the least." On the death of his father he assumed the title of king ; but he failed to pro- cure that recognition from the papal and catholic courts with which the deceased prince had been honoured. The French and Spanish governments, however, were anxious, for political purposes, that his race should not be- come extinct. They accordingly tempted him, by the offer of a large pension, to marry the yoiuig Princess Louisa Maximiliana, ofStolberg Goedern, (born at Mons, in 1752,) who had previously been a canoness. About this period he CHARLES EDWARD STUART. 163 resumed the title of Count of Albany and went to reside at Florence. His wife, by whom he had no children, according to Dutens, whose narrative we shall abridge, soon became dis- gusted with his conduct. He often beat her ; and at length, driven to extremities by many revolting scenes, she deter- mined to free herself from his tyranny. But to escape was difficult, for he rarely permitted her to quit his presence, and when compelled to lose sight of lier, he invariably locked her up. A scheme for procuring her freedom, was, how- ever, eventually devised by Alfieri, the poet, who had long been attached to her, which was executed by two of her friends, the Signor Orlandini and his wife. The latter, who, as well as her husband and Alfieri, were intimate with Charles Edward, persuaded him one morning to take her and the princess to see the works of the nuns in a neighbouring convent. Orlandini met tliem, ap- parently by accident, and escorted them up a flight of steps to the entrance door, which, by a preconcerted arrangement, they were permitted immediately to enter. Orlandini then returned to meet Charles Edward, who came panting up the steps after his wife. " These nuns," said the signor, " are very unmannerly : they shut the door in my face, and would not let me enter with the ladies." " Oil ! I will soon make them open it," replied the prince. But he was mis- taken. On reaching the door, he knocked for a long time without effect. At length the abbess came to the grate, and told him that his wife had chosen that place for her asylum, and could not be disturbed. His rage at this in- timation was boundless : but his cla- mours were of no avail, and he was soon compelled to withdraw. Such is, in substance, the statement of Dutens. The princess afterwards sought an asylum in the house of her brother-in- law, Cardinal York, at Rome, where she resided for some time under the protection of the pope. Alfieri followed her, and contrived to obtain the cardi- nal's permission to visit her whenever he pleased : which he subsequently did, notwithstanding the frequent remon- strances forwarded to the cardinal by his brother on the subject. Charles Edward now became addicted to ex- cessive drinking ; and suffered himself gradually to fall into the lowest state of gross sensuality. His death took place at Rome, on the 31st of January, 1788, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. To the Duchess of Albany, his natural daughter by some Scotch lady, (pro- bably the female named Walkenshaw, to whom allusion has already been made,) Charles bequeathed all his pro- perty in the French funds, which is said to have been considerable. His widow left Rome soon after his death, and proceeded to Faris, accompanied by Alfieri ; who, it is said, eventually became her husband. Many years at"ter his death, she is stated to have secretly married an historical painter, named Fabre : but the fact is doubtful. Fabre was, however, constituted her general legatee, and in that capacity entered into possession of her effects, when she died. Her decease occurred on the 29th of January, 1824. In the early part of his manhood, Charles Edward displayed a lofty spirit of enterprise, combined with a consi- derable share of talent, courage, and perseverance. Few men have passed through greater perils; to avoid them as he did, he must have been possessed ofan unusual degree of coolness, energy, and skill. Although affable in manners, in disposition he was arbitrary. Evi- dently tainted with some of the leaven of his race, the misfortunes of his friends did not excite his pity, nor their devo- tion his gratitude. In exile, he was upon some occasions haughty ; while a proscribed wanderer in the dominions of his ancestors, self-willed ; and had it been his fortune to have become a monarch, he would, in all probability, have evinced an inclination to be despotic. In reli- gion he was rather a libertine than a bigot ; in morals lax and unprincipled as any of his royal cotemporaries. Con- sidering his disappointments, his age, and his troubles, the vices of his declin- ing years have been dwelt upon, perhaps, with uncharitable severity. When en- feebled by years, depressed by calamity, and irritated by unsuccessful political in- trigues, — with hisconstitution impaired, his temper destroyed, and his intellect perhaps deteriorated, by what he had undergone, the allurement of a pen- sion, tempted him, in his poverty, to take a wife above thirty years younger than himself. This apparently gay and 164 THE PRETENDERS. giddy young woman, doubtless, exas- perated his temper and increased his misery. If lie beat her, as Dutens as- serts, it is impossible to excuse him; but that she deserved to be locked up, appears tolerably clear from her wild and indecorous deportment. It is pos- sible that Charles Edward loved her : it is more than probable, that, suspecting the intentions of Alfieri, he was jealous of his honour, and determined to afford the princess no opportunity to dis- grace him. Deprived of his wife, as he eventually was, by her admirer and his accomplices, and thwarted by his only brother, who suffered the poet to ha^e free intercourse with the princess while under his roof, his weakness, in seeking solace from the bottle, although de- plorable, is far from surprising. The latter years of his life certainly dis- played a violent contrast to the early and brilliant part of his career; but, on the whole, he appears to have tottered to his grave, as much deserving of pity as contempt. HENRY STUART, CARDINAL YORK. The Pretender's second son, Henry Benedict Maria Clement, last (in the direct line) of the house of Stuart, was born on the 2r)th of March, 1725, at Rome, where he resided during nearly the whole of his protracted life. In the memorable year, 1745, he went to France, for the purpose of joining some troops which had been assembled at Dunkirk, with a view to support his brother's operations in this country ; but on receiving intelligence of the deci- sive battle of CuUoden, he returned to Rome, where, much to the displeasure of his brother, and the friends of their family, he took holy orders. In 1747, he was made a cardinal, by Benedict the Fourteenth, and afterwards became Bishop of Frascati, and chancellor of the church of St. Peter. On his ele- vation to the purple, he assumed the name of Cardinal York, and, from that period, devoted himself assiduously to the duties of his sacred office. At his brother's decease, he caused medals to be struck, bearing his own portrait, I with the inscription, " Henricus nonus Angliae Rex," on the obverse ; and a city, witli the words, " Gratia Dei, sed non voluntate hominum," on the reverse. The cardinal had two rich livings in France, and a considerable pension from the court of Spain, all which he lost in the troubles consequent on the French revolution. In 179C, in order to assist Pius tlic Sixtli in making up the sum levied on him by Buonaparte, the cardi- nal disposed of a matchless ruby, which was valued at £50,000, and the rest of his family jewels. He thus deprived himself of the means of independent subsistence, and was reduced to great distress on the expulsion of Pius from Rome. He continued, however, to reside at his villa, near that city, till 1798, when the French forced him to abandon the remnant of his property, plundering his valuable collection of an- tiquities, manuscripts, &c., to enrich the libraries and museums of Paris ; and he arrived at Venice, in the winter of that year, both infirm and destitute. His friends, soon afterwards, it is said, caused a statement of his pitiable case to be laid before George the Third, who liberally granted the amiable but un- fortunate cardinal a pension of j£4,000 per annum. It appears that he had some legal, though antiquated, pecuniary claims on this country: a jointure of jg50, 000 had been settled, by act of parliament, on Mary of Este, when that princess was united to his grandfather ; and, during the negotiations at Ilyswick, it was strongly contended by the French diplo- matists, on her behalf, that James the Second, having been deprived, by the British legislature, of all his rights as a monarch, was, therefore, dead in law ; and that she had consequently become as much entitled to her dowry, as if he had naturally ceased to exist. The English negotiators considered this a point too delicate for their settlement, and referred it to the personal consi- deration of William the Third. Marshal Boufflers, accordingly, had an inter- view with that monarch on the subject. VISCOUNT KENMURE. 165 William did not deny the justice of the claim ; but on the marshal's expressing a wish that the concession of the join- ture might be confirmed by at least a secret article of the treaty, the king said, " What, marshal, will not my word satisfy you !" Boufflers could only bow to this appeal, and departed in the per- suasion that he had obtained sufficient security. On the first demand of payment, however, William insisted that the con- cession had been conditional ; but, al- though Boufflers posiiively denied that such was the fact, no further application appears to have been made for the money until 1786, when the young Pre- tender empowered his natural daughter to take measures for its recovery, and Louis the Sixteenth was solicited to urge the liquidation of the claim, through his ambassador at London, but in vain ; " Cast une famille malheureuse," said he, " dont je ne veux plus entendre parler." Some efforts were subsequently made to obtain Pitt's sanction to a me- morial on the subject being laid before George the Third ; the minister, how- ever, declined to sanction or support it, and the pension to Cardinal York was granted without any reference to his grandmother's undischarged jointure. In 1801 he returned to Kome, and at the time of his death, which took place in 1807, iie was dean of the sacred col- lege, of wliich he had been one of the most virtuous, liberal, unpresuming, and disinterested members, for upwards of sixty years. He has been slightly reproached for having harboured the wife of his brother, when that princess ran away from her husband, and for having permitted her, while imder his roof, in spite of the remonstrances of Charles Edward, to receive visits from her admirer, Altieri: but it appears pro- bable that he was the dupe of his sister- in-law and the poet, and acted in the affair entirely according to the dictates of his conscience. WILLIAM GORDON, VISCOUNT KENMURE. X HIS unfortunate nobleman was the representative of one of the most an- cient and noble families in Scotland, being descended from the famous Adam de Gordon, who was killed at the battle of Halidon Hill, in 1333. He was born in 1613, married early, had two sons by his lady, and was enjoying all the comforts which easy circumstances, and the warm at- tachment of relatives, friends, and countrymen could bestow, when his Jacobite connexions tempted him to join the Pretender's adherents, at Mof- fatt, in Annandale, on the 12th of Oc- tober, 1715. Patten describes him as having been a grave, full-aged gentle- man, of great experience in politics, but of little or none in military affairs. He fell into the hands of the royal troops at Preston, and being hurried to London, was forthwith impeached, and having pleaded guilty, condemned to suffer death. Great exertions were made to obtain his pardon, but in vain ; and he was beheaded on Tower hill, February the 24th, 1715-16. Kenmure displayed great calmness and resolution on the scaffold, to which he was accompanied by his son, a few friends, and two clergymen of the church of England. " I had so little thoughts," said he, "of suffering so soon, that I did not provide myself with a suit of black, that I might have died with more decency; for which I am very sorry." He repented of having pleaded guilty, and prayed audibly for the Pretender, as King James the Third. After placing his head upon the block, he raised it again, gave the executioner some money, and said, " I shall make no sign, but when I lay my head down you may do your work as you shall see good." Having passed a tew moments in fervent devo- tion, he finally prepared for the fatal weapon, and his head was severed from his body at two blows of the axe. SmoUet says that Lord Kenmure was a virtuous nobleman, calm, sensi- ble, and resigned ; a devout protestant, and a benevolent man ; the shedding of whose blood added no stability to the new government, and exposed it to the imputation of vindictiveness and cruelty. 166 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. WILLIAM MURRAY, LORD NAIRN. This favourite of the Jacobite liisto- rians was born in 1657. He distin- guished himself at an early age, in several naval actions with the Dutch, against whom he served as a volunteer. While yet a minor, he married the heiress of Nairn ; and in 1683, when she succeeded to her father's dignities, he assumed the title of Lord Nairn, according to the custom of Scotland. The Earl of Mar having raised the Pretender's standard, in 1715, Lord Nairn was summoned, as a suspected Jacobite, to appear and surrender him- self at Edinburgh, under pain of being declared a traitor. He, however, pro- ceeded at once to arm a number of his followers, at whose head he marched to join the Earl of Mar, in spite of the melancholy forebodings of his wife, to whom, on departing for the field, he said, " I hope shortly to see you a countess." After having distinguished himself by several acts of gallantry, as a soldier, Lord Nairn, at length, had the mis- fortune to be taken prisoner. On being impeached, he pleaded guilty, at the urgent entreaty of his friends, who en- tertained strong hopes of obtaining his pardon. Having received sentence of death, on the 9th of February, 1716, he immediately afterwards, sent a petition for mercy to the king, which, how- ever, was not honoured with the least notice. On the 14th, Lady Nairn, by a stratagem, procured an interview with his majesty, and earnestly im- plored him to save her husband's life; but the king gave her a rough and positive refusal. At the intercession, however, of some influential English peers. Lord Nairn was respited until the 7th of March, and ultimately ob- tained his liberty. It is said that he never after ceased to regret what he deemed his disgraceful meanness, in suing for and accepting the clemency of a prince, whom he considered an usurper. He died in 1725. JAMES BUTLER, DUKE OF ORMOND. James, the son of Thomas, Earl of Ossory, and grandson of James, the twelfth Earl and fiist Duke of Or- mond, was born on the 29th of April, 1665. He succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his grandfather, in 1C88. He was actively concerned in bringing about the revolution; and fouglu, with great gallantry, at the battle of the lioyne. He subsequently obtained the command of a body of troops, destined to secure the quiet of Dublin ; and, during the campaign of 169.'i, he served, as one of the king's aid-de-camps, at the battle of Landen, where he was severely wounded. He had now Ijccome a great favourite with William the 'I'hird, whose confidence he continueil to enjoy during the re- mainder of that nu)narch's life. On the accession of Queen Anne, he lost none of his influence at court ; in 1702, he was appointed, jointly with Admiral Rooke, to the command of the forces, sent out against Cadiz and Vigo. Notwithstanding the reluctance with which the admiral acted in this expedition, and his repeated declara- tions that it would end disastrously, and although he would not cordially co-operate with the duke, the arma- ment was so decidedly fortunate, that, on its return, the queen, attended by Ormond, as chief staff officer, went in great state to St. Paul's cathedral, to return solemn thanks for the success with which her arms had been crowned ; and, on the following day, the duke re- ceived the thanks of both houses of parliament for his services. He soon afterwards called for a public inquiry into the conduct of Rooke ; who, as he DUKE OF ORMOND. 167 asserted, had obviously endeavoured to render the expedition unsuccessful. In consequence, however, of the admiral's influence, the duke failed to procure the investigation he sought. By this tune he had become the idol of the public, in whose applauses lie appeared to take a very undignified delight. He had soon to experience the fickleness of those, to whose ap- probation he attached so much im- portance. Being appointed lord-lieu- tenant of Ireland, in 1703, and having adopted the views of his predecessor, his measures soon rendered him gene- . rally unpopular. The Irish parliament, with which he was on very bad terms, severely annoyed him. by ordering an inspection of the public accounts: " ibr," says Burnet, "though he was generous, and above all sordid practices himself, yet, being a man of pleasure, he was much in the power of those who acted under him, and whose integrity was not so clear." In 1705, he is said to have fomented the divisions between the protestants and catholics, and to have rendered himself deservedly obnoxious to both. During the latter part of his vicegerency, which continued until 1711, he appears to have not only favoured the high church party, but to have laid himself open to a suspicion of encouraging the adlierents of James Frederick. It is, however, altogetlier uncertain whether, at this period, he had so far abandoned his Whig principles, as to be zealously inclined towards the exiled prince, or aimed at acquiring increase of favour with the queen, by affording some coun- tenance towards the avowed friends of her brother, whose pretensions to suc- ceed her, she was apparently disposed to support. At the termination of his vicegerency, in which, notwithstanding the general obnoxious character of his measures, he had displayed some redeeming good qualities, that rendered him occa- sionally, or rather, locally popular, he joined in the parliamentary clamour against the conduct of the Duke of Marlborough; who, he declared, had evidently prolonged the war, to gratify his own sordid inclinations. Ormond was soon afterwards appointed com- mander-in-chief of all the forces in Great Britain ; and, in April, 1712, he was sent out to succeed the hero of Blenheim, as captain-general of the army in Flanders. Although he had received positive orders from the queen not to hazard a battle, he assured the Dutch autho- rities, that it was his intention to pro- secute the war with all the vigour in his power; but, on a favourable oppor- tunity to attack the enemy occurring, he not only refused to march towards them, but declared that he would abandon the allies, unless they con- sented to a cessation of arms. This unexpected and hypocritical conduct while it greatly incensed the confe- derates, proved highly agreeable to Queen Anne ; by whom, on his return to England, the duke was received in a very flattering manner. He continued to be a great favourite wiih the multitude, and, about this period, increased the sphere of his po- pularity, by zealously encouraging lite- rature and the arts. In June, 1713, he was appointed governor of Dover castle, and warden of the cinque ports ; and, in addition to these valuable sine- cures, he obtained a grant of £5000 per annum, for fifteen years, out of the Irish revenue. The more auspicious part of the duke's career, terminated on the death of Queen Anne. The new monarch refused to admit him to the privy chamber, and dismissed him from his post as captain-general of the forces ; but a pitiful attempt was subsequently made, to allay his resentment, by ap- pointing him a member of the Irish privy Council, and giving him an in- vitation to make his appearance at court. He was still the darling of the mob. On his birth-day, in 1715, the streets of the metropolis were thronged by large bodies of his admirers, who severely assaulted all such as refused to join in their shouts of " Ormond for ever!" On the 28th of May, in the same year, riots of a more alarm- ing character took place ; the populace, on this occasion, mixing religion with politics, vociferated " High church and Ormond !" It was supposed that these disorderly acts were secretly encou- raged by the duke ; threats of an im- peachment were, consequently, held out to him by ministers : but, blind to the probable consequences of his folly. 16« THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. he continued to render himself offen- sive to government, until, at length, the menaces which he had despised, were actually carried into effect. The turbulence of his spirit, and his greediness for applause, led him to commit a number of absurdities, for which, the moderate portion of his friends in vain endeavoured to excuse him. He displayed considerable plea- sure in hearing his name shouted by the mob : he became generous to pro- fusion, in order to keep up his popu- larity among the lower classes ; he held levees on suited days, at which he received his more distinguished parti- sans, with princely ostentation; and at- tempted to justify his conduct, in a pamphlet which was remarkable at once for the boldness of its sentiments, and the pomposity of its language. About the middle of June, the follow- ing advertisement was artfully pub- lished, and without the least founda- tion, as it is suspected, for the purpose of exciting the feelings of the populace in his favour: — " On Tuesday, the 7th instant, her grace, the Duchess of Orniond, on her return from Richmond, was stopped, in her coach, by three persons in disguise, well-armed and mounted, who asked if the duke was in the coach, and seemed to have a design on his life ; and it has been observed, that many armed persons lurk about in the Richmond road, both day and night, no doubt with a view to assassinate him." On the 21st of June, after a debate of nine hours' duration, in which several of his friends spoke warmly in his favour, he was impeached by a majo- rity of forty-seven. He might still have been treated with more lenity, perhaps, than he merited, had his conduct become moderate ; but he thought proper to persevere in his ob- noxious course, and even after arrange- ments had been made for his obtaining a private interview with the king, from whom he had good reason to expect a kind reception, he abruptly quitted the kingdom, and entered "into the service of the Pretender. On the ")th of August, articles of im- peachment were cxliibited against him, for having treacherously neglected to fight the enemies of England, while he was captain-general of the forces in Flanders, &c. Being subsequently at- tainted of high treason, his name was erased from the list of peers, an inven- tory was taken of his personal estate, and his achievement, as a knight of the Garter, was removed from St. George's chapel, at Windsor. On the 12th of November, in the same year, the Irish parliament not onlv attainted him, but offered a reward of £10,000 for his head. It appears that he felt desirous of personally engaging in the rebellion of 1715 : having actually embarked for England, on receiving intelligence of the insurrection, and hovered, for se- veral days, about the coast ; but with- out being able to effect a landing. In 1716-17, he made an unsuccessful at- tempt to induce the King of Sweden, who had affected great consideration for the Pretender, to invade England with an army of Swedes. In 1718-19, the Spanish government determined on making an attempt to place James Frederick on the British throne : an armament, consisting of ten sail of the line, and numerous transports, with six thousand regular troops, and twelve thousand stand of arms' for the Pre- tender's English and Scotch adherents, was accordingly fitted out at Cadiz, and placed under the Duke of Ormond's command. Rumours of the intended invasion having reached this country, the house of commons addressed the king to offer a reward of £5,000 for the duke's apprehension. The Jacobites eagerly prepared for his landing; and great alarm appears to have prevailed among the more loyal classes of his majesty's subjects. But the expedition, which had occasioned such sanguine hopes on the one hand, and such con- temptible fears on the other, was alto- gether unsuccessful. Many of the transports drifted ashore, and went to pieces ; most of the troops were ren- dered unserviceable ; and the duke, after having narrowly escaped ship- wreck, was compelled to return to Cadiz, without having seen an enemy, but utterly discomfited by the ele- ments. In 1722, a Jacobite, named Layer, was executed for having, partly, it is said, at the instigation of Ormond, at- tempted to enlist a body of recruits for the service of the Pretender, in Essex. LORD LO VAT. 169 In 1726, the duke appears to have made some fruitless efforts to engage the Spanish government in a new project for the invasion of this country. From this period, he gradually dwindled in importance, and spent the remainder of his life, chiefly at Avignon, in me- lancholy indolence ; wholly subsisting on a pension, from Spain, of 2,000 pistoles per annum. His death took place on the 16th of November, in the memorable year 1745. The duke married at rather an early period of his public career: but he left no children by his wife, for whom, although they lived upon tolerable terms, he appears to have entertained but very little affection. He was prin- cipally indebted for that importance, which he so long enjoyed, to his rank and connexions. His abilities were good, but not splendid; his morals in private life, and his principles as a public character, were equally lax ; his judgment was evidently weak, and his vanity contemptible. He was neither " great in his glory, nor grand in his fall." He has been praised for his fidelity to the Pretender ; but it does not appear that he ever received any temptation to be treacherous to James Frederick, or that he could have bet- tered himself by abandoning the Jaco- bite cause. SIMON FRASER, LORD LOVAT. Simon, the eldest son of Thomas Fraser, of Beaufort, was born in 1668. While yet a mere boy, he acquired a disgraceful notoriety by his vices ; and became, in his manhood, one of the most dissolute and daring ruffians of the age in which he lived. His rela- tive, Hugh, the tenth Lord Lovat, dying without male issue, in 1692, Simon, who then held a commission in Lord Tullibardine's regiment, imme- diately entered into a contest for the succession, with Amelia, the deceased nobleman's eldest daughter. In order to devote himself wholly to the prose- cution of his claim, he resigned his military appointment ; but feeling im- patie]|t at the tardy progress of the legal nieasures which he had instituted, and fearing that they might not be ultimately successful, he determined on achieving his object, by a compul- sory marriage with his rival claimant. Having waylaid Lord Saltoun and his son, the latter of whom was about to be united to the heiress of Lovat, he erected a gibbet, and induced them, by threats of instant death, in case of their refusal, solemnly to renounce the intended alliance. He next endea- voured to obtain possession of Lady Amelia; but being foiled in the at- tempt, he seized the Dowager Lady Lovat in her own house, and, against her vrill, caused a priest to read the marriage ceremony between them in her presence. He then cut open her stays with his dirk ; his confederates tore off her clothes; and, with their assistance, he forced her to his bed. Fearing that the consequences of this daring outrage might be fatal to himself, its abandoned and execrable perpetrator thought proper to quit the country. While abroad, proceedings were instituted against him, not only for rape, but for treason, in having violated the laws at the head of an armed retinue ; and he was outlawed for not appearing. King William par- doned him for the treason, but his conviction for rape still remaining in force, he could not with safety return to Scotland. He therefore continued to reside for some time on the con- tinent; but having at length ingrati- ated himself with the Pretender, and prevailed on Louis the Fourteenth to advance him some money, for the avowed purpose of raising a Jacobite force in the Highlands, he ventured to revisit his native country. On his way thither, he had an interview, in London, with some of the English ministers, and being consequently suspected of treachery, the French government, on his return to France, immured him in the Bastile. In order to obtain favour with the Pretender, he had previously become a Roman catholic ; and after 170 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS, having remained for some time in con- finement, lie at length succeeded in procuring his liberty, by taking holy orders. Entering into a seminary of Jesuits, he secured the confidence of those about him, by that hypocritical de- meanour of which he was so consum- mate a master, and officiated in his clerical capacity at Saint Omer, until 1715; when he suddenly re-appeared in Scotland, as a furious partisan of the house of Hanover. For his ser- vices in securing Inverness from the rebels, he was rewarded with the com- mand of a Highland company, the title of Lovat, and, as it was generally believed, with a large gratuity in cash. The unhappy Dowager Lady Lovat, having died some time previously to 1718, in that year he married a lady, by whom he had several children ; and it was hoped that his conduct would have been ameliorated. But his disposition was so utterly depraved, that he con- tinued to indulge in the lowest and most revolting propensities ; and for some years before the insurrection of 1745, he had notonly intrigued with the exiled family, but had become the general go- between of the various Jacobite parties in the Highlands. It is related of him, that having heard a gentleman divulge a scheme for the prevention of any future rebellion, by transporting the discontented to Ame- rica, he procured a written statement of the proposition, which he forthwith translated into Gaelic, disseminated it amongst the Highlanders, and by as- suring them that the Duke of Cumber- land was speedily coming to carry it into execution, produced a feeling of exasperation among the clans, which proved highly favourable to the project of Charles Edward, in 1745. His conduct had for some time past been so suspicious, tliat when the young Pretender raised his standard in Scot- land, Lord Lovat was placed under restraint ; but he contrived to dissem- ble his real intentions so effectually, that he was soon set at liberty. The first use which he made of his freedom, was to join the rebel standard, with his eldest son, and such of his retainers as he could induce to follow him to the field. Nothwithstanding his notorious villany, he was received with open arms by Charles Edward, and admitted into the most secret counsels of the Jacobite chiefs. His great age and infirmities prevented him from taking any active part in the campaign ; but he exercised an important influence on the move- ments of the insurgents, whose leaders paid considerable deference to his opinions. Soon after the decisive battle of Cul- loden, he began to feel the effects of his treachery and ingratitude to the house of Hanover : his castle was destroyed, his cattle were driven away, his lands ravaged, and he found himself not only reduced from affluence to com- parative poverty, but compelled to exert the whole of his great ingenuity to avoid a capture, which he knew would, in all probability, lead to his execution. An apparently favourable opportu- nity at length occurring for his escape to France, he endeavoured to make his way to the coast, with two aid-de- camps and about sixty of his clan ; but a detachment of the Duke of Cumber- land's dragoons surprised and captured him. As he could neither walk, nor ride on horseback, the commanding officer of the royal troops was com- pelled to carry him to head quarters in a sort of litter resembling a cage. On the 15th of August, 174C, he arrived at the Tower in an open landau, drawn by six horses; and, although he had previously displayed extraordinary in- difference, it is said, that, when he came in sight of the platforms which had been erected for the accommodation of those who were desirous of witnessing the approaching execution of Balmerino and Kilmarnoch, he lifted up his hands and exclaimed, '• A few days, and it will be my unhappy fate !" Dining his trial he evinced the most consummate skill and assurance ; but, in spite of all his subterfuges and pro- testations of innocence, he was found guilty ; and, notwithstanding the ex- ertions of his friends, who endeavoured to procure a remission of his sentence, on account of his great age, and the services which he had previously ren- dered the house of Hanover, he was executed on the 9th of Apiil, 1746. His conduct, during his last hours, was so remarkably calm, firm, re- signed, and decorous, that it may truly EARL MARISCHAL, 171 be said of him, " nothing, in his life, became him like the leaving of it." He supped heartily on the night pre- ceding his execution, and dressed him- self for the scaffold with peculiar care; observing that the event of the day would be delightful to him. He took his breakfast with apparent nonchalance and appetite, and conversed, during the repast, with the lieutenant of the Tower and some of his own friends, in the most easy and unembarrassed manner imaginable. With some re- luctance, and in order, as he said, not to appear singular, he admitted a priest to his presence, from whom, it is stated, that he received absolution. At the house to which he was conducted from the Tower, previously to ascend- ing the scaffold, he ate a morsel of bread and drank some wine ; in help- ing himself to which, tlie remarkable steadiness of his hand attracted particu- lar notice. He ascertained the sharp- ness of th? axe by passing his finger across its edge, jested with the execu- tioner on his occupation, and died, says Smollett, like an old Roman, ex- claiming, " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori I" He was decapitated at a single blow, and his remains were deposited in St. Peter's church, in the Tower. Many" atrocious ruffians have dis- played as much nerve under the gallows as Lovat exhibited at the block ; but among those who have equalled him in this respect, few have exceeded him in low cunning and bru- tality. Basely sordid in his motives, he was alike devoid of humanity, patriotism, gratitude, and common honesty. That he possessed extra- ordinary talents is indisputable; that he grossly abused them scarcely ad- mits of a question ; and, finally, that he was one of the most unprincipled, treacherous, and detestable characters of his day, it is almost impossible to doubt. GEORGE KEITH, EARL MARISCHAL. This nobleman, the precise date of whose birth appears to be uncertain, was thus described by Mackay, who wrote in 1713: — " Earl Marischal is representative of the ancient and noble family of Keith, and hereditary great marshal of the kingdom ; he always opposed the measures of King William's reign, but waited on the queen, on her accession to the throne, and acknow- ledged her government. He is very wild, inconstant, and passionate ; does every thing by starts ; hath abundance of flashy wit; and by reason of his quality, hath good interest in the coun- try. All courts endeavour to have him on their side, for he gives himself liberty of talking, when he is not pleased with the government. He is a thorough libertine, yet sets up mightily for epis- copacy ; a hard drinker; a thin body; a middle stature ; ambitious of popu- larity ; and is forty-five years old." He refused to take the oaths of alle- giance on the accession of George the First ; and treated a citation, which, on account of his avowed principles, had been served upon him to appear and surrender himself at Edinburgh, with indignant contempt. Soon afterwards, he set out with a number of followers to join the Earl of Mar, in whose army he highly distinguished himself for ta- lent and intrepidity. When James Fre- derick landed, the Earl Marischal was among the first of those who met him at Fetterosse ; and on the prince's de- parture from Scotland, he was appointed to the command of a thousand horse which were destined to cover the re- treat of the main body of the insurgents from Aberdeen. While thus employed, his skill and bravery were equally con- picuous. He abandoned his arms only wlien any further effort against the royal forces would have been impotent and absurd, and soon afterwards suc- ceeded in making his escape to the continent. Meantime, being attainted as a trai- tor, his estates and honours became for- feited, and he sought to procure that distinction abroad, which he could no longer hope to obtain in his native land. 172 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. He resided successively at the courts of France, Spain, Rome, and, eventually, at that of Prussia ; whence he vcas des- patched, in 1750, as ambassador extra- ordinary to the French king. His diplomatic services on this occasion were rewarded with the insignia of the black eagle. In 1750, he was appointed governor of Neufchatel ; and, having procured his pardon from George the Second, he came over to England, in that year,for the purpose of taking possession of his Kintore estate. After residing for a few months only in this country, he returned to the con- tinent, and died at Berlin towards the close of the year 1751. The celebrated Marshal Keith who, while yet a minor, distinguished himself for his bravery in the ranks of the insurgent army, at Sheriff-muir, was a younger brother of this nobleman. JOHN ERSKINE, EARL OF MAR. John EKSKINE, the eleventh Earl of Mar, was born in 1671, and after having received the rudiments of edu- cation in Scotland, passed some time at the university of Oxford ; where, however, he did not remain long enough to obtain a degree. Previously to attaining his majority, he made an extensive tour on the continent, during which he is supposed to have formed an intimacy with the Pretender that ultimately led to his ruin and exile. Having received intelligence of his father's death, while at Genoa, to- wards the close of 1691, he forthwith returned to Scotland, where he soon acquired great popularity. To the usual influence attendant upon high birth and large possessions, he added that of great abilities, combined with ex- tensive acquirements, amenity of man- ners, and a most daring spirit. The eloquence with which he supported his patriotic professions in the Scottish house of lords, rendered him the darling of the people, while tiie zeal which he affected, but, perhaps, did not feel, for the government, procured him the high consideration of Queen Anne. In September, 1705, he became one of the secretaries of state. During the debates which subsequently took place on the union act, his conduct was so wavering, that although, perhaps, he avoided giving serious offence to any party, he satisfied none. He rendered himself conspicuous at the trial of Sacheverel, evidently leaning, on that occasion, towards the high church poli- ticians, by whose intrigues the nation was then consideral)ly agitated. In 1711, he entered into a warm com- petition with the Duke of Hamilton for the Scotch secretaryship ; which it was deemed prudent by government entirely to abolish, rather than offend either of the claimants, by conferring it on his rival ; or, rather than incense both, by giving it to a third person. In June, 1713, he opposed the exten- sion of the malt tax to Scotland, and became so troublesome in other respects to his official superiors, that, with a view to appease him, they nominated him third secretary for Scotland, in the following August. On the accession of George the First, who appears to have considered him a secret partisan of the exiled Stuarts, the earl was dismissed from his English secretaryship. He had evidently fore- seen his approaching disgrace, and had endeavoured to avert it, by sending a congratulatory letter to the king, on his majesty's arrival, wherein he ex- pressed a hope that the new sove- reign would not believe any malicious representations to liis discredit. " My family," continued the earl, " has had the honour, for many years, of being faithful and devoted servants to the crown ; a predecessor of mine was honoured with the care of your ma- jesty's grandmother, when young; and I have letters under her hand, owning her gratitude to my house. I was always honoured by the late queen's favour, and since your happy accession, I trust I have not been wanting in my duty. You shall ever find in me as faithful a subject as ever anv king had," &c. &c. EARL OF MAR. 173 Soon after his dismissal, the earl, disgusted with the new government, rashly attempted to effect the restora- tion of James Frederick. On the 8th of August, 1715, he embarked in a collier, at Gravesend, with two servants and a few friends, for Newcastle; whence they proceeded, in a small vessel, to Elie, in Fife. On the 16th, having assembled a small party of the dis- affected, he set up the Pretender's standard at Kirk Michael, and caused him to be proclaimed King of Great Britain, by the title of James the Third. A few days afterwards, he proceeded with his party, which only consisted of sixty men, to Logarth, where the country people joined him in consi- derable numbers. From Logarth, he marched to Dunkeld, and thence led his followers, who now amounted to nearly two thousand, towards Perth, which had previously been secured for him by Hay, a brother of the Earl of Kinnoul. At Perth, he was joined by five hundred of the Mackintoshes, all of whom were well-armed and disci- plined ; and during his stay there, suc- ceeded in procuring arms for his other followers, partly at the public depdts and in private houses, but principally by the capture of a vessel laden with warlike stores, which had been shipped for the Earl of Sunderland's tenants in the north, who were, by this time, making preparations to act against the insurgent forces. The earl soon found himself at the head of four thousand men ; and their numbers were so magnified by report, that the loyal part of the nation was thrown into a state of extraordinary alarm. On the 6th of September, he set up his standard at Brae Mar, and again proclaimed the Pretender as king. James Murray soon afterwards joined him, with several French officers who had been sent over to discipline the insurgents. At this period, in con- sequence of the death of Louis the Fourteenth, who had been long es- teemed the Pretender's best friend, a question arose, among the rebel chiefs, as to the expediency of abandoning their enterprise ; but the earl success- fully opposed the proposition. He now assumed the title of lieutenant-general of James the Third's forces ; issued a manifesto, setting forth the grievances of the nation, which he called upon his fellow-subjects to redress, by restoring the direct heir of their ancient mo- narchs to the throne, and sent mes- sengers to France for the purpose of hastening the promised arrival of James Frederick in Scotland. Early in September, an abortive endeavour was made by the rebels to surprise the garrison of Inverlochy ; and, on the 8th of the same month. Lord Drummond, with ninety picked followers, all of whom were gentlemen, attempted to seize the castle of Edin- burgh, by stratagem. They had pre- viously corrupted a few soldiers of the garrison, by whose assistance they were to have scaled the walls ; but their ladders being too short for the purpose, an alarm was raised before they could remedy the blunder, and the enterprise consequently failed. Notwithstanding these disappointments, aid although the Jacobite cause had received a se- vere blow, by the discovery, and con- sequent failure, of an extensive plot in England, for placing James Frederick on the throne, the Earl of Mar still remained in Fife, where his followers committed such outrages, that the country people avoided them as much as if they had been beasts of prey. At Lesley, a troop of the insurgents, under pretext of searching for arms, forced the church doors, rushed into the burial place of the noble family of Rothes, and broke open the coffins in a most brutal and revolting manner. With supporters of such a character, the earl could not rationally expect that his en- terprise would be successful ; yet he either felt, or affected, a full confidence as to its results. In a letter to the Earl of Breadalbane, dated soon after Fors- ter had set up the Pretender's standard in Northumberland, he says, " You ask for news, and I have some very agree- able. Yesterday the king was pro- claimed at Haddington, and all goes on very promisingly. Forster has sent me some intercepted letters; one from Prince Hopeful (the Prince of Wales) to Argyle ; it betrays much alarm, and all England seems in commotion. Forster thinks he shall be joined by thousands, and I consider our affairs here very prosperous!" At the latter end of October, he sent a commission to Forster, whom he 174 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. thereby empowered to act as general of the English insurgents, the extent of whose assistance he appears to have considerably over-rated. Early in No- vember, having been joined by the northern clans, he determined to pass the Forth, and march into England ; where he expected that his appearance would encourage numbers of Jacobites openly to declare themselves in favour of James Frederick. The Duke of Argyle, at the head of the royal forces, after suffering him to pass the Forth unmolested, determined to engage the earl near Sheriff-muir. During the whole of the 12th, the two armies were in sight of each other ; and early the next morning, they pre- pared for a battle. The duke drew up his troops, which consisted of twelve hundred horse, and two thousand three hundred foot, on the heights, about a mile and a half to the left of Dumblaine. The earl's forces amounted to about nine thousand men ; not above two thousand five hundred of whom were, however, properly armed or disciplined ; the remainder being a disorderly gang, having no weapons but pikes, or poles, with knives, or long nails, fastened to their tops. With more military skill than he could have been expected to display, the earl determined on taking advantage of his superior numbers, by extending his lines, and attacking the enemy in flank. On the right of the royal army was a boggy morass, called Sheriff-muir, which the duke deeming impassable, had taken no precautions to defend ; but a slight frost had har- dened it sufficiently to allow a number of the insurgents to pass, and the duke found liimself unexpectedly in danger of being surrounded. A judicious change in his position, however, ena- bled him to defeat the evident object of the rebels, whose manoeuvre does not appear to have been materially, if at all, disadvantageous to the royalists. Clanronald, one of the chieftains, being killed while bravely advancing at the head of a body of Highlanders, Glen- gary, another of the rebel leaders, starting from the line, waved his bon- net, and so animated his followers, by repeatedly shouting " Revenge 1" that they followed him close up to the royal troops, whose bayonets they pushed aside with their targets, and then fell upon their adversaries, sword in hand, with such terrific vigour, that the foot fell back upon the horse, and the whole of the left wing was completely de- feated. But, on the right, where Argyle commanded in person, the in- surgents suffered a defeat, and were pursued, by the dragoons, for above two miles from the field of battle. They rallied, however, no less than ten times during their retreat ; and the whole line of the royal troops might have been eventually discomfited, had the reserve, under Hamilton, been brought up, pursuant to the Earl of Mar's directions, to support the left wing of the insurgents; but either through treachery, or mistake, the per- son whom he despatched to Hamilton delivered his message in such a manner, that Hamilton, conceiving the rebels were totally beaten, immediately re- treated with all the speed in his power. Each party claimed a victory, but it was decidedly a drawn battle ; the consequences of which were, however, fatal to the insurgents, whose losses jt was impossible to supply; while their opponents, on the contrary, daily re- ceived fresh reinforcements. Inverness, which had been the rallying point of the rebels, was soon afterwards occu- pied by the king's forces ; and when the Pretender at length arrived at Peterhead, his adherents had aban- doned all hopes of a successful termi- nation to their enterprise. After pass- ing a few weeks in idle pomp among his friends, they determined on dis- persing their followers ; and the earl, as he himself asserts, much against his inclination, accompanied James Frede- rick to the continent, where he passed the remainder of his days. In 1716, he was attainted of high treason, and his estates and honours were consequently forfeited. The earl was twice married : first, in 1693, to a near relation of the Buchan family ; and secondly, in 1711, to Lady Francis Pierpoint, (sister to the celebrated Lady M. W. Montague,) by both of whom he had children. His death took place at Aix-la-chapelle, in 1732. In person he is said to have been tall, athletic, and active. By habitually stooping, he became round-shouldered. His countenance, on ordinary occa- sions, was by no means remarkable ; THOMAS FORSTER. 175 but when he was excited, it is described as having been indicative of energy, cun- ning, and suspicion. His ruin should, perhaps, be attributed to the marked coohiess with which he was treated by George the First, rather than devoted- ness to the Stuarts ; to whom he does not appear to have exhibited any strong attacliment, until he had lost all hope of obtaining that political eminence to which he aspired, under the new monarch. Some of his Highland confe- derates in the rebellion were martyrs to their loyalty for the exiled descen- dant of the ancient kings of Scotland : had the Earl of Mar been taken, and executed for high treason, he would have been the victim of self-interest and disappointed ambition. His talents were above mediocrity, his disposition evidently turbulent, and his spirit reck- lessly daring. ROBERT D.\LZIEL, EARL OF CARNWATH. Robert, the sixth Earl of Carnwath, was born in 1673. He passed some time at the university of Cambridge ; married young ; and had a large family, to whom he appears to have been most tenderly attached. Patten says of him, that he was singularly good in his temper, of an agreeable affability, and a handsome delivery in his discourse. Although a sincere protestant, he was an advocate for the Jacobitical principles of here- ditary right, passive obedience, and non-resistance, which had been instilled into his mind at an early period of life ; and when the Pretender's standard was set up, in 1715, he joined the rebel forces, with so large a body of followers, that he was appointed to the command of what was ambitiously termed the fourth troop of James Frederick's army. Having surrendered at Preston, with his associates, he was immediately con- veyed to London, and soon afterwards pleaded guilty to an impeachment for high treason. On being brought up to receive sentence of death, he de- livered a brief and humble speech, in which he besought the two houses of parliament to intercede for his life, and protested that if the king should think him a fit object for the royal clemency, the rest of his days should be spent in convincing the world of his penitence and gratitude. It was generally sup- posed that he would have been ex- ecuted ; but, after receiving numerous respites, he was discharged by the act of grace, in 1717. His estates and title were, however forfeited ; and he lin- gered out the remainder of his life, shunned by his friends, and despised by his enemies. His death occurred some time in the year 172G. THOMAS FORSTER. This gentleman was born in Northum- berland, about 1675. For the first thirty years of his life, he was scarcely known beyond the precincts of his paternal estate. At length, he began to take a moderate share in politics ; and, in 1710, became one of the representatives of his native county. He was now rapidly drawn into the vortex of party, and adopted opinions which eventually led to his ruin. The partisans of James Frederick succeeded in renderinghim so staunch an adherent of the exiled prince, that, notwithstanding he was a most zealous protestant, his house became a rendezvous for all the disaffected papists and non-jurors of Northumber- land. He soon found himself involved in machinations, the full extent and danger of which he had not foreseen ; but it was too late to extricate himself from his associates, whose views he therefore continued to support with increased energy, as his safety ap- peared to depend upon their success. Northumberland, late in the summer 176 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. of 1715, exhibited such decided symptoms of an approaching insur- rection, that government, as a pre- cautionary measure, issued warrants against a number of the Jacobites in that county. Having received intelli- gence tliat means had been taken for his immediate apprehension, Forster quitted his house, and proceeded in disguise to the residence of a Mr. Fen- wick, at Bywell ; whence, after having narrowly escaped capture, he hastened to a place of comparative safety, and called a meeting of the neighbouring Jacobites to consult on the means to be adopted for their general benefit. An insurrection was inmiediately agreed upon ; and, accordingly, on the 6th of October, Forster, with about twenty other gentlemen, assembled in arms on a hill, called the Waterfalls, near Greenrigg. They were soon joined by the Earl of Derwentwater, his brother, and their attendants; and the next day they marched to Warkworth, where Forster, disguising himself as a herald, proclaimed the Pretender as James the Third. On the 10th, they proceeded to Morpeth, and the prince was again proclaimed by Buxton, a clergyman attached to the insurgent party. Their number was, by this time, increased to three hundred ; and it would have been much larger, had not Forster declined to accept the services of such as were not well armed and mounted. His next movement was towards Newcastle, where he expected to find muskets and ammunition for the com- mon people who were desirous of join- ing his standard; but, on his arrival, finding, contrary to his expectation, the gates closed against him, he marched to Hexham. At this place he was met by several of the prince's Scotch par- tisans. On the 19tli, Kenmure, Nithis- dale, and some other noblemen, joined him, with their attendants, to the num- ber of three hundred, at Rothbury. On the 22nd, he received a large re- inforcement of Highlanders at Kelso, where he continued, without any ap- parent motive, until the 27tl). He had previously received a commission from the Earl of Mar, to act as general over the insurgents, who were, by this time, formidable in point of numbers, al- though every accession of force rendered them more disorderly. Forster was destitute of energy, mili- tary skill, or influence over his subor- dinates, who were neither united nor tractable. General Carpenter, at the head of a body of royal troops, having reached the neighbourhood of Kelso, and made dispositions for attacking the rebels, some of the Highland chiefs pro- posed to march for the west of Scotland ; but the English violently objected to proceed in that direction. A plan was then brought forward for attacking the king's troops before they recovered from the fatigue of their recent march ; but it was rejected by the majority, who, at length, determined to proceed to Jedburgh. Here they were thrown into a panic by mistaking some of their own stragglers for the royal army ; and a second alarm, equally ill-founded, pro- duced so extraordinary an effect upon them, that two whole day s were occupied in the restoration of even their previous state of discipline. It was now proposed to give Carpenter the slip, and hasten across the mountains into England ; but the Highlanders refused to proceed southwards. They next marched to Hawick, where Forster took up his quarters, with some other English gentlemen, at the residence of the Duchess of Buccleugh. Their num- bers, which had daily augmented, were considerably decreased on the 30th, many hundreds of them having thrown down their arms and fled at the sight of some of their own patroles, whom their fears had converted into a formi- dable body of Carpenter's dragoons. Some of the leaders now formed a design of surprising Dumfries ; which, however, was not carried into effect, the English insurgents being obsti- nately bent on proceeding southward. The Highlanders, on the other liand, were equally averse to cross the border, and began to desert in great numbers, when they found that it had been finally determined to march into Eng- land. On the 1st of November, the rebels reached Brampton ; and, after halting a night to refresh, advanced to- ward Penrith, where they heard that the Bishop of Carlisle had drawn out the whole posse of -Cumberland, which, however, dispersed in the most daSj tardly manner on their approach. At Kirby-Lonsdale, in Westmore- land, where they arrived on the 6th, THOMAS FORSTER. 177 a few Lancashire papists joined their standard. On the 7th they entered Lancaster; but, instead of remaining there for the arrival of reinforcements, which they might have done with tolerable safety, they rashly went on to Preston. At this place, the numeri- cal force of the insurgents was aug- mented by the arrival of a multitude of Roman catholics, who had been lurking for some time about the neighbour- hood, in constant fear of arrest and im- prisonment. Their services were, how- ever, of little value ; and the t^cotch lords, who had, it appears, been led to expect that many of the high church party would have made common cause with them, began to evince great dis- satisfaction at the general inefficiency of the English recruits; who were, al- most exclusively, Romanists of no con- dition or influence. General Carpenter had set out in pursuit of the rebels, as soon as he had obtained correct information of their route. General Wills, with a consider- able body of troops, was also advancing towards Preston, from the west ; but Forster, strange as it may appear, was so utterly ignorant of their movements, that Wills had advanced witliin sight of the town before the rebel com- mander was at all aware of his ap- proach. On the alarm being given, preparations were hastily made for de- fending the place ; in the conduct of which considerable skill was displayed, not so much by Forster himself as by Brigadier Mackintosh, and others of his subordinates. On the 12th of No- vember, the royal troops under Wills attacked the town, but were received undauntedly, and repulsed with con- siderable loss. The elevation of spirit produced among the rebels by their success, was followed, in a few hours, by the most contemptible despair. On the 13th, General Carpenter arrived before the town, and, in concert with Wills, so disposed of the royal troops, that, without achieving a victory, it was almost impossible for the rebels to escape. The disorderly wrangling that now prevailed among the Jacobite forces was truly appalling : the leaders were not only at bitter variance with each other, but in actual fear of being destroyed by the troops. Had the coun- sel of the Highlanders been adopted. the whole of the insurgent army would have sallied out, and have either cut their way through the enemy's ranks, or died gallantly sword in hand. But Forster was timid, and, with some ditfi- culty, persuaded the Scottish chiefs and English gentlemen, that it had become advisable to capitulate. Colonel Oxburgh was, accordingly, sent out, with a trumpet, to propose that the forces in the town should sub- mit to the king's mercy ; and, at the same time, to express a hope that General Wills would exert himself to procure their pardon. Wills replied, that, if they surrendered at discretion, he could only promise to prevent his troops from cutting them to pieces until he should receive further orders. Forster then requested further time to deliberate, which he obtained on giving hostages not to prepare any new de- fences. At seven o'clock the next morning, the two generals of the royal troops were informed that the rebels had de- termined to surrender at discretion ; and, within an hour afterwards, they entered Preston at the head of their forces. The insurgents, who had pre- viously been drawn up in the market- place, then laid down their arms. The number of prisoners was not, however, so great as had been expected; many of the rebels having escaped from the town, and others of them being secreted by the inhabitants. Early in January, 1715-16, Forster was expelled from his seat in the house of commons, and it was subsequently determined that he should be arraigned for high treason on the 14th of April; but, on the 10th, he contrived to effect his escape from Newgate, where he had been confined to await his trial. It does not appear by what means he eluded the vigilance of his keepers ; but he evidently acted on a precon- certed scheme, as horses were stationed in readiness for him to ride towards the coast, and a vessel was prepared at Rochford, in Essex, to carry him to France, where he arrived without the least hindrance or accident. His estates were forfeited to the crown on his non- appearance to take his trial, and he continued in exile for the remainder of his life. His death is supposed to have taken place at Paris, in 1734. 178 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. Forster appears to have been a vain and imbecile man, whom circumstances ex- alted to a temporary eminence. Events, over which he had no control, placed him in a situation which he was totally unqualified to fill. Without energy to control his unruly subordinates, judg- ment to take advantage of success, or resolution to bear up against misfor- tune, the inglorious termination of his attempt in behalf of James Frederick is by no means surprising. His surren- der at Preston, has been severely repre- hended. He might, it has been said, by a vigorous resistance, have kept the royal troops for some time at bay, and eventually procured such terms as would have saved many of his followers from the fate which befel them. He has even been accused of treachery to those whom he commanded; and his myste- rious escape from Newgate has been noticed as tending to support the jus- tice of the charge ; for which, however, there does not appear to have been any real ground. He was not corrupted, but dismayed: had he betrayed the Jaco- bites, James Frederick would scarcely have treated him with such high con- sideration as he did, not only on his arrival in France, but during the re- mainder of his life. BRIGADIER MACKINTOSH, LAIRD OF BORLUM. 1 HIS gallant chieftain was born in 1679. While yetaminor,he materially increased his influence, which was pre- viously great, among the Highlanders, by marrying the heiress of Clancastan. He subsequently served, for several campaigns, as a volunteer in Germany, where he obtained the military rank of brigadier. Although he had become personally acquainted with the Pre- tender, while abroad, no suspicion ap- pears to have been entertained, even by the clan of which he was the head, that his sentiments were Jacobitical, until he summoned his followers, in 1715, to join the insurgents under Forster ; the sixth division of whose forces was named, in compliment to their new ally, Mackintosh's Brigade. During the short campaign which ensued, he evinced an acquaintance with the military art which was of im- portant service, on several occasions, to his confederates. At Preston, he became one of the hostages, that no further defences should be prepared while the rebel chiefs deliberated, during a suspension of hostilities, as to the propriety of surrendering at discretion to the royal forces. When an unconditional capitulation was agreed to, he strongly protested against it, on the part of his Highlanders; who, he asserted, would rather die sword in hand than assent to such terms. The commander of the king's troops said to him, in reply, " Go back to your people, then, sir : I shall at- tack the town ; and the result will be, that not a man of you will be spared." Mackintosh then went into the town ; but speedily returned, to state that the Highlanders would surrender on the same terms as their English associates. The rebels having accordingly sub- mitted. Mackintosh and his son, a fine youth, who was verging on manhood, were sent to London, and confined together in Newgate. A true bill having been found against the briga- dier, for high treason, to which, on being arraigned, he had pleaded not guilty, his trial was appointed to take place on the 5th of May ; but, during the night of the 4th, he and his son, with several other prisoners, effected their escape, by overpowering the turnkeys, when the latter came to lock them up in their cells. The fugi- tives were instantly pursued, and some of them retaken ; but Mackintosh and his son, having reached Paternoster- row, darted, unperceived, through an alley leading to St. Paul's church-yard, and ran down to the water side, where they got into a boat that had pre- viously been prepared for them, and soon gained a place of security. The brigadier passed the remainder of his life abroad, and died, as it is supposed, at Genoa, in 1736. LORD BALMERINO. 179 ALEXANDER, LORD FORBES, OF PITSLIGO. This excellent man was born in 1680, and from a very early age displayed uncommon talents, united with great moral qualities. His benevolence was only limited by his means ; and so great was the affection displayed to- wards him by all classes, that he per- suaded himself he had not a single enemy on earth. Although he did not think proper to take any part in the rebellion of 1715, his sentiments were known to be in favour of the exiled family, and he consequently became an object of sus- picion to government. He was, how- ever, permitted to cherish his opinions unmolested, and might have ended his days peacefully and honourably in his native land, had lie not been tempted, in an evil moment, to join the standard of Charles Edward, in 1743. " This peer," says Home, " who drewr after him such a number of gentlemen, had only a moderate fortune, but he was much beloved and greatly esteemed by his neighbours, who looked upon him as a man of excellent judgment, and of a wary and cautious temper; so that when he, who was deemed so wise and prudent, declared his purpose of joining Charles, most of the gentlemen in that part of the country where he lived, who favoured the Pretender's cause, put themselves under his com- mand, thinking they could not follow a better or a safer guide than Lord Pitsligo." Although in the sixty-fifth year of his age, he displayed a remarkable degree of spirit and alacrity, and went through the fatigues and perils of the contest without once attempting to shrink from his most arduous duties. After the battle of Culloden, he escaped to France ; and being attainted by parliament, his honours and property became forfeited : but the liberal contributions of his friends placed him far above pecuniary want, and lie would have been happy, even in exile, but for the hopeless desire which he felt to breathe his last in Scotland. He died at Paris, towards the close of 1762. ARTHUR ELPHINSTON, LORD BALMERINO. A HIS remarkable man was born in 16S8, and succeeded his brother James, as Lord Balmerino, in 1710. Having entered the army at an early age, he was captain of a company of foot, in the reign of Queen Anne, and served, with great credit to himself, during several campaigns in Flanders. He married in 1711, and from that period, passed his time in retirement, and the full enjoyment of domestic comfort, until 1715, when he impru- dently joined the Pretender's standard. Government, however, thought proper to inflict no punishment on him, for his exertions, on this occasion, in behalf of the exiled prince. But his narrow es- cape did not teach him prudence, nor did the clemency of his sovereign render him grateful; for, on the landing of Charles Edward, in 1745, he took an early opportunity of appearing among the insurgents, to whose first successes, he is said to have mainly contributed by his courage and military skill. He was present at the fatal battle of Cul- loden ; and, although he contrived to escape from the field, was soon after- wards compelled to give himself up to the royal troops. On being brought to London, he was committed to the Tower, and at the latter end of June, 1746, a true bill was found against him for high treason. His trial took place in Westminster hall, on the 28th of July, and witnesses having been called to prove that he had entered Carlisle, (although not on the day named in the indictment,) sword in hand, at the head of a body of rebels, called Elphinston's horse, he was found guilty by the peers, who ordered that 180 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. he should be brought up for judg- ment two days afterwards. He was accordingly placed at the bar to receive sentence on the 30th, but raised a tech- nical objection in arrest of judgment, which was so far admitted, that counsel were assigned him to argue the point on the 1st of August. The court again met on that day, but, as Horace Walpole relates, in one of his letters to Mr. Montague, "poor, brave, old Balmerino, retracted his plea, asked pardon, and desired the lords to intercede for mercy. As he returned to the Tower, he stopped the coach at Charing-cross, to buy honey-blobs, as the Scotch call goose- berries." He heard his sentence with singular fortitude, and scarcely for a moment ceased to be cheerful up to the time of his execution. " Old Balmerino," say s Walpole to a correspondent, " keeps up his spirits to the same pitch of gaiety. In the cell at Westminster, he shewed Lord Kilmarnoch how he must lay his head ; bid him not winch, lest the stroke should cut his skull or his shoulders; and advised him to bite his lips. As they were to return, he begged they might have another bottle together, as they should never meet any more till , and then pointed to his neck. At getting into the coach, he said to the gaoler, ' Take care, or you will break my shins with this d — d axe !' " " Tiiey have stopped up one of old Balmerino's windows in the Tower," says the same writer, on another occa- sion, " because he talked to the populace ; and now he has only one, which looks directly upon all the scaffolding. They brought in the death-warrant at his dinner. His wife fainted. He said, ' Lieutenant, with your d— d warrant, you have spoiled my lady's stomach.' He has written a sensible letter to the Duke of Cumberland to beg his inter- cession, who has given it to the king." A strong disposition prevailed in his favour, and his friends exerted them- selves to procure a remission of his sentence, but the king was inflexible, and orders were issued for his execution on the 18th of August. Early on the morning of that day, he was conducted, with his lellow-prisoner, Kilmarnoch, to a house which had been prepared for their reception, about tliirty yards from the scaffold, on Tower hill. Hearing some of the spectators eagerly ask which was Balmerino, he said, with a smile, as he entered the house, " I am Lord Balmerino, gentlemen, at your service." Shortly after, he inquired if Kilmar- noch knew of any order having been signed by Charles Edward, to give no quarter at the battle of Culloden. The earl replied in the negative. " Nor I, neither," said Balmerino; " and there- fore, it seems to be an invention of government to justify their own mur- ders." " I do not think that a fair inference," rejoined Kilmarnoch, " for I was informed at Inverness, by several officers, after I had been taken prisoner, that such an order, signed George Murray, was in the duke's custody." — " George Murray!" exclaimed Balme- rino, " then they should not charge it on the prince !" ' He then took leave of the earl, in a most affectionate manner. " My dear Lord Kilmarnoch," said he, " I am only sorry that I cannot pay this reckoning alone, and suffer for us both : once more, farewell for ever I" Kilmarnoch was then led forth to ex- ecution, and Balmerino, after solemnly recommending himself to the mercy of his Creator, began to converse cheer- fully with his friends, with whom he took wine, desiring that they would drink to him, " Ain degrae to Haiven !" In a few minutes the sheriff entered the apartment, for the purpose of con- ducting him to the scaffold, which Balmerino ascended with extraordinary coolness. He was dressed in a tie-wig, and the regimentals (a blue coat, with brass buttons and red facings,) which he had worn at the battle of Culloden. After reading the inscription on his coffin, and examining the block, which he called " a pillow of rest," he took a paper from his pocket, put on his spec- tacles, and advancing to the rails of the scaffold, began to read, in a firm and audible tone, an address which he had composed for the occasion. His alle- giance, he said, was, in his opinion, due to the house of Stuart; and he protested that, in the late contest, he had acted conscientiously, and without any inte- rested motives whatever. Having concluded his speech, he de- sired that the hearse in which his coffin was to be placed, might be brought to- wards the scaffold, and after looking upon it for a few moments, he inquired EARL OF WINTOUN. 181 for the executioner, who, on approach- ing, was about to ask his lordship's forgiveness; but Balmerino stopped him by saying, that the performance of his duty was commendable. " Friend," continued he, presenting the man with three guineas, " I never had much money : this is all I possess at present." He regretted that tlie gift was so small, but observed that he could add nothing to it except his coat and waistcoat, of which he immediately divested him- self, and placed them upon his coffin. On taking his last farewell of his friends, he said to one of them, " I am afraid there are some who may think my behaviour too bold : but remember, sir, what I tell you ; it arises from a confidence in God, and a clear con- science." He then took the axe in his hand, and having felt the edge, returned it to the executioner, whom he clapped on the shoulder, and tucking down the collar of his shirt, showed him where to aim, encouraging and requesting him to strike with resolution ; " for in that, friend," added he, " will consist your mercy." Immediately after, without trembling or changing countenance, he knelt down before the block, and ex- claimed, with outstretched arms, " O Lord I reward my friends, forgive my enemies, and receive my soul !" Having uttered these words, he gave the pre- I concerted signal (dropping his hands) for the executioner to strike : but the latter was so unnerved by the earl's ' coolness and intrepidity, or flurried by the unexpected suddenness of the I signal, that it was only on the third fall of the axe that Balmerino was decapi- j tated. I In compliance with a desire which he I had expressed, the coffin containing his I remains was placed on that of the Mar- i quess of TuUibardine, in St. Peter's I church, in the Tower. " It is but justice to the memory of Lord Balme- rino," says Douglas, " a great, but un- happy man, to assure the world, that his whole deportment, previous to liis tragical end, was graceful without affec- tation, and cheerful without presump- I tion." ^ GEORGE SETON, EARL OF WINTOUN. 1 HIS nobleman was born in 1690: he married during his minority, and had several daughters, but no son. In October, 1715, he joined the insurgent forces under Forster, a division of which was subsequently denominated The Earl of Wintoun's troop. He soon became obnoxious to the English commanders, by his resolute indepen- dence of opinion. In opposition to the Northumbrian gentlemen, he invariably recommended a march towards the west of Scotland, in order to join tiie insurgent clans. Had this counsel been adopted, the united forces of the rebels might have become formidable ; but it was vehemently and successfully op- posed, as was also the earl's project to attack General Carpenter's troops when fatigued with their laborious march to- wards Kelso. The obstinacy of the Highlanders, who peremptorily refused to march southward, and numbers of whom abandoned the rebel standard when the main body had determined to cross the border, was attributed, by his associ- ates, to the earl's advice ; and he was consequently treated with such cool- ness, that he retired in disgust ; but, after a brief absence, feeling, perhaps, that he could not elsewhere obtain even temporary security, he returned to the camp of the insurgents; and, although dissatisfied with their proceedings, and excluded from their councils, he con- tinued to act with them until the capitulation at Preston, when he wis conveyed, with the other prisoners of quality, to the metropolis. Being impeached for high treason, he was found guilty, and sentenced to death ; but, unlike several of his un- fortunate associates, he disdained to implore the king's mercy, and would not sanction any application to govern- ment for his pardon. Great exertions were, however, made to save his life; and they were so far successful, that the earl was respited during the royal 182 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. pleasure, and would, in all probability, have been included in the act of grace ; but he avoided the ultimate clemency which he had never sought to obtain, by bribing some of his attendants to connive at his escape. He quitted the Tower on the 4th of August, 1716, and passed the remainder of his life on the continent. His death took place at Rome, in 1749. WILLIAM DRUMMOND, VISCOUNT STRATHALLAN. William drummond, fourth Viscount Strathallan, was born in 1690, and succeeded to his title in 1711. His principles were decidedly Jacobitical; and he would, in all probability, have joined the rebels in 1715, but for the advice of his friends, and the entreaties of his young and amiable wife. His zeal for the house of Stuart increased with his years ; and, on the arrival of Charles Edward, in 1745, he hastened to display his attachment to the exiled prince, by joining the young Pre- tender's army, with his eldest son, and a considerable number of his friends and retainers. He distinguished himself through the whole of the adventurous campaign, which terminated at Cul- loden ; but did not live to see the total defeat and dispersion of his party ; for at the beginning of the engagement, while gallantly advancing at the head of his regiment, he received a musket shot in the breast, and died instantly. His son and heir, James, Master of Strathallan, made his escape to France ; but being included in the act of at- tainder against his deceased father, under the denomination of James Drummond, eldest son of William, Viscount of Strathallan, though he was at that time Viscount of Strathallan himself, his honours were forfeited to the crown. Towards the close of the last century, an attempt was made to set aside the attainder, on the ground of this misnomer, but it proved unsuc- cessful. JAMES RATCLIFFE, EARL OF DERWENT WATER. 1 HIS nobleman was born on the 28th of June, 1691, and succeeded to the earldom, in April, 1705. Although a catholic, and avowedly favourable to the Chevalier, to whom he was distantly re- lated, he appears to have taken but little share in the intrigues of the Jacobites for the restoration of the exiled family during the reign of Queen Anne : nor is it satisfactorily shewn, that he had given any just cause of offence to the new government, although suspected of having secretly joined the parties of armed Jacobites, who had traversed the country in August, 1715, when, in the following month, he received intelli- gence that a warrant had been issued by the secretary of state for his appre- hension. Immediately proceeding to a justice of peace, he boldly demanded what charges existed against him ; but the magistrate either could not or would not give him the information he desired. The earl then thought proper, imprudently perhaps, to evade capture by concealing himself in a cottage be- longing to one of his tenants ; and on Forsfer's appeal to the neighbouring Jacobites, to appear in arms for James Frederick, he joined the disaffected at their appointed rendezvous, near Green- rigg, with his brother, his servants, and a few of his tenantry, all well armed and mounted. The earl accompanied Forster to Preston, where he surrendered with the rest of the insurgents. On the 9th of December, he entered London, in custody, and after a brief examination before the privy-council, was committed to the Tower. On the 10th of January, 1715-16, he was impeached for high EAUL OF DERWENT WATER. 183 treason, and on the 16th of the same month, thus addressed his peers, pre- viously to pleading guilty : — " My lords, — The terrors of your just sentence, which will at once deprive me of my life and estate, and complete the mis- fortunes of my wife and innocent chil- dren, are so heavy on my mind, that I am scarce able to allege what may ; extenuate my offence, if any thing can i do it : my guilt was rashly incurred, i without any premeditation ; for I beg to i observe, that I was wholly unprovided , of men, hordes, or arms, which I could easily have provided, had I formed any previous design. As my offence was sudden, so my submission was prompt ; for when the king's general demanded hostages for ensuring a cessation of arms, I voluntarily offered myself; and it was the repeated promises of mercy which I received, that induced me after- wards to remain with the royal army. I humbly entreat your intercession with the king, and solemnly protest that my future conduct shall shew me not" un- worthy of your generous compassion." He received sentence of death on the 9th of February, and a warrant was soon afterwards issued for his execution. On the morning after it had been signed, the countess obtained an interview with the king in his bed-chamber, and pa- thetically entreated his majesty to spare her husband's life; and she subsequently went down to Westminster, accompa- nied by a great number of ladies, and personally implored both houses of^ par- liament to intercede with the sovereign on his behalf. The public were strongly excited in favour of the condemned earl, and his friends entertained a hope, that he would have been pardoned. But, notwithstanding several peers and commoners of distinction endeavoured to procure a remission of his sentence, it was carried into effect. His execution took place on the 24th of February. While ascending the scaffold he looked particularly pale : but in a few moments he regained his natural firmness and composure. After performing a solemn act of devotion, he advanced to the rails of the scaffold, and read an address to those who had assembled for the purpose of witnessing his execution, in which he eulogized the Pretender, and asked pardon of those whom he had scandalized by his plea of guilty, which, he stated, was a breach of loyalty to his lawful and rightful sovereign, King James the Third. He concluded by saying that, had his life been spared, he should have considered himself bound in honour never again to take up arms against the reigning prince. The earl handed a copy of this de- claration to the sheriff, observing that he had given another to a friend. He then examined the block, and finding a rough part on the surface, desired that it might be chipped away with the axe, as it would probably hurt his neck if suffered to remain. Having stripped off his coat and waistcoat, he prepared to receive the fatal blow, and on giving a signal which he had previously ar- ranged with the executioner, his head was severed from his body at a single stroke of the axe. It is said, that, on the preceding afternoon, he had sent for Roome, an undertaker, to receive directions for his funeral; but Roome having refused to prepare a plate for his coffin, bearing an inscription to the effect that he died a sacrifice for his lawful sovereign, the earl immediately dismissed him, and made no subsequent preparations for his sepulture ; so that, instead of being deposited in a coffin, and carried away in a hearse, his remains were wrapped up in a cloth, and borne by some of his servants to the Tower, where they were soon afterwards interred. The earl appears to have been pos- sessed of many good qualities. " He was formed by nature," says Patten, " to be universally beloved ; for his benevolence was so unbounded, that he seemed only to live for others. He resided among his own people, spent his estate among them, and continually did them kind- nesses. His hospitality was princely, and' none in that country came up to it. He was very charitable to the poor, whether known to him or not, and whether papists or protestants. His fate was a misfortune to many, who had no kindness for the cause in which he died." 184 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. CHARLES RATCLIFFE. This gentleman, a brother of the Earl of Derwentwater, was born in 1693, and evinced, from his boyhood, a most enthusiastic attachment to the exiled Stuarts. Utterly reckless of consequences, he joined one of those straggling parties of Jacobites, that appeared in arms for the Pretender late in the summer of 1715. He acted with Forster throughout the whole of that ineflScient leader's campaign ; — dis- playing, whenever an opportunity oc- curred, a total disregard of personal danger, and a sincere devotion to the cause he had espoused, which threw a lustre over his rashness. Having surrendered with his con- federates, at Preston, he was arraigned for high treason, in May, 1716, and was soon afterwards found guilty. He dis- dained to petition for mercy, or to per- mit any interest to be used with the king in his behalf. But the blood of one brother being deemed a sufficient atonement for the offences of both, soon after the Earl of Derwentwater had been executed, a free pardon was granted to Ratcliffe; which, however, he obstinately refused to accept. He was, consequently, detained in New- gate until the 11th of December, 1716, when he contrived to effect his escape, as it is supposed, by breaking through the chimney of his apartment to the roof of the prison, and thence lowering himself, with the aid of a rope, into the street. Patten, speaking of him about this period, says, " He is young and bold, but too forward : he has a great deal of courage, which wants a few more years and a better cause to improve it. There is room to hope he will never employ it in such an adventure again." Un- fortunately, however, for himself, he continued to be an active partisan of the exiled prince ; and frequently ven- tured to quit his asylum on the conti- nent, for the purpose of fomenting the discontents of the Highlanders. In 1746, he received a naval com- mission from the King of France, and took the command of a vessel, laden with arms for the use of the Jacobites in Scotland; which, however, never reached its destination, being captured at sea by an English cruizer. Ratcliffe was brought a prisoner to London, and arraigned on his previous conviction, which had never been reversed. He boldly denied the authority of the court, avowed himself to be a subject of the King of France, produced his commission, and declared that he was not Charles Ratcliffe, but the Earl of Derwentwater. After some further quibbling on these and other points, his identity being satisfactorily proved, the attorney-general moved for the execution of his former sentence. The prisoner now attempted to set up his pardon in bar, but the judges being of opinion that such a plea could not, under the circumstances, be legally received, a writ was issued for his de- capitation. His person and appearance, on this occasion, are thus described in the British Chronologist : — " He was about five feet ten inches high, up- wards of fifty, dressed in scarlet, faced with black velvet, and gold buttons, — a gold-laced waistcoat, — bag wig, and had a hat with a white feather." He wore precisely the same dress on the scaffold, where he conducted himself with great fortitude. He was beheaded on Tower hill, on the 8th of December, 1746. The courage of Charles Ratcliffe appears to have been a mere animal quality ; he was evidently the creature of impulse, — an inconsiderate slave to his feelings, who possessed none of the mental attributes of a hero. His dogged rejection of mercy, in 1716, was even more foolish than his attempt, on being taken in arms at a subsequent period, to avoid the execution of his sentence, by a series of absurd evasions, was mean and contemptible. JAMES CAMERON, OF LOCHIEL. 185 JAMES CAMERON, OF LOCHIEL. This gallant chieftain, the head of the Camerons, who idolized him for his bravery, his social virtues, and, to use the words of the talented author of Lochiel's Warning, his loyal, though mistaken, magnanimity, was born in 1696. As he grew up, he imbibed ail the enthusiastic feelings of his family in favour of the Stuarts. James Frede- rick is said to have described him to the young Chevalier, as being among their most trusty and influential ad- herents ; and he was, accordingly, one of the first whose aid Charles Edward endeavoured to procure, on his arrival at Boradale, in 1745. Lochiel, how- ever, had sufficient wisdom to foresee, that, unsupported as he was by foreign troops, the young adventurer could have but little chance of success, in the enterprise which he had so daringly undertaken. He, accordingly, endea- voured, with all the eloquence he pos- sessed, to prevail on him to abandon it; but finding Charles Edward invul- nerable either to entreaty or argument, the brave chieftain, at length, gene- rously, although against his better judgment, determined on sharing those perils, which the prince would evidently have to encounter. His followers, amounting to seven hundred men, were the first of the in- surgents to commence hostilities ; hav- ing surrounded and captured two com- panies of the king's troops, before the Jacobite standard was raised at Glen- finnin. They also distinguished them- selves by obtaining possession of Edin- burgh, by stratagem, pending the ne- gotiations between Charles Edward and the inhabitants for its surrender. In common with the other Highlanders, Lochiel, and his clan, displayed great bravery, and did astonishing execution at the battle of Preston-Pans. It is related, that, on this occasion, a High- lander captured ten dismounted dra- goons, on whom the mere sound of his voice produced so appalling an effect, that he drove them before him like sheep ; and a lad in the rebel army, under fourteen years of age, is reported to have cut down, if he did not actually kill, twelve of his opponents. These, and other equally improbable stories, obtained credence among the English peasantry, who, in some parts, are said to have considered the High- landers as monsters and cannibals, who scarcely bore even an outward simili- tude to humanity. During the march to Derby, the Chevalier Johnstone relates, (but the story is almost incredible) that one evening, as Lochiel entered the lodgings assigned to him, in an English village, his landlady threw herself at his feet, and, with uplifted hands, and tears in her eyes, supplicated him to take her life but to spare her two little children. " He asked her," continues Johnstone, " if she was in her senses, and told her to explain herself; when she answered, that every body said the Highlanders ate children, and made them their common food. Mr. Cameron having assured her that they would not injure either her or her children, or any person whatever, she looked at him, for some moments, with an air of surprise, and then opened a press, calling out with a loud voice, ' Come out, children, the gentleman will not eat you.' " Lochiel remained with the young Chevalier's army until the 18th of March, 1746, when he was despatched, with his own followers, and some aux- iliaries from the clans of Macdonald and Stuart, to attempt the reduction of Fort "William ; but, after besieging it for several days, without making much progress, he was compelled to relinquish the enterprise, the Duke of Cumber- land's movements having rendered his presence important at the head-quarters of the prince. He accordingly returned, with his followers, to the rebel army ; and, a few days afterwards, displayed his usual intrepidity at the disastrous battle of Culloden ; in which he was so severely wounded, that he must either have bled to death on the field, or been taken prisoner by the king's troops, but for the desperate courage of soine of his clan, by whom he was 186 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. carried ofF, and concealed in a miserable hut, until he regained sufficient strength to undergo the fatigues of a difficult and dangerous journey to the coast. After passing through many perils, he was, at length, fortunate enough to eiFect his escape to the continent, where he spent the remainder of his days, a hopeless, heart-broken wan- derer, and died towardsthe close of 1758. His unfortunate clan was visited with remorseless vengeance by the royal troops. " In the month of May," says Smollett, " the Duke of Cumber- land advanced with the army into the Highlands, as far as Fort Augustus ; where he encamped, and sent off de- tachments, on all hands, to hunt down the fugitives, and lay waste the country with fire and sword. The castles of Glengary and Lochiel were plundered and burned: every hut, house, or habi- tation, met with the same fate, without distinction ; all the cattle and provisions were carried off. The men were either shot upon the mountains, like wild beasts, or put to death in cold blood, ; without form of trial. The women, after I having seen their husbands and fathers murdered, were subjected to brutal ; violation, and then turned out naked, with their children, to starve on the barren heath. One whole family was enclosed in a barn, and consumed to ashes. Those ministers of vengeance were so alert in the execution of their office, that, in a few days, there was neither house, cottage, man, nor beast, to be seen in the compass of fifty miles : ! all was ruin, silence, and desolation!" To justify such execrable atrocities as these, even on tlie score of expediency, would be utterly impossible : they were ' planned in a spirit of cold-blooded brutality, and perpetrated by ruffians under the command of a savage. DOCTOR ARCHIBALD CAMERON. Dr. ARCHIBALD CAMERON, a brother of the celebrated Lochiel, was born in 1698. From a very early pe- riod of his life, he appears to have entertained feelings of strong attach- ment to the exiled family; and on the rebel standard being set up hy Charles Edward, in 1745, he joined the injur- gents with his brother, with whom he acted during the whole of the campaign. After the battle of Ciilloden, he escaped to the continent: but in 175.3, although he had been attainted of high treason during his absence, he rashly returned to Scotland, with a view, as it was re- ported, of recovering a sum of money, belonging to the Pretender, which had been embezzled by some of his ad- herents. Soon after his arrival in Scotland, he was discovered, and taken. His ar- raignment at the bar of the court of kind's bench, on the act of attainder previously passed against him, speedily followed ; and his identity being clearly estal)lislied, the lord chief justice sen- tenced him to be executed as a traitor. He behaved with great firmness and decorum in court; and took occasion to observe, that, in 1746, he had quitted France, for the purpose of surrendering himself, and that he was only prevented by an accident happening in his family, from throwing himself upon the king's clemency. He had seven children, he said, at Lisle, in Flanders, who, with their mother, were totally dependent on him for support, and he respectfully entreated, that he might be permitted to send for the latter, as he felt a very natural desire to see her again before he died. This request was humanely com- plied with; but no further indulgence was shewn him; his sentence, contrary to the expectations of the public, being carried into effect in less than a montii after his arraignment. About ten o'clock on the morning of his execution, (June 7th, 1753.) he was drawn on a sledge, from the Tower to Tyburn, amid a vast concourse of spec- tators. He was dressed, on this occasion, in a light coloured coat, red waistcoat and breeches, and a new bag-wig. During the dreadful procession, which lasted upwards of two hours, he was perfectly calm, and his fortitude never forsook him up to the moment of his execution. After having been sus- pended for nearly half an hour, his EARL OF NITHISDALE. 187 body was cut down and decapitated. His heart was then taken from liis body, and burnt to ashes in the pre- sence of the assembled multitude. " The terror and resentment of tlie people," says Smollett, "occasioned by the rebellion, having by this time sub- sided, their humane passions did not fail to operate in favour of this unfortunate gentleman. Their pity was mingled with esteem, arising from his per- sonal character, which was altogether unblemished, and his deportment on this occasion, which they could not help admiring as the standard of manly fortitude and decorum. The popu- lace, though not very subject to tender emotions, were moved to compassion, and even to tears, by his behaviour at the place of execution; and many sincere well-wishers to the house of Hanover thought that the sacrifice of this victim, at such a juncture, could not redound either to its honour orsecuritv." WILLIAM, LORD WIDDRINGTON, William, the fourth Lord wid- drington, was born in 1701, and, during his minority, married a daugliter of Sir Thomas Tempest, of Stella, in the county of Durham, by whom he had five children. He was among the foremost of those who engaged in Forster's attempt on behalf of James Frederick, in 1715, and surrendered, with the other insurgents, to the royal troops, at Preston. On being impeached for high treason, he pleaded guilty ; and, when brought up to receive sentence, he asserted that the royal generals, to whom he and his associates capitulated, had assured them of mercy : he, therefore, expressed a hope that his unhappy case, and the deplorable con- dition of his unfortunate children, al- ready deprived of their mother, would induce the two houses of parliament to intercede with the king on his be- half. Sentence of death was pronounced upon him, but his execution was res- pited, from time to time, until 1717, when he received his discharge under the act of grace. He died at Bath, in poverty and affliction, about the year 1743. WILLIAM MAXWELL, EARL OF NITHISDALE. William, the fifth Earl of Nitliis- dale, wasborn in 1702. Loyalty for the house of Stuart had been instilled into him from his childhood ; and on the standard of the Chevalier being set up in 1715, he joined the insurgents, at Moffat, in Annandale. He surrendered, at Preston, with the other companions of Forster; and having been sent to London, was com- mitted to the Tower, to abide his trial for high treason. On being impeached, he pleaded guilty, and when brought up for judgment, he declared that, when he surrendered at Preston, he was led to hope much from the royal mercy, and still depended on the king's goodness. His young countess afterwards, by stratagem, obtained an interview with George tiie Second, and patlietically entreated him to save the life of her un- fortunate husband, but without effect. The intercession of many noblemen in his behalf met with no better success ; a warrant was issued for his execution, and his doom appeared inevitable. The Dowager Countess of Nithisdale, how- ever, in the noble enthusiasm of ma- ternal affection, determined on making a desperate effort to procure his escape. She had then reached the forty-sixth year of her age : like her son, she was remarkably tall ; and she strikingly resembled him, not only in her features and the dignified expression of her coun- tenance, but also in the tone of her voice. Having frequently visited the earl 188 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. duringhis confinement in the Tower, the sentinels had become so well acquainted with her figure, that, at length, they suffered her to pass to and from his apartment without challenge or in- quiry. On the evening before the day appointed for his execution, she went to the Tower, in a hackney coach, ac- companied by a lady, whom she had previously made acquainted with the particulars of her project. As they passed the sentinels, the countess dowager held a handkerchief to her face, and sobbed audibly- On enter- ing her son's apartment, she proposed that he should disguise himself in a portion of her dress, and endeavour to quit the Tower. The earl, however, refused to do so, alleging, that he would rather die than expose her to the slightest danger. But she charged him on his duty to obey her ; and urging that the government would be ashamed to keep her in confinement longer than a few days, he, at length, consented to make the proposed at- tempt. Accordingly, putting on the hat, long mourning cloak, and deep black veil, which his mother had worn, and taking the arm of her confederate, he knocked to apprise the guard out- side that the dowager wished to with- draw. On the door being opened, the earl came forth with his companion, and, keeping a handkerchief close to his face, proceeded along the passages, towards the outer entrance, at a slow and tottering pace, and seeming to sob incessantly ; the confederate, during their progress, repeatedly adjuring " her ladyship, to make haste and quit that horrid place !" They passed the whole of the sentinels without exciting suspicion, and in a few minutes reached the hackney coach, which had been or- dered to wait for the countess dowager. The earl succeeded in making his escape beyond seas, and died at Rome, in 1744. His mother was closely con- fined for several months, but, at length, government thought fit to set her at li- berty. Suspicions have been enter- tained that the sentinels on duty were bribed to connive at the earl's escape ; but no proof has been adduced that such was the fact. WILLIAM BOYD, EARL OF KILMARNOCH. X HIS nobleman was born in 1702. His person is described as having been remarkably fine ; his manners engag- ing; but his intellect fieeble rather than otherwise. In 1725, he married Lady Anne Livingstone, daughter of the Earl of Linlithgow, by whom he had several children. Brought up, as he had been, in the strong Whig principles of his family, and having no settled income to depend on for the support of his large family, but a pension from govern- ment, it was, for a long time, supposed that the house of Hanover did not possess a more staunch adherent in Scotland than Kilmarnoch. Temptations, however, which he had not sufficient energy to resist, involved him with the Jacobite party: his pen- sion was consequently stopped ; and, with a view, perhaps, to obtain, under a new order of tilings, at least that decent coni])etcnce which he had lost, rather tlian from any sincere devo- tion to the Stuarts, he joined in the rebellion of 1745. While the insurgents were successful, he displayed much gal- lantry and confidence ; but after their retrograde movement from Derby, he became inactive and desponding. Being captured after the battle ofCuUoden, in which, although present, he had taken no part, he was sent to London, for trial, with other prisoners of quality. On the 23d of June, 1746, a true bill for high treason was found against him by the grand jury of Surrey, and his trial was appointed to take place before the lords, in Westminster hall, on the 28th of July. When placed at the bar, he pleaded guilty to his indictment, and on being brought up to receive sentence of death, pathetically entreated, on ac- count of his children, and because he had never entertained, as he protested, the slightest malice against the existing government, that he might be recom- mended as a proper object of clemency to the king. " I am assured," observes Horace LORD GEORGE MURRAY. 189 Walpole, " that the old Countess of Errol made her son, Lord Kilmarnoch, go into the rebellion on pain of disin- heriting him. The man at the tennis court protests that he has known him dine with the man that sells pamphlets at Storey's gate ; ' and,' says he, ' he would often have been glad if I would have taken him home to dinner.' He was certainly so poor, that in one of liis wife's intercepted letters, she tells him she has plagued their steward for a fort- night for money, and can get but three shillings!" "The Duke of Cumber- land," says the same writer, in another part of his correspondence, " declared publicly, at his levee, that Lord Kil- marnoch proposed murdering the English prisoners ; and when Duke Hamilton begged his intercession for the earl, he coldly replied, that the affair was in the king's hands, and that he had nothing to do with it." Various applications were made to obtain a remission of his sentence, but they proved ineffectual, and he was ordered for execution with Lord Bal- merino, on the ISth of August. He was attended, in his last moments, by the Rev. Mr. Hume, and a dissenting clergyman. With the latter he spent an hour in devotion, at the house on Tower hill, which had been prepared for the reception of Balmerino and himself, on the morning of their execu- tion. After refreshing himself with a morsel of bread and a glass of wine, he expressed a desire that Balmerino, with whom he had a short interview, should precede him to the scaffold ; but on being told that his request could not be complied with, his own name being mentioned first in the warrant, he pre- pared, with more calmness and courage than he had been expected to display, for his immediate execution. On mounting the scaffold, and be- holding the immense multitude of spec- tators, the executioner, the block, and his own coffin, his spirits failed him for a moment, and he said to one of the ministers who attended him, " Hume, this is dreadful!" Having taken off his coat, and the bag from his hair, which was then tucked up under a napkin-cap, he knelt down, and, after a short delay, dropped his handker- chief as a signal to the executioner, who performed the duty assigned to him with merciful despatch. The earl's remains were buried at St. Peter's church in the Tower. LORD GEORGE MURRAY, The father of this celebrated noble- man was rewarded, by William the Third, with the dukedom of Athol, for the distinguished part which he had taken in the revolution of 1668. Lord George was the duke's fourth son. His birth took place in 1705. He entered the army at an early age, and served with the British forces in Flanders. In 1727, he married Lady Jane Murray, by whom he had several children, the eldest of whom eventually became third Duke of Athol. On the 5th of September, 1745, Lord George joined the young Pretender's army, at Perth, with a number of men froni the estates of his brother, the Duke of Athol. and was almost immediately nominated lieutenant-general of the in- surgent forces. At the battle of Preston Pans, which was fought on the 21st of September, (1745,) Lord George displayed considerable military skill and great personal intrepidity. The royal troops, under the command of Cope, occupied so strong a position, that for some time it was difficult to discover in what manner they could be attacked with any probability of success. Lord George at length determined, if pos- sible, to lead his troops across a marsh, on the left of the royal camp, which he found totally unprotected, in conse- quence of its being considered impas- sable. He carried his project into effect without much difficulty, during the night; and early on the morning of the battle, to the astonishment and dismay of the royal forces, drew up his army within a short distance of their camp. " Lord George," says Johnstone, '• at the head of the first line, did not give the enemy time to recover from their panic. He advanced with such rapidity, 190 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. that General Cope had hardly time to form his troops in order of battle, when the Highlanders rushed upon them sword in hand. They had frequently been enjoined to aim at the noses of the horses with their swords, without mind- ing the riders ; as the natural move- ment of a horse, wounded in the face, is to wheel round : and a few horses wounded in that manner, are sufficient to throw a whole squadron into disorder, without the possibility of their being afterwards rallied. They followed this advice most implicitly, and the English cavalry was instantly thrown into con- fusion." The rebel forces achieved a complete victory over their opponents, in less than five minutes, entirely with- out the aid of their second line, which came up only in time to join in the pursuit. Lord George is said to have distin- guished himself, so far as circumstances would permit, during the march to Derby ; where, in opposition to Charles Edward, and many of the chiefs, he strenuously recommended a retrograde movement. With much difficulty, the prince was brought to adopt his advice : and the insurgents immediately began to retrace their steps towards the north. On reaching Kendal, Lord George, with a detachment of horse, personally reconnoitred the position of Marshal Wade, who was encamped in the neigh- bourhood. On his return, he said to Charles Edward, who had often re- proached him, for avoiding the enemy, " As your royal highness is always for battles, be the circumstances what they may, I now offer you one, in three hours from this time, with the army of Marshal Wade, which is only about two miles distant from us." The prince made no reply : and the rebels con- tinued their retreat; during the whole of which. Lord George, as it appears, cheerfully undertook the command of the rear, a post of extraordinary dif- ficulty and danger. In consequence of the badness of the roads, and the slow progress made by the artillery, he was frequently compelled to march for several hours after dark, in order to keep up with the main body of the insurgents. The Duke of Cumber- land's advanced parties of horse re- peatedly annoyed him; and, at length, on the 29th of December, the whole of the royal cavalry, under the imme- diate command of the duke, endea- voured to prevent the artillery from passing the bridge of Clifton ; but Lord George attacked them vN'ith such spirit, that tliey were compelled to abandon their object, and effect a precipitate retreat. On this occasion, he fought sword in hand, and on foot, at the head of the Macphersons. At the battle of Falkirk, which took place in Januarj', 1746, Lord George, according to Home, marched at the head of the Macdonalds of Keppoch, with his drawn sword in his hand, and his target on his arm. He let the English dra- goons come within ten or twelve paces of him, and then gave orders to fire. " The cavalry closing their ranks, which were opened by this discharge," says Johnstone, " put spurs to their horses, and rushed upon the Highlanders at a hard trot, breaking their ranks, and throwing down everything before them. A most extraordinary combat followed. The Highlanders, stretched on the ground, thrust their dirks into the bellies of the horses : some seized the riders by their clothes, dragged them down, and stabbed them with their dirks; several of them again used pistols; but few of them had sufficient space to handle their swords." With the victory of Falkirk termi- nated the successes of the insurgents ; who were soon afterwards compelled, by the near approach of the Duke of Cum- berland, to retreat into the Highlands. At Inverness, where the prince even- tually fixed his head-quarters. Lord George was informed that a party of the king's troops had, by the command of their vindictive and blood-thirsty general, committed the most wanton barbarities on the families of his own immediate followers. " As all the male vassals of the Duke of Athol were with us," says Johnstone, " the Duke of Cumberland sent a detachment of his troops into their country, who com- mitted the most savage cruelties : burn- ing the houses, turning out the women and children in the midst of winter, to perish on the mountains with cold and hunger; after subjecting them to every species of brutal and infamous treat- ment. These proceedings being known at Inverness, Lord George set ofT in- stantly, with the clan of Athol, to take LORD GEORGE MURRAY. 191 vengeance for these outrages, and he conducted his march so well, passing through bye-ways across the moun- tains, that the enemy had no informa- tion of his approach. Having planned his march so as to arrive at Athol in the beginning of the night, the detach- ment separated, dividing itself into small parties, every gentleman taking the shortest road to his own house, and in this way all the English were sur- prised in their sleep. Those who found their wives and daughters violated by the brutality of these monsters, and their families dying from hunger and the inclemency of the season, made no prisoners. They received, while they slept, the punishment which their inhumanity merited. All were put to the sword or made prisoners, except two or three hundred men, who shut themselves up in the castle of Athol." Meantime, the Duke of Cumberland's forces had approached Inverness, from which the insurgents set out, on the 13th of .\pril, for the purpose of sur- prising the royal troops in their camp. After a fatiguing march, during the night of the 15th, a considerable portion of the insurgents were within a mile of the English camp ; but the remain- der having been dispersed, on account of the darkness of the night. Lord George at first determined to wait for their arrival ; but, at length, finding that it would probably be day-break before his troops could reach the posi- tion occupied by the royal army, when their repulse would be an easy task to their opponents, Lord George, contrary to the wishes of the prince, gave orders for a retreat. For this, Charles Ed- ward absurdly accused him of trea- chery ; and taking the sole command of his forces, halted at Culloden, where, in opposition to Lord George's advice, notwithstanding the fatigues which his men had undergone, and although they might have been marched to a secure post, on the high ground beyond the plain, he obstinately insisted on waiting until the royal troops (who were rapidly approaching) should come up, and on hazarding a battle. Hopeless,_as he must have been, as to its result, Lord George displayed the most heroic cou- rage in the contest that ensued : — al- though severely wounded, and thrown from his horse, he refused to quit the field ; and would, in all probability, have perished, had not some of the insur- gents removed him by force to a place of safety. The king's troops achieved a com- plete victory over the insurgents ; great numbers of whom, however, escaped to the Highlands, and, in two days after the battle, Lord George was already at the head of five thousand men. " We might," he observes to a correspondent, "have set the English at nought for years ; and as to provisions, had I been allowed to have any direction, we would not have wanted as long as there was cattle in the Highlands, or meal in the lowlands." The prince, however, re- fused to join the still formidable rem- nant of his army, and the insurgents speedily dispersed. Lord George with- drew to the continent, and, after having passed some years in France and Italy, died in North Holland, on the 8th of July, 1760. His character is thus sketched, ap- parently, with much truth, by the Chevalier Johnstone : — " Lord George Murray, who had the charge of all the details of our army, and who had the sole direction of it, possessed a natural genius for military operations ; and was a man of surprising talents, which, had they been cultivated by the study of military tactics, would unquestionably have rendered him one of the greatest generals of his age. He was tall and robust, and brave in the highest de- gree ; conducting the Highlanders in the most heroic manner, and always the first to rush, sword in hand, into the midst of the enemy. He used to say, when we advanced to the charge, ' I do not ask you, my lads, to go before, but merely to follow me.' He slept little, was continually occu- pied with all manner of details; and was, altogether, most indefatigable, combining and directing alone all our operations : — in a word, he was the only person capable of conducting our army. He was vigilant, active, and diligent ; his plans were always ju- diciously formed, and he carried them promptly and vigorously into execution. However, with an infinity of good qualities, he was not without his de- fects : — proud, haughty, blunt, and im- perious ; he wished to have the ex- clusive ordering of every thing, and. 192 THE PRETENDERS ADHERENTS. feeling his superiority, he would listen to no advice. Still, it must be owned, that he had no coadjutor capable of advising him, and his having so com- pletely the confidence of his soldiers enabled him to perform wonders. He possessed the art of employing men to advantage, without having had time to discipline them; but taking them merely as they came from the plough, he made them defeat some of the best disciplined troops in the world. Nature had formed him for a great warrior, — he did not re- quire the accidental advantage of birth." JAMES DRUMMOND, EARL OF PERTH. James, the sixth earl, and, nominally, third Duke of Perth, was born in August, 1706. His father, the fifth earl, commonly called the Marquess of Drummond, attended James the Se- cond to Ireland: he alsojoined the Jaco- bites of 1715, with all the force he could raise ; and, at the close of the insurrection, escaped to France, where he died. His son, the sixtii earl, im- bibed the unfortunate predilections of his race in favour of the Stuarts, and was proud of nothing so much as the personal regard evinced towards him by Charles Edward; in whose army he acted as first lieutenant-general at the battle of Preston-Pans. He appears to have united considerable military skill with the most heroic courage. " In spite of a very delicate constitu- tion," says Douglas, " he underwent the greatest fatigues, and was the first on every occasion of duty, where his head or hands could be of use ; bold as a lion in the field, but ever merciful in the hour of victory." After the battle of CuUoden, he escaped to the coast, and embarked for France ; but his health being quite ruined by long con- tinued fatigue, and his spirit broken by misfortune, he expired on the passage, on the 13th of May, 1746. GEORGE MACKENZIE, EARL OF CROMARTIE. 1 HIS nobleman was born in 1710. When about nineteen years of age, he married his first cousin, Lady Cas- tlehaven, by whom he had a large family. On the arrival of Charles Edward in Scotland, he joined the insurgents, with his eldest son. Lord Macleod, and four hundred of his clan. He fought on foot, at the battle of Fal- kirk, among the Highlanders; to whom he greatly endeared himself, by sharing in all their perils and privations. On the final retreat of the rebel ariny to- wards the north, he took refuge with his son, at Duurobin castle, wliere Lord Sutherland's militia surprised them, on the 15th of April, 1746. They were soon aftervvards sent to London, and, on the 28th of Jidy, pleaded guilty to a charge of high treason. When brought \ip to receive sentence, the earl most abjectly im- plored the peers to procure his pardon. His wife also presented a petition for mercy to the king. " He was very civil to her," says Walpole, " but would not at all give her any hopes. She swooned away as soon as he was gone. Lord Cornwallis told me, that her lord weeps every time any thing of his fate is mentioned to him." " Lord Cromartie," says the same author, on a subsequent occasion, " is reprieved, for a pardon. If wives and children become an argument for saving rebels, there will cease to be a reason against their going into rebellion." The earl's estates were sold by order of government : he was allowed £500 per annum out of the pro- ceeds, the residue of which was settled on his children. Lord Macleod en- tered the Swedish service, and subse- quently served with the English army in the East Indies. The earl died in 1759. THE CHURCH. THOMAS TENISON, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. Thomas, son of the Reverend John Tenison, was born at Cottenham, in Cambridgeshire, on the 29th of Sep- tember, 1636. He acquired the rudi- ments of education at the grammar- school of Norwich, whence, about the year 1653, he was removed to Corpus Christi college, Cambridge. He took the degree of B. A. in 1657, and that of M.A. in 1660, during which year he obtained a fellowship. In 1662, he be- came tutor of his college ; and, in 1665, he was cliosen one of the university preachers, and presented to the curacy of St. Andrew the Great. His conduct to the sick, when the plague broke out at Cambridge, was so exemplary and self- devoted, that, as a token of their ad- miration and gratitude, his parishioners presented him with a valuable piece of plate. In 1667, he took his degree of B. D., and became chaplain to the Earl of Manchester : from whom, about the same time, he obtained the rectory of Holywell, in Huntingdonshire. Shortly afterwards, he married Anne, the daugh- ter of Dr. Love, master of his college. In 1674, he was appointed upper minis- ter of St. Peter's Manscroft, Norwich. In 1680, he took the degree of D. D. ; became one of the royal chaplains ; and was presented, by Charles the Second, to the vicarage of St. Martin's-in-the Fields. In 1685, he attended the Duke of Monmouth to the scaffold ; on which occasion he deported himself, according to Burnet, vi'ith all the honest freedom of a Christian minister, and yet with such prudence, as to give no offence. Although a zealous protestant, he is said to have been much esteemed, on account of his integrity and abilities, by James the Second ; to whose successors, William and Marv, he rendered himself particularly acceptable, by his modera- tion towards the dissenters. Soon after the revolution, he was made Arch- deacon of London ; and, having dis- played great zeal in a project, that was shortly afterwards brought forward, for reconciling the various protestant sects to the established church, he was raised to the see of Lincoln, in 1691. It is related, that Lord Jersey,, then master of the horse, had endeavoured to pre- vent his elevation to the episcopal bench, by reminding Queen Mary that he had preached a funeral sermon for the celebrated Nell Gwynn. " I have heard as much," replied her majesty ; " and it is a sign that the poor unfor- tunate woman died penitent; for, if I can read a man's heart through his looks, had she not made a truly pious and Christian end, the doctor could never have been induced to speak well of her." In 1693, he was offered the arch- bishopric of Dublin ; which, however, he refused, because a measure, sug- gested by himself, and to wliich the king was favourable, of restoring to the respective parish churches, the impro- priations of estates forfeited to the crown, could not be accomplished. In the following year, he was raised to the archbishopric of Canterbury ; a station for which, in the opinion of a majority of his cotemporaries, he was eminently qualified. By her own desire, he at- tended Queen Mary during her last moments, and preached her funeral sermon. Taking advantage of the se- rious feelings, which the death of his consort produced in King William, Tenison boldly censured him for his immoralities; and, in particular, pro- tested with such energy against the 196 THE CHURCH. monarch's illicit connexion with Lady Villiers, that his majesty promised never to see her again. He officiated as primate at the coro- nation of Queen Anne, with whom he appears to liave been by no means a favourite, although lie had strenu- ously exerted himself to procure her a proper settlement in the preceding reign. He, doubtless, rendered him- self obnoxious to her majesty, by his strong inclination for a protestant suc- cession ; which, in 1705, induced him to enter into a correspondence with the Electress Sophia. In 170fi, he was chosen first commissioner for effecting the union with Scotland ; and, on the death of Queen Anne, he was one of those who were appointed to take charge of the instrument, which gave the new monarch power to appoint a regency, until his arrival in this country. He did not long survive the coronation of George the First, at which he offi- ciated as primate; his death occurring on the 14th of December, 1715. He was buried in Lambeth church, by the side of his wife, who had died without issue, in the precding year. Archbishop Tt nison published an able treatise, in opposition to the opinions of Hobbes; Sir Thomas Browne's Tracts; The Remains of Bacon ; A Discourse on Idolatry ; a variety of sermons, and a number of tracts, in defence of the established church against popery. Of preferment, he appears to have been by no means ambitious. As a preacher, he was plain, but forcible ; and, as a writer, clear and argumentative, but never brilliant. The parish of St. Mar- tin's-in-the-Fields is indebted to him for its library ; he rebuilt the chancel of Topcroft church, where his parents were buried ; and, after having been emi- nently beneficent throughout life, be- queathed, at his death, very considerable sums to charitable uses. Macky says, that he was a plain, good, heavy man ; very tall ; of a fair complexion ; and a great opponent of the progress of popery, in the reign of King James. Swift, doubtless under the influence of party rancour, terms him, the most good-for- nothing prelate, and the dullest man he ever knew. The witty dean is also reported to have originated the saying, that, " Tenison was as hot and heavy as a tailor's goose." On the other hand, Baxter regarded him with warm admi- ration ; Burnet, ignorant of Swift's animosity towards him, declared, that he had many friends, and no enemies ; Kennett speaks of him as having been exemplary in every station of life ; the anonymous author of his memoirs states that he was an exact pattern of that exernplary piety, charity, stedfastness, andgood condiKt, requisite in a governor of the church; and Garth, alluding to his elevation to the primacy, says : — Good Tenison *s celestial piety, At last, has raised him to the sacred ice. GILBERT BURNET, BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 1 HIS celebrated prelate, the son of a Scotch civilian, was born at Edinburgh, on the 18th of September, 1C43. After having made some progress in learning, under the instruction of his father, he was sent to the university of Aberdeen, where he obtained the degree of M. A. before he was fourteen years of age. Feeling some inclination for the bar, lie studied civil and feudal law for about a year, and then abandoned it entirely f<>r theological pursuits. He is said to have made himself master of school divinity by the time he had reached bis eighteenth year, when be was admitted a probationer, and went through such examinations as qualified him, without ordination, to become a preacher in the church of Scotland. One of his relatives now offered him a good living, but he thought proper to decline it, modestly deeming himself unequal to the charge. On the death of his father, then a lord of session, in 1()(U, his friends advised him to resume his legal pursuits, with a view of prac- tising at the Scotch bar. Burnet, how- ever, refused to abandon the stiuly of divinity, in which he continued to make extraordinary progress. In 1CC3, be BISHOP BURNET. 197 visited Oxford and Cambridge, where he became acquainted with most of the learned men of the day, and much improved himself in mathematics and philosophy. On his return to Scotland, Sir Robert Fletcher offered him the living of Saltoun ; but Burnet, wishing to visit Holland, begged leave to decline it in favour of a gentleman, from whom he had received some valuable instruc- tions with respect to extempore preach- ing. Fletcher, however, determined to keep the living vacant, until Burnet's return from Holland ; whither the latter proceeded in 1664, and while residing at Amsterdam, studied Hebrew under a learned Jewish rabbi. He subse- quently removed to Paris, and thence to London, where he was made a fellow of the Royal Society. Returning to Scotland, he found the living of Saltoun still vacant, but Sir Robert Fletcher could not prevail upon him to take it, until, by preaching to the parishioners, for some months, he had ascertained that his ministry was acceptable. In 1663, he was ordained priest; and, for some years, performed the duties of his sacred office, at Saltoun, in a most exemplary manner ; comforting, re- proving, instructing, and assisting the members of his congregation, as occasion required. One of his parishioners hav- ing fallen into difficulties, Burnet asked him how much would be sufficient to set him up again in business. The man named a certain sum, which Bur- net immediately ordered his servant to fetch. "Sir," 'said the servant, "it is all we have in the house." " Well, well," replied Burnet, " pay it to this poor man : you do not know the plea- sure there is in making a man glad." About this time, he drew up a state- ment of the abuses practised by the Scotch bishops, to each of whom he sent a copy of it, signed with his own hand. This bold proceeding, in so young a man, exposed him to the deep resentment of Archbishop Sharpe, who, had he been seconded by liis brethren, would, as it appears, have taken imme- diate measures for Burnet's deprivation and excommunication. In 1669, he was elected professor of divinity at Glas- gow ; where, it is said, he continued four years and a half, hated by the pres- byterians, lest his moderation should lead to the establishment of episcopacy; and by the episcopalians, because he was for exempting the dissenters from their persecutions. While officiating at Saltoun, it was remarked, that he had used the only copy of the church of England prayer-book which had been known to have existed in the clnuxh of Scotland from the beginning of the reign of Charles the Second. Soon after his election to the profes- sorship, he published A Modest and Free Conference between a Conformist and a Non-conformist, which procured him an increase of esteem among the friends of moderation. He next occu- pied himself in compiling his Memoirs of the Duke of Hamilton, relative to which he visited London, and while there, it is said, he was offered, but refused, a Scotch bishopric. On his return to Glasgow, he married Lady Margaret Kennedy, daughter of the Earl of Oassilis ; to whom, on the day of their union, with- out any solicitation on her part, he unexpectedly delivered a deed, by which the whole of her fortune was secured to herself. This he did, it is said, to silence the imputation of having married a woman whose age exceeded his own, from interested motives. In 1672, he published A Vindication of the Authority, Constitution, and Laws of the Church and State of Scot- land, a work which was strikingly at variance with his previous opinions. It met with great approbation at court, and procured for Burnet the offer of a Scotch archbishopric, which, however, he would not accept. In 1673, appeared his Mystery of Iniquity Unveiled. During the same year, while he was in LoiKion, whither he had proceeded for the purpose of obtaining a license to print his Memoirs of the Duke of Hamilton, he was made chaplain to the king; with whom, and also with the Duke of York, he is said to have had several private interviews. But iiis court-favour was of brief duration ; his name being strr.ck out of the list of royal chaplains, soon after his return to Scotland, for opposing the measures of Lauderdale. He shortly afterwards found it necessary, as it is stated, for his personal security, to resign tlie pro- fessorship of divinity, at Glasgow, and remove to London. He now printed his Truth of Religion 198 THE CHURCH. Examined; and after having refused the living of St. Giles's, Cripplegate, which had previously been intended for his friend, Dr. Fowler, he was appointed, in 1675, preacher at the Rolls, and, soon afterwards, lecturer of St. Clement's. In 1676, he published his Memoirs of the Duke of Hamilton, and An Ac- count of a Conference between himself, Coleman, and Dr. Stillingfleet. The rapid progress of popery, at this time, induced him to undertake a History of the Reformation; the first volume of which, after having remained a year in manuscript, to receive the corrections of his friends, was produced in 1679. It not only met with great approbation from the public, but procured for the author the high honour of thanks from both houses of parliament; with a re- quest that he would prosecute his design to a conclusion. In 1681, ap- peared a second volume of the work ; and, during the same year, he printed An Account of the Life and Death of the Earl of Rochester, which contained a most interesting account of his con- ferences with that profligate nobleman, whose death-bed he had attended, at the expiring libertine's request. He soon afterwards published his Life of Sir Matthew Hale; The History of the Regale; The Method of Conversion by the Clergy of France examined ; and An Abridgment of the History of the Reformation. About the same time, after having attended Mrs. Roberts, one of Charles the Second's mistresses, in her dying moments, he addressed a letter to that monarch, in which he boldly censured his majesty's misgo- vernment and licentiousness. " I told the king," he says, " I lioped the reflection on what had befallen his father, on the 30th of January, might move him to consider these things more carefully. The king read the letter twice over, and threw it into the fire." In 1683, appeared his Translation of Sir Thomas More's Utopia. He had now become so intimately connected with the party opposed to government, that, after having attended Lord Russell to the scaffold, he deemed it prudent to go to Paris ; and while there, he was deprived of his lectureship, by tlie king's mandate, and forbidden to preach again at the Rolls. In 1685, he published his Life of Dr. Bedell ; and, about the same period, returned to England: but, on the accession of James the Second, he again fled to Paris, in order to avoid being inculpated with the conspirators in favour of Monmouth. From Paris, he proceeded to Rome, where Pope Inno- cent the Eleventh offered to give him a private audience in bed, to avoid the ceremony of kissing the slipper of his holiness; Burnet, however, declined the proposal. He was treated with great consideration by the Cardinals Howard and D'Estrees; but became involved in some religious disputes, on account of which. Prince Borghese recommended him to quit Rome. He then made a tour through Italy, Switzerland, Ger- many, and France; of which, he after- wards published an account, in a series of letters addressed to Mr. Boyle. At the conclusion of his tour, he re- paired to the Hague, on the invitation of the Prince and Princess of Orange, in whose councils, with respect to Eng- land, he took so prominent a share, that James the Second ordered a prosecution to be commenced against him for high treason, and demanded his person from the States General, but without effect, as he had previously acquired the rights of naturalization, by forming an union (his first wife being dead) with a Dutch lady, of large fortune, named Scott. He took a particularly active part in the revolution of 1688, and accompanied the new monarch to England, as chap- lain. The king, soon afterwards, offered him the bishopric of Sarum, which, however, he begged his majesty to bestow on his old friend, Dr. Lloyd. " I have another person in view," coldly replied the king; who, the next day, nominated Burnet himself to the see, and subsequently conferred on him the chancellorship of the order of the Garter. On taking his seat in the house of lords, he declared himself to be an ad- vocate for moderate measures towards non-juring divines, and for the tolera- tion of protestant dissenters. He acted as chairman of the committee to whom the bill, for settling the succession, was referred ; and displayed so much zeal in favour of the house of Hanover, that the Princess Sophia corresponded with him until within a very shortperiodof her death. In 1692, he published a pastoral letter to the clergy of his diocese, which, on account of its containing a statement BISHOP BURNET. 199 that the title of William and Mary to the crown, might be grounded on the right of conquest, was, three years after- wards, during theascendancy of Burnet's political enemies, ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. He published Four Discourses to the Clergy, in 1694; An Essay on the Character of Queen Mary, in 1695 ; and A Vindication of Archbishop Tillotson, in 1696. In 1698, he became tutor to the young Duke of Gloucester ; and, during the same year, (having lost his second wife,) married Mrs. Berkley, the author- ess of a pious work, entitled A Method of Devotion. In 1699, he produced his Ex- position of the Thirty-nine Articles; in 1710, his Church Catechism Explained; and, in 1715, the third volume of his History of the Reformation. He died ofa pleuritic fever, on the 17th of March, in the last-mentioned year, leaving three sons ; one of whom published the de- ceased prelate's celebrated History of his own Times, with an account of his life, in 1723-4. In addition to his more important works already specified, Bishop Burnet was the author of several minor theological and political pieces; which, however, add but little to his fame. He is described by Macky, his cotem- porary, as " a large, strong-made, bold- looked man, and one of the greatest orators of his age. His History of the Reformation, and his Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles," continues Macky, " shew him to be a man of great learn- ing ; but several of his other works shew him to be a man neither of prudence nor temper; his sometimes opposing, and sometimes favouring the dissenters, hath much exposed him to the generality of the people of England ; yet he is very useful in the house of peers ; and proves a great pillar, both of the civil and ecclesiastical constitu- tion, against the encroachments of a party which would destroy both. On the queen's succession to the throne, he was the first who brought the news to her of King William's death, and saluted her queen ; yet was turned out of his lodgings at court, and met with several affronts." " His character," says a foreigner, quoted in Grosley's observations on England, " was an odd mixture of vio- lence and complaisance, which he made alternately subservient to promoting his fortune. He was concerned in all the great changes, and had a hand in all the intrigues which agitated England, from the year 1680 till his death. Ever varying his principles according to cir- cumstances, he was unshaken in nothing but his hatred to the house of Stuart. This hatred it was, that excited King William to promote him to the episcopal dignity, and confer on him the place of chancellor of the order of the Garter, and that of preceptor to the Duke of Gloucester. He was afterwards as warm a partizan of the house of Ha- nover, as he had been of the Prince of Orange ; but death did not give him time to reap the fruits of this new at- tachment." Some Tory wag, soon after his de- cease, proposed the following inscription for his monument : — Here Sarum lies, of late so wise. And learnM as Tom Aquinas; Lawn sleeves he wore, but was no more A Christian than f!>ociuus. Oaths, pro and con, he swallowM down ; Lov'd gold like any layraan ; \^ rote, preach 'd, and pray'd ; and jet betray *d God's holy word /or Mammon. Of every vice he had a spice, Although a rev'rend prelate ; And liv'd and died, il not belied, A true dissenting zealot. If such a soul to Heav'n should stroll. And 'scape old Satan's clutches ; We then presume there may be room. For Marlborough and his duchess '. Many of his friends, blind to his real defects, which his enemies have greatly magnified, appear to have thought, as one of them admits, that " his talents gave him a privilege for straying from the strict rules of caution, and exempted him from the ordinary censure." In extenuation of his activity as a poli- tician, which, under different circum- stances, would have been degrading to his character as a divine, it has been suggested that, in his times, the es- tablished church was in danger, from the probabihty of a popish succession; to defeat which, it became decorous and laudable for her most dignified sup- porters to take an influential part in public affairs. That he was betrayed, by the ardour of his temperament, into frequent im- proprieties, it would be rash to deny ; 200 THE CHURCH. but his motives appear to have been always conscientious ; and the general tenour of liis conduct, was certainly more worthy of applause than deserving of censure. He possessed many virtues, some prejudices, several failings, but no positive vice. He was zealous for the pro- motion of religion ; extensively tolerant, though conspicuously hostile to papacy; assiduous in the discharge of his epis- copal duties ; a warm advocate for bet- tering the condition of the poor clergy ; an enemy to pluralities ; a benefactor to the unfortunate ; an excellent hus- band, a good father, and a constant friend. His chief failings were self-im- portance, credulity, ofiiciousness, and a gossipping garrulity, which frequently rendered him oflfensive, exposed him to repeated inconveniences, and often led him into misrepresentations, although his breaches of veracity never appear to have been intentional. With him originated the measure for augmenting poor livings out of the first fruits payable to the crown ; during the progress of which, he either instituted to prebendal stalls, or bestowed small annuities upon, those ministers in his diocese, whose incomes were too slender for their comfortable maintenance. He allowed pensions to several clergymen's widows, vpho had been left destitute; contributed largely to the repairing and building of churches and parsonage- houses ; supported four students at the university, and fifty boys at a school at Salisbury, whom, in due time, he apprenticed to tradesmen ; assisted in- dustrious persons, who were in distress ; and constantly expended so much of his episcopal revenue in acts of be- nevolence and hospitality, that, at his death, he left no more than was barely sufficient to pay his debts. Equally opposed to political as to religious persecution, he interfered, eflectually, although in opposition to the wishes of the Whig lords, in behalf of the Earl of Clarendon, when that nobleman, in 1690, became involved in some of the plots of the day. He also interested himself in favour of Sir John Fenvvick ; and procured Queen Anne's pardon for Dr. Beach, a non-juring divine, who had preached a treasonable sermon. His letter to Charles the Second affords a strong proof of his disinterestedness ; and it is said, that during the reign of William and Mary, although he never lost the royal favour, he frequently digusted their majesties, by tlie bold candour with which he delivered his sentiments. He was care- less of preferment, which, on several occasions, he felt anxious to decline, in favour of his friends. To him, pki- ralists, whom he designated as sacri- legious robbers of the revenues of the church, were so odious, that his chap- lains were invariably dismissed on their obtaining promotion. A clergyman in his diocese, once asked him if, on the authority of St. Bernard, he might not hold two livings. "How will you be able to serve them both I" inquired Burnet. " I intend to officiate by deputy, in one," was the reply. " Will your deputy," said the bishop, " be damned for you too ? Believe me, you may serve your cure by proxy, but you must be damned in person !" The Rev. Dr. Kelsey, a pluralist, who happened to be present, was so struck with these words, that, it is said, he immediately resigned one of his preferments. In the discharge of his duty, as a prelate, he remedied many abuses ; and displayed his characteristic fearlessness, in supporting the true interests of the church. The lord chancellor having presented an ignorant young nobleman to a living in the bishopric of Salisbury, Burnet refused to institute him. He was, consequently, threatened with a prosecution by the chancellor, who, however, finding him resolute, con- sented to abandon the presentation. Burnet then made an offer, which was accepted, to perform the parochial duties of the living, until he should have qualified the young nobleman to dis- charge them himself. In conversation, he is described as having been often unintentionally dis- agreeable, through a singular want of consideration. One day, during Marl- borough's disgrace, and voluntary exile, Burnet, while dining with the duchess, who was a reputed termagant, com- pared the duke to Belisarius. " How do you account," inquired her grace, for so great a man as that celebrated Roman, having been so miserable and deserted ?" " Oh ! madam," replied the bishop, " he had, as you know, such a sad brimstone of a wife !" When Prince Eugene visited England, ARCHBISHOP WAKE. •201 at the latter end of Queen Anne's reign, Burnet, whose curiosity is said to have been equal to that of any woman in the kingdom, contrived to be among the guests at a diiuier party, to which the prince was invited, at Alarl- borough house. He had previously been warned to say notliing which might disgust the illustrious visitor, whose motlier, the Countess of Soissons, it is necessary to remark, had been imprisoned, at Paris, on suspicion of having been concerned in the adminis- tration of poison to certain individuals, about the year IGSO. Burnet preserved an inflexible silence, until the prince, discovering his name, entered into con- versation with him, and, among other questions, asked him wiien he had last visited Paris. The bishop answered, precipitately, that " he could not recol- lect the year, but it was about the time when the Countess of Soissons was imprisoned." Although hasty and careless in his composition, he has, deservedly, by his vigour, the variety of his knowledge, and the liberality of his sentiments, acquired considerable reputation as an author. Horace Walpole, after stating that his very credulity is a proof of his honesty, declares his style and manner to be very interesting. " It I seems," he adds, "as if he had just come from the king's closet, or from j the apartments of the man whom he describes, and was telling his reader, in plain terms, what he had seen and heard." The humorous piece, en- titled, Memoirs of P. P. the Parish Clerk, was composed in ridicule of the History of his own Times; a work, which, on account of its anecdotes and characters, excited considerable clamour among the Tories, and exposed his memory to much animadversion and ridicule from Svvift, Pope, and Arbuth- not. His Exposition of the Thirty- nine Articles, originally undertaken at the request of Queen Jlary and Arch- bishop Tillotson, although it incurred the censure of the lower house of con- vocation, was honoured with the ap- plause of Tenison, Sharpe, Stillingfleet, Patrick, Lloyd, Hall, and others, an, appeared a pamphlet, entitled. The Cliristian Re- ligion, as professed by a Daughter of the Churcli of England; of which he was suspected, and accused by Lord Stanhope, of being the author. In 1707, he was made a canon of Exeter cathedral ; and, in 1709, preacher at the Rolls chapel. He engaged in another controversy with Hoadly, on the doc- trine of passive obedience ; and aided materially in the defence of Saclieverell, for whom he is stated to have become bail. At this time, he was prolocutor to the lower house of convocation ; and, as it is alleged, wrote, and privately circulated, a work, which was deemed too grossly violent to be presented to the queen, entitled, A Representation of the present State of Religion. In 1712, he was made Dean of Christchurch ; and, in the following year, by the re- commendation of Lord Oxford, Bishop of Rochester, and Dean of Westminster. On the death of Queen Anne, it is asserted that he offered, with a sufficient guard, to proclaim the Pretender in full canonicals. George the First, who was, doubtless, aware of his political senti- ments, treated him with marked cool- ness ; and Atterbury evinced his dis- affection towards the new monarch, by refusing to sign the loyal declaration of the bishops, during the rebellion, in 1715; and suspended a clergyman in his diocese, (Gibbin, curate of Graves- end,) for allowing the performance of divine service in his church to the Dutch troops, who had been brought over to act against the insurgents. At length, he engaged in a correspondence with the Pretender's friends, for which he was committed to the Tower, in August, 1722, and, in the following March, a bill of pains and penalties was brought forward against him. He defended himself with great eloquence, but contemptible hypocrisy ; meekly, but stedfastly, denying his guilt, which has since been established on authenti- cated documentary evidence. The bill, although vehemently opposed by many of the peers of Atterbury's party, who declared it to be grossly unconstitu- tional, was passed into a law; and, by its operation, the bishop was stripped of his benefices, exiled for life, and de- prived of the society of Briti>h subjects residing abroad ; tliey being forbidden to visit him, without permission under the king's sign maiuiai, which, how- ever, was not withheld from any of his relatives. In June, 1723, he proceeded, with his favourite daughter, Mrs. Morice, to Brussels ; and, soon a'terwards, fixed his residence at Paris, where he amused himself, chiefly, during the remainder of his life, in corresponding with emi- nent men of letters. But his love of political intrigue, appears to have never subsided. While pretending to be wholly devoted to the enjoyments of literature, and affecting, even in his correspondence with Pope, to be a friend to the constitution as it then existed, he was secretly contributing, as a collection of letters, published at Edinburgh in 17fi8, unquestionably prove, to the advance of the Jacobite cause in the Highlands. His last years were much embittered by the death of his favourite daughter, Mrs. Morice, the voluntary companion of his exile, who expired in his arms, in 1729. He had three other children by Iiis wife, (who died in 1722,) of whom, only one, Osborn, Rector of Oxhill, in Warwick- shire, survived him. His own death occurred in the month of February, 1731, and his remains were permitted to be brought to this country, and pri- vately interred in Westminster abbey. Although remarkably turbulent, "as- piring, and contentious, Bishop Atter- bury succeeded in obtaining a high character for moderation and humility, from many of his cotemporaries, by an affecteci suavity of deportment, and a hypocritical mildness of expression. Few prelates have evinced a more in- temperate spirit of partisanship, or a greater share of daring ambition. He was hostile to civil and religious liberty, from political, rather than conscientious motives; passive obedience, and non- resistance, being among the chief tenets of the party, to which he had deemed 206 THE CHURCH. it most prudent to attach himself. Early in life, according to a statement made by his friend, Pope, to Lord Chester- field, he was a sceptic with regard to revealed religion ; from which, how- ever, it is added, he derived liis chief consolation during his adversity. It would be absurd to deny him the pos- session of considerable talent : he was an effective preacher, and an admirable parliamentary orator"; yet, he enjoys more celebrity as an author than he appears to deserve. This may be at- tributed to his intimacy with the lite- rary aristocrats of his day, who, influ- enced by friendship, or party prejudices, ascribed to his writings a degree of excellence, which they do not, in reality, possess. His controversial pro- ductions are brilliant, but shallow ; his criticisms evince more taste and fancy than erudition ; and his translations from Horace have, as it is now gene- rally admitted, obtained greater praise than they merit. His sermons, however, it must be confessed, are clear, forcible, and, though never sublime, occasionally eloquent and pathetic; and his letters, on which his fame, as a writer, must principally depend, are superior even to those of Pope : but the great delight which a perusal of them would other- wise afford, is marred, by a conviction, in the minds of those who are ac- quainted with the circumstances of his career, that no dependence can be placed on his sincerity. " Atterbury," says Horace Walpole, " was nothing more nor less than a Jacobite priest: his writings were extolled by that fac- tion ; but his letter on Clarendon's history is truly excellent." He appears to have married from motives of interest, and his elder brother, Lewis, rector of Shepperton and Hornsey, in Middlesex, a plain and benevolent divine, is said to have had reason to complain of his neglect. WILLIAM WHISTON. X HIS extraordinary divine was born at Norton, in Leicestershire, of which his father was rector, in the year 1C67. On account of a hypochondriacal af- fection, under which he laboured, he studied at home, vmtil the age of seven- teen ; when lie was sent to Tamworth school, from which he was removed, two years after, to Clare hall, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself by his ardent application to the mathematics. In 1690, he commenced B. A., and, pro- ceeding M. A. in 1693, became a fellow of his college, and an academical tutor. His reputation for learning was rapidly on the increase, when, in consequence of his bodily inability to fulfil the duties of his station," he took holy orders, and obtained the appointment of chaplain to Dr. Moore, bishop of Norwi.-h, who, in 1698, presented him to the living of Lowestoffe, in Suffolk. He had, previously, (in 1696) pub- lished a highly imaginative work, en- titled, A Tlieory of the Earth, of which Locke said, " It deserves great com- mendation ; and is the more to be ad- mired for its hypotheses, whereby he explains so many wonderful and before inexplicable things, in the great changes of this globe; and the whole is entirely new. Such writers, I always fancy, should be most esteemed. 1 am al- ways for the builders who bring some addition to our knowledge, or, at least, some new things to our thoughts." At Lowestoffe, he devoted himself assiduously to the duties of his cure, and, while residing there, it is related, that, on being requested to sign the necessary document for opening a ne^v alehouse, he said, " Had you brought me a paper for pulling an alehouse down, I would certainly have signed it, but I will never sign one for setting an alehouse up." In 1700, Newton, who subsequently resigned in his favour, appointed him his deputy, as professor of mathematics, at Cambridge ; where Whiston, who now gave up his bene- fice, for some time held tlie office of cathetical lecturer, at St. Clement's. In 1706, appeared his Essay on the Reve- lations of .St. John; and, in 1707, he preached a course of sermons, as Boy- lean lecturer, on Scripture prophecies, ^v I L L I A ii w n I s T o n. 207 which were printed in the following year. About this period, he wrote An Essay on llie Apostolic Constitu- tion, which he avowed, in his opinion, to be the most sacred of the canonical books of the New Testament. In this production, he had thrown out doubts as to the divinity of our Saviour ; and, in a sermon, preached shortly afterwards, he affirmed tliat the children of Joseph and the Virgin Mary were the natural brothers and sisters of Christ. He then openly avowed Arianism, and his ex- pulsion from the university ensued. Proceeding to London, he published various pieces in support of his opin- ions, and gave lectures on astronomj', from the continuance of which he might, perhaps, have derived a com- fortable income, but he neglected them for theological controversy ; and, by his publication of Primitive Christianity Revived, in 1711, exposed himself to a prosecution for heresy, which, how- ever, four years after, was terminated by an act of grace. When Prince Eugene, after having achieved some victories over the Ottoman troops, came to England, Whiston presented him with a copy of his Essay on the Reve- lations, and, in a short dedication, de- signated him •' the man foretold in the apocalypse, as the destroyer of the Turkish empire." The prince, in re- turn, gave him fifteen guineas, although, he observed, he was not aware that he enjoyed the honour of having been known to St. John. Whiston, subsequently, presumed to apply various Scripture prophecies to passing events: his absurd predictions were constantly falsified; but still he went on, less sane, perhaps, in intel- lect, than honest in his intentions, af- fecting to foretell what did not come to pass; and, at length, avowed an opinion, that the millenium, and res- toration of the Jews, were at hand. About this time, having a small estate to sell, he offered it to a gentleman, at thirty years' purchase. " Thirty years' purchase!" exclaimed the gentleman, " You appear astonished," said Whis- ton ; " and yet I ask no more, I believe, for my property than other folks do for theirs." " I don't wonder at other people," replied the gentleman, ironi- cally, "because they know no better; but I certainly am surprised to hear Mr. Whiston ask thirty years' purchase, when he feels sure, 'that in half that time, property will be in common, and no man's estate worth a groat." In 1717, he was turned out of St. Andrew's Holburn, which was tiien his parish church, by the notorious Sache- verell, against whom, Wilson, an attor- ney, offered to institute proceedings, at his own cost; but Whiston declined the proposal, observing, that if he con- sented to it, he should prove himself to be as passionate and foolish as Sache- verell himself. In 1719, he published his Letter to Lord Nottingham on the Eternity of the Son of God and His Holy Spirit, on account of which, principally, it has been asserted, his admission to the Royal Society was successfully opposed by Sir Isaac Newton, the president; whose favour Whiston had enjoyed for twenty years, but lost it, at last, as he states, by contradicting him when he was old. " Had he lived," continues Whiston, "when I refuted his Chro- nology, I should not have published the work, because I knew his temper so well, that I should have expected it would have killed him." He now made an attempt to discover the longitude, which proving abortive, a subscription was commenced to re- imburse him for his labours and losses in the imdertaking; the collection, it is said, amounted to nearly jg500, which was the largest sum he ever possessed. During the remainder of his life he was indefatigably indus- trious, and published numerous works, among which were a translation of Josephus, and memoirs of himself. He remained, as he states, in communion with the church of England, until Trinity Sunday, 1747, when, on ac- count of the Athanasian creed being read during public worship, he went to a Baptist meeting, "whither," he adds, " I shall continue going, until I can set up a more primitive congregation myself." He died, after a brief illness, on the 22nd of August, 1752. By his wife, a Miss Antrobus, of Tamworth, whom he married about the year 1699, he had a large family. In domestic life, he is reputed to have been amiable, happy, and beloved. Viewing him in his public career, he appears to have displayed much imagi- nation, united to great learning, but 208 THE CHURCH. unrestrained by judgment. In him there was rather an unusual combina- tion of feverish ardour and plodding diligence. Utterly careless of personal interest, he hesitated not, for a mo- ment, on any occasion, to do what he deemed to be his duty to mankind. His lofty contempt for worldly wisdom, at length, reduced him to depend, in some measure, on donations for his support. His friends vainly endeavoured to moderate the warmth of his religious zeal ; and his antagonists in controversy, with a large portion of the public, so far from being convinced by his argu- ments, eventually became of opinion that his intellectual faculties were im- paired. The wits abused him without mercy ; and Swift, in particular, wrote some satirical lines on him, which, to the dean's disgrace, are too disgusting to repeat. Towards the close of his career, Whiston was thus spoken of by Bishop Hare : — " He has, all his life, been cul- tivating piety, and virtue, and learning ; he is rigidly constant in all his duties ; and both his philosophical and 'mathe- matical works are highly useful. But it is the poor man's misfortune (for poor he is, and like to be, not having any preferment) to have a warm head and to be very zealous in what he thinks the cause of God. He thinks prudence the worldly wisdom con- demned by Christ and his apostles ; and that it is gross prevarication and hypocrisy, to conceal the discoveries he conceives he has made ; and thus, though he designs to hurt nobody, he is betrayed into some indiscretions. But he is very hardly dealt by : his per- formances are run down by those who never read them; and his warmth of temper is denounced as pride, obsti- nacy, and innate depravity. Some, too, say he is a madman, and, low as he is, will not leave him quiet in his poverty." Collins, in the Discourse on Chris- tianity, says of him, " His ardent tem- per frequently leads him into strange mistakes: for instance, an Arabic manu- script coming into his hands, of which he understood not one word, lie fancied it was a translation of an ancient book of Scripture, belonging to tlie New Tes- tament, styled, The Doctrine of the Apostles ; and on this he reasoned and wrote, as if it had been indisputable, till, on its being read by persons skilled in Arabic, it proved quite a different matter. He lives in London, and visits persons of the highest rank, to whom he discourses freely on doctrinal points, and especially aliout Athanasianism, which seems his chief concern." George the Second once observed to him, in Hampton Court gardens, that however right he might be in his opinions, it would have been better if he had kept them to himself. " Had Martin Luther done so," replied Whiston, " where, let me ask, would your majesty have been at this moment i" " He was much esteemed," says his son, " by Queen Caroline, who made him a present of fifty pounds yearly. She usually sent for him once in the summer, whilst she was out of town, to spend a day or two with her. Lov- ing his free conversation, she asked him, at Richmond, what people, in general, said of her. He re^jlied, that they justly esteemed her a lady of great abilities ; a patron of learned men ; and a kind friend to the poor. 'But,' says she, 'no one is without faults; pray what are mine ?' Whiston begged to be excused speaking on that subject, but she insisting, he said, ' Her majesty did not behave with proper reverence at church.' She replied, ' The king «t'o«W talk with her.' He said, ' A greater than kings was there only to be re- garded.' She owned it, and confessed her fault. ' Pray,' says she, ' tell me what is my next ?' He replied, ' When I hear your majesty has amended of that fault, I will tell you of your next;' and so it ended." The following anecdote of Whiston is related by the same writer: — " Being in company with Addison, Steele, Secre- tary Craggs, and Sir Robert Walpole, they engaged in a dispute, whether a secretary of state could be an honest man. W^histon being silent, was asked his opinion, and said, 'he thought honesty was the best policy, and if a minister would practise it, he would find it so.' To which Craggs replied, ' It might do for a fortnight, but would not do for a month.' Whiston de- manded, ' If he had ever tried it for a fortnight.' To which, he making no answer, the company gave it for Whiston." BlSHOr GIBSON. 209 EDMUND GIBSON, BISHOP OF LONDON. 1 HIS eminent prelate was born at Bampton, in Westmoreland, in 1669; and, after having acquired an intimate knowledge of the classics, at a provincial school, he was sent to Queen's college, Oxford, in 1686. He proceeded to the degree of B. A. in 1691 ; and, about the same time, published new editions of Drummond's Polemo-Middiana, and the Catilena Rustica of James the Fifth, with notes abounding in humour and erudition. In 1692, he produced a Latin version of the Chronicon Saxoni- cum, and a catalogue of Manuscripts in the Dugdale Library, and that of Bishop Tennison. His More Correct Edition of Quintilian de Arte Oratoria appeared in 1694; and he subsequently published new editions of Julius Cassar, and Somner's Treatise. During the year last mentioned, he took the de- gree of M. A., and became librarian at Lambeth palace. In 1697, he was elected a fellow of his college, and en- tered into holy orders. He now de- voted himself, with great zeal, to the reproduction of Camden's Brittannia; in editing which he was assisted by Lhwyd, Smith, Johnson, and Kennett. After having declined a small living in the Isle of Thanet, which had been offered to him by Lord Somers, he ac- cepted, in 1697, the appointment of morning preacher at Lambeth church ; and, in 1698, that of domestic chaplain to Archbishop Tennison. About the same time, he was made lecturer at St. Martin's-in-the-fields, and published the posthumous works of Sir Henry Spelman. In 1700, he was presented to the rectory of Stisted, in Essex ; two years afterwards, the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on him the degree of D. D.; and, in 1703, he ob- tained the rectory of Lambeth, and was made precentor and residentiary of the cathedral of Chichester. He next obtained the mastership of St. Mary's hospital, with license to hold his other preferments; and, in 1710, he was promoted to the archdeaconry of Surrey. In 1713, he published his famous Codex Juris Ecclesiastic! Anglican! ; in 1715, on the death of his patron. Arch- bishop Tennison, he was raised to the bishopric of Lincoln; in 1721, he be- came dean of the chapel royal ; and, on the death of Bishop Robinson, in 1723, he was translated to the vacant see of London. His death took place at Bath, on the 6th of September, 1748. He married early in life, and left several children. His social virtues have been highly eulogized ; and it is recorded, to his honour, that, Dr. Crow having left him £2,500, he generously aban- doned the bequest to the testator's necessitous relations. His natural abilities were great, and his disposition was admirably calculated to improve and develop them. As a student, he was zealously laborious; his piety was equal to his erudition; and, although occasionally betrayed into in- tolerance, he appears, on the whole, to have been an excellent prelate, and a strictly conscientious man. In addition to the works already enumerated, he composed a Life of Bodley ; Tracts on the Antiquities of Great Britain ; and several pastoral letters, which have been considered masterly attacks on infi- delity and enthusiasm. During the long illness of Arch- bishop Wake, the affairs of the church were left almost entirely to the manage- ment of Bishop Gibson ; and, it is said, that, in the exercise of his great eccle- siastical power, he advanced tliose only who, by their learning and piety, were deserving of preferment. He procured an endowment from the crown for the regular performance of divine service at Whitehall, by twenty-four preachers, selected from the two universities. He zealously promoted the spiritual inter- ests of the colonies, and laboured assi- duously for the advancement of re- ligion within his own diocese. He stood forward, on several occasions, as the champion of the church ; but some- times insisted upon her rights with more zeal than discretion. Although an enemy to persecution on matters of faith, he sternly opposed a repeal of the 210 THE CHURCH. test and corporation acts ; and counter- acted the attempts of the Quakers to avoid payment of tithes. He exposed himself to the animadversions of the lord chief justice, and many severe writers, by censuring the practice of sending prohibitions from the temporal to the spiritual courts; and oftended George the Second, not only by in- veighing from the pulpit against mas- querades, to wliich that monarch was much attached, but by procuring the signatures of several bishops to an address to the throne, " praying for the entire abolition of such pernicious di- versions." Until the boldness wiih which he discharged what he deemed to be his duty had given offence to government, '• he had been considered," says Whiston, " as heir-apparent to the see of Canterbury ;" and so great had been his ecclesiastical power, that Wal- pole was reproached with allowing him the authority of a pope. " And a very good pope he is, too," replied the minister. HENRY SACHEVERELL. Henry, the son of the Rev. Joshua Sacheverell, was born in 1672. He ob- tained the rudiments of education from a village schoolmaster, at the cost of his godfather, an apothecary, named Hurst, on whose death, his widow sent the youth to Magdalen college, Oxford. While at the university, Sacheverell was chamber fellow with Addison, who in- scribes one of his pieces to him, as '"his dearest friend and colleague." Accounts vary as to Sacheverell's conduce at this period of his life : one set of authorities accusing him of turbulence, and in- gratitude to his former friends; while another eulogizes his good manners, morality, and application. He distin- guished himself by some clever Latin poems ; was chosen fellow of his col- lege ; and became tutor to several pu- pils who afterwards attained great eminence. He took his degree of M.A. inI69C; thatof B.D. in 1707; and that of D.U. in the following year. His first preferment in the church was to the living of Cannock, in Stafford- shire ; whence he removed, in 1705, to St. Saviour's, Southwark, of which he was appointed preacher. In the year 1709, he delivered two sermons, one at Derby, and the other at St. Paul's, which raised him to a great but un- merited notoriety. In these discourses, greatly to the satisfaction of the Torv or liigli church party, he warmly advo- cated the doctrines of divine right and passive obedience ; and, particularly in one of them, viridentiy attacked the leaders of tiie Whigs, who were then in office. His popularity rapidly in- creased: his health was drank in pint bumpers, at numberless festive meet- ings; while handkerchiefs, and even fans, were embellished with his portrait. Ministers denounced his doctrines as being most pernicious ; and, rather in- discreetly, brought his conduct under the notice of parliament. After many stormy debates in the house of com- mons, it was resolved to proceed against him by impeachment. His trial, which commenced on the 27th of February, 1709-10, continued until the 23rd of March, when he was sentenced to a suspension from preaching for three years, and his two obnoxious sermons were ordered to be burnt. The excitement of the public during his trial was almost unexampled. Queen Anne attended the court daily ; and as her chair passed through the streets, she was greeted by the multi- tude with such exclamations as the fol- lowing: — "High church and Sacheverell for ever !" '• We hope your majesty is for Dr. Sacheverell I" The impeach- ment was disastrous to the Whigs, as it not only increased the reputation of Sacheverell, but led to their own over- throw. During his suspension, Sacheverell, wiio was considered a martyr to his principles, made a sort of triumphal tour through the kingdom ; in most parts of which he was received, both by the clergy and laity, as the victim of a detestable persecution. He was collated to a living before the term of his ARCHBISHOP POTTER. 211 sentence had expired ; and, within a month after its termination, (on the 13th of April, 1713,) the quetn pre- sented him to the valuable rectory of St. Andrew's, Holborn. Tlie first sermon which he preached in the church of that parish, he sold fur £100, and forty thousand copies of it were speedily pur- chased. Ministers, according to Swift, hated, and affected to despise him; but he had sufficient interest to procure from them, in addition to lii> own pre- ferment, a handsome provision for his brother. He seems to have been still in high favour with the populace, dming the first year of the reign of George the First; at whose coronation, it is related, the proceedings were repeatedly in- terrupted by vociferations of " Down with the Whigs !" and " Sacheverell for ever!" From this time, however, he gradually dwindled into insignificance; and signalized himself, only, during the remainder of his life, by contemptible squabbles with his parishioners; one of whom, the famous Whiston, he actually turned out of the church, because his avowed opinions were heterodox. Some years before his death, which took place on the 5th of June, 1724, one of his relatives left him a considerable estate in Derbyshire. By his will, Sacheverell bequeathed jSSOO to Bishop Atterbury, who, it is suspected, wrote the defence which he made at h's trial. The Duchess of Marlborough de- scribes him as having been an ignorant, impudent incendiary, who was the scorn even of those who made use of him as a tool. " He was," says Bijhop Burnet, " a bold, insolent man, with a very small measure of religion, virtue, learn- ing, or good sense ; but he resolved to force himself into popularity and pre- ferment, by the most petulant railings at dissenters and low church men, in several sermons and libels, written with- out either chasteness of style, or liveli- ness of expression." Sacheverell was evidently neither wise nor good: he disgraced the pulpit by political rancour, with a view to his own advancement, and to further his object, affected a religious zeal, which he never actually felt. Although for some time deemed an exalted character, lie was, unquestionably, one of the most contemptible public men of his day. He is described as having been stout and athletic ; but, on some occasions, so timorous, that Honeyman, the ventri- loquist, one day, nearly frightened him into a fainting fit, by maliciously imi- tating the voices of several persons in his room. JOHN POTTER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. John, the son of Thomas Potter, a , linen-draper, in Yorkshire, was born at ] Wakefield, in 1674. Dr. Parr sup- poses that he was brought up at a private school, "his Latin productions abounding with those faults which in- struction at a higher seminary would j have taught him to avoid.' He was, , however, at the age of fourteen, when he became a battler at University col- i lege, Oxford, deemed a great proficient , in Greek. After taking the degree of B. A., he published, in 1693, his : first work, entitled, Variantes Lectiones ' et Notse ad Plutarchi Librum de audi- endis Poetis ; et ad Babilii Magni Orationem ad Juvenis, quomodo cum fructu legere possint Graecorum Libros ; which he compiled at tha request of Dr. Chartlett, master of his college, at whose expense it was printed, for the purpose only of being presented, as a new-year's-gift, to private friends and deserving students. In the following year, he became fellow of Lincoln col- lege, and proceeded to the degree of M. A. He soon after took orders, and distinguished himself as a private tutor. In 1697, he produced his elaborate edition of the Alexandra of Lycophron, and the first volume of his Archseologia Groeca, of which the second and last appeared in the following year. In 1704, he proceeded to the degree of B. D., and, becoming domestic chap- lain to Archbishop Tennison, took up his abode with that prelate, at Lambeth palace. In 1706, he proceeded to the 212 THE CHURCH. degree of D. D., and was made chaplain to Queen Anne. In 1707, he printed A Discourse on Church Government ; in which he maintained ecclesiastical to be distinct from civil authority, and that episcopacy was of divine institu- tion. Notwithstanding the support which he thus gave to high-church principles, he seems to have been regarded as a staunch Whig; and, during the last-mentioned year, he was triumphantly elected, by his party, regius professor of divinity, and canon of Christchurch, in opposition to Dr. Smalridge, a conspicuous Tory. In 1715, he was raised, by George the First, to the see of Oxford ; and, about the same time, he published an edition of Clemens Alexandrinus, with an entirely new version of the Cohortations. The celebrated Bangorian controversy soon afterwards commenced, in which, with Sherlock and others, he accused Hoadly, then Bishop of Bangor, of having, in his sermon preached before the king, in 1717, on civil and religious liberty, avowed opinions hostile to all establishments, and particularly to that of the church of England. In 1722, he entered into a correspondence with Atterbury, as to the period when the four gospels were written. He preached the sermon at the coronation of George the Second, who raised him to the archbishopric of Canterbury in 1737. He died in January, 1747, leaving two sons and three daughters. Dr. Potter was possessed of great learning and much talent. His works have deservedly obtained extraordinary commendation, as well on the continent as in this country. Dr. Harwood en- thusiastically pronounces his Alex- andra to be an everlasting monument of the learning of its illustrious editor ; and Gronovius deemed the Archseologia Graeca (which has passed through many editions, and is still deemed a standard work) worthy of a place in his cele- brated Thesaurus Antiquitatum Grseco- rum. Although haughty and morose, he seems to have been highly esteemed by a great portion of his cotemporaries; by many of whom he was admired and eulogized, for his vigilance, zeal, and talent, as a defender of orthodox opi- nions. Whiston, on the other hand, accuses him of extreme pride, court adulation, neglect of christian discipline, and strenuous hostility to those who attempted to effect any reformation in the church. He procured a preferment of £2,000 a year for the eldest of his two sons, but disinherited him for having formed an unequal alliance ; and left the bulk of his large property to the other, a man of bad character, who grossly ill-treated his wife, whom he had married pursuant to his father's commands. Shortly after his elevation to the primacy, he went to the residence of one of his relations, (a divine), for the purpose of stating that he intended to bestow on him a very acceptable prefer- ment. The reverend gentleman, how- ever, happened to be at a neighbouring ale-house, whither the archbishop pro- ceeded. On entering the skittle-ground, he found his relative busily engaged at a game of nine-pins, and had the mortification of hearing him exclaim, while aiming a bowl at the centre pin, " Here goes for the head of the church!" The archbishop, it is said, immediately retired in disgust, and bestowed the preferment on another divine. SAMUEL CLARKE. 1 HIS celebrated divine and philoso- pher was born on the 11th of October, 1675, in the city of Norwich, of which his father was an alderman. After passing some years at the free grammar school of ills native city, he was sent to Cains college, Cambridge ; where he studied the Scriptures, and the fathers of the church, in their original lan- guages; and, preparatory to taking his degree of B. A., distinguished himself by the performance of a public exer- cise on the Newtonian system, then a novelty, which he afterwards materially contributed to diffuse, by translating and publishing the Physics of Rohault. SAMUEL CLARKE. 213 On entering into holy orders, he was appointed chaplain to Dr. Moore, Bishop of Norwich. In 1699, appeared his first original work, under the title of Three Practical Essays upon Bap- tism, Confirmation, and Repentance ; and, in 1701, he published his cele- brated Paraphrase on the Four Gospels. About this time, he obtained the rec- tory of Drayton. In 1704, he preached at Boyle's lecture, On the Being and Attributes of God ; and, in 1705, On the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion. These admirable sermons were soon after printed, and have since gone through many editions. In 1700, he answered, and refuted the argu- ments of those who had endeavoured to disprove the immortality of the soul, in a letter addressed to ^Ir. Dodwell; and, during the same year, published a Latin version of the optics of Newton, who presented him with £500, as a token of his approbation and esteem. About the same time. Bishop Moore procured for him the rectory of St. Rennet's, London, and introduced him to Queen Anne, who nominated him one of her chaplains, and bestowed on him, in 1709, the rectory of St. James's, Westminster. On this occa- sion, he took his degree of D. D. and highly distinguished himself, by bis public exercise, at Cambridge ; in which he maintained, that no article in the christian faith is discordant to right reason ; and that, without the liberty of human actions, there can be no reli- gion. Prior to this period, he had been accustomed to preach without notes ; but he now began to bestow such care on the composition of his sermons, that they were found, at his death, written at full length, and in a fit state for the press. In 1712, he edited a noble edition of Caesar's Commentaries ; and soon after- wards involved himself in controversy, by the publication of his celebrated treatise, entitled The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity. Whiston states, that, shortly before this work appeared. Lord Godolphin, and some other members of the administration, sent a fruitless message to the author, requesting him to defer the publication of his treatise, " until a fitter opportunity ; as it was likely to make a great noise and dis- turbance." The unitarian principles. advocated in the production, exposed Dr. Clarke to the censures of both houses of convocation, and to some spirited attacks from Waterland, and other champions of orthodoxy. In 1715, he engaged in a disputation on the principles of natural philosophy and religion, with the celebrated Leibnitz ; a full account of which, he published, two years afterwards, with a dedication to the Princess of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline. In the same year appeared his Remarks upon CoUins's Inquiry concerning Human Liberty; and, in 1818, he boldly al- tered the forms of doxology, in A Col- lection of select Psalms and Hymns, for the use of St. James's church ; some copies of which having been distri- buted, by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, before any dis- covery of the alterations had been made, he was accused of having prac- tised a gross imposition. In reply to the charge, he stated, that the collec- tion had been printed for the use of his own church only. His conduct was, however, severely censured by his diocesan, who, in a pastoral letter, on the occasion, observed, " that some persons, seduced by the strong delu- sions of pride and self-conceit, had lately published new forms of doxo- logy, entirely agreeable to those of the ancient heretics, who impiously denied a trinity of persons in the unity of the Godhead." A controversy on the subject ensued, in which the character of Dr. Clarke, as a divine, was severely animadverted upon by several high churchmen, and zealously defended by his friend Whis- ton. About this time he was presented, by Lord Lechmere, to the mastership of Wigston's hospital, at Leicester : and, on the death of Newton, in 1727, he might, had he thought fit, have suc- ceeded to that eminent man's office in the Mint, which was worth above £1,200 per annum ; but, " as he wanted it not," and, " being averse to any secular em- ployment," says Whiston, " he abso- lutely refused it; which I take to be one of the most glorious actions of his life ; and to afford undeniable convic- tion that he was in earnest in his re- ligion." He had, previously, (in 1724) printed a volume containing seventeen sermons; 214 THE CHURCH. and, in 1728, he addressed a letter to Hoadly. on the Proportion of Velocity and Force in Bodies in Motion. In the following year appeared his edition of the first twelve books of Homer's Iliad, with a Latin version : tiie remainder of tiie work was published, a few years after his death, by his son. He had, throughout his life, enjoyed a robust state of health, until Sunday, May the 11th, 1729, when he was at- tacked with a violent pain in his side, while proceeding to Seijeant's inn, for the purpose of preaching before the judges; and, on the enduing Satuiday, he expired. By his wife, Catherine, the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Lockwood, rector of Little Massingham, Norfolk, on whom, after her husband's decease. Queen Caroline settled a pension of one hundred guineas per annum, Dr. Clarke liad seven children, five of whom survived him. His brother, John Clarke, originally a weaver, studied at Cam- bridge, and became chaplain to the king, and dean of Salisbury. He prepared for the press ten posthumous volumes of Dr. Clarke's Sermons, and also his Exposition of the Catechism. In private life, Dr. Clarke was ami- able and unpretending; reserved among strangers, but frank and easy with his friends. As a writer he possessed the advantages of a strong memory, con- siderable powers of language, a natural aptitude for methodical arrangement, extraordinary learning, and great acute- ness. He was zealous, but not enthu- siastic; exceedingly diligent, and yet an inveterate lover of cards, at which, al- though described as being, in general, a miser of moments, he would frequently spend entire hours. Whiston highly praises his general character, but censures him for sub- scribing to the articles, on taking the degree of D. D., when he actually did not believe in the Athanasian creed: the same writer, however, admits that he subsequently refused any preferment, the acceptance of which, would expose him to the necessity of another sub- scription against his conscience. Ii is related, that when Sir John Germaine, being in great trouble of mind, and on liis death-bed, sent for Dr. Clarke, and on his arrival asked him if he bliould receive the sacrament, or what he should do in his sad con- dition, the divine, who was well aware of Sir John's immoral career, told him, in reply, that he did .not think the sa- cramen't would be of any avail to him with respect to his final welfare, and left the dying sinner without adminis- tering it. BENJAMIN HOADLY, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. IHIS prelate was born at Wester- liam, in Kent, on the 14th of Novem- ber, 1676 ; and, after acquiring the rudiments of learning under his father, who was for some time master of tlie grammar school at Norwich, he was adnntted, in 1691, a pensioner of Catherine Hall, Cambridge; where lie proceeded to the degree of B. A. in 1695, and to that of M. A. in 1699. He had, also, in the interim, been elected fellow and tutor of his college. In 1700, he took orders, and obtained the lecture- ship of St. Mildred's, in the Poultry; which he retained until, by his own avowal, he had preached it down to £!30 per annum. In 1702, he officiated at St. Swiihin's, and, in 1704, was pre- sented to the rectory of St. Peter-le- poor. He had already entered into a controversy with Calamy, in defence of conformity; and, in 1705, he preached a sermon' before the lord mayor, on civil govennnent, which rendered him so otlensive to the Tories, that, as he says, " a torrent of angry zeal began to pour itself out upon him." Soon after- I wards, he entered into a dispute with i Atterburv, one of whose discourses he ; had severely criticised ; and, in 1709, the contest was renewed, w ith increased zeal, on the subject of non-resistance and passive obedience. His exertions in this controversy were so agreeable to the party in power, that the house of connnons' addressed the queen in his favour ; and her majesty is said to have, consequently, given him a promise of preterment; which, however, she did not fulfil: but, to console him for his BISHOP SHERLOCK. 215 disappointment, a wealthy lady, named Rowland, presented him to the living of Streatham, in Surrey. On the accession of George the First, he became one of the king's chaplains ; and, in 1715, having previously taken his degree of D. D., lie was elevated to the bishopric of Kangor; but, instead of visiting his see, he continued to preach in London, chiefly against what he considered the inveterate errors of the clergy; and, in 1717, so oflTended the high church party, by his celebrated discourse, which was delivered before the king, on the Nature of the King- dom or Church of Clirist, that it was resolved to proceed against him in con- vocation : his enemies were, however, foiled in their intention, by the proro- gation of the assembly. Having, about this time, preached a sermon on the text, " My kingdom is not of this world," in the interpreta- tion of which he maintained that the clergy had no right to temporal jurisdic- tion, he was attacked by Snape, and a controversy, termed the Bangorian, from the see then held by Hoadly, fol- lowed ; in which the latter defended himself with great skill, as vvell against his first assailant on the subject as the celebrated Sherlock, Law, Potter, and other divines. This contest had scarcely terminated when he engaged in another, on the nature of prayer, which, as he maintained, should be calm and dis- passionate, wliile his opponent. Hare, insisted that, without fervour, it must needs be unavailing. In 1754, Hoadly was translated to the see of Hereford; in 1732, to that of Salisbury ; and, in 173-i, to that of Winchester. In 1735, he published a plain account of the Nature and End of the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup- per; and, many years afterwards, pre- pared for the press two volumes of his sermons, which were received with much commendation. Towards the close of his life, he drew up a clear, manly, and spirited exposure of a fraud intended to have been committed upon him by a popish convert, named Fournier, by means of a forged note of hand for £8,800. His death took place at Chelsea, on the 17th of April, 17G1 ; and his remains were interred in Win- chester cathedral. He was twice mar- ried : first, to Sarah Curtis, by whom he had two sons; and, secondly, to Mary Newry, daughter of the Dean of Chichester, by whom he had no issue. In private life, Dr. Hoadly was face- tious, easy, conciliating, and fond of society ; from which, however, he would often abruptly retire to his studies. In his religious principles he differed so materially from the doctrines of the church of England, that it has been said of him, he was the greatest dis- senter that ever wore a mitre. He contended, inter alia, that sincerity in opinions, whatever they might be, was sufficient for acceptance. As a contro- versiali.-t, he was acute, candid, and moderate. His style possessed many beauiies; Pope, however, justly cen- sures the immoderate length of his sentences. Akenside complimented him in an ode; and Burnet, with many other writers, eulogized his merits as a divine, a scholar, and a man. A com- plete edition of his multifarious vvritings was published by his son, in 1773. It is rather remarkable that he was a college rival of his future formidable opponent, Sherlock. One day, when both freshmen, after being called to lectures in Tully's offices, Sherlock, somewhat nettled at the approbation which Hoadly had elicited from the tutor, sneeringly remarked, " Ben, you have made good use of L'Estrange's translation to-day." " No, Tom, I have not," replied Hoadly; " and I forgot to send the bed-maker for yours, which, I understand, is the only one in the college." THOMAS SHERLOCK, BISHOP OF LONDON. J. HIS eminent prelate, eldest son of Dr. William Sherlock, Dean of St. Paul's, and author of the well known Discourse on Death, was born in 1678. At Eton, where he received the early part of his education, he was not only distinguished for great application, but for boldness of personal character; 216 THE CHURCH. being always a leader of his compa- nions, as well in as out of school. Walpole, who was his cotempoiary, relates, that on one occasion, when other lads stood shivering on the bank of the river, Sherlock plunged in with- out hesitation, and Warton supposes this to be the incident alluded to by Pope, in the Dunciad, where he calls Sherlock " the plunging prelate." He removed, in 1G93, to Catherine hall, Cambridge ; and, after taking his degrees of B. A. and M. A., entered into holy orders. It appears that he was severely reprimanded for being late in attendance on the bishop at his ordination. A fine turbot, intended for the prelate's table, was brought by the same conveyance as that by which Sherlock had travelled ; and the bishop was under the necessity of apologizing to his company for the delay that oc- curred in serving up tlie dinner, on ac- count of the late arrival of the fish. Sherlock, on this occasion, is said to have remarked, that " he and the turbot had both reached the palace time enough to get into hot water." In 1704, he was appointed master of the Temple ; and, notwithstanding an impediment in his speech, soon became one of the most popular preachers in the metropolis. In 1714, he took the degree of D. D. : he was then appointed master of Catherine hall, and, in his turn, discharged the duties of vice- chancellor. His influence at the uni- versity was so great, that Bentley nick- named him. Cardinal Alberoni ; and Middleton, about the same time, gave him tlie more flattering appellation of " principal champion and ornament of both church and university." His next advancement was to the deanery of Chichester, which he ob- tained in 1716 ; and, soon afterwards, he engaged in the Bangorian controversy. It has been said, however, that in his latter years, Sherlock did not approve of tlie part he had taken in this dis- pute, and refused to liave his various pamphlets on the subject collected into a volume. In 1726, he printed Six Discoures on the Use and Intent of I'rophccy ; which he hud delivered, in the i)receding year, at the Temple churcli. In 1728, he was elevated to the bisliopric of Bangor; and, in 1734, translated to that of Salisbury. During the interim he had published his cele- brated Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus. On the death of Archbishop Potter, he was offered the primacy; which, however, he refused on account of his ill-health ; but, in the following year, 1747, having in some degree recovered, he accepted the bishopric of London. In 1753, he resigned the mastership of the Temple, on which occasion, he ad- dressed an affectionate letter to the treasurer and benchers, expressive of his gratitude for all their kindness to him, and declaring, that he felt his connexion with them to liave been the greatest happiness of his life, as it had intro- duced him to some of the greatest men of the time. Notwithstanding the in- firmities of age, he performed his epis- copal duties, with great ability; and, when under the pressure of severe ill- ness, which he bore with great fortitude and resignation, revised and published four volumes of his sermons. On the accession of George the Third, he ad- dressed a dutiful and complimentary letter to the young monarch, which, perhaps, was the last production of his pen. He died at Fulham, on the ISth of July, 1761. Having had no children by his wife, whose maiden name was Judith Fountaine, and whom he mar- ried in 1707, his nephew inherited the bulk of his property ; which, although Sherlock had been very charitable, amounted, it is said, to upwards of £100,000. He appears to have possessed great abilities, and very extensive acquire- ments. His style was correct, pleas- ing, and animated ; and his sermons afford many specimens of pulpit elo- quence, which have rarely, if ever, been excelled. He was even more eminent for his piety than his learning. In his Discourses on the Use and Intent of Prophecy, he vindicated Christianity against the objections of Anthony Col- lins, with as much zeal as talent; and during the principal part of his career, enjoyed the reputation of being one of tiie most efficient pillars of the church of England, although he was of opinion, to use his own language, " tliat our liturgical forms ought to be revised and amended only for our own sakes, though there were no dissenters in tlie land." DANIEL WATERLAND. 217 DANIEL WATERLAND. Daniel, son of the Rev. Henry Waterland, was born at Waseley, in Lincolnshire, (of wliich his father was rector,) on the 4th of February, 1C83. After having received some preliminary instruction at home, he was sent to the free school at Lincoln ; which he quitted in 1699, and went to Magdalen college, Cambridge ; where he was elected a scholar, in 1701, and proceeded to the degree of B. A., in 1703. In the fol- lowing year, he obtained a fellowship ; and, in 1706, proceeded M.A. He now became celebrated as a private tutor, and published a work, entitled. Advice to a Young Student, with a Method of Study for the First Four Years ; which went through several editions. In 1713, lie was presented to the rectory of Ellingham, in Norfolk ; and, about the same time, was nominated master of his college. In 1714, he proceeded to the degree of B. D. ; and, shortly afterwards, became chaplain in ordi- nary to George the First; who, visiting Cambridge, in 1717, conferred upon him, by royal mandate, the degree of D. D., of which rank he was also in- corporated at the university of Oxford. In 1719, he published his orthodox Vindica'.ion of Christ's Divinity; being a Defence of some Queries, relating to Dr. Clarke's Scheme of tlie Holy Tri- nity; and, in the following year, Gibson, Bishop of London, appointed him first preacher of the lecture founded by Lady Mover. Soon afterwards he entered into a doctrinal dispute with Dr. Whitby. In 1721, the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's presented him to the rectory of St. Austin and St. Faith ; in 1723, he obtained the chan- cellorship of York ; and having, soon after, printed his History of the Atha- nasian Creed, in opposition to the opi- nions supported by Dr. Clarke, he was made a canon of Windsor. He re- signed his rectory, on being presented to the vicarage of Twickenham, and the archdeaconry of Middlesex, in 1730; during which year, he produced some remarks on Dr. Clarke's Exposition of the Church Catechism, and thus involved himself in a controversy with Dr. Sykes, relative to the eucharist. He next published two works, in defence of revealed religion, against Tindal's Christianity as old as the Creation: the first, entitled Scriptiue Vindicated ; and the second, Chris- tianity Vindicated against Infidelity ; which were supported by Dr. Pearce, and condemned, as being calculated to do more harm than good, by Dr. Conyers Middleton. In 1734, he pro- duced A Discourse on the Argument, a priori, for proving the Existence of a First Cause ; in which he endea- voured to refute Dr. Clarke's opinions on that subject. During the same year, he declined the office of prolocutor to the lower house of convocation, and published his celebrated treatise On the Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity. In 1736, as archdeacon, he preached a series of charges on the eucharist, in which he argued, on the one hand, against the opinion of Bishop Hoadly, who considered it a mere commemo- rative feast ; and, on the other, against that of Johnson and Brett, who held it to be a proper propitiatory sacrifice. During the latter part of his life, he was afflicted with an acute malady, to whicli, after having undergone many surgical operations, he fell a victim, in the month of December, 1740. By his wife, a lady of good fortune, whom he had married in 1719, and who survived him, he left no children. In a funeral sermon, preached on the Sunday after his decease, the character of Dr. Waterland was thus described : " His head was an immense library, where the treasures of learning were ranged in such exact order, that, what- ever himself or his friends wanted, he could have immediate recourse to, with- out any embarrassment. A prodigious expanse of reading, without a confu- sion of ideas, is almost the peculiar characteristic of his wriiings. His works, particularly those on our Sa- viour's divinity, and the importance of the doctrine, "and the eucharist, into 218 THE CHURCH. which he has digested the learning of all preceding ages, will, we may venture to say, be transmitted to, and stand the examination of, all succeeding ones. He has so thoroughly exhausted every subject that he wrote a set trea- tise upon, that it is impossible to hit upon anything which is 7wt in his writings, or to express tliat more justly or clearly which is there." This sturdy polemic appears to have been one of the most zealous, disin- terested, and temperate, of that host of controversialists, for wliich his times were remarkable. Orthodoxy never had a more stedfast defender ; but his aversion to arianism carried him so far, that he was sometimes charged with evincing an heterodox tendency to- wards arminianism. He wrote en- tirely for conscience' sake, and not with a view to attract notice, or to obtain promotion. He never solicited pre- ferment, and once refused a bishopric. Thougli firm and unflinching in his polemical contests, he treated his ad- versaries, except in a few rare instances, with courtesy, and gave them credit for sincerity in professing those doctrines which he most vehemently opposed. CONYERS MIDDLETON. CONYERS, the son of William Mid- dleton, rector of Hendervvell, in York- shire, was born on the 27th of December, 1683. He passed his boyhood under the tuition of his father, and, when about seventeen years of age, was sent to Trinity college, Cambridge ; where having, in due course, proceeded B. A., he obtained a fellowship in 1710 ; which, however, he, some time after- wards, vacated, by marrying a rich widow, named Drake. In 1717, George the First, during a visit to the univer- sity, nominated Middleton, among others, for a doctor's degree in di- vinity; but Bentley absolutely refused to create him, except on payment of four guineas beyond tlie usual fees. Middleton was naturally of a most irritable disposition, and had previ- ously been involved in a quarrel witli Bentley, which, it is said, originated from the latter having termed him, on accoiuit of his occasionally playing on the violin, " fiddling Middleton ;" and Bentley's illegal demand produced a renewal of their strife. Middleton paid the additional fee under protest, and, immediately appealing to tlie vice-chancellor, procured an order for its restitution ; whicli, however, Bent- ley refused to obey, and he was consequently degraded from all his university honours and offices. The conflicting jiarties afterwards brought the matter before the judges of the court of king's bench ; Middleton also published four pamphlets against his adversary ; but the dispute, which appears, for a long time, to have been deeply interesting to the public, ter- minated, at length, by Bentley's resto- ration to his rank. On the death of his wife, in or about 1724, Middleton went to Italy for the benefit of his health ; and, on his re- turn, greatly increased the number of his enemies, by publishing a scurrilous pamphlet against the medical pro- fession. Soon afterwards, he exposed himself to a charge of heterodoxy, in a dispute which arose out of the answers of Waterland and Pearce, to Tindal's Christianity as old as the Creation. In 173-1, he married a Miss Place, of Dorchester; and, in the same year, abandoning the Woodwardian profes- sorship, which he had previously held, he became librarian to the university. In 1735, appeared his Dissertation concerning the Origin of Printing in England ; and, in 1741, he published a Life of Cicero, which reflects consider- able lustre on his talents. Two years afterwards appeared his Epistles of Cicero to Brutus, and of Brutus to Cicero; and, in 1747, he involved him- self in a bitter controversy with several orthodox writers, by his Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers. Having lost his second wife, he was united, in his old age, to a Welsh lady, named Powell. During his last illness, he is said to have been laboriously BISHOP BERKELEY. 219 engaged in preparing answers to some of his numerous antagonists. At the time of his death, wliich took place on the 28th of July, 1750, he held no prefer- ment but a small living which had been given to him by Sir John Frederick. In addition to the works already mentioned, Middleton published ob- jections against the proposed edition of the New Testament, by Bentley; and engaged in a disputation with Sher- lock. He seems to have purposely created antagonists, with a view to gratify his inclination for literary war- fare ; and sacrificed all hopes of pre- ferment, for the pleasure of assailing received opinions on doctrinal points. As a writer, he possessed considerable pow ers : his productions are, however, debased by tlie leaven of infidelity. But for his avowed scepticism, and the tendency of his temper to dispute, he woidd, in all probability, have adorned, as well as acquired, a mitre. GEORGE BERKELEY, BISHOP OF CLOYNE. George, the son of Thomas Berke- ley, collector of Belfast, was born at Kilerin, near Thomastown, in the county of Kilkenny, on the 12th of March, 1684. After passing some time at Kilkenny grammar school, he was removed to Trinity college, Dublin, of which he became a fellow in 1707 ; and, in the course of the same year, pub- lished his Arithmetica absque Algebra aut Euclide Demonstrata, a work, it was said, that would have done honour to the most experienced mathematician. In 1709, appeared his Theory of Vision, in which a successful and entirely novel attempt was made, to shew that our ideas of sight and touch are connected only by habit ; and this opinion appears to have been soon afterwards confirmed, in the case of a youth who, though born blind, was restored to sight by the celebrated Cheselden. . In 1710, appeared his Principles of Human Knowledge ; and, in 1713, his Dialogues between Hylas and Philo- nous ; two works, which, although avowedly composed in opposition to sceptics and atheists, formed, in the opinion of Hume, " the best lessons of scepticism, to be found either among the ancient or modern philosophers, Bayle not excepted." In 1712, he published three sermons in favour of passive obedience and non- resistance, which, ultimately, exposed him to the imputation of Jacobitism, and, consequently, tended to impede his advance. He had, by this time, become intimate with Pope, Addison, Arbuthnot, Steele, (for whom he wrote some papers in the Guardian) and Dean Swift, who recommended him to the notice of the Earl of Peterborough, with such warmth, that when the latter was appointed ambassador to Sicily, he took Berkeley out with him, as secre- tary and chaplain. Soon after his return, he accepted an offer to accompany the Bishop of Ciogher's son on a continental tour. While abioad, he wrote an account of the Tarantula, and collected some ma- terials for the natural history of Sicily, which, however, he lost at sea. Re- turning to England, in 1721, he pub- lished his tract, De Motu, which he had also written during his tour; and, in the same year, appeared his Essay towards preventing the Ruin of Great Britain. About tiiis time he took the degrees of B. D. and D. D. ; and pro- cured, through the interest of Pope, the appointment of chaplain to the Duke of Grafton, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland. In 1722, the celebrated Mrs. Van- homrigh. Swift's Vanessa, unexpectedly bequeatlied the whole of her fortune, about £8,000, to Berkeley, and a gen- tleman named Marshall, whom she ap- pointed her joint executors ; but, not- withstanding her express wish, that the letters addressed to her by Swift should be published, Berkeley thought proper to destroy them. In 1724, he resigned his fellowship, on being appointed to the deanery of Derry, worth about £1,100 a-year ; and, in 1725, he pub- lished a proposal for converting the American savages to Christianity. He 220 THE CHURCH. soon afterwards obtained a charter for the erection of a college at Bermuda, and a promise of £10,000, from go- vernment. Having also obtained some subscriptions in aid of the design, he embarked, in September, 1728, for Rhode Island, with his wife, who was a daughter of Foster, speaker of the Irish house of commons, and whom he had married in the preceding month ; another lady ; and two gentlemen of j fortune. His plan, however, completely failed; principally, as it was alleged, because government did not furnish him with the promised pecuniary aid ; and, after an absence of two years, he re- turned to this country, a great loser by the undertaking. In 1732, with a view to the refuta- tion of sceptical systems, he published a series of dialogues, entitled. The Minute Philosopher; with which Queen Caroline was so pleased, that she pro- cured his promotion to the bishopric of Cloyne. About this period, having been informed that Dr. Garth had, on his death-bed, asserted to Addison, that he did not believe in the doctrines of Christianity, because Dr. Halley had demonstrated to him, that they were incomprehensible, Berkeley produced his Analyst, addressed to an Infidel Mathematician; in which he contended, that some mysteries in mathematics were more difficult of conception than the articles of faith. A spirited contro- versy ensued, which gave rise to Colin Maclaurin's Treatise on Fluxions. In 1744, Berkeley published a work entitled, Siris, in which he zealously advocated the virtues of tar water, a medicine, which, as he said, had cured him of a distressing nervous complaint: and, some years afterwards, appeared his Further Thoughts, on the same sub- ject. In 1745 and 1749, he wrote some able letters to the Roinan catholics in his diocese. During the former year, he was offered the bishopric of Clogher, which, liowever, he declined in these terms:— "I love my neighbours, and they love me; why, tlien, should I begm, m my old days, to form new connexions, and tear myself from those friends, whose kindness is to me the greatest h:ippiness I can enjoy?" In 1750, appeared his last work, en- titled, Maxims concerning Patriotism. Soon afterwards, for the purpose of superintending the education of his son, he removed to Oxford ; where, on the 14th of January, 1753, while his wife was reading to him a sermon, by Sher- lock, he suddenly expired, of what was termed a palsy in the heart. So im- perceptibly did he breathe his last, that his body was already cold, and his joints stiff, before Mrs. Berkeley, and her daughter, who were present, became aware of his death. He was buried at Christchurch, Oxford, where a noble monument was erected to his memory. In the early part of his life, he was robust, powerful, and handsome ; but constant study, by impairing his health, prematurely destroyed his personal graces and bodily strength; his coun- tenance, however, is said to have re- tained to the last its original innocent, kind, and enthusiastic expression. In addition to his more celebrated productions, Berkeley was the author of some "fugitive pieces," which were printed in a volume of Miscellanies, the year preceding his death. His attain- ments were very extensive : he was ingenious, acute, and imaginative ; but, in the opinion, perhaps, of the majority, his writings are too much tinged with that enthusiasm which was so conspi- cuous in his actions. His letters are excellent ; and a high degree of poetical merit has been attributed to his Stanzas on looking towards the Bermudas. His motives were always pure, and his conduct disinterested. Even in the destruction of Mrs. Vanhomrigh's let- ters, there is no doubt, that, however wrong he may have been, he acted conscientiously. He was invariably zealous ; though certainly, on some oc- casions, far from successful, for the ad- vancement of religion. He is described as having been a pattern of Christi- anity to his flock ; a rare example of humility combined with great intellect; and, in the language of Pope, of having possessed " every virtue under heaven!" His application is said to have been so intense, that although he rarely quitted his studies until midnight, he rose between three and four o'clock in the morning; when, althour;h, like many other eminent men, " he had not the least ear for music," he summoned his children to take a lesson on the bass viol, from an Italian, whom he kept in the house for that purpose. ARTHUR ASHLEY SYKES. 221 ARTHUR ASHLEY SYKES. This learned divine was born in 1684, and received the early part of his education at St. Paul's school ; whence I he was removed, in 1701, to Corpus I Christi college, Cambridge. While yet j a student, he composed a copy of Hebrew verses, on the death of King William the Third, which were printed in the Cambridge collection. After pro- ceeding to the degree of B. A., in 1704, and to that of M. A., in 1708, he acted, for a short time, as an assistant tutor, at St. Paul's school. Having taken deacon's and priest's orders, in 1712-13, he was preferred, by Archbishop Tennison, to the vicarage of Gormorsham, in Kent; which he re- signed, in 1714, on being presented by the Duchess Dowager of Bedford, to the rectory of Dry-Drayton, in Cam- bridgeshire. About this time he wrote an answer to Brett's Extent of the Commission of Christ to Baptise ; and, in 1715; published a curious tract, entitled. The Innocency of Error Asserted and Vindicated ; in which he maintained that no heresy is so destructive to re- ligion as a wicked life ; and no schism so damnable as a course of sin. Some anonymous attacks being made upon this production, he replied to them in a preface to the second edition ; and, in 1720, vindicated his opinions in a letter to Potter, then Bishop of Oxford, who had animadverted upon them in a charge to his clergy. He had, previously, in 1718, resigned the rectory of Dry-Drayton, on being instituted to that of Rayleigh, in Essex ; and, during the same year, he had been appointed afternoon preacher at King street chapel, Golden square, by Dr. Clarke, the rector of St. James's ; to whose doctrines, as well as to those of Hoadly, he appears to have been a staunch adherent. In 1723, he was made praecentor of Winchester cathedral, in which, Hoadly, at the same time, collated him to a pre- bend. In 1725, he became assistant- preacher at St. James's; and, during the same year, he published his Essay on the Truth of the Christian Religion. In 1726, he proceeded to the degree of S. T. P., at Cambridge, on which occa- sion, it is said, " he stood like a sturdy oak, to receive and return back the fiery darts of the orthodox." Soon after the death of his friend. Dr. Clarke, he entered into a controversy, relative to that divine's Exposition of the Church Catechism, with Dr. Water- land, by whom it had been severely attacked ; and subsequently contended, against Whiston and others, that the eclipse recorded by Phlegon had no connexion with the darkness that oc- curred at the crucifixion of our Saviour. In 1736, he published two tracts, the first of which was entitled. Reasonable- ness of applying for the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts impartially considered ; and the second. The Cor- poration and Test Acts shewn to be of no Importance to the Church of Eng- land. Soon afterwards, he became in- volved in another controversy arising out of his Inquiry as to the Meaning of the Demoniacs ; in which he had main- tained that the demons, mentioned in the New Testament, signified the souls of departed men. In 1 739, he was pre- sented, by the crown, to the deanery of St. Burien, in Cornwall; and in the following year, Hoadly collated him to a prebend in the cathedral of Winchester. About this period appeared his Prin- ciples and Connexion of Natural and Revealed Religion ; which was speedily followed by his Brief Discourse on Miracles, and his Rational Communi- cant. In 1744, he published an Ex- amination of Warburton's Account of the conduct of the ancient Legislators ; of the Double Doctrine of the Old Philosophers ; of the Theocracy of the Jews ; and of Sir Isaac Newton's Chro- nology. Warburton soon wrote an angry reply, to which, Sykes powerfully re- joined. Among his subsequent pro- ductions were, An Essay on the Nature, Design, and Origin of Sacrifices ; Two Questions previous to Dr. Middleton's Free Inquiry impartially considered ; and A Paraphrase and Notes upon the Epistle to the Hebrews. He died, leav- ing a widow, but no children, on the 09-2 THE CHURCH. 15th of November, 1756, and was buried near the pulpit in St. James's church, Westminster. Dr. Sykes composed a great number of publications, besides those already mentioned, the most celebrated of which are, his Case of Subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles considered; and a tract, entitled, The Eternal Peace of the Church only attainable by a Zeal for Scripture in its just Latitude, by Mutual Charity, not by a Pretence of Uni- formity of Opinion. He was a strong supporter of Whig sentiments, and so zealous an advocate for latitudinarian subscription, that Cramer, chaplain to the King of Denmark, while engaged on a history of the protestant religion, requested Professor Hubner, who was then in London, to inquire if Sykes had ever actually subscribed to the articles of the English church : Hubner replied, that he certainly had done so on being admitted to each of his preferments. Although Warburton affected to despise him, itis clear that he possessed con- siderable ability. Bott said, that " in Sykes, Warburton had caught a Tartar." As a controversialist, he was shrewd, temperate, and disinterested. " Truth," said he, " I love ; truth I constantly search after ; truth I make the study of my life." Bishop Watson had so high an opinion of his productions, as to wisli that a complete edition of them had been pub- lished ; Priestley declared, that in his Treatise on Redemption, a great num- ber of texts were admirably explained; Harwood says, that all his works mani- fest a sedulous and successful study of the Scriptures ; and Hollis, as he states in his diary, " employed himself in collecting a complete set of the late learned Dr. Sykes's works, to bind and send to Harwood college, in America, for honourable preservation of his memory." In private life he was mild, obliging, cheerful, and much beloved by his friends. " Dr. Clarke," says Mrs. Sykes, " would often make him a visit; and when he came, his usual way was to sit with him upon a couch, and. reclining upon his bosom, to discourse in the most free, easy, and familiar manner, upon subjects agreeable to the taste and judgment of both." ZACHARY PEARCE, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER. This learned prelate, the son of a distiller in Holborn, was born in 1G90. In 1704, he was sent to Westminster school ; where he much distinguished himself. He became a king's scholar in 1707; and in 1710, removed to Trinity college, Cambridge ; of which, after having proceeded B. A. in 1713, he was elected a fellow, through the interest of Parker, subsequently Earl of Macclesfield; to whom, in 1716, he had dedicated an edition of Cicero de Oratore. On taking his degree of M.A. and entering into holy orders, in the following year, he became domestic chaplain to his patron; who, in 1719, being then lord chancellor, instituted him to the rectory of Stapleford Abbots, in Essex; in 1722, to that of St. Bar- tholomew, London ; and, in 1723, to that of St. Martin's-in-the-fields ; for wliich. Dr. Claget had already kissed hands; but, such was tiie interest of Macclesfield, and the esteem in which Pe. He re- ceived his education at Eton, where his early proficiency attracted notice, and his exercises were recommended as models. On leaving Eton, he was placed at Christchurch, Oxford. While at college, he first solicited public at- tention by a poem on the battle of Blenheim. He was, indeed, a pre- cocious writer, both in prose and verse. His Persian Letters, as well as his Progress of Love, were composed in early youth, and they both exhibit the characteristics of juvenility: the Persian Letters, however, are ingenious and amusing; although, in after-life, he deemed them altogether imvvorthy of his name, and was opposed to their being inserted in any collections of his works. LORD L Y T T E L T O N . 305 Lyttelton did not long remain at the university. In 1728, he commenced his travels, and made the usual tour of France and Italy. On his return, in 1730, he entered the house of commons as member for Oakhampton ; and, al- though his father was a lord of the ad- miralty, evinced the most uncompro- mising hostility to the minister. Sir Robert Walpole. Frederick, Prince of Wales, being, in 1737, driven from the palace of his father, George the Second, kept a kind of rival court, and gave a warm reception to the opponents of the government. Lyttelton was appointed his secretary, and he appears to have made a judicious and liberal use of his influence. Through his recommenda- tion, Mallet was appointed under- secretary, and Thomson obtained a pension of £100 a year from his royal highness. Pope classed him among the patriots of the day ; and, in return, Lyttleton, on being upbraided by Fox, for his intimacy with Pope, whom Fox designated as an unjust and malignant libeller, Lyttelton replied, that he felt himself honoured in being received into the friendship of so great a poet. To (he enjoyments derivable from fame and influence, Lyttelton now added those of the most perfect con- nubial felicity. In 1711, he married Miss Lucy Fortescue, and became the father of a son and two daughters. On her death, in child-bed, about five years afterwards, he wrote a monody, which is, perhaps, the best of his poeti- cal productions. With his second wife, the daughter of Sir Roberf Rich, to whom he was united in 1749, Lyttelton passed a few years in domestic strife, and a separation between them even- tually took place by mutual consent. On Walpole's defeat, Lyttelton was appointed a lord of the treasury; the duties of office, however, by no means absorbed his attention. It appears that he had, in his youth, entertained doubts of the truth of Christianity ; but having now turned his more matured intellect and information to the study of that im- portant subject, the result was that he became a firm believer, and, in 1747, gave the world his excellent Obser- vations on the Conversion of St. Paul. This treatise attracted immediate at- tention and applause ; but^ probably, the praise which gave its author the highest satisfaction, was conveyed in the following letter from his father : — " J have read your religious treatise with infinite pleasure and satisfaction. The style is fine and clear ; the argu- ments close, cogent, and irresistible. May the King of Kings, whose glorious cause you liave so well defended, re- ward your pious labours ; and grant that I may be found worthy, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to be an eye- witness of that happiness which I do not doubt he will bountifully bestow upon you ! In the mean time, I shall never cease glorifying God for having endowed you with such useful talents, and giving me so good a son." On the death of his father, in 1751, Lyttelton succeeded to the baronetcy and an ample estate. The house and park, with which he adorned his patri- mony, raised him a great reputation for elegant taste and judicious munificence. His improvements at Hagley are com- memorated by Thomson in the Seasons. Lyttelton gradually rose to higher distinctions in the state. In 1754, he was made cofferer and privy-counsellor ; and, in the following year, obtained the important office of chancellor of the exchequer, which, however, he resigned within a year, and, on the dissolution of the ministry, retired entirely from public employment, with the honour- able reward of a peerage for his services. His Dialogues of the Dead, which are, perhaps, better known at the present day than any of his other productions, were published in 1780. I'hough certainly not profound, they are lively, judicious, and evidently the production of a man anxious to give every support in his power to virtue and refined sentiments. His History of Henry the Second, a work of great labour, research, and considerable merit, was Lyttelton's last contribution to literature, and oc- cupied a large portion of his declining years. His anxiety with regard to the correctness of this production, appears to have been remarkable, even among the most curious instances of fasti- dious authorship. The whole work was printed twice over ; many parts of it were passed three times, and some sheets four or five times, through the press. Three volumes of the History appeared in 1764, a second edition of QQ 306 THE SENATE. them in 1767, a third in 1768, and the conclusion was published in l771. Lyttelton's life was now drawing to a close. His appearance never be- tokened strength of constitution ; he had a slender frame and a meagre face : he Uved, however, until the age of sixty-four. Of the piety and re- signation that cheered his last mo- ments, an instructive account has been given by his physician. After detailing the progress of the patient's disease, the writer says, " On Sunday, about eleven in the forenoon, his lordship sent for me, and said he felt a great hurry, and wished to have a little con- versation with me in order to divert it. He then proceeded to open the fountain of that heart from which good- ness had so long flowed as from a copi- ous spring. ' Doctor,' said he, ' you shall be my confessor. When I first set out in the world, I had friends who endeavoured to shake my belief in the Christian religion. I saw difficulties which staggered me, but I kept my mind open to conviction. The evi- dences and doctrines of Christianity, studied with attention, made me a most firm and persuaded believer of the Christian religion. I have made it the rule of my life, and it is the ground of my future hopes. I liave erred and sinned, but have repented, and never indulged any vicious habit. In politics and public life, I have made public good the rule of my conduct. I never gave counsels which I did not at the time think the best. I have seen that I was sometimes in the wrong, but I did not err designedly. I have en- deavoured, in private life, to do all the good in my power ; and never for a moment could indulge malicious or unjust designs upon any person what- ever.' " He died on the 22nd of August, 1773, and was buried at Hagley. Although certainly not eminent in the highest sense of the term, the talents and virtues of Lyttelton entitle him to a place among the worthies of his era. Consistent in public conduct, benevolent in disposition, and elegant as a writer, he presents a character which the mind contemplates with pleasure, though not with high admi- ration. It is probable, however, that, had his powers been exclusively con- fined to literature, they were capable, with industrious cultivation, of raising him to a height in the scale of merit, which, at present, he cannot be said to have attained. Lord Lyttelton's son and successor, a man of some talent, but profligate manners, asserted, shortly before his death, that an apparition had not only warned him of his approaching decease, but had indicated the precise time when it would take place. It is said that he expired vv'ithin a few minutes of the hour which he had mentioned as having been indicated by his unearthly visitant; and, for a considerable period, this was considered the best authenti- cated modern ghost story extant. But it has lately been stated, that Lord Lyttelton having resolved to take poison, there was no miracle in the tolerably acciuate fulfilment of the prediction he had promulgated. " It was, no doubt, singular," says Sir Walter Scott, in one of his amusing Letters on Demonology and Witch- craft, " that a man, who meditated his exit from the world, should have chosen to play such a trick upon his friends : but it is still more credible that a whimsical man should do so wild a thing, than that a messenger should be sent from the dead to tell a libertine at what precise hour he should expire." GEORGE GRENVILLE. 1 HIS distinguished statesman was the second son of Richard Grenvilie, Esq. and his wife Hester, afterwards Countess Temple. He was born on the 14th of October, 1712. After passing some years at the Cliarter-house, he went to Cambridge, where his profi- ciency in mathematics acquired him great honour. In his twenty-fifth year, he was called to the bar; and, in 1741, he was returned to parliament for the town of Buckingham, for which place he served during the remainder of his life. In 1749, he married Elizabeth, MARQUESS OF BUTE. 307 the daughter of Sir AVilliiam Wyndham, by whom he had a very large family. ' On the 25th of December, 1744, he was constituted one of the lords com- missioners for executing the office of lord high admiral ; on the 23rd of June, 1747, a lord commissioner of the trea- sury ; and, on the 6th of April, 1754, treasurer of the navy, and a privy- counsellor. In November, 1755, he resigned the treasurership of the navy, to which he was restored in December, 1756 ; and continued to hold ir, (except from April the 6th to June the 27th, in 1757,) until May the 2Sth, 1762, when he was appointed secretary of state. On the 6th of October, in the same year, he was raised to the head of the admiralty; and on the 16th of April, 1763, he became first lord of the treasury, and chancellor of the ex- chequer. He reiiened his offices on the 10th of July, 17C5, and died on the 13th of November, 1770. George Grenville's character was thus powerfully, and, if we may judge from the testimony of many of his cotempo- raries, accurately, described by Burke: " With a masculine understanding, and a stout and resolute heart, he had an application undissipated and unwearied. He took public business not as a duty he was to fulfil, but as a pleasure he was to enjoy ; and he seemed to have no delight out of the house, except in such things as some way related to the business that was to be done within it. If he was ambitious, I will say this for him, his ambition was of a noble and generous strain : it was to raise him- self, not by tlie low, pimping politics of a court, but to win his way to power, through the laborious gradations of public service ; and to secure himself a well-earned rank in parliament, by a thorough knowledge of its constitu- tion, and a perfect practice in all its business." JOHN STUART, MARQUESS OF BUTE. A HIS nobleman was born in 1713: he received a careful education, and, at an early age, evinced a great par- tiality for literature ; a taste which he indulged to the latest period of his life. He succeeded his father as Marquess of Bute in the ninth year of his age ; when he is described as having been tall, fair, intelligent, and endowed with very considerable personal graces. As he grew up he manifested a very rest- less and inquisitive disposition: the early part of his life, he was, however, compelled by his circumstances, to spend in comparative retirement. In 1738, he married the only daughter of Edward Wortley Montagu, by whom he had several children, and with whom he lived on the most affectionate terms ; a fact, which strongly tends to rebut the insinuations of Walpole and others as to the nature of the intimacy existing between Lord Bute and the mother of George the Third. In 1749, he was appointed lord of the bed-chamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, with whom he became a great favourite. For his introduction to the prince, an event which laid the founda- tion of his future political eminence, he was indebted, as Seward asserts, to the following circumstance : — being at a cricket match, to which he had gone in the chariot of an apothecary who lived near him, in the midst of the sport it began to rain ; the shower compelled the Prince of Wales, who was present, to retire to his tent, where he intimated a wish to play whist until the weather became fair again. For some time nobody could be found to take the fourth hand ; but, at length, one of the gentlemen in attendance, perceived ' Lord Bute in the apothecary's chariot, ■ and immediately asked his lordship if he ; would have the honour of completing the ; prince's party. This invitation was, of ' course accepted ; and the prince felt so pleased with the manners of his new- acquaintance, as to desire him to pay ; an early visit at Kew, where his royal I highness then resided. The death of this prince, which took place in 1751, was productive of little, if any, disadvantage to Lord Bute, — his lordship at that time possessing a 308 THE SENATE. great ascendancy over the mind of the youthful heir-apparent, and the un- limited confidence of the widowed prin- cess ; his close intimacy with whom the scandalous gossips of the day at length attributed to the captivating effect of his manners and person on her heart. His influence at Leicester-house daily increased; he was made groom of the stole, and under that title acted in reality as governor of the young prince, who (even after he had attained his majority) was completely under the do- minion of his mother and the marquess. On the accession of George the Third, the highest dignities in the state were supposed to be within the grasp of Lord Bute : but, however he might have swayed the king's mind in private, he took no pubhc part in the direction of affairs until 1761, when he accepted the secretaryship resigned in that year by Lord Holdernesse. At length he became prime minister ; and, imme- diately on coming into power, deter- mined, if possible, to effect a peace, which had for some time been nego- tiating. He accomplished his object; but his success rendered him exceed- ingly unpopular. He was accused, by some weak-minded persons, of having been bribed by the enemies of his country ; and it was added, that the princess dowager had shared with him in the price at which peace had been purchased by the French. He quitted office in April, 1763, and intimated that he had retired altogether from public business : but the king, who is said to have advised his resignation, still continued on the most intimate terms with the marquess, by whose private counsels his majesty was for some time afterwards accused of being governed. Lord Bute, it appears, fre- quently went to the princess dowager's residence incognito, at that time in the evening when the king usually paid his mother a visit; and it was rumoured that these meetings were held for the purpose of directing the operations of the ostensible administration. In con- sequence of the suspicions of the people on this subject, as there is reason to suspect, he ceased to meet his majesty in private ; " and though," says a re- cent biographer of George the Third and his family, " he continued to visit the princess dowager, yet he always retired by a private staircase, whenever the king arrived at her residence." It has been confidently asserted, that the suspicions of the people as to the alleged influence of Lord Bute over the king, after that nobleman had avowedly retired from public affairs, were totally unfounded : but it is im- possible, perhaps, satisfactorily to settle the question. The cessation of private interviews between his majesty and Lord Bute, could not possibly have tended to disprove the current reports : as it must have occurred to those who supposed them to be accurate, that advice on public affairs might, with the greatest facility, have been con- veyed from the marquess to his sove- reign by means of the princess dow- ager, whose apartments, v/e find, the nobleman was frequently in the habit of quitting, a moment before they were entered bv the king. Lord Bute died on the 10th of March, 1792. He was such a lover of Utera- ture, that he affected to be the Maece- nas of his age. In addition to the allowance which Home received from the princess dowager, he procured for that author, the appointments of com- missioner of sick and wounded seamen, and conservator of the Scottish privi- leges at Campvere, in Zealand. John- son was also indebted, in some mea- sure, perhaps, to Lord Bute's zeal in the cause of letters, for his pension of £300 a year; and a letter from the marquess to Bubb Dodington, dated in 1761, shews that he felt a warm in- terest in behalf of the younger Bentley. While in office, he proposed that the Antiquarian Society should undertake a history of the antiquities of this coun- try, similar to MontfauQon's Anti- quites de la Monarchie Frant^aise; and, it appears probable, that had he continued prime minister, the work would now have been in the libraries of the learned. He published, at his own expense, nine quarto volumes on English plants, of which he caused only a few copies to be worked off, and then destroyed the plates. Lord Bute evinced a most extrava- gant partiality for his fellow-country- men. A Scotch name was said to be a passport to his favour, and he warmly resented the slightest aspersion on the land of his birth. He used his utmost CHARLES TOWN SHE ND. 309 influence, but without effect, to prevent the performance of Macklin's Love a la Mode, in whicli the character of Sir Archy Macsarcasm was particularly offensive to him. His predilection to- wards his fellow-countrymen was, in- deed, so notorious, that a disappointed wit, who had long danced attendance at his levees to little purpose, once said to him, " If your lordship would but make me a Scotchman, you would en- sure my gratitude for ever !" As a political character, judging from his public acts while prime minister, he appears to have met with more censure than he deserved : but, even if we reject the most important insinua- tions of Walpole, with regard to the extent of the intimacy subsisting be- tween his lordship and the princess dowager, the means which he evi- dently adopted to obtain and secure an ascendancy over the mind of his pupil, the manner in which he used that ascendancy, and the extraordinary period to which he protracted it, ren- dered him, we must confess, deservedly unpopular. He rose to exalted rank in the state, by arts which evinced a littleness of mind ; and although his general conduct, as a patron of men of letters was exceedingly laudable, even in his assumed character of a modern Msecenas, he often betrayed symptoms of a paltry and contemptible spirit. CHARLES TOWNSHEND. Charles, the second son of Charles the third Viscount Townshend, was born on the 29th of August, 1725. He evinced great quickness of concep- tion and extraordinary curiosity in his childhood : and at school and at col- lege, although notorious for his utter defiance of discipline, he was eminent for his acquirements in various branches of knowledge. In 1747, he went into parliament as member for Yarmouth, j for which place he sat until 1761, when ' he was elected for Harwich, and con- tinued its representative until he died. [ On his entrance into public life, he ; joined the opposition ; but his political connexions soon brought him into office. ! lu June, 1749, he was appointed a i commissioner of trade and plantations ; in the following year, a commissioner for executing the office of lord high admiral ; in 1756, a member of the privy council; in March, 1761, secre- tary at war ; in February, 1763, first lord of trade and plantations ; in June, 1765, paymaster general and chancellor of the exchequer; and a lord of the treasury in August, 1766, from which period he remained in office until his decease, which took place on the 4th of September, 1767. In person, Charles Townshend was tall and beautifully proportioned; his countenance was manly, handsome, ex- pressive, and prepossessing. He was much beloved in private life, and enjoyed an unusual share of domestic happiness. On the 15th of August, 1755, he mar- ried Caroline, eldest daughter of the Duke of Argyle, and widow of Francis, Earl of Dalkeith, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. His conduct as a husband and a father is said to have been exceedingly amiable. Burke, in his speech on American taxation, thus admirably depicted the general character of Charles Towns- hend : — " Before this splendid orb, (al- luding to the great Lord Chatham,) had entirely set, and while the western horizon was in a blaze with his descend- ing glory, on the opposite quarter of the heavens arose another luminary, and for his hour became lord of the ascendant This light, too, is passed and set for ever ! I speak of Charles Townshend, officially the re-producer of this fatal scheme (American taxa- tion) ; whom I cannot even now re- member, without some degree of sensi- bility. In truth, he was the delight and ornament of this house, and the charm of every private society which he honoured with his presence. Per- haps, there never arose in this country, nor in any country, a man of more pointed and finished wit, and (where his passions were not concerned) of a more refined, exquisite, and penetrating judgment. If he had not so great a 310 THE SENATE. Stock, as soine have had who flourished formerly, of knowledge long treasured up, he knew better by far than any man I ever was acquainted with, how to bring together, within a short time, all that was necessary to establish, to illustrate, and to decorate that side of the question he supported. He stated his matter skilfully and powerfully; he particularly excelled in a most lumi- nous explanation, and display of his subject. His style of argument was neither trite and vulgar, nor subtle and abstruse. He hit the house just between wind and water ; and not being troubled with too anxious a zeal for any matter in question, he was never more tedious, or more earnest, than the pre-conceived opinions and present temper of his hearers required ; with whom he was al- ways in perfect unison. He conformed exactly to the temper of the house ; and he seemed to guide, because he was always sure to follow it. Many of my hearers, who never saw that prodigy, Charles Townshend, cannot know what a ferment he was able to excite in every thing, by the violent ebullition of his mixed virtues and failings; for failings he had, undoubtedly. But he had no failings which were not owing to a noble cause; to an ardent, generous, perhaps, an immoderate passion for fame; a passion which is the instinct of all great souls. He worshipped that goddess wheresoever she appeared ; but he paid his particular devotions to her in her favourite habitation, — in her chosen temple, the house of commons. That fear of displeasing those who ought most to be pleased, betrayed him sometimes into the other extreme. He had voted, and in the year 1765, had been an advocate, for the stamp act. He therefore attended at the private meeting in which resolutions leading to its repeal were settled ; and he would have spoken for that measure too, if illness had not prevented him. The very next session, as the fashion of this world passeth away, the repeal began to be in as bad odour as the stamp act had been before. To conform to the temper which began to prevail, and to prevail mostly among those most in power, he declared that re- venue must be had out of America. Instantly he was tied down to his en- gagements, — and the whole body of courtiers drove him onward. Here this extraordinary man, then chancellor of the exchequer, found himself in great straits : to please universally was the object of his life ; but to tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men. However, he attempted it. He was truly the child of the house. He never thought, did, or said any thing, but with a view to you. He every day adapted himself to your disposition, and adjusted him- self before it, as at a looking-glass. He had observed that several persons, in- finitely his inferiors in all respects, had formerly rendered themselves consi- derable in this house, by one method alone. The fortune of such men was a temptation too great to be resisted by one to whom a single whifF of incense withheld gave much greater pain, than he received delight in the clouds of it which daily rose around him from the prodigal superstition of innumerable admirers. lie was a candidate for con- tradictory honours ; and his great aim was to make those agree in admiration of him who never agreed in any thing else." CHARLES JENKINSON, EARL OF LIVERPOOL. Charles, the eldest son of Colonel Charles .Jenkinson, was born on the Ifith of May, 1727, and educated at the Charter-house and the University col- lege, Oxford ; where he took his degree of M. A. in 17.52, after having greatly distinguished himself by his scholastic attainments. He first attracted public notice by the active part which lie took, as a writer, in an election controversy : and, it is said, procured the patronage of George the Third, when Prince of Wales, by a poetical eulogium on his deceased father. EARL OF LIVERPOOL. 311 Having obtained the post of private secretary to Lord Bute, he abandoned the views which he had previously entertained of taking holy orders. In 1761, he went into parliament as mem- ber for Cockermouth, and became under secretary of state. During the two following years, he was secretary to the treasury ; in 17(56, he held a seat at the admiralty board, from which he was removed, in 1763, to that of the treasury. In 1773, he became a mem- ber of the privy council, and obtained the vice-treasurership of Ireland, which he afterwards exchanged for the lucra- tive clerkship of the pells. In 1778, he was made secretary at war, and re- mained in that office until the downfal of Lord North's administration. Under the auspices of Pitt, in 1784, he pro- cured the post of president of the board of trade, which he retained until 1801 : and two years afterwards, he resigned the chancellorship of the duchy of Lancaster, to which he had been ap- pointed in 1786. On the 21st of August, in that year, (1786,) he had been created Baron Hawksbury; and on the 28th of May, 1796, Earl of Liverpool. At the time of his decease, which took place on the 17th of December, 1808, he was still clerk of the pells, and also collector of the customs inward for the port of London. His death is said to have been greatly accelerated by alarm at an accident whicli befel his wife, who, about a week before his dissolution took place, was dreadfully burnt, owing to some part of her dress having un- fortunately caught fire. He was twice married: — first in 1765, to Amelia, daughter of Mr. Watts, governor of Bengal, by whom he had one son, his successor ; and on the 22d of June, 1782, to Catherine, daughter of Sir Cecil Bishopp, Bart, widow of his first cousin, Sir Charles Cope, by whom he had a son and daughter. He is described as having been exceedingly amiable in all the relations of private life. The earl was a respectable politician, a neat speaker, an assiduous man of business, and an able expositor of in- ternational law ; on which subject, he published several works. Of his last production, A Treatise on the Coins of the Realm, the Edinburgh Reviewers spoke in the following terms: — " It is pleasing to find one, who must neces- sarily have been bred among the ex- ploded doctrines of the elder econo- mists, shaking himself almost quite loose from their influence, at an ad- vanced period of life ; and betraying, while he resumes the favourite specu- lations of his early years, so little bias towards errors whidi he must once have imbibed. It is no less gratifying to observe one who has been educated in the walks of practical policy, and grown old amid the bustle of public employments, embellishing the decline of life by pursuits which unite the dignity of science with the usefulness of active exertion." During a considerable part of his political career. Lord Liverpool was odious to the multitude, on account of a generally-received opinion, which Burke strengthened, in a pamphlet on popular discontents, that he was the secret adviser of his sovereign. In consequence of this supposition, he was designated as leader of the king's friends. But his fortunes prospered in spite of his unpopularity : he out-lived the generation that hated him ; and altogether ceased to be obnoxious. He was one of those practical men of business, who, by moderate abilities, and prudence of conduct, invariably get forward, in whatever situation of life circumstances may throw them ; — who improve events to their own ad- vantage ; — who, while they possess suf- ficient skill to be useful, are not en- dowed with enough of talent to produce envy; — who, eventually, obtain a ge- neral experience that renders them of importance, with an intimate know- ledge of subordinate matters, which their superiors usually scorn to acquire, but must possess in another, if not in themselves ; and who, at last, tortoise- like, slowly, but surely outstrip such of their competitors as, with natural powers vastly superior, are not endowed with the same all-conquering steadiness and perseverance. 312 THE SENATE. JOHN WILKES. John, the second son of Israel Wilkes, an opulent distiller, was born in 1727. After receiving the rudiments of educa- tion at Hertford and Aylesbury, he went to the university of Leyden, where he prosecuted his general studies with considerable success ; and acquired such a knowledge of Latin, in particular, as to render him capable of editing Ti- bullus and Catullus. He returned to England in 1749; and, soon afterwards, married a person of the name of Mead, merely, as it ap- peared in the sequel, for the sake of her property; for, in after life, he fre- quently declared that the union, on his part, was a sacrifice to Plutus rather than Venus. The lady was his senior by full ten years, and, unlike her husband, had retained the dissenting principles in which they had mutually been brought up. The gravity of her manners, and her love of retirement, formed a striking contrast to the gay and social habits of her husband. With dispositions so utterly discordant, it is not surprising that their union, — formed, as it had been, without love, at least on one side, and with such a disadvantage with regard to years on the other, — should be productive of no domestic happiness. Wilkes betrayed a want of principle but too common, in marrying Miss IVIead merely for her money; and a want of feeling, which, also, was not, unfortunately, without numerous pre- cedents, in neglecting his victim after she had become his wife, and dissi- pating her fortune among a set of gay and dissolute companions. Disgusted with his profligacy, she, at length, re- quired a separation, which accordingly took place ; but the unfortunate woman was afterwards compelled to procure tlie institution of a suit against her aban- doned husband, for the purpose of en- forcing the due discharge of an annuity wliich he had stipulated to pay. One daughter was the fruit of their mar- riage. In 1754, Wilkes made an unsuccess- ful attempt to obtain his return to parliament for the town of Berwick- upon-Tweed. The contest cost him be- tween three and four thousand pounds; and this loss, added to the larger ex- penses of his election for Aylesbury, three years afterwards, plunged him in difficulties, from which he was scarcely ever able completely to extricate him- self. Soon after he had taken his seat, his friend, Earl Temple, procured for him the commission of lieutenant-colo- nel of the Buckinghamshire militia. At the general election which took place on the accession of George the Third, he was again returned for Aylesbury. His increasing embarrass- ments now rendered him exceedingly anxious to obtain a place ; and it is probable that, had his wishes on this point been complied with, he would scarcely have acquired that conspicuous station in the annals of his time, which he afterwards gained by adopting the course usually pursued by the disap- pointed place-hunter of strong feelings and good talents. Circumstances blighted his hopes of procuring the governor- ship of Canada ; but the failure of his application to be sent out as ambassador to Constantinople, he attributed chiefly, if not solely, to Lord Bute's disinclina- tion to befriend him. It would have been well for his lordship had he as- sisted Wilkes to accompUsh his object; for, in that case, the needy politician, instead of writing North Britons, and satirical dedications, would, perhaps, have spent the vigorous portion of his life at Constantinople, or elsewhere abroad, a lazy and luxurious diplomatist. But events Imrried Wilkes into political warfare. Having nothing to lose, he had but little to fear: and the spleen with which he expressed himself against go- vernment, exposed him to a persecution that raised him to eminence. He reck- lessly stigmatized ministers as the ene- mies of their country, to gratify his own malice, probably, more than from patriotic motives ; and assailed the Scotcii with the most determined ran- cour, for no other reason as it would appear, than because Lord Bute was a Scotchman. JOHN WILKES. 313 In 1762, he attacked the adminis- tration with great spirit, in a pamphlet on the papers relative to the rupture with Spain ; and. in the following year, he prefixed an ironical dedication to Ben Jonson's Fall of Mortimer, in which he lavished the most caustic ridicule upon the country, as well as the conduct of Lord iSute ; whose resignation is, by some writers, sup- posed to have been accelerated by the power and virulence with which Wilkes assailed him, in the famous paper called the North iJriton. In this publica- tion, which attained a remarkable de- gree of popularity, Wilkes constantly abused the Scotch with extraordinary bitterness ; and, at length, antipathy to their northern fellow-subjects became a prevalent feeling among a large portion of the people of England. Wilkes never lost an opportunity of expressing his contempt for " the land o'cakes." "Among all the flights," — said he, during a discussion with Johnson, on the genius of Shakspeare, " among all the vagaries of that author's imagination, the boldest certainly is that of Birnam wood being brought to Dunsinane ; — making a wood where there never was a shrub! A wood in Scotland! Ha! ha! ha!" On the 23rd of April, 1763, was pub- lished the famous Number Forty-five of the North Briton, in which Wilkes commented on the king's speech with such unmeasured severity, that mi- nisters determined on making it the subject of a prosecution. A general warrant was accordingly issued by the home secretary, by which the authors, printers, and publishers of the ob- noxious paper, without being mentioned by name, were ordered to be appre- hended. Wilkes was arrested in the street, and brought before the secretary of state for examination ; but he re- fused to answer any interrogatories : and, having been committed to the Tower, procured a writ of habeas corpus, a few days afterwards, on which he was taken to the chambers of the lord chief justice of the common pleas ; who being of opinion that general warrants were illegal, Wilkes, to the most enthusiastic joy of the people, immediately obtained his liberty. Throughout these proceedings his coolness and confidence had never deserted him : the former was displayed in a remarkable manner on the day of his capture. Being compelled by the king's messengers to accompany them to his own house, he there found Churchill, the poet, who, having had something to do with the North Briton, was verbally designated as one of the persons to be taken into custody, under the general warrant. Wilkes, how- ever, saved his friend from arrest, (the messengers not being acquainted with the person of the poet,) by addressing him as Mr. Thomson. Wilkes was now deprived of his com- mission in the Buckinghamshire mili- tia. Shortly afterwards he brought actions against all the parties impli- cated in the seizure of his person and papers under the general warrant; and in every case obtained damages, which, by an express order in council, were paid by the treasury. Flattered by his great popularity, and rendered daring by success, he boldly reprinted the obnoxious number. Forty-five ; a criminal information was, consequently, filed against him, on which he was afterwards found guilty, ami, at the same time, convicted on an indict- ment for publishing an obscene poem, entitled. An Essay on Woman ; written, it is said, by Potter, a son of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury. In the mean- time, measures had been taken to ex- pel him from the house of commons ; and he had fought a duel with Martin, the member for Camelford, on account of some passages in the North Briton. Wilkes was so severely wounded in this affair, that he declared himself incapable of appearing in the house of commons to make his defence. Sus- picions, however, appear to have been entertained that this was a subterfuge : for Dr. Heberden and Mr. Hawkins were appointed to visit him; but, as he said, the house had forgotten to desire him to receive them, and he would not admit them to his presence. He after- wards sent for the king's physician and the sergeant-surgeon, to whom he stated, that as the commons were de- sirious of having him watched, he con- sidered a couple of Scotchman were the most proper persons to become his spies. Although avowedly incapable of ap- pearing in parliament, he mustered VOL. I. 314 THE SENATE. strength enough to make a retreat to France, which the aspect of his affairs had rendered exceedingly prudential. On his arrival in Paris he obtained a certificate from the French king's me- dical men, that he could not leave his room, and that it was therefore impos- sible for him to return. The house of commons, however, without waiting until it should suit his convenience and health to make his defence, voted his expulsion, and ordered a new writ to be issued for Aylesbury. Outlawry was the result of his protracted absence on the continent; but on a change of ministry taking place, in 1768, and a new par- liament being called, he returned to England, and oflfered himself as one of the candidates to represent the city of London. So great was his popularity, that he was defeated only by a small majority ; and he soon afterwards ob- tained his return for the county of Mid- dlesex. Having surrendered himself for judgment, on the verdicts which had been returned against him, his outlawry was reversed, and he was sentenced to twenty-two months imprisonment, as well as to pay a fine of jglOOO to the king. While a prisoner, Wilkes was at the zenith of his fame. Subscriptions were opened for payment of his debts ; valuable presents were conferred on him ; and his likenesses were multiplied to such an almost incredible extent, tliat his portrait squinted at the traveller even from the sign-boards of lialf the inns in the kingdom. He used to relate that, one day, an old lady, behind whom he happened to be walking, exclaimed, with much spleen, as she looked up to one of his public-house profiles, " Ah ! he swings every where but where he ought!" In 1769, he was again expelled the house of commons, for having published some severe censures on a letter ad- dressed by the secretary of state to the magistrates and military who had been employed in quelling some of the dreadful riots which were occasioned by Wilkes's imprisonment. He was immediately re-elected ; but no sooner did the commons receive his return, than they not only declared his seat vacant, but thai he should be deemed incapable of sitting in that parliament. A third time he was re-elected by the Middlesex freeholders, and rejected by the house. Luttrell was then put for- ward to oppose him, and, notwithstand- ing Wilkes obtained an overwhelming majority, was declared to be the sitting member. In the meantime, Wilkes, although a prisoner, had become one of the city aldermen ; and in that capacity, not long after he had been set at liberty, he discharged a printer who had been apprehended by order of the house of commons, and bound him over to prose- cute his captors for an assault. Two of the city magistrates, who happened to be members of parliament, were sent to the tower for acting in a similar manner, and Wilkes was ordered to attend at the bar of the house ; but he refused to appear, except in his place as member for Middlesex. The order was repeated, and again disobeyed. The house now found itself in a di- lemma, and, to save its credit, had re- course to what Junius terms the mean and pitiful evasion, of summoning Wilkes a third time, for the 8th of April, and then adjourning to the 9th. His popularity among the citizens increased; in 1772, he was chosen sheriff', and, two years afterwards, elected mayor. On the dissolution of parliament, about the same period, he was again returned for Middlesex, and took his seat without opposition. He now most zealously advocated the ne- cessity of appeasing America, and was generally adverse to the measures of Lord North ; on whose dismissal Wilkes procured a vote of the house for rescind- ing the various resolutions which had previously been carried against him. From this period, he rarely meddled with political affairs, deeming himself to be " an extinguished volcano;" and occupied, or rather amused, his declining years, by fulfilling his duties as cham- berlain of the city of London, which lucrative office he had fortunately ob- tained by a considerable majority in 1779. After having been for many years comparatively forgotten, he died, aged seventy, on the 26th of December, 1797. In person, Wilkes was tall, and, at the latter part of his life, exceedingly slender. His features were such as tlie caricaturist delights to dwell upon. But, in spite of his personal defects, he EARL OF GUILDFORD. 315 was, at one time, a leader of fashion, and imported the vanity of blue hair- powder. Many years before his death he became a confirmed sloven, and at- tracted notice by invariably wearing an old cocked hat and a shabby coat, the colour of wliich had been scarlet. " In private life, and at table," says Wraxali, " he was pre-eminently agree- able, abounding in anecdote, ever gay and convivial ; converting his very de- fects of person, manner and enuncia- tion, to purposes of merriment and entertainment. If ever any man was pleasing who squinted, had lost his teeth, and lisped, it was Wilkes." His conversational wit has been much lauded, but no remains of it have been preserved from which we can form an opinion of its value, even upon the ex pede Herculem principle. It appears, however, to have been rather caustic than jovial. He once told Alderman Burnell, previously a bricklayer, who was carving a pudding with awkward- ness and difficulty, to take a trowel to it. His writings were nearly equal in viru- lence, but far inferior in all that is ad- mirable to those of the masterly Junius. He was one of the persons to whom the celebrated letters published under that signature were attributed. On being charged by some of his friends with the authorship of them, he exclaimed ener- getically, " Utinam scripsissem !" His epistles to his daughter are clever and characteristic ; but his essay, in con- tradiction to the assertion made by Johnson in his dictionary, that the letter h seldom, perhaps never, begins any but the first syllable of a word, by no means merits the praise which it has re- ceived. To prove that the lexicographer was glaringly in error, required neither great ingenuity, nor much reading. It is really astonishing how Johnson, when he wrote the passage in question, could have forgotten the words, behest, behove, behaviour, behold, behind, vehement, vehicle, apprehend, compre- hend, reprehend, &c. &c. In parliament, the votes of Wilkes were always more valuable to the party he supported than his speeches. He was not an orator. It was a maxim of his that, in addressing the house it was advisable to be impudent, merry, and to give utterance to whatever came uppermost. But like many others, Wilkes did not practise what he preached : his speeches were prepared with great care, and he sent copies of them to the papers, in order that what he meant to say might be correctly published. As a poUtical character he was, per- haps, desperately daring, rather than calmly courageous ; and his motives ap- pear to have been less patriotic than per- sonal. If the result of those proceed- ings, in which he involuntarily bore so conspicuous a part, were gloriously fa- vourable to the independence of his fellow-subjects, the merit was not so much his, as that of the chief justice who first declared general warrants to be illegal, and that of the different juries who supported his lordship's opinion, by giving verdicts against those who had issued and acted under that absurd government order, by which the papers of Wilkes had been seized, and his person held in durance. W'e can scarcely accord the palm of patriotism to a man who happens to achieve a great public good, for his private advantage ; who frees a nation from the terror of general warrants, by struggling against their legality in order to obtain his personal liberty ; and who secures his countrymen against similar official ty- ranny, by prosecuting his individual aggressors, for damages to put into his own pocket, after he has obtained a security against defeat, by so high a judicial declaration in his own favour, as that of the chief justice of the court of common pleas. FREDERICK NORTH, EARL OF GUILDFORD. Frederick, Lord North, the eldest son of Francis, Earl of Guild- ford, was born in 1729. After studying for some years at Eton, he was sent to Trinity college, Oxford, and subse- quently went to Leipsic. On his re- turn to England he was elected mem- ber for Banbury, which he represented 316 THE SENATE. during the parliaments of 1761, 1768, 1774, 1780, and 1784. Shortly after his first appearance in public life, he was met one morning, by George Grenville, and another gentleman, walking in the park, and as it appeared, rehearsing an oration. " Here comes blubbering North," said the latter to Grenville ; " I wonder what he is getting by heart, for I am sure it can be nothing of his own." " You are mistaken," replied Grenville ; " North is a young man of great promise, and high qualifications ; and if he does not relax in his political pursuits, he is very likely to be prime minister." In June, 17.59, he was appointed a commissioner of the treasury, and re- mained in oiBce until 1765. In the following year he was made joint re- ceiver and paymaster of the forces, and obtained a seat in the privy council. In 1767, he became chancellor of the exchequer; and in 1770, first lord of the treasury. " His administration," says Dr. Bisset, " teemed with cala- mitous events, beyond any of the same duration to be found in our annals. The war with America lost us thirteen great and powerful colonies. Year after year, our blood and treasure were ex- pended to no purpose; myriads of men were sacrificed ; and hundreds of mil- lions were lavished, without obtaining any valuable object. Temporary gleams of partial success were followed by the permanent gloom of general disaster. Yet the chief minister possessed very considerable talents and fair intentions, though mingled with defects, and acting in such emergencies as precluded be- neficial exertions and consequences." Lord North continued in office until 1782 ; in the following year he formed a coalition with Fox, who had pre- viously been his most virulent par- liamentary opponent, and had more than once threatened him with an im- peachment. This disgraceful and un- natural alliance, although impopular, obtained a temporary political domi- nion. After driving Lord Shelburne, the minister, from his post, the united parties, avowedly against the wishes of the king, forced their leaders into office, from which, however, they were soon dismissed, and Pitt obtained the pre- miership. The most violent debates ensued ; night after night the youthful minister was defeated in the house by large ma- jorities : but he resolutely kept his post, in spite of all the efforts of the coalition. An union of the conflicting parties being at length suggested, Pitt declared that it was impossible for him ever to act with Lord North, who instantly rose, and though evidently hurt by so pointed an exclusion, declared, in a manly and dignified manner, that he would not be an obstacle to any arrangement which might benefit his country. No recon- ciliation, however, took place ; and, after a tremendous struggle, Pitt com- pletely triumphed over his antagonists. In 1790, Lord North succeeded his father, as Earl of Guildford, but took no active part in the debates of the peers. For several years before his death, which took place on the 5th of August, 1792, he was afflicted with total blindness. His siglit had been early affected, and was at length totally destroyed, by the consequences of a pernicious habit of sanding his letters, owing to his being short-sighted, close to his eyes. He once said of Colonel Barr6, who was also blind in his latter years, " Although the worthy gentle- man and I have often been at variance, there are few men living who would feel more delighted to see each other." He was a knight of the Garter, chan- cellor of the university of Oxford, and president of various scientific and cha- ritable societies. By his wife, Anne, daughter of George Speke, Esq. of White Lackington, Somerset, he had several children ; and his domestic life appears to have been particularly feli- citous. In his last moments he only regretted that he could not see his youngest son, who, on the morning of his father's death, had landed at Dover from his travels, but did not reach London in time to receive the paternal blessing. He was distinguished for his urbane deportment, his excellent temper, his great liberality, and those other fine qualities, which, in the highest degree, endear a man to those who compose his social circle. When blind and in- firm, his company still continued to be exceedingly desirable. He had nume- rous opponents as a minister, but scarcely any enemies as a man. He appears to have outlived all political EARL OF GUILDFORD. 317 animosity ; and even during that period of his life, when his administration was most grossly and deservedly abused, his adversaries, it is stated, were so well satisfied of his good-nature, that they did not scruple to solicit various little favours for their friends, which it was only in his power to grant. These small beginnings, however, probably had great ends ; the worthy gentle- men, who, at first obtained trifles for others, at length, perhaps, procured something beneficial for themselves ; and in return, gratefully joined the minister's band of political apostates. It is well known that he employed the influence of the crown, in further- ing the measures of government, to an almost incredible extent ; many pre- tended patriots whom he failed to con- vince by argTiment, he converted to his political creed by the talismanic power of official emoluments; — invariably acting on those occasions with such decent secrecy, that the public beheld him constantly making proselytes, whom it was supposed he had con- vinced, rather than corrupted. He carried his fear of giving oti'ence to those who might injure him, or his natural unwillingness to wrong another, so far as peremptorily to refuse dis- placing the brother of one of his prin- cipal parliamentary antagonists from a lucrative post; observing, invariably, when the subject was mentioned to him, that he saw no reason for visiting the sins of his brother upon a man who did his duty, and had never ren- dered himself personally obnoxious to the administration. During the twelve years of his sway as premier, he originated no one mea- sure which can entitle him to the admiration or gratitude of posterity. As a public speaker, he succeeded rather by his wit, suavity, and appa- rent candour, than by force of argu- ment, or splendour of diction. Gibbon speaks of the felicity of his incompa- rable temper, which Adolphus describes as having been seldom ruffled, and Burke pronounces to have been delight- ful. As a wit, his cotemporaries ap- pear to have considered hiin almost without a rival ; but his reputation in this respect, entirely rests upon their recorded assertions ; the following being the best specimens of the dicta pre- served of a man who often kept the house in a roar of laughter for several minutes ; and of whom Burke said, " Well, there's no denying it, this man has more wit than than all of us (meaning the opposition) put together." Walking one day into the china shop of Fogg and Son, he said to one of the partners, " This strange coalition of yours, sir, will soon be at an end ; one of the principals must shortly obtain an ascendancy: for Fog- will either eclipse iS«M, or iS'wn chase Fog ; so that, you see, the partnership cannot last." Two brothers having realized hand- some fortunes by their commercial transactions with government. Lord North nicknamed one of them a rogue ill spirit, in allusion to his rum con- tract, and the other a rogue in grain., some of his dealings in corn having elevated him to the pillory. To a friend who had asked him what could be his brother's motive for marrying Miss Bannister, he replied, " Why, to confess the truth, I can say but little for either her beauty or her fortune; but, with regard to family, it is ditterent, for I hear she is nearly re- lated to the Stairs." A nobleman having alluded to him as " that tiling of a minister," he was advised to resent the expression. " I will," said he, " by continuing in office ; as I know his lordship has no other resentment against me, than wishing to be the thing I am." He used to relate that when he asked the lord mayor, during the riots in 1780, why he did not call upon the posse comitatus, he received for an- swer, " I would have done so, but, deuce take the fellow I I don't know where he lives." He was frequently upbraided for snoring on the treasury bench, during the discussion of important topics. While Alderman Sawbridge was speak- ing in favour of annual parliaments, he raised a laugh among the opposition, by calling the attention of the house to the noble premier, who was drowsily nodding in his place. Lord North, however, protested that he was not asleep while the alderman spoke ; " but," added he, " I wish to heaven I had been 1" 318 THE SENATE. EDMUND BURKE. Like his great cotemporaries, Fox and Pitt, this accomplished author, orator, and statesman, was a younger son. He was born on Arran Quay, Dublin, on the 1st of January, 1730. His father was an attorney, who, for many years, enjoyed a very extensive practice in the Irish capital ; and his mother was a relative of the gallant Sir Edmund Nagle. Burke, who was a very delicate child, received the first rudiments of educa- tion from an old woman, who lived near his father's house. He afterwards went to a school at Castletown Roche : whence he was removed to another in Dublin, where he remained about a year; and, on the 26th of May, 1741, he was sent to a classical academy at Ballitore, in the county of Kildare, which was then under the superin- tendence of Abraham Shackleton, an intelligent member of the society of Friends. Among the numerous errors which occur in many of the biographies of Burke, it is stated, that while at school he did not display any promise of future greatness : whereas it has been incontestibly proved that, within a short period after his arrival at Bal- litore, he exhibited very extraordinary powers for a lad of his age ; and pos- sessed, not merely an ardent desire, but a singular capacity, for the acquire- ment of knowledge. An anecdote is recorded of him which shews, that even at this early period of his life, he occu- pied a superior station among his com- panions, and was capable, as in after- life, of successfully exerting his abilities on a sudden emergency. Burke and his schoolfellows were one day per- mitted to go and see the procession of the judges of assize, on condition that all the senior boys should, after their return, write an account of the spectacle in Latin verse. When Burke had finished his own task on the occa- sion, he was earnestly solicited to pre- pare another description of the scene, for a schoolfellow to whom he had often before rendered a similar service. Hoping to obtain some hint for a second composition on the same subject, he asked the lad, what had struck him as being most remarkable in the proces- sion. The boy replied, that he had noticed nothing particular, but a fat piper in a brown coat. On this, Burke immediately commenced, and, in a short time, completed, a humorous doggerel poem, on the prescribed sub- ject, the first line of which ran as fol- lows : — Piper erat fattus, qui brownum teamen habebat. A circumstance is also related of him which shews that in boyhood, as well as during his riper years, he felt an in- vincible hatred to oppression. A poor man having been compelled to pull down his humble cottage, by the sur- veyor of the roads, because it was de- nounced as standing too near the high- way, Burke, who saw the cottager performing his melancholy task, ob- served, with indignation, that if he were in authority, such tyranny should never be exercised over the defenceless with impunity. On the 14th of April, 1744, after having been about three years at Ballitore school, he was entered as a pensioner at Trinity college, Dublin. In June, 1746, he was elected a scholar of the house : a distinction which con- fers on its possessor the advantages of a small annuity, a vote for the repre- sentative of the university, and free chambers and commons during a period of five years. The successful candi- dates go through an examination before the provost and senior fellows in the classics; the correctness, therefore, of Goldsmith's assertion, that Burke dis- played no superiority in academical exercises while at college, is, at the least, doubtful. History, moral philo- sophy, the classics, rhetoric, composi- tion, and metaphysics, are reported to have been his favourite studies : to these, however, he did not at all restrict himself: on the contrary, he appears to have adopted the recommendation of his preceptor, Dr. Pelissier, to aim at the acquirement of multiform know- EDMUND BURKE. 319 ledge. That he was successful in this pursuit, to a very considerable extent, is shewn by the versatility of powers, and the capacity of discoursing elo- quently and correctly on almost every subject that was started in his society, which he displayed in his manhood. Johnson, than whom no man knew Burke better, said of him, on dif- ferent occasions, " Take up whatever topic you will, Burke is ready to meet you :" — " If he were to go into a stable, and talk to the ostlers for a short time, they would venerate him as the wisest of human beings :" — and " No person of sense ever met him under a gateway to avoid a shower, who did not go away convinced that he was the first man in England." While a collegian, Burke is described as having been a young man of quiet habits, and of a very unpretending cha- racter. No academical irregularity is on record against him, except his join- ing his fellow collegians to support Brinsley Sheridan, (the father of his future friend, R. B. Sheridan,) then manager of the Dublin theatre, agaiast the rioters of 174G, who nearly des- troyed the playhouse. It has been said, that he quitted college without a de- gree : this, however, is contradicted by his late biographer. Prior, who states, that he commenced A. B. in February, 1747-8, and proceeded A. M. in 1751. It was intended by his friends, that he should follow the legal profession at the English bar ; and his name was accordingly enrolled at the Middle Temple so early as the 24th of April, 1747. In 1750, according to one usually correct writer, but in 1753, as stated by others, he began to keep his tenns. His talents soon brought him into no- tice : and he became acquainted with several individuals of literary eminence, partly by whose persuasion and exam- ple, perhaps, or it may be, prompted solely by his own desire to distinguish himself as an author, he contributed many papers to the periodicals of the day. Some biographical writers assert that he was compelled to exercise his literary talent* for his support; while others protest that he received a suffi- cient allowance, from his father, for a young man of his habits to maintain himself with comfort and credit; and that his family were so able and will- ing to supply his wants, as well at this, as at subsequent periods of his life, that he actually received from his re- lations, at different times, no less a sum than £20,000. His wife, a woman of very amiable character, is said to have declared, that the report of Burke having been dependent on his pen for support, previously to coming into par- liament, was a gross untruth. That he did write for the periodicals, and was paid for his productions, is, however, admitted on all bands ; but whether he derived the means of subsistence from his literary exertions, or from other sources, is a matter of much un- certainty, and little consequence. Almost every step in the early part of Burke's life, is involved in doubt, and encumbered with controversy. Ac- cording to one author, he became a candidate for a Glasgow professorship before his arrival in London : but Dugald Stewart doubts the fact of his ever having aspired to it, while it is asserted, on the authority of Professor Taylor, that Burke decidedly en- deavoured, but without success, to pro- cure the chair of the professor of logic, at the university of Glasgow, either in 1752 or 1753. His first avowed production was the Vindication of Natural Society, a re- markably clever production, published in 1756, in which the author covertly imitated the style and principles of Bo- lingbroke, with admirable effect. But the burlesque was not sufficiently gross to be generally palpable ; Burke's in- tentions in the pamphlet were conse- quently mistaken ; and many years afterwards, lie was attacked for pro- mulgating ideas, which it was his aim, in the work in question, to have held up, by an ironical advocacy, to scorn and detestation. In the course of the same year he produced his original and ingenious Treatise on the Sublime and Beautiful. He paid dearly for the fame which this work acquired him, by a severe fit of illness ; before his complete reco- very from which, he went to Bath, where he resided in the house of a talented physician of the name of Nu- gent, whose daughter, Jane Mary, he afterwards married. In this lady, Burke found such a wife as few men of genius have had the good fortune to 320 THE SENATE. be blessed with : so far from ever re- penting of liis choice, he was often known to declare, at different periods of his life, that all his cares left him as he crossed the threshold of his home. Connected with this union, another point of diflSculty and dispute occurs in the life of Burke. It has been as- serted that Miss Nugent was not only a catholic, but that after Burke mar- ried her, he constantly entertained a popish priest in his house. This re- port strengthened the suspicion which had previously prevailed of his being a catholic himself. He was stigmatised with having been educated at St. Omers ; although it is declared, that during the several tours which he made in France, he had by accident, and not by de- sign, omitted visiting that celebrated place. His exertions to remove the disabilities under which the catholics laboured, procured him the appella- tion of a Jesuit in disguise: and as a reputed papist, his life was on one oc- casion actually endangered. He scorned to refute the slanders propagated against him on this score, and in reply to a re- monstrance from his wife, (who, by- the-by, was, in fact, a presbyterian,) for suflfering them to be passed uncon- tradicted, he stated, that he was de- termined to treat them with the digni- fied contempt they deserved ; — satisfied, as he felt, that he should have the pleasure of outliving them. His reputation as an author gradu- ally produced him an enlarged circle of eminent acquaintance, and full em- ployment for his pen. He was en- gaged by Dodsley, on the Annual Register, which was conducted under his direction until an advanced period of his life. For his labours in this work, the first series of which ap- peared in June, 1759, he probably re- ceived about jEIOO per annum. Dr. Jolinson, Hume, Lord Lyttleton, Mur- phy, Garrick, and many other cele- brated men, were now his companions and friends ; and be was one of the first nine members of the club held at the Turk's Head, near Soho-square, which was established under the auspices of Johnson. About the year 1759, Burke ob- tained an introduction to Mr. William Gerard Hamilton, better known as Single-speech Hamilton, a nick-name which he obtained through having spoken one eloquent oration, and never after, during a period of thirty years, opening his lips in the house of com- mons, except to say aye or no, in a division. This one celebrated speech was attributed to the powerful pen of Burke ; but no good reason has been offered against the prima facie pre- sumption of its having been composed by the man who delivered it. Hamilton was appointed secretary to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, in 17C1, and Burke accompanied him to Dub- lin, not in an official capacity, but as a private friend and adviser. For his services on this occasion, he obtained a pension of j£300 a year on the Irish establishment ; which, however, he in- dignantly threw up, after enjoying it only eighteen months, in consequence of a rupture with Hamilton ; who. it seems, claimed his servitude for life, in consequence of the pension having been procured partly through his (Hamilton's) interest. About the latter end of 1763, Burke became acquainted with Barry, the painter, who was introduced to his notice and protection by Dr. Sleigh, of Cork. At one of the first interviews between these two distinguished men, Barry, in support of an opinion he had broached, quoted a passage from the Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful, of which he expressed his most en- thusiastic admiration ; but he had no suspicion that his new friend was the autlior of it. Burke depreciated the work as being of no authority : Barry grew warm ; and, at length, Burke, to appease him, confessed that the essay was his own production ; on which, the enthusiastic painter rushed up to him, embraced him with great earnestness, and, to Burke's extreme gratification, produced a copy of the volume, com- pletely transcribed with his (Barry's) own hand. Although Burke's means were slen- der, he contrived to get the young painter across the Channel, and to assist liim until he obtained sufficient employ- ment for his support, hi 1765, with the assistance of his friend, William Burke, he sent him for improvement to Italy ; where Barry remained for five years wholly dependent on his two generous friends. In one of his letters EDMUND BUKKE. 321 10 Burke, he gratefully says, " you ought surely to be free with a man of your own making; who has found in you father, brother, friend, every thing !" On Barry's return, Burke endea- voured to root out the deistical notions which had taken possession of his mind ; he afterwards befriended him on every occasion ; and, it is stated, we are inclined to think incorrectly, that some portion of the merit, so far as regards conception, is due to him, of Barry's paintings, in the great room of the Society of Arts. Some anecdotes are related of these eminent men, which shew that Burke, on several oc- casions, kindly conformed to the curious whims of his talented friend ; and, it is said, that he once dined with Barry, in the painting- lolt of the latter, on beef steaks, which he partly cooked while Barry went to a neighbouring public-house to fetch porter. Burke, at length, obtained an entry into public life : the Marquis of Rock- ingham, on being called to the head of the treasury, in 1765, having appointed him his private secretary, and procured Ills return to parliament as member for Wendover, in Buckinghamshire. Burke now commenced his long and brilliant political career, and the succeeding events of his life, are almost as much matter of history as biography. Pre- viously to his entering parliament, he had, for some time, attended every im- portant discussion in the house of com- mons. He had also studied political economy ; taken lessons in the art of speaking, from Garrick ; disciplined himself for debate at the famous Robin Hood society, and was supposed by his friends to be already an accomplished orator. Shortly after the opening of the session, in 1766, he took a pro- minent part in a debate relative to the affairs of America. For the ability he displayed on this occasion, he ob- tained the most flattering approbation from Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, whose applause was of itself, in general estimation, a passport to fame. Sir John Hawkins having, at this period, ex- pressed his amazement at Burke's pre- cocious eminence, Johnson said to him, " There is nothing marvellous in it, Sir John ; we, who know Burke, feel sure that he will be one of the first men in the country." After a remarkably brief reign, the Rockingham party retired from office : on which occasion Burke drew up a sort of manifesto, entitled, A Short Account of a late Short Administration. About this time he purchased a villa near Beaconsfield, for which he gave a sum exceeding ^"20,000. How he ac- quired so large an amount is exceed- ingly doubtful. While one set of his biographers assert that the money in question was nominally a loan, but in reality a gift, from his munificent friend, Lord Rockingham, it is contended by others, that a part only of the amount was advanced by his patron, a consi- derable portion of it being cash which he received under the wills of bis father and elder brother. His old friend John- son, Irequently visited him at Beacons- field ; and one day, after wandering over the grounds for some lime, ex- claimed, in an animated manner, " Nou equidem invideo, miror magis !'* Burke soon took a leading part in the principal debates in the house of com- mons. He signalized himself as a de- cided enemy to all the obnoxious mea- sures of government against the Ame- rican colonies ; as a champion for the liberty of the subject; and as a power- ful advocate for religious toleration. In 1774, he was unexpectedly invited to become a candidate for Bristol, and obtained his return, free of expense. At the conclusion of one of his brilliant harangues from the hustings, during this election, a rival candidate, who was an American merchant, in- stead of making a speech in his turn, exclaimed with great emphasis, " Gen- tlemen, I say ditto to Mr. Burke." In his address of thanks at the ter- mination of the contest, Burke boldly told his constituents that he intended to vote in parliament according to the dictates of his own conscience, and not in blind obedience to the instructions of those who sent him there. " Your representative," said he, "owes you not only his industry, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion." The affairs of America for some time almost entirely engrossed his attention : one of his numerous speeches in favour of conciliating the colonies, Mr. Fox, nearly twenty years afterwards, recom- VOL.I. 322 THE SENATE. mended the members of the house of commons to read by day, and meditate upon by night ; to peruse and study it again and again, until it was firmly im- printed on their minds, and impressed on their hearts. During one of the debates on this important subject, Hartley, the member for Hull, after having driven four-fifths of a very full house from the benches, by an unusually dull speech, at length, requested that the riot act might be read, for the purpose of elucidating one of his pro- positions. Burke, who was impatient to address the house himself, imme- diately started up and exclaimed, " The riot act ! my dearest friend, why in the name of every thing sacred, have the riot act read ? The mob, you see, is already dispersed !" Peals of laughter followed the utterance of this comic appeal, which Lord North frequently declared to be one of the happiest in- stances of wit he ever heard.* Burke was equally felicitous in many other expressions which, as on this occa- sion, were elicited by the circumstances of the moment. While Lord North was at the head of public affairs, Burke, during a conversation relative to the Scotch anti-popish mob, thought proper to censure the supineness of govern- ment with great severity: in the midst of his speech, he suddenly perceived that the premier had fallen into a pro- found nap ; and directing the attention of the house to the circumstance, he observed, " Government, it is to be hoped, is not defunct, but drowsy. Brother Lazarus," continued he, point- ing to Lord North, " is not dead, he only sleepeth!" On another occasion, having supported a strong recommenda- tion to economy in the public expendi- ture, by tlie apothegm, " Magnum • Of this incorrigible proser (Hartley) it is re- lated, that one artenioon, Jenkinsori, the first Lord Liverpool, left the house when the member for Iliill rose to speak, ami presiiniingr that the honourable Kcntleman would, as usual, deliver a very long dull speed), he walked home, mounted his horse and rode lo his country house, where he dined ; and after strolling for some time about his grounds, returneil at a penile pace to town. On his arrival at bonw, be s- ut a nu'ssi:n|;er to the house, to ascer- tain what bail been di>ne, and how soon the division miKht be expected lo lake place. The reply he re- ceived was, that Mr. Hartley had not yet done speak- ing ; and when .lenkinson, at length, thought it ahip, I'itt brought forward his India bill; but it was rejected by a large majority, and Fox obtained leave to bring in another bill on the same subject. A union between the minister and his antagonists was now suggested ; but I'ox refused to treat witli Pitt while he remained in office, and the minister declined resigning. The lords, at length, voted a loyal afldress to the king, and Pitt received the thanks of the corporation of Lon- don, for his able, upright, and disin- terested conduct, accompanied with the freedom of the city, as a mark of gra- titude for, and approbation of, his zeal in supporting the legal prerogatives of the crortn, and the constitutional rights of the people. The king, and his mi- nister subsequently received addresses from all parts of the country, applauding their firmness, and urging them to per- severe against the faction in the house of commons. Meantime, the coalition majority had gradually decreased to a single vote ; and, at length, the conflict was terminated by the dissolution of parliament. No man, perhaps, had ever been more popular than Pitt was at this period. Electors in all parts of the kingdom solicited him to recommend candidates, and he was invited to become member for various great towns ; but he preferred representing the univer- sity of Cambridge, for which he pro- cured his return by a large majority. The general election was so decidedly in his favour, that upwards of one hun- dred and sixty of his opponents failed to obtain seats; and, on the meeting of the new parliament, in May, he found the opposition, although still powerful in talent, so numerically feeble, that he could have but little to fear from its efforts. He iiowpa,-.sed an India bill, differing, in some points, from that which he had unsuccessfully proposed in the pre- ceding parliament; and soon afterwards, (on the 29th of March, 1786,) in a speech of six hours' duration, proposed his well-known scheme for the re- demption of the national debt, by means of a sinking fund, which was agreed to without a single dissentient voice. He had passed the morning in making calculations on the subject, and in preparing the resolutions he intended to bring forward ; after having taken a short walk, to arrange his ideas, he dined with his sister and another lady, with whom he conversed with great gaiety and apparent unconcern, for some time ; he tlien went down to the house, and delivered his elaborate and far extended speech, as Fox pro- perly termed it, without committing a single blunder of calculation, or omit- ting one necessary argument. WILLIAM PITT. 385 During the insanity of George the Tiiird, in 17S8, several violent debates took place with regard to the regency bill. Flushed with the prospect of being speedily placed at the summit of politi- cal power, by the Prince of Wales, who it was Eigreed unanimously should be intrusted with the royal functions, Fox, with more of ardour than sound rea- soning, — with greatpertinacity, but little principle, — contended, that, under the circumstances, the full powers of the crown, as a matter of course, devolved upon the heir- apparent. Pitt, on the contrary, maintained, much more con- stitutionally, and with success, that the lords and commons had a right to impose restrictions on the regent. When Fox first stated his opinion in parlia- ment on this important subject, Pitt, it is said, exultingly slapped his thigh, and exclaimed, " I'll un-Whig the gen- tleman for the remainder of his life !" A regency bill, framed according to the minister's views, had already been in- troduced, when it was rendered un- necessary by the sudden and unex- pected recovery of the king. In 1790, Pitt was chosen high steward of the university of Cambridge. The French revolution soon afterwards be- came at once the great parliamentary, and the leading popular topic. Differ- ence of opinion, on this subject, pro- duced a convulsion in the state of parties, and an exasperation of feeling among the leading politicians, almost without a parallel. Pitt joined in, or rather,- led the cry against " French principles;" the majority of the nation was clamorous for war, and hostilities were at length commenced against " revolutionized France." The contest was unsuccessful. Great Britain main- tained her supremacy at sea; but the enemy's splendid triumphs over the continental powers rendered persever- ance hopeless. The nation was plunged still more deeply in debt: a suspension of cash payments took place in 1797; and, at length, peace became generally desirable. In the meantime, Pitt had carried his favourite project of an union with Ireland ; and, during the dis- cussions on the subject, had held out hopes to the Irish catholics, that their political disabilities would be speedily abolished. The king, however, was averse to concession, and the people, at the same time, were anxious for peace. Finding himself, therefore, incapable of performing his promises to the catho- lics, and feeling reluctant to negotiate with an enemy against whom his tone had hitherto been most hostile and un- compromising, he determined on le- tiring from the administration. In 1801 he accordingly resigned his post. He had previously, in 1798, fought a duel with Tierney. Pitt, it appears, had imputed factious motives to his opponent, and, declining to retract his expressions, Tierney had challenged him. The meeting took place on a Sunday afternoon, on Putney heath. The parties having exchanged shots without effect, Pitt fired his second pis- tol in the air, and a reconciliation im- mediately took place. He defended the treaty of Amiens, and supported the other measures of his successor in office, Mr. Addington, until the renewal of the war with France, when, considering the minister unequal to the vigorous prosecution of hostilities, and, doubtless, feeling desirous to re- sume his post, from which, on resigning, he had, probably, contemplated only a temporary secession, he opposed the administration, and voted with his old antagonist, Fox. Incapable of main- taining his ground against such for- midable opponents, Addington resigned his office ; and, on the 12th of May, 1804, Pitt was again nominated first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. On resuming the reins of government, he prosecuted the war with all the vigour in his power. Russia and Austria became engaged in the contest with France; but their efforts were speedily terminated by the battle of Austerlitz, which, in its consequences, more than balanced the victory of Tra- falgar. The minister's spirits and health, already impaired, were fatally affected by the disastrous aspect of affairs on the continent; and the impeachment of his faithful adherent, Lord Mel- ville, wounded his feelings even more, perhaps, than the absurd charge of corruption insinuated against himself relative to a loan upon scrip, to Messrs. Boyd and Co, in 1796. His constitu- tion, weakened as it was by heredi- tary gout, had also been severely in- jured by an immoderate use of wine; 38G THE S ENATE. of which, previously to an important debate, he would often swallow several bottles, to relieve himself from the languor produced by extreme mental and bodily exertion. Wine, at length, ceased to afford him the necessary ex- citement, and he had recourse to lau- danum, of which, as an eminent physi- cian has assured us, he sometimes took above two hundred drops at a dose ! By the use of this destructive stimu- lant, his bodily powers were rapidly debilitated. He tried the Bath waters, in December, 1805, but without effect. For some time he could not sleep ; water on the chest was at length pro- duced by his gout ; and his stomach became so weak, as to be incapable of retaining food. On the 10th of January, 1806, he returned to his seat at Putney. On the 19th he was able to discuss some public questions with his col- leagues, and his physicians thought that he might probably resume his official duties in the course of the win- ter. His symptoms, however, soon re- turned with such aggravated violence, that all hopes of his recovery were abandoned. He became so lethargic, that the awful intelligence of his ap- proaching death had scarcely any effect upon him. On the return of conscious- ness, he was solicited to join with Bishop Tomline in devotion. " I fear," re- plied the expiring statesman, " that I have, like many other men, neglected my religious duties too much to have any ground for hope that they can be efficacious on a death-bed. But," added he, making an effort to rise as he spoke, " I throw myself entirely on the mercy of God 1" He then joined in prayer with calm and humble piety. Shortly afterwards, adverting to his nieces, the daughters of Earl Stanhope by his elder sister, for whom he had long manifested the warmest affection, he said, " 1 could wish a thousand or fifteen hundred a year to be given to tliem, — if the public think my long services deserving of it." The mortal crisis was now fast ap- proaching. His extremities became cold, and, as a last and desperate effort to protract existence, blisters were applied to the soles of his feet. They restored him to consciousness, and he did not again lose his self- possession until within a few moments of his death, which took place early on the morning of the 23d of January, 1806. His last words, according to an assertion made by Mr. Rose, in the house of commons, were, "Oh! my country!" A public funeral was de- creed to his remains, and monuments have been erected to his memory in Westminster abbey, (where he was buried,) in the guildhall of the city of London, in the great hall of the uni- versity of Cambridge, and in many of the principal cities of the kingdom. So far from taking advantage of his official station to acquire wealth, and notwithstanding he was by no means of an extravagant disposition, he died in debt, and a sum of £40,000 was voted to pay his creditors. His dis- interestedness was singular : although he had abandoned a lucrative profes- sion to enter into the public service, — although his patrimony was small, and his retention of office precarious, yet, during the unexampled attacks on his administration by the coalesced parties of Fox and Lord North, the clerkship of the pells having become vacant, he neither took that lucrative situation himself, nor did he even confer it on one of his friends, but, in a spirit of true patriotism, gave it to Colonel Barr^, on condition that the latter should resign a pension of £3,000 a year. Lord Thurlow said of him, on this occasion, that he had, with notions of purity not only very uncommon in modern days, but scarcely paralleled in the purest times of Greece and Rome, nobly preferred the public good to the consideration of his own interest. In May, 1790, Pitt having solicited the reversion of a tellership of the ex- chequer for Lord Auckland's son, the king granted it, but at the same time observed, that, had Pitt proposed some means of rendering it useful to himself, he (the king) should have been better pleased. In 1792, when he had already been nine years a minister, the king insisted on conferring upon him the wardenship of the cinque ports ; and Pitt wisely consented to accept it, for his private fortune was now dissipated, and he had not saved one shilling of his official income. " I take the first op- portunity of acquainting Mr. Pitt," said the king, in his letter to the premier, on this occasion, " that the wardenship WILLIAM PITT. 387 of the cinque ports is an ofBce for which I will not receive any recom- mendations, having positively resolved to confer it on him, as a mark of that high regard which his eminent services have deserved from me. I am so bent on this, that I shall be seriously offended at any attempts to decline it." In person, Pitt was tall, slender, well-proportioned, and active. He had blue eyes, rather a fair complexion, prominent features, and a high capa- cious forehead. His aspect was severe and forbidding; his voice clear and powerful ; his action dignified, but neither graceful nor engaging ; his tone and manners, although urbane and complacent in society, were lofty, and often arrogant, in the senate. On entering the house, it was his custom to stalk sternly to his place, without honouring even his most favoured ad- herents with a word, a nod, or even a glance of recognition. Fox, on the contrary, strolled at leisure, and, occa- sionally, even meandered, to his seat, bestowing a good-humoured smile, a kind inquiry, or a gay observation upon every friend whom he passed. As an orator, Pitt was remarkably correct, clear, and copious. His matter was always skilfully arranged, and stated with astonishing precision and force. He dealt comparatively but little in metaphor ; his sentiments were seldom disguised by splendid imagery ; and he seemed to think tliat facts could never be so forcible, or arguments so convincing, as when stated in a pure, unadorned, impressive style. Though infinitely less rich, his eloquence was more effective even than that of Burke. Some of the orators of his day were more profound, but none of them so uniformly clear : it was im- possible to misunderstand him, unless he aimed at being unintelligible. He excelled in sarcasm, and, during the heat of debate, always retained the most perfect command over his temper. " Pitt," says a cotemporary, alluding to one of his speeches, " surpassed himself, and then, I need not tell you that he surpassed Cicero and Demos- thenes. What a figure would they, with their formal, laboured, cabinet orations, make vis-a-vis his manly vivacity and dashing eloquence, at one o'clock in the morning, after sitting in the heat of a crowded senate for eleven hours ! He spoke above an hour and a half with scarcely a bad sentence." To conclude, it has been justly said of him, that he never failed' to put the best word in the best place. As a minister, lie displayed an equal degree of patriotic zeal, but not so much ability, as his father, to maintain Great Britain in an exalted place among the nations of Europe. But, had his political skill even exceeded that of the great Lord Chatham, it is questionable if the warfare, in which he engaged the coun- try would have been successful. No genius, however pre-eminent, perhaps, could have withstood the astonishing march of events by which France es- tablished her ascendancy on the con- tinent. His financial measures have been enthusiastically praised by some and vehemently censured by others. To withstand, and eventually to con- quer, as he did, the powerful parties which opposed him in the senate, he must have possessed an extraordinary share of talent, firmness, and energy. His motives have been highly eulogized; but it is doubtful, if he did not, on many important occasions, sacrifice principle to expediency. His opinions were in favour of emancipation, but he shuffled out of office, partly because he would not risk his favour with the king, by boldly bringing the question forward, and thus fulfilling the expectations he had held out to the catholics of Ireland. He was a possessed friend to parlia- mentary reform and the abolition of the slave trade ; but, while in the plenitude of his power, he suffered them both to be negatived, because he would not make them ministerial measures. His views were not invariably tolerant ; for he resolutely opposed the repeal of the test act. He was ambitious of power ; but acquired it by no meanness, and used it without the least taint of cor- ruption. He was above every little art, or low intrigue, for his sentiments were lofty as his professions were dignified. In his social circle, Pitt was urbane, generous, sportive, and convivial to a fault. His only private vice was a pro- pensity to the bottle, and he once nearly lost his life in what may fairly be termed a drunken frolic. One night, a gate-keeper, on the road between Croydon and Wimbledon, was roused 388 THE SENATE. from his slumbers, by the rapid approach of three horsemen, who gallopped on, the gate being open, without waiting to pay toll. Numerous robberies having recently been committed in the neigh- bourhood, the honest gate-keeper, judg- ing from their extraordinary haste that they were highwaymen, discharged his blunderbuss at them, but without effect. The suspicious triumvirate, who had thus cheated the toll-taker, consisted of Pitt, Thurlow, and Dundas, the first lord of the treasury, the lord chancellor, and the treasurer of the navy, who were on their return to Wimbledon, from Mr. Jenkinson's, at Croydon, where they had been dining. Pitt narrowly escaped being shot on another occasion, after having dined with Jenkinson. Returning home in a post-chaise, the boy lost the road, and being unable to regain it, Pitt alighted, and went towards a farm-house, for the purpose of obtaining information. As he approached, the dogs began to bark ; and, in a few moments, the farmer ap- peared with a gun in his hand, threaten- ing to shoot the midniglit intruder on his premises, if he did not forthwith retire. Pitt expostulated; but his elo- quence was powerless, for the farmer at length fired. The bullet went through Pitt's coat, but did him no injury. An explanation then took place, and the rustic condescended to direct the pre- mier how to reach the main road. Pitt's affair with Tierney, on Putney heath, has been adduced as one great proof of that personal courage which he certainly possessed in an eminent degree : but, surely, the acceptance of a challenge, which he can venture to re- fuse, only, under penalty of losing his caste, is no exalted proof of a man's bravery. That he possessed extraordi- nary nerve and resolution, is much more satisfactorily shewn by his bold and determined conduct in parliament, and particularly at the early part of his first premiership. That he was sometimes absurdly inconsiderate of his personal safety, " after dining with Mr. Jenkin- son, at Croydon," is indisputable; but we can scarcely credit an assertion which has been made, that once, during the war, he foolishly sailed be- tween Dover and Calais, for some time, in an open boat, for the purpose of obtaining information, preparatory to bringing in a bill to protect the re- venue. Pitt evinced his gratitude to his pre- ceptors and early political friends, by procuring for Wilson, a canonry, for Turner, a deanery, and for Tomline, a bishopric ; the lord-lieutenancy of Ire- land for the Duke of Rutland, who had introduced him to Sir James Lowther, and a peerage for the latter, under whose auspices he had first obtained a seat in parliament. Although he never married, he is said to have been fond of female society, and to have evinced great affection towards his sisters : on the death of one of them. Lady Harriot Elliot, he is described as having been so absorbed in grief as to be inca- pable, for some time, of attending to public affairs. Many witticisms have been attributed to Pitt, which are utterly unworthy of his great talents. The following are, however, worthy of repetition. The lively Duchess of Gordon, who had not seen him for some time before, one day asked him if he had lately talked as much nonsense as usual: " Madam, re- plied he, " I have not heard so much." — '• Pray," said the duchess, " as you know all that occurs in the political world, tell me some news." " I am sorry, madam," said the minister, " that I cannot oblige you, as I have not read the papers to-day." " I wish you to dine with me at ten to-night," said the duchess. " Madam, I cannot," was Pitt's answer, "for I am engaged to sup with the Bishop of Lincoln at nine." — While the volunteer mania was raging, the corporation of London of- fered to raise a troop, on condition that it should not be expected to leave the country. " It certainly never shall," said Pitt, " except in case of an invasion." His influence over the king's mind appears to have been very great. In 1792, Thurlow thought proper to try his interest at court against that of the premier : presuming on the stability of his own favour with the king, he voted against some of the measures proposed by the minister, who no sooner appealed to his majesty, than the refractory chan- cellor was dismissed. When Pitt proposed to the king, that his tutor. Bishop Tomline, should be raised to the see of Lincoln, the fol- lowing brief dialogue ensued : " Too WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. 389 young, Pitt ; — too young ! Can't have it, Pitt; — can't have it!' — " Had it not been for him, sire, I should never have been in your service." — " Shall liave it, Pitt; — shall have it !" During the king's temporary insanity, his majesty, in opposition to the wishes of his medical attendants, refused, for some time, to remove from Windsor to Kevv J but Pitt having written a note, requesting that his majesty would try the effect of a change of air, he agreed to go to Kew immediately. The king, it is said, frequently expressed a desire to make him a knight of the Garter, but the minister invariably declined that honour; and at length, on his refusing it, " once more and for ever," in 1791, it was conferred on his elder brother, the Earl of Chatham. WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. This gentleman, the descendant of a mercantile, but ancient family, in York- shire, was born at Hull, in August, 1759. Having received the rudiments of education at a provincial grammar school, he was removed, in 1774, to St. John's college, Cambridge, where he became warmly attached to the cele- brated William Pitt, with whom, and their friend, Dr.Milner,afterwardsDean of Carlisle, on quitting the university, he made a tour on the continent. At the general election in 1780, he was unanimously returned to parliament for his native place. He received a similar honour in 1784; but, having, also, on that occasion, been chosen a member for the county of York, he made his election for the latter, and continued a knight of the shire till 1812, when he took his seat for the borough of Bramber, which he thenceforth continued to re- present until the termination of his parhamentary career, in 1S25. Almost at the outset of Clarkson's humane exertions to procure the aboli- tion of the slave trade, he was urgently recommended to secure the co-operation of Wilberforce. On their first interview, the latter " stated frankly that the sub- ject had often employed his thoughts, and that it was near his heart : he seemed earnest about it, and also very desirous of taking the trouble of in- quiring further into it." He, however, appeared to doubt the truth of some of the charges in Clarkson's book on the slave trade ; but, after a proper investi- gation, he satisfied himself of their cor- rectness ; and at a dinner party, given by Bennett Langton, he consented to belong to a society, which had been established with a view of carrying the benevolent object of Clarkson into ef- fect. Having also promised to bring the matter before the house of commons, if no abler person could be found willing to undertake it, soon after the meeting of parliament, in 1787, he gave notice of his intention to call the attention of the house to the subject ; but being afterwards prevented, for sometime, by ill health, from appearing in public, Pitt, in his name, on the 9th of May, 1788, proposed a resolution, (founded on a number of petitions which had pre- viously been presented,) pledging the house, early in the ensuing session, to take the state of the slave trade into consideration. A long period, however, elapsed, before the discussion was re- sumed. Wilberforce, at length, submitted twelve propositions to the house, which, by the powerful exertions of Pitt, Burke, and Fox, though violently opposed, were ultimately adopted without a division. A tedious and protracted examination of witnesses ensued ; and it was not until 1791, that Wilberforce moved for leave to bring in a bill to prevent the further importation of African negroes into the British colonies. The leading members of administration, as well as the opposition were strongly in favour of the motion, which, however, was lost by a majority of seventy-five. On the 2nd of April, 1792, Wilberforce again called the notice of parliament to the subject. On this occasion he did not advocate immediate emancipation, but considered that the Africans should 390 THE SENATE. be gradually prepared, by moral and religious education, to receive the boon : observing that " true liberty was a plant of celestial growth, and that none could taste of its odour, but those who had employed the nobler faculties of the human soul, in contemplating the good- ness of the divine essence from whence it sprung." He concluded a most pa- thetic and impressive speech, by de- claring that " in his exertions for the negroes, he had found happiness, though not hitherto success, which enlivened his waking, and soothed his evening hours; that he carried the topic with him to his repose, and often had the bliss of remembering, that he had demanded justice for millions, who could not ask it for themselves." A motion in favour of " gradual " abolition was now carried ; and Wil- berforce, inspirited by partial success, redoubled his exertions in behalf of the wretched Africans. The justice of his cause, the grandeur and glory of the undertaking, begat in him an en- thusiasm which no obstacles could overcome. His earnest entreaties, his ardent appeals to the feelings of his auditors, on the subject nearest his heart, almost amounted to eloquence ; and at length, during the brief admi- nistration of Fox, in 1807, he reaped the reward of his benevolent toils; a bill for the entire abolition of the slave trade being then carried through both houses of parliament. " Thinking nothing done, while aught remained to do," Wilberforce, during the remainder of his parliamen- tary career, omitted no opportunity of distinguishing himself as the most fer- vent advocate of negro emancipation. His political opinions, in general, coin- cided with those of his friend Pitt, particularly with regard to the French revolution, and the government of Napoleon, which he appears to have held in equal abhorrence. His con- duct, however, as a public character, was laudably independent : he lent himself to no faction ; but, on all occa- sions, spoke and voted according to the honest dictates of his conscience. When Pitt's trusty official ally, Lord Melville, was impeached, he animad- verted most severely on that nobleman's refusal to account for the application of a sum of j£l 0,000, belonging to the public purse. " Such a declaration," he insisted, " would be astonishing coming from any man ; but from a man of Lord Melville's knowledge of this country, its laws, its criminal proceedings, — one in the habit of making defences lor other people, — that such a man should set up such a defence for himself, was so asto- nishing and extraordinary, that nothing but guilt itself could have suggested it. What is it but to lay down a principle, which, if the house were to adopt, would put an end to the British con- stitution ? — What is it but to say ' I will be greater than the law — I will be above the constitution?' In short, it is a libel on the constitution to suppose such a thing will be suffered. It would open a door to prodigality and corrup- tion ; and if it had occurred in the time of Charles the Second, that pro- fligate monarch would only have had to say to his minister, that he had spent £40,000, — wanted more, — and did not choose to give any account of it." In person, Wilberforce is short, and,' in appearance, by no means dignified. As an orator, even during the last ses- sion of his attendance in parliament, he was spirited, copious, and clear. In private life, he is described as having been invariably beloved and honoured. He was united, in 1797, to a daughter of an opulent Birmingham merchant, named Spooner, by whom he has a large family. During the year in which his mar- riage took place, he published A Prac- tical View of the prevailing Religious System of professed Christians, in the higher and middle classes in this coun- try, contrasted with real Christianity. In this work, which is written in a vein of Calvinistic severity, the author eulogizes Lord Kenyon for his support of virtue, and discouragement of vice ; censures Dr. Robertson for an inatten- tion to religion in his writings ; re- prehends Sterne and Rousseau for their vicious sentimentality ; and intimates, that eternal happiness is risked by those who perform in theatrical exhibitions. Tl.at Wilberforce has often uncon- sciously been led into exaggeration, and unwittingly outstepped the bounds of truth, — that he has sometimes al- lowed his feelings to predominate over his reason, — and that he has attributed unworthy motives to those, whose SPENCER PERCEVAL. 391 honour is as spotless as his own, cannot be denied: but, on the other hand, he has devoted a long life to the cause of humanity ; neither sickness nor defeat could ever arrest his benevolent exer- tions ; the object nearest his heart has been the moral improvement of man- kind ; every project that could con- duce to so beneficial a result, he has promoted, — every abuse that could thwart it, he has endeavoured to detect and expose. In the course of his poli- litical career, he supported catholic emancipation and parliamentary re- form ; reprobated the lottery act as in- jurious to popular morals ; insisted that the employment of boys of a tender age in the sweeping of chimnies, was a most intolerable cruelty ; and, shortly after the hostile meeting took place between Tierney and Pitt, attempted, but in vain, to procure a legislative enactment against duelling. By Brougham, he has been described as " the venerable patriarch of the cause of the slaves ; whose days were to be numbered by acts of benevolence and piety; whose whole life — and he prayed that it might long be extended for the benefit of his fellow-creatures — had been devoted to the highest interests of religion and charity." SPENCER PERCEVAL. Spencer perceval, the second son of John, Earl of Egmont, by his wife Catherine Compton, daughter and sister of the Earl of Northampton, and Baroness of Arden in her own right, was born on the 1st of November, 1762. He was educated at Harrow, and Trinity college, Cambridge. In 1782, he became a student of Lincoln's inn, and went to the bar in 1786. Although his timidity, at the commencement of his professional career, was a great drawback to his speedy advancement, yet he evinced sufficient forensic abili- lities, gradually to obtain an extensive circle of clients, and at length he be- came a leader on the midland circuit. In 1796, he obtained a silk gown, and shortly afterwards was appointed counsel to the admiralty, deputy re- corder, and counsel to the university of Cambridge. A pamphlet which he had written, to prove that an impeachment of the house of cominons did not abate by a dissolution of parliament, attracted the favourable notice of Pitt, and led to the author's ultimate connexion with go- vernment. He was returned to parlia- ment in 1796, as member for North- ampton, which borough he represented during the remainder of his life. During the early part of his political career, he zealously supported the measures of Pitt, and was particularly earnest in ! advocating the necessity of the war with revolutionized France. His speech in favour of the assessed- tax bill pro- cured him considerable notice ; and he, at length, rose so high in the estimation of Pitt, that wlien that minister was about to fight a duel with Tierney, he said, in reply to a question put to him by Lord Harrowby, that in case he fell, Mr. Perceval was, in his opinion, the most competent person to succeed him in office, he being apparently equal to cope with Mr. Fox ; an opinion in which, however, few of his cotemporaries would have concurred. Under the Addington ministry, Per- ceval became, in 1801. solicitor-general, and attorney-general in the following year. While he remained in office, Jean Peltier, the editor of a French journal, printed in London, was in- dicted for a libel on Buonaparte, during the peace of Amiens. Perceval's duty, on this occasion, was both delicate and difficult, yet he discharged it with in- finite address. In his speech to the jury, he made the following observa- tions on that crime to which he after- wards fell a victim : — " 1 have stated what I think the tendency of this work, and now let me put it to you, whether you do not think with me, this is a crime in this country; — whether the exhortation to assassina;ion in time of peace is not a very high offence. 392 THE SENATE. If it were in time of war, I should have no (lifBculty in stating, that there is something so base, so disgraceful, — there is something so contrary to everything that belongs to the cha- racter of an Englishman, — there is something so immoral in the idea of assassination, — that the exhortation to assassinate this, or any other chief magistrate, would be a crime against the honourable feelings of the English law." On the death of his great political leader, Perceval resigned office, and, for the first time, appeared on the op- position benches. Pending the arrange- ments for a new ministry, consequent on the death of Fox, he was offered the chancellorship of the exchequer, but he coquetted for some time between his profession and political power. He had married, in August, 1790, Jane, the daughter of Sir Thomas Spencer Wil- son ; his family was now large, and he objected to taking any uncertain office which might deprive him of the means of providing for his children by his ex- ertions at the bar. It was, at length, arranged that, as a bonus for his be- coming chancellor of the exchequer, the chancellorship of theduchy of Lancaster, which was worth about £2,000 a year, should be conferred on him for life. His conduct, however, on this occasion, was so severely animadverted upon in parliament, that he allowed the grant to be cancelled without quitting the exchequer. He has been ridiculously praised for his disinterestedness in thus renouncing a lucrative post, which he had accepted for the purpose of en- abling him to gratify his ambition. He abandoned it only when he found that he could not retain it but at the inmiiuent hazard of losing his reputa- tion ; and proved, by relinquishing it without resigning the chancellorship of the exchequer, that, notwithstanding his scruples, the certain sweets of place were more valuable, in his estimation, than the probable fees of his clients. On the death of the Duke of Port- land, he was raised to the head of the treasury, and continued in his high office until the lltli of May, 1812, when he was shot through the heart with a pistol-ball, in the lobby of the house of commons, by a person of tlie name of Bellingham, wlio made no attempt to escape, but calmly said, " I am the man who shot Mr. Perceval," and sur- rendered himself without offering the least resistance. It appeared that he had resided for some time at Archangel ; where, having become bankrupt, and conceiving himself aggrieved by the Russian government, he first solicited the British ambassador, and, subse- quently, on coming to England, of which he was a native, memorialized the ministers to procure him redress; but failing in his application, he determined to shoot the first member of adminis- tration who came in his way. He had previously resolved on the destruction of the ambassador, for what he deemed his excellency's negligence ; but no opportunity occurred of carrying his purpose into effect. He confessed that he had no personal hostility against Mr. Perceval, and would have preferred shooting the ambassador ; yet, as the matter had turned out, he was satisfied that he had only done his duty. An attempt was made to prove him insane, but he was found guilty of murder, and executed. On the 12th of May, the prince re- gent sent a message to both houses, recommending a parliamentary pro- vision for the late premier's widow and family. On the 13th, Lord Castlereagh moved a resolution, which was carried bv a great majoritv, that an annuity of £2,000 should be granted to Mrs. Perceval, and that the sum of £50,000 should be vested in trustees for tlie benefit of her twelve children. On the 14th, above three hundred mem- bers, dressed in mourning, carried up the address, in answer to the regent's message. During the necessary pro- ceedings relative to this grant, all the influential members, in both houses, took occasion to express their admira- tion of Perceval's talents, and their sorrow at his lamentable end. Had he died in the ordinary course of nature, tiie character of a clever politician woidd have been readily conceded to him by all parties; but few, or none, would have claimed for liim the dis- tinctions due to a great statesman. But falling, as he did, at the post of duty, his merits were greatly magnified ; his smooth, unpretending oratory, was named eloquence ; his cleverness as a financier extolled as genius ; and his LORD GRENVILLE. 3f)3 persevering industry and firmness amidst political embarrassments, passed for heroic fortitude and patriotism. At this period we are enabled to form a calmer, and, consequently, a more cor- rect estimate of his character ; and it will not be erring greatly to pronounce him an aspiring lawyer, possessed of great shrewdness, indefatigable appli- cation, considerable fluency of speech, adroitness in debate, and imperturbable calmness of temper ; but destitute of those more lofty qualities which are the admitted characteristics of true senatorial greatness. He was hostile to the claims of the catholics, and once asked if those who supported them would not, if it were in their power, procure the repeal of the test act. His appearance was prepossessing, his de- portment courteous, and his character in private life unblemished. At one period of his life, he was the retained legal adviser of the Princess of Wales, and, in that capacity, prepared for the press a collection of documents, relative to the charges brought against her royal highness, by Sir John and Lady Douglas, which was subsequently pub- lished under the title of The Book. WILLIAM WYNDHAM GRENVILLE, LORD GRENVILLE. XHIS distinguished statesman, the son of George Grenville, was born on the 25th of October, 17.59, and re- ceived his education at Eton and Ox- ford. On quitting college, he entered himself a student of one of the inns of court; but, influenced by the per- suasions of his cousin, William Pitt, he abandoned all idea of attaining forensic eminence, and devoted his whole atten- tion to politics. In 1782, he became secretary to his brother, the Marquess of Buckingham, who had been appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland; and, in the latter end of the following year, was nominated pay- master-general of the forces. At the general election, which speedily fol- lowed his acceptance of office, he was returned, by a very small majority, a knight of the shire for Bucks. His perfect knowledge of the privileges and customs of parliament, led to his ap- pointment as speaker of the house of commons, in 1789 ; but he did not occupy the cliair long, for, in the same year, he succeeded Lord Sydney as secre- tary of state for the home department, and was created a peer, by the title of Baron Grenville. In 1791, he became secretary for foreign affairs ; and, by the king's command, on the execution of Louis the Sixteenth, ordered M. Chauvelin, the French ambassador, to quit the kingdom immediately : a long correspondence ensued, in which the agent of the regicides was treated with severity, and Lord Grenville is believed to have urged the necessity of war. On account of the violence displayed by the mob, towards the king, when his majesty went to open parliament, in 1795, Lord Grenville introduced a bill for the protection of the royal per- son ; and, soon afterwards, brought forward another, for regulating the resi- dence of aliens in this country, both of which were adopted by the legislature. He went out of office with Pitt, because, as it was alleged, George the Third refused to grant those concessions to the catholics, which they had been led to expect would have been the conse- quence of the imion, a measure that Lord Grenville had warmly supported. He afterwards made a fruitless attempt to effect a coalition between the Ad- dington party and Pitt, on whose return to power, he obtained the auditorship of the exchequer, worth about £4,000 per annum, although he took no office in the new administration. On the death of Pitt, in 1806, lie coalesced with Fox, whose principles he had once professed to abhor; and became, nominally, at least, head of the ministry, which has been termed that of All the Talents, during whose brief tenure of power the act was passed for abolishing the slave trade. Lord Grenville was now severely as- sailed for retaining his office of auditor of the exchequer, which, however, he would not relinquish, and the sanction 394 THE SENATE. of the legislature was obtained to his holding it at the same time with that of first lord of the treasury. A coalition of the united parties in power, with the friends of Lord Sidmouth, led to the introduction to the cabinet of Lord Ellenborough, then chief justice of the king's bench, a proceeding which was termed highly inexpedient, and calcu- lated to w^eaken the administration of justice. The failure of the expeditions sent out under Whitelock and others, by the new administration, the alleged want of skill evinced in its diplomatic transactions with France, the loss it sustained by tlie death of Fox, and the difference of opinion existing between its leading members and the king, with regard to catholic emancipation, which they were as anxious to grant as he was determined to withhold, contri- buted, respectively, to its speedy dis- missal. Their advocacy of concession, which they had pledged themselves to support, was, however, the immediate cause of the downfal of Lord Grenville and his friends. Sheridan said, that the premier had not only thrust his head against a wall, on this occasion, but had built, clampt, and squared one expressly for the purpose. On the termination of the restrictions imposed on the Prince Regent, in 1812, it was confidently expected that Lords Grenville and Grey would have been called to power ; but they declined to act in concert with Spencer Perceval. Immediately after the assassination of the latter, they were again solicited to take office; but, having insisted, among other proposed conditions of their ac- cepting the conduct of public affairs, that the whole of the royal patronage, even with regard to officers of the household, should be given up to them, the regent declined their services. Lord Grenville opposed government during the war ; but, pn the signal defeat of the French, in 1814, he heartily con- gratulated the country on the prospect of an immediate peace ; and, in the fol- lowing year, supported ministers in their resolution to depose Napoleon. From that time he ceased to take so prominent a part in parliamentary dis- cussions as he had previously done, except during the debates on catholic emancipation, of which he continued an uniform and able supporter. Several of his speeches on finance have been published, viith tables illus- trative of his plans. As chancellor of the university of Oxford, to which he was elected, in 1809, by a small ma- jority over Lord Eldon, he has de- fended his Alma Mater, in a pamphlet, against the charge brought against her of having expelled Locke. He has also edited the letters of the great Earl of Chatham to his nephew, Thomas Pitt, afterwards Lord Camelford ; enriched an edition of Homer, privately printed, with valuable annotations ; and trans- lated several pieces from the Greek, English, and Italian, into Latin, which have been circulated among his friends, under the title of Nugae Metricae, Lord Grenville was married, in 1792, to Anne Pitt, daughter of the first Lord Camel- ford, but has no issue. CHARLES, EARL GREY. 1 HIS distinguished nobleman, son of the first Earl Grey, was born in Nortliumberland, on the 13th of March, 1764, and educated at Eton, and Trinity college, Cambridge. After taking a degree, he made a tour on the conti- nent, where he became acquainted, it is said, with one of the royal dukes, to whose household he was, subsequently, for a short time, attached. In 1785, he was returned to parlia- ment without opposition, for his native county; and, in his maiden speech, delivered on the 21st of February, 1787, he opposed the address in answer to the king's speech. Soon after, he became a member of the Whig club, and rapidly rose to be a leader of his party. In the following May, he addressed the house on the affairs of the Prince of Wales ; and also, indignantly demanded that the attention of government should be turned to the corrupt practices in the post-office. Attaching himself to the EARL GREY. 395 society called The Friends of the People, he became a supporter of all the popu- lar measures brought forward by his political friends. He took an active part in the proceedings against Warren Hastings ; advocated the claims of the Prince of Wales to a regency bill with- out restrictions ; moved for an inquiry relative to the connexion of this country with Russia; and, in May, 1791, pro- cured the appointment of a committee on the subject of imprisonment for debt. On this occasion, he stated that, in his opinion, " it was desirable to distinguish the unfortunate debtor from the knavish one ; to place the creditor in that situation which afforded the fairest and speediest means of com- pensation ; and to regulate the gaols in this country in such a manner as to prevent unnecessary hardship and re- straint." In 1792, he took a leading part in the debates relative to the negotiation with the Empress of Russia; and, in the following year, strenuously opposed a warlike demonstration against revo- lutionized France. In one of the debates on this subject, he deprecated the con- duct of government in assembling the parliament under such circumstances as must necessarily spread alarm through- out the country ; adding, that " with a view to relieve one of the grievances of which the people complained, he had, in the course of the past year, given notice of his intention to move for a reform in parliament, in which inten- tion he continued, and should embrace the first opportunity of performing." Shortly afterwards, he accused minis- ters of having illegally used the word " insurrections," for the purpose of con- vening the legislature ; he also made an unsuccessful motion that the attorney- general should be directed to proceed against the author of a pamphlet, issued by the Crown and Anchor Society, in which the American war, the national debt, &c. were attributed to the dis- senters ; and, at the close of the same year, he warmly supported the pro- position of Fox, that it would be ex- pedient to treat with the republican government of France. In 1794, he opposed the subsidiary treaties with Sardinia, as being not only iniquitous and unjust, but absurd and impolitic ; and, soon afterwards, while speaking in support of his motion against the employment of foreign troops within the kingdom, candidly confessed that France then groaned under a most furious tyranny, to which even the despotism of a Nero or Cali- gula was, in his opinion, preferable. Only a short period had, however, elapsed, when he moved an address to the king, condemnatory of his alliance with powers, whose object was to re- gulate the French government, with which, bad as it might be, neither this nor any other country, except France herself, had aught to do. In the course of the same year, he opposed the sus- pension of the habeas corpus act, and a measure for raising volunteer forces " under the pretence of resisting in- vasion." Early in 1795, he made two motions, both of which were unsuc- cessful, that the existence of a repub- lican government in France ought not to be a bar to a negotiation for peace with that country. On the 15th of February, in the following year, he moved for an address to the king to the same effect ; which, however, was not adopted; and, on the 6th of May, at- tempted, but in vain, to carry a resolu- tion that ministers should be impeached for having misapplied the public money. In 1797, pursuant to his former pledge, he brought forward his pro- posed measure for a reform in parlia- ment, which the house, it need scarcely be said, rejected. In 1800, he opposed the union bill, and warmly recom- mended catholic emancipation, which, he thought, " would pacify Ireland, and eiFect all that the country re- quired." In 1801, he joined Sheridan and Burdett in censuring the king's speech ; and contended ably, but with- out avail, against the continuance of the rebellion act, and the suspension of the habeas corpus act. Throughout the two following years, he distinguished himself as an advocate for popular mea- sures ; but, in 1804, he opposed a vote of thanks to Sir Arthur Wellesley and the British army in India, because, as he maintained, they had been engaged in an unjust war. Early in 1805, he objected to the legacy duty bill, as being oppressive to the younger branches of families : and supported the proposed impeachment against Lord Melville. In this year, as well 396 THE SENATE. as in the last, he made some fruitless attempts to obtain a committee of in- quiry into the state of the country. In 1806, he obtained the post of first lord of the admiralty, with a seat in the cabinet, on the accession to power of the Fox and Grenville co- alesced parties. He now became mem- ber for Appleby, which he continued to represent until called to the house of peers on the death of his father, in 1807. Finding that he could not sup- port the usual state of first lord of the admiralty without entrenching materi- ally on his private income, which was not more than sufficient for the proper maintenance of his family, he made a representation on the subject to the king, who immediately ordered that, from that time, j62,000 per annum should be added to his salary. The act for the abolition of the slave trade was now passed ; and, on the death of Fox, which took place shortly after- wards, he succeeded to the vacant post of secretary of state for foreign affairs. His tenure of this important office was but brief. The cabinet, composed as it was of discordant parties, which, however, Fox had contrived to hold together, did not long survive his loss, being indignantly dismissed by the king, for attempting, notwithstanding his majesty's known opinion on the subject, to procure catholic emanci- pation. After supporting an additional grant of £8,000 to Maynooth college, here- tired, for the benefit of his health, which had become much impaired, to Fal- lowden house, Northumberland, where he amused himself for some time in agricultural pursuits. In 1808, having previously succeeded to his father's earldom, he opposed, in the house of peers, a motion for a vote of thanks to the officers employed against Copen- hagen. Early in 1810, he supported a demand for an inquiry as to the causes whicli led to the failure of the expedition against Walcheren ; and, about the same time, objected to the thanks of parliament being voted to Lord Wellington for the victory at Talavera, on tlie ground that, in its conseciuences, it was nearly tantamount to a defeat. In 1811, he charged Lord Eldon with having set the great seal to a commission for opening paliament, in 1789, while the king was under medical advice ; on the 24th of June, in the same year, he called the attention of the house to an article, which had then appeared in a paper published in London, recommending the assassin- ation of Buonaparte ; and, shortly afterwards, contended that Lord Stan- hope's bill for making bank-notes a legal tender was ill-advised and impolitic. On the commencement of the un- restricted regency, in 1812, the prince authorized his brother, the Duke of York, to inform Lords Grey and Gren- ville, that he should feel much gratified " if some of those persons, with whom the early habits of his public life had been formed, would strengthen his hands and constitute a part of the go- vernment." Lords Grey and Gren- ville, however, declined to take office with Spencer Perceval ; on whose as- sassination they were again invited to power ; but, after much negotiation, their conditions were deemed too sweeping, by the regent, who abruptly terminated the treaty, by appointing the Earl of Liverpool first lord of the treasury. In 1815, Lord Grey opposed, and, with Lord Grenville and others, en- tered a protest against, the corn bill. In 1817, he supported Lord Donough- more's motion for going into a com- mittee on the catholic claims ; and, with great zeal, opposed Lord Sid- mouth's bill for the suspension of the habeas corpus act, as being harsh and unnecessary. He avowed the most decided hostility to the home secre- tary's subsequent measures, and par- ticularly to the employment of spies and informers. In 1819, he objected to the proposed grant of j6l0,000 per annum to the Duke of York, as custos of the king's person ; reprobated, and solemnly protested against, the sus- pension of cash payments by the bank ; supported, for the fourth time. Lord Donoughmore's unsuccessful motion relative to the civil disabilities of the catholics ; and, shortly afterwards, brought in a bill to relieve them from taking the declaratory oaths against transubstantiation and the invocation of saints, which was lost, when brought up for a second reading, on the 10th of June, by a majority of fify-nine. LORD BEXLE Y. 39: On the opening of the next session of parliament, he moved, but without success, an amendment to the address, which concluded in the following terms: — " We have seen, with deep regret, the event which took place at Man- chester, on the 16th of August, and feel that it demands our most serious attention and deliberate inquiry, in order to dispel those feelings to which it has given birth, and to shew that the measures then resorted to, were the result of cogent and unavoidable ne- cessity ; — that they were justified by the constitution ; — and that the lives of ■ his majesty's subjects cannot be sacri- ficed with impunity." The obnoxious measures, which mi- nisters shortly afterwards introduced, for imposing restrictions on the press, &c. met with his unqualified condem- nation. He was hostile to the bill of pains and penalties against Queen Caroline ; subsequently to the with- drawal of which, lie took no very active part in the parliamentary debates, until the bill for the repeal of the test and corporation acts was introduced, when he exerted himself most vigorously in its favour. The last great measure, in the discussion of which he distin- guished himself, was that brought for- ward by ministers in favour of the catholics, whose civil disabilities he him- self had, for many years past, most ar- dently, but without success, endeavoured to remove. Earl Grey, throughout his career, has been a most zealous and indefa- tigable advocate for liberal, tolerant, and what are termed, popular principles. Firmly convinced of the soundness of his political opinions, although fre- quently defeated, he appears to have constantly looked forward to a series of certain, though remote, triumphs ; some of which he has already achieved. His name (first as Mr. Grey, and after- wards as Lord Howick) is conspicuous in the reports of nearly all the important debates which took place in the house of commons, between the years 1785 and 1807. When a yoimg member of parlia- ment, he is described as having been the Hotspur of his party ; and, in Can- ning's poem of All the Talents, Temple's wit, and Sidmouth's firmness, are sar- castically coupled with ■ the temper of Grey, Auil Treasurer Shcridau's promise to pay. On his first entrance into public life, his copiousness and elegance of diction, strength of argument, and graces of elocution, were highly eulogized ; and a Tory writer describes him, in 1828, as being, then, one of the best, if not the best orator, in the house, whose mature years had effectually subdued the ardour and zeal of party and com- petition. He was married, in 1794, to Mary Elizabeth, the sister of Lord Ponsonby, by whom he has a large family. NICHOLAS VANSITTART, LORD BEXLEY- The father of this statesman, Henry Vansittart, an East India Director, is supposed to have perished at sea, early in 1771, on board the Aurora, in which he had embarked for India, at the latter end of the preceding year. It is said, that, some time after he had sailed, his wife dreamt that she saw him sitting naked on a barren rock, and that he told her not to credit the story of his death, which she would soon receive. Intelli- gence shortly afterwards reached her of the presumed loss of the Aurora ; but the dream had made such an impression on her mind, that, for a period of two years she refused to assume mourning. Nicholas Vansittart, her son, was born in the year 1766; and, after obtaining some classical instruction at Cheam, removed, about 1784, to Christchurch college, Oxford ; where he proceeded to the degree of B. A. in 1787-8, and to that of M. A. in 1791. He had, in the mean time, become a law student, and was called to the bar in 1792. He soon afterwards published Reflections on the Propriety of an Immediate Peace; in 1794, he produced a reply to an able letter, which had been addressed to the minister, under the assumed name of Jasper Wilson ; and, in the following year, appeared his letters to 398 THE SENATE. Mr. Pitt, on the conduct of the bank directors. -In 1796, he became mem- ber of parliament for Hastings; and, during the same year, he pubhshed An Inquiry into the State of the Finances, in answer to Morgan's pam- phlet on the national debt. Having, by his speeches and tracts, obtained the notice of government, he was sent out, in February, 1801, as minister-plenipotentiary to the court of Copenhagen, with a view of detach- ing that power from the northern alli- ance. Failing in this object, he shortly afterwards returned to England, and was appointed joint secretary to the treasury. In 1802, he became member of parliament for Old Sarum ; two years afterwards, he originated an act rela- tive to the Greenland fishery ; and, subsequently to the dismissal of Ad- dington and his friends, supported that statesman in his opposition to the ad- ditional force bill. In April, 1805, he zealously argued in favour of Pitt's motion for referring the consideration of Lord INIelville's conduct, while treasurer of the navy, to a select committee ; but afterwards supported an amendment for proceeding against the latter, by a criminal prosecution rather than an impeachment. In 1805, he resigned his post in the treasury, and was appointed to the chief secretaryship of Ireland, which he resigned during the same year. In 1806, he was returned to parliament for Helstone, in Cornwall ; and, during the Grenville administration, again acted as joint secretary to the treasury. In 1811, he published two speeches respecting the bullion committee ; and, in 1812, Three Letters on the British and Foreign Bible Society. During the latter year, he was selected, by Lord Liverpool, to fill the important office of chancellor of the exchequer, which he held for about eleven years ; and, on his resignation, early in 1823, he was raised to the peerage, by the title of Baron Bexley, of Bexley, in Kent. Besides the productions already men- tioned, he published, in 1815, a Speech on the Committee of Ways and Means, and also on the Budget. He was mar- ried, on the 26th of July, 1806, to Catherine Isabella Eden, second daughter of William, the first Lord Auckland, by whom he has no issue. Although his abilities and acquire- ments are alike respectable, Lord Bexley cannot, with justice, be said to rank high, either as an author, a speaker, or a financier. His budget, while he held office as chancellor of the exchequer, was, on more than one occasion, brought forward by Lord Castlereagh ; to whom, however, as well as to Lord Liverpool, he became highly acceptable as a subordinate, by the congeniality of their political senti- ments. ROBERT STEWART, MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY. This minister, the son of Robert Stewart, who was created Marquess of Londonderry in 1816, and Lady Sarah Conway, daughter of the Earl of Hert- ford, was born in Ireland, on the 18th of June, 1769. After having made some progress in his studies at Armagh, he became a student of St. John's col- lege, Cambridge, in 1786. On quitting the university, lie proceeded to make the usual continental tour; and, on his return, he was elected, at an expense of jC30,000 to his father, representative of the county of Down, in the Irish parliament. During the contest, he gave a written promise, on the hust- ings, that he would support parliamen- tary reform ; and he subsequently did so, to a limited extent. His first senatorial effort was a speech in support of the right of Ireland to trade with India, notwithstanding the company's monopoly. Although he displayed no extraordinary talent on this occasion, he certainly did not sink beneath mediocrity ; and the members of opposition, with whom he voted, considered him capable of soon afford- ing considerable strength to their party. But he soon deserted the principles MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY. 399 with which he had commenced his public career ; for, on obtaining a seat in the British house of commons, he lent all the support in his power to government. In 1797, he returned to the Irish parliament, and was made keeper of the privy seal for Ireland. Soon after, he became one of the lords of the treasury; and, in the following year, obtained the chief secretaryship. While in this office, he exerted himself most strenuously in favour of the union, which, it is supposed, was greatly faci- litated by his address and abilities in soothing opposition. In the united parliament, he sat for the county of Down ; and Pitt, in re- turn for the exertions of the subject of this memoir, (wlio had, some time previously, become Lord Castlereagh,) during the debates on the union bill, procured his appointment to the head of the board of control. On the resignation of Pitt, the new premier found it con- venient not to remove the pliant and useful president ; who, on his part, evinced no great inclination to go out of office with his patron. Pitt, accordingly, found him still at his post, on returning to the head of affairs. Lord Castlereagh was now appointed to the war secretary- ship, which he gave up on the death of Pitt, and returned to it again when the Grey and Grenville administration was dismissed, in 1807. Having by this time become unpopular among his con- stituents, he lost his election for the county of Down, after a long and ex- pensive contest, and subsequently sat for a borough. The absurd expedition to Walcheren took place while he was at the head of the war department : and its unfor- tunate result not only rendered him obnoxious to the public, but, in some degree, contemptible to his colleagues ; as the measure was entirely his own, in origin as well as execution. Canning had previously procured a secret de- claration from the heads of the admi- nistration, that Lord Castlereagh, of whose incompetence to fill the office he felt perfectly satisfied, should be re- quested, within a given period, to ex- change the war secretaryship for some other post in the government. Lord Castlereagh, having become acquainted with the proceedings of his colleague, thought proper to challenge him ; and after some ineflTectual attempts had been made to produce an amicable ar- rangement, the two ministers, attended by their respective seconds, met on Putney heath ; where, at the second ex- change of shots. Canning was wounded in the right thigh, and Lord Castlereagh had one of the buttons shot off the breast of his coat. The parties then quitted the ground, but without being reconciled to each other, and immediately after- wards abandoned their respective offices. In 1812, Lord Castlereagh becaine secretary of state for foreign affairs, which post he held during the re- mainder of ills life. In December, 1813, he proceeded to the continent, as plenipotentiary on the part of this country, to negotiate for a general peace. No pacification, however, took place, until after the downfal of Napo- leon, and the capture of Paris in the following year; when Lord Castlereagh attended the congress of Vienna; which, with a strong hand, enforced what has been termed " the Satanical settlement of Europe." Lord Castlereagh's con- duct, on this occasion, rendered his name odious, both abroad and at home : the thanks of parliament were, how- ever, voted to him for his services; which were further rewarded by a ribbon of the Garter. On the death of his father, in 1821, he succeeded to the Irish marquisate of Londonderry, but still kept his seat in the commons. The laborious session of 1822 appears to have had a serious effect both on his body and mind. On Friday, the 9th of August, in that year, at an interview which he had with his majesty, he displayed some symptoms of mental alienation. During the after- noon of the same day. Dr. Bankhead visited him, at the request of the mar- chioness ; and saw him again, by ap- pointment, in the course of the next evening, at Foot's Cray, in Kent, whither his lordship, accompanied by Lady Londonderry, had proceeded in the interim. The physician found him in bed ; and, after a few moments' conversation, felt persuaded that he was decidedly labouring under mental delusion. On the following Monday morning, the marquess requested that Dr. Bankhead shoidd be sent to him as soon as Lady Londonderry had risen. Dr. Bankhead, accordingly, 400 THE SENATE. about half an hour after, proceeded to his lordship's dressing-room : on hear- ing the doctor's step, the marquess, who was standing in his bed-gown, with his back towards the door, ex- claimed, without turning his head, " Bankhead, let me fall on your arm — it is all over !" He had just before inflicted a wound in his neck, with a knife, by which the carotid artery was severed ; and, in a few moments, he breathed his last. This event took place on the 12th of August, 1822; and, on the 20th of the same month, the re- mains of the marquess were interred in Westminster abbey. In person, Lord Londonderry was well formed, but not elegant ; and his features, although handsome, had rather a dull and inaniinate expression. In private life he was kind, conciliating, and liberal. When, at the conclusion of the war, his brother was rewarded with a peerage, he would not permit him to accept the usual pension with it, but generously gave him an equivalent out of his private fortune. While in power, he is said to have gratefully remembered his former benefactors : and, it is added, that he never broke a promise, express or implied, nor abandoned a friend who claimed and merited his assistance. For a long period he was not only the ministerial leader in the house of commons, but the most influential member of the cabinet ; and, during a great portion of his life almost un- interruptedly in possession of power, yet scarcely ever popular. By a sup- pleness, which was rarely perceptible to its dupes, and a self-complaisant effron- tery, which never became either arro- gant or offensive, he attained a political station far too exalted for his talents. He appeared to be perfectly uncon- scious of the inadequacy of his mental powers for the proper discharge of his high duties ; and, probably, thought he was acting a wise and beneficent part, when his conduct was most absurd and despotic. His actions, through his com- parative ignorance, were frequently at utter variance with his disposition. He seemed to think, that increase of free- dom could not procure increase of hap- piness ; and that, by enforcing implicit obedience to the high behests of their superiors, he added to the welfare of men. Though lenient and placable in nature, his was decidedly the iron age of policy : the current of free, liberal, and enlightened opinions was stemmed and pent up during his administration ; but only to rush forward with more rapid and overwhelming impetuosity after its fall. As a man of business, he was active and energetic ; as a public speaker, plausible, but not elegant. It has been said of him, that he swayed the house of commons entirely by his manner. Although never eloquent, his perfect self-possession, his complacency, and tact, rendered him skilful and effective as a debater. He could be copious in words, without uttering an idea ; and apparently candid, when his object was to mystify or conceal. He never la- boured under the awkward drawback of modesty ; but could, on every occa- sion, unblushingly deliver a speech without a legitimate beginning, middle, or end ; full of unnecessary parentheses; lengthened out by repeated intangible propositions ; and, on the whole, abso- lutely '' signifying nothing." It does not appear that he was, by any means, eminent for his knowledge of French ; and yet, it is asserted, that he once spoke an oration, to the members of the congress at Vienna, in that lan- guage, " three hours long, and with- out a single interruption." WILLIAM HUSKISSON, William iiuskisson was bom at Birch Moreton Court, in the month of March, 1770. He received tiie ru- diments of his education at one or more private schools in Leicestershire ; and when about twelve years old, proceeded to Paris, with his relation. Dr. Gem, who wished to direct young Huskisson's studies towards medical science, but apparently without effect. The great GEORGE CANNING. 401 events of the time exercised a powerful influence on his mind. He rendered himself conspicuous by delivering an ardent speech, at The Club of 1789, and it is said, was present at the taking of the Bastile. When Lord Gower went out as am- bassador to France, he appointed young Huskisson to be his private secretary, and in 1793, successfully recommended him to Dundas as a person highly quali- fied to assist in the projected arrange- ments of an office for the affairs of emi- grants who had taken refugein England. In 1795, he became under-secretary in the colonial department ; and in the folio A'ing year, hetook his seat in parlia- ment as member for Morpeth. At a more advanced period of his life, he had the honoiir of representing Liverpool. He retired from office on the resignation of Pitt, who, in addition to a grant of j£600 per annum, payable to his wife, (a daughter of Admiral Milbanke, to whom he was married in 1799,) in the event of his deatli or dismissal, had procured for him a positive pension amounting to double that sum. Oti Pitt's return to power, in 1804, Huskisson was appointed one of the secretaries of the treasury ; and con- tinued in office until the death of the premier, in 1806. In the following year, he was recalled to his post, which iie retained until 1809. In 1814, he became first commissioner of woods and land revenue ; and in 1823, was ad- vanced to the important offices of trea- surer of the navy and president of the board of trade : shortly afterwards, he obtained a seat in the cabinet. On the death of Canning, and the formation of the Goderich administration, Huskisson was appointed secretary of state for the colonial department ; and continued in office until May, 1828, when he was succeeded by Sir George Murray. Very opposite views have been enter- tained of his talents. His advocacy of the great principle of free trade would alone, in the opinion of many, entitle him to rank with our best statesmen : but others declare his ideas on the subject to have been highly detri- mental and absurd. As a professed adherent of Pitt, and a follower of the fortunes of that minister's disciple. Canning, he has been accused of in- consistency, for clinging to office, during an administration, which did not act on the principles of his departed leader : and if, as it has been stated, his patri- mony was sufficient to enable him to live with comfort as a country gen- tleman, his acceptance of a pension, after a few years of service in the emigrant office, and as an under secre- tary in the colonial department, was certainly far from creditable to his public character. GEORGE CANNING. The father of this distinguished ora- tor was an unfortunate man of letters, who, having offended his opulent family by marrying a dowerless beauty, was thrown upon the world with an allowance of only £150 a year ; which being inadequate to his support, he left his native country (Ireland) for the pur- pose of qualifying himself as a barrister in the courts at Westminster. He had previously distinguished himself by the production of several prose pieces and poetical effusions ; and, in consequence of his reputation as an author, associ- ated, on his arrival in London, with Whitehead, Churchill, Colman the elder, and other literary men. He also became a zealous partisan of the cele- brated Wilkes ; but these connexions rather tended to his injury than his benefit as a professional man. Making no progress at the bar, he, at length, abandoned the law in despair, and be- came a wine merchant. A fatality, how- ever, seemed to attend him ; he failed in business, and succeeded in nothing that he subsequently attempted. In a few years, repeated disappointments destroyed his constitution ; and he died heart-broken at an early age, on the first anniversary of his son's birth. His beautiful widow, who was a relative of Sheridan, went on the stage in order to support herself and her child : she made VOL. I. 402 THE SENATE. her first appearance at Drury Lane theatre, in the character of Jane Shore to Garrick's Lord Hastings ; but her talents as an actress not being suffi- ciently brilliant for the metropolitan boards, she was compelled to accept of a provincial engagement; and, after performing for some years at various country theatres, she, at length, mar- ried a member of the profession which necessity had driven her to adopt. Her son, the celebrated George Can- ning, was born in the parish of Mary- le-bone, on the 11th of April, 1770. His paternal uncle, who was a mer- chant of some eminence, undertook the care of his education, and, at a proper age, sent him to Eton, where the talents of young Canning developed themselves so rapidly, that he became a senior scholar when only in his fifteenth year. Shortly afterwards he edited a periodical, called the Micro- cosm ; the contributors to which were John and Robert Smith, Freer, Lord H. Spencer, and two or three more of his school-fellows. The 2nd, 11th, 12th, 22nd, and six or eight other numbers of this publication, have been attributed to the youthful editor's pen. Canning left Eton in 1787, and en- tered at Christchurch, Oxford, where he soon distinguished himself for ap- plication and talents. He gained several prizes by his Latin essays ; and his orations were so admirable as to pro- duce a general impression that he would attain to great eminence in whatever profession he might be advised to adopt. He quitted college too early to obtain a degree, and immediately after became a student at Lincoln's-inn. In London he fully supported the high reputation for natural abilities and great acquire- ments which he had obtained at Oxford. His wit, erudition, and pleasing deport- ment, soon rendered him conspicuous : his society was very generally courted, and he was looked upon, by those who knew him, as a remarkably promising young man. His relation, Sheridan, introduced him to Fox, Grey, and Burke ; by the latter of whom, it is said, he was induced to abandon his profession for the study of politics. In order to obtain tact and confidence as a public speaker, he frequented de- bating clubs, which, at that time, were much more respectable than, generally speaking, they became subsequently to the period of the French revolution ; and, at length, he displayed talents so powerful and varied, as to attract the admiration of Lord Lansdowne, who predicted to Bentham, that he would one day become prime minister of England. From Canning's Whiggish con- nexions, it was generally supposed that the line he was to take, as Moore ob- serves, in the house of commons, seemed already, according to the usual course of events, marked out for him. The opposition was so confident of his sup- port, that Sheridan spoke of him in parliament as the future advocate of free and liberal opinions. Canning, however, was either in fear of being eclipsed by his talented leaders, if he enrolled himself in the ranks of opposi- tion, or entertained an opinion that he had more chance of obtaining the pre- ferment he sought, as a partisan, rather than an opponent, of the ministry. Accordingly, in 1793, he entered parlia- ment as member for Newport, in the Isle of Wight, under the auspices of Pitt, to whom he had probably been introduced by his college friend, Mr. Jenkinson, afterwards the first Lord Liverpool. At the latter end of January, 1794, he delivered his maiden speech, in which he displayed considerable talent ; but, at the same time, indulged in so much contemptible levity towards Fox, that, however highly he might have gratified his patron, he must have dis- gusted the moderate men of all parties. His subsequent conduct, for some time, in parliament, was rather daring than brilliant : he bearded the political giants on the opposition benches with an eflProntery that, while it tended to increase his value as a ministerial skirmisher, lowered him materially in general estimation. Without a solitary exception, he supported and eulogized the measures brought forward by the premier, and as invariably opposed and ridiculed the propositions of his political antagonists ; acting, on all occasions, less as a partisan than a re- tained advocate of the ministry. He was so evidently the political creature of Pitt, that he frequently incurred such sarcastic reproaches, as equalled, if they did not exceed, in severity, the GEORGE CANNING. 403 invectives which he frequently lavished on the opposition. Francis, on one occa- sion, thus corrected him for his flip- pancy: — " Tlie young gentleman, who is just escaped from his school and his classics, and is neither conversant in the constitution or the laws of his coun- try, imprudently ventures to deliver opinions, the effect of which is merely to degrade him in the opinion of the world." On another occasion, Courteney said of him ''We have seen the honour able gentleman attach himself to the minister, apparently for the purpose of promoting his own fortunes: * Thus, a liiiht straw, whirlM round by ev'ry blast, Is Cdiried off by some dop's tail at last.* ^' In 1796, Canning obtained a visible reward for his services, being ap- pointed one of the under secretaries of state; " Mr. Aust," as Fox observed in the house of commons, "having been superannuated to make room for him, although still as fit for business as at any former period of his life." About this time, Canning was returned mem- ber for Wendover ; and during the two following years, he appears to have devoted himself with great zeal to the duties of his office. In 1799, he took a conspicuous part in the debates relative to the union with Ireland; and it is worthy of remark, that, while he ad- vocated the views of his patron in his speeches on this subject, he avoided, with great dexterity, committing him- self in any manner relative to the catholic question. During the same year, 1799, he married Joan, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of General Scott. By this union, Canning's pecuniary inde- pendence was achieved, and his politi- cal consequence considerably increased : his wife's sisters having been previously married — the one to Lord Down, and the other to the Marquess of Titchfield, afterwards Duke of Portland. He now began to assume somewhat more im- portance in his party, but without emancipating himself from the thral- dom of Pitt, whose measures, right or wrong, he continued to support with unabated zeal and increasing talent, not only as a parliamentary speaker, but as a satirical writer. In conjunction with Ellis and Freer, he established the Anti- Jacobin Examiner, a periodical which, from the malig- nancy it displayed, and the cool ease \vith wliich it immolated its political victims, has been rather appropriately termed the literary Robespierre of its day. In ISOl, Pitt, with his immediate par- tisans, withdrew from office ; they were succeeded by Addington and his friends, whom, as soon as Pitt began to vote against them, Canning assailed with great vehemence. At this period, to adopt an expression of his best bio- grapher, he proved himself to be Pitt's whipper-out, as well as his whipper-in. During the debate relative to the Irish militia bill, he accused ministers of being neither consistent nor uniform. " They know not," he continued, " what they propose, and take no effectual means of carrying their plans into effect. They never advance boldly to their object, but * Obliquely waddle to the end in view.' " Nor did he cease, by his pen, to eulo- gize his great political leader, or to vituperate those whom Pitt thought proper to oppose. About this time he produced that celebrated song in which " the heaven-born minister" is de- scribed as " the pilot that weathered the storm ;" and wrote those satirical effusions. The Grand Consultation, &c. which may rather be characterized as venomous than caustic, and certainly do much more credit to his head than his heart. At length, the administration of Addington and his friends was dis- missed, and Pitt resumed the premier- ship, with Canning paddling in his wake as treasurer of the navy. Pitt died in 1806 ; and on a proposition being made to pay his debts, which was warmly supported by his great political antagonist, Fox, Canning in- sisted that the amount required for that purpose ought not to be considered as an eleemosynary grant to posthu- mous necessities, but as a public debt due to a public servant. The friends of the departed premier now retired from office, and the admi- nistration of All the Talents, headed by Fox and Lord Grenville, succeeded. The new ministers found in Canning a most virulent, active, and determined opponent. He ridiculed them, with great wit but more gall, in print, and 404 THE SENATE. fiercely assailed them with all his ora- torical powers in parliament. He op- posed some of their measures which were consonant to his own political sentiments ; and lent but a cold support to the bill for abolishing the slave trade, (which he had previously advocated with great zeal,) because it was brought forward as a ministerial measure. Night after night was Fox, although nearly in a dying state, compelled to attend in his place, for the purpose of replying to the arguments, or repelling the sar- casms of his ardent and resolute anta- gonist. On the death of that eminent man, Canning made some observations in parliament, derogatory to his cha- racter, for which he was most severely censured : and on the downfal of the Grenvilles.he exulted over them in some poetical effusions, which, says one of his biographers, " reflect indelible disgrace upon the statesman and the man : they are utterly unworthy of his splendid ta- lents, and cast a deep and withering shade over his integrity." Canning joined the no-popery party, which succeeded the Grenvilles in office, although it was known that his opi- nions were strongly in favour of catho- lic emancipation. He had now to en- counter a series of terrible attacks from those whom he had opposed and lam- pooned while in power ; but he stood ins ground with great resolution, de- fending himself with admirable dex- terity, and returning to every assailant a Roland for his Oliver. One of his anonymous adversaries, at this period, alludes to him in the following terms : — " It is only his public situation which entitles or induces me to say so much about him. He is a fly in amber : no- body cares about the fly ; the only question is, how the devil did it get there ? Nor do I attack him from the love of glory, but from the love of utility, as a burgomaster hunts a rat in a Dutch dyke, for fear it should flood a province."' In 1809, a quarrel with Lord Castle- reagh led to the resignation of Canning, as well as that of his noble colleague. It appears that Canning had secretly, under a threat of resigning his own post in case of refusal, procured from the senior members of the administra- tion a promise, that Lord Castlereagh should be persuaded toaccept some other office, in exchange for the war depart- ment, over which Canning felt satisfied that his lordship was not competent to preside. By a breach of confidence, Castlereagh became acquainted with this fact, and he thought proper to re- quire satisfaction for the deceit which his colleague had practised towards him, in endeavouring clandestinely to procure his removal. Canning offered neither apology nor explanation, which, indeed, his lordship did not appear desirous of obtaining, and a duel took place between them at Putney, on Thursday, the 21st of September, 1809. The parties fired once without effect ; but at the second exchange of shots. Lord Castlereagh's ball passed through his adversary's thigh. Canning still re- mained erect, and a third discharge would have taken place, had not the seconds perceived that he was severely wounded; they immediately interfered, and left the ground with their respec- tive principals, without having effected an amicable arrangement. Sheridan observed of Lord Castlereagh, in allusion to this affair: " He is a perfect Irish- man, even in his quarrels, for he does not appear to be a whit more satisfied now that he has received satisfaction, than he was before." When, in consequence of the insanity of the king, who had always been decidedly hostile to the claims of the catholics, the Prince of Wales became regent. Canning openly and unequi- vocally declared himself an advocate of concession ; but he deprecated any discussion on the subject at that period, as it might probably close the door of hope for ever, to those whom it was in- tended to assist. " I wish the question at rest," said he, in his speech on Lord Morpeth's motion, in 1812, "not in the way of victory, but of conciliation ; not so as to attack the lionest prejudices of protestants, but so as to remove them. The time will come, and I trust at no great distance, when mutual modera- tion and reflection will produce general concurrence." Shortly afterwards, in a debate on the state of the nation, he spoke with equal eloquence and greater warmth on the same subject. He had, he said, on a former night, opposed the motion, concerning the catholic claims, because it involved a censure of minis- ters, and because he did not think the GEORGE CANNING. 405 mode of bringing it forward very well chosen. " Now, however," continued he, " the matter is changed, and I look upon it as a most serious question, when it is considered that we have heard from two ministers, this night, that the doors are to be shut for ever against the catholic claims." He concluded his speech by insisting that the subject ought decidedly to be taken up as a mi- nisterial measure. On the assassination of Perceval he refused a share in the administration, because he understood that no change of opinion had taken place in the cabinet, with regard to emancipation. Shortly afterwards he brought forward a motion, which was carried by a majority of one hundred and twenty-nine, that the house would, early in the next session, take into its most serious consideration the state of the law affecting the catholics ; and subsequently again declined an invita- tion to accept office, ministers being still averse to concession. In 1812, after a severe contest, he procured his return for Liverpool. The next great public event in his life, was his appointment as ambassador to Lisbon, where there was neither court nor sovereign, at the enormous salary of £14,010 per annum. For accepting this situation, he was so severely cen- sured, as to be compelled, during the election at Liverpool, in 1816, to enter into an explanation in defence of his conduct. He declared that the ap- pointment was incidentally cast upon him, after he had made private ar- rangements to proceed to Portugal, for the benefit of his son's health ; and that he had resigned the moment he found the Prince Regent of Portugal was not likely to revisit Europe. " Of the seventeen months," said he, " which I passed in Lisbon, during the last six I was as private an indi- vidual as any among you. I sent home my resignation in April, 1815, and it was no fault of mine that I was not sooner superseded." Early in 1816, having been recon- ciled to Castlereagh, he was induced to go into office as president of the board of control, and supported the celebrated six acts so strenuously, that he was assailed with more virulence than he had been at any former period of his life. The levity with which he spoke of " the revered and ruptured Ogden," (to use an expression for which he has been justlv censured,) whose case was brought for- ward, as an individual who had suffered by the suspension of the habeas corpus act, one of the celebrated six acts, exposed him to many severe attacks. " His language, on this occasion, was denounced," says his biographer, " in an anonymous pamphlet, generally ascribed to Mr. Hobhouse, as a mon- strous outrage on the audience it in- sulted." The writer concluded his work with the following passage: — " If ever you accuse me of treason, throw me into prison, make your gaolers load nie with chains, and then jest at my sufferings, I will put you to death !" Although Mr. Hobhouse denied that he was the author of this pamphlet. Canning appears, for years afterwards, to have entertained some ill-will towards him. On one occasion, he even ventured to allude to the two members for Westminster, as " the honourable baronet and bis man !" At the latter end of March, Canning was bereft of his eldest son, a youth of nineteen, on whose monument the afflicted father thus recorded his own grief, and the virtues of him who had so lately been his pride. Th jugh short thy span, God's unimpeachM decrees, \^ hifh made that shorten'd span one long disease, ^ et, merciiul in cliastening, gave thee scope lor mild, redeeming virtues, faith and hope ; iMcek resifinatiiin ; pious charity : And, since this world is not a world for thee, Far from thy path removed, wUh partial care, .Strife, ^lor}', siram, and pleasure's (lowerv snare; Bade earth's temptations pass thee harmless by. And fix'd on heaven thine unreverted e}e I Oh 1 mark'd from birth, and nurtured for the skies ! In youth, with more than learning's wisdom wise 1 As sainted martyrs, patient to endure 1 Simple as unwean'd infancy, and pure ! Pure from all stain (save that ol human clay. Which Christ's atonins blood hath wash'd away I) By mortal siitFerinus now no more oppress'd. Mount, sinless spirit, to thy destined rest 1 While I, reversed our nature's kindlier doom. Pour forth a father's sorrows on thy tomb. In the month of June, in the same year. Queen Caroline returned to this country ; and Canning, who was averse to taking any share in the proceedings that were meditated against her majesty, tendered his resignation, which the king declined accepting; at the same time, however, permitting Canning to 406 THE SENATE. abstain, as much as he thought fit, from the expected discussions on the queen's conduct. Canning accordingly pio- ceeded to the continent, where he re- mained during the progress of the bill of 1 ains and penalties. On his return he again tendered his resignation, which, on this occasion, to use his own lan- guage, was as most graciously accepted, as it had been in tlie former instance most indulgently declined. In 1822 he was appointed governor- general of India ; but soon afterwards accepted the i'oreign secretaryship, which had become vacant by the self- destruction of the Mar(iuess of London- derry, while Canning was preparing to depart from England. In July, 1823, he was stigmatised, by Mr. Brougham, as having exhibited the most incredible specimen of monstrous trickery, for the purpose of obtaining office, which the whole history of political tergiversation could afford. Catniing immediately stood up and exclaimed, '' I rise to say that that is false 1" '1 he speaker then interfered, and a motion was made that the sergeant-at-arms should take both the members into custody ; but after some discussion it was withdrawn, on their respectively promising the house to think no more of the matter. They met at the ensuing Eton Montem, and cordially shook hands, says a cotem- porary writer, in the presence of a thousand admiring spectators. Canning had, by this time, become deservedly popular, for the spirited and liberal opinions which he had lately pro- fessed and most powerfully advocated, as well with regard to foreign as do- mestic policy. He dissented, pointedly, from the principles of the holy alli- ance; accelerated, if he did not even produce, the recognition of the repub- lics of Mexico, Columbia, and Buenos Ayres; and insisted on the necessity of aiding Portugal against Spain, with such fervent eloquence, as had rarely, if ever, been heard in parliament, since the setting of those great political lumina- ries, during whose sjilendid meridian the dawn of his genius had glinnnered. At the funeral of the Duke of York, in January, 1827, he caught a cold ; the consequence of which was a disorder that soon afterwards terminated his existence. Early in March, he deli- vered a powerful speech in support of catholic emancipation : so intense was his anxiety for the fate of the motion, which was lost by a majority of four only, and so great were his exertions on this occasion, that for a short time afterwards, he was rendered incapable, by illness, of re-appearing in his place. Meanwhile, the friends of Lord Liver- pool, who had been attacked by paraly- sis, in May, lost all hopes of his reco- very : the premiership consequently became vacant; and on the 12th of April, it was announced in the house of commons, that Canning had been appointed first lord of the treasury. Six members of the Liverpool cabinet immediately afterwards resigned ; and a powerful opposition was at once or- ganised against the new minister. Canning struggled with all his ex- piring energy, to retain his eminence : he sat out the session ; but his disease, which is stated to have been an inflam- mation of the kidneys, gradually gained upon him ; and, at length, on the. 8th of August, 1827, he expired in the Duke of Devonshire's house, at Chiswick, after having endured more excruciating tortures, it is said, than the brutality of a horde of American savages, or the refined cruelty of a set of Spanish in- quisitors, ever inflicted on any one human body. He was buried at the foot of Pitt's grave, in the north transept of Westminster abbey ; and a public subscription, amounting to above £10,000, was raised for the purpose of erecting a monument to his memory Subsequently to his decease. Canning's widow was created a viscountess. He left two sons: the eldest a captain in the navy, the other a student at Eton; and one daughter, who was married, in 1825, to the Marquess of ClanricarUe. "Those who knew this highly gifted man," says Quincey Adams, " testify that his intercourse in private and social life, was as attractive as his pub- lic career was brilliant and command- ing." He is described, by other writers, as having been a lover of simplicity ; generous, affable, unpresuming, with- out ostentation, and accessible to the humblest individual. In his domestic circle, observes a cotemporary author, he was almost adored. To his mother and sister, who were entirely dependent for subsistence, as he stated, on his la- bours, he gave np one half of a pension. GEORGE CANNING. 407 which it appears, had been conferred on him when he retired from the ofRce of under secretary of state. To the former his attention was unceasing and extra- ordinary : during her long residence at Bath, he visited her as often as he pos- sibly could, and devoted a portion of every sabbath to write her a letter. A contributor to a modern periodical describes Canning's dress as having been plain, but in perfect good taste ; his per- son tall and well-made, his form being moulded between strength and activity; his countenance beaming with intellect, but having a cast of firmness, mingled with a mild, good-natured expression ; his head bald as " the first Caesar's ;" his forehead lofty and capacious; his eye reflective, but, at times, lively ; and his whole countenance expressive of the kindlier affections, of genius, and of in- tellectual vigour. In the prime of his life he was decidedly handsome, but latterly, continues the writer, he ex- hibited marks of what years, care, and ambition had done upon him. Canning died when at the zenith of his political reputation : he had attained the pinnacle of all his earthly amliition, as well with regard to popularity as place. His early errors were forgotten in admiration at his recent spirited, upright, and manly conduct. No un- prejudiced mind coidd withhold its ap- plause from a minister, whose views were at once so eminently patriotic, and so universally benevolent. In his latter days, he was, with two or three glaring exceptions, the advocate of all that was liberal, enlightened, and conci- liating. Had he lived, he would, most probably, have become entitled to the gratitude of the world. No political adventurer ever terminated his career more honourably : no man's principles became more ameliorated by his suc- cess. The close of his public life was as much deserving of high approval, as its commencement had merited contempt. In the early stages of his progress to- wards that eminence which he at length obtained, his conduct was governed by his necessities. He had adopted poli- tics as being a more lucrative profession than the law ; and had advocated mea- sures in parliament which he was paid, or encouraged by hopes of future emo- lument, to support, as he would have defended the causes of those by whom he might have been retained, had he gone to the bar. Circumstances made him a senatorial slave to a powerful party, and for a long period he was compelled to justify measures which he could not afford to oppose. Even after Pitt's decease, with more prudence than virtue, he retained the badge of his po- litical Helotism ; and, as his only hope, clung to the principles of the departed premier, as a shipwrecked mariner to the helm of "some tall bark," which, in a subordinate station, he had recently assisted to steer. His struggles secured him that notice which it was his great object to retain. The partisans of Pitt became either his patrons or supporters, and his importance gradually increased. As soon as he could safely throw off the yoke which he had courted, he emancipated himself from thraldom. The first gleam of his independence oc- curred on his obtaining a competency by marriage : when he had, in some measure, obtained by his talents the in- dividual influence which he coveted, he became more intrepid : as he rose, his views were proportionably enlarged ; and, at length, they became extensive, bold, and philanthropic, as his station was exalted. His death was, by a large portion of the public, attributed to the severe op- position formed against him on his being called to the premiership. His disease was, doubtless, exasperated by the efforts he made to avoid being ousted by his antagonists ; but the foun- dation of that disease had been pre- viously laid, and with the common cares of his high oflBce, or even in the repose of private life, it is doubtful whether his constitution would have withstood it. Nor was the opposition which he had to encoimter at all unprecedented, either in talent, resolution, or political power. In the prime of his health and intellect he would probably have grappled with and overthrown it. Pitt, when scarcely a man in years, had defeated an adverse party, which, compared with that ar- rayed against Canning, was as Ossa to a wart ; and Fox, when he last took office with Lord Grenville, found a more bitter political opponent, in Canning himself, than either of those with whom the lat- ter, on becoming prime minister, had to contend. The fate of these two cele- brated men was remarkably similar: 408 THE SENATE. weak and enfeebled by indisposition, which was aggravated by the usual consequences of taking high office, Fox, like Canning, rapidly declined, and expired soon after he had obtained that station to which he had most ardently aspired. They died, it has been said, perhaps incorrectly, in the same room, but without a doubt in the same house. Canning was a staunch advocate for catholic emancipation, and felt more warmly than he expressed himself in favour of the abolition of the slave trade ; but to immediate manumission in the colonieshe could not be persuaded to agree. While he freely admitted that slavery was repugnant both to the Chris- tian religion, and the spirit of the British constitution, he contended that neither the one nor the other enjoined the neces- sity of destroying that old iniquity, at the risk of public safety, and the expense of private wrong. He professed that he felt content to retard the introduc- tion of liberty to the colonies, in order that it might at length be ventured upon with less hazard. " British par- liaments," said he, in a debate on this subject, in March, 1816, "have con- curred for years in fostering and aid- ing that very system which the better feeling of the house now looks upon with horror. How should we deal with such a system? Shall we continue it? No. But having been — all of us — the whole country, — involved in the guilt, and sharers in the profit of it, we cannot now turn round to a part, and say to them, 'You alone shall expiate the crime!'" His opinions, on two other great questions, he expressed nearly in the following terms, shortly after his eleva- tion to the premiership : " I have been asked what I intend to do with parlia- mentary reform : I answer, to oppose it, as I have ever invariably done. I have been also asked what course I mean to adopt with regard to the test-act ques- tion: my reply is, to oppose it." A very high degree of excellence has, with justice, been attributed to his ora- tions. He enshrined the most appro- priate classical allusions, the most bril- liant ideas, and tlie most exquisite irony, in language, which, with rare exceptions, even when uttered without premeditation, no art could refine, to which no labour could give an addi- tional polish. For elegance, and purity of composition, he has, perhaps, never been excelled ; and in taste, with re- gard to rhetorical ornaments, but sel- dom been equalled. His raillery was often irresistible, his wit pure and poig- nant, and his humour at once admira- bly refined, and remarkably effective. He was possessed of so large a share of political courage, that during his whole public life, he was rarely known to flinch from an adversary, however powerful ; or avoid an attack, however well- merited. His boldness, especially at the early part of his career, often rose into arrogance ; and his retorts degene- rated into daring vituperation. But his speeches, as well as his opinions, im- proved with his years ; they became more noble, manly, and conciliating, in proportion to his success ; and, at length, he ceased altogether to bolster up a bad case, by reckless assertions ; or to overwhelm an opponent with virulence, whom he could not silence by argument. He rarely lost his per- fect self-possession, but when in the fervid utterance of his thoughts he rose into the most lofty and spirit- stirring eloquence. As an instance of the efiect which he frequently produced on his auditors, it is related, that when, one night, in allusion to the part he had taken in recognizing the infant repub- lics, in South America, he exclaimed, in the style and manner of Chatham, that looking to Spain in the Indies, he had called a new world into existence to redress the balance of the old, the effect was actually terrific : — " it was," says a periodical writer, " as if every man in the house had been electrified : Tierney who had previously been shift- ing his seat, removing his hat and put- ting it on again, and taking large and frequent pinches of snuff, seemed petri- fied, and sat fixed and staring, with his mouth open, for half a minute." The beauty of Canning's celebrated poetical pieces, in the Anti- Jacobin, is much debased by the contemptible abuse of those who were opposed to his own party. They are, however, perhaps, the finest political lampoons that have ever been written : one of them, Elijah's Mantle, is particularly vivid, pungent, and felicitous. SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. 409 SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. Francis, son of sir Robert Burdett, a gentleman of an ancient and distin- guished family, and the fourth baronet of that name, was born on the 25th of January, 1770. He spent the greater part of his boyhood and youth at West- minster school, whence he proceeded to Oxford ; and while there, adopted the surname of Jones, in compliance with the will of a relative, by whom he had been bequeathed considerable property. He then made a tour on the continent ; and, during the early part of the French revolution, resided at Paris, where he attended, as a spectator, and not with any political motives, the meetings of the national assembly and those of the revolutionary clubs. After travelling through France and Switzerland, he returned to England, in 1793, and on the 5th of August, in the same year, married Sophia, youngest daughter of Thomas Coutts, Esq., the celebrated banker, and sister to the Marchioness of Bute, and the Countess of Guildford. In 1796, he was returned to parlia- ment, by the interest of the Duke of Newcastle, as member for Borough- bridge, with Scott, subsequently Lord Eldon. He soon distinguished himself by the liberality of his opinions, and his resolute hostility to the measures of government, which he denounced as being inimical to the liberties of the people. The war with revolutionized France, he declared to be wholly un- justifiable ; and, in 1797, he supported with great eloquence, a motion in favour of parliamentary reform. Early in the next year, he rendered himself par- ticularly conspicuous in a debate on the assessed taxes ; eisserting that the house of commons, apparently, met for the sole purpose of devising ways and means to extract large sums of money from the country ; the freedom of which, as he energetically main- tained, would soon be destroyed, if mi- nisters persevered in such a course as they seemed to have adopted. In the same session, he strenuously opposed the bill for regulating the publication of newspapers; declaring that a free government had nothing to apprehend, and everything to hope, from the liberty of the press. On the opening of parliament in 1799, he expressed his dissatisfaction at the omission of any assurance of a speedy peace, in the speech from the throne ; and, soon afterwards, designated the conduct of ministers towards certain state prisoners, as unconstitutional and despotic. In the debate that ensued, relative to a renewal of the suspension of the habeas corpus act, in consequence of the riots at Manchester, he assured the house, that several individuals, after having been hurried to town, and passed a night in rooms at the house of cor- rection, which were not prepared for their accommodation, had been brought, on the following day, oppressed by fatigue, and galled by heavy fetters, before the privy-council, to be examined relative to circumstances of which they were ignorant, and on charges of which they were innocent. He concluded by declaring that, if the habeas corpus act were suspended, there would be no re- dress for unoifending persons, however severely they might be treated. The conduct of Aris, then governor of Cold-Bath Fields prison, to whose custody the state prisoners were con- signed, excited his vehement indigna- tion ; which appears to have been fully warranted by the circumstances which transpired on the subsequent examina- tion of that officer ; who admitted, before the house of commons, that, in the treatment of his prisoners, he had made no distinction between those who were suspected of having committed offences against the state, and convicted felons. He soon afterwards moved, but with- out success, for a list of those who had been arrested by government during the suspension of the habeas corpus act. Although the ministers' adherents sub- sequently voted for a committee to in- quire into the discipline of Cold Bath Fields prison, he was absurdly stigma- tized, in a circular from the Duke of Portland to all the governors of gaols, " as unfit to perform the common offices 410 THE SENATE. of humanity ;" and an order was, at the same time, issued, that he should not be permitted to visit any prison in the kingdom. In his place in parlia- ment, he, shortly al'terwards, severely animadverted upon tliis unjustifiable mandate ; and Pitt was at length com- pelled to admit, that many of the ma- gistrates, whose conduct Burdett had most severely reprobated, had shewn a great want of feeling and circum- spection. In 1800, he repeatedly protested against the suspension of the habeas corpus act, and the renewal of the sedi- tion bill. He, also, during tlie same year, reprobated the conduct of ministers with regard to Ireland ; and resisted a mea- sure brought forward by government, to prevent persons in holy orders from sitting in the house of commons. In July, 1802, altera contest of fifteen days, he was returned to parliament, on the popular interest, for the county of Mid- dlesex, by a majority of two hundred and seventy-one votes; but the election was, subsequently, declared void, on ac- count of some misconduct on the part of the sheriffs, for which they were com- mitted to Newgate. A new writ being issued, after anotlier severe contest, he was again placed at the head of the poll. He had, about the same time, declined an invitation to become can- didate for Westminster, in favour of Mr. Paull, towards the prosecution of whose charge against Lord Wellesley, as governor-general of India, he is said to have liberally contributed. Shortly afterwards he subscribed £1,000 to the Westminster hospital, and the like amount to the society for the relief of persons imprisoned for small debts ; and, in the month of October, he em- braced an opportunity of testifying his respect for Dr. Parr, by presenting him to the then vacant living of Graffham, in the diocese of Lincoln. He continued in active opposition to ministers, especially during tlie premier- ship of Addington, whom he declared to be altogether incapable of directing public affairs, until the accession to pow er of Fox and Lord (Jrenville, whose policy he warmly supported. In ISOfi, he published his celebrated address to the freeholders of Middlesex, and was again elected for that county, which he continued to represent until the close of the short parliament that ensued, when he was returned, by an immense ma- jority, for Westminster. At the com- mencement of the election, a misunder- standing occurred between him and Mr. Paull, (who had again offered himself as a candidate), which terminated in a hostile meeting, at Combe wood, on the 5th of May, 1807, at which, the second shots of both parties took effect ; Sir Francis Burdett being wounded, severely, in the knee, and Mr. Paull, slightly, in the leg. In June, 1809, he brought forward a motion, which proved unsuccessful, re- lative to parliamentary refonn, and early in the next year, delivered an animated address to the house on the same subject. He next attempted, but without effect, to procure an inquiry as to the conduct of ministers, respecting the expedition to Flushing, and the mili- tary operations in Spain and Portugal. On the 9th of February, (1810,) he pre- sented, and eloquently supported, a pe- tition from his constituents for a radical amendment in the representation of the people; and, on the 3rd of April, moved for a committee, which was granted, to investigate the proceedings of a court- martial, by v/hich Captain Lake had been acquitted of a charge of having left a man, named Jeffery, on the unin- habited island of Sombrero; where, as it was asserted, he had been devoured by birds of prey. On the 6th of the same month, the house, after a warm debate, adjudged a letter which he had addressed to his constituents, respecting the committal of Gale Jones for a breach of privilege, to be a libellous and scandalous paper; whereupon, a motion was made and carried for his own apprehension. On the following day, he was visited by the sergeant-at-arms ; to whom, how- ever, he refused to surrender; main- taining that the speaker's warrant was illegal, and declaring that he would resist its execution by force. A great number of persons soon collected in the neighbourhood of his house, and com- mitted many disgraceful excesses; on the following day they re-assembled, and pelted all passengers who would not take off their hats and cry " Burdett for ever!" About one o'clock, Mr. Reid, the magistrate, with a body of constables, and a troop of guards, endeavoured to SIR FRANCIS UUUDETT. 411 disperse them : the riot act was read, and the soldiers, irritated by repeated attacks, at length fired upon the people, many of whom were severely wounded. In the evening, Sir Francis Burdett claimed the protection of the sheriff<, Atkins and Wood, who, the next day, proceeded to his residence with a number of followers; but their interference, as might have been anticipated, proved ineffectual. By this time, additional troops had been marched into London, howitzers had been placed in all the principal squares, and sixteen pieces of artillery, from Woolwich, in St. James's park. The riot act was again read, and the mob being dispersed, the serjeant- at-arms, with his assistants, broke into the house of Sir Francis Burdett, who now surrendered. He was conveyed to the Tower under a strong escort, civil and military; which, on its return, being resolutely assailed by the mul- titude, the soldiers discharged their carbines in all directions, wounding many, and killing one man, named Pledge, upon whom a coroner's inquest was afterwards held, which found a verdict of wilful murder against some life-guardsman unknown. Sir Francis Burdett soon afterwards commenced actions, against the speaker of the house of commons, for having ordered a forcible entry into his house, &c. ; against the sergeant-at-arms for having executed the speaker's warrant ; and against the lieutenant of the Tower, for holding him in custody ; in all of which he was defeated. On the 17th of April, Lord Cochrane presented a remonstrance to the house, from the electors of Westminster, in which they stated, that they most sensibly felt the indignity offered to them, by the com- mittal of their representative ; against whose detention, petitions were sub- sequently brought up from London, Coventry, and Abingdon. On the pro- rogation of parliament, in June, when his imprisonment, as a matter of course, terminated, extensive preparations were made for conducting him to his resi- dence ; but, fearful that the intended procession might lead to a serious breach of the peace, lie privately left the Tower by water. On the 31st of the follow- ing month, ills liberation was cele- brated, by a public dinner, at the Crown and Anchor tavern ; on quitting which, the populace took the horses from his carriage, and dragged it to his house themselves. Resuming his seat, at the opening of the next session of parliament, in January, 1811, he denied, in a speech of great animation, that the house of commons, as then constituted, legally represented the people ; and, during the debates on the regency bill, he stre- nuously contended for investing the Prince of Wales witli the full powers of sovereignty. In the following year, he opposed, with considerable warmth. Lord Stanhope's bill, for making bank notes a legal tender; v.liich, if passed into a law, would, he said, have the effect of sending all the gold out of the country. On the 26th of February, 1816, he resisted the continuance of the property-tax ; and, on the 19th of March, 1819, strenuously contended against the abolition of trial by battle. On the 1st of July, in the same year, he moved, but without success, that the house should take the subject of parliamentary reform into considera- tion ; observing, " that the people had no right to be taxed without their own consent, expressed by a full, free, and fair representation; — a principle he stood upon, as upon a rock from which he thought it impossible to be moved." He next distinguished himself by repeated but fruitless efforts to call the attention of the house to the conduct of the magistrates and yeomanry, at the celebrated meeting of the people, on the 10th of August, 1819, in the neighbourhood of Manchester. He had previously written an energetic letter to his constituents on the subject, for the publication of which, proceedings were commenced against him by the attorney-general; and, at the ensuing Leicester spring assizes, he was found guilty of having published a seditious libel in that county. Some legal ob- jections were made to the verdict ; these, however, after having been solemnly argued, were pronounced by the court to be groundless ; and, in Hilary term, 1821, lie was sentenced to three months' imprisonment in tlie king's bench, and to pay a fine of 162,000. Immediately after his liberation, he supported a motion for granting the queen an allowance of 2,'50,000 per annum, and for restoring her name to 412 THE SENATE. the liturgy. On this occasion, he said " that the attorney-general, in his official capacity, unrestrained by her majesty's rank or misfortunes, had endeavoured, on her trial, by a state- ment of seeming facts, highly coloured, to excite the utmost prejudice against her, and then called no evidence to support the most infamous parts of his On the' 6th of February, 1822, he moved for delay in answering the king's speech, on account of the nature of its contents ; observing, " that it was the practice of our forefathers, to deli- berate before they resolved, — to under- stand before they voted; and that, not having the powers of divination, or the faculty of conjuring with any certainty, he could not be prepared with an amendment ready cut and dried." Shortly aftervi'ards, he vehemently opposed the motion of Lord Castle- reagh, for continuing the insurrection act in Ireland ; contending, " that a greater military force, well directed, would effectually preserve the peace of that country." On the 29th of April, in the same year, he supported Lord John Russell's motion for reform ; and on the 17th of July, he spoke against the assumption of arbitrary power, in matters of privilege, by the liouse of commons. On the 4th of February, 1823, he condemned the armed inter- ference of France with Spain ; and on the 24th of the same month, carried a motion for an inquiry into the con- duct of the sheriff of Dublin, in cer- tain proceedings connected with trials which had then recently taken place in Ireland, Although, on the 17th of April, in this year, he stated that it was his intention to take no share in the de- bates relative to the catholic claims, on the ground, that the annual discussion of the subject was a mere farce, from which the friends of emancipation ought to withdraw, yet, on the 1st of March, 1825, he thought proper to present the general petition of the catholics, and to move for a committee of the whole house, to take their claims into consideration. His motion being agreed to, he proposed, in the committee, a series of^ resolutions, which being adopted, he brought in a bill, founded upon them, on the 23rd of the same month. The bill was triumphantly carried through all its stages in the commons ; but the lords rejected it, by a majority of forty- eight. On the 7th of June, in the same year, he moved that the evidence taken by the commissioners for in- quiring into the abuses of the court of chancery, should be printed. On the 29th of March, 1826, he opposed Mr. Huskisson's bill, for repealing Mr. Hume's act in favour of combinations by workmen, because the measure had not been allowed a sufficient trial ; and, on the 18th of the following month, he supported Mr. Whitmore's motion in favour of a revision of the corn laws. In the next session, having again been intrusted with the general peti- tion of the catholics, he moved a resolu- tion in their favour, on presenting it ; which, however, after an adjourned debate, was negatived, by a majority of four. On the elevation of Canning to the premiership, he took his seat on the treasury benches, and, for some time, continued to support ministers, whose views, on many important sub- jects, were completely in accordance with his own. On the 8th of May, 1828, he again appeared as the advo- cate of the catholics ; and, after a debate which was continued to the 10th, obtained the appointment of a committee to consider their claims. A bill for their relief was again carried through the commons, and rejected by the peers. On the opening of parlia- ment, in 1829, he concurred, with Mr. Brougham, in recommending that, as ministers appeared willing to bring for- ward emancipation as a government measure, the catholic association should dissolve itself: and during the subse- quent debates on the question, he supported, with great fervour, those concessions, whicli he had so mate- rially contributed to obtain. The character of Sir Francis Bur- dett demands no nicety of delineation ; its features are bold and obvious. Few men have displayed more unity of pur- pose ; none have ever been less diverted from a conscientious course. An aris- tocrat by birth and fortune, he has volun- tarily exerted the whole of his abilities, acquirements, and influence, in behalf of the people. Unambitious of office, impregnable to corruption, undismayed EARL OF LIVERPOOL. 413 by powerful antagonists, and careless of persecution, he has, perliaps, as much as any man of liis day, merited the reputation of a patriot. No liberal, tolerant, or humane opinion, has been publicly broached, durhig his parlia- mentary career, of which he has not been an advocate. Stedfastly attached to the constitution, and a zealous, yet enlightened, adb.erent to the established church, he has ever been inimical to any encroachment on the rights of the people; and an unchangeable supporter, upon principle, of extensive toleration. His talentsandacqulrements are equally respectable; and his eloquence is bold, glowing, and forcible. In private life, he is urbane, beneficent, and, amiable. From his youth upwards, he appears to have stood aloof from dissipation ; preferring, in his hours of relaxation, the old English sport of fox-hunting, to all the frivolities of fashionable amusement. ROBERT BANKS JENKINSON, EARL OF LIVERPOOL. Robert banks, the only son of Charles Jenkinson, afterwards Earl of Liverpool, was born on the 7th of June, 1770. He commenced his education at a school on Parsons' Green, near Fulham ; continued it at the Charter house ; and completed it at Christchurch college, Oxford. A few months before he had attained his majority, he was returned to parliament for Rye ; and, on the 27th of February, 1792, he delivered a most promising maiden speech, in which he skilfully supported the armed interference of England between Russia and the Porte. Soon afterwards, hav- ing witnessed the horrors of the early part of the French revolution, he op- posed, with great earnestness, an un- successful motion, brought forward by Fox, for an address to the king, pray- ing his majesty to treat with the ex- ecutive government of France. " On this very day," he exclaimed, " while we are here debating about sending an ambassador to the French republic, — on this very day is the King of France to receive sentence ; and, in all proba- bility, it is the day of his murder ! What is it, then, that gentlemen would pro- pose to their sovereign ? To bow his neck to a band of sanguinary rufBans, and address an ambassador to a set of murderous regicides, whose hands would be still reeking with the blood of a slaughtered monarch! No, sir; the British character is too noble to run a race for infamy ; nor will we be the first to compliment a set of monsters, who, while we are agitating this sub- ject, are probably bearing through the streets of Paris — horrid spectacle ! — the bloody victim of their fury." He defended the conduct of ministers in declaring war against France ; and, on one occasion, observed, " that he had no difficulty in saying, that a march to Paris was practicable and attainable; and that he, for one, would recommend such an expedition." In the month of April, 1793, he was appointed a com- missioner of the India board ; and, in May, 179C, he became Lord Hawkes- bury, on the elevation of his father to the earldom of Liverpool. He now supported, among other ministerial measures, the union between Great Britain and Ireland. He subsequently became secretary of state for foreign affairs, during the Addiiigton adminis- tration, and conducted the negotiation which terminated in the treaty of Amiens. He also recommended a sus- pension of the habeas corpus act; de- fended a grant of £300,000 which had been made to Portugal; strenuously advocated the liberties of Switzerland ; and contended, firmly, but unsuccess- fully, against a virulent opposition, to which, at length, was added the formi- dable hostility of Pitt ; under whom, on the fall of the Addington cabinet, he took office as secretary of state for the home department. The additional force bill engaged the earliest attention of the new go- vernment, and it was carried, princi- pally by Lord Hawkesbury's exertions, through the upper house ; to which he had, some time before, been raised, by writ, as a peer's eldest son, for the 414 THE SENATE. purpose of increasing the influence of ministers in tliat assembly. Soon after- wards, a measure for the abolition of the slave trade, which had passed the commons, was rejected by the lords, on liis moving that the subject should be properly investigated during the next session. In the course of the debate on Lord Grenville's unsuccess- ful motion, in 1805, for considering the petition of the Roman catholics of Ireland, Lord Hawkesbury declared it to be his opinion, that, as long as the catliolics refused to take the oath of supremacy, they ought to be excluded from political power. On the death of Pitt, he was offered the premiership ; which, however, he declined, in consequence of the power- ful coalition of the Fox and Grenville parties. During the short-lived ad- ministration of All the Talents which ensued, he held no office ; but, on its dismissal, he returned to his former post, after having again refused to place himself at the head of the cabinet. In December, 1808, he succeeded to the earldom of Liverpool; and, on the assassination of Spencer Perceval, in 1812, he consented, at the Prince Re- gent's special request, to accept of the vacant premiership. In the early part of his administra- tion, he resisted a motion in favour of the catholics, but supported a con- cession to the dissenters; and, on ac- count of some serious outrages whicli I had been committed in the manufac- turing districts, procured an enactment, by which frame-breaking was declared a capital felony. The success of the British arms in Spain, the disasters of Huonaparte in Russia, the subsequent march of the allies to Paris, the termi- nation of the war with America, and the victory of Waterloo, rendered him for some time popular; but public distress, the conse(juence of a long and arduous war, at length produced dis- content, and violent clamours and outrages ensued ; to repress which, the habeas corpus act was suspeiuled, liills were introduced and carried through l)oth houses, for the suppres- sion of seditious meetings, and the extinction of small pohtical publica- tions, and other severe measures, were adopted, that exposed the ministers to indignant reproach. On tlie death of George the Third, Lord Liverpool resigned his seals of office, pro J'ormd, and received them again, with an assurance of royal con- fidence and esteem, from the new monarcli. His previous unpopularity was soon afterwards much increased by the introduction, to the house of lords, of a bill of pains and penalties against Queen Caroline ; of whose guilt, he appears to have felt a full convic- tion; but it does not seem to have oc- curred to him, tliat the king, by his own libertine habits, had deprived him- self of any just claim to a divorce. Perceiving, at length, that he could not, at once morally and safely, append any real punishment to his proposed enactment, he submitted to a virtual defeat, by withdrawing the bill. Still, in justice to Lord Liverpool, it is fair to submit, tliat, however glaring the inexpediency of his proceedings on this occasion appear to have been, it would be exceedingly difficult to point out what course he ought to have adopted. During the remainder of his life, Lord Liverpool rendered himself con- spicuous, principally by his opposition to the more important claims of the catholics ; although he supported two bills in their favour, — the one enabling them to vote in the election of mem- bers of parliament, and the other qualifying them to act as magistrates or subordinate revenue officers. He also carried his principles of tolera- tion so far as to favour the unitarian marriage bill ; which, however, was ultimately rejected. He appeared, for the last time, in the house of lords, on the 16th of February. 1827, when he sup- ported an address for conferring a pro- vision suitable to their rank on the Duke and Duchess of Clarence. The next morning, after having breakfasted alone in his library, he was found, by his servant, stretched on the floor in a paralytic fit. He was shortly after- wards removed to his seat at Combe wood, where he lingered in a state of mental imbecility until iiis death, which took place on the 4th of December, 1828. He was twice married : first, to Theodosia, a daughter of Lord Bristol, the bishop of Derry; and, secondly, to Miss Chester, the daughter of a clergyman ; but had no issue. LORD HOLLAND. 415 In personal appearance, Lord Liver- pool was plain, but dignified : his fea- tures have become familiar to the public, by the various portraits painted of him by Lawrence, Younforthallerton, in Yorkshire, where he ofBciared until his decease, which took place in 1748. Among his numerous productions, besides those on the sub- ject of the Bangorian controversy, are, A Letter to a Deist, in which he at- tacked some of the opinions advanced b}- Shaftesbury concerning virtue ; an assize sermon, entitled The Founda- tion of Moral Goodness, in two parts, written, it is said, in a masterly and candid manner, but full of the spirit of party ; Divine Rectitude, or, A Brief Inquiry concerning the Moral Perfec- tions of the Deity; The Law of Truth, or, the Obligations of Reason essential to all Religion ; An Essay on Redemp- tion ; and two volumes of sermons, one of wliich was posthumously published. He bore an unimpeachable character, and was respected for his talents even by those who widely differed from him in opinion. Warton relates, that he re- plied to a person, who had warmly ex- tolled one of his discourses entitled, On the Vanity and Vexation of our Pursuits, " I borrowed the whole from ten lines in Pope's Essay on Man, at verse 259 ; and I only enlarged and commented upon what the poet had expressed with such marvellous conciseness and precision." LAW, (William,) was born in 1686, at KingsclifFe, in Northamptonshire, and became, in 1705, a student of Emanuel college, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of M. A., and obtained a fellowship; which, however, he vacated, by refusing to take the oaths, prescribed by act of parliament, on the accession of George the First. He had previously officiated as a curate in the metropolis ; but, on losing his fellowship, he abandoned the pulpit, and became tutor to Edward Gibbon, Esq. of Putney, father of the celebrated historian. In 1727, while standing at the door of a house in London, a sealed paper was put into his hands, contain- ing a bank-note for £1,000, with which, it is supposed, he founded, at his native place, alms-houses for two aged fe- males, and a school for the instruction of fourteen girls. During his residence at Putney, he formed an intimacy with two ladies of fortune, named Mrs. Hester Gibbon, (a sister of his pupil,) and Mrs. Elizabeth Hutchinson, the widow of Archibald Hutchinson, Esq., of the Temple, who, having resolved on passing the remainder of their lives in comparative seclusion, and on devoting a considerable portion of their income to acts of charity, retired, in 1740, with Mr. Law, whom thev appointed their instructor, chaplain, and almoner, to Kingsclifte, his birth-place, where they carried their intention completely into effect. In the society of these bene- volent women, he continued up to the day of his death, which took place on the 9th of April, 1761. He is de- scribed as having been rather above the middle size ; stout, but not corpu- lent ; with broad shoulders, grey eyes, round visage, well-proportioned fea- tures, an open, agreeable countenance, and rather inclined to be merry than sad. His works are numerous, and some of them important : they consist of A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life ; A Practical Treatise on Christian Perfection ; The absolute Unlawfulness of Stage Entertaininents ; The Case of Reason, or, Natural Religion fully and fairly stated ; An Answer to Dr. Trapp's Discourse on the Folly of Sin, and being righteous over-much; The Spirit of Prayer; The Spirit of Love; An Appeal to all that doubt or disbelieve the Truths of the Gospel ; An Answer to Hoadly on the Eucharist ; with various other theological and contro- versial pieces, including some transla- tions from his favourite, Behmen, all of which have been collected and pub- lished, in nine volumes, octavo. " His last compositions," says Gibbon, " are darkly tinctured by the incomprehen- sible visions of Jacob Behmen; and his discourse on the absolute unlawfulness of stage entertainments, is sometimes quoted for a ridiculous intemperance of sentiment and language. But these sallies of religious phrenzy must not extinguish the praise which is due to Mr. William Law as a wit and a scholar. His argument on topics of less ab- surdity is specious and acute ; his man- ner is lively, his style forcible and clear; and, had not his vigorous mind been clouded by enthusiasm, he might be ranked with the most agreeable and ingenious writers of the times." " When at Oxford," says Dr. Johnson, " I took 498 APTENDIX. up Law's Serious Call to a Holy Life, expecting to find it a dull book, (as such books generally are,) and perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an over-match for me ; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion, after I became ca- pable of rational inquiry." The same work, it is stated, produced such an effect on John Wesley, that no sooner had he perused it, than he resolved on devoting himself wholly to the service of God; and to this circumstance, the subsequent establishment of Arminian methodism, may be chiefly attributed. GREY, (Zachary,) was born in Yorkshire, in the year 1687, and ad- mitted a pensioner of Jesus college, Cambridge, in April, 1704; but after- wards migrated to Trinity hall, where he became a scholar, in January, 1706-7; and, in 1709, took the degree of L.L.B. Having entered into holy orders, he obtained the rectory of Houghton Conquest, in Bedfordshire, and the vicarages of St. Giles's and St. Peter's, at Cambridge. In 1720, he took the degree of L.L. D., and pub- lished his Vindication of* the Church of England, in answer to Pearce's Vindication of the Dissenters. He subsequently wrote An Impartial Ex- amination of Neal's History of the Puritans ; A Defence of our modern and ancient Historians; and a number of other historical and polemical works ; among which, were Presbyterian Pre- judice displayed ; A Century of emi- nent Presbyterians, or, a Collection of Choice Sayings from the public sermons before the two houses, from November, 1C41, to the 31st of January, 1648 ; A Looking-glass for Fanatics ; The Mi- nistry of the Dissenters proved to be null and void from Scripture and Anti- quity ; The Spirit of Infidelity De- tected, in answer to Barbeyrac, with a defence of Dr. Waterland; English Presbyterian Eloquence; An Exami- nation of Dr. Chambers' History of Persecution ; The True Picture of Quakerism ; An Attempt towards the Character of the Royal Martyr, King Charles ; The Quakers and Methodists Compared ; and Popery in its Proper Colours, with a List of Saints invoked in England before tiie Reformation. In 1744, appeared his celebrated edition of Hudibras corrected and amended, with a preface and large annotations. In the following year, he published Remarks upon a late Edition of Shaks- peare, with Emendations, borrowed from the Oxford edition, without Ac- knowledgment; in 1750, A free and familiar Letter to that great Refiner of Pope and Shakspeare, the Rev, Mr. William Warburton; in 1752, A Sup- plement to Hudibras; in 1755, Critical, Historical, and Explanatory Notes on Shakspeare, with Emendations of the Text and Metre ; and, in 1757, A Chronological Account of Earthquakes. He is said to have assisted Whalley in his edition of Ben Jonson ; and Peck, in his second volume of Desi- derata Curiosa. He also collected ma- terials for a life of Baker, the Cambridge antiquarian; and lefr, in manuscript, some original notes on Hudibras, Me- moirs of Robert Karley, Earl of Oxford, and a Life of Dean ^Ioss. He died at Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, on the 25th of November, 1766. He was twice married : first, to a Miss Tooley ; and, secondly, to a lady related to Dean Moss, by whom he had one son and two daughters. The most important of Dr. Zachary Grey's numerous works are, his examination of Neal's History of the Puritans, and his edition of Hudi- bras ; the latter of which proves him to have been a man of great ingenuity and research. Although, on many occasions, rather acrimonious as a polemical writer and a critic, he ob- tained, in private life, the appellation of " Good Dr. Grey ;" being, according to Nichols, of an amiable, sweet, and communicative disposition ; most friendly to his acquaintances, and never better pleased than when performing acts of friendship and benevolence. BERRIM AN, (William,) was born in 1G8S, and completed his education at Oriel college, Oxford, where he pro- ceeded to the degrees of M. A. and D. D. In 1722, he became rector of St. An- drew, Undershaft; and, in 1727, a fel- low of Eton. He printed several single sermons; a Concio ad Clerum ; Critical Dissertations, being the substance of Eight Discourses, delivered at Lady Moyer's Lecture ; three volumes of ser- mons preached at Boyle's lectures; and two reviews of Whiston's Primitive THE CHURCH. 499 Doxologies. After his death, which toolc place on the 5th of February, 1749-50 about sixty pieces on tlie Doctrines and Duties of Cliristianity, were published from his manuscript, in three volumes, by the Rev. John Berryman, rector of St. Olave's, Silver-street. " His abilities as a scholar and polemical divine," says Nichols, " were universally acknow- ledged ; and his high opinion of the power, right, and dignity of the priest- hood, is eminently conspicuous in all his writings." CONYBEARE, (John, Bishop of Bristol,) was born on the 31st of Janu- ary, 1691-2, at Pinhoe, in Devonshire. He was admitted a battler of Exeter college, Oxford, in February, 1707-8 ; obtained a probationary fellowship in 1710; graduated as B. A. in 1713; was appointed moderator in philosophy in 1714; and became M.A. in April, 1716 ; when, he obtained a small curacy in Surrey. In 1717, he became a tutor in his own college; about 1722, Dr. Gibson appointed him a Whitehall preacher ; in 1724, he was presented to the rectory of St. Clement's, Oxford ; and, in tire following year, he was chosen senior proctor of the university. He took his degree of B. D. in 1728, and that of D. D. in 1729. In 1730, he was elected head of Exeter col- lege ; in 1732, he was promoted to the deanery of Christchurch, and, in 1750, to the bishopric of Bristol. His death took place on the 13th of July, 1755. The revenues of his see were so slender, (never having amounted, it is said, to much above £300 per anuum,) that he died poor ; and two volumes of his discourses were publisiied, by sub- scription, for the benefit of his daughter, to whom George the Second granted a small pension. Dr. Conybeare preached a number of sermons on public occasions, which have justly been described as judicious and solid compositions. His chief work, A De- fence of Revealed Religion, (published in 1732.) against Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Creation, was termed, by Warburton, " one of the best reasoned books in the world." He appears to have been a man of superior abilities, and a most unexceptionable character. WESLEY, (Samuel,) brother of the celebrated dissenters, John and Charles Wesley, was born at Epworth, in 1692. He was sent to Westminster school in 1704, whence, having ob- tained a king's scholarship, he was elected to Christchurch, Oxford, in 1711. After having taken his degrees of B. A. and M. A., and entered into holy orders, he became a tutor at Westminster school; and, in 1732, head master at that of 1 iverton, in Devon- shire. He died on the 6ih of Novem- ber, 1739, without having obtained any preferment, in consequence, chiefly, of his hostility to Walpole, and his at- tachment to Atterbury. Being a rigid high churchman, and fearing, it is said, that they would bring about a separa- tion from the cliurch, he totally dis- approved of his brothers becoming itinerant preachers. He was the author of a few poems and humorous tales, the whole of which he collected and pub- lished, in one volume quarto, about the year 1736. To the Spalding society, he left, as it is stated, an amulet wiiich had touched the heads of the three kings of Cologne. THOMAS, (John, Bishop of Salis- bury,) son of a porter, was born at Dolgelly, Merionethshire, in 1695. In 1702, he became a pupil at Merchant Tailors' school ; from which, at the ex- pense of his father's master, a brewer, he was sent to Catherine college, Cambridge, where he eventually pro- ceeded to the degree of S. T. P. Having taken holy orders, he went out as chaplain to the English factory at Hamburgh ; and, while there, acquired such proficiency in German as enabled him to assist in the editing of a periodi- cal publication in that language. About this period, he appears to liave at- tracted the favourable notice of George the Second, who, it is related, having expressed great surprise at seeing him attending some theatrical performance, Dr. Thomas replied, " Sire, I am not ashamed of appearing at any place where the head of the church thinks proper to be present." On account of the facility with which he spoke Ger- man, he attended the king on most of his visits to the electorate. Nichols re- lates that the deanery of Peterborough having become vacant while George the Second was abroad, his majesty gave it 500 APPENDIX. to Dr. Thomas, who soon afterwards received a letter from the Duke of Newcastle, then prime minister, en- treating that he would relinquish the prefennent, his grace having positively promised it to Dr. Newcome, and pro- mising him something in return more worthy of his acceptance ; but without effect : the prudent divine " thinking, perhaps, that a deanery in possession was worth two in reversion." Handel, the musician, states, that during one of the royal voyages to the Hague, Dr. Thomas's hat was blown into the sea ; and the king having uttered some jest on the occasion. Dr. Thomas observed, " It is in your majesty's power to re- pair the loss, by providing me with another kind of covering for my head." Shortly afterwards, he had the satis- faction of obtaining a mitre. It appears that, on his return to England, he was nominated to the see of St. Asaph ; but, before his consecration could take place, he broke his leg by stepping into a hole while crossing St. James's square; and, while suffering from the consequences of this accident, the king gave him, in lieu of that of St. Asaph, the more valuable bishopric of Lincoln, which had become vacant by the death of Dr. Reynolds. In 1761, he was translated to the see of Salisbury ; in possessionof which he died, on the lOth of July, 17C6. " He is," says Cole, who wrote during the bishop's life-time, " a very worthy and honest man, a most facetious and pleasant companion, and remarkably good-tempered. He has a peculiar cast in his eyes, and is not a little deaf. I thought it rather an odd jumble, when I dined with him in 1753 ; his lordship squinting the most I ever saw any one; Mrs. Thomas, the bishop's wife, squinting not a little; and a Dane, the brother of his first wife, being so short-sighted as hardly to be able to know whether he had anything on his plate or no. Mrs. Thomas was his fourth wife, grand-daughter, as I take it, of Bishop Patrick, a very worthy man. It was generally said, that the bishop put this poesy to the wedding-ring when he married her : — * If I survive, 1 will have five ;' and she dying in 1757, he kept his word." The llev. Richard Southgate states that, " though a good-tempered and a worthy man, he had his failings. He was pleased," continues our author, "with the company of persons of rank, and had not firmness of mind sufficient to refuse what a great man asked as a favour." He married his first wife, a Danish woman, at Copenhagen, where he obtained the notice of the King of Denmark, (with whom he subsequently corresponded,) and received the follow- ing advice from an old physician, whom he had consulted as to the best method of preserving his health : " Fuge omnes medicos, atqtie omnimoda medica- menta." While he was at Hamburgh, a Lutheran minister having refused to bury a gentleman belonging to the factory, because he had been a Cal- vinist, Dr. Tliomas ridiculed him out of his absurd prejudices on the subject, by the following observations: — " In objecting to inter this departed Cal- vinist among the deceased of your Lutheran congregation, you remind me of a woman, who, once while I was in the middle of the burial service, pulled me by the sleeve, and, in a tone of grave remonstrance, informed me, that I was actually interring a man, whose death was attributed to the small-pox, by the side of her husband, who never had had that disorder." BURTON, (John,) son of the rector of Wembvvorth, in Devonshire, was born there in the year 1C96. He com- pleted his education at Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, where he took the degree of E. A. in 1717; and, soon afterwards, was appointed to read the Greek lecture. In 1720, he proceeded to the degree of M.A.; and, after having acquired great reputation as a tutor, he took the degree of B. D. in 1729, and, in 1733, obtained a fellow- ship of Eton. About the same period, he was presented to the vicarage of Maple Derham, in Oxfordshire ; and, apparently, from motives of compassion, permitted the relict and children of his predecessor, Littleton, to reside with him in the parsonage-house. Soon after- wards, a neighbouring clergyman, on paying the new vicar a visit, discovered Mrs. Littleton in the act of shaving him, and remonstrated with him so warmly " on the indecency of the thing," that Burton at once proposed THE CH URCH. 501 to marry the widow, and within a few days they were united. On the death of his wife, in 17-18, lie removed to Eton college, and devoted the greater part of his time to literary pursuits. In 1752, he took the degree of D. D., and, soon afterwards, published his clertim, delivered on that occasion. In 1766. he was preferred to the rectory of Worplesdon, Surrey, in possession of which he died, on the 11 th of February, 1771. Dr. Burton's works consist of sermons ; poetical pieces in Greek, Latin, and English ; Latin theological dissertations ; and a Preface and Notes to a valuable Selection of Greek Trage- dies, entitled, Pentalogia. In his old age, he published his fugitive pieces, under the title of Opuscula Miscellanea. His style was so peculiar, that it ob- tained the designative epithet of Bur- tonian. Some of his productions appear, however, to be by no means destitute of elegance ; and the greater portion of his argumentative pieces are sensible and convincing. He was rather eccen- tric, but particularly amiable. The companions of his leisure hours, while residing at Eton, were, it is said, the most distinguished young students, whom it was his delight to instruct and amuse : careless of money, as he ap- pears to have been throughout life, the contents of his purse, and the stores of his mind, were, it is added, alike at their service. MADDOX, (Isaac, Bishop of Wor- cester,) the son of humble parents, who both died during his childhood, was born in London, on the 27th of July, 1697. After having been for some time at a charity-school, he was placed on trial with a pastry-cook, who, how- ever, declined receiving him as an ap- prentice, alleging, tliat he did not appear to be fit for trade, " his sole de- light being to read books of learning." By the aid of some dissenting friend, his aunt soon afterwards procured him an exhibition at the vmiver»ity of Aber- deen ; on quitting which, he is said to have officiated as pastor of a presby- terian congregation, in one of the northern counties; but, on obtaining the patronage of Bishop Gibson, he thought proper to conform, and was admitted of Queen's college, Cam- bridge. He soon obtained episcopal ordination ; and, after serving, for a short time, as curate of St. Bride's, London, became chaplain to Bishop Waddington, whose niece he had mar- ried. In 1729, he was nominated clerk of the closet to Queen Caroline ; and, about the same time, took the degree of D. D. by archiepiscopal mandate. He was presented to the rectory of St. Vedas, Foster-lane, in 1731; pro- moled to the deanery of Wells, in 1733; raised to the see of St. Asaph, in 1736; and translated to that of Wor- cester, in 1743-4. He died on the 27th of September, 1759. Besides se- veral sermons, he published A Vindi- cation of the Government Doctrine and Worship of the Church of England, in answer to Neal's History of the Puritans. He was a zealous supporter of the British fishery, of the small- pox hospitals, and other charitable in- stitutions in the metropolis. He is also said to have been chiefly instrumental in establishing the infirmary at Wor- cester, and to have regularly devoted £200 per annum, to the augmentation of small livings in his diocese. Great courtesy, cheerfulness, and good-nature have been attributed to him ; and it is said, that, on several occasions, at table, after his elevation to the episcopal bench, he jocosely alluded "to his brief experience as a pastry-cook." HILDESLEY, (Mark, Bishop of Sodor and Man,) was born on the 9th of December, 1698, at Murston, in Kent, and educated at the Charter-house, and Trinity college, Cambridge. After hav- ing taken the degrees of B. A. and M. A., and obtained a fellowship, he became chaplain to Lord Cobham. In 1725, he was appointed a Whitehall preacher, and curate of Yelling, in Huntingdonshire. In 1731, liis college presented him to the vicarage of Hitchin ; and, four years afterwards, he obtained tlie neighbouring rectory of Holvvell. On the death of Bishop Wilson, in 1755, he was raised, by the Duke of Athol, to the see of Sodor and Man ; the revenues of which were so slender, and his fees on consecration so heavy, that he was permitted, for some time, to hold his rectory in commendam. This, however, he voluntarily resigned, as soon as he had cleared himself of the pecuniary difficulties consequent 502 APPENDIX. upon his acceptance of the bishopric. In 17G7, he obtained the mastership of Sherburn hospital ; and, soon after- wards, a prebendal stall in Lincoln cathedral. Under his auspices, a trans- lation of the Scriptmes into the Manx language, which had been commenced by his predecessor in the bishopric, was completed and published towards the close of the year 1772. He had re- peatedly declared, that he only wished to live long enough to see this laborious and useful work in print ; and it is re- lated that, when the last proof sheet was laid before him, he solemnly and emphatically chaunted "A'«MC, Domine, dimittis," &c. On the follow- ing day, he preached on the uncertainty of human life ; in the course of the next afternoon, he was deprived, in an instant, of all apparent consciousness, by apoplexy ; and, about a week after- wards, he expired. This event took place on the 7th of December, 1772. He was, apparently, neither remark- able for his learning nor his eloquence; yet few, if any, of his episcopal eotem- poraries, excelled him in piety, bene- volence, or zeal for the advancement of religion. TUCKER, (JosiAH, Dean of Glou- cester,) the son of a Welsli gentleman who farmed his own estate, was born in 1711 ; and, after having received a classical education, was sent to St. John's college, Oxford; where, in 1736, he proceeded to the degree of B. A.; and, on the 7th of July, 1739, to that of M. A. Having taken holy orders, he became, successively, curate of All Saints', Bristol ; chaplain to Dr. Butler, his diocesan ; and rector of St. Stephen's, in that city. In 1747, he published A brief Essay on the Advantages and Disadvantages which respectively at- tend France and Great Britain, with regard to Trade ; and, a few years afterwards. Reflections on the Expedi- ency of a Law for the Naturalization of Foreign Protestants, a measure which he cordially recommended ; as he also did that of the Jews, in some letters to a friend, printed in 1753, which ex- cited such angry feelings against him, that he was burnt in effigy by the populace. In 1755, he took the de- grees of B. D. and D. D. ; and, during the same year, became a prebendary of Bristol. In 1758, he was advanced to the deanery of Gloucester, through the interest of Mr. Nugent, afterwards Lord Clare ; in whose favour he had induced many of his parishioners to vote, at an election of members of par- liament for the city of Bristol. In 1772, he published An Apology for the Present Church of England, and a volume of sermons on important sub- jects. In the following year appeared his Letters to the Rev. Dr. Kippis, in which, although he advocated conces- sion to the dissenters, to a certain ex- tent, he strenuously opposed a repeal of the test and corporation acts. His next productions were several tracts relative to the American war, pub- lished at different periods : in these, while he condemned the opposition of the colonies, he insisted that a separation had become absolutely necessary ; and recommended that Great Britain should not only recognize their independence, but protect them against foreign ag- gressors. In 1781, appeared his Trea- tise concerning Civil Government, in the first part of which, he attempted to refute the arguments of Locke, on that important subject. In 1782, he printed a pamphlet, entitled, Cui Bono ? or, An Inquiry as to what Benefits can arise, either to the English or the Americans, the French, Spaniards, or Dutch, from the greatest Victories or Successes in the present War ; in which he is accused of having given a malignant estimate of the character of the Americans. He was also the author of a number of other works on political, religious, and commercial subjects ; the most impor- tant of these were some tracts, relative to the disputes with Ireland, in which he recommended that trade should be freed from all restrictions, and left to regulate itself. Particularly assiduous in the performance of his clerical duties, he is stated to have been much be- loved by his parishioners, who, as it appears, sincerely regretted the resig- nation of his rectory, in favour of his curate, which he thought proper to make, some time after he had been appointed Dean of Gloucester. Al- though he made but few converts to his opinions, he was, in general, esteemed as an able, and, on account of his wit, an amusing and rather a brilliant writer. Lord Mansfield designated THE CHURCH. 503 him, in the house of peers, as a writer of ihe first class, for sagacity and knowledge; and Archbishop Herring, in a letter to Dr. Forster, dated in the year 1755, says, " Tucker has sent me a very ingenious book, the fore- runner of a great work on the true polity of government. But, I think, it is only a fine vision, and may sug- gest a right way of thinking upon many subjects, and produce some par- tial good ; but it fails in two main points: for it supposes, that, some time or other, governors of the world may start up, who shall be disinterested and honest in all their views, and have sub- jects of the same turn of thought. But his essay is really admirable, clear, and manly, -and infinitely full of spirit and humour." He died, without issue, of a paralytic stroke, in 1799. BATE, (Julius,) was born about the year 1711, and proceeded to the degree of M. A. at St. John's college, Cambridge. Having taken orders, he became chaplain to William, Earl of Harrington ; and, on the recommen- dation of Hutchinson, the Duke of Somerset presented him to the rectory of Sutton, in Sussex. He was an ardent admirer of Hutchinson, whose opinions he defended with considerable zeal, learning, and ingenuity. His produc- tions comprise, — The Examiner Ex- amined, with some Observations on Hebrew Grammar ; An Essay towards explaining the ThirdChapter of Genesis, in answer to Warburton ; The Philoso- phical Principles of Moses asserted and defended ; Remarks upon Warburton's Remarks, — shewing, that the Ancients knew there was a future state, &c. ; Faith of the Ancient Jews in the Law of Moses, and the Evidence of the Types vindicated; An Hebrew Gram- mar, founded on the Usage of Words by the Inspired Writers ; The Use and Intent of Prophecy and History of The Fall cleared; A Defence of Mr. Hutchinson's Tenets ; The Scripture meaning of Eloim and Berith ; Inte- grity of the Hebrew Texts, and many Passages of Scripture vindicated from the Objections and Misconstructions of Mr. Kennicott ; Criticae Hebrase ; or, A Hebrew English Dictionary without Points ; a posthumous volume, entitled, A New and Literal Translation from the original Hebrew of the Pentateuch of Moses, and of the Historical Books of the Old Testament, to the end of the Second Book of Kings, with notes, critical and explanatory. Warburton accuses him, " in conjunction with one Romaine, of betraying conversation, and writing fictitious letters;" and terms him, in allusion to his efforts for the advancement of the doctrines of Hut- chinson, " one Bate, a zany to a mountebank." He died at Arundel, on the 7th of April, 1771. RUTHERFORTH,(Thomas, Arch- deacon of Essex,) the son of a clergy- man, was born at Papworth Everard, on the 13th of October, 1712, and be- came a fellow and tutor of St. John's college, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degrees of M. A. and D. D. In 1742, he was cho=en a fellow of the Royal Society ; and, in 1756, appointed regius professor of divinity. He ap- pears to have held, successively, the rec- tories of Barrow, in Suffolk; Stanfield, in Essex; and Barley, in Hertfordshire. He also obtained the archdeaconry of Essex ; in possession of which he died, on the 5th of October, 1771 ; leaving one son, by his wife, Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Abdy, of Cob- ham, Baronet. He was the author of An Essay on the Nature and Obliga- tions of Virtue; A System of Natural Philosophy; Ordo Institutionum Phy- sicarum ; The Credibility of Miracles defended ; A Concio ad Clerum ; A Vindication of the Right of Protestant Churches, to require the Clergy to sub- scribe to an established Confession of Faith and Doctrine ; two letters to Ken- nicott ; and several sermons, charges, and other pieces. Dyer terms him, a strenuous asserter of subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, in opposition to the Unitarians; and Maurice John- son, in a letter to Mr. Birch, says of his Essay on the Nature and Obli- gations of Virtue: — " If you have not read that amiable work, I must not for- bear recommending it to your perusal." Warburton, however, speaks of him thus : — " If he knows no more of theo- logy than he does of morals, he is the meanest pedant of the age. The affec- tation of being singular has made him a bad moralist : — will the affectation of being orthodox make him a good 504 A PPE N DIX. divine ? Of the two, I think Stabbing the more tolerable, who labours to sup- port other people's nonsense rather than his own." SHIPLEY, (Jonathan, Bishop of St. Asaph.) was born in 1714, and after having received a liberal education, was sent to Christchurch, Oxford, where he graduated about the year 1735, and pro- ceeded to the degree of M. A. in 1738. While at the university, he wrote a monody on the death of Queen Caroline, which was inserted in the Oxford col- lection. He became a prebendary of Winchester, in 1743; and, two years afterwards, chaplain to the Duke of Cumberland, whom he accompanied to the continent. On his return to Eng- land, in 1748, he took the degrees of B. D. and D. D., and obtained, succes- sively, a canonry of Christchurch, Ox- ford, the deanery of Winchester, the livings of Silchester and Chinbolton, (which he held by dispensation,) and the bishopric of St. Asaph. He died on the 9th of December, 1788, leaving a son (the celebrated Dean Shipley) and two daughters, one of whom was married to Sir William Jones. He dis- tinguished himself chiefly by his hos- tility to the American war, which, it is supposed, precluded him from further preferment. In 1774, he printed A Speech intended to have been spoken on the Bill for Altering the Charters of the Colony of Massachusett's Bay; and his collective works, comprising sermons, charges, and parliamentary orations, edited by Mainwaring, were published in 1792. In the sixth volume of Nichols's Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, there is a curious letter from Bishop Shipley to Warton, on the discovery of the cofBn containing the remains of Henry de Blois, brother to King Stephen. TOWNSON, (Thomas, Archdeacon of Richmond,) was born in 1715, and completed his education at the uni- versity of Oxford, where he was first entered at Ciuislchurch, but afterwards became a demy at Magdalen. After having graduated as B. A., he obtained a fellowship, and, in 1739, proceeded to the degree of M. A. About the year 1742, he made a tour on the continent with Messieurs Drake and Holdsworth ; and on his return, in 1745, became a tutor of his college. He subsequently served the office of senior proctor; took the degrees of B. D. and D. D. ; and procured, in succession, the livings of Hatfield, Peverel, Blithfield,andMalpas, and the archdeaconry of Richmond, with a prebend of Chester. He published some treatises relative to the Confes- sional ; A Dissertation on the Claims of the Roman Catholics ; and Discourses on the Gospels. In addition to these, he wrote some other pieces, which were printed in a posthumous edition of his works, with a memoir of his life, by Archdeacon Churton. He enjoyed the reputation of possessing great biblical learning; and he might, in 1783, it is said, had he thought fit, have obtained the divinity chair at Oxford ; which, however, on account of his age, he de- clined accenting. He died on the 15th of April, 1792. BALGUY, (Thomas, Archdeacon of Winchester,) was born on the 27th of September, 1716, and educated at St. John's college, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship, and proceeded to the high degree of S. T. P. He be- came, successively, rector of North Stoke, vicar of Alton, a prebendary of Winchester, archdeacon of Salisbury, and archdeacon of Winchester. On the death of Warburton, in 1781, he was offered the bishopric of Gloucester, which, however, being aged, nearly blind, and in bad health, he thought proper to decline. Among his publica- tions are the following: — A Sermon on Church Government, which produced an answer from Priestley ; A Charge to the Clergy of his Archdeaconry, on the propriety of demanding subscription to articles of faith, which was censured by Palmer, and other dissenting writers; A Sermon on the respective Duties of Ministers and People, preached at the consecration of Bisliops Hurd and More; an edition of the Sermons of Dr. Powell ; a reprint of his father's Essay on Redemption ; and Divine Benevolence Asserted and Vindicated from the Reflections of Ancient and Modern Sceptics. His death took place on the 19tii of January, 1795. He appears to have been an exemplary Christian, an able divine, and, to adopt the words of Bishop Hurd, "a person of extraordinary parts and extensive THE CHURCH. 505 learning." On one occasion, after having pieaciied from tlie text, " All wisdom is sorrow," he received the following compliment from the future Bishop Watson, who was then a student at Winchester school : — •* If what yon advance, dear doctor, be true. That wisdom is sorrow, how wretched are j-ou I" OGDEN, (Samuel,) was born at Manchester, in 171G, and educated at the free-school of his native place, at King's college, Cambridge, and at St. John's college, in the same university, to which he migrated in 1736. He graduated as B. A. in the following year, and, eventually, proceeded to the degree of S. T. P. In 1739, he became a fellow of his college ; in 1744, master of the free grammar-school at Halifax ; about 1753, vicar of Damerham, in Wiltshire ; in 1764, Woodwardian pro- fessor at Cambridge; in 1765, an un- successful candidate for the mastership of his college; and, in 1766, rector of Lawford, in Essex, and of Stansfield, in Suffolk. He also held the cure of St. Sepulchre's, at Cambridge, where he obtained considerable notoriety as a preacher. " His person, manner, and character of composition," says Wake- field, " were exactly suited to each other. He exhibited a large, black, scowling, grisly figure; a ponderous body, with a lowering visage, em- browned -by the horrors of a sable perri- wig. His voice was growling and morose, and his sentences desultory, tart, and snappish." His uncivilized appearance, and bluntness of de- meanour, were, according to the same author, the grand obstacles to his ele- vation in the church. The Duke of Newcastle, to whom he was indebted for his first preferment, would, it is said, have taken liini to court, with a view to his obtaining promotion, if he had been w'hat his grace termed, '• a producible man." Bishop Halifax ob- serves that, notwithstanding the stern- ness, and even ferocity, which he would sometimes throw into his countenance, he was one of the most humane and tender-hearted men ever known ; and Cole, the Cambridge antiquary, de- scribes him as having been particularly affectionate to his aged parents, who, for a long period, were almost entirely dependent on his bounty for support. The same writer states, that Dr. Ogden was an epicure; that he loved a cheerful glass, had a great turn for sneer and ridicule, and used to sit in company in his night-gown and slippers. His literary productions consist of three volumes of sermons, which, it has been said, if allowed to be elegant, are of slight texture, and rather hortatory tlian instructive or doctrinal. An edi- tion of them appeared in 1780, with a memoir of his life, prefixed by Bishop Halifax, who zealously, but, in the opinion of many, without success, at- tempted to vindicate the author's style, against some severe remarks which had been made upon it by Mainwaring. Dr. Ogden died on the 23rd of March, 1778. POWELL, (William Samuel, Archdeacon of Colchester,) was born on the 27th of September, 1717, and completed his education at St. John's college, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship, became head tutor, and proceeded to the high degree of S. T. P. He obtained his first preferment, the living of Colkirk, in Norfolk, (which was subsequently consolidated with that of Stibbard,) from Viscount Towns- hend, whose second son, Charles, after- wards chancellor of the exchequer, had been his pupil. In 1759, a considerable estate in Essex was devised to him by one of his maternal relatives; and he forthwith quitted Cambridge, but did not abandon his fellowship until 1763. On the 25th of January, 1765, lie was unanimously chosen master of his col- lege; and, in the following month of November, he was elected vice-chan- cellor of the university for tlie ensuing year. In 1766, he obtained the arch- deaconry of Colchester ; and, two years afterwards, the rectory of Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight. In 1772, he re- printed a sermon, which he had preached and published some years before, in defence of subscription to the Thirty- nine Articles. On its first appearance, it had been severely attacked, by Dr. Jebb's wife, in the newspapers, imder the signature of Priscilla; and, in allu- sion to the circumstance, Paley is said to have observed, " that the Lord had sold Sisera into the hands of a woman." Soon after its republication, a letter, 506 APPEN DIX. signed Camillus, bitterly satirizing the archdeacon's doctrines, appeared in the London Chronicle, which was, by many, confidently attributed to Jebb himself, whose expulsion from the uni- versity is said to have been chiefly owing to the hostility of Powell. In addition to his sermon in defence of subscription, the learned divine pub- lished Observations on Miscellanea Analytica, by Dr. Waring; A Discourse on the Vices incident to an Academical Life ; and some other pieces. A post- humoirs volume of his Sermons, on va- rious subjects, with a memoir of his life, by Dr. Thomas Balguy, appeared about a year after his death, which took place on the lilth of January, 1775. " He was," says Cole, " rather a little, thin man ; florid and red ; with staring eyes, as if almost choaked, or as if the collar of his shirt was too high about his neck. He was a man of a rugged and severe discipline ; but vir- tuous, learned, and by no means be- loved : his manners were too rigid and unbending for the age he lived in. As he was a strict disciplinarian, so he was by nature positive and obstinate, and never to be beat out of what he had once got into his head ; yet, he was generous in his temper ; and when it was proposed improving the college and walks, at an expense of £800, he called the fellows together, recom- mended a subscription among its former members of note, and set it a-going by putting down £500." He bequeathed a similar sum towards facing the col- lege with stone; and, to his sister, with whom he had never been able to agree, he left £150 per annum ; to twenty of his friends £100 each ; and to his niece, Miss Jolland, £20,000. He hated Baker, the Cambridge antiquary, whose book he termed " a collection of lies," and refused to allow a transcript to be made of it for publication, because it had been written, he said, " under the influence of partiality and resentment." He was once permitted to preach for a country clergyman, whom he was visit- ing, with an express understanding that lie should adapt his language to the capacities of the congregation. At the conclusion of the service, his friend remarked to him, that, notwithstanding his promise, he had used many terms which were beyond the comprehension of his auditory, — particularly noticing the word felicity, for which, he said, happiness should have been substi- tuted. Dr. Powell, however, contended, that his language must have been per- fectly clear to the meanest capacity ; and, for his justification, appealed to one of his friend's flock, whether every man in the parish did not understand the meaning of feliciUj. The rustic confidently replied in tne affirmative ; and stated, in other words, on being required to explain it, that although he could not tell exactly where it lay, he knew well enough that it was "sum- mut inside of a pig." NEWTON, (John,) a native of London, and son of a shipmaster, was born in 1725. He received no regular education, having passed the chief part of his boyhood and youth at sea. At the age of fifteen, he obtained some commercial situation at Alicant, where, as he states, he might have done well, had he behaved well. In 1742, he de- clined the ofler of an eligible employ- ment at Jamaica, being averse, it is said, to living at such a distance from a young lady, of whom he was ena- moured, and who, eventually, became his wife. He soon afterwards made a voyage to Venice, as a common sailor, and indulged, to an excess, in some depraved habits, which he had previ- ously contracted. His sufferings were, however, fully equal to his turpitude ; aud he is said to have " almost drained the cup of human misery to the dregs," when his father, in 1747, procured him employment on board a vessel en- gaged in the African slave trade. Even when most wretched and abandoned, he liad cherished a taste for learning, and acquired some knowledge of the mathematics ; and he now began to improve his previous scanty knowledge of Latin. In 1750, his nautical skill and general good conduct had raised him to the post of commander ; but he soon afterwards became weary of a sea-faring life, and obtained the post of tide-waiter, at Liverpool ; where, by dint of severe application, he rapidly acquired a considerable knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. He now made some attempts to obtain the appoint- ment of pastor to some dissenting con- gregation ; but these proving abortive. THE CHURCH. 507 he procured a title for holy orders, and presented himself to the Archbishop of York for ordination ; which, how- ever, that prelate refused him, on the ground that he had been preaching, without authority, among the dissent- ers. Some years afterwards, he ob- tained, through the interest of Lord Dartmouth, the curacy of Olney, to which, the Bishop of Lincoln thought proper to ordain him, in the month of April, 1764. At Olney, where he re- sided for sixteen years, he formed a close intimacy with Cowper, the poet, and the benevolent Thornton. The latter, for a long period, allowed him j6200 per annum, in order that he might be enabled to keep open house for such as were worthy of entertain- ment, and to assist the needy members of his congregation. In 1779, he was promoted to the rectory of St. Mary Woolnoth, and St. Mary Woolchurch Haw, Lombard-street, where he offi- ciated during the remainder of his life. He died on the 31st of December, 1807 ; having survived his wife, a Miss Mary Catlet, of Chatham, in Kent, by whom he had no issue, about seven- teen years. He was the author of Cardiphonia ; A Review of Ecclesias- tical History ; Messiah, A Series of Discourses; a narrative of his own life; several sermons ; and, in conjunction with Cowper, of A Collection of Hymns. Two editions of his works have been printed," one in six volumes, octavo ; and the other in twelve volumes, duodecimo. He was a popular preacher ; an original thinker; a warm patron of meritorious young men, who were desirous of entering the church ; and liberal, to the utmost extent of his means, in relieving distress. His prin- ciples being decidedly Calvinistic, much of that religious melancholy which em- bittered the existence of Cowper, has been attributed to his influence, but, apparently, without foundation ; for Newton's disposition is stated to have been the reverse of gloomy ; and he is said to have been particularly suc- cessful in consoling those who were distressed by religious doubts or alarms. JONES, (William,) was bom at Lowick, in Northamptonshire, in 1726; and proceeded, on a charter-house ex- hibition, to L'niversity college, Oxford, about 1744. After having graduated in arts, and obtained ordination, he be- came curate of Finedon ; where he pro- duced, in 1753, A Full Answer to Bishop Clayton's Essay on Spirit. In the fol- lowing year he married, and gave up his curacy for that of Wadenhoe ; where, by the advice of his friends, lie soon began to take pupils. In 1757, appeared his Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity, which soon ran through several editions; and, in 1762, he published An Essay on the First Principles of Natural Philosophy. This work af- forded so much satisfaction to Lord Bute, that the author received an order to obtain whatever instruments he might want, for the further prosecution of his inquiries, from the celebrated Adams, at his lordship's expense. In 1764, .^rclibishop Seeker presented him to the vicarage of Bethersden ; and, in the following year, to the rectory of Pluckley, both in the county of Kent. In 1769, he published A Letter to a Young Gentleman at Oxford intended for Holy Orders; in 1770, Some Re- marks on the Principles and Spirit of the Confessional, annexed to a new edition of his .Answer to the Essay on Spirit; in 1772, Zoologica Ethica, and Three Dissertations on Life and Death ; in 1773, A Volume of Disquisitions on Scriptural subjects; and, in 1776, Re- flections on the Growth of Heathenism amongst the Christians. He now took up his residence at Nayland, in Suffolk, of which he held the perpetual curacy ; exchanged his rectory of Pluckley for that of Paston, in Northamptonshire ; and, having become a member of Sidney college. Cambridge, proceeded to the degree of M. A. In 1781, he« printed his Phisiological Disquisitions ; in 1788, Lectures on the Figurative Language of the Holy Scriptures; in 1790, Two Volumes of Sermons, in- cluding some Discourses on Natural History; and, in 1792, A Letter fiom Thomas Bull to his Brother John. He also produced a collection of tracts by Leslie, Home, and others, entitled. The Scholar Armed against the Errors of the Times ; Memoirs of the Life, Studies, and Writings of Bishop Home, to a second edition of which, he prefixed an exposition of the Hutchinsonian theological and philosophical opinions ; A Discourse on the Use and Intention 508 APPENDIX. of some remarkable Passages of the Scriptures, not commonly understood ; and some minor pieces. The infirmities of age having, at length, compelled him to decline taking pupils, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in order that his in- come might suffer no diminution, pre- sented him to the sinecure rectory of HoUingbourne, in Kent. He was soon afterwards deprived of the use of one side, by a paralytic stroke, and died on the Cth of February, 1800. His disposition was benevolent, his know- ledge extensive, and his ability great. He practised medicine for the benefit of his parishioners j and being a pro- ficient, it is said, in music, composed a morning and evening cathedral service, ten churcli pieces, and four anthems. As an author, he principally distin- guished himself by his zealous support of the Hutchinsonian doctrines ; to which, it is asserted, he made a con- vert of his friend, Bishop Home. EDWARDS, (Thomas,) a native of Coventry, and the son of a clergyman, was born in 1729. After having taken his degrees in arts, and obtained a fellowship at Clare hall, Cambridge, he produced an English metrical transla- tion of the Psalms, on the plan of Bishop Hare. In 1758, he was nominated master of the free grammar-school, and rector of St. Jolin, in his native city. In the following year, he printed his Doctrine of Irresistible Grace proved to have no Foundation in the New Testa- ment. He subsequently proceeded to the degree of D. D. ; and, in 1770, was presented by the crown to the vicarage of Nuneaton, in Warwickshire, where he died in 1785. His productions, not already mentioned, consist of two dis- sertations, the one against bigotry and persecution, the other on the qualifica- tions necessary for a correct interpre- tation of the New Testament ; two others, in Latin, on various readings in Scripture, and the doctrine of pre- destination; Selecta quaedam Theocriti Idyilia; and some controversial pieces, in Latin, against Lowth, relative to Hare's system of Hebrew metre. Al- though defeated on this subject, he enjoyed a higl> reputation for learn- ing and talent; and, according to Nichols, " such were his assiduity and ability in the instruction of youth, and so conscientious his discharge of his parochial duties, that no praise could exceed his merits." HINCHCLIFFE, (John, Bishop of Peterborough,) the son of a livery- stable-keeper, was born in Swallow- street, Westminster, in 1731. After having obtained the degree of B. A., in 1754, at Trinity-college, Cambridge, he became usher of Westminster school, where he had been educated, and for some time officiated as morningpreacher, at South Audley-street chapel. He proceeded to the degree of M. A. in 1757 ; and, three years afterwards, made the tour of Europe with Mr. Crewe, who, on their return to England, made him his chaplain, and gave him an an- nuity of £300 per annum. In 1764, the Duke of Grafton procured for him the head-mastership of Westminster school ; which, however, on account of the state of his health, he was soon compelled to resign. He then became tutor to the young Duke of Devonshire, with whom he subsequently resided in the capacity of chaplain. In 1766, he was presented to the vicarage of Greenwicli ; and about the same period, married Elizabeth, the sister of his friend, Mr. Crewe. This lady had, as it appears, been courted by an officer of the guards, wliose attentions, however, being offen- sive to her brother, the latter had re- quested Hinchcliffe to dissuade her from receiving his visits. The divine was so successful, that she soon transferred her atlections from her military suitor to himself; and Crewe so entirely ap- proved of their union, that on receiving the surrender of the annuity, which he had previously given to Hinciicliffe, lie added the sum of £10,000 to his sister's fortune. It is asserted that Hinchcliffe was offered the appointment of tutor to the young Prince of Wales, and that he declined it on account of his Whig principles. Through tlie interest of his patron, the Duke of Grafton, he obtained, in 17G8, the mastership of Trinity college; in 1769, the see of Peterborough ; and, subsequently, the deanery of Durham. Tliat he procured no further promotion, is attributed to his uniformly acting witli that party which opposed the American war. He was the author of several discourses ; three of which, on public occasions, appeared THE CHURCH. 509 during his lifetime, and thie remainder were published in one volume, two years after his decease, which took place on the 11th of January, 1794. He is described as having been a graceful parliamentary orator, and a sensible speaker. The Rev. William Jones, after stating that " there was not a corner of the church in which he could not be heard distinctly;" adds, that it was his invariable practice, "to do justice to every consonant ; knowing that the vowels would be sure to speak for themselves : and thus he became the surest and clearest of speakers ; his elocution was perfect, and never dis- appointed his audience." His produc- tions, few as they are, possess but little merit; and, on the whole, his abilities appear to have been inferior to the high station, to which he had the good for- tune, by the accident of patronage, to be exalted. His conduct in retaining the mastership of Trinity college, after he had obtained the see of Peter- borough, has exposed him to some animadversion : " as a bishop," observes Simpson, "he ought, by every law of honour and conscience, and the Gospel, to have resided in his diocese, among his clergy and people ; as master of Trinity, his presence could not, in general, be dispensed with." Cole says that " he was a man of taste, but called ' the bloody bishop,' because he was the only one. who, in 1774, spoke for severe measures against the Arminians ; but he turned coat with the Duke of Grafton." SCOTT, (James,) son of one of the domestic chaplains to Frederick, Prince of Wales, was born at Leeds, in 1733. He was sent, in 1752, to the university of Cambridge, where, after studying for a short time at Catherine Hall, he migrated to Trinity college, of which, having previously taken the degree of B. A., he became a fellow in 1757. Shortly afterwards, he obtained the lectureship of St. John's, at Leeds, which he held, until he proceeded to the de- gree of iSI. A., in 1760. In the course of the two next years, he gained three prize medals: — the first, for a poem on Heaven; the second, for a moral epistleonPurity of Heart ; and the third, for a Hymn to Repentance. He also published some poetical coiupositions, the last of which, entitled Redemption, a IMonody, appears to have proved unsuccessful. After having served the curacy of Edmonton for about a year, he returned to Cambridge, where he rapidly acquired extraordinary emi- nence as a preacher. He frequently occupied the university pulpit, and, on these occasions, St. Mary's church is stated to have been invariably crowded to excess. On one occasion, he is said to have offended the under-graduates by a sermon against gaming, and, it is added, they evinced their displeasure by scraping the floor with their feet, an act of indecorum, for which the divine severely censured them, shortly afterwards, in a discourse on the text, " Keep thy feet when thou goest to the house of God." In 1705, at the sug- gestion of the Earl of Halifax, he pub- lished some political letters, signed Anti-Sejanus, in the Public Advertiser ; and, three years afterwards, he made an attempt to procure his election to the living of St. John's, in his native place ; which, proving unsuccessful, he was in- duced to accept an afternoon lectureship in the neighbouring parish of Trinity, where his popularity was so great, that the regular pew-holders, in order to secure their places, usually obtained ad- mission by a private entrance to the church, an hour before the service com- menced. After officiating at Leeds for about a year, he returned to the metro- polis, and wrote, in the public journals, a variety of political pieces, under the signature of Old Slyboots. In 1771, he was presented through the interest of Lord Sandwich, to the rectory of Simon- burn, in Northumberland, where he soon became involved in litigation with his parishioners. A suit which he com- menced against them in 1744, after having been carried on for twenty years, at an enormous expense on both sides, was at length disposed of by his con- senting to relinquish the claim he had set up for the tithe of agistment, on the defendants undertaking to pay £2,400 towards the costs which he had incurred. Pending the proceedings, his flock had evinced the most rancorous hostility towards him ; and at length, a desperate attempt appears to have been made upon his life, in consequence of which, he removed to the metropolis ; where, after having materially added to his 510 APPENDIX. high reputation as a preacher, he died, on the 10th of December, 1S14. He was married, in 1772, to one of his re- latives, named Ann Scott, by whom he had three children. His virtues and talents have been warmly extolled; and it is certain that his charities were ex- tensive, and his abilities much above mediocrity ; but the fact of his having carried on legal hostilities against his parishioners, on the debateable subject of tithes for agistment, during twice the term of the Trojan war, will scarcely be deemed by posterity consistent with the meek yet dignified character of a pro- testant divine ; nor will tlie present age, it is presumed, agree with tliose of his admirers, who pronounced his elo- cution to liave excelled that of any man of his time, either in the pulpit or the senate ; and who declared his sermons to have surpassed the finest composi- tions of Porteus or Blair, whether con- sidered as elegant compositions, or per- suasive exhortations. BARRINGTON, (Shute, Bishop of Durham,) sixth son of the first Viscount Barrington, was born at Becket, in Berkshire, on the 26th of May, 1734. After having studied for some time at Eton, he was removed, in 1752, to Merton college, Oxford ; where he ob- tained a fellowship, and proceeded to the degrees of M. A. and D. C. L. Hav- ing entered into holy orders, he was ap- poiiited a king's chaplain, on the ac- cession of George the Third ; a canon of Ciu-istchurch, in 1761; a canon of St. Paul's, in 1768; and bishop of Llan- daff, on the 4th of October, in the fol- lowing year. In 1777, he exchanged his canonry of St. Paul's for the col- legiate cliurch of Windsor ; and on the decease of Dr. Hume, he succeeded that prelate in the see of Salisbury ; from which he was translated to that of Durham, in 1791. He died on the 25th day of March, 1826, leaving no issue, altliough he had been twice married : first, to Lady Diana Beauclerc ; and, secondly, to the daughter of Sir John Guise, baronet. In his senatorial ca- pacity. Bishop Barrington rendered himself conspicuous by liis strenuous hostility to a petition for abolishing subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles; and by his attempt, in 1779, to carry a bill for the prevention of adultery. He published a political life of his brother, William, second Viscount Barrington; and a number of occasional sermons and visitation charges, most of which were collected and reprinted, about the year 1811. He was attacked, with some severity, in 1783, for having animad- verted, in one of his productions, on the increasing substitution of Calvinistic doctrines, by divines of the church of England, for practical divinity; and in 1806, he was accused of having " preached up a holy crusade against the opinions and persons of the catho- lics," in a sermon, entitled, The (irounds on which the Church of England se- parated from the Church of Rome. From this circumstance, a controversy arose between several eminent divines, in consequence of which, he published, as a supplement to his previous per- formance relative to the separation of the two churches, but under the same title, reasons against the literal sense of the words, " This is my body, this is my blood." In the performance of his various important duties as a prelate, he evinced uncommon piety, judgment, and zeal. He personally ex- amined all candidates for holy orders, and rejected those who appeared, from any cause, unworthy of ordination, however strongly they might be re- commended. One of his relatives, trust- ing to advancement through his pa- tronage, having intimated a desire to enter the church, the bishop inquired with what preferment he would be con- tented. " Five hundred a year will satisfy all my wants," was the reply. " You shall have that amount," said the conscientious prelate ; " not out of the patrimony of the church, but from my private fortune." His charitable donations were truly munificent. In conjunction with Sir Thomas Bernard, he established the society for bettering the condition of the poor ; that for the support and education of blind children, in St. George's fields ; and the fever hospital, in Gray's-inn-lane. He ap- propriated one entire sum of ^£60,000, which he had recovered in a suit respect- ing some mines in his diocese, to the foundation of charity-schools, and the relief of poor clergymen and their families. Although particularly hostile to the doctrines of the church of Rome, the French bishops and clergy who THE CHURCH. 511 sought refuge in England at the time of the revolution, found in him a most liberal benefactor ; as did the poor Vaudois, when the misery they were suffering was made known to the pub- lic by Gilly's Narrative of an Excur- sion to the Mountains of Piedmont. It would be difficult, perhaps, to point out any important charitable institution in the kindom to which he did not contri- bute, either by donations during his lifetime, or a bequest at his decease. He was a patron of learned men ; and, in addition to his other literary labours, is said to have contributed many valu- able notes to Bowyer's Critical Con- jectures on the New Testament. TOPLADY, (Augustus Monta- gue,) the son of a captain, who died at the siege of Carthagena, was born at Farnham, in Surrey, on the 4th of November, 1740, and educated at West- minster school, and Trinity college, Dublin. After having taken the degree of B.A. he entered into holy orders, and obtained the living of Broad Hembury, in Devonshire, where he composed many able works in support of the Calvinism of the church of England. Finding that the air of Devonshire had a detrimental effect on his constitution, after having, in vain, attempted to ex- change his living for another of equal value in the midland counties, he settled in London, and engaged the cliapei belonging to the French protestants, in Leicester-square, where he preached twice a week, so long as his health would permit; but, for some time be- fore his death, which took place on the 11th of August, 1788, he was capable of officiating only at considerable in- tervals. His works, which appear to be almost exclusively in support of pre- destination, are contained in seven volumes, octavo ; the last of which was posthumously published. It is gene- rally acknowledged, that he possessed extraordinary talent as a preacher, and was, as a writer, one of the most gifted champions of pure Calvinism, in modern times. Althougii reputed, by his dis- ciples, in his lifetime, to be austere in the extreme, and so absorbed in the contemplation of eternity, as to look with contempt, and even displeasure, upon the innocent amusements of society, it appears, from the posthumous volume of his writings, that he regarded the- atrical, and other pubhc amusements, with complacency, and did not scruple to vindicate card-playing. The last act of his life was to publish what he termed his Dying Avowal, in which he contradicted a report, circulated by his antagonists, that he had changed his religious opinions. He was, for some time, editor of the Gospel Maga- zine, in which the most virulent in- vectives that ever were published against John Wesley, who was the spe- cial object of his antipathy, are to be found. TRAVIS, (George, Archdeacon of Chester,) a native of Royton, in Lan- cashire, was born about the year 1740, and completed his education at St. John's college, Cainbridge, where he took the degrees of B. A. and M. A. After having been ordained deacon and priest, he obtained the rectory of Hand- ley and the vicarage of East Ham ; he afterwards became a prebendary of Chester, and, finally, archdeacon of that diocese. In the fifty-second volume of the Gentleman's ^lagazine, he pub- lished several letters (which were after- wards printed separately, and went through two or three editions) in op- position to the statement made by Gibbon, " that tlie three witnesses (see John c. i. V. 7) had been established in our Greek Testaments by the prudence of Erasmus, the honest bigotry of the Complutensian editors, the typographi- cal fraud or error of Robert Stephens, in placing a crotchet, and the strange misapprehension, or deliberate false- hood, of Theodore Beza." A contro- versy ensued, in which Porson and other en)inent writers arrayed them- selves against Travis, whose celebrity appears to have entirely arisen from the zeal which he displayed on this subject. He died on the 24th of February, 1797. CLEAVER, (William, Bishop of St. Asaph,) was born about 1742 ; and, after having acquired the rudiments of learning under the tuition of his father, the Rev. W. Cleaver, who kept a school at Twyford, in Buckingham- shire, he became a demy at Magdalen college, Oxford, where he graduated as B. A. in 1761. He was elected to a APPENDIX. fellowship of Brazen-nose college in 1764; and, during the same year, pro- ceeded to the degree of M. A. In 1768, he became a candidate for the office of Bodleian librarian, which he lost only through the seniority of his rival, the number of their votes being equal. About this period, he became tutor to the future Earl Temple, through whose interest he eventually obtained a mitre ; and, at a later period, he had for his pupil Lord Gren- ville, another distinguished member of the same family. Being about to marry a lady named Asheton, he ex- changed his fellowship for the living of Cottingham, in Northamptonshire ; in possession of which he continued, with- out further preferment, until 1782, when he proceeded to Dublin with Earl Temple, who had been appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, in the capa- city of chaplain. Through the interest of his patron, who was speedily de- prived of the vicegerency, he procured, in 1784, a prebend at St. Peter's, West- minster; in 1785, he was elected prin- cipal of his college ; and, in the next year, he accumulated the degrees of B. D. and D. D. In 1787, his noble pupil, whose political friends were then in power, procured for him the bishopric of Chester; in 1800, he was promoted to that of Bangor; and, six years after, he succeeded Dr. Horsley in the see of St. Asaph, still retaining the headship of his college. He died on the 15th of May, 1815, leaving two children. He is said to have been " a man of stiff and scholastic manners, with little of the knowledge or pliability of the world ;" learned, charitable, and pious ; an enemy to non-residents and evan- gelical preachers, steadfastly upholding the articles, in opposition to Calvinists; a strenuous supporter of the Society for promoting Christian knowledge ; a dis- senter from the Bishop of Lincoln's censure on the damnatory clauses in the Athanasian creed; and a zealous supporter of the doctrine that the sacra- ment of the Lord's supper is a feast upon a sacrifice. He edited the cele- l)rated Grenville Homer; and, besides several sermons and charges, published Directions to the Clergy of the Diocese of Chester, on the choice of Books; Animadversions on Dr. Marsh's Dis- sertation on the Origin of the Three First Gospels ; and an able treatise on Greek metres, entitled, De Rhythmo Graecorum. MILNER, (Joseph,) the son of a poor weaver, was born near Leeds, on the 2nd of January, 1744 ; and, for some time, like his brother. Dean Milner, worked in the loom, both of them being originally destined to follow the trade of their fatlier. Being placed at the grammar-school at Leeds, he soon became so distinguished, " that one of the masters was accustomed to recommend his pupils to apply to Mr. Milner's memory in cases of history and mythology ; observing, that he was more easily consulted than dictionaries or the Pantheon, and quite as much to be relied on." Among the inhabitants of his native village, who used to gaze at him as a wonder, he obtained the soubriquet of The Learned Lad; and his father became so desirous of pro- moting his acquirement of knowledge, that, as he used to relate, he surprised his wife, one Saturday night, by pur- chasing a Greek book for his son Joseph, instead of a joint of meat for the next day's dinner. " It is too true," he would add; " for I could not send home both." The father, unfor- tunately died, when young Milner appears to have stood most in need of his slender assistance ; but, through the exertions of his tutor, the youth ob- tained a situation as chapel clerk at Catherine hall, Cambridge ; whither he proceeded, at the age of eighteen, being still, according to his brother, in ap- pearance a child, so much had his growth been checked by ill-health. He took the degree of B. A. with much honour ; but, feeling that he had little chance of obtaining a fellowship, he became, at first, usher, and after- wards, curate, to the Rev. Mr. Atkin- son, of Thorparch, near Tadcaster. At this time, being, as he states, " worldly- minded and greedy of literary fame," he devoted the whole of his leisure time to the composition of a religious epic poem, entitled, Davideis, whidi he completed after he had been appointed head-master of the grammar-school, at Hull, where he also obtained an im- portant lectureship. He now success- fully exerted himself in providing for some of his poor relatives, particularly THE CliURCH. 513 his aged mother, " who," says Dean Mihier, " must else have died of want." For a period of seventeen years, lie officiated as curate of North Ferriby, of which, after proceeding to the degree of M. A., he, at length, procured the vicarage, and where, it is stated, his evangelical doctrines disgusted the rich, but delighted the poor. A few weeks before his death, which took place on the 15th of November, 1797, he was presented, by the mayor and corpora- tion of Hull, to the vicarage of the Holy Trinity, in that town. Some gentlemen, who had been his scholars, erected a monument to his memory, in which he is justly described as having been " a man of a vigorous under- standing, extensive learning, and un- wearied diligence ; distinguished by primitive purity of sentiment, and holi- ness of life." His works consist of A History of the Church of Christ ; Ser- mons, in two volumes, posthimiously published, with a memoir prefixed by his brother ; Essays on the Influence of the Holy Spirit; and some minor pieces. DAUBENY, (Charles, Archdeacon of Sarum,) was born in 1744, and edu- cated at Winchester school and New college, Oxford. He quitted the uni- versity, after having taken the degree of B. C. L., and entering into holy orders, obtained, in addition to the living of North Bradley, in Wiltshire, a prebendal stall in the cathedral of Salisbury, in 1784; and the archdea- conry of that diocese, in 1804. Five years before his death, which took place on the 10th of July, 1827, the university of Oxford, as a testimony of the services he had rendered the church, conferred upon him the degree of D. C. L. His first and principal production was a Guide to the Church, in two volumes, printed in 1798-9; of which a second edition appeared in 1804, with an ap- pendix, containing an answer to some oljservations on the work by Sir Richard Hill ; in addition to which he published Eight Discourses on the Connexion be- tween the Old and New Tes'.aments, demonstrative of the Doctrine of Atone- ment; A Vindication of the English Church, in reply to John Overton's True Churchman ascertained ; and va- rious sermons, charges, &c. He is also supposed to have been, for some time. one of the chief theological writers in the Anti-Jacobin Review, and to have had some share in the Blagdon contro- versy. He was a man of considerable learning, inflexible honesty, great be- nevolence, and, though occasionally austere, of an amiable disposition. '• It was delightful," observes the author of The Living and The Dead, " to see him come out in his grey reading- gown, and romp with his little grand- children on the lawn, the most noisy and riotous of the party." Among other munificent acts, he expended up- wards of £15,000 in the erection and foundation of alms-houses, &c. at North Bradley. To his almoner he is stated to have given the following general directions as to the relief of distressed objects: — " Ask no questions of an ap- plicant as to whether he goes to church or to chapel ; but if he can look you in the face like an honest man, and say, ' I am in want,' and you have no reason to disbelieve his statement, give, without inquiry, and at once." By Dr. Baines, the catholic bishop, he was, however, termed, though, apparently, without foundation, a bigot and a hypocrite; and by others he has been accused, (with more reason, perhaps, as he was always reluctant to form fresh ac- quaintances,) of having been deficient in courtesy towards the younger clergy in his archdeaconry. His charitable do- nations were, for the most part, judi- cious as they were liberal ; but on many occasions he became the dupe of im- postors. One day, as he himself stated to the author before quoted, a most singular-looking individual, miserably clad, and the very picture of poverty, came to Bradley, and requested to see him. " After a short preface, he told me," continued the archdeacon, " tliat he was a converted Jew. My mind mis- gave me about the man ; but as I felt reluctant to turn him empty away, I entered into conversation with him at some length, and questioned him pretty closely. His answers were so singularly well expressed, and evinced such an intimate acquaintance with Scripture; his account of himself was so plausible, and the change, which gradually took place in his mind, was so extremely natural, and so ingeniously described, that I felt convinced I had done him injustice. I kept him ten days, clothed .514 APPE N DIX. him, and gave him a draught for ten guineas. Forty-eight liours afterwards, I heard of his getting drunk at the Ring of Bells, in the next village, and boasting how gloriously he had gulled old Daubeny !" BENNETT, (William, Bishop of Cloyne,) was born in 1745, near London, and educated at Harrow school and Em- manuel college, Cambridge. Afterhaving taken the degrees of B. A. and M. A., he obtained a fellowship, and became tutor of his college. Among his pupils was the Earl of Westmoreland, who, on being nominated lord-lieutenant of Ire- land, took him to Dublin, in the capa- city of chaplain ; and, in 1790, promoted him to the united bishoprics of Cork and Ross; from which, having previously taken the degrees of B. D. and D. D., he was translated, in 1794, to the see of Cloyne. He married a daughter of the Rev. N. Mapletoft, of Northamptonshire, but died without issue, on the IGth of July, 1820. Although a profound scho- lar, and a man of great abilities, his literary labours appear to have consisted chiefly of communications to the So- ciety of Antiquaries, of which he was a fellow, and of hints to Nichols and Polwhele, for their respective histories of Leicestershire and Cornwall. Dr. Parr, who was his cotemporary at Harrow, after eulogising his pure and correct taste, extensive classical ac- quirements, powers of eloquence as a preacher, brilliancy of conversation, and suavity of manners, &c. thus con- tinues : — " He exhibited a noble proof of his generosity, by refusing to accept the legal and customary profits of his office from a peasantry bending down under the weight of indigence and ex- action. Upon another occasion, blend- ing mercy with justice, he spared a misg\iided father for the sake of a dis- tressed dependent family ; and pro- vided, at the same time, for the in- struction of a large and populous parish, without pushing to extremes his epis- copal rights when invaded, and his episcopal power when defied." SniPLEY,(WiLLrAM Davies, Dean of St. Asaph,) son of Dr. Jonaliian Shipley, bishop of that diocese, was born at Midgham, in Berkshire, on the 5th of October, 1745. He received liis education at Westminster school, Win- chester college, and Christchurch, Ox- ford. He took the degree of B. A. in 1767, and that of M. A. in 1771 ; during which year he was presented, by his father, to the vicarage of Wrexham, in Denbighshire ; and, in 1774, he ob- tained the deanery and chancellorship of St. Asaph. By circulating an obnoxious pamphlet, which had been anonymously published against the Tory ministers, by his brother-in-law. Sir William Jones, entitled. A Dialogue between a Farmer and a Country Gentleman, he exposed himself to a long and vexatious prose- cution for libel ; which, after having been twice brought to trial in Wales, was removed by certiorari to the court of King's Bench, and submitted to an Englishjury, at the Shrewsbury assizes, on the 6th of August, 1784. The verdict delivered was, " Guilty of pub- lishing only ;" which, however, at the suggestion ofcounsel for the prosecution, was afterwards altered to the following terms : — " Guilty of publishing, but whether a libel or not, we do not find." The matter was subsequently brought before the Court of King's Bench, where, through an informality, the whole of the proceedings were quashed. It will not, perhaps, be deemed altogether irrelevant to add, that to this contest may be at- tributed the enactment, by which juries, in cases of libel, were declared to be judges of the law as well as the fact. In the preface to a collection of his father's works, published in 1792, tlie dean advocated the opinions promul- gated in the pamphlet, for the re-publi- cation of which he had been prosecuted. He died on the 7th of June, 1826, leaving four children, by his wife, Penelope, eldest daughter of Ellis Yonge, Esq. By those who knew him, he is described as having been intellectual, independent, and eminently charitable ; eloquent as a preacher ; diligent and acute, yet merci- ful, as a magistrate ; and truly estimable " in the more domestic relations of husband, parent, brother, master, and friend." JACKSON, (Cyril,) Dean of Christ- church, was born at Stamford, in Lin- colnshire, in 1746. At the age of twelve, he was sent to Westminster school ; where, in 1760, he became a king's scholar. Four years afterwards, THE CHURCH. 515 he was elected to Trinity college, Cambridge, and subsequently obtained a studentship at Christchurch, Oxford. In 1768, he took the degree of B. A., and that of M. A. in 1771; during which year, he was appointed sub- preceptor to the young heir-apparent and his next brother. In 1777, he tool< the degree of B. D. ; and, in 1778, be- came preacher at Lincohi's inn, and canon of Christchurcli. In 1781, he proceeded to the degree of D. D. ; and, in 1783, he was declared dean of his college. After acting in tliat capacity for twenty-six years, during wliich period, he refused, on two occasions, to be raised to the episcopal bench, he retired to Felpham, an obscure village in Sussex, where he died, in possession of no preferment, on the 31st day of August, 1819. He was a man of pro- found learning and great abilities, (altliough lie never appeared as an author,) and so high was his reputa- tion for academical discipline, that while he was dean, an unexpected va- cancy, in his college, is said to have been always a subject of eager compe- tition. " 1 have long thought," said Dr. Parr, in 1800, " and often declared, that the highest station in the church would not be more than an adequate reward for Cyril Jackson. Upon petty and dubious questions of criticism, I may not always have the happiness to agree with him ; but I know that, with mag- nanimify enough to refuse two bishop- rics, he has qualities of head and heart to adorn the primacy of all England, and to protect all the substantial in- terests of the English church." By Person, he was greatly admired ; and, soon after his retirement from Clirist- church, the provost of Oriel college described him as one who had drunk largely at the fountain of modern science, as well as of ancient learning ; who never ceased to encourage, to direct, and to assist those around him in every honourable pursuit. The Reverend George Croly states, that he amused himself, after he had given up his deanery, by occasional visits to his old friends in London, or to the prince at Brighton, by whom he was aways received with scarcely less than filial respect, and then returned to his obscure, but amiable and meritorious, life of study, charity, and prayer. The same writer remarks, that for Jackson's refusal of the Irish primacy, although it was idly blazoned forth at the time as an act of more than Roman virtue, the following obvious reasons existed : — " his income was large, his duty light, and his time of life too far advanced to make change easy or dignified." SCOTT, (Thomas,) was born at Wiiigtoft, in Lincolnshire, in 1747. At tlie age of sixteen, he was apprenticed by his father, who was a farmer, to a surgeon at Alford, with whom, how- ever, he remained only two montlis. By dint of close application, he ob- tained a considerable knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages ; and, being ordained by Bishop Green, he, for some time, held the curacies of Weston Underwood, and Ravenstow, Bucks. In 1785, he was appointed chaplain of the Lock chapel; and, in 1801, rector of Aston Sandford, where he died, on the Kith of April, 1821. Newton, the friend of Cowper, is said to have made him a convert to Calvinism ; in defence of which he rendered himself very conspicuous, both as a preacher and a writer. He publislied A Commentary on the Bible ; A Defence of Calvinism; The Force of Truth ; and various other pieces. FISHER, (John, Bishop of Salis- bury,) was born at Hampton, in Mid- dlesex, in 1748, and completed his education at Peterhouse college, Cam- bridge. He took his degree of B. A. in 1770, witli much credit ; and, two years afterwards, he obtained an ap- propriated fellowship at St. John's. After having proceeded to the degree of M. A. in 1773, he became a tutor of his college; and obtained several students of distinction. His first preferment was to the curacy of Hampton, in which he had officiated but for a short time, when the mastership of his college be- coming vacant, he was assailed, by mi- nisters, with entreaties, threats, and promises, to vote in favour of Dr. Beadon ; but a sense of his duty, it is said, induced him to support the rival candidate. Dr. Chevalier. Such con- duct would, it was supposed, have tended to shut him out from prefer- ment: it had, however, a very different effect ; Bishop Hurd being so charmed with his integrity, as to procure him 516 APPENDIX. t!ie appointment of tutor to Prince I'dwaid, afterwards Duke of Kent. In 1780, he proceeded to tlie degree of B. D. and was made one of the royal chaplains in ordinary, and deputy-clerk of the closet. In 'l785, he went to Italy for the benefit of his health ; and, on his return in the following year, the king presented him to a canonry of Windsor. In 1789, he proceeded to the degree of D. D. ; in 1803, he was promoted to the see of Exeter; at the latter end of the same year, he entered upon the important task of tutor to the Princess Charlotte ; and, in 1807, he was translated to the diocese of Salis- bury. He was also chancellor of the order of the Garter, vice-president of the Bible Society, and F. S. A. He died on the 8th of May, 1825, leaving three children, by his wife, Dorothea, only daughter of J. F. Scrivenor, Esq. to whom he was united in 1787. He meddled but little with public affairs, except so far as regarded the claims of the catholics, which he invariably op- posed; "because," as he stated, " their object seemed to be rather the attain- ment of civil power, than religious toleration." His printed productions consist of a few discourses on public occasions, which, it is said, the autho- rity of custom alone induced him to publish. His talents, though not bril- liant, were more than respectable. As a prelate and a tutor, he invariably evinced a laudable anxiety for the proper performance of his duties. He was urbane, vivacious, modest, and eminently benevolent : but the most striking points in his character were his perfect disinterestedness, and the ad- mirable suavity of his temper. Some time before his decease, he declined to renew an episcopal lease, lest, by so doing, he should injure his successor, who is said to have consequently re- alized no less than £30,000. He suc- ceeded, by his mildness, in allaying, to a great extent, the fiery impetuosity of the Princess Charlotte. It is stated, that he earnestly implored her, when- ever she found her passion getting the better of her rtason, to repeat the following lines from Pope; — Tiadi iiic to fee! another's woe, To lii(l(- the iauU I SIC ; 'I liat mercy 1 lo oiIilts shew, '1 hat nuTcy shew to me' On one occasion, it is added, finding her in the act of vehemently scolding a young female domestic, who stood trembling before her, and not daring to quit her presence, he asked the princess, if, previously to giving vent to her wrath, she had remembered his recommendation as to the passage in Pope. " No," replied her royal high- ness ; " I was in too great a passion to recollect that or any thing else." He then repeated the lines himself; and applied them, it is said, so admirably to the occasion, that his young pupil burst into tears ; and spontaneously sending for the offender, who had pre- viously been directed to retire, in the most teeling manner, apologized for her violence. BATHURST, (Henri, Bishop of Norwich,) son of the Right Honourable Bragge Bathurst, was born in 1748, and acquired the rudiments of education at Winchester school, whence he was re- moved, in 1761, to New college, Oxford ; where he took the degree of B. C. L. in 1768, and that of D. C. L. in 1776. His only preferments in the church, prior to his elevation to the bishopric of Norwich, which occurred in 1805, were the vicarage of Cirencester, a benefice in the gift of his family ; a canonry of Christchurch, Oxford ; and a prebend of Durham. He delivered his maiden speech, from the episcopal bench, on the 27th of May, 1808, in support of Lord Grenville's proposed measure in favour of the catholics, for whose emancipation he subsequently l)ecame one of the most fervent advo- cates. He has also evinced the liberality of his political and religious opinions, by his exertions in favour of parlia- mentary reform, and concessions to the dissenters. He is greatly respected for his independence and amiable qualities ; but has no pretensions to eminence, either as an author or an orator. His publications consist of a few sermons, preached on special occasions. By his wit'e, Grace, a niece of Sir Eyre Coote, and daughter of the Dean of Kilfenora, he has several children, by whom he is said to be deservedly beloved. O'BEIIINE, (Thomas Li;wis, Bishop of Meath,) the son of a farmer, and a native of Ireland, was born in THE CHURCH. 517 174S. His parents, who were catholics, after he had obtained the rudiments of learning at the diocesan school of Ardagh, sent him to St. Omer, where he appears to have highly distinguished himself by his application and talents. He had been educated with a view to his entering the Romish priesthood; which, however, on the completion of his academical studies, he not only de- clined to do, but, after publicly re- nouncing tlie religion of his forefathsrs, he took orders in tlie church of England, and entered himself of Trinity college, Cambridge ; where, in due course, he obtained liis divinity degrees. The Rev. George Croly seems to attribute his change of religion to the following cir- cumstance: — While returning home from a visit to some friends in England, he stopped at a village-inn, and ordered a shoulder of mutton, the only meat in the house, to be dressed for his dinner. Before the joint was roasted, two other travellers arrived, who prevailed on the landlady to consent that it should be served up at their own table. " The yoiuig Irishman above stairs," however, on being apprised of the arrangement, vehemently protested that no two tra- vellers on earth should deprive him of his dinner; but, at the same time, de- clared that he should feel happy to have their company. The invitation was ac- cepted ; and, O'Beirne, " then a very handsorne young man, and always a very quick, anecdotical, and intelligent one," so fascinated his guests, that in the course of the evening, which appears to have been jovially passed, they in- quired, " what he meant to do with himself?" He replied, that he was destined for the Irish priesthood; which, however, his companionsprotested would not afford sufficient scope for his abili- ties; and, on their departure, they requested him to call upon them in London, at the same time, avowing themselves to be Charles James Fox and the Duke of Portland. " Such an invitation," adds Croly, " was not likely to be declined : his two distinguished friends kept their promise honourably ; and, in a short period, D'Beirne enjoyed all the advantages of the first society in the empire." By other writers, his conversion to protestantism is attri- buted chiefly to Bishop Hinchcliffe; through whose interest, it is stated, he obtained the college vicarage of Grim- don ; and, in 1776, the appointinent of flag-chaplain to Lord Howe, whoin he accompanied to America ; and in whose vindication from certain charges which were brought forward against him, he published a pamphlet, soon after their leturri to this country, entitled, The Gleam of Comfort. He now became a zealous adherent to the Portland party ; and. after having obtained the vicarage of West Ueeping, he distinguished him- self as a spirited contributor to The Englishman, a paper which appears to liave been the organ of his political connexions. The Duke of Portland rewarded his exertions by appointing him his chaplain, when nominated lord- lieutenant of Ireland; making him his private secretary ; procuring him a royal chaplaincy ; and presenting him, on the last day of his premiership, to two valuable livings in the gift of the crown, which he subsequently resigned, on obtaining, through the duke's interest, the rich benefices of Temple Michael and jMohiil, from the Archbishop of Tuam. He subsequently became chap- lain and private secretary to Earl Fitzwiiliam, during the vicegerency of that nobleman ; by whom, in 1795, he was raised to the see of Ossory, from which his translation to that of Meath took place in 1798. He died on the 15th day of February, 1823, having had a son and two daughters by his wife, who was a niece of the Earl of Moray. As a diocesan, he was much beloved by his clergy ; many of whom were in the habit of travelling a considerable dis- tance to attend his lectures on topics of religious controversy. His first charge is said to have been unrivalled for apostolic doctrine and pastoral sim- plicity. Besides his contributions to The Englishman, he wrote several political pieces, with the signature of A Country Gentleman, which appeared in a work under that title, published by Almon. He also published a pamphlet against tlie proposed commercial regulations in 1785, of whicli he is said to have been " the extinguisher;" The Crucifixion, a poem; An Ode to Lord Northampton ; The Generous Impostor, a comedy; oc- casional tracts, sermons, and charges; and some parts of tiie Probationary Odes and Rolliad. It is stated, to his honour, that he always evinced an amiable spirit 618 APPENDIX. of toleration to the members of that church from which he had seceded ; who, it is added, while they regretted his loss, felt perfectly satisfied of the purity of his motives in renouncing their faith. KING, (Richard,) a native of Bristol, was born about the year 1749. After having taken liis degrees in arts, and obtained a fellowship at New college, Oxford, he was presented to the rectory of Worthin, Salop, and the vicarage of Steeple Morden, Cam- bridireshire ; in possession of which he died, on the 30th of October, 1810. He was married, in 1782, to the daughter of Sir Francis Barnard, a lady distinguished for her literary talents. He was the author of two tracts: — one On the Inspiration of the Holy Scrip- tures; the other, On the Alliance be- tween Church and State ; of Letters from Abraham Plymley to his brother Peter, on the Catholic Question ; and of some pieces on moral and religious subjects, which appeared in periodical publi- cations. HOLMES, (Robert, Dean of Win- chester,) was born in 1749, and edu- cated at Winchester school and New college, Oxford. After having taken his degrees in arts and divinity, he succeeded Dr. Warton as professor of poetry ; and became, successively, rector of Stanton, in Oxfordshire ; canon of Salisbury and Christchurch ; and, in 1804, dean of Winchester. He died on the 12th of November, 1805. The works of Dean Holmes are highly cre- ditable to his industry, learning, and abilities: they consist of a series of discourses preached at the Bampton lecture ; an ode on the installation of the Duke of Portland as chancellor; Alfred, an ode, with six sonnets ; and several sermons and tracts, besides his celebrated collations of the Septuagint manuscripts, which were continued, after his decease, by the Rev. James Parsons. MANSELL, (William Lort, Bishop of Bristol,) was born about the year 1750, and in 1770, became a stu- dent at Trinity college, (.'anibridge, where he took the degree of B. A. in 1774, and that of M. A. in 1777. He was soon afterwards made an assistant-tutor of his college, and had, among other pupils, Spencer Perceval, through whose interest he is said to have obtained, in succession, the rich living of Berwick, in Elmet ; the appointment of university orator; the mastership of his college; the degree of D. D. per literas regias ; and, in 1808, the bishopric of Bristol, in possession of which he died, in 1820. He was lofty and arrogant in his man- ners ; and appears to have been more eminent as a wit than as a divine or a scholar. One day, while an under- graduate, finding, it is said, the following connnencement of a poem on the table of a fellow-student : The sun's perpendicular rays, lllumiued the depths of the sea ; — • he added, The fishes beginning to sweat, Cried, *' D — u it 1 how hot we shall be I " A publican having substituted, as the sign of his house, the portrait of Dr. Watson, for that of Bishop Blaize, Mansell, who is said to have been ex- ceedingly hostile to the liberal senti- ments of the prelate of LlandafF, pro- duced the following epigram on the occasion : Two of a trade could never agree ; No proverb e'er was juster : They've ta'en down iiishop Blaize, d'ye see, And put up Bishop Bluster. At a radical meeting, a celebrated tailor of Cambridge having, in the course of a violent speech against the Tories, thus commenced one of his sentences, " Liberty, gentlemen, is a plant — " Mansell added, " So, gentlemen, is a cabbage!" He wrote a Latin epigram, on Dr. Jowett's improvements on a small strip of land attached to his residence, of which, the following is a translation : A little garden little Jowett made. And feile'd it with a little palisade ; Because this garden made a little talk, He Chang 'd it to a little gravel walk : And if you'd know the taste of little Jowett, This little garden won't a little show it. Porson, who was his cotemporary at Cambridge, despised him, and frequently mimicked, with much drollery, his pompous manner of reading. One day, Jemmy Gordon, a well-known character at Cambridge, petitioned Dr. Mansell THE CHURCH. for the gift of haIf-a-cro\vn. " I will give you wliat you ask," said the bishop, " if you can produce a greater rogue than yourself." Gordon immediately retired, and soon afterwards returned with tlie esquire bedell of the univer- sity, a talented man, but by no means remarkable for moral excellence, to whom he had pretended that the bishop wanted him. Mansell, it is added, cor- roborated Gordon's estimate of the be- dell's character, " by presenting the minor rogue of the two with the half- crown which he had solicited." HAWKER, (Robert,) was born at Exeter, in 1753. Adopting the medical profession, he obtained a surgeon's commission in the marines, which, how- ever, he abandoned in disgust at the practice of flogging; and, entering into holy orders, became, in 1778, curate, and in 1784, vicar, of St. Charles the Martyr, at Plymouth. He pieached and published several sermons on the divinity of Christ, in 1792 ; during which year, the Scotch universities conferred on him the degree of D. D. In 1793, he produced his Evidence of a Plenary Inspiration ; in 1794, Ser- mons on the Divinity and Operations of the Holy Ghost ; in 1795, Misericor- dia; in 1797, The Christian's Pocket Companion, and several sermons ; in 1798, his Youth's Catechism; in ISOl, Specimens of Preaching; in 1802, The Life of W. Coombes ; in 1S05, an edition of his own works, complete in six vo- lumes ; in 1807, The Life and Writings of the Rev. H. Tanner ; in 180S, Two Letters to a Barrister ; in 1810, A Letter to Mr. Hall, in Defence of the Female Penitentiary; in ISlC, An Edition of the Bible, with a Commentary ; and, during the same year, The Poor Man's Commentary on the New Testament. He was one of the most popular evan- gelical divines of his day, and when he preached in the metropolis — as he fre- quently did, during the latter part of his it'e, — "such crowds followed him, that the lives and limbs of his congregation were often in peril." According to a writer in the Baptist Magazine, wljo states that his system of religion might be more aptly termed Antinomianism, than any thing else, " his memory was very tenacious ; and, as he read little besides the Bible, it was amply stored with passages of holy writ. He liad all the requisites of an orator, without turning them to much account; a com- manding figure, striking countenance, most penetrating eye, thorough self- possession, a voice flexible and sonorous, and a tongue voluble to a degree almost unprecedented. Indeed, the great se- cret of his popularity consisted in this faculty of pouring out, at will, copious citations from Scripture, intermingled with a kind of running comment, ex- pressed in a luscious colloquial dialect, almost peculiar to himself; which was very acceptable to the great mass of pro- fessors, who think but little, and re- solve nearly all religion into feeling." " In the cause of religion and charity," observes his biographer in the New Monthly Magazine, for 1827, " he was ever a most zealous advocate ; and, as an author, was well known and duly appreciated, for piety, energy of thought, and purity of intention. In the pulpit, he shewed himself an earnest preacher of the Gospel ; and in society, though, with tlie most gentlemanly demeanour to all classes, he ' contended earnestly for the faith.' Even persons who dif- fered with him on religious matters, admired the man, and appreciated his motives." He died on the 6th of April, 1827. TOMLINE, (George, Bishop of Winchester,) the son of a tradesman, named Pretyman, was born at Bury St. Edmunds, on the 9th of October, 1753. After having made considerable progress as a classical student, under the tuition of his brother, at the gram- mar-school of Ills native place, he was removed, at the age of eighteen, to Pembroke hall, Cambridge. On taking his degree of B. A., in 1772, he was senior wrangler of his year ; and soon afterwards gained the first Smitli's prize, for his proficiency in mathe- matics. He obtained a fellowship, and became a tutor of his college, in 1773 ; proceeded to the degree of M. A. in 1775 ; and filled the honourable oflSce of senior moderator, in 1781. In the fol- lowing year, Pitt, who had been his pupil, on becoming chancellor of the exchequer, appointed him his private secretary. During the same year. Dr. Shipley presented him to the valuable sinecure rectorv of Cowen ; and, in 520 APPENDIX. 1784, he obtained a prebendal stall in St. Peter's, Westminster, on his colla- tion to which he took the degree of D. D. by royal mandate. In 1785, he was elected F. R. S., and preferred to the living of Sudbonrn-cum-Orford, in Suffolk ; and, in 1787, he succeeded Dr. Thurlow in the bishopric of Lincoln, and the deanery of St. Paul's. In 1799, previously to which year be had publislied some charges and sermons, appeared his Elements of Christian Theology; and. in 1811, his Refutation of the Charge of Calvinism against the Church of England. He refused the bishopric of London in 1813, but con- sented, in 1820, to accept that of Win- chester, to which he was accordingly translated. In 1821, he published the first portion of his Life of William Pitt, in two volumes, which were subse- quently increased to three ; and it is understood that he was employed on a completion of the work during the latter period of his life. At the sug- gestion of his wife, a daughter of Thomas Maltby, Esq., of Bucking- hamshire, in 1823, he made a claim, which was allowed, to a Nova Scotia baronetage, which had been conferred by Charles the First on one of his ancestors. He died on the 14th of November, 1827, leaving a daughter and two sons, the eldest of whom de- clined assuming the title which his father had recovered. At the time of his decease, the bishop's personal pro- perty amounted to nearly £200,000 ; and he was also possessed of several farms in Suffolk, which had been be- queathed to him by James Hayes, Esq., and a valuable estate, comprising the entire parish of Riby, in Lincolnshire, with the manor and advowson, which had been left him by a gentleman with whom he had no sort of connexion, on condition that he should assume the name of Tomline, which was that of his benefactor. While private secretary to Pitt, he was satirized, in the Proba- tionary Odes, as a man destitute of all regard for truth ; and after he had been elevated to the episcopal bench, al- though his fortune was immense, he was accused of evincing an undignified love of money, and of so distributing his patronage as chiefly to advance and enrich his own family and connex- ions. The justice of these accusations is, however, even more than doubtful. One of his biographers describes him as having been, in his professional cha- racter, vigilant, impartial, and compas- sionate ; and, in ordinary intercourse, though extremely dignified, conde- scending and kind. The writer adds, that although, to the inferior clergy, there was something unquestionably overawing in his presence, yet it was impossible not to admire the courtli- ness of his manners, and the benevo- lence of his sentiments. In the house of lords he rendered himself con- spicuous, chiefly by opposing conces- sion either to catholics or dissenters. His reatise on Christian Theology is a book of considerable reputation ; but his Life of Pitt, though voluminous, is dull and unsatisfactory. When he had finished the first portion of the latter work, he proposed, in a letter signed " George Winton," that it should be brought out by a celebrated pub- lisher, who, being ignorant that "Win- ton" was the usual signature of the Bishops of Winchester, and feeling in- dignant at the arrogant propositions of one whom he supposed to be a provin- cial tyro in literature, returned, it is said, a contemptuous negative to the offer ; which, however, on account of the active measures which he took to intercept it, on being informed of his error by a friend, to whom he acci- dentally mentioned the circumstance, never reached the hands of his dignified correspondent. BURGESS, (Thomas, Bishop of Salisbury,) was born at Odiham, in Hampshire, in 1754-5, and educated at Winchester college, and New college, Oxford. After graduating as B. A. he became a fellow and tutor of Corpus Ciiristi college, and, subsequently, pro- ceeded to the degrees of M. A., B. D., and D. D. While at the university, he obtained a prize for An Essay on the Study of Anticjuities ; and published A Treatise on the Origin and Forma- tion of the Greek Language. This work obtained the favourable notice of Piishop Barrington, who appointed the author his chaplain, gave him a prebend of Carlisle, and, subsequently, a stall, to which a living was attached, in the cathedral of Durham. In 1803, Ad- dington, then prime minister, who had THE CHURCH. 521 been his cotemporary at Winchester and Oxford, procured his elevation to the see of St. David's, from which he was subsequently translated to that of Salisbury. Besides tlie works already named, he is the author of First Prin- ciples of Christian Knowledge ; Con- spectus Criticarum Observationum in Scriptores Graecos et Latinos ; Remarks on Josephus's Account of Herod's re- building the Temple at Jerusalem ; Elementary Evidence of the Spirit of Christianity ; Considerations on the Abolition of Slavery ; A Discourse in support of the Doctrine of Christ's Divinity ; Practical Christianity, or, Ar- minians and Calvinists reconciled on Scripture Principles ; Initia Paulina ; and some occasional sermons. He has also edited Gravinae Opuscula ; Invitiae Homerica; Burton's Pentalogia ; and the Miscellanea Critica, of Dawes, with a copious appendix. He was married, in 1796, to Miss Bright, of Durham, half sister to the Marchioness of Win- chester. MARSH, (Herbert, Bishop of Peterborough,) was born in London, about 1757, and, in 1776, became a sizar of St. John's college, Cambridge, where he graduated as B. A. with great distinc- tion, obtained several prizes, and was elected to a fellowship. After having proceeded to the degree of M. A. in 1783, he went to Germany, whence he is said to have transmitted important political information to Mr. Pitt ; and, on his return, to have obtained a pen- sion for his services. Resuming his academical pursuits, after having gra- duated in divinity he delivered several series of discourses, as Lady Margaret professor, which were afterwards printed under the title of Lectures on Theology. In 1792, he published An Essay on the Usefulness of Theological Learning to those designed for Holy Orders ; also. The Authenticity of The Books of Moses considered ; and, in 1795, he engaged in a controversy with Arch- deacon Travis, on the subject of the Three Heavenly Witnesses. In 1800, he printed, in two volumes, octavo, A History of the Politics of Great Britain and France, in which he stre- nuously vindicated the conduct pursued by the British government. In 1807, he vacated his fellowship, by marrying the daughter of Professor Michaelis, of Gottingen, whose Introduction to the New Testament he had previously translated and published, with some original explanatory notes. In 1816, he obtained the see of LandafF, (with the deanery of St. Paul's annexed,) from which he was translated, in 1819, to that of Peterborough. His attempts to repress Calvinism in his new diocese, soon rendered him ob- noxious to the evangelical portion of the clergy, and several publications ap- peared on the subject, which was ulti- mately brought before the house of lords, but without any material result. Besides the works already mentioned, he has produced Horse Pelasgicae ; National Religion the foundation of National Education ; A History of the Translations which have been made of the Scriptures ; A Comparative View of the Churches of England and Rome ; Statement of Two Cases tried, — one in the King's Bench, and the other in the Arches Court of Canterbury, on the subject of his anti-Calvinistic ex- amination of candidates for holy orders, and applicants for licences to preach or hold livings in his diocese ; An Inquiry into the consequences of neglecting to give the Prayer-book with the Bible; and several lectures, sermons, speeches, &c. GISBORNE, (Thomas,) was born at Derby, in 1758, and proceeded from Harrow school, in 1776, to St. John's college, Cambridge, where, after having obtained Sir William Browne's gold medal, he graduated as B.A. in 1780, with considerable honour. Shortly after- wards, he was declared senior chan- cellor's medallist ; and, in 1783, became M.A. His only preferments in the church have been to a prebendary of Durham, and the perpetual curacy of Barton-under-Needwood, in Stafford- shire. He married, in 1784, Mary, the daughter of Thomas Babington, Esq. by whom he has a large family. This exemplary divine is the author of three volumes of sermons ; An Inquiry into the Duties of Men in the higher and middle Classes of Society ; An Inquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex; A Familiar Survey of the Christian Re- ligion, and of History, as connected with the Introduction of Clnistianity, 522 APPENDIX. and with its Progress to the present Time ; Poems, Sacred and Moral ; Walks in a Forest ; and the Principles of Moral Philosophy investigated and applied to the Constitution of Civil Society. POTT, (Joseph Holden, Arch- deacon of London,) son of the cele- brated surgeon, Perceval Pott, was born about the year 1758. He published a poem in two cantos, while a scholar at Eton ; whence he was removed, in 177G, to St. John's college, Cambridge, where he produced a volume of odes, elegies, &c. in 1779. He took, the de- gree of B. A. in 1780, and that of M. A. in 1783. Entering into holy orders, he obtained, successively, the rectory of St. Olave, Old Jewry; a prebendal stall in Lincoln cathedral ; the archdeaconry of St. Alban's ; the rectory of Bursted, in Essex ; that of Northall, in Middlesex ; that of St. Martin's-in-the-fields, West- minster ; and the archdeaconry of London. In addition to the works al- ready mentioned, he has published a tragedy, entitled Sulmane ; An Essay on Landscape Painting; Sermons for Fasts and Festivals: Elementary Dis- courses for Young Persons after Con- firmation ; Christian Prudence and Dis- cretion, urged against fantastic and hurtful Schemes of Life : a Concio ad Clerum, on proceeding to the degree of D. D. in 1803; Considerations on the General View of the Christian Co- venant; The Case of the Heathen con- sidered with that of Persons who enjoy the Blessings of the Gospel ; Remarks on two particulars, in A Refutation of Calvinism, by a Friend to the Prin- ciples of that Work ; besides various charges and sermons. KETT, (Henry,) was born at Nor- wicli, in 1761. He commenced his edu- cation at the grammar school of his native city, whence he was removed, in 1777, to Trinity college, Oxford, where, after having taken his degrees of B. A. and M. A., he became tutor and ob- tained a fellowship. In 1790, as Bamp- ton lecturer, he delivered a series of discourses, defending the church of England against the attacks of Gibbon, Priestley, and others. In 1793, he became a candidate for tlie professor- ship of poetry, but lost tlie election by about twenty votes. During the same year took his first degree in divinity. In 1808, he relinquished his college oflRces, although he still continued to reside at the university. In 1814, Bishop Tomline presented him to the perpetual curacy of Hykeham, which, with that of Elsfield, given him by Dr. Chapman, were the only preferments he ever possessed, although it is said, many valuable college benefices fell to his turn while a fellow of Trinity, which, however, he had declined, as they respectively occurred, in favour of his juniors. Towards the close of the year 1823, he married a lady, named White, and retired to the village of Charlton, in Gloucestershire, of which she had previously been a resident. On the 30th of June, 1825, this accomplished scholar and divine was drowned, while bathing near the seat of Sir John Gibbons, of Stanwell, Baronet, with whom he was on a visit. By his will, he devised the bulk of his property, which amounted to about £25,000, after the decease of his wife, to the Radcliffe in- firmary, and other charitable institu- tions. He appears to have commenced his literary career in 1787, during which year, he contributed five numbers to the Olla Podrida. In 1793, he pub- lished a small volume of Juvenile Poems, which, although they were not wholly destitute of merit, the author, shortly afterwards, took great pains to suppress, as they were calculated, in the opinion of his friends, to injure rather than to enhance his literary reputation. In allusion to this circumstance, his fellow collegian, Thomas Warton, wrote the following epigram, the point of which turns upon a nasal peculiarity of Kett: — Our Kett not a poet ! \^ hy, how can you say so ? For if lie's no Oeidj I'm sure he'sa Naso. The subject of our notice also published A History of the Interpretation of Pro- phecy ; Journal of a Tour to the Lakes of Cumberland, printed in Mavor's British Tourist; Elements of General Knowledge, a book of which Johnson said, the tutor would be deficient in his duty, who neglected to put it into the hands of his pupils ; Logic made Easy ; Emily, a moral tale ; a new edi- tion of Headley's Beauties of English Poetry ; and Flowers of Wit, or, A Collection of Bon-Mots, ancient and THE CHURCH. 523 modern. For several years before his death, he is said to have been engaged in a translation of the Greek proverbs, collected by Lubiniis, with notes, which he left in manuscript, unfinished. As a writer, he was neat and elegant ; as a preacher, animated and impressive; and, in his opinions as a divine, particularly hostile to enthusiasm. MAGEE, (William, Archbishop of Dublin,) a native of Ireland, was born in 17G5, and completed his education at Trinity college, Dublin ; where, after having taken the degrees of B. A. and M. A., he was appointed assistant pro- fessor of oriental languages. About the year 1806, he became senior fellow of his college ; and, soon afterwards, professor of mathematics. In 1813, he obtained the deanery of Cork; and, in 1819, the bishopric of Raphoe, from which he was translated, in 1822, to the archi- episcopal see of Dublin. His publica- tions consist of a few sermons and charges ; A Memoir of Thomas Per- ceval, M. D. ; and two volumes of Dis- courses on the Scripture Doctrines of the Atonement and Sacrifice of Christ; in which he attacked unitarianism with such orthodox zeal, learning, and acute- ness, that the work became remarkably popular. His admirers eulogized him as "the uncompromising upholder of Christianity, whether assailed by the unitarian or the papist;" while a large portion of his fellow-countrymen were bitterly upbraiding him for his active hostility to the catholic claims. Ac- cording to a writer in the New Monthly Magazine, he ascended the archiepis- copal throne with a spirit of fierce intolerance ; and his first charge fell upon the inflammable population of Ire- land like a firebrand, — exciting among the catholics the most deplorable heart- burnings. " He thrust himself for- ward," continues the writer, " as the head of the declining Orange party; projected the New Reformation So- ciety; and opposed the burial of a Roman catholic in the church-yard of St. Peter's, Dublin, because some legal punctilio had not been complied with. His ambition was manifest in all he wrote, preached, or said : it was visible, even in the arrogant port with which he bustled along the streets of the me- tropolis; presenting, in most ludicrous combination, the pert coxcomb with the overbearingchurclmnan ; and suggesting to the humorous fancy of an eminent catholic preacher, the happy designa- tion of the ' magpie prelate.' " HOWLEY, (William, Archbishop of Canterbury,) the son of a beneficed clergyman, was born in Hampshire, in or about the year 1765. After having received a preliminary classical education, he was sent to Winchester college; whence, in 1784, he was re- moved to New college, Oxford. He took the degree of B.A. in 1787, or 1788, and soon afterwards succeeded to a fellowship. On the 11th of July, 1791, he became M.A., and subse- quently migrated to Christchurch col- lege, where he acted as private tutor to the I'rince of Orange. He obtained the degree of B. D. on the 29th of January, 1805, and thatofD. D. on the 1st of the following month. In 1809, he succeeded Dr. Hall, in the regius professorship of divinity, which he con- tinued to hold until the year 1813, when, on the death of Dr. Randolph, he was made dean of the chapel-royal, provin- cial dean of Canterbury, and raised to the metropolitan see, from which his translation to that of Canterbury took place in 1828. Archbishop Howley is married, and has several children. His elevation to the bishopric of London has been attributed solely to his known hostility to the catholic claims ; to which, on obtaining a seat in the house of lords, he became a conspicuous op- ponent. He is said to be learned, mo- dest, talented, pious, and munificent. His productions consist of a few visita- tion charges, and occasional sermons. VAN MILDERT,(WiLLiAM,Bishop of Durham.) the son of a merchant of Dutch extraction, was born in London, about the year 1765, and educated at Merchant Tailors' school, and Queen's college, Oxford. He took the degree of B. A. in 1787, and that of M. A. in 1790. Soon after he had been ordained, he became rector of St. Mary- le-Bow ; in which capacity he was sued for non-residence, but claimed exemp- tion from the penalty, because there was no parsonage-house in the rec- tory. A verdict was, however, obtained against him, from the consequences of 521 APPENDIX. which, as many other divines were in a similar predicament, he was relieved by an act of parliament. In 1804, he delivered the Boylean lectures ; which, about two years after, he pub- lished under the title of The Progress of Infidelity. The orthodoxy and learn- ing which he displayed in this produc- tion, procured him the preachership at Lincoln's-inn, a living in Surrey, and the regius professorship at Ox- ford. In 1813, he accumulated the de- grees of B. D. and D. D. ; and, about the same time, obtained a canonry of Christchurch. In the following year, he preached the Bampton lectures, which he publislied in 1815, under the title of An Inquiry into the General Principles of Scripture Interpretation. In 1820, he was promoted to the deanery of St. Paul's ; and, at the same time, raised to the see of Llandaff; from which he was subsequently translated to that of Durham. He is amiable in private life ; a good preacher ; a most orthodox divine ; a profound scliolar ; and an admirer of Lord Liverpool's political principles, although he thought proper to vote for catholic emancipa- tion, when it was brouglit forward as a government measure, by the Welling- ton cabinet. In addition to the works already mentioned, he has published A Sermon on tlie Assassination of Spencer Perceval ; a Charge to the Clergy of Llandaff; and. The Sub- stance of a Speech, delivered in 1825, on the Removal of the Disabilities of the Roman Catholics. MIDDLETON, (Thomas Fan- .siiAW, first Bishop of Calcutta,) was born in the month of January, 1769, at Kedleston, in Derbyshire; of which place his father was rector. At an early age he was placed at Christ's Hos- pital; whence he proceeded, on a school exhibition, to Pembroke Hall, Cam- bridge ; where he took the degrees of B. A. and M. A., in 1792 and 1795, and accumulated those of B. D. and D. D., in 1808. Soon after he had graduated, he became curate of Gainsborough, in Lincolnshire. In the year 1794, he was employed as tutor to the nephews of Bishop Pretyman, by whose patron- age he obtained, in succession, the archdeaconry of Lincoln; the rectory of 'J'ansor, in Northamptonshire; the consolidated rectory of Little and Castle Bytham, wliich he held by dispensation with that of Tansor ; the vicarage of St. Pancras, Middlesex, with the rectory of Puttenham, Herts ; and the archdea- conry of Huntingdon, to which he was preferred in 1812: previously to which year, he had published a periodical paper, called The Country Spectator ; The Blessing and Curse, a thanksgiv- ing ; a visitation sermon ; and a valu- able treatise on the Doctrine of the Greek Article, applied to the Criticism and the Illustration of the New Testa- ment. After failing in a strenuous at- tempt to procure an act of parliament for the erection of a new church, at St. Pancras, he became so active and zealous a member of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, that when government came to a re- solution of establishing episcopacy in India, he was offered the new bishopric of Calcutta, which, at first, he positively declined ; but, in compliance with the urgent entreaties of his friends, at length consented to accept. He was accord- ingly consecrated on the 8th of March, 1814 ; and on the 8th of June, in the same year, having in the interim been elected F. R. S., he embarked for India. In the following month of November, he reached the presidency of Bengal, and immediately began to apply him- self, with extraordinary fervor, to the performance of his arduous and impor- tant duties. In a letter, dated the 21st of December, 1815, addressed to the Bishop of St. David's, he states, that he was then about to proceed on a visitation to Madras, the Malabar coast, and thence to Bombay ; a journev, in the whole, of about five thousand miles. Such a visita- tion, as he remarked, had, perhaps, never been made by a Christian bishop. In 1820, he laid the foundation of a church at Calcutta ; where, also, chiefly through his exertions, a missionary college was soon afterwards erected. His brilliant and laborious career, as a prelate, was terminated bv a fever, on the 8th of July, 1822. In the following De- cember, The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, in order to per- petuate his memory, voted the sum of £0,000, for the establishment of several scholarships, to be designated by liis name, at the Calcutta college ; and, in compliment to his widow (a daughter THE CHURCH. 525 of John Maddison, Esq., of Gains- borough, whom he married in 1787) it was resolved that a copy of the vole should be presented to her on vellum. He is described, apparently with great justice, by one of his biographers, as having been endowed with a masculine understanding ; considerable powers of eloquence ; an ardent and excursive mind ; controlled, however, by the most disciplined and calculating discretion ; great learning, especially in the prose department of Greek literature ; a dis- position so benevolent, that to relieve others he often distressed himself; astonishing zeal for the advancement of Christianity in the east; and such severe ideas of duty, that he knew no medium between right and wrong, falsehood and truth, or exertion and neglect. RICHMOND, (Legh,) was born at Liverpool, on the 29th of January, 1772. He received an injury, during his child- hood, by leaping from a wall, which lamed him for the remainder of his life. After having laid the foundation of a classical education, he proceeded to Trinity college, Cambridge, where a severe illness, produced by intense ap- plication, materially retarded his aca- demical progress. He graduated, by /Egrotat, in 1794, and proceeded to the degree of M. A. in 1797; during which year he married, took deacon's orders, and commenced his pastoral duties as a curate, in the Isle of Wight. He sub- sequently officiated, for some time, at Lock chapel, in the metropolis ; and, in 1805. obtained therectory of Turvey, in Bedfordshire, where he died, on the 8th of May, 1827. Besides a work, entitled, The Fathers of the Church, he wrote a number of narrative pieces, in support of religion, several of which, (including The Dairyman's Daughter, The Young Cottager, The Negro Ser- vant, &c.) after having been printed separately, were collected and pub- lished in one volume, entitled, Annals of the Poor. Some of these simple and unpretending compositions, which procured for their amiable author a large share of public esteem, as well as the friendship of many pious and learned individuals, have been trans- lated into more than twenty foreign languages, and millions of copies of them have been circulated. He preached extemporaneously, and with- out much preparation. " Why," said he, " need I labour, when our simple villagers are far more usefully instructed, in my plain, easy, familiar manner? The only result would be, that I should address them in a style beyond their comprehension." MANT, (Richard, Bishop of Down and Connor,) was born at Southampton, about 1777, and proceeded from Win- chester school to Oriel college, Oxford, in 1793, or the following year. After having graduated as B. A. and obtained a prize, for the best essay on commerce, he was elected to a fellowship; pro- ceeded to the degree of M. A. ; entered into holy orders, and became curate to his father, who was rector of All Souls, at Southampton. In ISll, he was appointed to deliver the Bampton lectures; and, in 1814, in conjunction with D'Oyly, he published D'Oyly and Mant's Quarto Bible, with notes ori- ginal and select. He now became chaplain to the Archbishop of Canter- bury, and vicar of Coggeshail, in Essex. In 1816, he printed the discourses which he had preached at the Bampton lecture, under the title of An Appeal to the Gospel, or an Inquiry into the Jus- tice of the Charge that the Gospel is not preached by the National Clergy. Soon afterwards, he obtained the living of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate ; and, in 1820, the bishopric of Killala and Kilfenora, from which he was translated, in 1822, to that of Down and Connor. Besides the works already mentioned, he has published an edition of the Poetical Works of Joseph Warton, with a Me- moir prefixed ; Puritanism Revived ; The Slave, and other poetical pieces; The Book of Psalms, in a new English metrical Version, with Notes, critical and illustrative; Biographical Notices of the Apostles, &c. ; an edition of the Book of Common Prayer, with ex- tracts from the writings of the most learned divines and commentators ; three volimies of sermons, and a number of discourses, tracts, &c. D'OYLY, (George,) the son of Archdeacon D'Ovlv, was born about 1778; and sent, iii 1796, to Trinity col- lege, Cambridge ; where, on graduating 526 APPENDIX. as B. A. in 1800, he was second wrangler, and, shortly afterwards, obtained the second Smith's prize. After having been elected to a fellowship, he took the degree of M. A. in 1803. In 1807, and the two following years, he filled the office of junior moderator; in 1810, he graduated in divinity; in 1811, he was elected Christian advocate ; and, in tliat capacity, preached two discourses before the university ; the one, On a Particular Providence, and the other. On Modern Unitarianism. These were printed in 1812 ; and about the same period, he published, in two parts, A Letter to Sir WiUiam Drummond, re- lative to his G^dipus Judaicus. In 1814, in conjunction with Dr. Mant, he pro- duced a quarto Bible, with original and select notes and illustrations. In 1816, he resigned the office of Christian ad- vocate on proceeding to the degree of D. D. ; and, in 1820, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to whom he had for some time before, been chaplain, pre- sented him to the valuable rectory of Lambeth. He was subsequently offered, it is said, an Irish bishopric, which, however, he thought proper to decline. Besides the works already named, he has published The Life of Archbishop Sancroft, with an Appendix ; An Essay on the Doctrine of Assurance ; and one volume of sermons. COPLESTONE, (Edward, Bishop of Llandaff,) was born about the year 1780, and finished his education at Oriel college, Oxford, where he ob- tained a prize medal for an English essay on agriculture, and another for a composition in Latin verse. He took the degree of B. A., in 1794, and soon afterwards obtained a fellowsb.ip. In 1797, he proceeded to the degree of M. A. ; and, in 1802, succeeded Dr. Hurdis, as professor of poetry. In 1807, he served the office of proctor; and, in the following year, he proceeded to the degree of B. D. In 1809, he resigned his professorship ; and, in 1813, became provost of his college, rector of Purleigh, in Essex, and D. D., by diploma. In 1828, he was promoted to the deanery of St. Paul's, and, at the same time, raised to the bishopric of Llandaff. Shortly afterwards, he voted in favour of catholic emancipation and the re- peal of the test and corporation acts ; although he had previously, it is said, been decidedly hostile to concession. He has published a few single sermons ; An Inquiry into the Doctrines of Ne- cessity and Predestination ; and Prae- lectiones Academicse Oxonii Habitae. KAYE, (John, Bishop of Lincoln,) tlie son of humble, but respectable parents, was born about 1782. He ap- pears to have graduated with extra- ordinary distinction, in 1804, at Christ college, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of M. A. in 1807 ; and, subsequently, became tutor to the Mar- quess of Bute; who, on coming of age, is said to have presented him with ^20,000 ; one half of which was, how- ever, returned. In 1814, the subject of our notice obtained the mastership of his college, when he took the degree of B. D. ; and, shortly afterwards, that of D. D., by royal mandate. In 1815, he served the university office of vice- chancellor ; and, in the following year, succeeded Bishop Watson in the regius professorship of divinity. On the death of Bishop Mansell, he was raised, through the interest, as it is supposed, of his noble pupil, to the see of Bristol, and subsequently translated to that of Lincoln. He has published a Cuncio ad Clerutn; a sermon on the death of the Princess Charlotte ; and The Eccle- siastical History of the Second and Third Centuries. LLOYD, (Charles, Bishop of Ox- ford,) was born at Downley, Bucks, on the 26th of September, 1784. From Eton, he was sent, in 1803, to Christ- church, Oxford; where, in 1804, he was selected as dean's student, and shortly after became tutor to Mr. Peel. In 1806, he took the degree of B. A. with great distinction ; he then went into Scotland, as tutor to Lord Elgin's children; but soon returned to Oxford, and obtained the post of mathematical lecturer at his college. In 1809, he pro- ceeded to the degree of M. A. ; and, about the same period, took holy orders. In 1819, he was appointed preacher of Lincoln's-inn; and sliortly afterwards, became chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who presented him to the living of Bursted, in Sussex ; which he resigned, in 1822, on being chosen regius professor of divinity. About the THE CHURCH. .527 same period, lie proceeded to the de- gree of D. D. ; and, in 1827, obtained the bishopric of Oxford. Soon after his introduction to the house of peers, he displayed his zeal as a supporter of high protestant principles, during a debate on catholic emancipation, which he most vehemently opposed ; but, in the next session, he spoke and voted in favour of the relief bill. He, conse- quently, brought on himself the bitter reproaches of those who were hostile to the measure, and lost the esteem of his former friends. It has been broadly in- sinuated, that remorse for his apostacy rapidly hurried him to his grave: his death, however, may, with more pro- bability, be ascribed to a severe cold, which he caught, by sitting in a cur- rent of air, while dining with the Royal Academicians, a few days after he liad spoken, what Croly terms, his fatal speech, in the house of lords. His death took place on the 31st of May, 1829. By his wife, a daughter of Colonel Stapleton, he left five children. " In private life," says a writer in The Gentleman's Magazine, " he was one of the most amiable of human beings ; keenly alive to every domestic tie, and every domestic duty ; frank and open- hearted, generous, affectionate, and considerate." He is described, by the same writer, as having been a sound reasoner, an excellent tutor, and one of the firmest defenders of the church of England. He produced an edition of the Greek Testament, printed in small octavo, at the Clarendon press ; and was the author of a paper in the British Critic for October, 1825, en- titled, A View of the Roman CathoUc Doctrines. JAMES, (John Thomas,) Bishop of Calcutta, was born on the 23rd of January, 1786. After having received the rudiments of education under his father, at Rugby grammar school, he was placed on the foundation at the Charter-house. In 1803, he obtained a prize medal, from the Society of Arts, for a drawing of Winchester cathedral ; and, about the same time, evinced a strong inclination for a maritime life, which, liowever, at the earnest entreaty of his mother, he endeavoured to subdue, and turned his attention to the church. In 1804, he was removed to Christchurch, Oxford, where Dean Jackson, soon afterwards, rewarded his application wirii a studentship. After having taken his degrees of B. A. (in 1807) and M. A. (in 1810) he acted as a tutor of his col- lege, until 1813, when, with Sir James Riddell, he made a tour through the north of Europe ; of which, on his return to England, he printed an account ; and, some time afterwards, at the re- quest of his friends, published a set of illustrative sketches, engraved and coloured by himself. In 1816, he visited Italy, and collected materials for his work, entitled. The Italian Schools of Painting, which met with such success, on publication, that, in 1822, he pro- duced another, on The French, Dutch, and German Schools : this he intended to have followed up with descriptions of those of Spain, France, and England ; but the increase of infidelity induced him to devote his attention to the de- fence of Christianity ; and, in 1826, he published the Semi-Sceptic ; or. The Common Sense of Religion considered. Although he took orders soon after his return from Italy, he had hitherto ob- tained no preferment, except the small vicarage of Flitton with Selsoe, in Bed- fordshire ; from which, on the death of Bishop Heber, he was, unexpectedly, raised to the see of Calcutta. Early in 1827, the university of Oxford con- ferred upon him the degree of D. D. by diploma; and, on the 14th of July in that year, he embarked for India; where, like his two excellent prede- cessors, he soon fell a victim to the climate. He persevered in discharging his laborious episcopal functions, even after he had become so deplorably en- feebled by disease, that, being unable to stand, he was under the necessity of preaching on his knees. He died on the 23rd of August, 1827, leaving three children, and a widow, the daughter of F. Reeves, Esq. of East Sheen, in Surrey. He is described as having been mild, agreeable, pious, and bene- volent ; an able preacher, an orthodox divine, and a man of considerable learning, judgment, and taste. RENNELL, (Thomas,) son of Dr. Rennell, Master of the Temple, was born in 1787, and placed, at an early age, on the foundation at Eton, where he obtained the Buchanan prize for a 528 APPENDIX. Greek Sapphic ode, on the propagation of the Gospel in India ; and, in conjunc- tion with three of his fellow-students, published a periodical, in imitation of The Microcosm, entitled, The Minia- ture. He was removed, in his turn, to King's college, Cambridge, in 1806; and, two years afterwards, he obtained Sir William Browne's gold medal, for a Greek ode. He also distinguished him- self, about the same period, by his contributions to the Museum Criticuni. After having graduated, and entered into holy orders, he was appointed as- sistant-preacher to his father, in the Temple. In 1811, he produced Animad- versions on the Unitarian Translation, or improved Version of The New Tes- tament ; and, about the same time, accepted the editorship of The British Critic. In 1816, he was presented to the vicarage of Kensington, and elected Christian advocate at the university of Cambridge. In 1819, he published a work, which passed rapidly through six editions, in answer to Bichat, Morgan, and Lawrence, entitled, Remarks on Scepticism, especially as it is connected with the Subjects of Organization and Life. On account of some observations contained in this production, an at- tempt was made to exclude him from the Royal Society, of which, however, he became a fellow. Soon after the appearance of The Apocryphal New Testament, he printed his Proofs of Inspiration, or the Grounds of Distinc- tion between the New Testament and the Apocryphal Volume. In 1823, the Bishop of Salisbury, to whom he had, for some time, been examining chap- lain, conferred on him the mastership of St. Nicholas's hospital, and collated him to the prebend of South Grant- ham. Shortly afterwards, he published a letter to Henry Brougham, Esq. upon a speech delivered by him at Durham, and upon three of his articles relative to the clergy, in the Edin- burgh Review. His last literary work was an edition, with a preface and notes, of Mimter's Narrative of the Conversion of Count Struensee : soon after the completion of which he be- came alarmingly ill, and died of a de- cline, on the 30th of June, 1824, leaving a widow, the daughter of Jolin Delafield, Esq., of Kensington, whom he had married in the autumn of the preceding year. He was a zealous, yet calm and rational supporter of Chris- tianity ; an eloquent and persuasive preacher; an affectionate relative, and a most sincere friend. He delivered the Warburtonian lectures, at Lincoln's- inn; and, on several occasions, offi- ciated at the university church of St. Mary's. Some time before his death he had proceeded to the degrees of M. A. and B. D. ; and, in addition to the works already mentioned, he published two sermons, — one. On the Value of Human Life under the Gospel, and tlie other, On the LTnambitious Views of the Church of Christ. BENSON, (Christopher,) was born about the year 1788, and com- pleted his education at Trinity college, Cambridge, where he took his degrees of B. A. and M. A. without much dis- tinction, either as a mathematician or a classic; but after having, for some time, officiated as a curate, in his native county, Cumberland, on preach- ing, in his turn, at the university church, he displayed such extraordinary powers as a pulpit orator, that he was imme- diately appointed to the Hulsean pro- fessorship. Some time afterwards, he became a fellow of his college, and obtained a small living in the neigh- bourhood of Cambridge, from which he was removed, by Lord Eldon, on the recommendation of Dr. Rowley, then bishop of London, as a divine eminently qualified for the station, to the valuable and important living of St. Giles's-in-the-fields. A few years afterwards, he became master of the Temple, and a prebendary of Worcester. As a preacher, he enjoys considerable popularity : his voice is full, solemn, and manly ; and his manner earnest, impressive, and somewhat severe ; but his action is neither energetic nor grace- ful. He has published A Theological Inquiry into the Sacrament of Baptism ; The Chronology of our Saviour's Life, or An Inquiry into the true Time of the Birth, Baptism, and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ; two separate volumes of discourses, delivered before the uni- versity of Cambridge, as Hulsean lec- turer ; and a few single sermons. He married, soon after his appointment to the mastership of the Temple, a relative of Mitford, the historian of Greece. THE SENATE. TRUMBULL, (Sir William,) was born about the year 1610. After having studied for some time at Oakingham grammar-school, he removed to St. John's college, Cambridge, which he quitted at an early age, for the purpose of making a continental tour. On his return, he is supposed to have become a member of All Souls college, and is said to have taken the degrees of B. C. L. and D. C. L. He received the honour of knighthood from Charles the Second, and became, successively, judge advo- cate of Tangier, clerk of the signet, clerk of the delivery of the ordnance stores, envoy extraordinary to the court of France, ambassador to the sublime Porte, commissioner of the treasury, a privy-counsellor, and secretary of state. He also acted for some time as gover- nor of the Hudson's Bay and Turkey companies, and sat in several parlia- ments for different places. He was twice married: first, to Elizabeth, the beautiful daughter of Charles Cotterel; and secondly, in his old age, to Judith, daughter of the fourth Earl of Sterling, by whom he had two children. He displayed great zeal in favour of the persecuted protestants on the continent, and is said to have been a man of un- blemished reputation and much ability. To William the Third, he is stated, on one occasion, to have given the following advice: " Do not, sir, send embassies to Italy, but a fleet into the Mediter- ranean, and you will get all you want." The latter part of his life was spent in learned ease, at East Hampstead, in Berkshire, where he died on the 14th of December, 1716. Pope, with whom he lived upon terms of friendship, wrote his epitaph, which is said to contain in twelve lines, almost every topic of en- comium, calculated to excite either love, veneration, or esteem. HUME, (Patrick, Earl of March- mont,) was born on the 13th of Janu- ary, 1641, and educated by, or under the superintendence of, his mother. He became member of parliament for Berwick, in 1665 ; and, two years after- wards, he was thrown into prison for having remonstrated against a tax which had been imposed by the privy-council. On being liberated, after a confinement of thirteen months, he entered into a plot against Charles the Second ; which, being discovered, he was declared a traitor, and his estate was confiscated. Escaping to the continent, he there joined the Duke of Monmouth, whom he soon afterwards accompanied in his fatal expedition to England ; on the disastrous termination of which, after lurking for three weeks in Ayrshire, he contrived to reach Dublin, and thence fled to Holland. He now be- came attached to the party of the Prince of Orange, with whom he came to England in 1688. Soon after the revolution, he recovered his confiscated estate, and the new monarch made him a privy-counsellor, a lord of session, lord high chancellor, and lord high commis- sioner of Scotland ; creating him, also, in 1690, Baron of Polworth ; and, in 1697, Earl of Marchmont. On the accession of Queen Anne, he lost his preferments ; but, as it is stated, none of his activity. Becoming a leader of the Whigs, he rendered himself conspicuous by his violent opposition to the establishment of episcopacy in Scotland, and his bitter hostility to those who were favourable to the restoration of the Stuarts, whom he at once detested and feared. Ac- cording to Lockhart, he received j61104 : 15s : 7rf. for promoting the union with Scotland ; and, it is said, ob- tained a pecuniary reward for support- ing the act of settlement in favour of the Electress Sophia. Soon after the accession of George the First, he be- came high sheriff of Berkshire, and a lord of police. He died in 1724; leaving issue, by his wife, Grisel, a daughter of Sir Thomas Kerr, of Cavers. He is said to have been remarkably handsome, but exceedingly disagreeable as a com- panion, on account of the coarseness of his epithets, and his intolerable passion for making harangues. 530 APPENDIX. CONINGSBY, (Thomas, Earl Co- ningsby,) the son of Humphrey Co- ningsby, of Hampton Court, was born about 1650. He took an active part in public affairs during the reigns of William and Mary, Queen Anne, and George the First. Soon after the revolution, he was raised to the Irish peerage by the title of Lord Coningsby, of Clanbrasil ; in 1704, he became pay- master of the forces ; in or about 1716, George the First conferred on him a British peerage, with remainder to his daughter Margaret and her issue male, the issue of a second marriage, although he had sons living by his first wife; and, in 1719, he obtained the earldom of Coningsby, with the like limitation. He died on the 1st of May, 1729. In politics, he appears to have been a strong Whig; and, it is said, always spoke in a passion. Bishop Atterbury, during a debate on some ministerial bill, having stated that he had foretold its introduction during the preceding session, and was sorry to find he had proved a true prophet, Coningsby re- marked, that he did not know to what prophet the right reverend prelate could be likened, except to the prophet Balaam, who was reproved by his own ass. " As the noble lord," replied Atterbury, " hath discovered a simili- tude in our manners, I am well con- tent to be compared to the prophet Balaam ; but I am at a loss how to make out the other part of the parallel ; I am sure that I have been reproved by nobody but his lordship." MOLESWORTH, (Robert, Vis- count,) the son of an English Round- head, who, after obtaining large grants of land for his services in assisting to reduce Ireland, became an eminent merchant in Dublin, was born in the Irish metropolis, in 1656. He was educated at Trinity college, and, on entering upon his public career, acted witli such zeal against James the Se- cond, that the Irish parliament at- tairtted him, and sequestered his estate. When William was firmly seated on the throne, Molesworth became a privy- counsellor; and, in 1692, was sent out as envoy extraordinary to Denmark. Being forbidden the court on account of his insolent behaviour, he abruptly re- turned to England, and publislied what was deemed so libellous an account of the country he had quitted, that Prince George employed Dr. King to answer it ; and the Danish ambassador en- deavoured to get him punished, but without effect. In 1713, Molesworth, who was an active member, first of the Irish, and afterwards of the British parliament, gave such offence to Queen Anne, by his slanderous reflections upon the clergy and the peers, that his name was struck out of the list of privy-coun- sellors ; but, in the following year, George the First rewarded him for his attachment to the house of Hanover, by making him a privy-counsellor of Ireland, and a commissioner of trade and plantations. In 1716, he was cre- ated an Irish viscount ; and died on the 22nd of May, 1725, leaving several children by his wife, a daughter of the Earl of Bellamont. He was a man of considerable learning, and, besides his Account of Denmark, wrote several tracts on the peerage, the promotion of agriculture, &c. and translated Hotto- man's Franco Gallia. He dedicated a work, written by his daughter, Mrs. Mary Monk, to Princess, afterwards Queen, Caroline, with whom he ap- pears to have been a favourite. He was the friend of Shaftesbury, Locke, Molyneux, and Toland ; and, altliough an avowed sceptic, left £50 towards building a church in Ireland. TALBOT, (Charles, Duke of Shrewsbury,) whose father fell in a duel, occasioned by the discovery of the profligate Duke of Buckingham's licentious intercourse with his countess, was born on the 24th of July, 1660, and had Charles the Second for his god- father. He was brought up a catholic, but, in his twentieth year, the argu- ments of Tillotson converted him to protestantism. Disgusted with the pro- ceedings of James the Second, to whom he was lord-chamberlain, he mortgaged his estates for £40,000, and, repairing to Holland, assisted William of Nassau as well with his purse as his advice. On the accession of that prince to the British throne. Lord Shrewsbury was nominated a privy-counsellor and se- cretary of state, lord-lieutenant of three, and afterwards of five counties, created a marquess and a duke, and invested with the order of the Garter. At this THE SENATE. 531 time his popularity was so great, that William called him The King of Hearts. In 1699, he repaired to the continent for the benefit of his health, which had been much injured by a fall from his horse during a fox chase ; and, while residing at Rome, married an Italian widow of rank, who had previously abjured the catholic faith. He returned to England in 1705, but was coolly re- ceived by his old friends, the Whigs; and, in 1710, joined their political antagonists. In 1712, he resided, as British ambassador, for a short period, at the French court, and, soon after- wards, obtained the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland; in which office he acted with such impartiality, that, while the Tories suspected, the Whigs feared to trust him. At the time of the death of Queen Anne, he was lord treasurer, and displayed so much zeal in behalf of the house of Hanover, as to obtain the decided esteem of George the First; shortly after whose accession, he re- signed his employments, and died, without issue, on the 1st of February, 1717. He was a man of great probity, learning, and judgment. His man- ners were fascinating, and his habits munificent ; but, although addicted to gallantry in the early part of his career, he contrived, it is said, to raise his estate from j£4,000 a year in debt, to £8,000 a year out of debt. It was a sayixig of his, that, " had he a son, he would rather breed him a cobbler than a courtier, and a hangman than a states- man." He is accused of having been constitutionally deficient in personal courage, to such a degree, as to excite the contempt of Queen Mary; who, however, it is added, charmed with his personal graces and elegant demeanour, would certainly have married him had she outlived the king. MONTAGUE, (Charles, Earl of Halifax,) a native of Horton, in North- amptonshire, was born on the 16th of April, 1661, and educated at W^est- minster school, and Trinity college, Cambridge. Some verses, which he wrote on the death of Charles the Second, having attracted the favourable notice of Lord Dorset, that nobleman invited him to London, where, in 16S7, he wrote, in conjunction with Prior, The City Mouse and Country Mouse, a parody on Dryden's Hind and Panther. Having, about the same time, married the Dowager Countess of Manchester, he abandoned an idea which he had pre- viously entertained, of entering into holy orders, and became, by purchase, a clerk of the council. Shortly afterwards, he obtained a seat in the house of com- mons, where he soon rendered him- self conspicuous as a partisan of the Whigs. At an early period of his sena- torial career, while supporting the pro- priety of allowing counsel to persons accused of high treason, after a slight pause, the efifect of embarrassment, in his speech, he exclaimed, " Is it not reasonable to grant a prisoner, arraigned before a solemn tribunal, the privilege of a pleader, when the presence of this assembly can thus disconcert one of its own members ?" He was appointed chancellor of the exchequer, in 1694; first commissioner of the treasury, in 1698; and created a peer in 1700. During his administration, the bank of England was established, and that anticipation of the public revenues commenced which produced the national debt. While Tory influence prevailed, in the reign of Queen Anne, articles of im- peachment were twice presented against him, but without effect, by the house of commons, to which he had given offence, by supporting the proposition for a standing army in the time of peace. He was a zealous advocate for the union with Scotland, and greatly an- noyed the queen by carrying a motion for' summoning the electoral prince of Hanover to parliament, as Duke of Cambridge. On the accession of George the First, he was raised to the earldom of Halifax; made a knight of the Garter; and appointed first com- missioner of the treasury, and auditor of the exchequer. He remained in oflSce until his death, which took place on the 19th of May, 1715. His poems and speeches were published in the course of the same year ; and Dr. Johnson, who included the former in his edition of the British Poets, ob- serves of him, that " it would now be esteemed no honour by a contributor to the monthly bundles of verses, to be told that, in strains either familiar or solemn, he sings like Montague." He aspired to the character of a Mecae- nas, and, though not munificent, was 532 APPENDIX. eulogized by nearly all the poets of his day, except Pope and Swift, the latter of whom spoke of him with ridicule and contempt. By his political antagonists he was accused of having been servile and superficial; while, on the other hand, his admirers contend, that he displayed great independence of mind, combined with solid judgment and ready appre- hension. It is related, that the Earl of Dorset having, in allusion to the share he had had in the production of the still popular parody on The Kind and Panther, introduced him, in the follow- ing terms, to William the Third: "Sire, I have brought a mouse to wait on your majesty ;" the king replied, " You do well to put me in the way of making a man of him ;" and immedi- ately granted him a pension of 56500 per annum! SEYMOUR, (Charles, sixth Duke of Somerset,) commonly called the proud duke, was born on the 12th of August, 1662. He became a knight of the Garter in 1684, and assisted in col- lecting the militia of Somersetshire against the Duke of Monmouth. He was also a lord of the bedchamber, and colonel of the third regiment of dra- goons, both of which posts he lost for refusing to introduce the pope's nuncio to an audience with the king. In 1688, he was elected chancellor of the univer- sity of Cambridge ; and, in the same year, contributed to the success of VVilliam, during whose reign he pre- sided over the privy-council. On Queen Anne's accession, he was appointed master of the horse ; and, in 1708, one of the commissioners for treating of the union. His unexpected appearance at the privy-council, with the Duke of Argyle, when the queen's recovery was despaired of, greatly conduced to the un- interrupted succession of the Hanoverian line. He acted as a guardian of the realm until the arrival of George the First, who appointed him a privy-counsellor, and restored him to the mastership of the horse, from which he had been dis- missed in 1710. On being refused the liberty of bailing his son-in-law. Sir William Wyndham, who was suspected of corresponding with the Pretender, he expressed his indignation so strongly, that the king removed him from all his employments. Some years before his decease, he retired from public affairs, to his seat, at Petworth, in Sussex, where he died on the 2nd of December, 1748, and was succeeded by his eldest son. In person, he was of a graceful, middle stature, wuh a very dark com- plexion. His first wife was the heiress of the house of Northumberland ; his second, a daughter of the Earl of Win- chelsea and Nottingham. The latter having once familiarly touched him on the shoulder with her fan, he turned round, and angrily exclaimed, " My first duchess, madam, was a Percy, and never took such a liijerty !" His chil- dren, according to Noble, obeyed his mandates with profound respect; and the two youngest daughters stood watch, alternately, by his side, whilst he slept after dinner. Awaking suddenly, one day, he found his attendant, who was much fatigued, sitting down ; an act of disrespect (as the duke deemed it) which he punished by leaving her £20,000 less than her sister. In the reign'of Queen Anne, his servants, who obeyed him by signs, wore the same livery as the royal footmen ; and, on some offence being given to him by her majesty, he ordered his domestics to pack up the whole of their dresses, in a cart, and throw them into the court- yard of the palace. One day, at din- ner, he said, sneeringly to the painter Seymour, who was then employed at Petworth, in decorating a room with portraits of race-horses, " Cousin Sey- mour, your health !" " My lord, I really believe that I have the honour of being of your grace's family," was the painter's reply ; which so offended the duke, that he rose from the table, and sent his steward to pay Seymour, and dismiss him. Another artist was then sent for, to complete the portraits, which, however, he modestly declined touching, and, by his advice, the duke asked Seymour to return to his labours ; but the latter proudly replied, '• My lord, I will now prove that I am of your grace's family, for I won't come." The duke's attempts at oratory were marred by a hesitation in his speech. He was honourably tenacious of his principles, and, if his pride, the result, perhaps, of a bad education, exposed him to ridi- cule, it also raised him above all merce- nary views, as a public character. Lord Hardwicke describes him as having THE SENATE. 533 been "so humoursome, proud, and ca- pricious, that he was rather a ministry spoiler, than a ministry maker ;" and, Swift said of him, probably because he was a Whig, that he had not a grain of judgment, and hardly common sense. PAULETT, (Lord William,) youngest son of Charles, first Duke of Bolton, was born in 1C6G, and en- tered parliament, as member for Win- chester, in 1C8S-9. In 1710, he was returned for Lymington, and continued to represent that place during the re- mainder of his life. In 1715, he ob- tained a tellersliip of the exchequer; in possession of which he died, on the 25th of September, 1729. He was twice married : first, to a grand- daughter of the Due Delaforce, and by whom he had two sons and two daughters ; and, secondly, to Lady Annabella Bennet, daugliter of Charles, Earl of Tankerville, by whom, also, he had issue. Walpole, after terming him a great dunce, though often a chairman of committees in the house of commons, relates the following sin- gular, and almost incredible, anecdotes of him: — " Being to read a bill for naturalizing Jemima, Duchess of Kent, he called her Jeremiah, Duchess of Kent." — " Having heard south walls commended for ripening fruit, he shewed all the four sides of his garden for south walls." — " A gentleman de- siring a fine horse that he had, offered him an equivalent. Lord William re- plied, that the horse was at his service, but he did not know what to do with an elephant." — " A pamphlet, called The Snake in the Grass, being reported, probably in joke, to be written by his lordship, a gentleman, abused in it, sent him a challenge. Lord William professed his innocence ; but the gentle- man would not be satisfied without a denial under his hand. He then took a pen, and began, ' This is to scrati/'y, that the buk called the Snak ' — ' Oh, my lord,' said the person, ' I am satis- fied ; your lordship has clearly con • vinced me you did not write the book.'" METHUEN, (Sir Paul,) was born in 1671, and rose to the dignity of lord chancellor of Ireland. While holding that high ofBce, he concluded the famous commercial treaty with Portugal, which bears his name. He also resided, in a diplomatic character, at the court of Savoy ; and, at one time, entertained hopes of being elevated to the English woolsack. He successively became a commissioner of the admiralty, a lord of the treasury, comptroller, and after- wards treasurer, of the household, and a commissioner for investigating the state of the law. He sat, in several par- liaments, for the borough of Brackley. When comptroller of the household he strenuously opposed the bill for revers- ing the attainder of Bolingbroke ; who had, he said, conceived the traitorous design of defeating the protestant suc- cession. In 1733, he resisted the ex- cise scheme, as a measure, which, in his opinion, would invest the crown with greater power than was consistent with the constitution of a free country. He ultimately obtained the insignia of the Bath ; and, after many years spent in retirement, died at the ad- vanced age of eighty-six, on the 11th of April, 1757, leaving a handsome pro- vision, for life, to all his domestic ser- vants. Sir Richard Steele, who dedi- cated to him one of the volumes of the Spectator, eulogizes " the frank enter- tainment at his table, his easy conde- scension in little incidents of mirth, and general complacency of manners." In Macky's Memoirs, "he is described as a man of intrigue, but very muddy in his conceptions, and not quickly understood in any thing ; in his manners, much of a Spaniard ; and in his person, a tall black man. Swift heightens the pic- ture by branding him as a "profligate rogue, without religion or morals ; but cunning enough ; yet without abilities of any kind." From this annotation of the dean, it may be safely concluded, that Methuen was a staunch Whig. SHIPPEN, (William,) was born in 1672, at Stockport, in Cheshire, of which his father was rector. He en- tered parliament in 1707, and became an undisguised advocate of the Stuarts. The court endeavoured to buy him over ; but, although his annual income did not then exceed jE400, he was in- accessible to temptation ; and, by a strict economy, continued to maintain his independence. Of George the First, he declared in the house of com- mons, that " the only infelicity of his ' 534 APPENDIX. majesty's reign was, that he was unac- quainted with our language and con- stitution." All parties in the house wished him to retract these words ; and the Prince of Wales, afterwards George the Second, ofifered him £1,000 to do so, but in vain. He was then sent to the Tower ; but confinement neither changed his politics, nor diminished his resolution. He would often say to the most violent Whigs, both before and after his liberation, " It is neces- sary to restore the Stuarts ;" and when asked how he meant to vote, on any measure of importance, he generally replied, " I cannot tell, until I hear from Rome." He was a private friend, though a stern political opponent, to Walpole ; who, on one occasion, de- tected him, or one of his friends, in a traitorous correspondence with the Pre- tender ; but consented to take no no- tice of the matter, on condition that Shippen should support him, if per- sonally attacked. Shippen acquiesced ; and, in discharge of the obligation, in- stead of voting, as was expected, in favour of the motion brought forward by Sandys, against Walpole, in February, 1741, left the house, with above thirty of his Jacobite friends; and Sandys, partly owing to this unexpected secession, was left in a minority. Shippen, at length, became rich, having obtained a fortune of £70,000 with his wife, the daughter of a Northumberland knight, named Stole. He lived, for many years, in Norfolk-street, Strand, where he de- lighted to gather around him persons of rank, learning, and talent. His con- versation was dignified, but vivacious ; and his oratory impressive, although he spoke rapidly, in a low tone of voice, and usually with his glove before his mouth. Pope says, — 1 love to pour out all myself, as plaiu As honest Shippen, or downright Montaigne. Besides several prose tracts, he pub- lished a poetical pamphlet, in which he satirized the great Whig lords, under the names of the principal Romans who engaged in Cataline's conspiracy. His verses were severe, but not har- monious. He died without issue, in 1743. BRYDGES, (John, Duke of Chan^ dos,) the eldest son of Lord Chandos, was born in 1673. In 1695, he was returned to parliament for Hertford, and bore a considerable share in the inquiry as to the conduct of certain persons, members of parliament, who had received bribes to procure a new charter for the East India Company. Being looked upon as one of the best accountants in the nation, he was se- lected as a commissioner for taking and stating the public accounts. He supported a bill for a new coinage, which greatly improved the currency ; and, in 1707, was appointed one of the council to Prince George of Denmark, then lord high admiral. Soon after- wards, he became paymaster-general of the army, in which station he acted so much to the satisfaction of the public, and in parliament with such zeal for the house of Hanover, that, upon the accession of George the First, he was created Viscount Wilton and Earl of Carnarvon; and, in 1719, Marquess of Carnarvon and Duke of Chandos. He expended £200,000 in building the princely mansion of Canons, in Mid- dlesex, (which was afterwards disposed of piece-meal,) where he lived with a splendour equal to that of royalty. He was a long time not only the governor, but the support of the Royal African Company. A patron of learning and piety, he is said to have doubled the value of a favour by his handsome manner of conferring it. A clergy- man was, one day, viewing the library at Canons, when the duke said, " Pray, sir, fix on any book you like, and it shall be yours." The clergyman chose one, intentionally, of little price ; but, afterwards, finding a bank-note of con- siderable value between the leaves, which had been intentionally placed there by the duke, he returned it, and was presented, as a reward for his honesty, with another of twice the amount. The duke founded a lecture- ship at St. Andrew's, in Scotland, of wliich university he was chancellor. Although addicted to no vicious plea- sures, yet, after having accumulated a fortune of £700,000, he was reduced, by the easiness of his temper, and his unlimited munificence, to a state bordering on indigence. " With all this," says Speaker Onslow, "he had parts of understanding and knowledge, experience of men and business, with THE SENATE. 535 a sedateness of mind, and a gravity of deportment, which more qualified him for a wise man, than what the wisest men have generally been pos- sessed with. He fell from his high estate, pitied and lamented by all who knew him ; for a man of more true goodness of nature, or gentleness of manners, never lived." He died on the 9th of August, 1744, and was buried at Whitchurch. He had been thrice married : first, to a daughter of Sir Thomas Lake; secondly, to a sister of Lord Willoughby ; and lastly, to the rich widow of Sir Thomas Daval. His eldest surviving son, the issue of the first marriage, succeeded to the duke- dom. BATHURST, (Allen, Earl Ba- thurst,) eldest son of Sir Benjamin Bathurst, treasurer of the household to Queen Anne, while Princess of Denmark, was born in St. James's square, on the 16th of November, 1C84, and educated by his uncle, Dean Bathurst, the president of Trinity college, Oxford. Having obtained a seat in parliament for Cirencester, in 1705, he became a conspicuous oppo- nent to Mailborough and the Whigs. In 1711, he was raised, with eleven other commoners, to the peerage, for the purpose of effecting a Tory majo- rity in the house of lords. He op- posed the attainder of Bolingbroke and Ormond, and displayed great political hostility to Walpole. In 1742, he be- came a privy-counsellor ; and, in 1757, was appointed treasurer to the young Prince of Wales, afterwards George the Third, on whose accession, declining all employments, he obtained a pension of j£2,000 a year. He was advanced to the dignity of an earl, in 1772, and passed the evening of his life in retire- ment. He had been the friend of Pope, Swift, Addison, Bolingbroke, and Gay ; and retained, in old age, the vivacity for which he had been distinguished in his prime. About two years before his death, he had a party of friends, to meet his son, Lord Apsley, the chancellor ; on whose departure, about midnight, the earl exclaimed, to his remainmg guests, " Now, my friends, that the old gentleman is gone, I think we may venture to crack another bottle 1" Dr. Cheyne had assured him. fifty years before his death, which took place on the 16ih of December, 1775, that if he did not discontinue drinking port wine, his mortal career would be speedily terminated : he still, however, continued to take at least a bottle per day ; and enjoyed the full possession, as well of his mental as his bodily faculties, up to the advanced age of ninety-one. BARNARD, (Sir John,) was born at Reading, in 1685 ; and, at the age of fifteen, was placed in the counting- house of his father, a member of the society of friends, whose religious tenets young Barnard renounced, four years afterwards, and became a member of the church of England. In or about the year 1721, he was chosen, by a deputation of wine-merchants, to ap- pear before the house of commons, in support of their petition against a measure then pending, which, if car- ried into execution, would have greatly affected their trade. He acquitted him- self, on this occasion, in so masterly a manner, that the citizens of London, in 1722, after a violent contest, re- turned him as one of their members to parliament. He was, generally speaking, hostile to Walpole, whose excise scheme he opposed with great vigour and success. His subsequent attempt to reduce the four to three per cents, exposed him to violent clamours ; which, however, he appears to have utterly disregarded, acting, on all occa- sions, entirely according to the dictates of his conscience. He was knighted in 1732; and, in 1737, became chief magistrate of the city of London, in which capacity he displayed great vigi- lance ; but, though wholesomely severe on proper occasions, tempered justice with mercy. In 1745, with a view to support government, he was the first to sign a declaration, by which the merchants and bankers of London pledged themselves to take bank-notes as cash. Having become father of the city, and acquired a high degree of estimation for his honesty and talent, his fellow-citizens, in 1749, against his inclination, erected a statue of him in the Royal Exchange. He died at Clapham, on the 2yth of August, 1764, leaving a son and two daughters, all aUied by marriage to noble and opulent 536 APPENDIX. families. He was, in every respect, an admirable character. His probity was unimpeacliable ; his demeanour modest yet firm ; his knowledge, notwithstand- ing the meagre education he had re- ceived, extensive; his conduct, in pri- vate life, virtuous, and, in his public capacity, able, upright, and patriotic. As a speaker in the house of commons, he was clear but concise ; without pre- sumption, yet always undaunted. Al- though politically an opponent to, he was, as an individual, the friend of Walpole. An uncompromising sup- porter of parliamentary decorum, he once interrupted the course of his ar- gument, on observing Sir Robert, then in the height of his power, whispering to the speaker, by exclaiming, " Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, I address my- self to you, and not to your chair. I will be heard — I call that gentleman to order !" On another occasion, he in- sisted that Sir Robert, who was reading a roll of paper which he had taken from the table, should lay it down, and attend to the business of the house. One day, Walpole and Barnard, while riding with different parties, it is said, happened to approach so near to each other, that they were separated only by a thick and impervious hedge; Barnard being engaged in discourse with liis friends, one of Walpole's companions inquired " Whose voice is that?" " It is one I shall never for- get," replied Sir Robert : " I have often felt its power." While Lord Granville was in oiBce, if any repre- sentation \vere made to him by the merchants of London, he was accus- tomed, invariably, to ask, " What does Sir .Tolm Barnard say to this? What is his opinion?" Pulteney frequently visited and consulted him ; the first William Pitt often styled him " the great commoner;" and George the Second once offered him the chancellor- ship of the excliequer, which, however, Sir John thought proper to refuse. CRAGGS, (James,) the son of a common barber, who rose to be joint post-master-general, through the in- terest of the Duchess of Marlborough, commenced his education at a French school at Chelsea, and completed it abroad. He was attached to various embassies, and carried the news of Queen Anne's death to the British re- sident at Hanover. Lord Sunderland set him up as a rival to Walpole ; and, it is probable, that, had he lived long enough, if he did not coalesce with, he would have been exceedingly trou- blesome to, that celebrated minister. He succeeded Addison as secretary of state ; and, on several occasions, acted as a lord justice, during the king's visits to Hanover. He became deeply involved in the South Sea bubble, having, with his father, accord- ing to the report of the committee of secresy, held fictitious stock to the amount of i636,000. Pending the par- liamentary inquiry on the subject that ensued, he fell sick of the small-pox; and died, at an early age, in 1720. The Duchess of Marlborough wore mourning on account of his death, which she was absurdly accused of having disgracefully regretted. Craggs appears to have been a man of plea- sure, talent, and great suavity of man- ner. He patronized Pope, who wrote an epitaph to his memory; Gay, to whom he made a present of South Sea stock ; Addison, Warburton, Kneller, and Fenton ; the latter of whom he engaged as a tutor, but treated as a friend, with a view of increasing his classical attainments, which are said to have been very limited. He fre- quently deplored the meanness of his birth, for which he was sometimes sneered at by his noble cotemporaries. On one occasion, he remarked, to the Duke of Buckingham, who had spoken with great severity against ministers, " Let what will be said, your grace knows that business must be carried on ; and the old proverb is true, that ' the pot must boil.' " " Ay," replied the duke ; " and there is, as you know, Mr. Secretary, as old, and as true a proverb, that, ' when the pot boils, the scum floats uppermost.' " WYNDHAM, (Sir William,) a ba- ronet, descended from an ancient fa- mily, was born in 1687, and received his education at Eton, and Christchurch, Oxford. On quitting the university, he went abroad, and soon after his return, was elected a knight of the shire, for his native county, Somerset, which he represented during the re- mainder of his life. He was successively THE 6 F.NATE. sively appointed master of the hart and buck hounds ; secretary at war ; and, in 1713, chancellor of the exchequer. On the accession of George the First, he received his dismissal from office, and thenceforth acted with the oppo- sition. He strenuously defended the impeached lords, in 1714; and, on the breaking out of the rebellion, in the following year, was arrested, as a sus- pected partisan of the Stuarts, by one of the king's messengers, Irotn whom, however, he conirived to escape; but surrendered himself, on a proclama- tion being issued for his apprehension, and was commitied lo ihe Tower. He regained his liberty, at the close of the insurrection, without having been brought to trial, and continued hostile to government up to ihe period of his deaih, which took plnce in 1740. He was twice married : first, to a daughter of the proud Duke of Somer- set, by whom he had a son, who aflei- wards became Earl of Egremont; and, secondly, to the Marquess of Dland- ford's widow. During a consideiable portion of his career, Sir William Wyndham was a staunch Jaeobiie; but he, at length, softened down into a Tory. His abilities and virtues were equally great ; his manners were fasci- nating; his person was liandsome ; and his powers, as an orator, rendered him exceedingly formidable to his political opponents. Pone, with whom he was intimate, thus mentions hitn: — \^'vutlhain, just to freedom and the throne, The master of our passions and his own. BECKFORD, (William.) was born in 1G90, and, after having acquired con- siderable wealth by connnercial pur- suits, obtained a seat in parliament, about 1H6, for the boiough of Shafts- bury. He was afterwards rettn-ned for Middlesex, and, eventually, for the city of London, of which he became, in succession, alderman, sheriff, and, on two occasions, lord-mayor. He was a staunch supporter of Wilkes, and, like his friend Sawbridge, distinguislied himself by advocating all the popular measures brought forward during his senatorial career. He originated a bill for preventingbriberyatelections, which being opposed, in a vehement speech, by Thurlow, then a membc-r of the house of commons, Beckford thus la- conically replied: — "The honourable gentleman, in his learned discourse, first gave us one definition of corrup- tion, — then another, — and, I thought, at one time, he was about to give us a third ; but, pray, does he imagine that tl)ere is a single member of this house who does not know what corruption is ?" Dining his second mayoralty, in 17C9-70, he presented an address to the throne, declaratory of the deep con- cern felt by the citizens of London, at their previous remonstrance against the conduct of his majesty's ministers hav- ing been visited with the royal cen- sure ; to which the king replied, that he shoidd have been wanting to the public, as well as to himself, if, on the occasion in question, he had refrained from expi'essing his dissaii.-faction at their sentiments; and Beckford, in re- joinder, is stated to have delivered, ex- temporaneously, a remarkably forcible aiid eloquent speech. On returning to the city, he was asked what he had said to the king : " he confusedly re- plied," it is said, " that he did not well know ; but repeated something as well as he could recollect;" froin which a gentletnaii, high in his confidence, drew up the celebrated oration which is engraven on the pedestal of his statue in Guildhall. On at'Lending at the palace, about a week afterwards, with a congratulatory address, on the birth of the Princess Elizabeth, the lord cham- berlain informed him, prior to his in- troduction to the royal presence, that it was expected he would never reply to his majesty again. On the 30th of the following month, (June, 1770) this able, fearless, and patriotic man, expired, at his estate in Wiltshire, on which his son afterwards erected the celebrated Fonthill abbey. ONSLOW, (Arthue,) was born in 1691, and sat, as meinber for Guildford, from 1719, until 172C-7, when he was returned for the county of Surrey, which he represented, and also filled the speaker's chair, during that and the four succeeding parliaments. In July, 1728, he became a privy-counsellor; in May, 1729, chancellor to Queen Caroline; and, in 1734, treasurer of the navy. In 1737, he was chosen high steward of Kingston-upon-Thames, and 53a APPENDIX. formed one of the committee appointed to ascertain the merits of an instrument, invented by Harrison, for discovering the longitude at sea. In 1740, on pre- senting the money-bills, by which four millions sterling were granted to carry on the war, after reminding the king of the largeness of the sum, he expressed a hope, that it would, as his majesty's conduct gave the house reason to ex- pect, be wisely applied. In May, 1743, he resigned his office of treasurer of the navy, but continued to act as speaker of the house of commons until 1761, when age and infirmity compelled him wholly to retire from public life. He was rewarded for his long and arduous services, by a grant of £3,000 a-year, during his own life and that of his son, George, afterwards Earl of Onslow. The freedom of the city of London was also presented to him, in a gold box, value £100, " as a grateful testimony of the respectful love and veneration which the citizens enter- tained for his person and distinguished virtue." He died on the 17th of Febru- ary, 1768, and was buried at Thames Ditton, by the side of his wife, Anne, daughter of John Brydges, Esq. of that place. Nearly all the writers of his day, who have mentioned him, concur in attributing to Speaker Onslow, an uniform zeal for the public service, solid abilities, and unimpeachable pro- bity. For his first elevation to the chair of the house of commons, he was indebted, it is said, to the interest of Sir Robert Walpole, who expected to have found in him a pliant political tool. Onflow's integrity, however, soon became so apparent, that, after various hints had proved ineffectual, he received an angry remonstrance against his upright conduct from the minister ; to which he replied, " that, although he considered himself under obligations to Sir Robert, he had a certain feeling about liim, when he occupied the speaker's chair, that prevented him from being of any party whatever." This story is, however, at variance in its preliminary point, with the state- ment of lirowne Willis, who observes oi Onslow, that '' he was elected speaker by as imanimous a concurrence of all tlie members in general, as any of them had been by their constituents in particular ; and as he enjoyed this eminent station a longer time than any of his predecessors, so he executed this most important trust with equal, if not I superior, abilities, to any of those who had gone before him." He was a liberal patron of literature and science; and various works were gratefully dedi- cated to him, by his learned cotempo- raries. For Bowyer, he procured tlie office of printer of the votes; and for Richardson, the author of Pamela, &c., that of printer of the journals of the commons. On one occasion. Sir Charles Hanbury Williams complained to him, that a grievous error had appeared in the report of a speech, in which he had, at great length, and with much severity, censured certain justices for misconduct at an election. " Impos- sible !" exclaimed Onslow; "for I ex- amined the proof sheet myself." "And yet," rejoined Sir Charles, "in the con- clusion you are made to observe, that much more might have been said; whereas, your words must surely have been, much less might have been said." He was, for some time, it is stated, in the habit of seeking relaxation from the cares of office, in the kitchen of a public house, called the Jew's-harp, situate about a quarter of a mile from the top of Portland-place ; where, seated in the chimney-corner, he frequently enjoyed the low jokes of the landlord's humblest customers, until he found, by the un- usual respect with which he was treated, that his rank had been discovered. HERVEY, (John, Lord,) the eldest son of the first Earl of Bristol, who survived him, was born on the 15th of October, 1696. He concluded his scholastic studies at Clare hall, Cam- bridge, where lie obtained the degree of M. A. On the arrival of the Prince of Wales in this country, he was ap- pointed a gentleman of the bedchamber to his royal highness, on whose acces- sion lie was made a privy-counsellor, and, subsequently, bcLame vice- cham- berlain, kee])er of the privy-seal, and a lord justice of the kingdom during one of the king's visits to Hanover. After having, for some time, represented Bury, he was called to the peerage, in 1733, as Baron Hervey of Ickworth, He distinguished himself as an orator in both houses of parliament, and warmly supported the administration THE SENATE. 539 of Walpole, with whose political an- tagonist, Pulteney, who had ridiculed his person, he fought a desperate duel. He suffered so much from epilepsy, that he was compelled to use emetics daily, and to restrict himself to a certain regimen, of which asses' milk formed a part. He painted his face to conceal its ghastly appearance; but, notwith- standing the emaciation of his person, the Princess Caroline fell in love with him, and he obtained the hand of the beautiful Mary Lepell, by whom he had several children. Pope ridiculed him with malignant acrimony, under the appellation of Sporus, and Lord Fanny ; terming him a thing of silk, a mere white curd of asses' milk, and a painted child of dirt. His de- portinent was insinuaiing, and his dis- position sprightly. Redisplayed much skill as a pamphleteer; wrote several pleasing little poems ; and retorted on Pope, with considerable success, in a poetical Epistle from a Nobleman to a Doctor of Divinity. Middleton praised him profusely ; but Coxe attributes to him extreme affectation, bitterness of invective, prodigality and flattery, and great servility to tliose above him. He died on the Sth of August, 1743. SANDYS, (Samuel, Lord Sandys.) whom Smollett calls the motion-maker, born about the year 1697, was de- scended from an honourable, loyal, and learned family in Worcestershire; the county town of which he repre- sented, for a considerable period, in parliament, and distinguished himself by his indefatigable opposition to Wal- pole. He was, successively, a privy- counsellor, chancellor of the exchequer, cofferer of the king's household, warden and chief justice in Eyre south of the Trent, speaker of the house of peers, and first lord of trade and planta- tions. George the Second created him a peer, by the title of Baron Sandys, about the year 1743. He married a daughter of Sir Thomas Tipping, by whom he left several children. His death, which occurred in March, 1770, in the seventy-fourth year of his age was occasioned by the injuries he re- ceived on being overturned in his car- riage, while descending Highgate liill. RUSSELL, (John, Dukeof Bedford,) I was born on the 30th of September, 1710, and became a lord commissioner of the admiralty, and member of the privy-council, in 1744: warden of the New Forest, and lord-lieutenant of the 1 county of Bedford, in 1745; one of the principal secretaries of state, in 1747 ; a governor of the Charter-house, in 1748; kniglit companion of the Garter, in 1749 ; lord-lieutenant of the city of Exeter and county of Devon, in 1751 ; ; governor-general of Ireland, in 1756; ' a lieutenant-general in the army three years afterwards; vice-admiral of Devon- shire, lord high constable, and keeper of the privy-seal, in 1771; minister plenipotentiary to the court of Ver- sailles, in 1762; and president of the council, in 1763. He was also colonel of the first regiment of Devonshire militia ; high steward of the corpora- tion of Huntingdon; recorder of Bed- ford ; an elder brother of the Trinity house; president of the Foundling hos- pital; and, on three occasions, a lord justice of tlie kingdom, during George the Second's visits to Hanover. He died, leaving several cliildren, on the 15th of January, 1771. In one of his most veliement and bitter Philippics, Junius accuses the duke of outraging the royal dignity with peremptory con- ditions, and then condescending to the humility of soliciting an interview with his sovereign ; at which, it is stated, Lord Bute, wlio was present, said that he was determined never to have any connexion with a man who had so basely betrayed him ; — of mixing with jockeys, gamesters, blasphemers, gladi- ators, and buffoons ; of openly avowing, in a court of justice, the sale of a borough, the purchase-money of which, it is added in a note, he was com- pelled to refund ; of being the little tyrant of a little corporation ; and of liaving received private compensation for sacrificing public interests while ambassador to the court of France. "Your friends will ask," continues the anonymous author, " Whither shall this unhappy old man retire? Can he remain in the metropolis, where his life has been so often threatened, and his palace so often attacked? If he return to Wooburn, scorn and mockery await him. He must create a solitude round his estate, if he would avoid the face of reproach and derision. At 540 APPENDIX. Plymouth, his destruction would be more than probable ; at Exeter, inevitable." " In another kingdom, indeed," Junius ironically adds, alluding to the fact of the duke having been governor-general of Ireland, " the blessings of his ad- ministration have been more sensibly felt; his virtues better understood ; or, at worst, they will not, for him alone, forget their hospitality. — As well might Verres have returned to Sicily !" The following are among the notes to the letter, from which the foregoing pas- sages are extracted, and to anotlier, from the same pen, under the signa- ture of Philo-Junius: — " Mr. Heston Humphrey, a country attorney, horse- whipped the duke, with equal justice, severity, and perseverance, on the course at Lichfield. This gave rise to the following story: — When the late king heard that Sir Edward Hawke had given the French a drubbing; his majesty, who had never received that kind of chastisement, was pleased to ask Lord Chesterfield the meaning of the word. ' Sir,' says Lord Chester- field, ' the meaning of the word — but here comes the Duke of Bedford, who is better able to explain it to your ma- jesty than I am.' " — " Within a fort- night after [his son] Lord Tavistock's death, [his duchess] the venerable Gertrude, had a rout at Bedford-house. The good duke (who had only £00,000 a year) ordered an inventory to be taken of his son's wearing apparel, down to his slippers ; sold them all, and put the money in his pocket. The amiable marchioness, shocked at such brutal, unfeeling avarice, gave the value of the clotlu's to the marquis's servant out of her own purse." It is scarcely necessary to hint, that it would be far from just to form an estimate of this nobleman's character, from the stric- tures of an anonymous writer, who displayed the most rancorous hostility towards many, besides the duke, whose political opinions did not agree with his own. ELLLS, (Welhoue, Lord Mendip,) a younger son of a Bishop of Meatli, and nephevv' of a Ilonian catholic pre- late, was born in 17 11. From a king's scholarship, at Weslniinstcr, he was elected, in 1732, to a stu48 APPEN DIX. L supplied with ammunition. In 1795, lie resigned his office ; and, during the same year, obtained the command of the horse-guards blue. At the time of his death, which took place on the 27tli of Decembet, 1S06, lie held, in addi- tion to his military rank and lord- lieutenantcy, the high stewardship of Chichester, and was a fellow of the Royal Society. His wife, Mary, a daughter of the Earl of Aylesbury, died, without issue, in 1796. To Miss Le Clerc, her protegee, he left £2,000 per annum ; to his housekeeper, Mrs. Bennett, his estate at Earl's Court, Kensington; and £10,000 to each of her three illegitimate children. His abilities were above mediocrity, his acquirements extensive, and his motives apparently patriotic. He was a patron of literature and the fine arts, an in- dulgent master, an affectionate relative, and a steadfast friend. His disposition is said to have been benignant, and his deportment elegant and condescending. ROCHE, (Sir Boyle, Baronet,) was born in Ireland about 1736. At an early age he entered the army, which, however, he abandoned in disgust, after having highly distinguishr d him- self at the capture of Havannah ; and, obtaining a seat in the Irish parliament, became so strenuous a supporter of go- vernment, that, in 1782, he was made a baronet ; and, subsequently, master of the ceremonies at Dublin castle. He was married to Mary, eldest daughter of Admiral Sir Thomas Franklin; but died without issue, on the 5tli of June, 1806. No man of his day, it is said, enjoyed more esteem, on account of his perfect urbanity, and amiable qualities in private life, or excited so mucli laughter by the oddities of which he was unconsciously guilty in parliament. Of these, the following are specimens : — He said, one night, during a stormy debate, that it was impossible for a man to be in two places at once, unless he was a bird or a fi.-h! — An opposition member having moved, that, for the purpose of il- lustrating one of his arguments, an enor- mous mass of official documents should be read. Sir Boyle Roche, with the most prolbund and unaffected gravity, proposed that, as the clerk at tiie table would not be able to get through the papers before morning, a dozen or two of the committee-clerks should be called in to his assistance. " The docu- ments may be divided amongst them," continued Sir Boyle; "and as they can all read together, the whole will be disposed of in a quarter of an hour." — His speeches, on important topics, were prepared for him by Mr. Edward Cooke ; and, as his memory was particularly retentive, he seldom committed himself, except when he rose to utter an original remark. One night, being unprepared with a speech, and yet feeling a strong inclination to deliver his sentiments, he retired to a cofTee-house, in order to mould them into the form of an oration. Wliile engaged in this fruitless attempt, he was accosted by Serjeant Stanley, a ministerial member, whose custom it was to rise, towards the close of a dis- cussion, and deliver a long harangue, ingeniously compiled from the speeches of those who had addressed the house before him. For tliis debate, he was, however, in a situation to speak earlier than usual, having, with great labour, produced an original composition ; prior to llie delivery of which, he had stepped into the coffee-house, in order to re- fresh his memory by looking once more through the manuscript. This, unfor- tunately for himself, he happened to drop, on retiring : Sir Boyle snatched it up ; and, after reading it twice or thrice, (so powerful was his memory,) found himself master of the whole. Hastening to the house, he resumed his seat, and delivered the speech witli admirable correctness, to the un- speakable amazement and mortification of the proprietor, who, it appears, had not succeeded in catching the speaker's eye. Meeting Stanley again at the coft'ee-house, in the course of the night. Sir Boyle returned him his manuscript, with many thanks for what he was pleased to term the loan of it ; adding, — " I never was so much at a loss for a speech in my life, nor ever met with one so pat to my purpose ; and since it is not a pin the worse for wear, you may go in and speak it again yourself, as soon as you please." COURTENAY, (John,) a native of Ireland, and the nephew of Lord Bute, was born in 1741 ; and, having entered the army, had risen to the rank of THE SENATE. 549 captain, when the Marquess Townshend, then lord-lieutenant of Ii-eland, appoint- ed him his secretary. He was elected member for Tamworth, in 17S0, 17S4, and 1790; and afterwards represented Appleby. Attaching himself to the old Whigs, he became surveyor of the ord- nance, and secretary to the master- general, when his party took office, in 1783. On the resignation of his friends, he returned to the opposition benches, where he continued until 1806, when he acted as a commissioner of the trea- sury, during the Fox and Grenville ad- ministration. His death took place on the 24th of March, 1816. As an orator, Courtenayamused more frequently than he convinced : his speeches abounded with playful satire; and he often dis- played a glittering but harmless poig- nancy, which almost amounted to wit. Though a staunch Whig, he wrote a laudatory poem on the moral and poli- tical character of Johnson, than whom no man was a more uncompromising Tory. He was also the author of A Series of Poetical Epistles on the Man- ners, Arts, and Poliiics of France and Italy ; of Philosophical Reflections (ad- dressed to Priestley) on the Revolution in France; and of a Poetical and Philo- sopliical Essay on the same subject, dedicated to Edmund Burke. To use a Johnsonian phrase, he was eminent as a talker. Gibbon having, in his com- pany, one day, remarked, that the Beg- gar's Opera had refined the Macheaths of the day, and rendered them polite and gentlemanly, Courtenay observed, that " Gay was certainly the Orpheus of highwaymen." EDEN, (William, Lord Auckland,) third son of Sir Robert Eden, Baronet, was born about the year 1742. From Eton he proceeded to Christchurch, Oxford, in 1763, and took the degree of M. A. in 1768. In the following year he was called to the bar; in 1771, he became auditor and one of the directors of Greenwich hospital ; in 1772, an under secretary of state; in 1774, mem- ber of parliament for the borough of W^oodstock ; in 1776, a lord-commis- sioner of the board of trade and plan- tations ; in 1778, one of tlie commis- sioners appointed to negociate a peace with America; in 1780, chief secretary for Ireland, an Irish privy-counsellor. and a member of the Irish parliament ; in 1783, a privy-counsellor of England, and vice-treasurer of Ireland; in 1784, chairman of the committee appointed to inquire into the illicit practices used in defrauding the revenue ; also, of the select committee to examine the re- ports of the directors of the East India Company; in 1785, a lord of the com- mittee of trade and plantations, and envoy extraordinary to the court of Ver- sailles ; in 1788, ambassador to Spain; in 1789, ambassador to the United Provinces, and an Irish peer, by the style and title of Baron Auckland; in 1793, the representative of Great Britain at the congress of Ant werp, and a British peer, by the title of Baron Auckland, of West Auckland, in the county of Durham ; in 1796, chancellor of the Ma- rischal college of Aberdeen ; and in 1798, postmaster-general. He retired from office in 1801, with a pension of £2,300 per annum, for himself; and another, of £700 per annum, for his wife, Eleanor, daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliott, Baronet, by whom he had several children. His death took place on the 28th of May, 1814. He was a skilful diplomatist; a cor- rect, fluent, and argumentative speaker; and a writer of considerable ability. He published A Concise Account of New Holland ; Principles of Penal Law ; four letters addressed to Lord Carlisle, (in 1779,) On the Spirit of Party, The Cir- cumstances of the War, The Means of Raising Supplies, and The Represen- tation of Ireland respecting a Free Trade; Remarks on the Apparent Cir- cumstances of the War ; Speeches in support of an income tax, and the union with Ireland ; and some other pieces. Among the various measures which he introduced for the considera- tion of parliament, were, bills to au- thorize the punishment by hard labour of offenders liable to transportation ; to amend the laws respecting ti'ans- portation, to enforce attention to the liealth and morals of prisoners, to establish a system of solitary confine- ment for certain crimes, and to erect penitentiaries ; to establish a national bank in Ireland ; to repeal so much of the sixth of George the First, as affected the legislative independence of the sister kingdom; and to prevent adultery, by prohibiting marriage between the guilty parties. Besides his other honours, he 550 APPENDIX. was a doctor of civil law and fellow of the Royal Society. WHITWORTH, (Charles, Earl Whitworth.) the son of a baronet, was born in 1744, and educated at Tun- bridge grammar school ; on quitting which, he obtained a commission in tlie guards, but soon abandoned military for civil pursuits. In 1786, he was sent out as ambassador to Poland, tlien about to be dismembered ; two years after- wards, he proceeded from Warsaw, as envoy extraordinary and minister ple- nipotentiary to Russia; and while there, with a view to give greater dignity to his mission, the object of whicli was a coalition against France, George the Third created him a knight of the Bath. On his return to England, in 1800, he was raised to the Irish peerage, by the title of Baron Whitworth ; and shortly afterwards, he went on an embassy to the court of Denmark, where he suc- ceeded in effecting a temporary adjust- mentof some differences that had arisen, in consequence of the right of search claimed and exercised by British ships. In April, 1801, he married the Dowager Duchess of Dorset; and, in the following year, having previously been sworn a member of the privy-council, he was accredited as plenipotentiary to Paris ; where, after he had been exposed to much annoyance, and even insult, his mission was terminated by the abrupt renewal of hostilities, in May, 1803. When this country was threatened with an invasion, he displayed his spirit and patriotism, by raising and clothing, at his own expense, a corps of six hundred men. In 1813, he became a lord of the bedchamber; in the following year a British peer, and successor to tlie Duke of Richmond, as viceroy of Ireland, where he remained until 1817; having, in the mean time, received one of the twelve civil grand crosses of the Bath, and been raised to an English earldom. He died without issue, on the 13th of May, 1825, at Knowle, in Kent, highly esteemed for his virtues, and honourecl for his abilities. ROSE, (George,) a native of Scot- land, and the son of a non-juring di- vine, was born on the 11th of jfune, 1744. After having acquired the rudi- ments of learning at a private school near Hampstead, he was apprenticed to an apothecary in that neighbour- hood ; but his indentures were soon cancelled, his master, it is said, not being anxious to retain so unwilling a servant. He then went to sea, eitlier as a steward or captain's clerk; and after filling some minor situation at the admiralty, became deputy chamberlain to the tally court of exchequer. Being subsequently employed to arrange the public records, he executed his task in so able a manner, that, in 1767, he was appointed to superintend the completion of the journals of tlie house of lords. In 1784, he became joint secretary to the treasury, and, soon after, obtained a seat in parliament. On the formation of the Addington cabinet, he retired from office; but, on the return of his friend and patron, Pitt, to the direc- tion of public affairs, he was sworn a privy-counsellor ; and, in addition to the treasurership of the navy, obtained, first, the chair of vice-president, and afterwards, thatof president, at the board of trade. He lost his employments on the death of Pitt, but regained them on the downfal of the Grenville ministry, and continued in office up to the time oi' his death, which took place in 1818. He was a staunch supporter of the principles of Pitt; and few men of his day, it is said, addressed the house so often, or upon such a variety of sub- jects, with equal effect. Among his publications, are two fac-simile copies of Doomsday Book ; Joinnals of the House of Lords, in thirty-one volumes, folio; A Brief Examination into the Increase of the Revenues, Commerce, &c.; A Tract on Friendly Societies; Considerations on the Debt due by the c;ivil List; Observations on tlie Poor Laws ; Observations on the Historical Work of the Right Honourable C. J. Fox ; A Letter to Lord Melville, on the Erection of the Naval Arsenal, at Northfleet ; A Speech on the Bidlion Committee ; and A Translation of the History of Poland, not printed. By his wife, a native of Dominica, he had several children, neither of whom, as he declared, ever caused him one hour's pain. In politics, he was an absolute optimist: no gloomy predictions, it has been observed, are to be found in his pamphlets; he appears to have enjoyed all the golden visions arising out of THE SENATE. 551 the hopes of uninterrupted prosperity ; and, at one time, maintained, notwith- standing tlie pressure of the income and otlier taxes, that the people of England actually " reposed on a bed of roses I" HOWARD, (Charles, Duke of Norfolk,) son ofCiiarles Howard, Esq., of Greystock, Cumberland, was born on the 15th of March, 1746, and edu- cated partly at home and partly in France. At the age of thirty-one, when he had been twice married, the duchy of Norfolk devolving on his father, he assumed the titular dis- tinction of Earl Surrey. In 1780, he abjured the Roman catholic religion, in which he had been brought up; and, in the course of the same year, became member of parliament for Carlisle. He was soon afterwards appointed, by his father, deputy earl marshal ; and, on the downfal oi Lord North, to whom he had been particularly hostile, he obtained, from the Rockingham ministry, the iord- lieutenantcy of the west riding of York- shire. He opposed the Shelburne cabi- net, and, on its dissolution, went into office with the Portland party, as a commissioner of the treasury; but was dismissed, witli his friends, in a few months, on the accession to power of the celebrated Pitt. He now began to distinguish iiimself as a strenuous ad- vocate for reform in parliament, and became, successively, a member of The Constitutional Society; of that termed The Friends of the People; and of the Whig Club. In 1784, he was created D. C. L. by the university of Oxord; and, two years after, he succeeded to the titles, hereditary office of earl marshal, and estates of his father. At the trial of Warren Hastings, finding himself in a minority on the first and second charges of the impeachment, he immediately unrobed, and ceased to act as a judge. To the war with revo- lutionized France, he was one of the most determined opponents; and by his general hoitiUly to government, bfcame so ol)noxious to the cabinet, that, in 1798, he was dismissed from his lord-lieuteiiautcy, ostensibly, for having, as chairman of the Whig Club, given out, among other toasts that had been set down by the committee for him to propose, the Majesty of the People. On the death of tiie Duke of Richmond, in 1806, the Whigs being then in office, he was complimented with the vacant lord-lieutenantcy of Sussex, and imme- diately afterwards appointed himself colonel of the militia of that county. During a debate on the second reading of the property-tax bill, in May, 1815, he dissented from the opinions of those with whom he had been accustomed to act, declaring that so far from consider- ing the impost then under consideration as unequal, vexatious, and oppressive, (which Earl Grey had declared it to be) he thought it the most fair and equitable that had ever been devised. He also, on this occasion, in opposition to his party, fully agreed with ministers in the necessity of making preparations for war. This was almost the last act of his public life ; for he soon after- wards began to decline, and died, with- out ibsue, on the I6tli of December, in the same year. For some time before his death, he had been president of tlie Society of Arts. His characterwas made up of inconsistencies and contrad ctions. Avowedly an advocate for reform in par- liament, he was, practically, a supporter of borough mongering. In divorce cases, he was particularly solicitous to obtain "suitable provisions for the frail and unhappy females;" yet, according to Ills biographer in the Annual Obituary, " of tliose who called themselves his children, some were entirely forgotten, while others were scantily provided for; more especially one, whom he admitted to his house and treated with a degree of kindness, that gave a right to expec- tation." He was, however, sufficiently liberal, it is said, to make provisions for several of his cast-off mistresses; to some of whom he occasionally delivered a gratuitous lecture on morals. Gilray caricatured him as Silenus ; and it was jocosely said of him, that he thought proper to be depicted as Solomon, in the picture of Queen Sheba feasting at Jeru- salem, on the window of his baronial hall, because he had as many concubines as that monarch. He expended immense sums in the re-edification of Arundel castle : his plate was magnificent, his banquets princely, his servants splen- didly appointed, and his mode of living in the country pompous and stately ; yet he prided himself on possessing so much shrewdness as not to be overreached 552 APPENDIX. in the most trifling transaction. He frequently dined, when in town, on a chop at The Shakespeare, where, from his convivial qualities and unostenta- tious deportment, he acquired the name of The Social Duke. He was so careless, and even slovenly, in his dress, that, on one occasion, he created "a buzz of wonder" in the house of lords by ap- pearing in a new coat ; on another, while sitting in the front row of a box at the theatre, he was supposed to be a place-keeper, and threatened with an ignominious expulsion for not retiring at the end of the first act; and, on a third, being at the cock-pit, the com- pany, for some time, tacitly declined betting with a man of his appearance, until, at length, it is said, a smart young fellow, slapping him on the shoulder, exclaimed, " Come, my honest butcher, I'll take your offer!" In some in- stances, he acted most nobly to those who reposed confidence in him ; and was constant, in others, to such of his friends as happened to be plunged into adversity ; but, on the other hand, in the final disposition of his properly, he is said to have entirely forgotten " one gentleman with whom he formed an acquaintance in early life ; in whom he was accustomed to delight in his social and unreserved moments ; with whom he kept up a regular uninter- rupted friendship, and whom he saw and detained for hours with him on his death-bed." The same writer states that he was entitled to great, but not to uniform praise, as a patron ; having " actually impounded the translation of Plato, (by Taylor,) and conducted himself in a way that Tonson would have disdained, and Curl himself would scarcely have practised." He zealously upheld the liberty of the press, and warmly encouraged the caricaturists, whose satirical sketches against the Tories were sent to him regularly as they appeared, by Holland, the print- seller, of whom he was a liberal sup- porter, until finding, one day, a graphic squib on his dismissal from the lord- lieutenantcy of the West Riding in Hol- land's shop, he deliberately rolled it up, put it into his capacious pocket, ejacu- lated " So, Mr. Holland! — " and then, according to Henry Angelo, " turned his back upon his astounded print- mercliant and proteg6 for ever." When young, he is described as having been of a particularly spare habit of body ; but, in the decline of life, " his figure," says the last-mentioned amusing writer, " as seen behind, might be likened to a square, elongated to a short pro- portioned oblong." It would be unjusi to his memory to omit stating that, on succeeding to the dukedom, he directed that certain stipends, which a number of Roman catholics had been accustomed to receive from his predecessor, should be continued to them for life ; and that he was one of the most zealous advo- cates, in the upper house, for the abo- lition of the slave trade. GRANT, (Charles,) was born in Scotland, in 174G, a few hours previ- ously to the death of his father, who fell at the battle of CuUoden. After having received a good education at Elgin, he was sent to India in a mili- tary capacity, which, however, he soon abandoned for a civil employment at Bengal, where he married a young lady, named Frazer. In 1773, he became secretary to the board of trade at that place ; and, after having filled various other situations in the company's ser- vice, he returned to England, and was elected, in 1794, a member of the board of East India directors; of which he was chosen deputy-chairman, in 1804, and president in the following year. He represented the county of Inverness in three successive parliaments ; and highly distinguished himself as a mem- ber of the house of commons, by his profound knowledge of East Indian affairs. As a writer, he rendered him- self conspicuous by a letter addressed to the board of which he was a mem- ber, reconmiending the propagation of Christianity, by means of missionaries, in the east; and by his valuable tract, entitled. Observations on the State of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain, which the house of com- mons caused to be printed, for the use of its members. He contributed greatly, by his munificence, and personal exer- tions, to the diffusion of the Gospel among the inhabitants of India; and joined Mr. Wilberfbrce, with whose religious opinions he seems to have agreed, in some speculation, which proved unsuccessful, relative to the set- tlement at Sierra Leone. He was a THE SENATE. 553 member of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge ; a vice-president of the Bible Society; and one of the commissioners appointed to superintend the building of new churches. Sir Philip Francis, his opponent in political opinions, declared, in the house of com- mons, that there could not be a more competent witness on East Indian af- fairs, nor any human evidence less to be suspected ; and the Rev. Daniel Wilson, in his funeral sermon, ascribed to him, apparently with justice, "those qualities which are generally under- stood to constitute greatness of charac- ter." He died on the 31st of October, 1823, leaving two sons, Charles and Robert, who have each acquired dis- tinction in parliament. FITZPATRICK, (Richard,) se- cond son of the Earl of Upper Ossory, was born on the 30th of January, 1747. Entering the army, he rose to the rank of general, and acquired some distinc- tion as a military man, during the early part of the American war. He went into parliament, in 1780, as member for Tavistock ; and, subsequently, repre- sented the county of Bedford. He pro- ceeded to Ireland in 1782, as secretary to the Duke of Portland, then lord- lieutenant ; and, in the following year, obtained the office of secretary of war, which, however, he soon resigned ; but held it again during the administration of Fox and Lord Grenville. At the time of his death, which took place on the 25th of April, 1813, he was a general in the army, colonel of the forty-seventh regiment, and a privy-counsellor. A modest epitaph, in verse, written by himself, is inscribed on his monument, in the church-yard of Sunning Hill, where he was buried. He appears to have been possessed of such talents, as might, combined with more energy, have raised him to greater distinction. When Fox and Sheridan spoke after him, on the celebrated motion respecting Lafayette, Dundas, his political oppo- nent, observed, that " the gallant gene- ral's friends had only impaired the im- pression made by his speech." He is said to have been a handsome man, and one of the prince's circle, which, it is added, he adorned by his wit and courtly manners. He wrote various poetical trifles ; the best of which, was. perhaps, his inscription on the Temple of Friendship, at St. Anne's hill. A constant associate of Fox, he im- paired his fortune by gambling; and pre- maturely injured his health, to such an extent, by dissipation, that, according to Croly, for some years before his death, he could scarcely be said to live. WENTW^ORTH, (William. Earl Fitzwilliam,) was born on the 30th of May, 1748, and educated at Eton and King's college, Cambridge. He com- menced his parliamentary career, as a determined opponent to the American war ; and, by various harassing mo- tions, it is said, contributed, in some measure, to the downfal of Lord North. To the administration of his uncle, the Marquess of Rockingham, which suc- ceeded, he gave his most cordial sup- port ; and, on the death of that noble- man, severely animadverted on the conduct of Lord Shelburne, whom he accused of having produced the schism which then took place among the Whigs. Adhering to the principles of Fox, he advocated that statesman's celebrated India bill, witli such zeal, that it is said, he lost much of the influence which he had previously enjoyed in the county of York. On the breaking out of the French revolution, he seceded, with other alarmists, from his party ; and was consequently made president of the council, in 1794, and lord-lieutenant of Ireland in the following year; but his recal speedily ensued. He shortly af- terwards published two letters on the subject, in which he spoke of Mr. Beresford, whom lie had dismissed from all his employments, but who had already been reinstated, in such terms as, it was feared, would have led to a duel. Although now unconnected with government, he continued to support the war with France; and, in 1798-9, obtained the lord-lieutenantcy of the West Riding of Yorksln're ; from which he was dismissed, in 1819, for having attended a meeting, held at York, to petition that an inquiry should be made as to the conduct of the Man- chester magistrates. He had previously been created D. C. L. by the university of Oxford, and filled the office of lord president of the council, for the second time, during the brief ascendancy of the Whigs, in 1806. The character of 554 APPENDIX. this nobleman is deservedly admired : his public spirit, and the liberality of his opinions, are equalled by the virtues of his private life. An advocate for catholic emancipation, an indulgent landlord, and an enemy to all kinds of oppression or corrupt practices, he be- came so popular while lord-lieutenant of Ireland, that the day of his de- parture is said to have been one of general sorrow in that kingdom. He appears from his youth to have been distinguished for active benevolence ; his sjhoolfellow. Lord Carlisle, having thus eulogized him, while a student at Eton : — Who aids the old, who soothes the mother's cry ? Who wipes the tear from off the virgin 's eye ? Who feeds the hungry? \^'ho assists the lame? All, all re-echo with Fitzwilliam's name. He is particularly attached to the sports of the field, but evinces a laudable anxiety to do no injury to the farmer while pursuing his favourite pastime. On one occasion, he presented a bank- note for jglOO to one of his tenants, whose young wheat had been appa- rently injured, by his hounds and their followers. Some time afterwards, the tenant called upon him for the purpose of stating, that, as the ground, which had been trodden by the horses and dogs would evidently yield a better crop than his other land, he wished to return the money with which he had been presented by the earl; who, how- ever, it is said, not only refused to accept it, but insisted on giving the farmer another note of a similar amount, as a reward for his honesty. He was married, in 1770, to Lady Charlotte Ponsonby, daughter of the Earl of Besborough, by whom he has one son. HOWARD, (Frederick, Earl of Carlisle,) eldest son of Henry, the fourth earl, by his second wife, Lsabella, daughter of the fourth Lord Byron, was born in 1748, and educated at Eton, and King's college, Cambridge. On quitting the university, he proceeded to make the grand tour; and, while at Turin, in 176.3, was investetl with the insignia of the Thistle. He took his seat in the house of peers, in 17C9, and, soon afterwards, married one of the daughters of the Marquess of Stafford. In 1777, he was appointed treasurer of the king's household, and a member of the privy-council. In 1778, he was despatched to America, with Governor Johnson and Mr. Eden, for the purpose of endeavouring to effect a pacification between Great Britain and the revolted colonies. The mission proved unsuc- cessful, and Lord Carlisle soon returned to England. In 1780, he obtained the vicegerency of Ireland, of which he was deprived, on the sudden dissolution of the Rockingham cabinet, in 1782. He then joined the coalition headed by Fox and Lord North, with whom he appears to have subsequently held office, as steward of the household and lord privy seal. On the downfal of his party, he returned to the ranks of op- position, in which he continued until the commencement of the French revo- lution, when he became an alarmist, and gave his support to ministers; for which, in 1793, he was rewarded with the insignia of the Garter. His leisure hours, fiom this period, were apparently devoted to literature ; but he continued to take a prominent part in politics during the remainder of his life, which closed on the 4th of September, 1825. The Asylum, and The Foundling Hos- pital for Wit, contain many of his juve- nile compositions ; besides which, he published in 1773, a quarto volume of original pieces and translations, includ- ing a version of Dante's Ugolino ; in 1794, A Letter to Lord Fitzwihiam ; in 1798, Unite, or Fall, a tract; and, in 1801, an elegant edition of his works, including his two tragedies, entitled. The Stepmother, and The Father's Re- venge. Dr. Johnson observes of the latter, in a communication to Mrs. Chapone, " Of the sentiments, I re- member not one that I wished omitted. In the imagery, I cannot forbear to dis- tinguish the comparison of joy suc- ceeding grief, to light rushing on the eye accustomed to darkness. It seems to have all that can be desired to make it please. It is new, just, and delightful." Lord Byron, his nephew, whom the earl had bitterly ofTended, notices him, as a tragic writer, in the following terms: — So dull in youth, so drivelling in age. His scenes alone might damn our sinking stage ; Hut managers, for once, cried, ** Hold! Enough I" Nor drugged their audience with the tragic stuff. When young, the Earl of Carlisle was remarkable for the courteous gaiety of THE SENATE. 555 his manners: and, at one time, he is de- scribed as having been the best dressed man about town, with the exception of Fox. GORDON, (Lord George,) third son of the Duke of Gordon, was born on the 19th of December, 1750. At an early age he entered the navy, wliich he quitted during the American war, in consequence of an altercation with the Earl of Sandwich relative to promotion. Obtaining a seat in parlia- ment for the borough of Ludgershall, he soon signalized himself by attacking, with great freedom and some wit, all classes of politicians; in consequence of which, it became a common saying that there were three parties in the house; namely, — ministers, the oppo- sition, and Lord George Gordon. Being avowedly hostile to the catholics, he was placed at the head of The Pro- testant Association ; and, in his zeal for the established religion, he encouraged the cry of '' No Popery !" ac some large meetings of the lower orders, over which he presided. At length, in 17S0, during a discussion on a bill which had been introduced for the relief of Roman catholics from certain penalties and disaljilities, he marched in procession, with an immense mob, to the house of commons, for the purpose of presenting a petition against the proposed measure. Terrific riots ensued ; during wliich, prisons were broken open, and the catholic chapels in the metropolis, as well as various dwelling-houses, were destroyed. The rabble, at length, en- deavoured to effect an entrance into the house of commons ; and had their attempt been successful. Lord George Gordon would, perhaps, have fallen a victim to the indignation of the mem- bers ; many of them having protested that, on the appearance of a single rioter within the doors, they would instantly put him to death. For the share he had taken in these excesses, which were with great difficulty s\ippressed, he was committed to the Tower, and brought to trial, in the court of Kings's Bench, early in 1781; when, chiefly through the powerful eloquence of Erskine, he obtained an acquittal, on the ground that his motives had not been treason- able or malicious. In 1786, he exposed himself to excommunication by refusing to give his testimony in an ecclesiastical suit; and two years after, he was con- victed of having published libels on the Queen of France, the French am- bassador, and the criminal judicature of England. He now retired to Holland, in order to evade capture, but was sent back to Harwich, whence he proceeded to Liverpool, where he was appre- hended while suffering under the initia- tory rites of Judaism, to which he had become a proselyte. On being committed to Newgate, he presented a petition to the National Assembly ; in consequence of which, he was visited by several eminent revolutionists, and strong in- terest was exerted, but without effect, to procure his liberation. After having undergone his sentence of three years imprisonment for the libels already mentioned, and two more for another on the Empress of Russia, being in- capable of obtaining the necessary se- curities for his future good behaviour, he died in Newgate, of a delirious fever, on the 1st of November, 1793. During his confinement, he addressed several letters to the printer of the Public Advertiser ; generously relieved the wants of his fellow-prisoners; and amused himself by studying ancient and modern history. His person was spare, his complexion pale, his deport- ment courtly, and his conversation in- teresting. His last moments are said to have been embittered by the know- ledge that he could not be buried among tha Jews. HARE, (James,) " the Hare with many Friends," as the Duchess of Gordon termed him, in consequence of his being so universal a favourite, was the grandson of Bishop Hare, and the son of an apothecary at Winchester. At Eton, he laid the foundation of a lasting friendship with Fox, whom he is said to have assisted in his school exercises ; and while at Oxford, dis- played such extraordinary abilities, that Fox said, when complimented on his own maiden speech in parliament, " Wait till you hear Hare." When, however, the supposed phenomenon made his first essay as an orator, the expectation of iiis friends was com- pletely disappointed. Notwithstanding his failure, being a wit and a scholar, he continued, through life, to be the 5o6 APPENDIX. favorite associate of the convivial leaders of liis party. By the prince, he appears to have been greatly admired for his social pleasantry, which, although fre- quently indulged at the expense of his friends, is said to have been more plaj'- ful than poignant. After having repre- sented Knaresborough for a consider- able time, he died on the 17th of March, 1804. Like mo%t conversational wits, ills recorded bon 7nots injure, rather than enhance, his traditionary reputation. Of these the following are specimens: — Being told that Fox, whose complexion was particularly dark, had become a suitor to " the pale Miss Pulteney," daughter of the Countess of Bath, Hare observed, that, if they married, they would certainly have a family of duns. — Having asked Fitz- patrick if he had heard of Burgoyne's defeat, and being answered in the ne- gative, he said, " Then take it from me as a flying rumour." Just after the dismissal of the coalition. Fox having begged to be excused, on account of haste, for appearing en dishabille at the prince's table, Hare exclaimed, " Make no cpology : our great guns are dis- charged, and now we may all do with- out powder." These puns, and two or three others equally bad, are all that have been preserved of " those flashes of merriment" by which Hare, while in the company of such men as Fox, Erskine, and Sheridan, was ''wont to set the table in a roar." ELLIOTT, (Sir Gilbert, Baronet, Eari of Minto,) was born in 1751, and, after having taken a degree at Chri^t- church, Oxford, became a student at law, and was called to the bar; but, on suc- ceeding to the title and estates of his fatlier, in 1777, he abandoned the pro- fession, and obtained a seat in the house of commons; where he so distinguished himself by his talent and application to public business, that, on the death of Cornewall, he was proposed as speaker, but without success, in opposition to Grenville. In 1793, he was sent out as one of the commissioners to make ar- rangements for securing to England the possession of Toulon, which had then been recently captured. Two years afterwards, he was nominated viceroy of Corsica; the evacuation of wliich, he conducted with such ability, that, in 1797, the king created him Lord Minto, of the County of Roxburgh. In 1799, he was despatched as envoy-extraordinary and minister-plenipotentiary to the court of Vienna, where he remained until 1801. Inl806, he became president of the board of control ; and, in the fol- lowing year, governor-general of Bengal, in wliich capacity he so distinguished himself, particularly by his well-con- certed expeditions against the isles of France and Bourbon, in 1810, and against Java, in 1811. that he received the thanks of both houses of parlia- ment, and, in 1813, obtained tiie titles of Viscount Melgund and Earl Minto. He returned to this country in May, 1814, apparently in good health, but died at Stevenage, on the 21st of the following month; leaving, by his wife, Maria, daughter of Sir George Amynd, three sons and three daughters. He displayed great skill as a debater, much ability as a politician, and uncommon energy, prudence, temper, and zeal, as a governor. COMBE, (Harvey Christian,) the son of an attorney, was born at Ando- ver, in 1752, and is said to have been destined for the legal profession, but preferring commerce to law, he became a corn-merchant, in London, and even- tually succeeded to the extensive busi- ness of his maternal uncle, l\Ir. Boyce TreeSjWhose daughter, Catherine, he had previously married. Having acquired great wealth and reputation, he was suc- cessively chosen sheriff, alderman, one of the city members, and, in 1800, lord- mayor. He appears to have been an active supporter of the Whig party, from the commencement of his parliamentary career, in 1796, until disabled by infir- mity from attending to public affairs ; on account of which, in compliance with the wishes of his constituents, he re- signed his seat, in 1817. He died on the 4th of July, in the following year, leaving ten children, among whom he bequeathed property to the amount of £200,000. He was, it is said, at one time, the best whist-player in London ; and prior to any important match, mortified his appetite with a view to ensure a perfect command over his feelings and faculties. His passion for play never appears to have diverted him from the performance of his various THE SENATE. important duties as a senator, a magis- trate, and a man of business. He acted for some time as lieutenant-colonel of the Aldgate volunteers ; distinguished himself as a member of the Wliig Club ; and, in conjunction with his brother and another gentleman, originated the firm of Combe, Delafield, and Co., whose celebrated establishment being one day visited, it is said, by the Duke and Duchess of York, and the Duke of Cambridge, a table was laid out, covered with clean hop-sacks, in the centre of the brewliouse, and the royal guests were regaled with brown stout, in wooden vessels ; and rump- steaks, broiled by the stoker, more majorum, on his shovel, and served up on pewter trenchers. PONSONBY, (George,) third son of the Honourable John Ponsonby, speaker of the Irish house of commons, was born in Ireland, on the 5th of March, 1755. After having spent some time at Cambridge, he became a student at law ; in 1780, he was called to the Irish bar; and, subsequently, although his love of the chase is said to have interfered with his professional pur- suits, he obtained a silk gown, and the lucrative appointment of counsel to the revenue commissioners, of which he was subsequently deprived by the Mar- quess of Buckingham. He then be- came a member of the Whig Club, and a vehement parliamentary opponent to government. When his friends were called to office, in 180(5, he was made lord chancellor of Ireland; but, losing his post on their dismissal, he returned to the ranks of opposition, of which he became a very distinguished leader. During a debate, in the year 1817, he was attacked by a paralytic fit, and died, on the 8th of July, in that year; leaving, by his wife, a daughter of the Earl of Lanesborough, one child, who was married to a son of Lord Dunally. He was a man of unsullied lionour, and liberal disposition; amiable in private life, and respected, perhaps, more than he was admired, as a senator. In a clever parody on Moore's song of, " Oh ! believe me, if all those endearing young charms, &c." his name has been thus introduced : — And Tonsonby lea%'e9 the debate ^rhen be sets, Just as dark as it was when he rcse. LEGGE, (George, Earl of Dart- mouth,) was born on the 3rd of Oc- tober, 1755, and completed his edu- cation at Christchurch, Oxford, where he took the honorary degree of M. A. in 1775, during which year he became member for Plymouth. In 1780, he was returned for Staffordshire, and warmly supported the coalition. In 1782, he was appointed a lord of the bedchamber to the Prince of Wales; and, in the following year, obtained a seat at the board of admiralty ; which, however, he lost, on the dismissal of Fox and Lord North. In June, 1801, he was called to the upper house, by the title of Baron Dartmoutli ; and, in the following month, succeeded to his father's earldom. During the same year, he was made president of the ijoard of control; in 1802, steward of his majesty's household ; and, in 1804, lord chamberlain. His health compelled him, in 1807, to resign the command of the Loyal Birmingham Volunteers, which he had for some time held ; and he died, at his seat in Cornwall, on the 2nd of November, 1810. He appears to have been a man of considerable ability ; and it has been said of him, that he possessed all the virtues of his ancestor, whom Charles the First was accustomed tocall "Honest Will Legge." HUTCHINSON, (Richard Hely, Earl of Donoughmore.) was born in Ireland, on the 29th of January, 1756, and educated at Eton, Oxford, and Trinity college, Dublin, of which his father was provost. He entered the army at an early age, but distinguished himself rather as a senator than a soldier. Having obtained a seat in the Irish house of commons, he commenced his career, as a parliamentary orator, in 1778, by speaking, with much force, in support of a bill for removing the prohibition on catholics from taking long leases. " If those whom I advo- cate," said he, on this occasion, " are formidable, chain them to the land, by passing this bill, and you will bind them closely to the state." In 1781, he was appointed a commissioner of the cus- toms ; and, on the death of his mother, in 17SS, he succeeded to the barony of Donoughmore. In 179-1, he raised, it is said, with amazing rapidity, two regiments of foot, the ninety-fourth 558 A PPE NDIX. and the hundred-and-twelfth ; of the latter he was appointed heutenant- colonel, and subsequently rose to the rank of lieutenant-general in the army. In reply to an address of condolence from the Roman catholics, on the death of his father, in 1795, he said, " You have adopted my family and myself as your hereditary advocates : it is our post of honour, and we will not desert it." He was created Vis- count Suirdale, in 1797; appointed to the command of the Cork legion, on the breaking out of the rebellion ; raised to the earldom of Donoughmore, in 1800 ; elected one of the Irish representative peers shortly afterwards ; made a privy- counsellor, and joint postmaster-general for Ireland, in 1S06 ; and created a peer of the united kingdom, by the title of Viscount Hutchinson, of Knock- lofty, in 1821. He died at the house of his brother and heir, Lord Hutchin- son, the successor of Abercrombie in Egypt, on the 22nd of August, 1825, deeply regretted by the Irish catholics, who had, for a long period, considered him their most eloquent, zealous, and indefatigable advocate in the house of lords. To him their general petitions had usually been confided ; he had energetically supported every measure brought forward for their relief, and died, it is said, in the discharge of his duty as their hereditary champion ; having brought over their petition, in 1825, in direct opposition to the solemn advice of his physicians ; to whom, on their telling him that the journey would certainly prove fatal, he replied, " I can meet no death so honourable or agreeable." Throughout his career, as a British senator, he appears to have acted with the popular party, except with regard to the bill of pains and penalties against Queen Caroline, of whose guilt he seems to have felt de- cidedly convinced. ABBOT, (Charles, Lord Colches- ter,) was born at Abingdon, in 1757, and elected from Westminster school toChristchin-ch, Oxford, in 1775. Two years afterwards, he gained a prize for a Latin poem on the Czar Peter, which also procured him a gold medal from the Empress of Russia. For some time he studied civil law, at Geneva ; and, in due course, after his return to this country, was called to the bar, at which he practised with consider- able success. In 1795, he entered parliament, as member for Helston ; and, after having rendered himself par- ticularly conspicuous by his fervent support of the seditious meetings' bill, he was appointed chairman of the finance committee. In 1801, he brought forward the population bill; and, on the formation of the Addington cabi- net was appointed chief secretary for Ireland, and keeper of the privy-seal. He had already commenced a reform in the Irish government offices, when he was elected speaker of the house of commons. He gave his casting vote against Lord Melville, in 1805; and, during the debate on the relief bill, in 1815, spoke warmly against the clause for admitting catholics to the legis- lature. Two years after, a severe attack of epilepsy compelled him to resign the chair ; on which occasion he was called to the house of peers, by the title of Baron Colchester, and granted a pension of £4,000 a-year. He subse- quently resided for some time on the continent, for the benefit of his health ; and, in 1827, paid a visit to Scotland, where he had the satisfaction of wit- nessing the benefits produced by the Society for the Improvement of the Highlands, of which he had, many years before, been nominated chair- man. He died on the 8th of May, 1829, leaving two sons, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughterof Sir Philip Gibbes, Baronet. With him originated the royal record commission ; the insti- tution of a private bill-office ; and an improvement in the printing of votes. He was a man of sound practical abili- ties ; and, while speaker, greatly faci- litated the progress of public business, by his energy and skill. His official speeches to those naval and military officers, who were honoured with the thanks of parliament during the time that he filled the chair, are designated as masterpieces of that style of oratori- cal composition to which they belong. A collection of them has been published, for private distribution, since his de- cease. He edited six of his own speeches on the catholic question ; and, while at the bar, printed a work, etititled. The Practice of the Chester Circuit, in the preface to which he THE SENATE. 559 _ suggested various improvements in Welsh judicature, wliich have since been carried into effect. SPENCER, (George John, Earl Spencer,) was born on the 1st of Sep- tember, 1758, and educated at Harrow school, and Triaiiy college, Cambridge. He obtained the degree of M. A. in 1778 ; and, subsequently, at both uni- versities, that of D. C.L. After having performed the grand tour, he was re- turned to parliament, in 1780, as mem- ber for Northampton ; and, joining the Whig party against Lord North, be- came, on the accession to power of the Marquess of Rockingham, a lord-com- missioner of the treasury. Shortly afterwards, he abandoned his borough, for which he had been again elected, on being chosen one of the represen- tatives of the county of Surrey. In 1783, he succeeded to his father's earl- dom ; and, in the house of lords, dis- tinguished himself as a staunch Whig, until the breaking out of the French revolution, when, with other alarmists of his party, he gave his support to Mr. Pitt; by whom, in 1794, he was made first lord of the admiralty. In 1795, he was elected a brother, and, four years after, master, of the Trinity house. About the same time, he re- ceived the insignia of a knight of the Garter; and, in 1800, resigned his office of first lord of the admiralty, on being appointed lord privy seal. He retired with Pitt, in 1801, and appears to have held no pest under government until Fox and Lord Granville coalesced, in 1806; when, on their being called to the direction of pubhc affairs, he was appointed secretary of state for the home department; and, shortly after- wards, one of the commissioners of in- quiry as to the conduct of the Princess of Wales. He was dismissed, with his friends, on the fiiilure of their attempt to procure catholic emancipation, of which he appears to have been a most zealous and consistent supporter. He has also distinguished himself as an advocate for the repeal of the test and corporation acts ; and for the removal of all undue restraints on civil and religious liberty. Much praise has been accorded to him as a patron of literature and the arts : he was one of the most conspicuous members of the Roxburgh club, during its zenith ; and has formed a most rare and costly library, of which an account is extant, in three volumes, by the cele- brated Frognall Dibdin, his librarian. He married, in the year 1781, Lady Lavinia Bingham, daughter of Charles, first Earl Lucan, by whom he has seve- ral children. MAITLAND, (James, Earl of Lau- derdale,) was born in 1759, and edu- cated at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, under the superinten- dence of the celebrated Andrew Dalzell, with whom he made a tour on the con- tinent. On his return to England, he obtained a seat in parliament for the Scotch burghs of Lauder, Jedburgh, &c. and immediately attached himself to the party headed by Fox and Lord Nortli. In 1787, he was nominated one of the managers of the impeach- ment against Warren Hastings ; and, in 1789, after having highly distin- guished himself by a speech in favour of the abolition of the slave trade, he succeeded to his father's earldom and estates. Vacating his seat in the house of commons, he was soon afterwards elected one of the representative peers of Scotland. In 1792, he visited Paris, with Dr. Moore ; and, while there, formed a close intimacy with Brissot, who headed the moderate republicans. On his return to this country, he op- posed hostilities against France with such vehemence, and became so virulent an antagonist to ministers, that means were adopted to preclude his return to the house of lords at the next election of representative peers. He now be- came a citizen of London, having pur- chased his freedom from the needle- makers' company ; and attempted, but without effect, to procure the shrievalty. His ultimate object, which, however, he did not attain, apparently was, by abandoning his peerage, to obtain a seat in the house of commons. During the brief ascendancy of his party, in 1806, he was intrusted with the great seal of Scotland, sworn of the privy-council, raised to the British peerage, nomi- nated ambassador to Paris, where he appears to have been duped and in- sulted by Buonaparte and Talleyrand; and, but for the dismissal of his friends, he would, it is supposed, have been appointed governor-general of India. 560 APPEN DIX. Although he is said to have enjoyed tlie entire confidence of the Princess Char- lotte, he was hostile to her mother; — a fact, which, according to his biographers, is altogether inexplicable. He has op- posed the measures of all the Tory ad- ministrations, since the commencement of his public career, and advocated po- pular opinions with great zeal, and con- siderable talent, but with an impetuosity of temper that has often neutralized his efforts. He has published several pieces on finance, paper currency, and the affairs of India ; the most important of which is, An Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, first printed in 1804. He was married, in 1782, to Eleanor, daughter of Anthony Todd, Esq., secretary of the post-office, by whom he has a son. PRATT, (John Jeffreys, Marquess of Camden,) son of the Lord Chan- cellor Camden, was born on the 11th of February, 1759, and completed his education at Trinity college, Cam- bridge, where he obtained the lionorary degree of M. A. He became a member of the house of conmions, in 1780; and, during the same year, one of the tellers of the exchequer. In 1782, he was appointed a lord of the admi- ralty ; and shortly afterwards, while his friend, Pitt, was in office, a commis- sioner of the treasury. In April, 1794, he succeeded to his father's earldom, and, soon afterwards, accepted the vice- gerency of Ireland, which he governed with considerable energy and prudence, during one of the most turbulent pe- riods in the history of that country. In 1S04, he was made secretary of state for the war department; and, in 1805, lord-president of the council. He re- signed his office on the death of Pitt, but resumed it on the downfal of the Grenville administration. In September, 1812, he was created Marquess Camden and Earl Brecknock ; and, soon after- wards, in consequence of the clamour raised against those who held valuable sinecures under government, he set a noble example, by resigning, for the public benefit, between £30,000 and jE40,000 per annum, out of the emolu- ments of his exchequer teller.^hip. By his wife, Frances, only daughter and heiress of William Molesworth, Esq., he has four children. He is lord-lieu- tenant, custos-rotulorum, and vice-ad- miral of the county of Kent, and recorder of Bath. The following anec- dote is related of him ; for the truth of which it would, however, be imprudent to vouch : — Conceiving the brown hue of a windmill, that had recently re- ceived a coat of pitch, to mar the effect of an otherwise picturesque view from his residence, he obtained the miller's permission to change its colour; and directed one of his tradesmen to paint it white, on that side only wliich fronted his estate. A few hours after- wards, he was told that his orders had been executed ; but, the next day, per- ceiving the mill to be still brown, he sent for the painter, whom he repri- manded with great warmth for having deceived him; nor could his indignation be appeased until he was informed, that the wind having changed during the night, the mill, presented a differ- ent side to that which, in obedience to his lordship's commands, had been care- fully whitened in the course of the pre- ceding afternoon. RYDER, (Dudley, Earl of Har- rowby,) was born on the 22nd of Decem- ber, 1762, and proceeded to the degrees of M.A. and LL. D., atSt. John's college, Cambridge. After having been for some time under-secretary to the Duke of Leeds, he went into parliament, as member for Tiverton, and vvarmly sup- ported the measures brought forward by Pitt, to whom, in his duel with Tierney, he acted as second. Prior to succeeding to the title of his father, the first Lord Harrowby, in 1803, he had, successively, been made comptroller of the household, joint paymaster of the forces, treasiu'er of the navy, and a member of the board of control. In 1804, he accepted the foreign secre- taryship; which, however, he soon afterwards exchanged, on account of illness, for the less laborious post of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. His next official employment was in the capacity of ambassador to the court of Berlin, where he succeeded so far in the object of his mission as to pro- cure the assent of Prussia to an offen- sive treaty with Cireat Britain, which was actually prepared for signature, when the battle of Austerlitz totally changed the prospects of our proposed THE SENATE. 561 ally, and the peace of Presburg ensued. During the Fox and Grenville adminis- tration he held no office; but, on its dismissal, he was' appointed president of the board of control ; and, in 1809, was created Viscount Sandon and Earl of Harrowby. In the following year, he warndy supported a grant of £10,000 to the poor clergy; declaring, tliat, in remote villages, their pay did not exceed that of common labourers ; and adding, that the pluralists would always be found among the richer divines, the incumbent of one large living being much more likely, from his station and connexions, to obtain another, than the incumbent of a small one. In 1812, he succeeded Lord Sidmouth as presi- dent of the council; and, in 1819, he was placed at the head of the secret committee, appointed to inquire into the affairs of the bank of England. In the next year, he sanctioned the intro- duction of the bill of pains and penalties against Queen Caroline, but strenuously protested against the divorce clause which it contained. He continued in office during the premiership of Can- ning, and that of his successor, Lord Goderich, but retired on the forma- tion of the Wellington cabinet. As a speaker, says a cotemporary writer, Lord Harrowby has been forcible, though not piquant ; his deportment has been eminently urbane ; and his conduct, on the whole, even in the opinion of those who are opposed to him in politics, decidedly meritorious. He was mar- ried, in 1795, to Lady Susan Levison Gower, daughter of the first Marquess of Stafford, by whom he has issue. WAITHMAN, (Robert,) a native of Wrexham, North Wales, was born of humble parentage, in 1764. Be- coming an orphan when only a few months old, he was placed at the school of a Mr. Moore, by his uncle ; on whose death, about 1778, he obtained a situ- ation at Reading, whence he proceeded to London, and entered into the ser- vice of a respectable linen-draper, with whom he continued until he became of age. He then entered into business, at the south end of Fleet-market, whence, some years after, he removed to the corner of Bridge-street. He appears to have commenced his political career in 1794, when he brought forward a series of resolutions, at a common-hall, animadverting upon the war with revo- lutionized France, and enforcing the necessity of a reform in parliament. In 1818, after having been defeated on several previous occasions, he ob- tained his election as one of the representatives of the city of London ; and, shortly afterwards, became alder- man of the ward of Farringdon With- out. On the 25th of January, 1819, he made his maiden speech in parliament, on the presentment of a petition pray- ing for a revision of the criminal code, the existing state of whicli he severely censured. On the 1st of the following month, he took occasion to declare his hostility to a renewal of the insolvent debtors' act ; the effect of which had been, as he contended, to break down the fair trader, — to encourage vice, — to give a deadly blow to commercial confidence, and even to supersede the trial by jury. During the same year, he supported Mr. Sturgts Bourne's motion for investigating tlie poor-laws ; that of Mr. D. W. Harvey, for in- quiry into exchequer prosecutions ; that of Sir F. Burdett, for parliamen- tary reform; and that of Sir W. De Crespigny, for a committee to ascer- tain the practicability of adopting Mr. Owen's system with advantage ; but opposed the insolvent debtors' bill, the bill to amend the clergy act, the fo- reign enlistment bill, and the seditious meetings' bill. Towards the close of the same year, the court of aldermen com- menced proceedings against him for having obstructed the election of a lord- mayor. Shortly afterwards, parliament was dissolved ; and, at the next general election, he was one of the unsuccessful candidates for the city of London, al- though he polled above four thousand votes. On the 10th of June, 1820, the rule obtained against him in the Court of King's Bench, by his brother alder- men, was discharged with costs. A fortnight afterwards, he became sheriff of London and Middlesex; in which capacity, on the day of the queen's funeral, he rendered himself particu- larly conspicuous ; and, it is said, was assaulted by the soldiery, while endea- vouring to preserve the peace, at Knightsbridge. In October, 1823, he was chosen lord-mayor; and, in July, 1826, again became one of the city 562 APPENDIX. members. On the opening of parlia- ment, in November, he animadverted upon the dangerous consequences of the bubble companies ; and, in the following month, brought forward a motion, for inquiring into the conduct of such members of parliament as had been connected with them. On the 25th of February, 182S, he contended against a proposition for increasing the army ; on the 30th of June, he opposed the additional churches' bill; and, in February, 1830, on moving for certain accounts relative to British and colonial produce, he maintained, that, in con- sequence of existing systems, the export trade of this country had diminished to an alarming extent. Alderman Waithman is said to have made a con- siderable fortune by business, from which he retired, some years ago, in favour of his sons. His wife, whom he married about the year 1786, died in 1827. CREEVEY, (Thomap.) was born about the year 1767, and took the de- grees of li. A. and M. A. at Queen's college, Cambridge. After having been called to the bar, and practised, it is s"iid, for some time in India, he went into parliament as member for Thetford. In March, 1802, he voted in the mi- nority, on Mr. Calcraft's motion as to the embarrassmt nts of the Prince of Wales. In 1804, he supported llie mo- tion for an inquiry into the conduct of the Irish government; moved for docu- ments relative to the hostiiiiies against Ceylon ; and opposed the additional force bill. In 1S05, he animadverted upon the appointment of Mr. Fordyce to a new office, after that individual had become largely indel)ted to govern- ment ; voted with those who brought forward the charges against Lord Mel- ville ; and opposed the bill for granting compensation to the Duke of Athol, relative to the Isle of Man. He sub- sequently assisted in drawing up the articles of impeachment against Lord Melville; and, during the Fox and Grenville administration, acted as secre- tary to the commissioners for conduct- ing the affairs of India. In 1808, he op- posed a motion for lending jC 1,200,000 to the East India company, and depre- cated the erection of nev/ i)uildings in Hyde park. In the next year, he called for the production of papers, relative to the Duke of Gloucester's annuity ; and attempted, but without effect, to carry a vote of censure against the lords of the treasury, for granting a crown lease, which, as he stated, was worth £9.000, to the president of the board of control. In 1810, he censured the licensing system; supported the pe- tition from Westminster, praying for the enlargement of Sir Francis Bur- dett ; and brought forward a motion for the production of correspondence relative to the disturbances in India. In 1811, he endeavoured to procure copies of documents to be laid before the house, as to certain proceedings in the civil courts of Madras. In 1812, he opposed the additional grants to the princesses ; censured Lord Glenbervie for having, as surveyor-general, made agreements with himself, as proprietor of the Regent's canal; and called the attention of the house to the tellerships of the exchequer, the yearly emolu- ments of each of which, as he stated, although the duty was performed by deputy, exceeded the total amount of pensions granted for highly meritorious services to Nelson, Wellington, Duncan, and St. Vincent. Having, in the early part of 1813, been sentenced to pay a fine of jglOO for a libel on an inspector- general of taxes, and the court of King's Bench having declared, that his pri- vilege as a member of parliament did not protect him from being prosecuted for what he said or pviblished out of the house, he brought forward a motion on the subject, on the 25th of June, in that year; which, however, on tl>e sug- gestion of Lord Castlereagli, he con- sented to withdraw. In 1814, he moved for the production of a letter, written bv the president of the board of control, to the directors of the East India company, recommending the revival and augmen- tation of the expired pensions to the Marquess Wclle;ley and others. In 1818, and again in 1820, he was returned member for Appleby. During the pro- gress of the bill of pains and jienalties against Queen Caroline, he declared the inju'^tice of the measure to be so great, that the evidence went for nothing. lie subsequently opposed a motion for the house to resolve itself into a com- mittee of supply, because nothing had been done with a view to retrenching THE SENATE. 563 the public expenditure ; animadverted upon the act by which the king was enabled to remunerate persons holding high offices ; contended that provision ought to be made for the catholic priest- hood out of the funds of the protestant church ; and supported, with much zeal and talent, various economical, tolerant, and popular measures. PAULL, (James,) the son of a clo- thier and tailor, was born at Perth, in 1770; and, after concluding his educa- tion at the university of St. Andrew's, was articled to an attorney in his native place ; but soon abandoned the law, and went out, as a writer, to India; where, in less than two years, he ac- quired sufficient to remit home the ex- pences of his outfit, and to allow his mother, then a widow, a small annuity, which he increased as his circumstances improved. After an absence of four- teen years, he revisited this country, but soon returned to India; and was, for some time, employed at Lucknow ; where, being permitted to trade for himself, he acquired considerable pro- perty, and attained such importance, as to become a delegate, from a re- spectable body of merchants, to the Marquess Wellesley, then governor- general, with whom, it is said, he had the honour of a familiar correspondence. Some misunderstanding, however, at length arose between them, in conse- quence of which he returned to England, in 1804, and, as it is stated, became a fre- quent visitor to the Prince of Wales. In 1805, he obtained a seat in parliament, and immediately rendered himself con- spicuous, by severely animadverting upon the conduct of Lord Wellesley, in India; declaring, on a motion for pa- pers which he made, preliminary to his intended proposition for an impeach- ment, that, during the administration of the marquess, India had been de- luged with blood, its princes dethroned, its ancient families ruined, and the spoils of our nearest allies added to the resources of the company. Although abandoned, as he stated, by the Whigs, vvlio had promised him their assistance, and disappointed in his hopes of ob- taining the support of an exalted per- sonage, on which, as he declared, he had been induced to rely, he persevered in his fruitless hostility to the marquess. until parliament was dissolved. At the ensuing general election, he became a candidate for Westminster in opposition to Sheridan; and being unsuccessful, presented a petition against the high bailiff's return ; which, however, was dismissed. On the next dissolution of parliament, he called a meeting of his friends at the Crown and Anchor tavern, by an advertisement, in which he stated, that Sir Francis Burdett (who had contributed £1,000 towards the expenses of his proposed measures against Lord Wellesley) would take the chair. Sir Francis, however, who contemplated becoming a candidate for Westminster himself, disclaimed all previous knowledge of the meeting: an angry correspondence ensued; and, at length, a duel took place between the parties, in which both were wounded. At the election, Sir Francis obtained a large majority over Mr. Paull, who presented a petition, which proved un- successful, against the return. He then published a pamphlet, animadverting on the conduct of his opponent; who, however, made no reply, nor ever after- wards, as it appears, spoke of Mr. Paull with disrespect. 'Fhe latter had, by this time, dissipated the greater part of his fortune in election expenses, in sup- porting his petitions, and in the pro- secution of his charges against Lord Wellesley : his reason had also become affected by his disappointments, and the failure of some commercial specu- lations in which he had embarked. On the 14th of April, 1808, he is said to have lost upwards of one thousand six hundred guineas, at a gaming- house, in Pall Mall ; and, in the course of the next afternoon, he committed sui- cide. This unfortunate man, whose chief characteristics appear to have been indomitable perseverance, and extra- ordinary ardour of temperament, is re- ported to have said, a few days before he put an end to his existence, " When I die, — and I shall soon, — I trust that • my body will be conveyed to the East Indies, and be there blown up !" WOOD, (Matthew,) the son of a tradesman, was born at Tiverton, in Devonshire, about the year 1770. After having been for some time a com- mercial traveller, lie entered into part- nership with an opulent gentleman, 564 APPENDIX. named Wiggnn, and began business, as a druggist, in the neighbourhood of Falcon-square, Cripplegate. He be- came, successively, common-council- man, deputy, and alderman of the ward in which he resided ; in 1809, siierifFof London and Middlesex; and, in 1817, chief magistrate of the me- tropolis ; in which station he con- ducted himself so much to the satis- faction of liis fellow-citizens, that, in the following year, he was re-elected to the civic chair; and, during his second mayoralty, obtained his return to parlia- ment, as one of the city members. 1 Early in 1818, he moved for a select committee to inquire into the state of the metropolitan prisons ; and, shortly afterwards, presented a petition from the corporation, against the indemnity measure. On the ICth of March, he brought forward a bill for erecting a bridge across the Thames, at Rother- hithe, which, however, he declined to support, unless some compensation were afforded to the watermen ; and in April, he spoke and voted in favour of the abolition of what were termed, blood- money rewards. At the election for the city of London, in Aug\tst, he was placed at the head of the poll. In March, 1819, he supported Mr. Lyt- tleton's motion against lotteries; and a few months afterwards, obtained leave to bring in a bill, (which was afterwards thrown out,) to enable the Duke of Kent to dispose of his property, at Castlebar, by way of lottery, for the purpose of paying his creditors. During the same session, he opposed the grant for the aid of persons emigrating to the Cape ; and supported Sir Francis IJurdett's motion in favour of parlia- mentary reform. In 1820, he moved for a secret committee to inquire into the conduct of Edwards, the political spy ; and, during the same year, ren- dered himself particularly conspicuous, by his zealous exertions on behalf of Queen Caroline ; to whom, after having accompanied her to this country, from St.Omer, he resigned his hous?, in South Audley street. His daughter, also, offi- ciated as a maid of honour to her ma- jesty; whose remains he attended to their place of sepulture, at Brunswick. In 1822, he presented a petition from Mr. Henry Himt, respectmg his close confinement in Ilchester gaol ; and opposed Mr. Brougham's motion for the second reading of the beer bill. His popularity had so much decreased, in 1826, that, at the election in that year, he was last on the poll of the members returned for the city. In 1828, he be- came an active supporter of the London University; and presented a complete set of journals of the house of commons to the committee appointed to form a library for the use of the corporation. During the same year, he opposed the building of additional churches ; and, shortly before the demise of George the Fourth, obtained leave to bring in a bill for the purpose of preventing the increase of canine madness. Alderman Wood has distinguished himself as a steady advocate of reform, retrench- ment, and other liberal measures. He is said to have realized a considerable fortune by his fortunate speculations in hops. HUME, (Joseph,) was born at Aber- deen, in tlie year 1777 ; and, after having received a moderately good education, was apprenticed to a medical practitioner, for the term of five years. At the expiration of that period, he pro- ceeded to the university of Edinburgh. About the age of twenty-three, he joined the British army, under Lord Lake, then engaged in the Mahratta war, as an assistant-surgeon. He now devoted his leisure time to the study of the eastern languages, with such success, that, on Colonel Auchmuty being at- tacked by severe indisposition, he was selected to succeed that officer as in- terpreter to the forces. The assiduity and skill which he displayed, in this important office, not only procured him unqualified approbation, but several lucrative situations; so that, on his return to England, in 1808, he is said to have been in rather opulent circum- stances. To recruit his health he now resided, for some time, at Bath and Cheltenham ; and, subsequently, visited Portugal and Greece. In 1812, he obtained a seat in the house of com- mons, for the borough of Weymouth ; and, shortly afterwards, brought for- ward several motions relative to the administration of justice in India. At the next general election, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the royal burghs of Montrose, &c. ; for which, THE SENATE. 565 however, he was returned in 1S20, and continued to represent tliem until 1826, when he became member lor Aberdeen. During the proceedings against Queen Caroline, he rendered himself conspicuous, as one of her ma- jesty's active supporters ; and, subse- quently, acquired considerable repu- tation, by his severe and persevering investigation of the public accounts, and his constant exertions to reduce the national expenditure. Among his multitudinous labours in parliament, it is proper to notice, his attempt to pre- clude civil officers in the ordnance from voting for members of parlia- ment ; his thirty-eight resolutions on the financial circumstances of the coun- try, censuring the borrowing system, and the sinking fund ; his proposition to abolish tithes in Ireland, and to pro- vide for the clergy out of the rental of the church-lands ; his hostility to the continuation of the vice-regal office in that kingdom ; his motion in favour of the Ionian Islands; his defence of a repeal of the combination laws, on the ground that masters, for the most part, were oppressive to their workmen ; his opposition to the building of additional churches ; his support of the catholic relief bill, and of tlie repeal of the test and corporation acts. HORNER, (Francis,) the son of a linen-draper, was born at Edinburgh, on the 12th of August, 1778. From the high-school, ai which he had greatly distinguished himself, he pro- ceeded to the university of his native city, where, under the roof of Dugald Stewart, he formed a close intimacy with Lord Henry Petty; who, on be- coming chancellor of the exchequer, in 1806, procured his return for the borougli of St. Ives. At the next elec- tion, he lost his seat; and, becoming a law-student, was, in due time, called to the bar. On the resignation of Viscount Mahon, he succeeded that nobleman, as member for Wendover ; and was, about the same time, nominated a com- missioner for investigating the claims on the nabob of Arcot. In 1810, he became a member of the celebrated bullion committee, whose report he subsequently brought up ; and, with considerable eloquence, unsuccessfully urged a return to cash payments. He supported Alderman Combe's motion to pass a vo;e of censure on ministers, for having obstructed an address to his majesty, trom the lord-mayor and cor- poration of the city of London ; and, on the regency question being discussed, proposed the appointment of a regent by address, rather than by bill, be- cause, as he contended, by the latter mode, parliament would usurp the legis- lative power of the crown, and, by a gross and illegal fiction, steal the sem- blance of an assent, where there could be no negative. During the debate, in 1812, relative to the two tellerships of the exchequer, he made seven distinct motions on the subject, with a view to confine those sinecures to fixed annual sums, all of which, were, however, nega- tived. He distinguished himself on various other occasions, and applied so closely to public business, and private study, that his constitution became se- riously impaired. In the hope of de- riving benefit from a warmer climate, he proceeded to France, and thence to Italy; but died at Pisa, in February, 1817. He was one of the earliest and most able writers in the Edinburgh Review; a chaste, correct, and forcible speaker; a respectable scholar, a deep thinker, a close reasoner, and a most amiable man. SPENCER, (John Charles, Vis- count Althorpe,) eldest son of Earl Spencer, was born on the 30th of May, 1782, and completed his education at Trinity college, Cambridge, where he obtained the honorary degree of M. A. At the age of twenty-one, he became member for Okehampton ; and, on the death of Pitt, offered himself as a can- didate for the representation of the university of Cambridge; but lost the election by a large majority. In the same year, (1806,) after a very severe struggle, he obtained his return for Northamptonshire; and, during the Fox and Grenville administration, held office as a lord of the treasury. At the next general election, he was again returned for the county of Northampton, which he represented in every suc- ceeding parliament, up to the demise of George the Fourth. In March, 1809, during a debate on the evidence taken with regard to the conduct of the Duke of York, he proposed the following 566 A PPK NDI X. amendment, to a motion brouglit for- ward by Mr. Bathurst, namely: — "that the duke having resigned, the house did not think it necessary to proceed further," &c. ; observing, that the resig- nation of the commander-in-cliief ought to occasion no regret, as his royal high- ness had previously lost the confidence of the country ; and adding, that he (Lord Althorpe) was averse to people of high rank holding responsible situ- ations. In May, 1810, in reply to Mr. Banks, who had declared that sinecures ought not to be abolished, he maintained that tliey were not only an unfit reward for public services, but that none were ever vacant when me- ritorious individuals had powerful claims on the tangible gratitude of the country. In June, 1812, he opposed the addi- tional tax on leather, because it would fall chiefly on the poor, and especially on agricultural labourers ; and, in May, 1813, he supported a bill, to repeal the acts imposing an additional duty on hides and skins. In April, 1815, he voted in favoiu' of an amendment on the subject of Buonaparte's escape from Elba, praying the Prince Regent to preserve the peace of Europe ; and, in the following month, moved for a com- mittee to inquire as to the expenditure of the sum of £100,000, granted to his royal highness by way of outfit. In 1816, he presented, and supported, a petition from Northampton, praying for a reduction of the peace establish- ment ; strenuously urged the necessity of economy, to which, lie said, minis- ters stood pledged ; and moved for a committee to ascertain what diminiuion in the public expenditure had taken place since 1798. In 1817, he sup- ported a motion for an address to the throne, praying for a reduction of the ninnber of the lords of the admiralty ; opposed the suspension of the habeas corpus act; deprecated the maintenance of a large standing army in time of peace ; brought in a bill to abolish the additional duty on leather; protested against the continuation of the alien act; and opposed the additional grant of iCOjOOO jier atmnm to tiie Duke of Kent. In 18H), lie moved for an in- quiry as to the state of the nation ; and opposed the adoption of Mr. Owen's plan for improving the condition of the poor. In 1820, he attempted, but witliout effect, to ameliorate the insol- vent debtors' act; and supported a motion for an inquiry as to the coun- tervailing duties on British goods, im- ported by Ireland. In 1822, he re- peatedly urged a mitigation of the public burthens. In the following year, he moved for a repeal of the foreign enlistment bill, maintaining that neu- trality was the most prudent policy ; and opposed a renewal of the Irish in- surrection act. In 1824, he endeavoured to obtain a committee of inquiry as to the general state of that country, all coercive measures against whicli he vehemently deprecated ; and brought forward a bill for facilitating the recovery of small debts. In 1825, he opposed the suppression of the catholic association ; and, in 1827, supported Canning's pro- ject relative to the corn laws. In 1828, Lord Goderich, in opposition to the wishes of Mr. Herries, appears to have been desirous of appointing him chair- man of a contemplated committee of finance. During the same year, he inoved the first reading of the bill to repeal the test and corporation acts ; and opposed the grant of i62,000 per annum to the family of Canning. In 1829, he expressed his warm appro- bation at the course adopted by the Wellington cabinet, with regard to the catholic claims; and opposed Mr. Hume's motion for resolving the house into a comtnittee on the corn laws. On the 19th of February, 1830, he declared, that, in his opinion, the re- ductions proposed by the chancellor of the exchequer would be of but little avail to tiie people; and, on the 15th of March, when the budget was produced, he protested against subjecting the na- tion to additional burthens, for the sake of supporting the sinking fund. The last act of his career, during the reign of George tlie Fourtli, was to support Mr. Hume's motion for abolishing the lord-lieutenantcy of Ireland, on the ground that, in consequence of the fa- cility of commimication, the sister king- dom stood no more in need of a separate government than any of the northern counties. He was married, in 1804, to Esther, daughter of Richard Ack- lom, Esq. who (lied in child-bed, about four years afterwards. DISSENTERS, POMFRET, (Samuel,) was born at Coventry, in 1650, and proceeded, at a proper age, from the grairniiar-school of his native city to tlie univeisity of Cambridge ; but, as it is said, the ten- derness of his conscience not allowing him to comply with the customs there practised, lie removed to Dr. Button's theological academy, at Islington, where he completed his studies. At the age of nineteen, while plunged in the deepest grief, by the death of his rftother, he believed himself to be spe- cially converted, but regretted " that he had not been called" at an earlier period of his life, frequently repeating the exclamation of St. Austin, " Sero te amavi, Dominc .'" Unwilling to preach before he had arrived at manhood, he became chaplain to Sir William Dyer, whom, however, he soon quitted ; and, feeling anxious to see the world, em- barked t'or Smyrna, on board a mer- chantman, which being attacked by two Algerine vessels, in the Mediter- ranean, he was requested to go below, by the captain, to whom he replied : — •' They are the enemies of Christ and his kingdom : I will remain on deck, and live and die by you." It is added, that he behaved witli great gal- lantry during the action, which termi- nated in the defeat of the corsairs. Soon after his arrival at Smyrna, being requested to read the burial service over a child of the English consul, he stated, that as lie could not conform to the establislied churcli in his own coun- try, he must be excused from adopting its ritual abroad. " If, however," added, he, " the consul will admit of my ser- vices in my own way, I am ready to give them." His offer being accepted, he delivered so atfL-cting a discourse over the child's grave, that, at its con- clusion, the consul exclaimed, " If tins be your way, I judge it preferable to my own." He had, it appears, embarked £50 in a venture of hats, all of which, however, he gave away to the sailors, on condition " that thev should no more profane the name of God." On his return to England, he collected a con- gregation in the metropolis, which he quitted, by invitation, to become pas- tor of a more numerous flock, at Sand- w-ich, where he officiated for about seven years. Being persecuted, as a non-conformist, lie then returned to London, and gradually formed an im- portant connexion, first in Winchester- stieet, and, afterwards, in Gravel-lane, Hound=ditcli. Enthusiastic as White- field, he wore out a strong constitution by his incessant labours for the ad- vancement of Calvinism. When not engaged in his ministerial labours, he was usually occupied in reading or meditation, for the purpose of improv- ing his utility as a pastor. He had, it is said, a marvellous way of striking the consciences of sinners, and few could attend his preaching without being greatly affected. Shortly before his decease, which took place on the 11th of January, 1722, he invited a friend ''to come and see a dying man, under exquisite pains, and yet not afraid to die." CLARKE, (Matthew.) was the son of an ejected non-conformist divine, and, at a very early age, is said to have felt convinced that he was specially ordained to preach the Gospel. After having rendered himself familiar with Latin, Greek, French, Italian, atid several oriental languages, he quali- fied himself for the ministry, by study- ing under Woodhouse, an eminent dissenting teacher in Shropshire. He filled the office of pastor, successively, at Little Bowden, Sandwich, and Miles's-lane, London ; and, in 1695, became one of the lecturers at Pinners' hall ; where he usually preached, twice a-dav. to large congregations. His in- cessant labour, at length, brought on so violent a fever, that no hopes were enter- tained of his recovery. He had already taken leave of his family and friends, when, as a desperate experiinent, his 568 APPENDIX. his medical attendants administered to him a large quantity of the strongest cordial they could prepare. Within a quarter of an hour after, he exclaimed, " This medicine is from God!" and in a short time he became convalescent. On the death of George, Prince of Den- mark, he was deputed by the dissenters to present their address of condolence to Queen Anne. About seven years afterwards, he broke his leg, and thus lamed himself for the remainder of his life. In 1722, he went to court, at the head of a deputation of his sect, to con- gratulate the king, it is said, "on the discovery of the popish plot." The close of his life appears to have been much embittered by the divisions pro- duced among the dissenters by the Arian controversy. He is described as having united elegant manners to deep erudition, unaffected piety, universal benevolence, and extraordinary powers as a preacher. " His subjects," says Neal, " were well chosen, and he brought down the most sublime truths to the level of his hearers; for though his language was too chaste and cor- rect to offend the most learned, it was so simple and lucid, that it must have been peculiarly instructive to the young, the poor, and the illiterate. Free from all that could be called cant, he might have been understood by tiiose who never heard before the language of any reli- gious party ; while he preached the doctrines of the Gospel so fully, that it was evident he loved them ; and with such fervour, that it was manifest he deemed them essential to the eternal safety of his hearers." He died on the 27th of March, 1726. BRADBURY, (Thomas,) a native of Wakefield, in Yorkshire, was born in 1677. While yet a mere child, his father, being afraid to leave home, on account of his debts, was in the habit of sending him to a public-house, where a newspaper was frequently read, by one of the customers, for the enteitain- ment of the vest; the boy's memory being so retentive, that, on his return, he could accurately re])eat nearly the whole of what he had heard. He ac- (jnired the rudiments of education in a free-school, at Leeds, where he cliiefly distinguished himself by his eccentricity and satirical wit. At the age of eighteen, he became a preacher in the metropolis. Shortly before he entered the pulpit, for the first time, a person, to whom he was unknown, thus accosted him: " Pray, sir, who preaches to-day ?" He replied, " Mr. Bradbury." " If that be the case," rejoined the inquirer, " I shall go elsewhere." He comnienced his dis- course in great trepidation, but soon convinced his hearers, it is said, that he was young only in years. From that hour, as he states, he never knew the fear of man. After having offi- ciated, successively, with but little pe- cuniary advantage, at Beverley, New- castle-upon-Tyne, Stepney, and Fetter- lane, he was appointed to the pulpit of a chapel in New-court, Carey- street, which he retained during the remainder of his life. He published some pieces against Dr. Watts, on the doctrine of the Trinity, and two volumes of sermons, which rendered him ex- ceedingly popular among the Calvin- istic dissenters. His chapel, when he preached, was crowded to excess, and his pulpit eloquence, which resembled that of Burgess, is said to have been remarkably powerful ; although his dis- courses were debased by humorous tales, and jocose observations. One day, as it is related, a man fell on his knees, and addressed him to the follow- ing effect: — "The Roman catholics, by whom, it is well known, you are re- garded with greatabhorrence,havehired me to assassinate you ; I have, conse- quently, in order to become well ac- quainted with yourperson, forsome time past, been a constant attendant at your chapel ; your pious exhortations have, however,notonly induced me to abandon my murderous intention, but made me one of the most devout members of your congregation." At a meeting, which was held on the subject of the Arian controversy, in Salters' hall, he stre- nuously upheld the divinity of Christ ; and concluded by exclaiming, " You, who are not afraid to avow the Deity of our Lord, follow me into the gallery 1" The opposite party beginning to ex- press their disapprobation as he as- cended the stairs, he turned round and said, " I have been pleading for him who bruised the serpent's head : no wonder that the seed of the serpent should hiss!" He was of a particularly jovial disposition ; and is stated to have DISSENTERS. 5G9 sung, at a dinner in honour of the re- volution, " Oh ! the roast beef of old England!" with great spirit. He was much esteemed by Archbishop Wake, Bishop Burnet, and other eminent episcopal divines: Grainger calls him The Patriarch of the Dissenters ; and Noble speaks of him in the following terms: — "He was the social, pleasant companion ; and more famed for his mirlh than for long harangues. He often vented coarse witticisms from the pulpit, and particularly delighted in ridiculing the devotional poetry of Dr. Watts. Yet he was a singularly honest, upright man; and liis sermons, though not elegant, were bold and decisive." When upwards of fifty, he married a lady of fortune, named Kichmond, much younger than himself, by whom he had two daughters. His death took place on the 9th of September, 1759. NEAL, (Daniel,) the historian of the Puritans, was born in London, on the 14th of December, 1678-9. Be- coming an orphan at an early age, the care of his education devolved upon his uncle; who. about the year 1686, placed him at Merchant Tailors' school; whence, after refusing an exhibition to St. John's college, Cambridge, he re- moved to Mr. Howe's academy for young men who intended to become dissenting ministers. He subsequently studied at the universities of Utrecht and Leyden, under Burman and Grse- vius. In 1706, he was appointed pastor of a congregation, in .\ldersgate-street; whence, on account of the increase of his flock, he subsequently removed to a more commodious building, in Jewin- street. Notwithstanding his indefa- tigable exertions as a preacher, he found leisure to become a voluminous author. In 1720, he published A History of New England, in two volumes, octavo ; and, in the following year, the university of Cambridge, in America, conferred on him the degree of M. A. In 1722, ap- peared his Letter to Dr. Francis Hare, Bishop of Chichester, in reply to some remarks which that prelate had made on the dissenters, in a visitation sermon. In 1732, he produced the first part of his History of the Puritans ; the second, third, and fourth volumes of which ap- peared, respectively, in 1733, 1736, and 173S. Warburton, on finding this work, which is highly honourable to the abili- ties of its author, in tlie library at Dur- liam, without a reply, determined on answering it himself. ' He says, " I took ^ it home to my house, and, a't breakfast time, filled the margins quite tiirougli ; which I think to be a full confutation of all his false facts and partial repre- , sentations." The notes which Warbur- ton made on this occasion, were subse- quently piinted in a volume, entitled, Tracts by Warburton and a Warbur- tonian. Neal's History was also attacked by Bishop Maddox, to whom he pub- lished a reply ; and, by Dr. Zachary Grey, whose objections were answered by Dr. Toulmin, in a new edition of the work, which appeared in 1797. In 1740, Neal delivered a course of lectures, in support of the reformed religion, against popery, which, it is said, " crowds of persons eagerly attended." About the year 1738, his health began to decline, and, after having suffered much from paralytic attacks, he died at Bath, on the 4th of April, 1743, leaving a son, by his wife, who was a sister of the celebrated Dr. Lardner. Besides the productions already mentioned, Neal published A Narrative of the Method and Success of Inoculating for the Small Pox, in New England; which led to an interview between him and tlie Princess Caroline of Wales; who, not- withstanding the violent prejudices then entertained against the practice, shortly afterwards caused her children to be inoculated. He was beloved by his family and friends, revered by his con- gregation, and admired by the whole of his sect ; altiiough he appears to have given some temporary offence, by with- drawing from tiiose who subscribed to the doctrine of the Trinity, in which, however, he is said to have fully be- lieved. His disposition was parti- cularly mild, and his aversion to any appearance of bigotry so great, that he repelled no denomination of Christians from his communion. GALE, (John,) a native of London, and the son of an eminent merchant, was born in 1679. After having ob- tained the degrees of master of arts and doctor of philosophy at the univer- sity of Leyden, he proceeded to Amster- dam, when about nineteen years of age, and tliere studied theology under 570 APPENDIX. Limborch and Leclercq. Returning to England, lie published Reflections on Wall's History of Infant Baptism, in 1711; and, about the same period, or soon afterwards, became pastor of a Baptist congregation, in Barbican, where he continued to officiate during the remainder of his life, which was terminated by a malignant fever, in December, 1721. Four volumes of his sermons were posthumously published ; and he appears to have left some manu- scripts on theological subjects, which were not sufficiently complete for the press. He is said to have possessed all the requisites for a pulpit orator, and to have enjoyed extraordinary influence over his sect, on accoimt of his zeal, piety, and talents. According to one of his biographers, " he was master of a solid morality, founded on the prin- ciples of reason, and aided by revela- tion, which made him proof against the corruptions of vice, and led him to the practice of every virtue." LOW MAN, (Moses,) a native of London, was born in 1680, and, after having studied at Utrecht and Leyden, became assistant minister, in 1710, to a dissenting congregation at Clapham, of which, about four years afterwards, he was chosen pastor, and officiated there in that capacity during the le- mainder of his life. Although, as a writer, he displayed much ability, and acquired considerable reputation, he prepared his sermons in so slovenly a manner, that one of the most intelligent of his hearers, as it is alleged, never could understand him. His works con- sist of, A Paraphrase and Notes on the Revelations; A Dissertation on the Civil Government of the Hebrews; An Argu- ment to prove, a priori, the Unity and Perfection of God ; The Argument from Prophecy in Proof that Jesus is the Messiah, vindicated; some pieces in a periodical, entitled. The Occasional Paper; a volume of tracts; and a few single sermons. Dr. Chandler said of him, that his morals and integrity were unblameable ; that he lived honoured, useful, and beloved, and tnet his dis- solution (which occurred in 1752) with a well-grounded comfort and hoje. EVANS, (.John,) a native of Wrex- ham,in Denbighshire, was born in 1G80 ; and, after having studied for some time imder the eminent dissenting teachers, Rowe and Jollie, he is stated to have gone through Poole's synopsis, and the Christian writers of the three first centuries, with James Owen, in Shrop- shire. He passed the week preceding his ordination, which took place at Wrex- ham, about the month of August, 1702, in solitary contemplation, prayer, and abstinence from all food but dry bread, with which he drank nothing but water. In 1704, he was chosen as- sistant to Dr. Williams, whom he suc- ceeded, in 1716, as pastor of an inde- pendent congregation, by which the chapel in Broad-street, Petty France, was subsequently founded. He also became a lecturer at Salters' hall ; and, for his learning and ability, vvas made D. D. by the universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen. He took a part in the Arian controversy, pending which he refused to sign any articles of faith. As a preacher, he displayed considerable eloquence ; and, as a writer, he is said to have been admired by divines of all denominations. His works consist of Practical Discourses concerning the Christian Temper, which Dr. Watts declared to be the most complete sununary of those duties which make up the Christian life, that had been published during the author's time; several occasional sermons ; a valuable work addressed to young people ; and Notes for Illustrating the Epistle to the Romans, of which Doddridge said, •' the exposition of the Romans, begun by Henry, and finished by Dr. Evans, is the best I ever saw.'' He also undertook a History of Nonconformity, but did not live to complete it. Shortly before his death, which happened on the 16th of May, 1730, he said, "although I cannot affirm, with Lorimer, that I have no more doubt of my acceptance with God than I have of my own ex- istence, yet I have a good hope through grace, and such as I am persuaded will never make me ashamed." ERSKINE, (Ebenezf.r,) was born in the prison of the Bass, where his father, a Scotch pastor, was confined, by the Scutch privy-council, on the 22nd of June, 1680. He completed his edu- cation at the university of Edinburgh, where he took the degree of M. A. in DISSENTE RS. r)7i 1697. About three years after, he be- came chaplain and tutor in the family of Lord Rothes ; and, in 1703, minis- ter of Portmoak, in Fife. In 1724, he would, it appears, have obtained the pastoral office, at Kirkaldy, but for the part he had taken in what was termed, the Marrow controversy. In 1731, he removed to Stirlmg; and, being chosen moderator of the Synod there, he preached a sermon, in that capacity, against the system of private patronage, pursued by the general as- sembly. For this, a prosecution was instituted against him, which not only proved unsuccessful, but led to the se- cession of a large body of its members from the Scotch church. He appears to have been regarded as the head of the original seceders, who erected a meeting-house for him, in Stirling, where he officiated with great zeal, during the remainder of his life. For some time previously to 1749, he had filled the divinity chair in the pres- bytery, which, however, he was com- pelled, by infirmity, to resign in that year. He died, on tlie 2nd of June, 1754 ; having been twice married ; first, to Alison Turpie, daughter of a writer to the signet, by wiiom he had ten children; and, secondly, to Mary, the daughter of James Webster, a Scotch minister. Four volumes of his sermons were printed at Glasgow, in 1762, and another, at Edinburgh, in 1765, under tlie patronage of the Duchess of Northumberland, with whom one of his sons lived in the capacity of gar- dener. His life and diary have lately been published, by the Rev. Donald Fraser, who says of liim, that, " though not equal in all respects to his coad- jutors, he was unquestionably possessed of high endowments, well-suited to the pre-eminence assigned by him, in front of the battle, both by his friends and enemies, as father of the secession church." BROWN, (Simon,) was born, in 1680, at Shepton Mallet, in Somerset- shire ; and becoming, at an early age, an accomplished scholar, obtained the pas- toral charge of a congregation at Ports- mouth, before he had completed his twenty-first year. In 1716, he removed to London, and became pastor of a church in the Old Jewry ; but losing I his wife and only son, in 1722, he was [ afflicted, about that period, with a de- rangement of his mental faculties, which induced him altogether to abandon his ministerial functions, and he even re- fused to join in any public or private exercise of devotion' When urged, by , his friends, to let them know the cause j of the singular change in his conduct, he informed them, after much solicita- tion, that he had fallen under the pe- culiar displeasure of God, who had levelled him with the brutes, by de- priving him of his soul; and that it would be profane in him to pray, as he could no longer be considered a moral agent, or a proper subject either for reward or punishment. His congre- gation, after having waited two years for his recovery, chose another minis- ter, and he retired to Shepton Mallet, with a contribution of jg300,in addition to his private fortune. Though he still laboured under the same melancholy delusion, he displayed his intellectual power in the translation of several of the Greek and Latin poets ; wrote books for the education of children, and others to facilitate the study of the classics ; in all of which he exhibited a combination I of taste, learning, and argument. The year before his death, he wrote an admirable answer to Dr. Woolston's fiftli discourse on The Miracles of our Saviour; and even in the very year in which he died, published A Defence of the Religion of Nature and the Chris- tian Revelation, than which, nothing superior was produced in the course of the deistical controversy that had given rise to it. This work he dedi- cated to Queen Caroline, in a preface which liis friends thought necessary to suppress. Declining to take either air or exercise, he died of a mortification, in 1753. Towards the close of his life, he used to request that prayers might be offered up for him in his family, which proves that the delusion under which he laboured, must have been sometimes subdued. WRIGHT, (Samuel,) a native of Nottinghamshire, was born in 1683, and became, successively, chaplain to Lady Susanna Lort; assistant-preacher at Crosby-square ; Sunday evening lec- turer at St. Thomas's, Southwark ; and, in 1707, pastor of a congregation at 572 APPENDIX. Rlackfriars, where he officiated during the remainder of his life; during tlie latter pai c of which, he also lectured at Salters' hall, and at Little St. Helen's. Being partir'ilarly hostile to the high church party, his mceting-hoiise was nearly destroyed, by a Sacheverell mob, in 1709. Duiing the Arian controversy, he refused to subscribe to any declara- tion of faith; and being, it is said, an impassioned friend to liberty, he was induced to assist in conducting The Occasional Paper. On account of his known tendency to preshyterianism, (which, however, he would not admit), as well as of his learning and zeal for the advancement of religion, the uni- versity of Aberdeen presented him with a diploma of D. D. In the pulpit, he was so remarkably eloquent, es- pecially when praying, that Dr. Herring, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, frequented, it is said, the meeting- house at Blackfriars, with a view to obtain hints for his own improvement in elocution. Dr. Wright though re- proached with great haughtiness of manners, has been highly extolled for the l)enevolence of his disposition. He published thirty-seven sermons, and some other pieces of considerable merit; in the preface to one of whicii, he says, " I had rather be the author of the small book that shall be instrumental in saving a soul from sin and death, than of the finest piece of science and literature in the world, that tends only to accom- plish me for the present state of being." According to Doddridge, his 'I'reatise On Being Born Again, was one of the most useful works produced during the age in which he lived ; his Self-pos- session, one of the best pieces of Chris- tian philosophy that ever was printed ; and liis Great Concern, much prefer- able to The Whole Duty of Man. He died on the 3rd of Apiil, 174(5, leaving one daughter, by the widow of his predecessor, in the pastoral office at IJlackfriars, whom he had married in or about the year 1708. LELAND, (John,) a native of Lan- cashire, was born in l(i91,and privately educated at Dublin, where he became joint pastor of a congregation, in 1716. In 17.'53, he publislicd an answer, in two volumes, to Tindal's Christianity as old as the Creation; and, in 1737, The Divine Authority of the Old and New Testament asserted against the Aspersions and False Reasonings of a Book, entitled. The Moral Philosopher, by Dr. Morgan. In these productions he displayed so much learning and ability, that the university of Aberdeen presented him with the degree of D. D. In 1742, he produced a reply to a pamphlet, entitled, Christianity not foimded in Argument ; in 1753, Re- flections on the late Lord Bolingbroke's Letters on the Study and Use of His- tory; and, in 1754, A View of the Principal Deistical Writers, to which he afterwards added a second, and eventually, a tliird volume, containing a reprint of his reflections on the let- ters of Bolingbroke. When upwardsof seventy years old, he printed a work in two volumes, quarto, entitled. The Ad- vantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation, shewn from the State of Religion in the Ancient Heathen World, especially, with respect to the Know- ledge and Worship of the One 'I'rue God ; A Rule of Moral Duty, and A State of Future Rewards and Punish- ments. After his decease, which oc- curred on the IGth of January, 1766, four volumes of his sermons were pub- lished ; to the first of which was pre- fixed an account of his life. While very young, be is said to have lost the power of memory; for which, however, in his maturity, he was so distinguished, as to obtain the souhru/ net of The Walkiuij Library. The learning, industry, zeal, and talent, which he displayed as an advocate of Christianity, not only pro- cured for him the admiration of his sect, but the gratitude and applause of many distinguished divines in the es- tablished church. GILL, (John,) a Baptist divine of considerable celebrity, was born on the 23rd of November, 1697, at Kettering, in Northamptonshire. His parents, who were indigent dissenters, procured his admission, at an early age, to a neighbouring free grammar-school, where his advancement in learning was surprisingly rapid, but from which he appears to have been expelled, solely because his relatives were not mem- bers of the established church. He was then presented to the conductors of a dissenting academy, who, however, DISSENTERS. 573 declined to receive liim, for this extra- ordinary reason ; namely, " that should ! he continue, as it mi^lit be expected he 1 would, maiiing such rapid advances, j he would go through the common circle of knowledge, before he would be capable of taking care of himself, or of being employed in any public service." He continued to prosecute his studies with great ardour; and, at the age of nineteen, had carefully read the principal Latin and Greek authors, completed a course of logic, rhetoric, and moral philosophy, and acquired some knowledge of Hebrew. In 1717, he began to officiate, occasionally, at a Baptist meeting-house in his native town; whence he removed, in 1718, to Higham Ferrers; and, in 1719, be- came minister of a congregation at Horselydown. He now applied him- self to the study of oriental literature, and read the Targimis and Talmud witli a Jewish priest. In 17-tS, he published A Commentary on the New Testament, in three volumes, folio, and shortly afterwards received a diploma of D. D. from the Marischal college of Aberdeen. His subsequent productions were, A Commentary on the Old Testament, in six volumes, folio; A Body of Divinity, in three volumes, quarto; a very elabo- rate work, entitled. Discourses on the Canticles ; The Cause of God and Truth ; A Defence of Calvinism ; A Dissertation on the Antiquity of the Hebrew Tongue ; and a variety of ser- mons, controversial tracts, and other pieces. He died in 1771, leaving two children, the surviving issue of an early marriage. His moral character was excellent; and he appears, upon con- viction, to have been an ultra-Calvinist. As a preacher, he was destitute of taste or eloquence ; and, as a writer, pos- sessed neither judgment nor genius. Endowed with extraordinary powers of acquirement, and enamoured of la- borious research, he became eminently learned, and collected a vast mass of valuable materials, wliich he had not the talent to digest, or the skill to ar- range. Saunders, Lord Lyttelton's as- sistant, ridiculed him, under the appel- lation of Dr. Half-pint, in a scurrilous novel, entitled, Gaffer Grey-beard. FOSTER, (James,) was born at Exeter, on the 16th of September, 1697. When five years old, he was placed at the grammar-school of his native city, where he studied for about eight years; and then, as it is supposed, became as- sistant to his father, who was a labour- ing fuller. He began to preach in 1718; and officiated, successively, at Milbourne Port, Mendip, and Trow- bridge. At the commencement of his clerical labours, he was an Arian ; subsequently, he became a Socinian ; and, after having published a treatise against the doctrine of the Trinity, he appears to have been converted, by Dr. Gale, to the opinions of the Baptists. On quitting Trowbridge, he would, it is said, have abandoned the pulpit, on accoinit of his poverty, for the trade of a glover, had not a gentleman of fortune, named Honlton, appointed him his chaplain. On the death of Dr. Gale, he succeeded that divine as pastor of the general Baptist congregation in Barbican ; and also became, some time afterwards, Sunday evening lecturer at a meeting-house in the Old Jewry. In 1731, he published A Reply to Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Creation ; and, about the same period, produced a collection of sermons, in four volumes, which involved him in a controversy with Stebbing. In 1744, he was chosen pastor to the congregation of Pinners' liall ; and, in 1746, attended, to the scaffold, the unfortunate Earl of Kil- marnock, whose execution, of which he published an account, had such an effect upon his spirits, that, during the remainder of his life, he was always melancholy. About five years before his death, which took place on the 5th of November, 1753, he received a di- ploma of D. D. from the Marischal col- lege of Aberdeen. As a pulpit orator, he was exceedingly admired. His ap- pearance was dignified, his action judi- cious, and his voice harmonious and powerful. " At his chapel," it is said, " there was a confluence of persons of every rank, station, and quality ; wits, free-thinkers, and numbers of the re- gular clergy; who, while they gratified their curiosity, had their prepossessions shaken, and their prejudices loosened." He was highly extolled by many of his cotemporaries, and bitterly reviled by others, some of whom denounced him as an infidel, who denied the divinity of Christ, the atonement, and the 574 APPENDIX. influence of the Holy Spirit. When he was buried, one of his admirers having exclaimed, " There is a good man gone to glory !" another bystander replied, " But he has taken away my Lord, and I know not where he has laid him." The Rev. Mr. Blake, in a tract, entitled Kilmarnock's Ghost, accused him of not having faithfully instructed the Jacobite earl, as to his awful situation, and the duties which it rendered necessary. Bolingbroke states, that he originated the declaration that " where mystery begins, religion ends;" and Pope said of him, " Let modest Foster, iThe will, excel Ten metropolitans in preaching well." His extraordinary talent, as a pulpit orator, is stated to have been first made generally known by the laudatory re- port of a fashionable physician, who had sought shelter from a shower of rain in a chapel where Foster was preaching. Besides the productions already men- tioned, he published two quarto volumes On Natural Religion and Social Virtue ; a volume of funeral sermons ; and some controversial tracts on heresy. FLEMING, (Caleb,) was born at Nottingham, in 1698. After having de- clined an offer of ordination, and a living in Cumberland, he became pastor to a congregation of dissenters, in Bartholomew-close, where he officiated from 1738, until 1752, when he was chosen assistant-preacher, at Pinners' hall, to Dr. James Forster ; whom he soon afterwards succeeded. Some years liefore his death, which took place in 1779, he received a diploma of D. D. from one of the Scotch universities. He is described as having been a man of great ability, learning, and social worth ; a sincere Unitarian in his prin- ciples; a resolute asserter of the rights of conscience aud private judgment; and a determined opponent to the in- terposition of human power in matters of religion. He was the author of several pieces in favour of a repeal of the test and corporation acts; The Fourth Com- mandment abrogated by the Gospel ; A Short Dissertation on Providence; Some Thoughts \ipon the Grounds of Man's Expectation of a Future State from the Principles of Reason ; The Religion of Nature not set up in opposition to the Word of God, nor that of Christ to the Religion of Nature, &c. ; Truth and Modern Deism at Variance, True Deism the Basis of Christianity ; An Apologetical View of the Religious and Moral Sentiments of Lord Bolingbroke ; Christ's Temptation in the Wilderness, a Proof of a Divine Mission; and nu- merous controversial tracts, and other pieces. BENSON, (George,) was born in Cumberland, on the 1st of September, 1699, and completed his education at the university of Glasgow ; from which, it is said, he subsequently received a diploma of D. D. Through the interest of Dr. Calamy, he obtained the charge of a presbyterian congre- gation, at Abingdon, Berks, in 1722 ; and, after having officiated there for about seven years, he became minister of a chapel in St. John's court, South- wark. In 1740, he was chosen as- sistant, at Crutched Friars, to Dr. Lardner, whom he succeeded in 1751. He died, without issue, although he had been twice married, on the 6th of April, 1762. In the History of the Dissenters, by Bennet and Bogue, he is described as having been indefatigable in his ex- ertions ; by no means deficient in learn- ing; but impenetrably dull. The same authors assert, that, while preaching, he sometimes gave quotations of Greek or Hebrew two or three mi- nutes long. They also state, that in the first year of his ministry, he was a Calvinist ; and, while at Abingdon, published three practical discourses to youth on orthodox principles, which he endeavoured to suppress, on subse- quently becoming a convert to Soci- nianism. Although he acquired great reputation as a writer, and diligently laboured to excel as a preacher, — regu- larly beginning, as soon as he returned from the afternoon service on one Sunday, to prepare for the next, — his congregation gradually diminished until it became numerically insignificant. Be- sides the discourses already mentioned, he wrote A History of the Apostolic Church ; A Treatise on the Evidences of Christianity ; A Life of Christ ; Tracts on Persecution and the Reason- ableness of Prayer ; An Account of Calvin's Share in the Burning of Ser- vetus ; Paraphrases of some of the DISSENTERS. 575 Epistles of St. Paul ; A History of the Planting of Christianity ; and some pieces which were published after his decease, in one volume quarto, by Dr. Amory. He is said to have enjoyed the friendship of Herring, Hoadly, Butler, Convbeare, and many other eminent divines of the established church. TOWGOOD, (MiCAJAH,) the son of a piiysician, was born at Axminster, Devon, on the 6th of December, 1700. After having received a good education, he was ordained pastor, in 1722 ; and officiated, first, at Aloreton Hampstead, (wiiere he married a young lady named Hawker,) and, subsequently, at Cre- diton, both in his native county. About the year 1735, he produced a tract, en- titled. Recovery from Sickness; in 1737, Hi^h-flown Episcopal and Priestley Claims freely Examined ; in 1739, 'File Dijsenter's Apology ; in 1741, a pamphlet in favour of the war with Spain ; in 1745, a tract against the Pretender's legitimacy; and, in 1746, and the two following years, a series of letters, entitled, The DissentingGentle- man's Answer to Mr. White, which, being afterwards collectively published, reached a sixth edition in 1787. In 1748, he produced an attack on the character of Charles the First; and, in 1750, several pieces in favour of infant baptism. In 1761, he became lecturer on the New Testament, at an academy for the education of young men who in- tended to become dissenting ministers, at Exeter, whither he had previously removed from Crediton. He resigned his office of lecturer in 1769, but con- tinued to preach until 1784. His death occurred on the 31st of January, 1792. He appears to have been a man of ex- tensive reading, exemplary in the dis- charge of his duties as a pastor, and highly amiable in private life. Siiortly after his decease, a memoir of him was published by Manning, in which it is said, that " his religious sentiments were such as were deemed highly heretical, when he first entered upon public life; on which account he found some difficulty in procuring ordination, and experienced the resentment of bigots long after : but," continues the biographer, " they would be esteemed what is termed orthodox by many in the present day ; as he attributed to Christ a high degree of pre-existent dignity, and considered him as a proper object of religious worship." MASON, (John), the son of a dissent- ing minister, was born at Dunmow, in 1705, and educated principally by Mr. Jennings, of Kibworih. In the twenty- first year of his age, he became cliaplain and private tutor in the family of Go- vernor Peaks, at Hatfield ; and, in 1728, he was chosen pastor of a congregation at Dorking ; whence he removed, in 1746, to Cheshunt ; where, in addition to his ministerial labours, he superin- tended the education of several young men, who afterwards became eminent preachers. He distinguished liimself more as a writer than as a divine : his first work, A Plain and Modest Plea for Christianity, was published anony- mously ; the name of its author, how- ever, soon became known, and the university of Edinburgh, by the recom- mendation of Dr. Walker, of Homerton, conferred upon him the degree of M. A., by diploma. He subsequently pub- lished a valuable Treatise on Self Know- ledge; Essays on Christian Morals; Student and Pastor; Essays on Elocu- tions ; and fifty-two sermons on the most important subjects in divinity, under tlie title of Lord's Day Evening Entertainment. He also printed A Sermon on the death of George the Second, in which he stated, " that tlie Tories, wlio had laboured to restore the Stuarts, were most clamorous for non- resistance under the worst government, and most forward to resist the best." He was a staunch advocate for civil and religious liberty; a zealous pastor; a grave and impressive, but not very eloquent, preacher; and a good man. The whole of his works appear to have excited attention, at the time of their appearance ; and some of them still continue to be admired, particularly the Treatise on Self Knowledge; whicli is, periiaps, one of the most popular books of its class extant. His death took place in October, 1763. WESLEY, (Charles,) brother to the celebrated John Wesley, was born at Epworth, on the 18th of December, 1708. After having been, for some time, a student at Westminster, he was 576 APPENDIX. admitted, in 1721, a scholar on the foundation ; and, eventually, became captain of the school. In 1726, he was elected to Christchurch, Oxford, where he took the degree of B. A. in 1729, and that of M.A. in 1732. He had previously rendered himself con- spicuous as a member of the small religious society, from which Arminiaii Methodism may be said to have sprung ; and, in 1735, his zeal for religion prompted liim, after having been or- dained deacon and priest, to accompany his broiiier John, on a mission to Georgia, in the capacity of secretary to Governor Oglethorpe. He laboured assiduously as a preacher among the Indians and colonists until the following year, when he returned to England, and soon after commenced his brilliant and successful career as a dissenting pastor. In some important points of doc- trine he differed from his brother John, to whom, however, asa preacher, hevvas, by many of their cotemporaries, deemed at least equal, if not superior. He is thus spoken of by an individual, who heard him address a congregation in a field near Bristol: — "I found him standing on a table-board, in an erect posture, with his hands and eyes lifted up to heaven in prayer; he prayed with un- connnon fervour, fluency, and variety of proper expressions. He preached about an hour, in such a manner as I scarce ever heard any man preach. Though I have heard many a finer ser- mon, according to the connnon taste or acceptation of sermons, 1 never heard any man discover such evident signs of a vehement desire, or labour so earnestly to convince his hearers, that they were all, by nature, in a sinful, lost, undone state ; witli uncommon fervour, as an ambassador of Christ, beseeching them in his name, and praying them in his stead, to be reconciled to God. Al- though he used no notes, nor had any thing in his hand but a Bible, yet he delivered his thoughts in a rich, copious variety of expression, and with so much propriety, that I could not observe any- thing incolierent or inanimate throiigii the whole pcrfoiniance." He published a collection of hymns, for the use of the Wesleyan niethodists, which lias passed through a vast number of editions ; and a sermon, from the text, " Awake, thou that sleepest," of which, it is said, more than a hundred thousand copies have been sold. Lay preaching, when it was first proposed by his brother, he de- nounced as a pestilent error ; nor could he be prevailed upon to countenance it, until satisfied that their original project of obtaining the co-operation of regular divines, was utterly hopeless. He died in 1788, leaving two sons, who acquired great reputation for their mu- sical talents. GIBj (Adam,) a native of Perthshire, was born in 1713, and completed his education at the university of Edin- burgh, where he took tlie degree of M. A. About the year 1730, he ap- pears to have obtained a pastoral charge, from which, however, he was dismissed, three years afterwards, for joining with Erskine and other seceders, in at- tacking the system of private patronage, pursued by tiie general assembly of the Scotch church. In 1741, he was ap- pointed pastor to a congregation of the new sect; of which, he continued to be a distinguished supporter, until 174G, when a schism arising as to the oaths taken by burgesses, he became leader of the party termed the Anti-burghers. His productions consist of A Display of the Secession Testimony, in two volumes, octavo ; Sacred Contempla- tions, to whicli was appended. An Essay on Liberty and Necessity, in answer to Lord Kaimes ; and some minor pieces. He is described as having been pious, talented, and amiable, but " rather too pertinaciously attached to his own opinions." His death took place at Edinburgh, on the 18th of June, 178S. ORTON, (Job,) was born at Shrews- bury, on tlie 4th of September, 1717. After having acquired the rudiments of learning, at the free-school of his native place, he studied, for about a year, under Dr. Owen, at Warrington; whence he proceeded to the dissenting academy, founded at Northampton, by the celebrated Doddridge, to whom he became assistant-tutor in 1739. About the same time, he commenced his mi- nisterial labours, and (jreached, occa- sionally, at various places in Northamp- tonshire, until 1711 ; in which year, he accepted the office of pastor to the united indeiiendcnt and presbyterian congregation at Shrewsbury, which he DISSENTERS. 577 held, until compelled, by ill health, to resign it, in 1765. Shortly afterwards, he retired upon a small independence, which had been bequeathed to him by a distant relative, to the neighbourhood of Kidderminster, where he died, on the 19th of July, 17S3. During the latter part of his life, which was much embittered by nervous irritability, so strictly regular were his habits, that, it is said, the children, in the street where he lived, invariably ran home to dinner, as soon as they espied him returning from his morning walk ; and if any of his friends remained at his house after the clock had struck nine, he became uneasy, and soon gave them a hint to depart, by saying, " Won't you take another glass of wine, before you go?" "If Job Orton," observes Dr. Bogue, " had had a good, cheer- ful wife, and two or three romping children around him, they would have rubbed off his corners, dispelled his low spirits, and made him a much more useful and a happier man." He was sincerely attached to his hearers at Shrewsbury, (who were neither rich nor numerous,) and disinterestedly re- fused to quit them, although he might, it is said, have succeeded Dr. Hughes in the metropolis, or Dr. Doddridge at Northampton. Many years before his death, he was complimented with the title of D. D. which, how ever, with his characteristic modesty, he declined to adopt. His writings are sensible, per- spicuous, and energetic, but not brilliant: they consist of Memoirs of Dr. Dod- dridge ; A Summary of Doctrinal and Practical Religion, by way of Ques- tion and Answer; Three Discourses on Eternity ; Discourses to tlie Aged ; Dis- courses on Practical Subjects ; Sacra- mental Meditations ; and some other pieces ; besides two posthumous works, — one in six volumes, entitled, A Plain and Short Exposition of the Old Testa- ment, and the other, in two volumes, Letters to a Young Clergyman. FORDYCE, (James,) was born in 1720, and educated at the Marischal college of Aberdeen. Obtaining a li- cense to preach, he became, at an early age, second minister of tlie collegiate church of Brechin ; and subsequently obtained the living of Alloa, near Stir- ling. In 1760, he published a discourse. which he had delivered before the ge- neral assembly of the Scotch church. On the Folly, Infamy, and Misery of Unlawful Pleasures ; and was, shortly afterwards, complimented with the de- gree of D. D. from the university of Glasgow. About 1762, he accepted an invitation, from the presbyterian con- gregation in Monkwell-street, London, to become assistant to their pastor. Dr. Lawrence, whom he subsequently suc- ceeded. For many years, he enjoyed great popularity as a preaciier ; but, in 1775, a difference with his coadjutor led to a division of his flock ; and, from that period, his reputation and influence ap- pear to have been on the wane. Morti- fied to perceive that his hearers were gradually diminishing, and becoming sensible of the increasing infirmities of age, he resigned his pastoral charge, in 1782, and died suddenly, at Bath, on the 1st of October, 1790. His figure was tall and commanding, his countenance intelligent, and his delivery studiously impressive. He cultivated his natural talent for pulpit eloquence, witii great assiduity ; and bestowed extraordinary care in polishing his style. Those ap- parently spontaneous gestures, with which he sometimes amazed and often delighted his congregation, were, it is said, purely artificial; and that easy elegance of language, for which his compositions were so much admired, altliough apparently natural, was the result of hard application. Besides the piece already mentioned, and his cele- brated Sermons to Young Women, and Addresses to Young Men, in which, it has been justly observed, religion is represented in her most attractive form, he published a volume of poems, and Addresses to the Deity. In noticing his Sermons to Young Women, which ap- peared anonymously, the Critical Re- viewers, of 1766, observe of the writer : — " While he remains concealed, we may apply to him the observation that was made on the unknown author of The Ladies' Calling,—' that, like the river Nilus, which gives fertility and blessing wherever he passes, he con- ceals his head, and permits himself only to be known by the blessings he dis- penses.' " FURNEAUX, (Philip.) a native of Totness, in Devonshire, was born in 578 APTE NDIX. 1726 ; and, after having studied theo- logy, under Jennings, an able dissenter, became, at the age of twenty-one, as- sistant-preacher to a presbyterian con- gregation in Southwark. He was af- terwards appointed Sunday evening lecturer at Salters' hall; and, in 1753, succeeded the Rev. Moses Lowman, at Clapham. He enjoyed extraordi- nary popularity as a preacher, until 1777; when, becoming insane, he was consigned to a private mad-house, where he died, in 1786. A zealous ad- vocate for religious liberty, he warmly encouraged the application to parlia- ment for relief from subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, and published a work apainst Blackstone's Exposition of the Act of Toleration ; lo a second edition of which, he appended the speech, delivered by Lord Mansfield in tlie house of lords, relative to the im- portant case between the dissenters and the corporation of London, in 1767; which, it is said, although of two hours' duration, he wrote down, from memory, so accurately, that its learned speaker could not detect above two or three trifling errors in the transcript. The other productions of this unfortunate divine (who received a Scotch diploma of D. D. in 1770) consist of a few ser- mons ; and an Essay on Toleration, in which he displayed considerable libe- rality, learning, and acuteness. In doc- trine, he is said to have been strictly orthodox, but not always sufficiently evangelical for his congregation ; and, it is added, he marred the effect of his pidpit orations, which were elegantly composed, by a whining delivery, and an ungraceful mode of poring over his manuscript. HARWOOD, (Edward,) was born in 1729, at a village in Lancashire, and completed his education at one of Mr. Coward's dissenting academies. In 1750, he became assistant to the master of a boarding-school, at Peckham, in Surrey ; and preached occasionally for Dr. I'jenson, at Crutched Friars. '• In 1754," he says, " I removed to Con- glcton, in Cheshire, where I taught at a graumiar-school, delivered up to me by one of the most ingenious and learned men I have ever known, — the Rev. William Turner; with whom I lived i-.i friendship and harmony, for seven years, preaching alternate Sundays, to two small societies, at Whitelocke, in Cheshire, and Leek, in Staffordshire. In 1765, I was invited to take charge of a very small church, in Bristol ; but, upon publishing a second edition of The Supremacy of the Faith, written by one Williams, I was, every week, calumniated in the Bristol paper, as an Arian, a Socinian, a Deist, and worse than a Deist." He was also accused, it is said, of immoral conduct ; and his in- come suffered so material a diminution, that he was compelled to resign his office. Proceeding to London, he made an attempt to procure employment in the British Museum ; which proving unsuccessful, he supported himself by literary labour, and teaching the clas- sics, until about the year 1780, when an attack of the palsy reduced him to so helpless a state, that, during tlie re- mainder of his life, he depended, chiefly, for the means of existence, on an allow- ance from the Literary Fund, and the contributions of the benevolent. He died, miserably poor, on the 14th of January, 1794, leaving one son, and a widow, the daughter of Dr. Chandler, who had procured for him, in 1768, a diploma of D. D., from the university of Edinburgh. Besides many highly interesting critical and historical com- munications to the Gentleman's Maga- zine, and other periodicals, he published An Introduction to the Study of the New Testament ; A View of the Principal Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics ; A Liberal Translation of the New Testament into modern English ; Five Dissertations relative to Arianism and Socinianism ; The Life and Cha- racter of Jesus Christ delineated ; Mis- cellanies of Abauzit, translated from the French ; An Edition of the New Testament, in Greek, with English Notes ; The Melancholy Doctrine of Predestination exposed, and the De- lightful Truth of Universal Redemp- tion represented; The Great Duty and Delight of Contentment ; A Discom-se on St. Paul's Description of Death ; a vohmie of sermons ; and various other pieces, of minor importance. PALMER, (John,) a native of Southwark, and the son of an under- taker, was born in 1729. In 1755, he became assistant-preacher, and, in 1759, DISS !■: NTE RS. 571) sole pastor, of a congregation, in New Broad-street ; on the dissolution of which, in 17S0, having previously mar- ried a lady of fortune, he retired to Islington, and passed the remainder of his life as a private gentleman. He is stated to liave abandoned Calvinism, in which he had been brought up, for Socinianism ; and to have been an avowed opponent to all tests of faith. His pulpit compositions were perspi- cuous, and his mode of delivery unex- ceptionable. His works, in which he displayed considerable learning and talent, consist of Prayers for the Use of Families; Free Thoughts on the In- consistency of conforming to any Reli- gious I'est, as a Condition of Toleration ; Observations in Defence of the Liberty of Man, as a Moral Agent, in reply to Priestley's Illustrations of Philosophical Necessity ; An Appendix to that pro- duction, and A Letter to Priestley on the same subject ; .A. Summary View of the Grounds of Christian Baptism ; and some other pieces. He died on the 26th of June, 1790. FLETCHER, (John William,) youngest son of Colonel de la Flechere, a Swiss, in tlie French service, was born on the 12th of September, 1729, near Geneva, where he appears to have commenced and completed his education. Evincing a predilection for a military life, he proceeded, at an early age, contrary to the wishes of his friends, who considered him to be more qualified for the church tiian the camp, to Portugal, where he obtained the captaincy of a company of volunteers, who were destined to serve in Brazil ; but, on the morning of his intended de- parture, a servant, by accident, scalded him so severely that he was incapable of embarking. The man of war, in which he had been ordered to sail, consequently, put to sea without him, and was never heard of again. He subsequently procured a commission in the Dutch service ; but, an unexpected peace putting an end to his hopes of promotion, he abandoned the army, and removing to England, became tutor in the family of Mr. Hill, of Shropshire; and, at length, a preacher among the Wesleyan Methodists. Having obtained a title for holy orders, he was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Bangor, on the Cth of March, 17C7, and priest on the fol- lowing sabbath. After having officiated at various places in the country, and preached to the French prisoners at Tunbridge, in their own language, he was appointed assistant to Charles Wesley. Although his pronunciation of the English language was imperfect, the correctness of his manner in the pulpit, procured him many admirers, one of whom, presented him, in 1759, to the vicarage of Madeley, which he held during the remainder of his life. In 1770, he visited his native country; and, on his return to England, in the following simimer. became gratuitous superintendaut of the Countess of Huntingdon's college of divinity; but, owing to a schism among the students, on the subject of predestination, he re- signed his office \n 1771; and, subse- quently, produced several controversial works. In 1777, he proceeded to the south of France, for the benefit of his health ; and soon after his return, in 1781, married a lady, named Bosanquet. His death took place on the 18th of August, 1785. His mode of living was simple, his devotion pure, his temper l)e- nignant, and his conduct exemplary. For a long period he regidarly devoted two nights in the week to meditation and prayer. He also had a candle constantly burning at his bed-side ; a custom which once nearly cost him his life, through his curtains catching fire, though he pro- videntially escaped without the slightest personal injury. It appears that he re- fused to enforce the payment of tithes from the Quakers who resided in his parish, so that the income he derived from his vicarage did not exceed £100 per annum. It was said, by one of his friends, that he would rather hear one of his sermons than read a volume of his works : these consist of A Vindi- cation of the Reverend Mr. Wesley's Calm Address to our American Colonie;>, in some Letters to Mr. Caleb Evans ; A Sermon on an Earthquake in Shrop- shire ; American Patriotism furtiier confronted with Reason, Scripture, and the Constitution ; The Doctrines of Grace and Justice equally essential to the Pure Gospel ; and An Essay on the Peace of 1 783. TOULMIN, (Joshua,) was born in London, on the 11th of May, 1740, and 580 APPENDIX. educated at St. Paul's school, and at a dissenting academy, kept by Doctors Jennings and Savage. He first offi- ciated as a divine at Colyton, in Devon- shire, where he zealously advocated adult baptism by complete immersion. In 1765, he removed to Taunton, and became a bookseller, a schoolmaster, and pastor to a Baptist congregation. Some time afterwards, he received the degree of M. A. from the Baptist's col- lege of Rhode Island, in New Eng- land ; and, in 1794, that of D. D. from Havard college, Cambridge, in the same state. In 1804, he was appointed pastor of the Unitarian congregation, at Birmingham, where he officiated until his decease, which took place on the 23rd of July, 1815. By his wife, Jane, daughter of Mr. S. Smith, of Taunton, he had twelve children, five of whom survived him. " His discourses are said to have been appropriate ; and his manner and delivery solemn and aff'ectionate. He preached on various public occasions ; was a firm supporter of civil and religious liberty ; and con- tributed generously to many religious and charitable institutions. His works, some of which possess considerable merit, consist of The Life of Socinus ; A History of Taunton ; A Dissertation on the Evidences of Christianity ; A Review of the Life, Character, and Writings of John Biddle ; Biography of Doctor Priestley ; a new edition of Neal's History of the Puritans; An Historical View of the Protestant Dis- senters ; Memoirs of Samuel Brown ; The Injustice of Classing the Unita- rians with Deists and Infidels ; A Ser- mon on the Death of the Rev. Robert Robinson ; and some other pieces. DISNEY, (John,) the son of a cler- gyman, was born at Lincoln, on the 28th of September, 174(j, and finished his education at Peterborough college, Cambridge, where he took the degree of L.L. B. On entering into holy orders, he was appointed chaplain to Bishop Law, and soon afterwards obtained the vicarage of Svvinderby, with the rectory of Panton ; both of whicli he resigned in the autumn of 1782, having become a proselyte to Unitaiianism. He then published his reasons for quitting the established church, in wliicli he con- fessed, that the just claims of an infant family had pleaded hard against his conscientious determination. Shortly afterwards, he was chosen assistant, and, in 1793, successor, to his brother- in-law, the celebrated Lindsey, at the Unitarian chapel, in Essex-street; where he continued to officiate until 1805, when ill health compelled him to resign. He died on the 26th of December, 1816, leaving two children, by his wife, Jane, eldest daughter of Arclideacon Blackburne. Out of pure esteem for the character of this able, benevolent, and, apparently, conscientious divine, a gentleman named Dodson bequeathed him half of his fortune ; and Mr. Brand Hollis made him sole devisee of all his estate and effects, real and personal, with the exception of a few inconsider- able legacies. Dr. Disney published memoirs of his two munificent bene- factors ; Biographical Sketches of Law, Sykes, Jebb, Jortin, Garnham, and Hopkins ; a tract, entitled. Animad- versions on Dr. Rutlierforth ; A Short View of Confessional and Clerical Peti- tion Controversies; Remarks on Bishop Hurd'sCharge,published in 1777, (about which time he received a diploma of D. D. from one of the Scotch univer- sities, and became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries) ; Considerations on the Clergy acting in the Commission of the Peace ; A Friendly Dialogue between an Athanasian and Trinitarian; Observa- tions on the Homilies; An Arranged Catalogue of Publications on Toleration, Corporation, and Test Acts; The Book of Common Prayer Reformed, for the Use of Unitarian Congregations, first published in 1792, to which were added, Psalms and Hymns, in 1802; The Great Importance of a Religious Life Considered; four volumes of sermons ; and some other works. BENSON, (Joseph,) was born at Kiik Oswald, in Cumberland, on the 25th of January, 1748, and educated in his native village. At the age of sixteen he became teacher in a school at Gamblesley ; and, on the 11th of March, 1766, received from John Wesley the appointment of classical master at Kingswood academy, of which he be- came principal in 177 L Sometime after, while keeping a term at Oxford, of which university he had entered him- self in 1769, certain disputes occurred DISSENTERS. 581 among his pupils at Kingswood, rela- tive to the doctrine of predestination, on accoiuit of which he thought proper to resign. After having been twice re- fused ordination, — on the first occasion, because he had preached contrary to the statutes, and, on the second, for want of a degree,— he became a pro- fessed Wesleyan minister, and preached, successively, at London, Newcastle, Edinburgh', and Manchester. In July, 1800, he was appointed superintendant of the London circuit, in which he continued to officiate, with great suc- cess, preaching in the open air as \yell as in chapels, until a short time before his death, which took place on the 16th of February, 1821. He was so disin- terested, that he refused to accept a grant of jSoOO, voted to him by a confeience of Methodists, in 1815, as some reward for his literary labours ; among wliich were Remarlts on Dr. Priestley's System of Materialism ; An Essay on the Separate Existence of the Soul ; A Vindication of the Me- thodists, in answer to the Bishop of Lincoln ; the hfe of his friend, the Rev. J. W. Fletcher ; A Commentary on the Historical Books of the Old and New Testament ; An Answer to the Defence of Kilham ; and a volume of Sermons. He also edited the Metho- dists' Magazine, from the month of August, 1802, up to the period of his death. As an author, he was clear and argumentative ; as a preacher, he skil- fully adapted his discourses to the minds and circumstances of those whom he was addressing ; and the effect he produced was often so great as to cause faintings and convulsions among his audience. At one time he is said to have entertained a doubt as to the truth of Christianity ; but his scepticism was not of long duration. He also ex- posed himself to a suspicion of Arian- ism, from which, however, he fully cleared himself before a conference. He was married in 1780, to a Miss Thompson, at Leeds, by whom he had issue. BELSHAM, (Thomas,) brother of Wilham Belsham, the historian, was born at Daventry, in 1753, and edu- cated at a dissenting academy, in his native place ; of wliich, on the expira- tion of his pupilage, he became an assistant-tutor. In 1778, he obtained the charge of a small congregation, at Worcester; and, in 1781. succeeded to an important pastoral office, and the situation of principal, or theological tutor, at Daventry ; both of which he resigned in 1789, on becoming a convert to Unitarianism. In vindication of his conduct, he published, in 1790, a ser- mon On the Importance of Truth ; and another, in 1794, entitled. Dishonest Shame, the primary Source of Corrup- tion. His ability and learning soon procured him the appointments of di- vinity professor at Hackney college, and successor to Priestley, in the charge of a congregation at Kensington. Gra- dually acquiring an increase of reputa- tion, he was, at length, chosen minister of the chapel in Essex-street, and re- cognised as the head of the Unitarian church. He officiated with great suc- cess, until age and infirmity compelled him to abandon his pulpit ; in which his language was always perspicuous, and frequently elegant; but he is said to have been cold and formal in his manner, and entirely destitute of oratorical ac- tion. Besides the two pieces already named, his works consist of A Life of Priestley; Elements of the Philosophy of Mind and Morals ; Memoirs of the Rev. Mr. Lindsey ; and A New Trans- lation of the Epistles of St. Paul, in which he is charged with having mis- interpreted the original, in order to make it accord with his own theological opinions. EVANS, (John,) was born at Usk, in Monmouthshire, on the 2nd of Oc- tober, 1767, and, at the age of seventeen, began to preach at Bristol, where he had, for some time previously, studied under the celebrated Robert Hall. In 1787, he was matriculated at the univer- sity of Aberdeen, whence he proceeded, in 1790, to that of Edinburgh, where he obtained the degree of M.A. About the year 1792, he succeeded Mr. Anthony Robinson, as pastor of a congregation, in Worship-street; on which occasion, he published An Address designed to promote the Revival of Religion among the General Baptists. Shortly after- wards, appeared his Address to Young People, on the Necessity and Importance of Religion ; and, in 1795, he produced his Sketch of the Denominations of 582 APPE NDIX. the Christian World. He now opened an academy for a limited number of pupils, and soon acquired considerable reputation as an instructor of youth. In 1815, he was attacked with a com- plaint tiiat deprived him of the use of ins legs during the remainder of his life; in 1S19, he received the degree of D. C. L. from one of the American universities; and in 1821, he resigned his school, on the deatli of his third son, who had been his intended successor. Although entirely incapable of locomo- tion, — being carried, it is stated, to and fro, between his couch and his pulpit, — he continued to preach until a few weeks before his death, which took place on the 25th of January, 1827. He evinced, it is said, throughout life, an ardent desire to render those around him happy, and to reconcile conflicting opinions among all denominations of Christians. He excelled in extem- poraneous composition; and was much admired for the simple and unambitious, yet, impressive style of his discourses, in which, practical utility appears to have been his primary object. Besides the works already noticed, he published several topographical, miscellaneous, and theological pieces. In the preface to a fourteenth edition of his Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World, he states that although one hundred thousand copies of the work had then been sold, he had received only £10 for the copyright- CHALMERS, (Thomas,) professor of moral philosophy in tlie university of St. Andrews, was born about the year 1770, in Scotland, and proceeded to tlie degree of D. I)., in one of the universities of his native country. H^ officiated for many years as minister of Kilmany ; but, having become famous for his oratory, lie was invited to Edin- burgh, and his reputation stillextending, he at length obtained the valuable mi- nistry of St. John's, Glasgow. In 1823, during a brief visit to London, he preached repeatedly to immense con- gregations. His works consist of An Address to the Inhabitants of the Parish of Kilmany, on the Duty of giving an immediate Diligence to the Business of Christian Life; Scripture References; The Utility of Missions Ascertained from Experience; An Inquiry into the Ex- tent and Stability of National Revenues; The Influence of Bible Societies on the Temporal Necessities of the Poor ; The Evidence and Autliority of the Christian Revelation ; A Series of Discourses on the Christian Revelation viewed in Connexion with Modern Astronomy ; Sermons preached at the Iron cluach, Glasgow ; The Doctrine of Christian Charity applied to the Case of Religious Difference; The Two Great Instru- ments appointed for the Propagation of the Gospel ; Speech delivered in the General Assembly respecting the Bill for augmenting the Stipends of the Clergy of Scotland ; Thoughts on Uni- versal • Peace ; and various tracts and other pieces, political and religious. Although many of his productions are highly honourable to the talents of Dr. Chalmers, his reputation principally rests on his pulpit eloquence, which is remarkable for the power with which it appeals to the feelings, and convinces thejudgmentof his auditors. END OF VOL. I. Vi/.ct«lt^ , CruuNton and C-u, FlaetSirsal, LuikIui UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-75m-7,'61(C1437s4)444 cy^. 3 1158 00226 8992 3 A1G2 v.l UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 387 094 6 yXHvSi \% sX^%^=^ s ■ v^^ i:>^ :'S^>s«i