"I was told that a subscription would be the more profitable method for me, and therefore endeavoured to circulate copies of the enclosed proposals.

“I am afraid, sir, I disgust you with this very dull narration, but believe me punished in the misery that occasions it. You will conclude that during this time I must have been at more expense than I could afford; indeed, the most parsimonious could not have avoided it. The printer deceived me, and my little business has had every delay. The people with whom I live perceive my situation, and find me to be indigent and without friends. About ten days since I was compelled to give a note for seven pounds, to avoid an arrest for about double that sum, which I owe. I wrote to every friend I had; but my friends are poor likewise; the time of payment approached, and I ventured to represent my case to Lord Rochford. I begged to be credited for this sum till I received it of my subscribers, which I believe will be within one month; but to this letter I had no reply, and I have probably offended by my importunity. Having used every honest means in vain, I yesterday confessed my inability, and obtained, with much entreaty, and as the greatest favour, a week's forbearance, when, I am positively told, I must pay the money or prepare for a prison.

'You will guess the purpose of so long an introduction. I appeal to you, sir, as a good, and, let me add, a great man. I have no other pretensions to your favour than that I am an unhappy one. It is not easy to support the thoughts of confinement, and I am coward enough to dread such an end to my suspense.

"Can you, sir, in any degree, aid me with propriety? Will you ask any demonstrations of my veracity? I have imposed upon myself, but I have been guilty of no other imposition. Let me, if possible, interest your compassion. I know those of rank and fortune are teased with frequent petitions, and are compelled to refuse the requests even of those whom they know to be in distress; it is, therefore, with a distant hope I ventured to solicit such favour;

RECEPTION AND RELIEF OF CRABBE.

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but you will forgive me, sir, if you do not think proper to relieve. It is impossible that sentiments like yours can proceed from any but a humane and generous heart.

"I will call upon you, sir, to-morrow; and if I have not the happiness to obtain credit with you, I must submit to my fate. My existence is a pain to myself, and every one near and dear to me are distressed in my distresses. My connexions, once the

source of happiness, now embitter the reverse of my fortune; and I have only to hope a speedy end to a life so unpromisingly begun; in which (though it ought not to be boasted of) I can reap some consolation from looking to the end of it.

"I am, sir, with the greatest respect, your obedient and most humble servant,

"GEORGE CRABBE."

At the time of this letter,-in 1781, as already stated,—Mr. Burke was closely occupied. His time was absorbed in a sea of parliamentary business and trouble. It should also be remembered that he was far from possessing affluence. Yet when he read the letter, he did not hesitate an instant. Stress upon his time, or narrowness of his fortune, must not check his bounty; the interview must be granted. He forthwith appointed an hour for Crabbe to call upon him; and the poor bard, who only the day before had his foot on the very brink of ruin, found himself all at once in the presence of one who must have appeared to him as an angel of The meeting was momentous, not only for Crabbe's future welfare, but for the literature of this country. On that day, by that act of benevolence, Burke rescued and secured for England a poet whom not many have rivalled, very few excelled. A remarkable scene it was! The man of humanity receiving the man of misery, charity the first impulse-approbation the next; for, when Johnson and Goldsmith's friend-the author of " the Sublime and Beautiful," cast his eye over the sterling verse the needy hand tendered to him, the intellect of the scholar-statesman came

succour.

into play. He saw directly that the distressed being before him was no common individual. He confessed his genius, while he comforted his sorrows; and from that hour Crabbe was a made man. Burke not only relieved his more pressing necessities, but domesticated him in his own house, introduced him to a large circle of noble and literary friends, afforded him the inestimable advantage of his critical advice, and having established his poetical reputation in the world, finally crowned the most ardent aspirations of his protégé by getting him admitted into the Church. This, as matters stood, was somewhat difficult to be brought to pass; Crabbe had never received a regular education, an impediment generally considered insuperable. Burke was well aware of this but his was a zeal that nothing could chill when he had once taken up a cause; he exerted himself with Mr. Dudley North and Mr. Charles Long, and his influence being backed by theirs, he overcame the scruples of the Bishop of Norwich, and obtained his consent to Crabbe's ordination. This led to a living in the Church, and to Crabbe's subsequent happiness and prosperity. If there be aught that can be compared with the generous soul of Burke, it is the gratitude of the poet in preserving, as sacred, the record of these benefits conferred, and the manly frankness of his son in publishing it to the world. Crabbe was deserving of his patron; and that is the highest eulogy that can be pronounced upon him. Of Burke himself it may be said, that these deeds of charity, more, even, than his greatness, speak to his eternal honour, and make one easily accord with Abraham Shackleton, the son of his early friend, who, when Burke was near his death, wrote to him thus: "the memory of Edmund Burke's philanthropic virtues will outlive the period when his shining political talents will cease to

1

New fashions of political sentiment will exist, but philanthropy-immortale manet.”

"When the loud cry of trampled Hindostan
Arose to Heaven in her appeal from man,

His was the thunder, his the avenging rod,

The wrath-the delegated voice of God,

Which shook the nations through his lips, and blazed,

Till vanquished senates trembled as they praised."-BYRON.

".... Reus in judicium adductus est Caius Verres, homo vita atque factis, omnium jam opinione, damnatus, pecuniæ magnitudine, sua spe ac prædicatione, absolutus. Huic ego causa, judices, cum summa voluntate et expectatione populi Romani actor accessi, non ut augerem invidiam ordinis, sed ut infamiæ communi succurrerem. Adduxi enim hominem, in quo reconciliare existimationem judiciorum amissam, redire in gratiam cum populo Romano, satisfacere exteris nationibus possetis; depeculatorem ærarii, vexatorem Asiæ atque Pamphyliæ, prædonem juris urbani, labem atque perniciem provincia Siciliæ."-CICERO in Verrem.

COALITION MINISTRY-BURKE AGAIN PAYMASTER-GENERAL-INDIA AND THE AFFAIRS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY-PHILIP FRANCIS-WARREN HASTINGS-Fox's EAST INDIA BILL-THE PITT ADMINISTRATION-THE

NABOB OF ARCOT'S DEBTS-BURKE LORD RECTOR OF GLASGOW UNIVERSITY-BURGLARY AT BEACONSFIELD-DEATH AND FUNERAL OF DR. JOHNSON-IMPEACHMENT AND TRIAL OF WARREN HASTINGS-ACQUITTAL OF HASTINGS; HIS SUBSEQUENT CAREER and Death-DEATH OF FRANCIS.

THE Shelburne government had but brief vitality. The famous coalition between Fox and Lord North, which Burke joined, succeeded in putting an end to this administration on the 21st February, 1783. The new cabinet, which was formed in the April following, and of which the Duke of Portland was the nominal head, had Lord John Cavendish as chancellor of the exchequer, and Mr. Fox and Lord North joint secretaries of state. Mr. Burke was once more paymaster of the forces.

In this much-blamed alliance, Burke came in for a less share of condemnation than Fox, Lord North, or any of the rest. Burke, when charged in common with those of his party with his former political enmity against Lord North, answered that "he considered that lord as a principal promoter and encourager of the American war; a war which he held destructive of the interests and constitutional rights of this country. As a minister, therefore, he reprobated his conduct; but the American contest being over, and other measures about to be pursued, which, in his opinion, might heal the bruises of this war, he coalesced with him as a man who (benefiting himself by his former mistakes) might still render important services to his country." Burke, unlike Fox, had really never directed his attack against Lord North personally.

The formation of the coalition administration leads to a subject which formed another great phasis in Burke's brilliant course— India; a topic that has not been previously entered upon here, it seeming better to embrace the whole of it under one chapter. To understand it, however, rightly, some few steps must be retraced. The East, and especially the British territories there, had, from Burke's earliest public career, been a favourite theme with him. As far back as 1755, a friendship he had formed with a talented