dear his name to all the friends of genius, and all the lovers of liberty. ; "Our Stage," faid he, "ought certainly to be kept within due bounds but for this purpofe, our laws, as they ftand at present, are fufficient. If our Players, at any time, exceed those bounds, they ought to be profecuted; they may be punished. We have precedents, we have examples of perfons punished for things lefs criminal than fome pieces which have been lately reprefented. A new law muft therefore be unneceffary; and, in the prefent cafe, it cannot be unneceffary without being dangerous. Every unneceffary reftraint is a fetter upon the legs, is a fhackle upon the hands of Liberty. One of the greatest bleffings we enjoy; one of the greatest bleffings a people can enjoy, is Liberty: But every good has its alloy licentioufnefs is the alloy of liberty. It is an ebullition, an excrefcence; it is a speck upon the eye of the political body, which I can never touch but with a gentle-with a trembling hand, left I injure the body; lett I hurt the eye upon which is is apt to ap pear. "If the Stage becomes at any time licentious; if a Play appears to be a libel upon the government, or upon any particular man, the King's courts are open, the law is fufficient to punish the offender: If Poets and Players are to be restrained, let them be restrained as other fubjects are, by the known laws of the land; if they offend, let them be tried as every Englishman ought, by God and their Country. Let us not fubject them to the arbitrary will and pleasure of any one man. A power lodged in the hands of a fingle perfon, to judge and determine without limitation, controul, or appeal, is a fort of power unknown to our Laws, and inconsistant with our constitution: it is a higher and more abfolute power than we truft even to the King himself; I must therefore think, we ought not to veft any fuch power in his Majefty's Lord Chamberlain." The next remarkable appearance which Lord Chesterfield made was in 1738, in a fpirited harangue against a ftanding army. After fhewing the oppreffive taxes it occafioned, he affirmed that flavery and arbitrary power were the confequences of keeping up a standing army for any number of years, and particularly in time of peace. "It is the machine,"-continued he, "by which the chains of Slavery are riveted upon a free people. They may be fecretly prepared by corruption; but, unless a standing army protect those that forged them, the people will break them afunder, and chop off the polluted hands by which they were prepared. 46 By degrees a free people muft be accustomed to a standing army; by degrees that army must be made ftrong enough to hold them in fubjection. England has been for many years accustomed to a ftanding army, under the pretence of its being neceffary to affist the civil power; and, by degrees, the number and ftrength of it have been encreasing. At the acceffion of the late King, it did not exceed fix thousand: it soon amounted to twice that number; and has fince been augmented under various pretences." He therefore conclueed, that flavery, under the disguise of an army for protecting the liberties of the people, was creeping in upon them by degrees. "I fhall not be furprised," added he, fatirically" if the fame fyftem of policy is continued, to hear in a few years fome minifter, or favourite of a minifter, terrifying the House with imaginary plots and invasions, and making the Tour of Europe in queft of poffible dangers, to fhew the neceffity of keeping up a mercenary standing army three times as numerous as the present." In the fame year 1738, his Lordship attacked Sir Robert Walpole's inglorious Convention with Spain; with all the weight of argument, and all the poignancy of fatire; nor did the Danish fubfidy in 1739 escape his keeneft indignation: but the boldest speech that he ever made, and perhaps the boldest ever made in a British House of Peers, was in 1743, on the Hanoverian Contract. The troops of that Electorate had been taken into the pay of Great-Britain for one year only; and, what is almost incredible, though none of them had been new-levied,-though they had been raifed for the fecurity of their own country, and would have been maintained though Britain had never engaged in the the affairs of the Continent, yet levymoney was charged to the account. After enlarging on the ruinous effects of continental wars to this country, his Lordship obferved, that while GreatBritain exhausted itself almoft, in purfuance of schemes founded on engagements to the Queen of Hungary, the Electorate of Hanover, though under the fame engagements, and governed by the fame Prince, did not appear to contribute any thing as an ally to her affiftance, but was paid by Great-Britain for all the forces it had fent into the field, at a very exhorbitant price; that nothing could be more abfurd or iniquitous than to hire these mercenaries, while a numerous army lay inactive at home, and the Nation groaned under a load of taxes. He concluded thus: "It may be proper to repeat, what perhaps may be forgotten in the multitude of other objects, That this Nation, after having exalted the Elector of Hanover from a state of obscurity, to the Crown, is condemned to hire the troops of that Electorate to fight their own battlos; to hire them at a rate never demanded before; and to pay levy-money for them, though it is known to all Europe, that they were not raised for this occafion!" In January, 1745, the Earl of Chefterfield was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; foon after which he was nominated Ambaffador Extraordinary to the States General, to perfuade them, if poffible, to engage more heartily in the war. He accordingly fet out for the Hague; and on leaving it, which he did in the May following, he prefented a Memorial to the States, which at once discovered his eminent abilities, his ardent attachment to the interest, and his fpirited concern, and even jealoufy of the Honour of his Country. On his Majefty's going abroad in the fame year, 1745, the Earl of Chefterfield was declared one of the Lords Juftices for the administration of the Government in his abfence: but his Lordthip's prefence being wanted in Ireland, he fet out for his Viceroyship, and landed, at Dublin the month of Auguft; where he was received with the Toudeft acclamations of joy, and continued every day to increase in esteem, till he attained that extraordinary character which is ftill worshipped by the inhabitants of that Ifland, and which has never, perhaps, been equalled by any Irish Viceroy. In April, 1746, his Lordship returned to England; on on the fourth of November following, he was fworn one of his Majefty's principal Secretaries of State. This office he continued to exercife with equal ability and integrity, but without any remarkable effort, till February 4, 1748, when he chose to refign. While his Lordship was Secretary, Admiral Hawke gained a confiderable victory over the French; and, being lefs of a scholar than a fea-captain, in his Letter to the Admiralty he expreffes himself thus: "I have given the French a hearty Drubbing." This Letter the Earl of Chesterfield having occafion to read to the King, his Majefty asked what the Admiral meant by Drubbing. To which his Lordship wittily replied: "I refer your Majefty to the Duke of Bedford, who can give you an ample definition of it:"-alluding to fome rough treatment his Grace had lately met with at Litchfield races. The Earl of Chesterfield heneeforth renounced all connexion with the Court, and in a great measure with the Gay World, living chiefly in retirement, and in the most frugal manner. His motives for fuch a conduct were truly laudable. In the earlier part of life he had been very profuse; and an itch for gaming in particular, had fomewhat impaired his fortune. He had no children, it is true, by his Lady, who was a natural daughter of King George I. but he had a fon by Madame du Bouchet (a French Lady) whofe education and fettlement in life engroffed his whole attention, and to whom he wrote the Letters juft published. He could not leave his eftate to this promifing youth, as he was not legitimate; he therefore endeavoured to raife him a fortune by prudent economy, and replenish his mind with the fruits of that experience which he had gleaned in the World, Young Stanhope, however, did not live to be much benefited by his father's frugality; nor did his inftructions turn to fo much account as might have been expected: but, perhaps, a few yeers might have brought them to maturity. L12 From From the death of his fon, Lord Chefterfield was almost entirely denied to the World, feldom appearing in public, and affociating only with a few friends. This melancholy humour was much increafed by the total lofs of his hearing, which happened a confiderable time before his death. His health hath been likewife long declining; and this great man paid the debt of Nature on the 25th day of March, 1773, in the feventyeighth year of his age; lamented by his friends, but as little noticed by the World as if fuch a man had never lived. Not a Mufe wept over his urn, though many had diftilled their incenfe in his ear, and many had fed at his board. So true it is, that if we forget the World, we shall be forgotten by it, however great our merits; and his Lordfhip might truly fay, Steals through the foul, and without pain corrects.” That his Lordfhip's wit was genuine, will be difputed by no-body; but his ftile is generally too artificial, and the number of French and Latin phrases with which it abounds, gives it an air of affectation. His elegant ideas and happy method will, however, always please, and it would not, perhaps, be too much to fay, that his Letters to his Son contain more good fenfe on the fubject of Politenefs, than all the books that have hitherto been written on the "Art of Pleafing." The fingularity of his Lordship's WILL, as it fhews the state of his mind in his latter years, and his fentiments upon several subjects, cannot fail to intereft the Curious. We shall therefore transcribe the fubftance of it, mark "I've been fo long remember'd, I'm ing fuch words as are copied verba forgot." tim. “Satiated with the pompous follies of this life, I am unwilling any pompous ones fhould be difplayed in my Funeral; and therefore will not have above one; hundred pounds laid out upon it.” Lord Chesterfield, not only diftinguished himself as a Statesman, an Orator, and a Man of the World, but as a polite Writer, both in profe and verfe; and he was at a certain time looked up He bequeaths to Mrs. Elizabeth Du to as the pattern of elegant compofition, Bouchet, mother to his late natural fon, as well as of elegant manners. 66 Mr. as fome small reparation for the injuThomson, the celebrated Author of the ry he did her," the fum of five hundred Seasons, addresses him thus: pounds. To Mrs. Ifley, twenty-five pounds a year. To his Brother's natural fon, William Stanhope, one hundred a year. He chufes that his god-fon and heir Philip Stanhope, thould travel through France, Flanders, Holland, and Germany; and he may visit the northern Courts; but by no means Italy, "that foul fink of illiberal manners and vices." If ever his god-fon keeps a pack of hounds, running horses, fleeps one night at Newmarket during the races, or lofes at one fitting five hundred pounds, he is to forfeit five thousand for every fuch offence to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The Earl of Huntingdon and Sir Charles Hotham are nominated to fuperiniend his god-fon's education, his Lordfied" to make him a complete Gentlethip judging them to be properly qualinin." His capital diamond ring, left him by the late Dutchefs of Marlborough, he bequeaths to his god-fon: his rofe-diamond-ring to his fifter: the rest of his jewels to his Lady; and, after her demife, to go with the title. The capital manfion in May-fair, in truft for his Lady; after her death, the furniture, pictures, &c. to Sir Charles Hotham. His feat at Blackheath alfo to his wife. To his Secretary three hundred pounds. To his Valet-de-chambre, named Walsh, eighty pounds per annum, and twenty pounds a year to his fon, with all his wardrobe. To his menial fervants, "whom he confidered as his unfortunate friends, equal by birth, and only inferior by fortune," two years wages, befides what may be due at his demile. To the Hospital, near Hyde-park, one hundred pounds: to the Proteftant Charter-Schools in Ireland, two hundred pounds to the Magdalen Hospital, two hundred pounds. Such is the fubftance of his Lordship's WILL, which would admit of an extenfive commentary: but it will be fufficient here to fay, that it breaths that Humanity and Knowledge of the World, for which he was fo much famed; and proves, that the Great STANHOPE enjoyed, amid all his afflictions, what ought to be the first wish of an intelligent Mind, his VIRTUES and FACULTIES to the laft. Bon Mot. W extremely ill, a very hand THEN the late Lord Chefterfield fome lady was talking with him, and fhe fuddenly exclaimed, "I am as cold as death! If fo, (he answered) I shall have no objection to his embraces." Literary Anecdotes of the Late Dr, Goldsmith. or intimates, indeed, have given us a faint outline of the first part of his life; but the Public are yet to learn the incidents which laid the foundation of his future fame and fuccefs. Thefe tell us, that he was born in Ireland; was entered a Student in Trinity College, Dublin, where he took a Batchelor's degree; that he fet up Phyfician in a country town in England, but not meeting with encouragement, went from thence to the University of Edinburgh, where he attended the Profeffors in the different branches of medicine with great affiduity; that he went from Edinburgh to the Continent, and travelled over most parts of Holland, France, Switzerland, and Germany; and on his return to England, was employed as an Ufher by the late Rev. Dr. Milner, who kept an academy at Peckham. Here too his laudable endeavours proved unsuccessful; owing, perhaps, to fome unfavourable peculiarity in his manner and deportment. Finding him to have a turn to literature, Dr. Milner warmly recommended him to a Bookfeller in the city as a promifing young author. Mr. Goldfmith's afpect, deportment, and aukward manner of expreffing himself in converfation, were fuch as rather tended to prejudice the Bookfeller againft him; nevertheless, out of regard to Dr. Milner's earnest recommendation, he took Mr. Goldfmith into employment. It was at the clofe of the year 1759, that I first knew the Doctor as a Candidate for employment among the Bookfellers. At this time Doctor (then Mr.) Goldfmith lived in a fmoky, miferable one-pair of-ftairs room, in Green Arbour Court, near the Old Bailey, and where he continued to live till about the middle of the year 1762. During this time he wrote for the British Magazine, (of which Dr. Smollet was then Editor) moft of thofe Effays and Tales, which he afterwards collected and publifhed in a feperate Volume: He alfo wrote occafionally for the Critical Review; and it was the merit which he I a defpicable public prints for fome biographical Anecdotes of the late Dr. Goldfmith, whofe reputation, when living, as a Poet, Playwright, Effayift, and Compiler, have rendered his death an object of public attention. Some of his friends flation of Ovid's Falti, by a pedantic Schoolmatter; and his Enquiry into the prefent fate of polite Learning in Europe, (a fmall octavo, published by Dodfly) which first introduced him to the acquaintance of Dr. Smollet, who after ward wards recommended and introduced him to feveral Literati, and most of the refpectable Bookfeller, by whom he was afterwards patronized. Among thefe, the Doctor's most fortunate connection was with the celebrated Mr. John Newbery, of philanthropical memory, who (being a principal proprietor) engaged him at a falary of tool. per annum, to write a Paper (on the plan of the Spectator) for the Public Ledger, which he executed under the title of the Citizen of the World; and which papers were afterwards collected and published in two Volumes. On his embarking in this undertaking, he quitted his hovel in Green Arbour Court, and removed to an elegant apartment in Wine-Office Court, Fleet-treet, dropped the plain Mr.-dubbed himself, and was after wards known as Dr. Goldsmith. Here he wrote his Vicar of Wakefield, The Hiftory of England, in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son, The Hiftory of Mecklenburg, The Preface to Dr. He is faid to have died in confequence of an improper use of Dr. James's Powders in a flight Fever, with which he was attacked on the 25th of March, and which carried him off on the 11th instant. In his private character he was generous, friendly, and humane; but vain, indolent, and unthinking. His speech was pompous, and his manner pedantic. While he was poffeffed of any money, he devoted himself entirely to indolence; and never thought of refuming or performing any literary engagements with printers or bookfellers, till he had exhaufted it on his own neceffities, or those of any diftreffed object that solicited his affiftance. In a word, he was a good natured, feeling, thoughtless man ; a pleasing writer; and-no man's enemy but his own*. of O a variety of other Pieces for Bookfellers and Printers. Indeed, his name was almoft wholly unknown to any other perfons, till the publication of his Traveller, which established his reputation, and extended his connections to perfons in a higher sphere of life. From this time, (when he lived in the Temple, where he died) he numbered the firft literary Perfonages in this kingdom among his friends and acquaintance; but it was to the deteftable Nyky whofe pilfered Love in a Village made its appearance much about the fame time, that he owed the representation of his Good-natured Man at Covent Garden Theatre, and his future intimacy with the Managers of both Theatres. The Public are acquainted with most of his other publications fince that period; as after the fuccefs of his Traveller, and Deferted Village, the Bookfellers always amply paid him for owning his produc tions. He had lately formed a wild plan of an Encyclopedie, in which, however, he could not perfuade one Bookfeller to be concerned, knowing that he had not the perfeverance neceifary for fuch an extenfive and laborious work. His Syftem of Natural Hiftory was actually completed before his death, and he has left a Grecian Hiftory nearly finished. Strictures on Jealousy. F all the paffions and inclinations to which mankind in their prefent state are subject, I don't know any one more fatal to the general peace of the mind, or more deftructive to our happinefs, than jealoufy, especially when the object by which it is excited, is of very near alliance. Jealoufy is that pain which a man feels from the apprehenfion that he is not equally beloved by the person whom he entirely loves; and as our inward paffions and inclinations can never make themselves vifible, it is impoffible for a jealous perfon to be entirely cured of his fufpicions. The jealous man's disease is of fo malignant a nature, that it converts all it takes into its own nourishment; a cool behaviour fets him on the rack, and is interpreted as an instance of aversion or indifference; a fond one raifes his fufpicions, and looks too much like diffimulation and artifice; if the perfon he loves be chearful, her thoughts must be employed on another; and if fad, fhe is certainly thinking on himself: fo that if we confider the effects of this The Hiftory of a Philofophic Vagabond, in the Vicar of Wakefield, is faid to contain the outlines of fome parts of his own life, as well as a delineation of his own character, paffion, |