and obscure the interval of history between the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, to the third Treaty of Vienna, in 1738, and which Lyttelton afterwards ridiculed in his Persian Letters. It does not appear, however, that Lyttelton was employed by Poyntz in any matter of moment. In 1729, that gentleman wrote to Sir Thomas an account of his son, of whom, amongst other things, he says, "He cannot fail of making you and himself happy, and of being a great ornament to our country, if, with that refined taste and delicacy of genius he can but recal his mind at a proper age from the pleasures of learning and gay scenes of imagination, to the dull road and fatigue of business. This I have sometimes taken the liberty to hint to him, though his own good judgment made it very unnecessary."* In a subsequent letter he speaks of the delicacy of his constitution, chiefly from weakness of digestion, which he ascribes in some measure "to the vivacity of his imagination pursuing some agreeable thought too intensely, and diverting the spirits from their proper functions, even at meals-for we have often been obliged at that time to recal him from reveries that made him almost absent to his company, though without the least tincture of melancholy, which I ever met with," &c.t

Poyntz, Horace Walpole, and William Stanhope (cousin to the celebrated Lord Chesterfield, then Ambassador at the Hague) were at this time the English Plenipotentiaries at the Congress of Soissons, the object of which was to induce the King of Spain to ↑ Vol. 3, p. 270. Letter xxiv.

* Letter xii.

ratify the preliminaries, signed by his ambsasador without his authority, at Vienna, in 1727. The subsequent death of George the First, and the hopes of discord in the Cabinet and Parliament of Great Britain, had fortified Philip the Vth, in his reluctance to accede to any treaty which did not include among its stipulations the cession of Minorca and Gibraltar, on the part of Great Britain. The sagacity and firmness of Walpole defeated these expectations, and in 1728, Philip was compelled to sign, what was then called, the Act of the Prado, whereby he referred the adjustment of all disputes to a Congress about to be held at Soissons. The Congress opened in June, and at this period George Lyttelton appears to have frequently partaken of the hospitality of the three Plenipotentiaries at Soissons and the adjoining Haute Fontaine at Compiégne, and at Paris.* His letters, which * From Paris he wrote a poetical epistle to his late tutor, Dr. Ayscough, (afterwards his brother-in-law) descriptive of France and the French. These lines seem to me not without merit.

"Yet here the Muses deign'd a while to sport
In the short sunshine of a frowning court:
Here Boileau, strong in sense, and sharp in wit,
Who, from the ancients, like the ancients writ :
Permission gain'd inferior vice to blame,
By flattering incense to his master's fame.
Here Moliere, first of comic wits, excell'd
Whate'er Athenian theatres beheld;
By keen, yet decent, satire skill'd to please,
With morals mirth uniting, strength with ease.
Now, charm'd, I hear the bold Corneille inspire
Heroic thoughts, with Shakspere's force and fire!
Now sweet Racine, with milder influence, move
The soften'd heart to pity and to love."

breathe throughout a spirit of warm and dutiful affection to his father, as well as a most perfect confidence in him as a friend, are for some time chiefly occupied with relating the slow and tedious process of the negotiations. They contain also frequent mention of that extraordinary character, Ripperda, who, in every respect but talent, deserved to be branded as the "scorn and wonder of our days," as much as the original of Pope's picture, the more accomplished, but not more infamous, Duke of Wharton. Ripperda had escaped to England in 1726. In a letter of December 20, our traveller writes-"I have troubled you so often with Ripperda, that I am almost ashamed to mention him again; but the conclusive answer of Mr. Stanhope to the Duke of Ormond and the other Spanish Ministers was, that when Spain would give up the other English wretch, England would send back Ripperda." The letter concludes with the mention of an event destined, though he seems to have felt no presage of it at the time, materially to affect his future life. “Prince Frederick's journey was very secret. Mr. Poyntz did not hear of it till Friday last, at least he had no publick notice of it. There will be fine struggling for places. I hope my brother will come in for one. The consequences of the arrival of the Prince of Wales (father of George the Third) in England, to the subject of these memoirs, will be noticed in another place.

In October, Lyttelton set out for Italy. From Lyons he wrote a very elaborate and very interesting letter† + Letter xxv.

* Letter x.

to his father on the state of France, the character of Louis Fifteenth, and of Cardinal Fleury; for the latter he seems to have felt great admiration. He describes him as more absolute than Richelieu, and "the reverse of Mazarin, both in his temper and his administration—naturally honest and sincere." Having "found the people almost ruined by the fatal système of the Mississippi, the king's finances illdirected, and his treasures wasted in needless pensions and profuse expenses,* the principle of his conduct was to ease the people, to restore their decaying trade, to save the king all the money he was able, and to retrench all superfluous goings out." Hence his earnest desire for the maintenance of general peace and amity with Great Britain, his great sin, political

* He writes to Dr. Ayscough, in the letter already cited :

"With mingled pain and pleasure I survey

The pompous works of arbitrary sway."

And thus alludes to Chantilly and to St. Cloud

"With more delight those pleasing shades I view
Where Condé from an envious Court withdrew ;
Where, sick of glory, faction, power, and pride,
(Sure judge how empty all who all had tried!)
Beneath his palms the weary chief repos'd,
And life's great scene in quiet virtue clos'd.
With shame that other fam'd retreat I see,
Adorn'd by art, disgrac'd by luxury :
Where Orleans wasted every vacant hour,
In the wild riot of unbounded power;
Where feverish debauch and impious love,
Stain'd the mad table and the guilty grove."

and moral, being the persecution of the Jansenists. "You see (he writes) by the account I have given you, that he is not the crooked politician we take him for in England, nor yet so weak as some here are apt to think him-but a man of plain sense that lays down a reasonable scheme, and pursues it honestly and fairly." He dwells on the corruption of the Court and nobility, the improvement of their navy, and the great advantages and opportunities of the country for commerce. His conclusion is-" But notwithstanding all these natural advantages, the abject slavery they are in, the number of hands that are employed in the military service, the swarms of idle ecclesiastics, and above all, the chimerical distinction between a gentleman and a merchant, will always keep their traffic low, and the country will continue in the poverty I see it now, which is more miserable than I could ever have imagined." One may see in these letters, the cloud, as yet no bigger than a man's hand, from which the tempest of the future revolution was to burst forth. From Lyons he travelled with Sir W. Wyndham's son to Geneva and Turin, from thence to Genoa, with which he was enchanted, though he laments over the decay of the great families of Doria, Spinola and Grimaldi, and makes rather a curious comment on the frauds notoriously practised in the voting by ballot in the elections and councils of the State; he mentions them "to let his father see, that the method by ballot may be abused as well as any other," alluding probably to a scheme, mooted about this time, for voting by ballot in the House of Commons in ques