package from rubbing and shuffling about, and send the said box by the very first Carlisle waggon."

20. "DEAR SIR,

[Undated.]

"Whilst you are at Hinckley, pray endeavour to obtain answers to the following queries :

"1. To see if there are any monuments or epitaphs relating to the Cleivelands of Hinckley, and to copy them, if there are; and the same of any of the families descended from them.-2. To note, if there any where preserved, portraits of any of the above.-3. To inquire if there is any traditional remembrance, what was the family-name of Elizabeth, the wife of the Rev. Thomas Cleiveland, Vicar of Hinckley; who was father of John Cleiveland the Poet, and of Elizabeth, wife of William Iliffe. (N. B. Thomas Cleiveland was married to her before he removed from Loughborough to Hinckley in the reign of King James J.) -4. Joseph Cleiveland, an attorney, one of the sons of the Rev. Thomas Cleiveland, Vicar of Hinckley, lived at Hinckley, where he had estate; he had two wives. The first wife brought him a son and several daughters. The son was John Cleiveland, who removed to Liverpool, where he was a merchant, and acquired a very great fortune; so that in Queen Anne's reign he was a Member of Parliament for Liverpool. The second wife of Joseph Cleiveland was a very severe step-mother to his first children, and spent all their fortune, as also the family estate. She had only a daughter. But afterwards, on her death-bed, she had such remorse for her ill-treatment of her husband's children, that she sent to Liverpool to ask forgiveness of her son-in-law John Cleiveland aforesaid; and he either went to her, or sent her the most ample tokens of friendship,-Query, if the names of the said wives of Joseph Cleiveland can be recovered, or any remembrance what the estate was, or any account of the above particulars?"

21. "DEAR SIR,

June 19, 1783.

"I received safe the box of books; and have been reading with great pleasure the History of Hinckley, which, contrary to all my expectation from the subject, you have made extremely entertaining and interesting. Before the next edition I shall propose a few corrections or remarks; and the same to your Memoirs of Bowyer, which I also read over with great pleasure. I have received safe all the pamphlets sent me by post; and am now going to Ireland, where I hope to be settled next week at Segoe, near Lough-Brickland, north of Ireland. Hereafter I shall desire to have the Magazines and Pamphlets, &c. sent me thither by the post, the same as hither; but our Irish Parliament is going to be dissolved, when all franking will cease for some time, and every letter will be three times the expense it is to VOL. VI.

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Carlisle. So only send me single letters till I give notice; afterwards all letters and packets will come free to me. With your leave I shall order my poor son's books, &c. to be sent from Cambridge to your house, to be kept till further orders; and I shall also send a small parcel from hence to your friendly mansion, with proper directions therein what to have done with the contents. I am,

"Dear Sir, sincerely yours, &c.

T. DROMORE. "P.S. I hope you will find in this Life of Cleiveland, though so often sifted before, some things rather new to you. We have now pinned up the basket."

22. BISHOP PERCY to Mr. ALLEN.

"DEAR MR. Allen, Dromore, Dec. 28, 1783. "You may do good by stealth, and hope it will be concealed, but it will get vent in spite of all your attempts at concealment. Poor Mrs. Rolt's gratitude would not let her obey your instructions of keeping secret your kind donations to her. It grieves me that she should be more indebted to you, a mere stranger, than to me her relation, in a situation of such appa-` rent splendour; but, I assure you, my good friend, I never knew what it was to want money like what I have done since my great preferment. The laity little knew the heavy burdens that overwhelm us ecclesiastics. The moment I entered on my Bishopric, I became debtor to my predecessor in the sum of three thousand two hundred pounds for a new episcopal house, which, by the laws of Ireland, is charged upon the successor, and must be paid out of the first receipts of the See. In consequence of this I had .1,200 to pay at the end of the first year (besides £.200 for my patent) when I had only received £.900. To add to my burdens, my brother, whose unprosperous affairs had long been a great drawback from my revenue, is now this month become a bankrupt, and has involved me in losses occasioned by my being security for him; and is moreover with his family to be maintained by me into the bargain. So you see that all is not gold that glistens,-that under a mitre there may be heavy cares and grievous disappointments. But of all that I have suffered in consequence of these distresses, none have given me more concern than that I have been prevented by them from fulfilling my kind intentions to poor Mrs. Williams. I had engaged to add £.10 per annum to her little annuities, of which I had only been able to advance her five guineas before she was snatched away from me; and all my intentions of making it up to her by greater kindness in future, rendered abortive. I wish you would mention this to Dr. Johnson, lest I should have suffered in his opinion from what may have appeared a wanton breach of my engagement, which I believe I entered into with his privity, as indeed it was he that kindly suggested it; but before I

could be charitable it was my duty to be just; and to this hour I have never been able to pay your bill, but I do not forget it; and I even rely so far on your candour and generosity as to request a further favour, which is this. Poor Mrs. Rolt has written to request I would assist her with a little money to pay the arrears of rent. Though I am at this time involved with the troubles of my brother's bankruptcy, I am unwilling the poor woman should sink under her distresses, and if you will, with your wonted goodness, call on her and learn what sum will do; if it does not exceed five guineas I will advance it, or repay it to you, if you dare give me credit for so much till I can remit you. I have also written to Mr. Stirling (agent to the Duke, at Northumberland-house) to desire that when his Grace's annual benefactions are distributed, he will remind the almoner (who is this year a new one) of the old pensioners to whom you have usually conveyed his Grace's annual charity; so that, if you will be so kind as to call on him with the wonted list, I trust their donations will be continued. I could only recollect the names of Mrs. Rolt and Mrs. M'Mullein. Mrs. Percy and my family desire to join with me in kind respects to you, and in begging you will present the same to our good friend Dr. Johnson, concerning whose health any intelligence will be gratefully received by, dear Sir, your faithful humble servant, THO. DROMORE."

it

23. Bp. PERCY to Dr. DOUGLAS, Bishop of Carlisle *. "Dromore House, 1787. "Having accidentally heard that your Lordship was about to pay a visit to Rose Castle, and make some stay there, I could not resist the inclination I had to present my compliments, on your connection with a country where I spent some time agreeably, and where I should have probably been now waiting to receive your Lordship as Dean of your Cathedral, if you had not your**** In trouself kindly interposed and sent me hither.

bling your Lordship with this detail, I presume on your benevolence, and that it is possible you may not be altogether uninterested concerning the lot which you were the means of procuring me."

24. BISHOP PERCY to Mr. NICHOLS.

Dromore House, May 6, 1788. " DEAR SIR, "It was but lately that in this remote region I heard of your very great loss by the death of my cousin, which gave me very sincere concern, as she seemed a most amiable young woman; affliction. To and I cannot but sympathise with you in your

From the Biographical Memoir prefixed to the Select Works of Bishop Douglas, by the Rev. William Macdonald, now Archdeacon of Wilts.

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urge the common topics of comfort to a mind so well informed as yours, is, I am persuaded, unnecessary, and would appear impertinent; but I have never myself, under severe trials of that kind, found any so efficacious as those suggested by religion, and the well-grounded hope which it inspires of a future re-union. "I have been myself this winter very near experiencing a similar loss. Mrs. Percy was seized at the beginning of December with a bilious fever which held her confined more or less for near three months, under which she had several relapses of so dangerous a kind that more than once we despaired of her life; she is now, thank God, pretty well recovered, and joins with me in compliments of condolence.

"I have been long intending you a remittance; and only wait for some payments to be made into the hands of my banker, which have been long due, when you shall hear again from, dear Sir, your very obedient humble servant, THO. DROMORE. "Allow me to inquire what young family you have surviving from my late amiable relation."

25. "DEAR SIR,

April 10, 1790.

"I have seen your Magazine for March *, and in your account of our great philanthrope Howard, you say no attempt ever succeeded to catch his likeness, &c. I hope you will find yourself agreeably disappointed by the inclosed †, which was published by Mr. Allen, a printseller in Dublin, some time since; and is at your service to be re-engraved if you think proper.

26. "DEAR SIR,

"Yours truly,

THO. DROMORE."

March 10, 1794.

"I so much approve of your account of our poor friend and relation Mr. Cleiveland, that I shall be glad to find that

* Vol. LX. p. 279.

† See the Magazine for August 1790, vol. LX. p. 685.

The Rev. William Cleiveland, M.A. was Rector of All Saints parish in Worcester, of which he had been incumbent near thirty-seven years, having, Feb. 8, 1758, succeeded his father, the Rev. William Cleiveland, M. A. who had been presented to the same by that excellent prelate Bishop Hough, and instituted by him June 10, 1731. So that the father and son had held this benefice upwards of sixty-three years, even from the very birth of the latter, who may be said to have spent his whole life, from bis cradle to his death-bed, in the parsonage-house at All Saints; for which he had such a predilection, and such an attachment to this his first and only church (although attended with very severe duty, which he continued to the last to discharge himself), that no desire or prospect of preferment could tempt him to forsake it; for, the person who favoured us with this account bath assured us, that, to his knowledge, be once refused the offer of a considerable benefice, which would have required him to abandon his beloved parishioners at All Saints. This conscientious worthy clergyman (who has died without issue) was the last of the

581.

mine came too late, in which case do not insert mine in the next month, but let your own close the subject."

27. BISHOP PERCY to Mr. NICHOLS.

Worcester, June 12, 1795. "DEAR SIR, 'By favour of Dr. Nash I yesterday received the parcel you were so good as to send, accompanied with your obliging letter. I arrived here a few days since, and am busy settling the affairs of our poor deceased relation Mr. Cleiveland, who, through his want of health and spirits, poor good man, left them in much confusion; and the personal estate barely sufficient to pay his debts, if so much. I shall reserve further particulars till I see you, which I hope to do next week without fail. This being the case, I will beg you to defer printing off the odd leaf (vol. I. p. 4) till I see you. I am sorry to hear of the death of so respectable a relation as Mr. Iliffe *; on his account I shall resume black wax, which I had laid aside; and am, with sincere compliments of condolence, dear Sir,

"Your very faithful servant,

THO. DROMORE."

28. "DEAR SIR, Near Northampton, June 22, 1797. "I received yesterday the packet containing the requested volumes of Leland's Itinerary and your obliging letter, in which your very reasonable request to be accommodated with the payment of £.100, so long promised you, ought to be immediately complied with; and should have been followed by this post by a draught on my bankers if you had not kindly suggested the hint of drawing on Messrs. Rivington, who have never yet accounted for one shilling of the receipts on the Reliques, &c. I have, there

name of Cleiveland, of the family at Hinckley, which produced the celebrated Royalist, John Cleiveland the Poet, to whom this Mr. Cleiveland's grandfather was nephew; as may be seen in the History of Hinckley, 1782, 4to, pp. 134 et seq.; in Dr. Nash's History of Worcestershire, vol. II. p. 95; and in Biographia Britannica, vol. III. art. Cleiveland. He was born June 27, 1731; educated at Magdalen-hall, Oxford, where he proceeded B. A. 1754; M. A. 1757. He married in 1767 Mary, daughter of James Jones, Esq. of Stadhampton in Oxfordshire, an amiable Jady, whom he had the misfortune to lose in 1777, six days after the birth of a daughter, an only child, who lived but two days. He was a most exemplary parish priest, a man of benevolence, and blended with the strictest purity of manners a cheerful conviviality, which rendered his company and conversation peculiarly desirable. He died Oct. 28, 1794, aged 63.

Mr. Joseph Iliffe was a respectable hosier at Hinckley. After having lived within a week of 76 years in the same house in which he was born, he died March 5, 1795, universally respected. He was a strenuous supporter of the Church, a loyal subject to his Sovereign, and to his friends unboundedly benevolent. A pedigree of the family of Iliffe may be seen in the History of Leicestershire, vol. IV. p. 708.