insert it at length. "He was an honourable man and a sound Whig. He was not, as the Jacobites and discontented Whigs of his own time have represented him, and as ill-informed people still represented him, a prodigal and corrupt minister. They charged him, in their libels and seditious. conversations, as having first reduced corruption to a system. Such was their cant. But he was far from governing by corruption. He governed by party attachments. The charge of systematic corruption is less applicable to him, perhaps, than to any minister who ever served the Crown for so great a length of time. He gained over very few from the opposition. Without being a genius of the first class, he was an intelligent, prudent, and safe minister. He loved peace, and he helped to communicate the same disposition to nations at least as warlike and restless as that in which he had the chief direction of affairs. Though he served a master who was fond of martial fame, he kept all the establishments very low. The land tax continued at two shillings in the pound for the greater part of his administration. The other impositions were moderate. The profound repose, the equal liberty, the firm protection of just laws, during the whole period of his power, were the principal causes of that prosperity which took such rapid strides toward perfection; and which furnished to this nation ability to acquire the military glory which it has since obtained, as

well as to bear the burthens, the cause and consequence of that warlike reputation. With many virtues, public and private, he had his faults; but his faults were superficial. A careless, coarse, and overfamiliar style of discourse, without sufficient regard to persons or occasions, and an almost total want of political decorum, were the errors by which he was most hurt in the public opinion, and those through which his enemies obtained the greatest advantage over him. But justice must be done. The prudence, steadiness, and vigilance of that man, joined to the greatest possible lenity in his character and his politics, preserved the crown to the royal family, and with it, their laws and liberties to this country.'

We will conclude our memoir of this celebrated man with the following poetical portrait, which Sir Charles Hanbury Williams drew of his deceased friend:

"But Orford's self, I've seen, whilst I have read,

Laugh the heart's laugh, and nod the approving head.
Pardon, great shade, if duteous on thy hearse,

I hang my grateful tributary verse.

If I, who follow'd through thy various day,

Thy glorious zenith and thy bright decay,

Now strew thy tomb with flowers, and o'er thy urn,

With England, Liberty, and Envy mourn.

His soul was great, and dared not but do well;

His noble pride still urged him to excel.

Above the thirst of gold if in his heart

Ambition govern'd, avarice had no part.

A genius to explore untrodden ways,

Where prudence sees no track, nor ever strays;
Which books and schools in vain attempt to teach,
And which laborious art can never reach.
Falsehood and flatt'ry, and the tricks of court,
He left to statesmen of a meaner sort:
Their cloaks and smiles were offer'd him in vain;
His acts were justice, which he dared maintain,
His words were truth, that held them in disdain.
Open to friends, but even to foes sincere,
Alike remote from jealousy and fear;
Tho' Envy's howl, tho' Faction's hiss he heard,
Tho' senates frown'd; tho' death itself appear'd;
Calmly he view'd them; conscious that his ends
Were right, and truth and innocence his friends.
Thus was he form'd to govern, and to please;
Familiar greatness, dignity with ease,
Composed his frame, admired in every state,
In private amiable, in public great;
Gentle in power, but daring in disgrace;
His love was liberty, his wish was peace.

Such was the man that smiled upon my lays;

And what can heighten thought, or genius raise,

Like praise from him whom all mankind must praise? Whose knowledge, courage, temper, all surprised,

Whom many loved, few hated, none despised."

CHAPTER XVII.

HENRIETTA HOBART, COUNTESS Of Suffolk.

Eldest Daughter of Sir Henry Hobart Born in 1688-Married, in 1708, to Charles Howard, Third Son of the Earl of Suffolk Their Limited Fortune - Mrs. Howard Appointed Bedchamber Woman to the Princess of Wales - Her Early Deafness — Her Gentleness and Propriety of Conduct — Horace Walpole's Sketch of Her Character-Her Personal Appearance - Her Society Courted by the Celebrated Wits of the Day Pope's Complimentary Lines - Anecdotes of Her and Queen Caroline- The Former's Slight Influence over the King as His Mistress - Extract from H. Walpole, and from the Introductory Notice to the "Suffolk Correspond- Mr. Howard Succeeds to the Earldom of Suffolk — The Countess Appointed Mistress of the Robes — Death of Her Husband in 1733- Her Retirement from Court in the Following Year-Extract from Archdeacon Coxe, and from a Letter of the Duke of Newcastle to Sir R. Walpole - The Countess's Second Marriage, in 1735, to the Fourth Son of the Earl of Berkeley - Her Death at Marble-Hill in 1767 Horace Walpole's Account of Her Last Moments.

ence

THIS lady the celebrated mistress of George the Second, and one of the most decent of courtesans was the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Hobart of Blickling, in the county of Norfolk, and sister of Sir John Hobart, Knight of the Bath, created, by her interest, a baron, and afterward

advanced to the Earldom of Buckinghamshire. She was born in 1688.

About the year 1708 Miss Hobart became the wife of Charles Howard, third son of Henry, fifth Earl of Suffolk. As their fortune was far from ample, they proceeded, shortly after their marriage, to Hanover, partly, it seems, with the view of economising their means by residing in a less expensive country than England, but principally, it is said, for the sake of ingratiating themselves with the future sovereigns of England. "So narrow was their fortune," says Horace Walpole, "that Mr. Howard, finding it expedient to give a dinner to the Hanoverian ministers, Mrs. Howard is said to have sacrificed her beautiful head of hair to pay for the expense; it must be recollected that at that period were in fashion those enormous full-bottomed wigs, which often cost twenty and thirty guineas." This anecdote has certainly the air of being apocryphal. As Walpole, however, lived on the most intimate terms with Lady Suffolk during the last years of her long life; as he seems also to have neglected no opportunity of sifting and gleaning from her the gossip of former days; and as it was unlikely he should not have questioned her on the truth of a story which he has thought of sufficient importance to be recorded, we must presume he either heard it related or corroborated from her own mouth. But, on the other hand, when we con