ingly resolved, without a moment's hesitation, to go the circuit no more; as I was determined not to be an opening counsel under a person who had been four years my junior. Mr. Partridge was the person thus suddenly advanced over my head: I had no particular objection to him; for in fact he was a man of amiable manners. In a few days, he sent me a card of invitation to dinner; but I declined it with all due civility. Soon after Mr. Partridge called upon me, at my chambers in Lincoln's-Inn, and pressed me to go the circuit; but I told him, I was determined to quit it entirely. He still continued to urge his request; I told him he must excuse the manner in which I should give my final answer, which was as follows;-As he was a little man, not much higher than my shoulder, I observed to him, that there had been exhibited as a spectacle the Tall Irishman, and at the same time the Norfolk Dwarf; now, said I, the Tall Irishman will not travel with the Norfolk Dwarf. He affected to laugh, and thus ended our connexion. I kept my word, and in the month of July 1788, sold my chambers in Lincoln's-Inn, and retired altogether from the bar.

I now bought a house in Hammersmith town, and there prepared my translation of Tacitus for the press, which was published in July 1793. I ventured to print it on my own account; and George Robinson, of Paternoster-Row, was the publisher. I shall not here state an account of the treatment I met with from that man, nor shall I mention the like behaviour from the late Thomas Cadell; they are both dead, and peace be to their ashes. From that time I continued to amuse myself with literary matters: the tragedy of Arminias; the Force of Conscience, being an imitation of the 13th Satire of Juvenal, with the Life of Garrick, were the productions of three or four years. Besides those pieces, a Latin translation of Addison's Epistle to Lord Halifax from Italy, with an ode prefixed to Lord Loughborough, now Lord Rosslyn, served to fill up my time. If I shall have health enough, my intention is to write the Life of Samuel Foote: a man, to whose company I owed some of the greatest pleasures of my life, and whose memory I now esteem and value. That, if I should be able to accomplish it, will end my literary career. The polite attention of Lord Loughborough (then Chancellor) has made the deepest impression on my mind: such was the friendship of that noble Lord, with whom I was intimately acquainted from the year 1757, when he was called to the bar, that he wrote a letter to me, desiring that he might appoint me a commissioner of bankrupts. My answer to his Lordship was, that I felt it very awkward to receive again what I had voluntarily resigned in 1780; so the matter rested for six months, when I took the liberty to request a favour of his Lordship :-his answer was, 'that what

I asked was not in his department;' but, said his Lordship, Why not let me make you a commissioner of bankrupts; I know why you resigned, but you will never have those reasons as long as I hold the great seal.' His Lordship added, "that a gentleman who then held the office, would resign it, as soon as I should be ready to accept it.' Upon this all my scruples vanished, and from that time I attended the business at Guildhall, till my declining health obliged me a second time to resign the office; which I did, to Lord Eldon, who, after a most kind remonstrance on the occasion, which I am proud to mention, did me the honour to receive it.

I have now gone through the several particulars of my life, and I have stated every thing with the strictest truth. I know that it is of no kind of importance; but if I am to be mentioned hereafter, I am desirous that it should be with exact conformity to the real state of the case. When I look back, I can see, that jn many instances I was too careless, and did not sufficiently attend to my own interest; but the fact is, I never set a great value on money: if I had enough to carry me through, I was content; but though I can accuse myself of neglect of my own interest, I thank God I cannot fix on any action inconsistent with moral rectitude.

FROM THE CHRISTIAN OBSERVER.

I have lately found in the hands of one of my parishioners, an original document, issued by the Pope, in the year 1758, against a professional man of this place, for having renounced the errors of the church of Rome. As many of your readers may never have met with so horrid a specimen of papal excommunication, I will subjoin a copy for insertion in the Christian Observer, if you think it worth observing. I am, yours,

Hampreston, Dec. 1811.

MATT. PLACE.

The Pope's Curse, Bell, Book, and Candle, on a Heretic, at Hampreston. BY the authority of the blessed Virgin Mary, of St. Peter and Paul, and of the holy saints, we excommunicate, we utterly curse and ban, commit, and deliver to the devil of hell, Henry Goldney, of Hampreston, in the county of Dorset, as an infamous heretic, that hath, in spite of God, and of St. Peter, whose church this is, in spite of all holy saints, and in spite of our holy father the Pope (God's vicar here on earth), and of the reverend and worshipful the canons, masters, priests, jesuits, and clerks of our holy church, committed the heinous crimes of sacrilege with the images of our holy saints, and forsaken our most holy religion, and continues in heresy, blasphemy, and corrupt lust. Excom

municate be he finally, and delivered over to the devil as a perpetual malefactor and schismatic. Accursed be he, and given soul and body to the devil, to be buffeted. Cursed be he in all holy cities and towns, in fields and ways, in houses and out of houses, and in all other places, standing, lying, or rising, walking, running, waking, sleeping, eating, drinking, and whatsoever he does besides. We separate him from the threshold; from all the good prayers of the church; from the participation of holy mass; from all sacraments, chapels, and altars; from holy bread and holy water; from all the merits of our holy priests and religious men, and from all their cloisters; from all their pardons, privileges, grants, and immunities, all the holy fathers (popes of Rome) have granted to them; and we give him over utterly to the power of the devil; and we pray to our Lady, and St. Peter and Paul, and all holy saints, that all the senses of his body may fail him, and that he may have no feeling, except he come openly to our beloved priest at Stapehill,* in time of mass, within thirty days from the third time of pronouncing hereof by our dear priest there, and confess his heinous, heretical, and blasphemous crimes, and by true repentance make satisfaction to our Lady, St. Peter, and the worshipful company of our holy church of Rome, and suffer himself to be buffeted, scourged, and spit upon, as our said dear priest, in his goodness, holiness, and sanctity shall direct and prescribe.

"Given under the seal of our holy church at Rome, the tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight, and in the first year of our pontificate. "C. R. ?” "8th of October, 1758, pronounced the first time.

"15th of ditto, pronounced the second time. "32d of ditto, pronounced the third time."

FROM THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

PRIVATE LIFE OF QUEEN ANNE AND HER FAVOURITES.

"Here, thou great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes council take! and sometimes tea!""

POPE.

ANNE STEWART, the second daughter of James II. by Lady Anne Hyde, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, was born in 1675.

. This princess, descended from an ancient race of kings on one side, and from the dregs of the people on the other, is described

At Stapshill there is still a chapel, and a female convent of the order of La Trappe.

C. R., I suppose, must mean Church of Rome,

as comely while young, and considered to have become majestic as she approached old age; her voice too was harmonious; her disposition easy and gentle; she was taciturn to a singular degree: but her capacity always appeared to be very limited: notwithstanding which, she was respected on account of her prudence, while yet a subject, and became extremely popular as a sovereign. The appellation of the good Queen Anne expresses more than a volume on this head. But, on the other hand, she was jealous of her prerogative ;* and, in addition to this, exhibited another peculiarity, common to all her family: she was regulated, in respect to public affairs, by the minions of her own choice; and these in their turn were sometimes the dupes of those very ministers whom they had either supported or created.

During the reign of her father, she married Prince George of Denmark, by whom she had several children, none of which survived her. He happily possessed none of that ambition which has been termed the infirmity of noble minds;' and, after being treated with great contempt during the life of the preceding monarch, on the accession of his own consort, was content with the office of Lord High Admiral, and the reversion of 100,000l. per annum, settled by a parliamentary provision, in case he should survive her, an event which did not occur.

Her majesty, while Princess of Denmark, was influenced by Lady Churchill, afterwards Duchess of Marlborough, exactly in the same manner as Mary de Medicis had been governed about half a century before, by her Italian favourite the Marechale Con, cini. They had been playfellows when young, and it must be owned that Lady C. from her superior talents, was capable of managing a weak female, of exalted rank and pretensions, with a considerable degree of ability. There are few whigs too but will be inclined to think, that the wars and services of the Duke of Mariborough tended not a little to the glory and stability, even if they detracted from the wealth and resources, of the nation. Her power and ascendency, however, were but too appar ent; for her temper was haughty, violent and perhaps insolent, in the extreme; yet, it is not to be credited, that she conducted herself so very offensively as has been asserted; for it cannot possibly be supposed, that favorite would make her majesty carry her gloves, or affect to feel disagreeable smells, on the approach of her roval mistress!

King James II. never attempted violence in respect to his daughter's religion. It was obvious, even in her youth, that the princess entertained no common liking for the church of Eng

*It appears from Lord Bolingbroke's "Letters on History," vol. 2, that she was accustomed to impose silence on her ministers, at the Council Board, by holding up her fan to her mouth; this signal precluded all debate!

land; it was actually a passion, and this was so well known to Mr. Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, that he and Mrs. Masham are accused of having recourse to the successful artifice of representing the church in danger,' with a view of undermining the power of their enemies. But, although His Majesty did not recur to force, he was obliged by his conscience to have recourse to persuasion; he accordingly put certain books and papers into his daughter's hands, and employed Lady Tyrconnel to induce Lady Churchill to aid and assist on the occasion.

As a child, the conduct of Queen Anne is not very likely ever to be the subject of eulogium; for, in the critical hour of difficulty and danger, she abandoned her kind father, fled in the night to the West, and together with her husband, joined her brother-in-law, the Prince of Orange, now become his rival and his enemy. But she doubtless saw every thing through the eyes of her female adviser, and like her, perhaps, having never read, nor employed her time in any thing but playing at cards, was so simple a creature, as never once dreamt of his being king.* William and his consort appear at first to have been grateful, and indeed the accession of the daughter and son-in-law of the reigning sovereign to their party, must have doubtless been attended with the most beneficial consequences. The measure of resigning her birthright to the Prince of Orange, and assenting to his being king for life, must also have been pleasing, although this was not effected without a previous secret opposition, too weak to be successful, and yet too obvious not to prove offensive.

At length a coolness first, and then an open rupture, ensued, and the Duchess of Marlborough, afterwards alluding to this in the reign of George I. observes, that, whatever good qualities Queen Mary had to make her popular, it is evident, by many instances, that she wanted bowels. Of this,' it is added, she seemed to give an unquestionable proof the first day she came to White-hall. I was one of those who had the honour to wait on her apartment. She ran about it, looking into every closet and conveniency; and, turning up the quilt upon the bed, as people do when they come to an inn, and with no other sort of concern in her appearance, but such as they express: a behaviour which, though at that time I was extremely caressed by her, I thought very strange and unbecoming. For, whatever necessity there was of exposing King James, he was still her father, who had been so lately driven from that chamber and that bed; and, if she felt no tenderness, I thought she should at least have looked grave, or even pensively sad, at so melancholy a reverse of fortune.'

* Letter from the Duchess of Malborough to Lord