"Criticks, like bullies, now are useless grown,
And cannot keep in awe this scribbling town:
They wear sour looks and dirty cloaths in vain,
There's no one now afraid to draw his pen.
But this poetick license of the age

Has with stiff nonsence so debauch'd the stage,
And writ you into such a vicious taste,
That what is sterling wit to you's bombast.
And we shou'd be undone if you shou'd find
Our plays ingenious, or our players unkind:
For since elsewhere your favour we observe,
Hard lines and easie actresses deserve,
Sure, wit and vertue too our house would starve.
When to our neighbour's joy th' exactest play
Must to a long and well-writ bill give way,
Or to th' immortal Trip must yield the day.
Though our French heels, and our Italian voice,
Show the judicious niceness of our choice;
Show, when put to 't, that we can play our parts,
And know the way to win true British hearts.
But still we hope your judgments soon may mend,
For which we can no slight presage depend,

Since S-writes no more, and D-'s Miss was damn'd.
Whate'er success this play from Will's may meet,

We still must crave the favour of the Pit,
And to those higher powers loyally submit.
We know 't is hard for Comedy t' escape
Without a dance, a duel, or a rape;
Our author prays this fate may his attend,

Let not the fair dislike, nor beaux commend."

}

The following copy of commendatory verses by the same noble hand, was prefixed to the early editions of Dr. Garth's Dispensary :

"Oh! that some genius, whose poetic vein
Like Montague's3, could a just piece sustain,
Would search the Grecian and the Latian store,
And thence present thee with the purest ore;
In lasting numbers praise thy whole design,
And manly beauty of each nervous line;
Shew how your pointed satire's sterling wit,
Does only knaves or formal blockheads hit,
Who're gravely dull, insipidly serene,

And carry all their wisdom in their mien;
Whom thus expos'd, thus stripp'd of their disguise,
None will again admire; most will despise :
Shew in what noble verse Nassau you sing,
How such a poet's worthy such a king!
When Somers' charming eloquence you praise,
How loftily your tuneful voice you raise !
But my poor feeble muse is as unfit

To praise, as imitate what you have writ.
Artists alone should venture to commend

What Dennis can't condemn, nor Dryden mend;
What must, writ with that fire and with that ease,
The beaux, the ladies, and the critics please.

C. BOYLE."]

3 Earl of Halifax.

THOMAS PARKER,

FIRST EARL OF MACCLESFIELD,

[WAS born in 1667, and if not a native was long a resident at Derby, where he followed the profession of an attorney. Abilities and industry procured him practice, that practice brought money, and money consequence. These united introduced him into the office of recorder, which opened a wider field for his talents. He soon became a pleader at the bar, travelled the midland circuit, acquired additional estimation, was denominated" the silver-tongued counsel,” and found interest enough in 1705 to cause himself to be returned a member for the borough of Derby with lord James Cavendish. Having now ascended into a political atmosphere, where his talents beamed with more diffusive brightness, he made rapid advances towards preferment. He was knighted in June 1705, and appointed queen's serjeant. The commons, sensible of his powers, chose him one of their managers in the trial of Dr. Sacheverell, which he conducted with great ability. In 1710 he was made lord chief justice of the king's bench; and refused the chancellor's seals because his sentiments did not coincide with those of the Harleian ministry. He was created baron Parker in 1716, viscount Parker of

VOL. IV.

• Collins's Peerage, vol. v. p. 45

L

Ewelme, in 1718, and then accepted the seals 3. In 1721 he was further created earl of Macclesfield, and continued lord chancellor till 1725, when he was accused of selling places in Chancery, brought to trial, and fined £30,000 4. The king called for the councilbook, and with a sigh dashed out his name. The lord chancellor had committed a fault, says his biographer, but such a one as is every day committed: discovery constituted its criminality. Unhappily for his lordship, party rage ran high; and a brand was fixed upon his name which never wore out. The accomplished lord Macclesfield retired during the last eight years of his life to Derby, where he resigned his earthly existence as a Christian, on April 28, 17326. Mr. Gutch, in his Collectanea Curiosa", has printed from a communicated manuscript,

He succeeded earl Cowper, and on his friendly recom. mendation readily concurred in permitting Hughes, the poet, to retain his place as secretary for the commissions of the peace. Cibber's Lives, vol. iv. p. 28.

4 His trial was published in 1725, by order of lord chancellor King, and filled 284 folio pages. Of a disgraced favourite the excellencies are forgotten, and the errors magnified. Staffordshire, it was said on this occasion, had produced three of the greatest rogues that ever existed-Jack Sheppard, Jonathan Wild, and lord Macclesfield. Hutton's Hist. of Derby, p. 287.

* It must be presumed, however, that the charges were fully proved, as out of ninety-three peers who gave judgment, there was not one who pronounced-Not Guilty.

• Hutton's Derby, p. 290.

7 Vol. ii. p. 53.

"A Memorial relating to the Universities :" which has generally been ascribed to lord chancellor Macclesfield, a just encourager of learning, and a known friend to the universities. This memorial appertains to the disloyal behaviour of the universities after the accession of George the first to the crown, and offers a proposition to amend and regulate such disloyalty, the substance of which may be reduced to these three heads :

"I. By what methods learning and industry may be promoted in the universities, setting aside all party considerations.

"II. What force may be necessary to cure the present disaffection of the universities.

"III. What gentle methods may be of service to win them over to government."

His lordship proposes in the first place, "That the choice of heads of houses, instead of being vested in the fellows, which occasions factions and intrigues, should be referred to the great officers of state, with such of the archbishops and bishops as shall be thought proper. That none should enjoy a fellowship longer than twenty years from being admitted actual fellow." And whereas his lordship found, "by the discourses he met with, that several, partly through the ignorance of the true state of the universities, partly through anger at the clergy for their unhappy behaviour of late years, and partly (as they think) to prevent the evil of the clergy increasing as they do beyond what there is employment for, propose taking away all obligations by the statutes to go into orders,