think, society sprung from compact) all states are or ought to be the laws in support of liberty and property are many and extensive, binding not only the common and lower class of people, but every degree and order in the state, all being subject to the same laws; and no man's liberty any further restrained than the welfare and preservation of the whole community requires.

"The difference between free and arbitrary governments consists in the nature and extent of their laws for the defence of liberty and property, and not in a licence to disobey such laws as are in force; for all states, of whatever nature or origin, necessarily have this one fundamental law, that the persons and properties of its subjects are to be free from any wrongful or illegal encroachment of any other subject."]

ISABELLA BYRON,

COUNTESS OF CARLISLE,

[DAUGHTER of William, fifth lord Byron, was born in 1721, and married Henry, fourth earl of Carlisle, in 1743, by whom she had the present earl. Her ladyship died on January 22, 17952: and is the reputed authoress of a volume on the Education of Daughters, and of the following poem in Pearch's Collection 3.

THE FAIRY'S ANSWER TO MRS. GREVILLE'S
PRAYER FOR INDIFFERENCE.

Without preamble, to my friend
These hasty lines I'm bid to send,
Or give, if I am able;

I dare not hesitate to say,
Though I have trembled all the day,
It looks so like a fable.

Last night's adventure is my theme,
And should it strike you as a dream,
Yet soon its high import

Must make you own the matter such,
So delicate, it were too much

To be compos'd in sport.

• Debrett's Peerage, vol. i. p. 106.

› Vol. i. p. 317.

The moon did shine serenely bright,
And ev'ry star did deck the night,

While zephyrs fann'd the trees;
No more assail'd my mind's repose,

Save that yon stream, which murmuring flows, Did echo to the breeze.

Enwrapt in solemn thoughts I sate,

Revolving o'er the turns of fate,

Yet void of hope or fear;

When, Io! behold an aery throng,
With lightest steps and jocund song,
Surpriz'd my eye and ear.

A form, superior to the rest,
His little voice to me addrest,

And gently thus began

"I've heard strange things from one of you,

Pray tell me if you think it true,

Explain it if you can.

"Such incense has perfum'd my throne,

Such eloquence my heart has won,

I think I guess the hand;

I know her wit and beauty too,

But why she sends a prayer so new,

I cannot understand.

"To light some flames and some revive,

To keep some others just alive,

Full oft I am implor'd;

But with peculiar pow'r to please,
To supplicate for nought but ease,

"Tis odd, upon my word!

"Tell her, with fruitless care I've sought,

And though my realms, with wonders fraught,

In remedies abound;

No grain of cold indifference

Was ever yet allied to sense,
In all my fairy round.

"The regions of the sky I'd trace, I'd ransack every earthly place,

Each leaf, each herb, each flow'r,

To mitigate the pangs of fear,
Dispel the clouds of black despair,
Or lull the restless hour.

"I would be generous as I'm just, But I obey, as others must,

Those laws which fate has made :

My tiny kingdom now defend,
And what might be the horrid end
Should man my state invade?

""T would put your mind into a rage; And such unequal war to wage,

Suits not my regal duty:

I dare not change a first decree,

She's doom'd to please, nor can be free,

Such is the lot of beauty!"

This said he darted o'er the plain,
And after follow'd all his train,

No glimpse of him I find;

But sure I am, the little sprite

These words, before he took his flight,

Imprinted on my mind.]

DAVID MURRAY,

EARL OF MANSFIELD,

[BORN probably in North Britain, but educated in Westminster school, and elected thence in 1744 student of Christ Church, Oxford, where his proficiency in classical learning evinced his taste and application. He succeeded his father as viscount Stormont in 1748, not long after he had finished his studies at the university. Having travelled abroad for several years, he was elected soon after his return one of the sixteen peers for Scotland. In 1756 he was appointed envoy to the court of Dresden. He returned to England in 1762, and the next year was appointed ambassador to the court of Vienna, where he continued till 1772, when he accepted the same appointment at the court of France. In 1779 he became secretary of state for the northern department, and held the seals till the change of administration in 1782. In 1783 he returned into office, and except the interruption of a few months, continued president of the council till the time of his decease on Sept. 1, 1796. By the death of his uncle, William, earl of Mansfield, in 1793, he became the successor to his title, and to his very considerable property.

As a minister in foreign courts his conduct was every where admitted to have been invariably governed by the purest and most rigid principles of truth, ho