r

that I was in the right, I persevered. My Lord, I must lay a circumstance before you which has just happened. The judge still imagining that I had some complaint to make relative to myself, ordered the sheriff to remove me." My Lord, you will commit me if you think proper, but in the mean time I must declare, that the foreman of this jury is going to deliver an illegal verdict, for he has not heard the evidence, and he has asked me what verdict he ought to give.

The judge from the bench made me an apology for his hastiness, and added a few words of strong approbation. This was of use to me, by tending to increase my self-possession in public, and my desire to take an active part in favour of justice.' I. 95-97.

Soon after he entered the University, he was introduced to the family of the lady he afterwards married-that of a lawyer, a contemporary of his father, who had many years before married an heiress, retired from practice, and sunk gradually into the ruin and stupidity that so often await those who seek happiness in the country. The following is a picturesque account of his establishment.

6

Having no interest in the common routine of a country life, he had little to do, and that little he neglected. The family into which he married was proud, and when an heir to the family was born, no expense was spared to celebrate the important event; and as Mrs Elers had in perfection one essential quality of a wife, before her husband could look about him, she had celebrated two or three such festivals. A very old steward of the Hungerford family managed all the business of the estate; a great part of which business consisted in choosing, felling, and cutting up wood for fuel. This poor little man, eighty years of age, used to be seen in the depth of winter, upon a little grey horse with shaggy hair and a long flaxen mane and tail, riding about the grounds, and seeming to conduct a num. ber of labourers, who did precisely what they pleased. The value of the timber cut down for firing was more than equal to the price of coals sufficient for the house; and the expense of making it up for use was still greater. Every part of the domestic expenditure was carried on in this manner; so that in a few years after the death of his father-in-law, Mr Elers found himself in distress, without having been guilty of the slightest extravagance.-His family rapidly increased, the old steward doated, Mr Elers left every thing to his wife, and Mrs Elers left every thing to her servants. Things were in this situation at Black-Bourton, when I was introduced to the

family by my father. He had personally known little of Mr Elers, since their first friendship was formed at the Temple; but judging from his letters, my father considered him as the same man of active mind and talents, and with the same habits for business, which he had then appeared to possess. It was, therefore, naturally a great object with him, to place me, on my first going to Oxford, under the care of a person whom he so much esteem

ed, and of whose abilities he had such a high opinion. The family at Black-Bourton at this time consisted of Mrs Elers, her mother Mrs Hungerford, and four grown up young ladies, besides several children. The eldest son, an officer, was absent. The young ladies, though far from being beauties, were handsome; and though destitute of accomplishments, they were notwithstanding agreeable, from an air of youth and simplicity, and from unaffected good nature and gaiety. The person who struck me most at my introduction to this family group was Mrs Hungerford. She was near eighty, tall, and majestic, with eyes that still retained uncommon lustre. She was not able to rise from her chair without the assistance of one of her grand-daughters; but when she had risen, and stood leaning on her tortoise-shell cane, she received my father, as the friend of the family, with so much politeness, and with so much grace, as to eclipse all the young people by whom she was surrounded. Mrs Hungerford was a Blake, connected with the Norfolk family. She had for. merly been the wife of Sir Alexander Kennedy, whom Mr Hungerford killed in a duel in Blenheim Park. Why she dropped her title in marrying Mr Hungerford I know not, nor can I tell how he persuaded the beautiful widow to marry him after he had killed her hus band. In the history of Mrs Hungerford there was something mysterious, which was not, as I perceived, known to the younger part of the family. I made no inquiries from Mr Elers; but I observed, that she was for a certain time in the day invisible. She had an apartment to herself above stairs, containing three or four rooms; when she was below stairs, we used to make a short way from one side of the house to the other, through her rooms, which occupied nearly one side of a quadrangle, of which the house consisted. One day, forgetting that she was in her room, and her door by accident not having been locked, I suddenly entered: I saw her kneeling before a crucifix, which was placed upon her toilette; her beautiful eyes streaming with tears, and cast up to Heaven with the most fervent devotion; her silver locks flowing down her shoulders; the re mains of exquisite beauty, grace, and dignity, in her whole figure. I had not, till I saw her at these her private devotions, known that she was a catholic; nor had I, till I saw her tears of contrition, any reason to suppose that she thought herself a penitent. The scene struck me, young as I was, and more gay than young-her tears seemed to comfort, not to depress her-and for the first time since my childhood I was convinced, that the consolations of religion are fully equal to its terrors. She was so much in earnest, that she did not perceive me; and I fortunately had time to withdraw without having disturbed her devotions.' I. 83-90.

We may add another anecdote, connected with the place rather than the person.

Mr Lenthall (descended from the Speaker Lenthall) lived at Burford, within a few miles of Black-Bourton. This gentleman, who was a very good master, had a very good butler. One morning the

butler came to his master with a letter in his hand, and rubbing his forehead in that indescribable manner which is an introduction to something which the person does not well know how to communicate, he told Mr Lenthall, that he was very sorry to be obliged to quit his service." Why, what is the matter, John? has any body offended you? I thought you were as happy as any man could be in your situation?"" Yes, please your honour. that's not the thing; but I have just got a prize in the lottery of 3000l., and I have all my life had a wish to live for one twelvemonth like a man of two or three thousand a year; and all I ask of your honour is, that, when I have spent the money, you will take me back again into your servicę. "That is a promise, said Mr Lenthall," which I believe I may safely make, as there is very little probability of your wishing to return to be a butler, after having lived as a gentleman."

'Mr Lenthall was however mistaken. John spent nearly the amount of his ticket in less than a year. He had previously bought himself a small annuity to provide for his old age; when he had spent all the rest of his money, he actually returned to the service of Mr Lenthall; and I saw him standing at the sideboard at the time when I was in that country." I. 116-118.

Mr E. fell in love with one of the Miss Elers, and married her at Gretna Green before he was twenty-obtained his father's forgiveness-kept terms at the Temple-and diverted himself with mechanics and reading at a small house in Berkshire. Here and in London he now became acquainted with Sir Francis Blake Delaval, the most celebrated man of wit,' fashion, and gallantry about town at the accession of the late King; and we are accordingly presented with about fifty pages of anecdotes about his electioneering-his theatricals-his conjuring and his gambling-the greatest part of which appears to us to have very little interest.

It was this person who, in conjunction with Foote, carried on in disguise the mystery of a fortune-teller, with prodigious reputation and success; and-is supposed to have broken off, and brought on, more matches in the course of a season, than all the dowagers in town. His great object, it is said, was to secure his own union with Lady Pawlet; upon the accomplishment of which, the magician suddenly disappears. It was to assist this dashing friend in obtaining early intelligence of his fate at Newmarket, that Mr Edgeworth first conceived, or revived, the notion of a Telegraph-and actually constructed one in the year 1767, which transmitted sentences with great accuracy from stations sixteen miles apart. The catastrophe of Sir Francis is rather edifying; and therefore we shall give it in his own words-though his dying speech is a little too set and solemn, we think, to be perfectly authentic. He had a project, it seems, of aggrandizing his family by a match between his sister and

the then Duke of York; and when this was frustrated by the sudden death of the Duke, he fell into low spirits.

Though a man of great strength of mind, and of vivacity that seemed to be untameable, his health sunk under this disappointment. His friends and physician laughed at his complaints. Of Herculean strength, and, till this period, of uninterrupted health, they could not bring themselves to believe, that a pain in his breast, of which he complained, was of any serious consequence; on the contrary, they treated him as an hypochondriac, whom a generous diet, amusement, and country air, would soon restore. He was ordered, however, to use a steam-bath, which was then in vogue, at Knightsbridge. I went with him there one day, the last I ever saw him! He expressed for me a great deal of kindness and esteem: and then seriously told me he felt, that, notwithstanding his natural strength both of body and mind, and in contradiction of the opinion of all the physicians, he had not long to live. He acknowledged that his mind was affected as well as his body.

"Let my example," said he, "warn you of a fatal error into "which I have fallen, and into which you might probably fall, if you did not counteract the propensities which might lead you into "it. I have pursued amusement, or rather frolic, instead of turning

my ingenuity and talents to useful purposes. I am sensible, continued he, "that my mind was fit for greater things, than any of "which I am now, or of which I was ever supposed to be capable. "I am able to speak fluently in public; and I have perceived that my manner of speaking has always increased the force of what I "have said. Upon various useful subjects I am not deficient in in"formation; and if I had employed half the time and half the pains "in cultivating serious knowledge which I have wasted in exerting "my powers upon trifles,-instead of making myself merely a conspi"cuous figure at public places of amusement,-instead of giving my"self up to gallantry which disgusted and disappointed me,-instead "of dissipating my fortune and tarnishing my character, I should "have distinguished myself in the senate or the army, I should have "become a USEFUL member of society, and an honour to my family. "Remember my advice, young man! Pursue what is USEFUL to "mankind; you will satisfy them, and, what is better, you will sa"tisfy yourself. Two mornings afterwards, he was found dead in his bed. I. 154-156.

After the loss of this dangerous patron, Mr E. amused himself with contriving sailing chariots-time-keepers-wooden horses and carriages of various descriptions-as well as in educating his eldest son upon the system of Rousseau. His coachmaking brought him into correspondence with Dr Darwin, who was also an inventor in that department; and he went at last on a visit to Lichfield, to consult him upon the plan of a new phacton. The Doctor who, from his correspondence, VOL. XXXIV. No. 67. I

had taken him for a professional coachmaker, was from home when he arrived; but he presented himself to Mrs Darwin, who, though at first under the same impression, with the quick tact of her sex, almost instantly discovered the mistake-which her learned husband did not suspect till several hours after his return. This visit brought Mr E., for the first time, into that society by which he was for the rest of his life most attracted, instructed, and improved-the society of the Boltons, the Watts, the Keirs, the Smalls, the Days, Sewards, and Sneyds. Through them he also got into a learned society in London, composed of Sir Joseph Banks, John Hunter, Maskelyne, Smeaton, Ramsden, and several others. Of Ramsden we are

tempted to transcribe the following short anecdote.

'Besides his great mechanical genius, he had a species of invention not quite so creditable, the invention of excuses. He never kept an engagement of any sort, never finished any work punctually, or ever failed to promise what he always failed to perform. The king (George III.) had bespoke an instrument, which he was peculiarly desirous to obtain; he had allowed Ramsden to name his own time, but, as usual, the work was scarcely begun at the period appointed for delivery. However, when at last it was finished, he took it down to Kew in a post-chaise, in a prodigious hurry; and, driving up to the palace gate, he asked if His Majesty was at home. The pages and attendants in waiting expressed their surprise at such a visit: he however pertinaciously insisted upon being admitted, assuring the page, that, if he told the King that Ramsden was at the gate, His Majesty would soon show that he would be glad to see him. He was right; he was let in, and was graciously received. His Majesty, after examining the instrument carefully, of which he was really a judge, expressed his satisfaction, and, turning gravely to Ramsden, paid him this compliment upon his punctuality."I have been told, Mr Ramsden," said the King, " that you are considered to be the least punctual of any man in England; you have brought home this instrument on the very day that was appointed. You have only mistaken the year!" I. 191-2.

The most figuring person, however, in Mr E.'s narrative, is Mr Day-of whom we find, first and last, a very interesting and amusing account. He was unquestionably a man of extraordinary talents, and of a high and amiable character-but was as unquestionably a little mad. When he and Mr E. first met, in 1768, he was under twenty years of age, but irrevocably wedded to all the impracticable notions and systematic absurdities which characterized his after life. Though master of a large fortune, and unusually well read and ingenious, he had not merely a scorn, but an abhorrence for the refinements of polished life, and an antipathy to everything that bore the name of fashion, as a mere mask for profligacy, heartlessness, and insin