CELLOR, but it was written by a young man, just admitted to the bar, and who had sense enough to censure a prevailing folly with some degree of humour, and great justice. The same subject has been since illustrated in the WORLD by another nobleman, PHILIP EARL of CHESTERFIELD*.

The EARL of HARDWICKE, who is supposed to have been the author of another paper, which cannot now be ascertained, was one of those illustrious characters who have ennobled their families by merit in a profession, in which, with very few exceptions, merit only has been found to succeed. In very early life he appears to have been noted for learning and industry, and for qualities which were fitted to shine in public life. When only twenty-eight years of age, he had a seat in parliament, and the following year was promoted to the office of solicitor-general, on the recommendation of the LORD CHANCELLOR PARKER. In Feb. 1723-4, he was appointed attorney-general, and in October, 1733, lord chief justice of the king's bench. On the decease of LORD TALBOT, in 1736-7, he was called to the high office of lord chancellor, when only in his forty-seventh year. Yet this rapid succession of honours was followed by a correspondent share of popularity. In each office he discharged his duty in a manner both honourable and dignified: his station derived lustre from his piety, his learning, and his justice, and he

* See an article on the same subject by ADDISON, in TATLER, No. 93.

at once enjoyed and deserved the esteem of the public. Of his abilities the following character is said to be strictly just. "The style of his eloquence was more adapted to the house of lords than to the house of commons. The tone of his voice was pleasing and melodious; his manner was placid and dignified. Precision of arrangement, closeness of argument, fluency of expression, elegance of diction, great knowledge of the subject on which he spoke, were his particular characteristics. He seldom rose into great animation: his chief aim was more to convince than amuse; to appeal to the judgment rather than to the feelings of his auditors. He possessed a perfect command over himself, and his even temper was never ruffled by petulant opposition, or malignant invective*." He died March 6, 1764, and it is by general consent that the epithets GREAT and GOOD have been ever since connected with his name.

Two visions, in Nos. 460 and 501, were written by Dr. THOMAS PARNELL. This allegorical mode of conveying instruction was much encouraged and practised by ADDISON and his contemporaries; and, we are informed by STEELE, there was always a particular demand for such papers. Dr. PARNELL's Visions have considerable merit, but from a member of the Scriblerus Club, and a man of acknowledged wit, we might have surely expected contributions of a more humorous cast: Dr. GOLDSMITH'S Life of PARNELL, prefixed to his works, was the

*Coxe's Memoirs of Sir R. WALPOLE, vol. i. p. 43, 4to.

first attempt to collect memorials of him; although enrolled among the English poets in Dr. JOHNSON's edition, his name had not appeared in the General Dictionary, or in the Biographia Britannica. GOLDSMITH'S materials are very scanty, and JOHNSON, while he compliments GOLDSMITH on what he had done, seems averse to the subject.

THOMAS PARNELL, D. D. descended from an ancient family, of Congleton, in Cheshire, was born in Dublin, in the year 1679, and was admitted a member of Dublin College at the early age of thirteen. He took his degree of M. A. July 9, 1700, and in the same year was ordained a deacon, by Dr. WILLIAM KING, then bishop of Derry, having a dispensation from the primate, as being under twenty-three years of age. He was admitted into priest's orders about three years after, by Dr. KING, then archbishop of Dublin, and was collated by Dr. ASHE, bishop of Clogher, to the archdeaconry of Clogher, Feb. 9, 1705. About that time he married Miss ANNE MINCHIN, a young lady of great beauty and merit, by whom he had two sons, who died young, and a daughter, living in 1770. The death of his wife is supposed to have made an indelible impression on his spirits, and drove him to that remedy which of all others is the least efficacious, and is itself a calamity of the most deplorable kind*. He was warmly recommended by SWIFT to Archbishop KING, who gave him a prebend in 1713, and in

*GOLDSMITH, p. 21, edit. 1773.

1716 the vicarage of Finglas, worth 400l. per annum*. He died at Chester, July, 1718, on his way to Ireland.

His prose works are two papers in the SPECTATOR, two in the GUARDIAN, the life of Zoilus, (a satire on DENNIS,) an essay on the origin of sciences in the character of Martinus Scriblerus, and the life of HOMER prefixed to POPE's translation. His poetical fame rests chiefly on his HERMIT, but even his inferior poems are more correct and pleasing than his prose.

The letter signed Peter de Quir, in No. 396, and that signed Tom Tweer, in No. 518, were the productions of that very eccentric character, ORATOR HENLEY, a name and title which have seldom been pronounced without contempt, yet it was late in life before he earned this contempt. His early days were laudably and industriously employed, as appears by the very curious and authentic memoirs Mr. NICHOLLS has given of him in his "History of Leicestershire," under the article of Melton Mowbray, HENLEY'S native place.

From his letter, in No. 518, as well as from some of his avowed publications, he seems to have possessed a kind of humour, which a man of sense or delicacy might have employed with success. But HENLEY preferred the character of a buffoon, and the life of an outcast, and was for many years the ornament and delight of Clare Market, where he established an oratory to which the very lowest ranks resorted. Here,

NICHOLS's Select Collection of Poems, vol. iii. p. 209.

when vulgarity itself was satiated with his nonsense, he hit upon various expedients to bring a crowded audience*. At one time he called the Jews together, by offering a reward to any one who should interpret a Hebrew inscription painted on his pulpit, and which consisted of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet jumbled together in the form of words without meaning. On another occasion, he procured a full audience of shoemakers, who were to be told how to make a pair of shoes in two minutes, which was by cutting off the tops of ready-made bootst. As there was no admittance to his oratory, without paying a sum at the door, generally a shilling, such expedients served occasionally to recruit his finances. He was also the author of a weekly paper of unintelligible declamation, called The HYP-DOCTOR, for which "secret-service" he had 100l. a year. The origin of the HYP-DOCTOR, as it has been related to the writer of this article, will show the peculiar turn of HENLEY'S humour. He went to Sir ROBERT WALPOLE, represented himself as a man who could do great service to the state, and hinted that it would be wise to employ him.

*The late Rev. Mr. COLE of Milton says, he remembers HENLEY coming to Cambridge, and soliciting for a booth in Sturbridge fair, for his Lectures, which was refused. COLE's MSS. in Brit. Mus.

+ His introductory position on this subject was omne majus continet in se minus.

Biog Dict. In COOKE's Preacher's Assistant is a list of fifteen sermons preached on public occasions, and printed, by our orator. One is entitled, "The Butcher's Lecture." Mr. CooKE calls him "Rector of Chelmondiston, Suffolk."