to have rendered him rather more defirous of difplaying his philologi cal acquifitions than was fuitable to his rank and deftination. But this college-ruft could not have penetrated very deep, fince it was fo foon and fo perfectly worn off; and our young ftudent never forgot or neglected what he, in the decline of life, fo itrongly prefied upon his fon, that the art of perfuading is in fact that of pleasing. "Party divifions, at that time, ran extremely high, throughout England, and Cambridge was by no means exempt from them. Lord Stanhope, fo he was called upon the death of his grandfather Chesterfield, difclofes very naturally and with good humor, his own ideas in the following lines to Mr. Jouneau. "Methinks our affairs are in a 66 very bad way; but, as I cannot mend them, I meddle very little with politics: only I take a pleature in going fometimes to the "coffee-house, to see the pitched battles that are fought between the "heroes of each party with inconceivable bravery, and are ufually "terminated by the total defeat of a few tea-cups on both fides." The fame coolness may be difcerned in fome of his lordship's laft letters: old age and youth have more than one affinity. ( "[1714] After having paffed two years at the univerfity †, lord Stanhope was fent, according to the custom of his country, to begin the tour of Europe. He did not, however, follow the coftume in every particular; for, he was not attended by any governor. He hastily paffed through the towns in Flanders, without meeting with any proper objects to improve his uuderstanding or excite his curiofity. He had not yet acquired a tafte for pictures; and his mind was even at that time, as he expreffed himself, more turned to perfons than to things. ❝to men and I was not without thoughts of wearing the toga virilis of "the Romans, inftead of the vulgar and illiberal drefs of the moderns." Letters to his fon, vol. II. p. 174. Of what confequence lord Chefterfield thought eloquence to be, as the only way of making a figure in Parliament, appears from feveral of his letters, and in particular the LXIX. vol. II. and how much this was his object at the univerfity, may be feen from the following quotation. "So "long ago as when I was at Cambridge, whenever I read pieces of elo66 quence (and indeed they were my principal ftudy) whether antient or "modern, I used to write down the fhining paffages, and then tranflate "them as well and as elegantly as ever I could; if Latin or French, into "English; if Englith, into French. This, which I practiced for fome 66 years, not only improved and formed my ftyle, but imprinted in my "mind and memory the beft thoughts of the beft authors. The trouble was little, but the experience I have acquired was great." Ibid, P. 341. Mr. Knight himself, a member and an ornament of the college in which lord Chefterfield received his education, has moft obligingly furnished me with the following dates. The honorable Philip Stanhope was admitted at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, August 1712, and quitted it December 1714. In his letter to Mr. Jouneau, dated from the Hague, 10th of Auguft, N. S. the day before the death of queen Anne, He was going to leave that place when he wrote this letter. "The "The fummer of the year 1714 was more agreeably at least, if not more profitably, fpent in Holland, and the greatest part of it at the Hague. It was in this inchanting place, that he firft began to fee the world. The company he found there, and which he thought the best, confifting chiefly of foreigners of different countries, and of different ranks, foon enabled him to throw off the fcholar, and to become in fome measure a new man. But, however indebted he might be for his improvements in good-breeding to his new friends, who laughed him out of fome of his fcholaftic habits, he often regretted that he had contracted others among them, no lefs difgraceful to his understanding than detrimental to his reputation *. "His pleasures, however, never made him lofe fight of his great object, that of making a figure in his own country. His principles of liberty were fufficiently known, and he made no fcruple of avowing them. The earl of Strafford, the British ambaffador at the Hague, and one of the plenipotentiaries at the congrefs of Utrecht, entertained very different fentiments, and did not eafily brook contradiction. I have been credibly informed †, that our young traveller, the late earl of Burlington, and Mr. Doddington, fince lord Melcombe, who met all together at the Hague, fometimes diverted themselves with teazing the warm negotiator, by fpeaking in favor of the whig party, and condemning the tory administration. They would fcarcely have been fo unreserved, had not affairs in England been near a crifis. "The accomplishments, which lord Stanhope had hitherto acquired, prepared him for Paris, and helped to qualify him for the po lite world, which he found there. The reception he met with muft have been very flattering, fince he defcribed it in the following manner. "I fhall not give you my opinion of the French, because I am 66 very often taken for one, and many a Frenchman has paid me the "higheft compliment they think they can pay to any one, which is, "Sir, you are juft like one of us." "I talk a great deal, I am very loud and peremptory; I fing and dance as I go along; and, lastly, "I fpend a monftrous deal of money in powder, feathers, white gloves, &c." As this defcription is not unlike that which he gave many years afterwards of his countrymen's way of fpending their time at Paris, we may fuppofe that he was as yet far from being what he wished his favourite fon to be, le petit et l'aimable Stanhope §. This furmife is confirmed by his own account of his aukward appear "When I went abroad, I first went to the Hague, where gaming was "much in fashion, and where I obferved that many people of fhining rank "and character gamed too. I was then young enough and filly enough to "believe that gaming was one of their accomplishments; and as I aimed "at perfection, I adopted gaming as a neceffary ftep to it. Thus I ac"quired by error the habit of a vice, which, far from adorning my charac"ter, has, I am conscious, been a great blemish in it." Letters to his fon, vol. II p. 352.. + Mr. Gervais, late dean of Tuam, who attended lord Burlington in his travels, and was often prefent at these interviews, gave this account to the bishop of Waterford. ↑ Letter to Mr. Jouneau, dated Paris, 7th December, 1714. See lord Chesterfield's Miscellaneous Pieces, No XXIII. XXIV. ance ance in that metropolis of levity and tafte, and of the means that were used to give him the bon ton *. * i In the fecond fection his lordship enters on a more important period of his life; beginning to figure as a politician and 1peaker in parliament, immediately after the acceffion of King George the Firft. In giving an account of his lordship's beha viour during this period, the biographer is naturally led to fpeak of thofe political tranfactions of the times, in which our young fenator difplayed his political principles and oratorial abilities: tranfactions of which, though generally known, our readers will probably not be displeased with a flight repetition, as well as of a sketch of the characters of thofe times; as they flood related or connected to the object of the memoirs before us. “[1715] In these † troublesome times, a feat in parliament was not confidered merely as an honor, but alfo implied a duty, the performance of which was expected from all thofe, whofe abilities were adequate to the talk. They were called upon to make an open declaration of their fentiments, and to employ their powers in the fervice of their refpective parties. For thefe purposes, lord Stanhope was elected into the first parliament under George I. as reprefentative of the borough of S. Germains, Cornwall. "But though the intereft of his king and country was the primary object of his lordship's attendance in that great affembly, where public good is fo much talked of, and private intereft fo often purfued; yet, perhaps, the thirst of glory, that powerful incentive to great actions, was a motive of fome weight with him. He knew that fpeaking well in the house of commons was the only way of making a figure, and rifing to honors. Nature, by no means, if I may borrow his expreffions, intended him for a perfona muta, and one of the pedarii. He could not, without the utmost violence to his character, refolve to give filent votes. He tells his fon, that from the day he was elected to the day that he spoke, which was a month after, he thought and dreamt of nothing but fpeaking; and, though much awed the first time, he acquitted himself in a manner, which raised the expectations of his friends as well as his own. "The circumftance, in which he first took an active part, was delicate and in fome degree decifive. The principal minifters of the late queen had been driven out of their country, or sent to the tower. See letters to his fon, and in particular letter CLXXXI. in vol. I. His lordship deferibes in it, with great vivacity and wit, his embarraffment and confufion on being first introduced into the company of ladies of diftinction in France, and of the noviciate he was engaged in by one of thefe ladies. It was very natural that he should recommend the means which fucceeded with him, to one whom he fo ardently wished to bring up to his level. + Thefe for those, and those for thefe, are frequently written in thefe memoirs. There are alfo fome other flight defects in point of idiom; which ferve to fhew, that hardly any length of time will perfectly naturalize a foreigner to the English tongue, 5 Rev. Their Their antagonifts, perfecuted by them in the laft reign, became in this, ftill more from revenge than from intereft, their perfecutors; and it is not unlikely that the rebellion which entued, was as much the effect of the violence of the latter, as of the inclination of the former *. Articles of impeachment were drawn up by a committee of enquiry, compofed of one and twenty members, against the principal contrivers of the peace of Utrecht. One of thele was the duke of Ormond, who, as well as lord Bolingbroke, was prudent enough, to withdraw from the ftorm, and to leave the kingdom. As the duke had never been a· friend to the last-named lord, and feemed much lefs culpable than the other minifters, feveral of the most moderate whigs were inclined to treat him with lefs feverity. The majority, however, were of a different opinion; and our new member, who, on this occafion, fpoke for the first time, appeared, what the well-meant zeal of inexperienced youth only could excufe, particularly violent. He faid that," he never wished to fpill the blood of any of his countrymen, much less "the blood of any nobleman; but that he was perfuaded that the fafety of his country required that examples fhould be made of those "who betrayed it in fo infamous a manner +." This speech, he owns to his fon, was but indifferent as to the matter: he even acknowledges that, if he had not been a young member, he certainly fhould have been reprimanded by the house for fome strong and indifcreet things which he had fpoken. It went off however tolerably well, in favor of the spirit with which it was uttered, and the language with which it was graced. But, though he was not publicly centured, he could not efcape private admonition. As foon as he had done fpeaking, one of the oppofite party took him afide; and, having complimented him upon his coup d'ejai, added, that he was exactly acquainted with the date of his birth, and could prove that, when he was chofen a member of the house, he was not come of age, and that he was not fo now at the fame time he affured him, that he wished to take no advantage of this, unless his own friends were pushed, in which cafe, if he offered to vote, he would immediately acquaint the house with it. Lord Stanhope, who knew the confequences of this difcovery, an If milder meafures had been purfued, certain it is, that the tories "would never have univerfally embraced jacobitifm. The violence of the "whigs forced them into the arms of the pretender." So fays lord Bolingbroke. See letters to Sir William Wyndham, p. 86, 87. + See the debates in the houfe of commons, vol. VI. Though these parliamentary journals, as well as the proceedings of the houfe of peers, are deftitute of fufficient authority to authenticate all the particulars of the fpeeches; yet as thofe perfons who were principally concerned have not difowned them, they may be quoted as being upon the whole not very defective. The fpeech of lord Chesterfield was delivered on the 5th of Auguft 1715; and as we know from himself, that he fpoke a month (or rather fix weeks) before he was of age, the date mentioned in the beginning is fufficiently afcertained. The bishop of Waterford's account of this tranfaction differs in a few particulars of no great importance. I had this, I think, from unquestionable authority. A perfon under the age of twenty one years cannot be elected to fit in parliament; the election is void; and for fitting and voting in the house of commons, the forfeit is £. 500. Jacob's Law Dictionary. VOL. V. fwered fwered nothing, but, making a low bow, quitted the houfe directly, and went to Paris, probably not much concerned at the opportunity afforded him of finishing his noviciate in that city *. "In the mean while, the rebellion had broken out in fome parts of England as well as of Scotland. The fuccefs of this undertaking is fufficiently known. Like all other precipitate and ill-conducted fchemes, it was foon quelled, and only ferved to diftinguish the friends of government from its enemies. It is by no means improbable that Lord Stanhope's expedition to Paris had more than one view. During the life-time of the old French king, the cause of the rebels had been indirectly fupported by that court; and even in the beginning of the regency, all the vigilance of the British minifter was exerted, to obftruct this pernicious intercourte. Lord Stanhope, who, under the appearance of a man of pleafure, knew how to conceal the man of bufinefs, may have been of fingular fervice in difcovering fecret intrigues and machinations, and could never have found a better school to improve his talents for negotiation. All the motions of the Jacobites. were narrowly watched; their correfpondence with thofe, who had taken up arms in favor of the pretender, detected, and the supplies from his weil withers in France in a great measure cut off. Lord Bolingbroke, it is well known, was by the ambaffador's influence reclaimed from the fervice of the chevalier to that of the king; and he juflified the account, which the earl had given of the fincerity of his return, by fecret affiftance and feasonable informations. The careful and fpirited conduct of lord Stair was at that time greatly commended, though afterwards not fufliciently acknowledged. "[1716] The fuccefs, which had attended the measures and arms of government, was not thought fufficient to fecure its stability. The rathnefs and impetuofity, with which the rebellion had been carried See the humorous account he gives of this noviciate in letter CLXXXI to his fon, Vol. I. John Dalrymple, earl of Stair, a nobleman equally eminent for his activity, fpirit, and abilities, in the cabinet and in the field. I See the French letter of the earl of Stair to fecretary Craggs, printed in the fame volume with lord Bolingbroke's letter to Sir William Wyndhain, London, 1753. A friend allures me, that the circumftances contained in this letter relative to the pretender may be depended upon. I cannot help fufpecting, that the remaikable words of bishop Atterbury, when, on being put on fhore at Calais, and hearing that lord Bolingbroke, who had just obtained his pardon, was arrived there on his way to England, he faid, Then we are exchanged, conveyed an infinuation that his lordship was rewarded for the informations procured of the confpiracy for which the bi1hop fuffered. This appears from the following anecdote which I owe to the bishop of Waterford, who had it from his noble patron. "During the time of "the debates on the Excife Bill, the queen endeavoured to perfuade lord " Stair not to be concerned in the oppofition. She told him that the "wifhed, for his fake, that he would not meddle with politics, but would "confine hinfelf to the affairs of the army, as being a better judge of them to which he answered; Madam, if I had not meddled with "politics, I fhould not now have the honor of paying my refpects to you: hinting, by this, that her majefty owed the crown to his conduct when mballador at Paris during the time of the rebellion in 1715." 5 ony |
