on, were proofs of the confidence, which thofe who were concerned in it placed in their ftrength, and feemed to indicate that they poffefied refources the more alarming, as they were concealed. The number of the difaffected had on this occafion been found to be much greater than was before fufpected. Without fecret encouragement, the pretender would scarcely have ventured to come over to Scotland, and to fuffer himself to be crowned after the overthrow of his forces. His friends abroad, though difappointed, continued ftill to threaten*; his partifans in the kingdom, and even in both houfes, dropped hints of revenge. Though the majority in the prefent parliament was greatly on the fide of the whigs, the leaders of that party feared, or feemed to fear, that another election might not be equally favorable to them. This apprehenfion induced the miniftry to bring in a bill for making this, as well as future parliaments, feptennial. "The duration of these national affemblies is well known to have varied, at different periods. The time of their being convened has moftly been unfettled; and though their meetings were fometimes yearly, or perhaps more frequent, yet they commonly were occafional, and dependent upon the bufinefs of the kingdom. The parliament became independent of the crown under Charles I. and with proper management might have become fo of the people, under his fons. The first error proved fatal to the king, the latt might have been destructive of the conftitution. To prevent both extremes, the reigning party, foon after the revolution †, procured an act to limit the duration of parliaments to three years. Experience foon difcovered, efpecially in the following reign, the inconveniencies of too frequent elec tions, which often favor the ends of faction, and are the cause of unfteadiness in the administration of affairs. The ferment, in which the nation was at that time, and the neceffity there was of a firm and permanent ministry, rendered these confequences more obvious and more dangerous. It was apprehended that the malecontents might wish for a time of general confufion, as being the most favorable to their de figns. A period of feven years was therefore propofed to be fubítituted to that of three; and after a strong debate, the motion was carried in both houfes. Lord Stanhope fpoke in fupport of this alteration, and we learn from himself, that this fecond fpeech was delivered with more freedom, and received more favorably than the first. His fentiments on this fubject feem to have continued the fame through life, and though he often expreffed in the strongest terms his * See the earl of Stair's fecond memorial prefented to the regent after the pretender's return to Paris. In the year 1694, the 6th of William and Mary. Letters to his fon, vol. II. p. 345. He even thought a period of feven years too fhort for Ireland, and expreffed himself to the bishop of Waterford in the following manner. "You are all wild about elections in Ireland, and want, it seems, to have "all the ill blood, expence, and riot, which they occafion, renewed every feven years. I with you would be quiet, for I prophecy that you will get no good by your politics." fears of the progress of corruption §, he did not feem to think fhors parliaments a certain remedy against it. Indeed, the fcenes of violence and debauchery, infeparable from popular elections, afford just reasons to doubt whether the return to triennial or even annual parliaments would, in the present state of things, contribute more to the advantage of liberty than to the encouragement of licentiousness and the propagation of vice. [1717] Our young fenator continued from time to time to speak in the house of commons, and it appears from his account that he took pains to improve his manner, and shake off his apprehenfions." Amidft the intrigues of the king's and prince of Wales's courts, however, our young fenator could not fteer so even a course as not to take a decided party, and of course to share in the fluctuations of favour and difgrace, which attended hisfellow-partizans. On his being called to the upper house a new scene opened itself for the difplay of his oratorial as well as political talents. [1727] To a man of moderate abilities, it might have fufficed to have yielded to the impulfe of the times; but lord Chesterfield was not contented to glide paffively along with the ftream. Many circumftances enabled him to take a more active part; and he neglected none of the advantages, which fortune threw in his way. Born with a fpirit of obfervation, he from his youth had remarkable opportunities of obferving great men. The restoration and the revolution were both under his eyes. The principal actors in the bufy fcenes of the preceding century were still living. If he had not the happiness of being informed and directed by his grandfather, Halifax, he was at least introduced very early into the company of Halifax's rivals, as well as into that of his friends. Danby and Montagu, inveterate enemies under Charles II, whofe fchemes they had by turns encouraged and defeated, were now fafely arrived in port. Free from those tumultuous paffions, which had fo long kept them at variance, they daily met, like friends, at the house of lady Halifax; as the elder African's brother, and old Cato, may be fuppofed to have done at the house of the mother of the Gracchi +. Under their eyes, the young eagle was made to try his wings, in order one day to foar above their reach. "Models of eloquence of all kinds were equally fet before him. In the lower houfe, which he had just quitted, he had heard, and fometimes borne a part in thofe animated debates, in which Shippen, Wyndham, and Bromley, made a vigorous, though unfuccefsful, fland against those whom they had formerly defeated. Walpole and Pulte "That fhameful method of governing, which had been gaining ground infenfibly ever fince Charles II. has, with uncommon fkill and "unbounded profufion, been brought to a degree of perfection, which, at "this time, difhonours and diftreffes this country, and must, if not checked (and God knows how it can now be bhecked), ruin it." Letters to his fon, ibid, and 358. Her houfe was the refort of the beft company at Rome; and to that intercourfe, as well as to the inftructions of fo accomplished and virtuous 2 lady, her fons owed all their improvement and fuccefs. ney, ney, united as they had been by party and by common danger, feparated as foon as they were victorious. Walpole, born for bufinefs, indefatigable in labor, and fupported by a powerful influence, was a clear, as well as artful fpeaker; and his cotemporaries allowed him to be at once the best parliament man, and the fittest to take the lead in the house. Pulteney, by nature formed for focial and convivial pleafures, excited by refentment to engage in business, and raised by art to be the idol of the people, united all the qualities of a complete orator. He was florid, entertaining, perfuafive, pathetic, and fublime, as occafions required. The firft, equally mafter of his fubject and of him elf, appeared conftantly calm, quickly difcovered the difpofition of his hearers, and, never unprepared himfelf, knew equally when to prefs and when to recede: the fecond, whofe breaft was the feat of ever-contending paffions, with arguments, wit, and even tears at command, bore down all oppofition, and fometimes awakened the fenfibility of those whom he could not convert. Thele two great men, so different in their manner, deserved to be studied, though not to be implicitly followed, by fuch an original genius as lord Chesterfield. "The upper houfe was no lefs fertile in great characters fit to attract his obfervation. Sommers indeed was then no more; but Cowper ftill diftinguifhed himself by fuperior powers of elocution ‡. Harley ftill fpoke, and fometimes ftill with dignity . But, above all, lord Bolingbroke, whom lord Chesterfield heard in his youth, had made the strongest impreffions upon him §. Among the perfons, who fucceeded to these eminent fpeakers, feveral would have appeared with greater advantages, if the qualities of their hearts had equalled those of their heads. The unprincipled and unthinking duke of Wharton difgraced the finest parts and best education by the bad ufe he made of both; and, with the capacity of a Tully, became, like Clodius, a profligate and wretched incendiary **. The reftlefs bishop of Rochef tera The word gynocracy was in fome measure created at the beginning of the next period, and was often made use of by Pope and his friends. He died in 1716. See the characters of both as speakers in lord Chesterfield's letters to his Son. He preferved that dignity in the celebrated fpeech he made in the houfe before his commitment to the Tower. Even his great antagonist Bolingbroke, who feems to have treated him with too much feverity, owned in private converfation, that his anfwer to the Dutch ambassador Mr. Buys, at the council in 1712, was a master-piece of compofition, and delivered in a masterly manner. § Letters to his fon, vol. I. **The duke of Wharton's character has been admirably drawn by Mr. Pope, and his hiftory is fufficiently known. The following fact, which is extracted from a book, the ingenious author of which had the best opportunity of being well informed of it, will furnish us at once a proof both of his talents and profligacy. "His grace, then in oppofition to the court, "went to Chellea the day before the laft debate on the bishop of Rochef "ter's affairs; where acting contrition, he profeffed being determined to "work out his pardon at court by fpeaking against the bishop; in order "to which he begged fome hints. The minifter was deceived, and went "through ter, disappointed in his hopes of a primacy, with fuperior abilities, a claffical purity of language, and a 1 auftere dignity of action, food forth the champion of a conftitution which he attempted to fubvert +, and of a church whofe principles he pofibly difbelieved. Human nature, degraded by thefe inftances of the abufe that may be made of her gifts, feemed to recover her dignity in fome men of great, though very different, merit. Slow in his parts, rough in his manner, impa tient of contradiction, the humane, generous, and benevolent, lord Townshend, was inelegant in his language, often perplexed in his arguments; but always fpoke fenfibly, and with a thorough knowledge of the fubject. "John, duke of Argyle, difcovered the man of quality in all his difcourfes, no lefs than in all his actions: he was a moft pleafing fpeaker, though perhaps not the clofeft reafoner; and, being himself moved, he warmed, he charmed, he ravished the audience . A happy 66 "through the whole caufe with him, pointing out where the ftrength of "the argument lay, and where its weakness. The duke was very thank"ful, returned to town, paffed the night in drinking; and, without going to bed, went to the houfe of lords, where he fpoke for the bishop, "recapitulating in the most masterly manner, and anfwering all that had "been argued against him." Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, vol. II. p. 127. That of York had been refused to him in the laft reign; and it is faid, that he entertained hopes of being bribed by that of Canterbury in this. + I find in one of my late refpectable friend Dr. Birch's papers the following anecdote. "Lord Harcourt leaving the old miniftry, provoked Atterbury's abufive tongue. He, in return, declared, that, on the queen's death, the bishop came to him and to lord Bolingbroke, and faid, nothing reinained but immediately to proclaim K. J. He further' offered, if they would give him a guard, to put on his lawn fleeves and head the proceffion." 66 The following anecdote was often mentioned by lord Chesterfield ; and I fhall, to the best of my remembrance, give it in his own words. "I went to Mr. Pope one morning at Twickenham, and found a large "folio bible with gilt clafps lying before him upon his table; and, as I "knew his way of thinking upon that book, I asked him jocofely, if he "was going to write an answer to it? It is a prefent, faid he, or rather a "legacy, from my old friend the bishop of Rochefter. I went to take my leave of him yesterday, in the Tower, where I taw this bible upon "his table. After the first compliments, the bishop faid to me, My friend "Pope, confidering your infirmities and my age and exile, it is not "likely that we should ever meet again; and therefore I give you this legacy to remember me by it. Take it home with you, and let me ad"vife you to abide by it.-Does your Lordship abide by it yourself?— "I do—If vou do, my lord, it is but lately. May I beg to know what "new light or arguments have prevailed with you now, to entertain an "opinion fo contrary to that which you entertained of that book all the former part of your life-The bishop replied, We have not time to "talk of these things; but take home the book; I will abide by it; and "I recommend to you to do fo too, and fo God bless you!" The contrast between thefe two characters is ftrongly marked in lord Chesterfield's letters, vol. I. p. 508. from which fome of the ftrokes have been taken. mixture mixture of the two preceding characters was found in lord Carteret. Matter of antient, as well as of modern languages, this great imitator of Demofthenes* poffeffed a most uncommon fhare of learning, and had made the laws of his own and of other countries his particular ftudy. His political knowledge of the interefts of princes and of commerce was extenfive; his notions were great, perhaps not always juft. As a speaker, he had a wonderful quickness and precifion in feizing the weak and strong fide of a question, which no art or fophiftry could difguife to him; and his talents in the argumentative were not inferior to those in the declamatory way. Lord Scarborough was a strong, though not an eloquent or florid fpeaker in parliament; his difcourfes were the honeft dictates of his heart. Truth and virtue seemed to borrow his voice, and gave fuch weight to all he faid, that he more than once carried an unwilling majority after him. The fame thing may be faid of a nobleman cotemporary with those I juft now named; who, ftill living, preferves in the most advanced age that vigor and prefence of mind which distinguished all his life, and will be remembered by pofterity with that reverence which is due to great honor and great truth. Many other characters might be sketched, and fome will come in courfe in a fubfequent period; but thefe may be fufficient to give fome idea of the eloquence of thofe times. Befides, I am fenfible how unequal I am to fuch sketches, fitter for the masterly hand of him whole picture I am attempting to draw. "Lord Chesterfield's eloquence, though the fruit of ftudy and imitation, was in great measure his own. Equal to most of his cotemporaries in elegance and perfpicuity, perhaps furpaffed by fome in exten fiveness and ftrength, he could have no competitors in choice of imagery, talte, urbanity, and graceful irony. This turn might originally have arifen from the delicacy of his frame, which, as on one hand it deprived him of the power of working forcibly upon the paffions of his hearers, enabled him on the other to affect their finer fenfations by nice touches of raillery and humor. His strokes, however poignant, were always under the controul of decency and fenfe. He reafoned beft, when he appeared most witty; and, while he gained the affections of his hearers, he turned the laugh on his oppofers, and often forced them to join in it. < It See Dr. Taylor's Differtation prefixed to his addition of Demofthenes. + Lord Bathurst was living when this character was written, That I am not fingular in this idea of our earl's cloquence will appear from the fubjined account which was given of it by a contemporary writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1740; it was well re ceived, but feems rather too vague and pompous. "Lord Chesterfield, "while he fat in the house of commons, which he did for feveral years "during the life of his father, discovered not thofe extraordinary talents that have fince diftinguished him as one of the most accomplished orators "his age or country has produced. When he begins to fpeak, he has a "peculiar art of engaging the attention of his hearers, which he irrefiftibly "carries along with him to the end. He unites in his delivery all the graces of diction that prevailed at Athens and Rome, and expreffes himfelf with all the freedom which the British conftitution allows, and all the |