Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

My Lord Lieut."'s speech

to make this session an easie one. was generally liked. I believe I need not tell you Sr that ye D of Wharton is among us, and that as his Grace went from Coventry to Holyhead in company with my L. Lieut. he did several things at the Places where they lay &c in ye gayety of his heart which some think had as well been let alone. He was yesterday introduced into our house of Lords as Marq. of Carlow tho' he is not yet of age, which is the highest compliment could have been paid him. It is pretty remarkable that his Grace and ye young La. Hillsborough who was introduced just after him were ye only persons who spoke in ye House of Lords all that day. His Grace's speech was thought by some not so well timed, Since ye design of it seemed to be to persuade the house to address ye King which they had before unanimously agreed to, but bating this his Grace spoke good sense with a strong voice and good air, and in all probability, since he shows so early a desire to be a speaker, must one day make a very considerable figure in Parliament. He has asked me how you did two or three times very kindly.

I am not got in possession of my new Imployment, tho' I am promised it as soon as ye accts. are delivered in, but I hope Sr when you answer the letter you receiv'd by ye last post, you will not seem to believe that such an obstacle, as some people would have it thought; since I have given you a true account of that matter. I have been wished joy by our Members of Parliament and every body else who is my friend. It has been put in our public papers and should there be any design in this delay to hinder me from enjoying what ye King has given which I cannot possibly believe, I must never think of staying in Ireland. I am with ye utmost gratitude and Respect Hon. S. Your most obliged Kinsman aud most obed'. humble Servt.

E. BUDGELL.

P. S.-I have delivered Lady Warwicks letter to my Lady Dutchess,* who received me very kindly.

His college put in her claims to the good offices of so distinguished an alumnus through the following address to Mr. Tickell, now holding a situation in the secretary of state's office.

* Of Bolton, the duke was now Lord Lieutenant.

MR. GIBSON TO MR. TICKELL.

Queen's Coll. June 12. 1717.

Dear Sir, I cannot believe myself in a mistake when I take it for granted that no employment besides the King's can be more grateful to you than such as tends to ye interest of Queens. I shall therefore without unnecessary ceremony continue to lay such things before you as I take to be of that nature to be thought of by you at your leisure and communicated and improved as you think proper. I am often flattering myself that Queen's College cannot be in a low condition whilst she has ye honour to lay claim to so many persons in eminent stations, or her buildings be at a stand whilst they have such abilities and generous tempers. A Queen's College Secretary of State laid ye foundation, and who can tell how far another may carry it on (at least by good offices) if one so much respected by him as yourself should give a seasonable hint, and that were seconded by such persons as y Bishops of Carlisle and Lincoln. For my part I should have a great deal of pleasure in ye tender of my addresses If I could tell how to offer them without presumption. I must own I have no little ambition to see the Honble Mr. Addison's arms over against Sir Jos. Williamson's in our new Chapel, and to hear him annually celebrated in our Founder's speech, as a Benefactor, as he has constantly been one of ye brightest ornaments of our College. Tis a pity that my Lord Lonsdale never see this place in order to form a true judgment of yR great use and benefit it is to our country in general. By the little conversation I had ye honour to have with his Lordship some years agoe at Lowther I perceived so much humanity and goodness as made me hope he would become an ample subject for ye best Orator Westmoreland or Cumberland could produce with ye advantage of an Oxford Education. Without any rhetorick to Mr. Tickell I beg leave to put him in mind of what I shall ever think my duty, viz that Queen's College should always have a due share of his thoughts, and that his leisure hours cannot be more happily employed than in concerting with his friends y* best measures for promoting y interest of our Common Parent. I have abundance more to say to you on this subject, which you will have after I return from ye progress if you favour me with a few lines on tuesday night next directed to be left with Mr. Brougham at Southamptom. I am interrupted with a visit, and can only add

my respects to all friends, and assure you that I am with sincerity, Sir, Your affec: humble servt.

JOHN GIBSON.

The Archbishop of Canterbury addressed him on a business of charity in the following terms:

ARCHBISHOP WAKE TO MR. SECRETARY ADDISON.

Decr. 31. 1717.

scarce

Honored Sir, I had the favour of your letter yesterday by Mr. Stevens, but was so full of company that it was possible for me then to have return'd such an answer as I ought to it, I assured Mr. Stevens by word of mouth that I should esteem myself very happy if I could serve any friend of yours; and that as to himself in particular, if by what he desired of a Prebend of Worcester in exchange for the Living you have been pleased to give him in the city, I could also accommodate Mr. Shute, who has not only served but suffered for the government, I should be most ready to join with you in any recommendation you should think fit to make of this matter to his majesty.

Permit me Sir, upon this occasion to put you in mind of honest Mr. Eachard, who is now on his way hither to publish his History, and present it, as we agreed, to his Majesty. His circumstances are so much worse than I thought, that if we cannot get somewhat pretty considerable for him, I doubt he will sink under the weight of his debts. My lord Sunderland is a lover of books, and of learned men: he has promised, on your account especially, to be kind to this poor Gentleman. I verily believe that 300 guineas for the 3 vols. may as easily be procured from the King as 2001: And I hope you will please to propose that, as a gratification, to his Lordship.

I heartily beg your excuse of this charitable trouble; and wishing you a perfect recovery of your Health, and many happy years in the enjoyment of it, remain with the truest respect Hond S. Yo' most faithful obedient Humble servt.

W. CANT.

Laurence Echard, the industrious man of letters who had excited so warm an interest in high places, had already made his name known by an Ecclesiastical and a Roman history, but the work on which he was now engaged, was the completion, down to the accomplishment of the revolution, of a History of England

from Julius Cæsar. His principles both in church and state, were somewhat too high to give him any natural claim on the patronage of George L., and of Sunderland, but they were appropriately rewarded by the ecclesiastical preferment of which he progressively attained a considerable share.

In the midst of these multifarious applications and correspondences, some of them resulting from his official station and duties, others from the eminence of his reputation as a scholar and a patron of scholars, and others again from his constancy in maintaining the friendships of his earlier days and humbler fortunes, -the constitution of Addison was fast yielding under reiterated attacks of disease. It is strange that any biographer should venture, like Dr. Johnson, with the facts which were before him, to represent his retirement from office as a result of real incompetency, glossed over by his friends with the plea of ill health. Åddison may, or may not, have proved himself inefficient in a post which he appears to have accepted with strong reluctance and genuine misgivings, he may have found himself unequal to support its labors, he may have shrunk from its responsibilities,but that the state of his health was sufficient, without the concurrence of any other causes, to render his resignatian indispensable is abundantly obvious.

We find frequent references to fits of sickness both in his own letters and those of others. The attack which he mentions in his letter to Mr. Wortley, was evidently an alarming one, since his recovery from it was thought worthy of serious commemoration in Latin verse by the classic pen of Vincent Bourne; that usher of Westminster school since immortalized in the reminiscences, the praises, and the translations of the poet of the Task. The lines are these:

O charum Musis! quisquis fuit ille Machaon,

Qui Musis potuit restituisse Decus:

Qui Tibi languenti vires, animamque reduxit
Visuram inferni jam propè regna Dei;

Qui nobis tristes elegos et lugubre carmen
Mutari plectro jam meliore facit.

O! longum maneas, si quid pia vota valebunt,
Præsidium Aonii Deliciæque chori.

Hanc fata incolumem servent, quando altera vita
Servari, Musis tam pretiosa, nequit.
Sint seri luctus, et sint ea funera sera,
Quæ nemo poterit dicere sera nimis.

Sic vovet, Honoratissime Domine,
Tui Nominis amantissimus
Vincentius Bourne

Collegii Trinitatis Alumnus.

Dabam Cantabrigiæ 7 Cal. Septemb., 1717.

A return of the complaint, which appears to have been of an asthmatic nature, soon succeeded to these congratulations, and the secretary was reduced to request his dismissal in a letter preserved in the handwriting of Tickell under the title of

English copie of Mr. Secy. Addison's letter to ye King desiring leave to resign the Seals.

Sir-It is with great concern that I find my Health in such a condition as will not permit me to attend the Duties of my Office with that Assiduity and Application which it requires. Though I shall hereby lose the honour and pleasure of serving the greatest and best of Masters in that high station with which you Majesty has been pleased to honor me, I shall embrace every opportunity to the last moment of my Life to promote Y. M.'s Service, which is only promoting that of your people, as all who have had the honour to lay businesse before Y. M. ought in justice to acquaint the World. I think it therefore, my Duty both to Y. M. and the Publick, to resign with the deepest Sentiments of Gratitude and Humility the Seals of the Secretary's Office, that they may be disposed of to one who, besides an inviolable Zeal and Attachment to Y. M.'s Interests, in which I shall never be behind any nobody shall ever go before me

one, has a suitable Stock of Health to go through the Businesse of so great an Employ.*

CHAPTER XIV.

1717 to 1719.

Addison in retirement. Letters to Swift. Literary projects. Peerage bill. Writes the Old Whig against Steele's Plebeian. Account of the controversy. Death of Addison. Discussion of his imputed intemperance. His will in favor of his lady. Anecdotes of his last days. Notice of him by Whiston. His interview with Gay. Circumstance related by Dr. Young. His funeral and monument. Notice of his daughter. His library and pictures. Conclusion.

THE resignation of the Secretary was accepted in March, 1718, eleven months only after his appointment, and his friend Mr.

*Tickell papers. In what language the original was written does not appear. Walpole could confer with his German master only in bad Latin, but Addison's instrument of communication was probably French.

« НазадПродовжити »