the University, as a demonstration to myself, and to the world, of their approbation of the impartiality of my conduct, and which, in that light, has reflected perhaps no dishonour upon themselves. But as I believe from the first, and have long experienced, that a trust of such a nature, and so understood, is no light undertaking, I have for some time perceived my health particularly unequal to that service." Unable to perform the duty of attendance in the House of Commons, unsatisfied to let any personal considerations of my own (even that of health itself) interfere, however necessarily, with the services which I owed to the University and to my Country; convinced too beyond a doubt, from some experience, that my continuance in the House of Commons would produce no advantage to either, I please inyself in thinking, that I do the best service I can now do to the University, in giving them an opportunity to make a better choice; and I have therefore accepted the honour (which his Majesty's goodness would perhaps have conferred on me some years ago) of being called up to the barony of my father, in the House of Lords. An honour which I have received now with the greater willingness, because I had full confidence, that I should occasion thereby neither prejudice nor inconveni, ence of any kind to the University, whose interests and honour I must ever have at heart, and whose quiet and unapimity (if possible) I must therefore particularly wish preserved upon all occasions, and especially in the exercise of this great privilege, in which they have so singularly maintained an independence and dignity, so glorious to themselves, so exemplary to the rest of the nation, so truly preserving the spirit, as well as the forms of the constitution of England. In being thus removed from their immediate service, the University, I hope, will do me the justice to believe, I can never withdraw myself from my attachments to that society. For besides personal obligations to myself, which I must always acknowledge, I know of what consequence the University is, and ought to be, to the good order and to the constitution of my country, as well as to the enlightening and adorning it. It must therefore ever be my ardent wish to see that source of national welfare, unencumbered with whatever may interrupt the constant course of real knowledge and virtue, which attentive and sensible discipline will ever produce, and which are so essential to the honour and interest of the University, and to the service, the happiness, and the glory of the kingdom, necessarily to be derived from thence. In any situation, I shall never lose sight of these great interests, and it will always be the highest satisfaction to me to see the real interests of the University pursued by themselves, and advanced by others, as it would be the greatest happiness to me to approve myself upon all occasions, their grateful servant, and their faithful friend. With these sentiments of my heart I take my leave of the University, resigning the trust which they reposed in me, and I persuade myself that they will do me the justice to believe me, with the greatest gratitude and regard, Their long obliged and ever faithful servant, 1768, Sept. CORNBURY* XIV. Miss Talbot to a new-born child, daughter of Mr. Jobn Talbot, a son of the Lord Chancellor. You are heartily welcome, my dear little cousin, into this unquiet world : long may you continue in it, in all the happiness it can give; and bestow enough on all your friends, to answer fully the impatience with which you have been expected. May you grow up to have every accomplishment, that your good friend the Bishop of Derryt can already imagine in you; and in the mean time, may you have a nurse with a tunable voice, that may not talk an immoderate deal of nonsense to you. You are at present, my dear, in a very philosophical disposition: the gaities and follies of life have no attraction for you; its sorrows you kindly commiserate; but, however, do not suffer them to disturb your slumbers; and find charms in nothing but harmony and repose. You have as yet contracted no partialities, are entirely ignorant of party distinctions, and look with a perfect indifference on all human splendor. You have an absolute dislike to the vanities of dress; and are likely for many months to observe the Bishop of Bristol'st first rule of conversation, silence, though tempted to transgress it, by the novelty and strangeness of all the objects Upon Lord Cornbury's resignation, Sir Ruger Nerdigate was elected January 31, 1750. + Dr Rundle, Dr. Secker, Ah! my poor round you. As you advance farther in life, this philosophical temper will by degrees wear off. The first object of your admiration will probably be a candle; and thence, (as we all of us do) you will contract a taste for the gaudy and the glaring, without making one moral reflection upon the danger of such false admiration as leads people, many a time, to burn their fingers. You will then begin to shew great partiality for some very good aunts, who will contribute all they can towards spoiling you; but you will be equally fond of an excellent mamma, who will teach you, by her example, all sorts of good qualities ; only let me warn you of one thing, my dear, and that is, do not learn of her to have such an immoderate love of home, as is quite contrary to all the privileges of this polite age, and to give up so entirely all those pretty graces of whim, Autter, and affectation, which so many charitable poets have declared to be the prerogative of our sex. cousin, to what purpose will you boast this prerogative, when your nurse tells you, with a pious care to sow the seeds of jealousy and emulation as early as possible, that you have a fine little brother come to put your nose out of joint. There will be nothing to be done then, I believe, but to be mighty good, and prove what, believe me, admits of very little dispute, (though it has occasioned abundance) that we girls, however people give themselves airs of being disappointed, are by no means to be despised. Let the men unenvied shine in public, it is we must make their homes delightful to them; and, if they provoke us, no less uncomfortable. I do not expect you, my dear, to answer this letter yet awhile, but as, I dare say, you have the greatest interest with your papa, will beg you to prevail upon him, that we may know by a line, (before his time is engrossed by another secret committee) that you and your mamma are well. In the mean time I will only assure you, that all here rejoice in your existence extremely; and that My very young correspondent, C. T. a I am, * The pious and ingenious author of the above letter, who died Jan. 9, 1770, aged 48, was the only daughter of Mr. Edward Talbot, Archideacon of Berks, and younger son of Dr. Talbot, Bishop of Durham. There having been the most intimate friendship between him and the late Archbishop Secker, his widow and daughter lived as inmates in bis grace's family till his death, when he left the interest of 13,000l. to them and the survivor of them, and afterwards the whole sum to charitable uses. 1770, Feb. XV. Sir Walter Raleigh to Prince Henry, Son of James L. London, Aug. 12, 1611. . MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HIGHNESS, THE following lines are addressed to your Highness, from a man who values his liberty, and a very small fortune in a remote part of this island, under the present constitution, above all the riches and honours that he could any where enjoy under any other establishment. You see, Sir, the doctrines that are lately come into the world, and how far the phrase has obtained, of calling your royal father, God's vicegerent; which ill men have turned both to the dishonour of God, and the impeachment of his Majesty's goodness. They adjoin vicegerency to the idea of being all-powerful, and not to that of being all-good. His Majesty's wisdom, it is to be hoped, will save him from the snare that may lie under gross adulations ; but your youth, and the thirst of praise, which I have observed in you, may possibly mislead you to hearken to those charmers, who would conduct your noble nature into tyranny. Be careful, O my prince! hear them not, fly from their deceits; you are in the succession to a throne, from whence no evil can be imputed to you, but all good must be convered from you. Your father is called the vicegerent of heaven; while he is good, he is the vicegerent of heaven. Shall man have authority from the fountain of good to do evil ? No, my prince : let mean and degenerate spirits, which want benevolence, suppose your power impaired by a disability of doing injuries. If want of power to do isl, be an incapacity in a prince, with reverence be it spoken, it is an incapacity he hath in common with the Deity. Let me not doubt but all pleas, which do not carry in them the mutual happiness of prince and people, will appear as absurd to your great understanding, as disagreeable to your noble nature. Esert yourself, generous prince, against such sycophants, in the glorious cause of liberty; and assume such an ambition worthy of you, to secure your fellow-creatures from slavery; from a condition as much below that of brutes, as to act without reason is less miserable than to act against it. Preserve to your future subjects the divine right of being free agents; and to your own royal house the divine right of being their benefactors. Believe me, my prince, there is no other right can flow from God. While your highness is forming yourself for a throne, consider the laws as so many common-places in your study of the scienceof government; when you mean nothing but justice, they are an ease and help to you. This way of thinking is what gave men the glorious appellation of deliverers and fathers of their country; this made the sight of them rouse their beholders into acclamations, and mankind incapable of bearing their very appearance, without applauding it as a benefit. Consider the inexpressible advantages which will ever attend your highness, while you make the power of rendering men happy the measure of your actions. While . this is your impulse, how easily will that power be extended! The glance of your eye will give gladness, and your very sentence have a force of bounty. Whatever some men would insinuate, you have lost your subjects when you have lost their inclinations. You are to preside over the minds, not the bodies of men; the soul is the essence of the man, and you cannot have the true man against his inclinations. Choose therefore to be the king or the conqueror of your people; it may be submission, but it cannot be obedience that is passive. I am, Sir, most faithful Servant, 1770, Aug. WALTER RALEIGH. XVI. From Sir John Harrington, concerning his Dog. MR. URBAN THE inclosed curious and authentic remain of the famous Sir John Harrington, not having been discovered at the time of the publication of his elegant fugitive pieces in the little volume of Nuge Antiqua, printed at London in 1669, I must beg a place for it in your valuable Repository, where it will be preserved, and will, I doubt not, be truly acceptable to many of your readers. Your occasional correspondent, ANTIQUARIUS. |