he, contrary to his ufual moderation, is enthufiaftic in his admiration of him: therefore, as his judgment has never been controverted, we may confider it as decifive. He delineates his Lordthip's character to be that of a man who, without any incentive from vanity, was only zealous for the good of mankind, and as folicitous for the concealment as the performance of virtuous actions. For this reafon it is, I conceive, pleafing to draw the object of this unqualified approbation nearer to us, and to contemplate, in a more particular point of view, the perfon who, as I have obferved, had the fingular happiness to be praised both by Swift and Addifon. Sir Francis Bacon, fpeaking of Mi. nifters, fays, that many of them, like comets, or blazing stars, attract to their orbit the whole attention of the age in which they appear, though no one knows whence they came, nor where they are loft: but this was by no means the cafe with Lord Sommers. His profeffional rife was accurately marked through his whole progrefs to the higheft honours of the Robe; his elocution, like a translucent ftream, at once flow. ing clear and brilliant, had this property, alfo, that while it fometimes ftimulated the paffions, it always corrected the judgment; his appeals to that tribunal where he afterwards prefided, seemed, though the effufions of an advocate, to carry with them the fame conviction as his fubfequent decifions as a Judge. His progrefs as a Statefman may be dated from his first, though mafterly, performance, the declaration of war against France, which, it has by all parties been agreed, made a ftronger, and more lafting, impreffion upon the public mind than any other ftate paper which had then been promulgated. As his character expanded, his reputation rofe with every exertion of his mental faculties. What the first dawn of his Dated the 7th of May 1689. genius had augured, the meridian radiance of it difplayed in the fupport which he gave to the Bill for acknowledging King William and Queen Mary, and declaring the acts of the Conven tion Parliament to be valid, confirmed t. In confequence of the very eminent profeffional skill difplayed by Sir John Sommers, when Attorney General, joined to the reputation which, by his eloquence, he acquired in the House of Commons, and the difcovery of his acquaintance with every part of polite and ufeful knowledge, which, through the medium of the prefs, the circum ftances of the times rendered confpicuous, his character, both as an orator and writer, became fo eftablished, and the King fo fenfible of his merit, that, on the 28th of March 1693, he honoured him with the cuttody of the Great Seal, and the title of Lord Keeper. This was a fituation for him to difcover, to his friends and the public, the full extent of his capacity for business, as well as the expanded integrity of his heart. But while he was in this poft, his enemies made a ftill more curious difcovery; namely, that he was candid and gentle, to a fault. However, the general opinion of him was, that, with the fuavity and refinement of manners which diftinguished him as a Courtier, he aifo poffelled that fortitude of mind. coolness, and patience, which would have done credit to a Stoic philofopher; and at the fame time that his decifions, as a Magiftrate, were fo firmly founded upon the pillars of law and equity, that though more than once affailed, they were never fhaken: his judgment in literature and the polite arts was fo exquifite, and delivered in a manner fo eafy and unaffuming, that his opinion always produced pleafure and affent. Lord Sommers had, in principles, always agreed with that party termed the moderate Whigs, and had, upon many occafions, not only ftudied the paflions of, but ventured his credit' Hiftorians have obferved, that, confidering the number, and, more, the talents, of the Tories, it is aftonishing that they made fo feeble a ftand against this Bill, which teemed, almoft literally, an ax levelled at the very root of their party. But in this, as in many other cales, aftonifhment frequently vanishes before difquifition. The fact is, that although their oppofition was comparatively weak, a much ftronger had, in conclave, been determined upon; there it was fettled, that the motion for its commit-, ment fhould be the fignal for a moft energetic attack; but this delign was fruitrated by one of the party, who, with more zeal than prudence, difcovered their latent intention in an early stage of the bulinefs, and confequently rendered the whole fcheme abortive. with, their leaders, when they began to waver in their opinions refpecting the great change that had been effected; in order to reclaim their thoughts toward a Monarch whom they had juft before idolized, and to induce them (fuch is the instability of the human mind) to place a greater confidence in him. In the year 1695, the fcheme of this noble Lord, for redreffing the grievances that had arifen from the nefarious prac. tice of diminishing the coin, which had then become an evil fo extenfive as to cause a confiderable obftruction to commerce, had all the merit which a fpeculation of this nature could poffefs; and although I do exceedingly doubt, whether, if it had been attempted, it would have been found practicable, yet, looking at the equity of the cafe, it certainly does appear reafonable, that the value of money fhould be determined by its weight, which, indeed, was the original idea when gold and filver firft became the medium of traffic; ftill, I think, the fcheme of Lord Sommers was justly laid afide, from the certainty that, in its priftine operation, a confiderable lofs to the nation must have been the confequence; and the uncertainty, even had it been practicable, which, from our multifarious commercial tranfactions, it decidedly was not, whether the ultimate advantages held out were not merely ideal. With refpect to the coin and coinage, the wifeft of our Minifters have always difcovered the greatest caution in their interference. It would too confiderably extend this article, were I to state all the reasons that may be fuppofed to have operated upon their minds. But briefly to allude to fome of them, it feems to require that thorough acquaintance with the minutiae of traffic, which Statesmen in former ages were not believed to poffefs in a very eminent degree. A Lord Treasurer might understand the ocumenical principle, the great commercial interefts of various kingdoms and states, how they coalefced or clafhed, the balance of power, the balance of riches, and yet might, without any violent impeachment of his capacity, be ignorant of the various divifions and fubdivifions, the operation of circumstances and materials, upon the various fyftems of fociety, the various modes of life. He might, with respect to this fubject, be perfectly acquainted with the affairs of every great combination of commerce, with the arrangement of every trading and banking company, and yet want that knowledge of pecuniary concerns which is, perhaps, only to be found behind the counter of the hop-keeper, or at the pay-table of the mechanic. This was the cafe in former ages: in the prefent, the vast increase and wide diffufion of wealth, by the means of the funding fyftem, and its concomitants, has obliged him to become better acquainted with many of these minute particulars; and the confequence is, that a Minifter now would not, for an inftant, wonder at the failure of the fcheme of Lord Sommers. If any thing of this nature could have excited his aftonishment, it would have been its fucceeding. We are next to view his Lordship engaged in a purfuit more congenial to his talents, and, in a general point of view, more ufeful to his country. It is by no means neceffary to defcant on the fituation of France in the year 1697: though our arms had "fcotched the fnake, they had not killed it:" on the contrary, confiderable apprehenfions were then entertained of the power of this rival nation; and, in confe quence, a tract appeared, which was generally believed, and is now, I think, certified, to have been from his pen. In this pamphlet, the arguments for and against keeping a refpectable military force, or what was termed a flanding army, in the time of peace, are examined, applauded, and combated, with equal acumen, ikill, and ingenuity; and the conclufion of this able Statefman is, that he, maturely reflecting on the circumftances of the period, deemed fuch an establishment, even upon a large fcale, abfolutely neceflary for our national prefervation. Confidering the Lord Chancellor Sommers as one of the most able and uncorrupt Judges that ever prefided in that Court, his promotion reflects great honour on the Monarch; but we must lament, that in this exalted ftation, his body became too feeble to fecond the exertions of his energetic mind; for it appears, that in the year 1698, his attention to business had fo far affected his health, that he was obliged to retire to Tunbridge for its re-establishment. While he was there, he received a letter from the King, which is ftill extant. His anfwer ftates, as an apology for his thoughts being fo fo ill put together, that "the waters are fo known to distract and difturb the head as almost totally to difable one from writing." To this illness his Lordship was fubject, at intervals, during the remainder of his life; but it is faid, that although he was not able to attend the Houfe upon the debate (in 1700) occafioned by the Bill for the Refumption of the Irith Grants, he advised the oppofition to it: which, if we confider his prudence, and weigh the confequences that might have attended the doctrine of refumption, seems probable. He knew, that if it had operated, it might have fet afloat more than half the property in the kingdom; that it might have been extended, perhaps, to the very verge of the ftatute of Limitations, nay, by the omnipotence of Parliament, even beyond that boundary, and have been the means of inftituting enquiries, not merely into the grants in the reign of Charles, which were its profeffed object; but even into thofe, which were far more profufe, of the abbey lands at the time of the Reformation; if it had ftopped there. He knew, that even under a defpotic Monarch, a fcheme of this nature, which threatened to involve the nation in very ferious confequences, was, by a fingle Baron, ftrangled in its cradle; and, confidering the unfettled state of the times, he had no reason to suppose that his cotemporaries would not defend their claims with the fame inftruments, and cling to their poffeffions with the tenacity of their ancestors*. ・ A philofopher fpeculating upon the baneful effects of party, and how frequently its operations tend to corrupt, vitiate, and deform, the human mind, could not, in fearching for instances to elucidate his argument, perhaps, find many more prominent, or unprincipled, than the attempts that were made to implicate Lord Sommers in the guilt of Captain Kidd. But while the means purfied appeared infamous even to the culprit trembling on the verge of eternity, and, as it was hoped, ready to catch at every object that might have afforded him a profpe&t of a prolongation of existence, What shall we lay of the tempters +? Both the House of Commons and the Public united in their degradation; and the character which they had thus attempted to fully, feemed to emerge from the cloud with double brilliancy. The enemies of this Nobleman, equally reftiefs and ingenious, foiled in one attempt, ventured another, which they carried still further. They impeached him, together with the Earl of Portland, the Earl of Orford, and Lord Halifax, for the share they had in the Partition Treaty, and other hig *Edward the Firft iffued writs of enquiry, in the nature of the ftatute of Warranto, injoining all perfons who held lands of the Crown to fhew their titles. When the Earl of Warren appeared before the Commitlioners, he answered their demand for his title by drawing an old rufty sword, and faying, "This is the intrament by which my ancestors obtained poffeffion of their eftate; and with this I will, fo long as I have life, defend it." + When Captain Kidd was first brought up for examination, he became indebted to one Keftdale, a coffee-mar, near the House of Commons, in the fum of eight hillings, for refreshment. One Sunday, previous to his fecond examination, Keftdale and his fon went to Newgate to demand payment of this money. They drank with Kidd; and, in the course of conversation, Keftdale faid to him, “ Captain, You are a fool to be hanged for any body, and may certainly fave your life if you can lay anything against Lord Orford or Lord Sommers." To this broad bint Kidd replied, as might have been expected, "I'll be hanged for nobody, and will certainly tell all." Keftdale (who, it appears, was a useful man) went with his fon directly to Sir Edward Seymour; and upon this flight circumftance, it allo appears, the information he gave the Houfe was founded. It is fingular, that this coffee-man, who lived under the roof of the House of Commons, hould think it neceffary to take a witness, and proceed to Newgate, to demand a debt of seven or eight fhillings from a culprit whom he was well affured would be brought up more than once again for examination. The object of this debt, which he muft know, if he had cared about it, he could not recover, and which he alfo knew be should have other opportunities to demand, could not be the object of his vifit. What other could he have? it may be afked. The answer to this question, if it were anfwered, places the human mind, when influenced by party, in fo degraded a fate, that it is, perhaps, better to leave it to the fuggetion of the reader. crimes and misdemeanors; and an addrefs, fuch a one as, it is faid, had never gone with an impeachment or impeachments before, was prefented to the King, to remove them from his councils, &c. The letting their names remain on the council-book, and taking no notice of the addrefs, was, though a tacit, a fevere cenfure on this meature. The antwer of Lord Sommers to the articles of impeachment * was full, explicit, and feems an emanation from the very fpirit of integrity and honour. With refpect to the delays that had occurred in the Court of Chancery, which includes a charge that, had it been lefs gravely urged, we thould hardly have thought the authors ferious in exhibiting, the Ex-Chancellor anfwered, "that he had, with little regard to his own health or repofe, applied himfelf wholly to the dispatch of business, and had always acted according to the best of his judgment, without fear or favour. The event of thofe impeachments fhews, in the ftrongest point of view, the unstable foundation upon which they were created; and their whole conftruction, in this age, appears a piece of folemn mockery on the part of the Tories, which, fome years afterwards, the Whigs retaliated, with as little principle, in the impeachments of Lord Oxford, Prior, and others. As they were, perhaps, all derived from the fame fources, envy, ambition, and, I fear, avarice, they all, when aflayed at the fiery ordeal of truth, thewed the bafenefs of their alloy, and were by the profecutors, who became afhamed of their own works, abandoned. Holding the impartial pen of history, one cannot but lament, that the operation of paffions fuch as has been hinted, thould deprave the minds, and sfteel the bofoms, of men, upon other occafions as remarkable for their genius, learning, and attention to bufinefs, as for their humanity. But it is certain, that while the voice of party only was heard, the exertions of party only attended to, the fituation of affairs, both foreign and domeftic, was fuch as did little credit to the patriotifin of either fide, in the opinion of the thinking, and, more, of the feeling, part of the nation. Thefe Statesmen appear to us like boys in a scramble, who purfue and buffet each other in order to pick up a few pence, while thofe of a neighbouring parish, perhaps more aftute, ftand aloof, and, watching the lucky minute when the contest has arrived at its height, ran away with their clothes. A new Monarch rifes like a new planet in the celestial hemifphere; every eye is turned to gaze, and every mind contemplates, under its influence, the operation of a new system. Queen Anne, on her acceffion to the Throne, did not entirely disappoint the hopes of the Tories, who feem, in those periods, to have acted upon ftatical principles with the Whigs, and to have thrown all their weight into the oppofite fcale, to make the balance incline in their favour, or rather to have taken their turn with them like day and night. But although she did not, at firit, gratify the former to the fullest extent of their wishes, for indeed the could not, till taught by dear bought experience, tell how far the wishes of anibition and avarice extended, the brought into Administration the Earl of Abingdon, Viscount Weymouth †, and many others who had expreffed the most violent and rancorous averfion to the latter; while Lord Sommers and his friends, who were, from patriotic principles, firmly attached to the Revolution, were left out of the lift. The unreasonable prejudice which the Queen, ftimulated by his enemies, entertained against this noble Lord, in a fhort period receded before that conviction of his talents and integrity which the circumftances of the times, and the large fhare he had in the promotion of the Union 1, drew forth. As the fettlement of the Protestant The impeachment of Lord Sommers was moved the 15th April 1701; the articles were exhibited 19th May 1701; and the trial, at which the Commons did not attend, was the 17th June fame year. His Lordship was, of course, acquitted. The names of thefe two Lords appear among the not-contents, with respect to the acquittal of Lord Sominers. With refpect to this wife and falutary measure, of which every one must have oblerved the progreffive, and fill increasing, benefit to both countries, it has been laid, the original plan was his. Without withing to detract from his merit, we may hint," that it did not feem to require a genius like that of Lord Sommers to point out advantages fo obvious, that the moft fuperficial speculator now wonders they were not a century fooner attained. fucceffion, fucceffion, the Regency Bill, and the Union, are three remarkable political epochs, fo are they three diftinguifhed traits of the forefight, prudence, and patriotifin, of this Nobleman, from whom they are believed to have originated: though, while his energetic mind produced these advantages to his country, his innate modefty induced him to fhrink from the praife that ought to have followed them, to elude the purfuit of fame, and endeavour to appear as the fecond perfon, when he had every claim to the fituation of the first. The genius and learning of Lord Sommers, fays Additon, have often been compared to thofe of Lord Verulam; a parallel has alfo been drawn be twixt the circumitances of their lives: both were Lord Chancellors, and both were impeached by the Commons: fo far the parallel may run; but their behaviour in adverfity was certainly very different. Confcious integrity fup. ported the former; while, according to his own confeffion, confcious guilt depreffed the latter and although I fhould be loth to believe that all the charges brought against him, or, confidering the fate of his mind, even all thofe that he acknowledged, were founded on fact, I think the placing them in the fame point of view does not feem a trait of that judgment which generally marked the eulogift of Lord Sommers. His character wanted no foil; and therefore I do conceive it was ungenerous to endeavour to add bril liancy to the one, as a skilful artist would to a diamond, by placing a spot of black at the bottom of the collet, extracted from the fetting of the other. The political progrefs of Lord Sommers terminated with an endeavour to aflift the British merchants, by oppofing to the parade of military glory, and the exultation of triumphant armies, the depreflion of commerce, and the calamities of myriads of ftarving inanufacturers. The oppofition to the warlike measures of the administration of the day, which he, upon this occafion, feconded, it is well known, though strong, was futile, with refpect to the public, but to him glorious, as it closed his character in the fame manner it had been opened; and as at the first, fo to the lait hour of a long-extended public existence, exhibited him steady in his principles, difinterested in his purfuits, and ardent in his endeavours to difcharge his duty to his country; and in his age equally zealous as in his youth to devote his profeffional talents, his rhetorical and literary abi lities, with the additional experience of his life, to the benefit of mankind; and, long after that experience had convinced him of the futility of worldly purfuits, of the evanefcent texture of worldly honours, to endeavour to direct the torrent from which he had fo fortunately escaped, left, bursting its banks, it thould overwhelm the coun try it had in former ages, fertilized. No. II. ON PROVERBS, "The genius, wit, and spirit, of nations are discovered by their proverbs." RROR is never fo certain in its fatal E effects as when inculcated by men of celebrity for talents or virtue. Their LORD BACON." authority. gives it that external appearance of truth, without which, in fome degree, it never becomes prevalent. * We know, that under the head of New Year's Gift, every Chancellor, from, perhaps, Giffard † to Cowper, might have been implicated in the charge of bribery; and though, certainly, in this point, no one will defend the character of a man who, with the most brilliant talents, poffeffed that exquifite, that morbid, fenfibility, that would not fuffer him to fay a word in defence of himself; yet when we have obferved 'what Envy, which, like an exaggerated and diftorted fhade, follows, exalted genius, attempted in the cafe of Sommers, it would be charitable to conclude he more fuccefffully performed in the degradation and fall of Verulam. + William Giffard was Lord Chancellor in the reign of William the Conqueror. As |