man,

he was nominated to the office of treasurer of Chelsea Hospital in 1752; a sinecure, which, in addition to one of the lucrative clerkships of the privy council, enabled him to pass in affluence and ease a life too short for the wishes of his friends. Grief for the loss of an only son provoked a stroke of the palsy, which brought him to the grave, Anno Domini 1756.

James Thomson, son of a dissenting minister in Scotland. Soon after his arrival in London, he was engaged as travelling tutor to the son of Chancellor Talbot, by whom he was made secretary of the briefs. On the death of his patron, our poet was either too proud or too timid to solicit a continuance of the employment, and his affairs again fell into a poetical posture. By the recommendation of George Lord Lyttelton, he obtained a pension of one hundred pounds per annum from Frederic Prince of Wales; and under the same influence gained the appointment of surveyor-general of the Leeward-Islands. As a poet, he may most be styled the child of nature; when we read his Seasons,' we see around us all that he describes, and wonder that the view has so long escaped us. Obiit 1748. Et. 47.

al

Over the bookcases are four good marble Busts, by Sheemaker, representing Milton, Shakespeare,

Spenser, and Dryden. They are the more interesting, from the circumstance of their having been the property of Pope, and bequeathed by him to George Lord Lyttelton.

From most of the rooms the views are agreeably diversified; and a still greater variety might have been introduced, had the little parish church (as I have before observed) been allowed to make a feature in the scene. In the time of George Lord Lyttelton, who was not ashamed of such a neighbour, its ivied tower and Gothic windows peeped prettily from the woods that now encircle it, and threw into the pleasing impressions which the surrounding scenery excited, the agreeable idea of public social worship. But this did not symphonize with the feelings of his successor; to him the house of GOD was a bugbear, and as such he determined to conceal it from his sight. He, therefore, thickened his plantations; and so effectually, as to preclude all appearance of the little picturesque structure, till it be nearly approached. As we listened to this fact, recorded by an old inhabitant of the place, we could not but advert to the singular and powerful opposition of character exemplified in the two successive possessors of Hagley-park-Lord George, and his son. The former a man of the highest intellectual powers and acquirements, and

at the same time of the warmest piety and most exalted virtue; the champion of the Christian cause, and the able assertor of the truth of the Gospel; whose treatise on the Conversion of St. Paul will ever remain a monument of his religion and his talents; a composition clear in style and irresistible in argument, at once calculated to confirm the believer, to convince the sceptic, and to silence the infidel. The latter, also, of lofty intellect and splendid attainments, but of equal profligacy and irreligion; the fascinating seducer of innocence, and the shameless contemner of every thing sacred; whose short, but pernicious, life was passed in scoffing at the obligation of virtue, and violating the sanctions of morality; but who, after all his bold impiety, was at last literally frightened to death, by the horrible fantasies of his own imagination. The ghost story, to which I allude, is too generally known to render it necessary for me to trouble you with it at present. Let it be sufficient for me to remark, that the family continue to believe the reality of the supernatural appearance to his lordship; and a very near relation of his has had a painting made of the occurrence, wherein Lord Lyttelton is represented in bed, at the foot of which stands a little female figure, bearing upon her finger a small bird, whilst several demoniacal figures are fluttering

about his head; such being the vision (according to his account to his valet) that had appeared, and notified to him he should die at a particular hour. To afford encouragement and corroboration to virtue, it may be well for it to recollect, that there is no guilt without horror, no vice without remorse.

Amidst all those corruscations of wit, and flashes of merriment, which incessantly emanated from this young and gallant nobleman, his heart was wrung with everlasting care, and his soul harrowed by superstitious alarms. Of the truth of this assertion the following is a remarkable instance:-A few months before he died, he made a visit to the seat of Lord an old friend and neighbour. The mansion is old and gloomy, and well calculated to affect an imagination that could be easily acted upon; the spirits of his lordship appeared to be agitated on entrance, but after a time his accustomed hilarity returned, the magic of his tongue enraptured the circle; and all, apparently, was festivity and delight. As the night waned and the hour of repose approached, his lordship's powers of conversation became still more extraordinary; the company were rivetted to their chairs, and as often as the clock admonished them to depart, so often did he prevail upon them to forget the admonition, by a fresh stock of anecdote, or a

new chain of witticisms.

At length, however,

the party broke up, and retired to their rooms; where, after a short time, Lord was surprised

by the intrusion of his friend Lord Lyttelton, who, with a countenance of horror and consternation, requested that he might be allowed to sleep in the same room with him, as he had been frightened by the creaking of the floors when he first entered the house, and was not able to conquer the alarm which the noise had excited in his mind!

In our way to Stourbridge, the noble charity of Thomas Foley, esq; ancestor of the present lord, lying a little out of the road to the left hand, attracted our notice. An estate devised by this philanthropic character, now netting about eight hundred pounds per ann. supports the establishment; which educates, clothes, and feeds, sixty poor children belonging to the parish of Old Swinford, wherein it is situated, and the neighbouring parishes, and at a certain age places them in the world as apprentices to different callings. Their dress is similar to that of Christ's-Hospital, and the regulations of the college in a great measure the same.

The glass manufactories are the only objects of curiosity at Stourbridge; great quantities of white glass are made at them, but there is nothing particular in their process or produce. Shortly after