well remember," writes Mr. Isaac Disraeli in his 'Calamities of Authors,' "the cruel anxiety which prevailed in the nineteenth year of these inclosures: it spoiled the digestions of several of our literati, who had had the misfortune of Cole's intimate friendship or enmity." The indefatigable antiquary expired tranquilly on the 16th of December, 1782, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. "It is with much concern," writes, two days afterwards, their common friend, Mr. Essex, to Gough, the antiquary, "I now write to acquaint you that our old friend, Mr. Cole, is no more. He was confined to his bed for the first time, last Thursday se'nnight. On Tuesday, the 10th, he sent for me and Mr. Lombe, the attorney, having, as he said, no time to lose, and gave directions about his will, which he had written himself, but desired him to put it into proper form, with some few alterations." For six days longer, however, he lingered on. "He died," continues Mr. Essex, " on Monday, the 16th inst., about half after five in the afternoon, perfectly resigned, and sensible to the last moment, without a sigh or groan. He took a very affectionate leave of me, for the last time, about three hours before he died."1 By his own desire, Cole's remains were interred beneath the belfry of St. Clement's Church, Cambridge. 1 Nichols's 'Illustrations of the Literary History of the 18th Century,' vol. vi. p. 297. 296 DR. CHARLES LYTTELTON, BISHOP OF CARLISLE. CHARLES LYTTELTON, an Eton contemporary and brother antiquary of Cole and Horace Walpole, was the third son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, of Hagley Hall, in Worcestershire, by Christian Temple, sister of Pope's Lord Cobham. Born in 1714, he was five years younger than his brother George, "the good Lord Lyttelton." From Eton Charles Lyttelton removed to University College, Oxford, and thence to the Inner Temple, where he studied law, and whence he was called to the Bar. He was still young, however, when he changed the profession of the Law for that of the Church. Having entered into holy orders, he was collated by Bishop Hough, on the 13th of August, 1742, to the rectory of Alvechurch, in Worcestershire, and in December, 1747, was appointed chaplain to George II. In the mean time, on the 28th of March, 1745, he had taken his degree as LL.B., and, on the 18th of June the same year, his degree as LL.D. In May, 1748, the deanery of Exeter was conferred upon him, and on the 21st of March, 1762, he was consecrated Bishop of Carlisle. It may be mentioned, that for the latter high preferment he seems to have been principally indebted to the pressure put by his powerful friend and relative, George Grenville, upon their former schoolfellow, Lord Bute, at that time Prime Minister.1 2 In 1765, on the death of Hugh Lord Willoughby of Parham, Dr. Lyttelton was unanimously elected President of the Society of Antiquaries, a station in which, if we may accept the judgment of Nichols," "his distinguished abilities were eminently displayed." To antiquarian study he rendered good service, not only by contributing several excellent papers to the Archæologia,' but by bequeathing at his decease his valuable MSS. to the Society of Antiquaries. Of those communications, the most noteworthy seems to have been a treatise which he composed on the authenticity of a copy of Magna Charta in his own possession, which treatise had the honour of being answered by Judge Blackstone. In social life, the character of Bishop Lyttelton appears to have been in every respect an estimable one. According, for instance, to his brother antiquary, Dr. Milles, Dean of Exeter, in a speech delivered by him on succeeding the Bishop in the presidency of the Society of Antiquaries "His doors. 1 Grenville Papers,' vol. i. pp. 418-20. were always open to his friends, amongst whom none were more welcome to him than the friends of literature, which he endeavoured to promote in all its various branches, especially in those which are the more immediate objects of our attention." "His literary merit," added the Dean, "received an additional lustre from the affability of his temper, the gentleness of his manners, and the benevolence of his heart, which united every member of the society in esteem to their head, and in harmony and friendship with each other."1 Bishop Lyttelton died unmarried at his house in Clifford Street, London, on the 22nd of December, 1768, at the age of fifty-four. To Dr. Hurd, Bishop Warburton writes on the occasion:-"A bishop more or less in the world is nothing; and, perhaps, of as small account in the next. I used to despise him for his antiquarianism; but of late, since I grew old and dull myself, I cultivated an acquaintance with him for the sake of what formerly kept us asunder."2 The remains of Bishop Lyttelton repose in the burial-place of his family, in Hagley Church, beneath the roof which it had once been his favourite occupation to emblazon with the armorial bearings of his race. ''Archæologia,' vol. i. p. xliv.; third edition. "Letters from a late Eminent Prelate' (Bishop Warburton to Bishop Hurd), p. 428. 299 DR. JEREMIAH MILLES, DEAN OF EXETER, F.R.S. JEREMIAH MILLES, the successor of Bishop Lyttelton in the presidentship of the Society of Antiquaries, and the friend in whose arms that prelate drew his last breath, was born in 1714, the same year as his schoolfellow, the Bishop. He was nephew to Dr. Thomas Milles, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, who appointed him his heir. On quitting Eton, he entered as a Gentleman Commoner of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; took his degree as M.A. in 1735, and as D.D. in 1747. Having taken holy orders, and been collated by his uncle, Bishop Milles, to a prebend in Waterford Cathedral, to which was annexed a living near that city, the future Dean would have been content to take up his abode in Ireland, but that the habits and customs of that country proved to be so little in union with his tastes or prejudices, as to decide him, after a short residence there, to return to England. Here he not only had the good fortune to gain the affections and the hand of a virtuous and amiable |