Mindanoa, intending to cruise off Manilla. The repeated feuds and disturbances among the crew,-their irregular, riotous mode of conducting themselves, and, above all, the disreputable occupation itself, tended at this time to induce Dampier to quit them. After a little altercation, he was at length put ashore on the isle of Nicholas, with a Mr Hall, and a man named Ambrose; and having escaped many dangers, he arrived at Bencoolen, where he was well-received, and appointed master-gunner of the Dutch fort there. Still, however, he continued uneasy, anxiously looking for an opportunity to return to England, which at last he happily effected by creeping through one of the port-holes of the fort, and getting on board a ship belonging to the English East India company.

Dampier himself does not make any mention of his being engaged in any subsequent voyage for the space of eight years, but having about the year 1698 been recommended by Mr Montague, president of the royal society, to the earl of Oxford, at that time first lord of the admiralty, he was, on the 26th of July, raised to the rank of captain in the royal navy, and appointed to the Roebuck, a small frigate, at that time under equipment for a voyage of discovery. In this vessel, which mounted only twelve guns, he sailed from the Downs on the 14th of January, 1698-9. As the vessel had been purposely victualled and fitted for a voyage of twenty months' duration, he proceeded by Teneriffe and the Brazils to the Cape of Good Hope, and from thence to New Holland, an immense tract of country, little known previous to his time, and in the examination of which he made very considerable progress. The Roebuck was ultimately wrecked on Ascension island, but Dampier and his crew were relieved from their confinement on the island by the arrival of some English vessels. It appears that a good deal of censure was indulged in on this occasion in some quarters. Dampier feelingly complains, in his dedication to the earl of Pembroke, of the third volume of his voyages, "The world is apt to judge of every thing by the success; and whoever has ill fortune, will hardly be allowed a good name. This, my lord, was my unhappiness in my late expedition in the Roebuck, which foundered through perfect age near the island of Ascension. I suffered extremely in my reputation by that misfortune, though I comfort myself with the thoughts, that my enemies could not charge any neglect upon me; and since I have the honour to be acquitted by your lordship's judgment, I should be very humble not to value myself upon so complete a vindication."

The London Gazette contains the following notification: "St James's, April 18th, 1703. Captain William Dampier being prepared to depart on another voyage to the West Indies, had the honour to kiss her majesty's hand on Friday last, being introduced by his royal highness the lord-high-admiral." It appears, however, that he did not sail on this expedition till the year 1704. In the course of it he took the town of Puna in the South seas, but putting into Batavia on his return, he was imprisoned by the Dutch, who seized on all his effects. He returned to England after his release, but is not known to have ever afterwards been employed in the royal navy. There is indeed a report that he was dismissed or suspended from the service, by the sentence of a courtmartial, for misbehaviour, and ill-treatment of his officers and people; but this circumstance is by no means sufficiently established to warrant

our positive assertion of it. He afterwards accompanied Captain Woodes Rogers in his voyage round the world, in the capacity of master, and returned with him to England, where he arrived on the 1st of October, 1711. No particulars are known relative to him after this time. The history of his voyages, particularly the first, has been translated into most European languages. It was first published in three vols. 8vo., London, 1697.

We shall present our readers with one passage from Dampier's narrative, which sufficiently proves that he was an acute observer, and advanced in intelligence, on some points, beyond his age. After narrating the circumstances of an atrocious attack upon a small English tradingvessel, he proceeds thus:-" The people of Barcalis, therefore, though they are Malayans as the rest of the country, yet they are civil enough engaged thereto by trade; for the more trade, the more civility; and, on the contrary, the more barbarity and inhumanity. For trade has a strong influence upon all people who have found the sweets of it, bringing with it so many of the conveniences of life as it does; and I believe, that even the poor Americans, who have not yet tasted the sweets of it by an honest and just commerce, even such of them as yet seem to court no more than a bare subsistence of meat and drink, and a clout to cover their nakedness. That extensive continent hath yet millions of inhabitants, both the Mexican and Peruvian parts, who are still ignorant of trade; and they would be fond of it, did they once experience it, though they at present live happy enough, by enjoying such fruits of the earth as nature has bestowed on those places where their lot is fallen;—and it may be, they are happier now, than they may hereafter be, when more known to the avaricious world. For, with trade, they will be in danger of meeting with oppression,-men not being content with a free traffic, and a just and reasonable gain, especially in those remote countries; but they must have the current run altogether in their own channel,-though to the depriving the poor natives they deal with of their natural liberty, as if all mankind were to be ruled by their laws. The islands of Sumatra and Java can sufficiently witness this; the Dutch having in a manner engrossed all the trade of these, and several of the neighbouring islands, to themselves; not that they are able to supply them with a quarter of what they want, but because they would have all the produce of them at their own disposal. Yet even in this they are short, and may be still more disappointed of the pepper trade, if other people would seek it; for the greater part of the island of Sumatra propagates this plant; and the natives would readily comply with any who would come to trade with them, notwithstanding the great endeavours the Dutch make against it; for this island is so large, populous, and productive of pepper, that the Dutch are not able to draw all to themselves. Indeed, this place about Barcalis is in a manner at their devotion; and, for ought I know, it was through a design of being revenged on the Dutch, that Captain Johnston lost his life. I find the Malayans, in general, are implacable enemies to the Dutch; and all seems to arise from an earnest desire they have for a free trade, which is restrained by them not only here, but in the spice islands, and all other places where they have any power.

"But it is freedom only must be the means to encourage any of these remote people to trade, especially such of them as are industrious, and

whose inclinations are bent this way, as most of the Malayans are, and the major part of the people of the East Indies, even from the Cape of Good Hope eastward to Japan-both continent and islands. For though, in many places, they are limited by the Dutch, English, Danes, &c. and restrained from a free trade with other nations; yet have they continually shown what uneasiness that is to them. And how dear has this restraint cost the Dutch!-when, yet, neither can they, with all their forts and guardships, secure the trade wholly to themselves, any more than the Barlaventa fleet can secure the trade of the West Indies to the Spaniards."

Sidney Godolphin, Earl of Godolphin.

DIED A. D. 1712.

FEW men have played so important a part in the theatre of public life, without attracting greater attention than has been given to this accomplished statesman. We have been unable to discover any continuous account of his life more satisfactory than would be furnished by the commonest obituary, and, in consequence, have been obliged to resort for the following particulars, scanty as they are, to incidental notices scattered over a vast multiplicity of volumes.' He was descended from an ancient family in Cornwall, where he was born somewhere about the middle of the seventeenth century. His father, Francis Godolphin, was noted for his loyalty during the civil war, and at the Restoration was created a knight of the Bath. Sydney Iwas the third son of Sir Francis. If we are to believe Swift, he was originally intended for a trade; but be that as it may, he received a good education, and at an early age obtained the situation of page, and subsequently that of groom of the chamber, in the court of Charles the Second. But it seems to have been soon discovered that his talents lay towards business, for in 1678 he was twice sent as envoy to Holland on missions of considerable importance, and in the following year was named a commissioner of the treasury, and a member of the privycouncil. In the same year, at the election of Charles's second parliament, he was chosen member for the borough of St Mawes. From the politics of his family, as well as from his official situation, it is evident that he belonged to the court-party; but he does not seem to have had any alliance with the duke of York's faction, as he gave his vote for the exclusion bill. By a reference to the parliamentary history, we find that he sat in the 3d, 4th, and 5th parliaments of Charles, as member for Helston, in which borough his family had probably some influence, since the Sydney Godolphin, who is panegyrized by Hobbes in the preface to the Leviathan, and who, in all likelihood, was uncle to the subject of this memoir, sat for Helston in one or two of the parliaments of Charles the First. In 1684 he was made Baron Rialton, and first

3

It is not wonderful that such compilations as those of Chalmers and Aikin, should pass over in silence the life of a man, whose memoirs it would have required some labour to write; but we were surprised to find Godolphin's existence not once alluded to by the Biographia Britannica and Rees' Cyclopedia.

History of the Four last years of the Queen.

Antony Wood.

commissioner of the treasury, having shortly before been one of the secretaries of state; "which office," says Burnet,* "he left, because he disliked the drudgery.” On the accession of James he was compelled to resign his place in the treasury to the earl of Rochester, but had art or influence sufficient to obtain the appointment of chamberlain to the queen. Burnet mentions, that before he left the treasury, he was prevailed upon to sign an order for the levying of the customs as usual, though no parliament had yet granted them to James, and it is not irrational to conclude, that his office, in the queen's household, was the reward of his compliance with this illegal request.5 Swift says-we know not how truly—that Godolphin entertained a warm attachment for Mary of Modena, James's youthful queen; and, after the Revolution, was in the habit of sending her letters full of double entendre,' and presents of such things as are agreeable to ladies. It is the common opinion that he secretly favoured, and in so far as the timidity of his nature permitted, forwarded the Revolution, and though there is no very decisive evidence on the point, there is enough to make the opinion probable. He carried on his negotiations, however, with such secrecy, that James never once suspected him, but appointed him a commissioner to negotiate with the prince of Orange; for he had the decency, rare at the time, not to abandon instantaneously the master whose favours he had received, and whose government he had virtually approved of by retaining his place. Even after the Revolution he seems to have

for a short time identified himself with the Jacobite party, since he voted for a regency, and opposed the change of the convention into a parliament. But the stream of power had now fairly set in against the Stuart family, and Godolphin was too politic a statesman openly to cling to a falling party. In 1689 he was made a member of the privy-council, and was again appointed a commissioner of the treasury, "in which office," says Burnet, "his calm and cold way," and his knowledge of business so suited the king, that he considered him more than either of his two colleagues, and in 1690 created him first lord of the treasury. His admission to office was at first one of those sacrifices of his own feelings, which William, unfortunately for his own peace and for the prosperity of the country, thought fit to make in the fruitless hope of propitiating the tory party; but Godolphin's abilities were so great, that the court was glad to obtain the advantage of them even after this erroneous policy was corrected in 1694, and his zeal for his principles was too much governed by a trimming policy to make him object to an arrangement which preserved him in office. It is a singular and melancholy fact, that, at this very time, Godolphin was engaged in a treasonable correspondence with the court at St Germains. Macpherson says that he and Marlborough were among the first to offer their services to James. It is difficult to believe that an English minister should be thus lost to all feelings of honour; but the Stuart papers, brought to light by Dalrymple and Macpherson, prove, beyond

• History of his own times.

We confess that this charge has never, to our knowledge, been brought against Godolphin; but it wears a strong semblance of truth, especially when it is remembered that James was not very likely spontaneously to confer the place on a man who had voted for the exclusion bill.

all question, Godolphin's treachery. In 1696 an accusation of treasonable intercourse was brought against him by Sir John Fenwick, whose trial and disclosures form so prominent a part of the history of William's reign, which so much alarmed him, that he retired from office. During the following years he seems to have been actively employed in opposing the whig party, which was now rapidly regaining the supremacy it had possessed immediately after the Revolution. Annoyed by the lukewarm support, and sometimes decided opposition which the whigs gave to his favourite measures, William was driven again into the arms of the tories, several of whose leaders he restored to power, amongst whom was Godolphin, once again placed at the head of the treasury. Finding still less sincerity among his new allies, the king, in the latter part of his reign, reposed his whole confidence in the whigs, who, with all their faults, were the only true friends to the Revolution, and Godolphin was supplanted by the earl of Carlisle. But no sooner had the grave closed over William, than his successor, who, if we are to believe Noble,' was extremely attached to Godolphin in his youth, advanced him to the elevated post of lord-high-treasurer of England. It is said that he at first resolutely declined office, but yielded at length to the solicitations of his personal and political friend, Marlborough, who declared, that unless Godolphin was treasurer, he could not undertake the management of the war on the continent. He soon found that it would be impossible to carry on the government without gaining the support of the whigs by admitting their leaders to office. In 1703 and 1704 he seems to have been gradually paving the way for a union with him; and after the elections in 1705, when it was found that the whigs had obtained a decided majority in the new parliament, both he and Marlborough deserted their old friends and principles, and flung themselves into the arms of the opposite party. It is not our intention to detail the history of his administration, for which a reference must be made to the historical sketch of this period: suffice it to say, that the affairs of the country were never conducted more vigorously, or with more splendid success. But in those days of intrigue it was not to be expected that any administration should long maintain itself. By Godolphin's influence, Harley had been made secretary of state in 1704. This crafty politician contrived to ingratiate himself so well with the queen, that he soon aspired to the chief rather than a subordinate place in the government. Godolphin perceiving his designs demanded his dismissal, and in 1708, and by dint of threats of resignation on the part both of Marlborough and of himself, obtained it; but his conduct drew down on him Anne's unappeasable displeasure. No sooner were the measures of the queen and the tory party ripe for execution than the whigs, one after another, were summarily dismissed from office, and on the 7th of August, 1710, Godolphin was ordered to break the white staff. With the natural insolence of a triumphant faction, the tories endeavoured to fasten on him the charge of mal-administration of the public funds; but their malice completely failed. In an able pamphlet,

These papers also prove a fact which has been stated very doubtfully by Coxe in his life of Marlborough, that Godolphin, and not Marlborough, first communicated to the St Germains court the design entertained by the English government of attacking Brest harbour, which was, in consequence, frustrated.

Continuation of Grainger.