allufion to a fumptuous houfe which was then building by Harley; he obferved, that to conftruct a great house was a high act of imprudence in any minifter. Afterwards, when , he had pulled down the family manfion at Houghton, and raised a magnificent edifice, being reminded of that obfervation by fir John Hynde Cotton, he readily acknowledged its juftnefs and truth, but added, Your recollection is too late, I wish you had reminded me of it before I began building, it might then have been of fervice 6 to me.' "His ftyle of living was confonant to the magnificence of his manfion. He had ufually two annual meetings at Houghton, the one in the fpring, to which were invited only the moft felect friends and the leading members of the cabinet, continued about three weeks. The fecond was in autumn, towards the commencement of the fhooting feafon. It continued fix weeks or two months, and was called the congrefs. At this time Houghton was filled with company from all parts. He kept a public table, to which all gentlemen in the county found a ready admiffion. "The expences of thefe meetings have been computed at 3000l. Nothing could be more ill-judged than the enormous profufion, except the company for which it was made. The mixed multitude confifted of his friends in both houfes, and of their friends. The noife and uproar, the waste and confufion, were prodigious. The belt friends of fir Robert Walpole in vain remonftrated against this fcene of riot and mifrule. As the minifter himfelf was fond of mirth and jollity, the conviviality of their meetings was too frequently carried to excefs, and lord Townshend, whofe dignity of deportment and decorum of character revolted a gainft thefe fcenes, which he called the Bacchanalian orgies of Houghton, not unfrequently quitted Rainham during their continuance. But notwithstanding thefe cenfures, and the impropriety of fuch conduct, it undoubtedly gained and preferved to the minifter numerous adherents, who applauded a mode of living fo analogous to the spirit of ancient hofpitality. "This profufion would have been highly difgraceful had it been attended with a rapacious difpofition. On the contrary, he gave many inftances of carelefsnefs and difregard of his private fortune. He expended 14,000l. in building a new lodge in Richmond park; and when the king, on the death of Bothmar, in 1738, offered him the houfe in Downing-street, he refused it as his own property, but accepted it as an appendage to the office of chancellor of the exchequer. "IIe was, from his early youth, fond of the diverfions of the field, and retained this tafte till prevented by the infirmities of age. He was accustomed to hunt in Richmond park with a pack of beagles. On receiving a packet of letters he ufually opened that from his gamekeeper first; and he was fond of fitting for his picture in his fporting drefs. He was, like chancellor Oxenstiern, a found fleeper, and ufed to fay, that he put off his cares with his cloaths.' "His focial qualities were generally acknowledged. He was animated and lively in converfation, and in the moment of feitivity realifed the fine eulogium which Pope has given of him." • Seen Seen him, I have, but in his happier hour Of focial pleasure, ill-exchang'd for power; Seen him, uncumber'd with the venal tribe, Smile without art, and win without a bribe.' Epilogue to the SATIRES. "To the virtues of fir Robert Walpole I feel regret in not being able to add that he was the patron of letters and the friend of science. But he unquestionably does not deferve that honourable appellation, and in this inftance his rank in the temple of fame is far inferior to that of Halifax, Oxford, and Bolingbroke. It is a matter of wonder, that a minister who had received a learned education, and was no indifferent fcholar, fhould have paid fuch little attention to the mufes. Nor can it be denied, that this neglect of men of letters was highly difadvantageous to his adminiftration, and expofed him to great obloquy. The perfons employed in juftifying his meafures, and repelling the attacks of the oppofition, were by no means equal to the talk of combating Pulteney, Bolingbroke, and Chesterfield, thofe Goliahs of oppofition; and the political pamphlets written in his defence, are far inferior in humour, argument, and ftyle, to the publications of his adverfaries. "Pope has ably fatirifed the herd of political writers employed by the minifter, firft in the epilogue to the Satires, and in the Dunciad. Next plung'd a feeble, but a defperate With each a fickly brother at his back: Afk ye their names? I could as foon dif clofe Fast by, like Niobe, (her children gone) "But that he did not wholly negleft literary merit, appears from the grateful ftrains of the author of the Night Thoughts, for whom he procured a penfion from George the firft, and which was increafed at his fuggeftion by George the fecond, to 200l. a year, at that time no inconfiderable reward. At this the mufe fhall kindle, and alpire: My breaft, O Walpole, glows with grateful fire, The ftreams of royal bounty, turn'd by thee, Refresh the dry remains of poefy. My fortune thews, when arts are Walpole's care, What flender worth forbids us to despair. Be this thy partial fmile from cenfure free; 'Twas meant for merit, though it fell on me.' "The truth is, fir Robert Walpole did not delight in letters, and always confidered poets as not men of bufinefs. He was often heard to fay, that they were fitter for fpeculation than for action, that they trufted to theory rather than to experience, and were guided by prin ples inadmiffible in practical life. His opinion was confirmed by the experience of his own time. Prior made but an indifferent negotiator; his friend Steele was wholly incapable of application, and Áddifon a miferable secretary of state. He was fo fully impreffed with these notions, that when he made Congreve commiffioner of the customs, he faid, You will find he has no head for bufinefs.' 6 "Low perfons were employed The names of thefe blind puppies as of by government, and profufely paid, thofe. fome of whom not unfrequently pro pagated "Though he had not forgotten his claffical attainments, he had little tafte for literary occupations. He once expreffed his regret on this fubject to Fox, who was read. ing in the library at Houghton. 'I with,' he faid, I took as much delight in reading as you do, it would be the means of alleviat ing many tedious hours in my prefent retirement; but to my misfortune I derive no pleasure 6 pagated in private converfation, and even in public clubs, difadvantageous reports of the minifter, and declared that high rewards induced them to write against their real fentiments. Several known diffeminators of infidelity were engaged to defend his measures. Many warm remonstrances were frequently made by the minifter's friends against employing fuch low mercenaries, but ufually difregarded. Some of thefe infignificant writers had fre.from fuch purfuits.' On another quent accefs to him. Their delu- occafion, he said to his fon Horace, five and encouraging accounts of who, with a view to amufe him, perfons and things, were too often was preparing to read fome hiftorimore credited than the fincere and cal performance, O! do not read free intimations of thofe who were hiftory, for that I know must be more capable of giving accurate falfe.' information. But this feems an error too common in minifters: they prefer favourable accounts to difmal truth, and readily believe what they wish to be true. "It is a natural-curiofity to inquire into the behaviour and occupations of a minifter retired from bufinefs, and divefted of that power which he had long enjoyed. Those who admired his talents, while he fwayed fenates and governed kingdoms, contemplate him, in their mind's eye,' enjoying his retreat with dignity, and paffing his leifure hours with calmnefs and complacency. Yet nothing in general is more unfatisfactory than fuch an inquiry, or more illufive than fuch a preconceived opinion. The wellknown faying, that no man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre,' may be applied with ftrict juftice to this cafe. Sir Robert Walpole experienced the truth of the obfervation, that a fallen minifter is like a profeffed beauty, who has loft her charins, and to whom the recollection of paft conquefts but poorly compenfates for prefent neglect. "His principal amusement confifted in planting, obferving the growth of his former plantations, and in feeing his fon Horace arrange the fine collection of pictures at Houghton. He had a good tafte for painting, and his obfervations on the ftyle of the refpective mafters were ufually judicious. "A letter which he wrote from Houghton to general Churchill, in 1743, was much admired, as indicating a love of retirement, and contempt of paft grandeur. Yet this letter ftrikes me in a contrary light: it proves that he was weary of that repofe which he affected to praise; and that he did not, as much as he profeffed, taste the charms of the inanimate world. The trite obfervation, that the beeches do not deceive, proves either that he regretted the times that were paft, or that with all his penetration, he had not, when in power, made a juft eftimate of the deceitfulness and treachery of dependents and courtiers. Houghton had been either the temporary place of retirement from public bufinefs, or the fcene of friendly intercourfe and and convivial jollity, and neglect rendered it comparatively a folitude. He faw and felt this defertion with greater fenfibility than became his good fenfe; but in the calm and folitude of total retirement, fuch difagreeable reflections occur often and fink deep. The feafon of natural gaiety was irrecoverably paft, he laboured under a painful distemper; the ill-afforted marriage of his eldest fon, and embarraffed fituation of his own affairs, preyed on his mind, and increafed his dejection. "This state of mind was natural. Every circumstance must have appeared uninterefting to a man, who, from the twenty-third year of his age, had been uniformly engaged in fcenes of political exertion, who, from the commencement of his parliamentary career, had paffed a life of unremitting activity, and made a confpicuous figure in the fenate, and in the cabinet. "To him who had directed the helm of government in England, and whofe decifions affected the interefts of Europe in general, all fpeculative opinions must have appeared dull. To him who had drawn all his knowledge and experience from practice, all theory must have appeared trifling or erro neous. He who had fathomed the fecrets of all the cabinets of Europe, muft have confidered history fmiled at the folly of thofe writers, as a tiffue of fables, and have who affected to penetrate into state affairs, and account for all the motives of action. He who had long wealth, muft have perceived a wide been the difpenfer of honours and difference between the cold expreffions of duty and friendship, and the warm effufions of that homage which felf-intereft and hope infpire in those who court or expect favours. He must have been dinot experienced fome mortification vefted of human paffions, had he in finding, that he had been inthat obfequious regard which he debted to his fituation for much of had fondly thought was paid to his perfonal qualities." "IN CHARACTER of GAINSBOROUGH. [From the FOUR AGES, &c. by WILLIAM JACKSON.] N the early part of my life I became acquainted with Thomas Gainsborough the painter; and as his character was, perhaps, better known to me than to any other perfon, I will endeavour to diveft myfelf of every partiality, and fpeak of him as he really was. rather induced to this, by feeing acI am the counts of him and his works by people who were unacquainted given with either, and, confequently, have been mistaken in both. "Gainsborough's profeffion was painting, and mufic was his amufement-yet, there were times when mufic feemed to be his employment, and painting his diverfion. As his fkill in mufic has been cele brated, I will, before I fpeak of him as a painter, mention what degree of merit he profeffed as a musician. "When I first knew him he lived exhibiting his then unrivalled powat Bath, where Giardini had been ers on the violin. His excellent performance made Gainsborough enamoured of that instrument; and con conceiving, like the fervant-maid in the Spectator, that the mufic lay in the fiddle, he was frantic until he poffeffed the very inftrument which had given him fo much pleafure-but feemed much furprifed that the mufic of it remained behind with Giardini! "He had scarcely recovered this fhock (for it was a great one to him), when he heard Abel on the viol-di-gamba. The violin was hung on the willow-Abel's violdi-gamba was purchafed, and the houfe refounded with melodious thirds and fifths from morn to dewy eve!' Many an adagio and many a minuet were begun, but none completed this was wonderful, as it was Abel's own inftrument, and therefore ought to have produced Abel's own mufic! 66 Fortunately, my friend's paffion had now a fresh object-Fifcher's hautboy-but I do not recollect that he deprived Fischer of his inftrument: and though he procured a hautboy, I never heard him make the leaft attempt on it. Probably his ear was too delicate to bear the difagreeable founds which neceffarily attend the first beginnings on a wind-inftrument. He feemed to content himself with what he heard in public, and get ting Fifcher to play to him in private-not on the hautboy, but the violin-but this was a profound fecret, for Fischer knew that his reputation was in danger if he pretended to excel on two inftru ments. "The next time I faw Gainfborough it was in the character of king David. He had heard a harper at Bath-the performer was foon left harplefs-and now Fifcher, Abel, and Giardini, were all forgotten there was nothing like chords and arpeggios! He really 1798. ftuck to the harp long enough to play feveral airs with variations, and, in a little time, would nearly have exhaufted all the pieces ufually performed on an inftrument incapable of modulation (this was not a pedal harp), when another vifit from Abel brought him back to the viol-di-gamba. "He now faw the imperfection of fudden founds that instantly die away-if you wanted a flaccato, it was to be had by a proper management of the bow, and you might alfo have notes as long as you pleafe. The viol-di-gamba is the only inftrument, and Abel the prince of musicians! "This, and occafionally a little flirtation with the fiddle, continued fome years; when, as ill-luck would have it, he heard Crofdill-but, by fome irregularity of conduct, for which I cannot account, he neither took up, nor bought, the violoncello. All his paffion for the bafs was vented in defcriptions of Crofdill's tone and bowing, which was rapturous and enthufiaftic to the lait degree. "More years now paffed away, when, upon feeing a theorbo in a picture of Vandyke's, he concluded (perhaps because it was finely painted) that the theorbo muft be a fine inftrument. He recollected to have heard of a German profeffor, who, though no more, I fhall forbear to name-afcended per varios gradus to his garret, where he found him at dinner upon a roasted apple, and fmoking a pipe-*** fays he, I am come to buy your ' lute.' |