to take the lead; the other-which was rather the effect of what followed, than of any thing which then appeared-that his grace was employed to throw out this hint as a bait to the great man, the matter being previously considered and determined on, in order to strip him of his popularity. None of these secret transactions can in our opinion be decided but by the parties themselves. Every one on such occasions will or ought to think for himself; under that privilege we can hardly be persuaded that his grace designedly stooped so low as to be the pimp, spy, or tool of any party, much less of the avowed authors of a court-system, formed on the most rigid doctrines of Filmer, Leslie, and Barclay. He was liable to error; but we can hardly bring ourselves to believe that he was actuated by treachery, or swayed by deliberate malice.

"The time soon approached when his grace was to appear entirely in a new light. On the advancement of Mr Pitt to the peerage, in Aug. 1766, his grace was appointed first lord of the treasury; the new-created earl of Chatham lord-privy-seal, being supposed to be the ostensible minister. His lordship's illness depriving the young first commissioner of his assistance, the nominal command of course devolved on his grace. A kind of political juggle took place. Charles Townshend wavered, staggered, and fell. Lord Chatham threw himself on the illustrious house of Bedford. The new financier grew giddy from pride or incapacity; or rather, we suspect, through the arts of those who were set about him to betray him. At this fatal instant, in the very whirlwind of folly, treachery, vanity, and treason against the country, were the dearest interests of the British empire sacrificed. The old whigs under Lord Rockingham were either disgraced or seduced; the new-created earl was compelled, by the most unequivocal proofs, to write a satire on all future patriots, and pretensions to public spirit; and the noble duke, who is the subject of the present observations, after taking the most vigorous and decided part in the repeal of the stamp act, through the treachery of his chancellor of the exchequer, the influence of the closet, the sudden change of sentiments of that hallowed mansion, and the consequences arising from such a change of sentiments among the king's friends,-at least acquiesced in the American port duties.3

"It is no part of our plan to enter into any discussion on the right of the commons of Great Britain to tax unrepresented America,— though we do not retain a single doubt of the impolicy and inexpediency of endeavouring to effect it by force of arms. Be that as it may,

it is our duty to relate the part the duke ot Grafton took in that business, as first lord of the treasury. This we fin very fully stated in his speeches in parliament since his resignation of the office of privy seal, at the opening of the last session; and in part confirmed by his brothe. ministers; because, if the facts were at first denied, when afterwards

2 Charles Townshend.

"From that fatal instant," says the writer of Characters,' from whom we have quoted above, "every thing dear, important, and valuable to this country, was alternately sacrificed to the dark, dangerous designs of a set of men whom nobody knows, somebody pays and employs to effect his despotic purposes; whom nobody can name without hazarding an act of the most cruel injustice; whose cabals Britain hath severely felt the effects of; and her children, to the latest posterity, may probably have cause to execrate in the bitterness of their hearts."

reasserted and frequently repeated by his grace, they effectually received the fullest and fairest stamp of authenticity,-the objections or denials on the part of administration containing little more than mere quibbles ou words, and mistakes relative to trivial circumstances. There is one measure, that of the Middlesex election, and the previous expulsion of Mr Wilkes, which has been solely attributed to his grace Whether this measure originated with him, or was dictated as an act of duty, we hold him equally responsible to the people. If he acted on pure principles of conviction, we feel for him as an honest, misled man; if he carried it through both houses, contrary to his own opinion, and as a sacrifice at the shrine of magistratical oppression and revenge, we do not hesitate to affirm, that his nearest and warmest friends and admirers have good reason to lament, that war entered the royal closet. "His grace resigned, in 1770, the post of first commissioner of the treasury, and still continued to support the measures of the court. His obedience to the wishes of his royal master, and his approbation of the measures pursued by those from whom he had just parted, were so kindly received by the person who had it in his power to reward him, that he did not long continue out of office. He was, in the succeeding June twelvemonth, appointed lord-privy-seal; in which post he remained till his late resignation, when he declared boldly and openly against the measures now pursuing against America. The two first sessions after the commencement of the present troubles in America, he spoke and voted with administration. The reasons assigned by his grace for his alteration of conduct were that he had not sufficient information to determine his judgment; that such as was imparted to him was false, or the facts were misrepresented; that he always disapproved of coercing America by force of arms, but hoped in the beginning that the people of that country would submit; that being thus misinformed, he supported measures he would otherwise never have consented to; that although the right had been clear, the asserting of it in the present state of our finances, and of the other powers of Europe, would be inexpedient; that the point of inexpediency became still more glaring and manifest, when the real strength and ability of America came to be revealed, and the actual disposition of its inhabitants seriously and attentively considered; and that the only two specific measures relating to America, which he supported since the spring-session of 1774, were the Boston port and charter bills, which he had been solely induced to do upon false or ill-grounded information, being assured by those whose business it was to be thoroughly acquainted and perfectly satisfied of the real disposition of the inhabitants of Boston, and the people of Massachusetts bay, that it was in the former instance the intention of the Bostonians to make reparation for the tea to the East India company; and in the latter, the earnest wish of the principal land-owners, merchants, and tradesmen of that province, to have their charter altered and modified. Thus, he said, he had been all along deceived directly in matters of fact, misled in matters of opinion, and constrained either to give his support blindfolded, or withhold it on principle. In such a inass of facts, and such a contradiction in conduct, it is impossible to argue even with plausibility, much less decide with candour or precision; but it seems on a transient view, uninformed as we are of the true motives which actuated his grace, rather a little unfortunate that

his eyes were not opened earlier, or that he trusted so much and so long to those of others; for most indubitably, in point of pure principle, unconnected with the events of war, there did not exist a single reason for his supporting the duke of Richmond's motion on the 5th of March, 1776, which did not hold equally strong for his supporting that made by Lord Chatham, almost in the same words, full thirteen months before.

"The duke of Grafton is one of the most persuasive, or rather pathetic speakers in the house. His speeches are delivered in the style of gentleman and a scholar. His language is chosen, chaste, and correct. His judgment in arranging his matter is not excelled, perhaps not equalled, by any on either side of the house. He may be sometimes flat and confused, but he is never vulgar, slovenly, or ignorant. As he is a strict observer of the decorum of debate, and the dignity of the august assembly in which he has the honour to sit, any deviation from it while he is up, such as talking or changing seats, is very apt to disconcert him and disarrange his ideas. From the same mode of thinking he is ready to catch fire when any coarse or sarcastic expressions fall from his antagonists, or when any thing personal is directed to himself; but even then he generally restrains his feelings, and retorts with the energy and dignity becoming his elevated rank and senatorial situation. Lord Mansfield has more than once felt the effects of this irascible disposition, and that even before his grace came over to opposition; since when there seems a certain acrimony, whenever an opportunity happens, in all his speeches, hinting if not directly pointed, towards that noble and learned lord. How far this can be reconciled to his former situation, when in high office, and when the learned lord was supposed to influence those counsels which his grace, as prime minister for nearly four years, was presumed to direct, we do not pretend to determine. He is equally liberal of his hints of pernicious counsels having been given, and of the impressions they may have made in a place where in the world they ought to be soonest resisted. He has even ventured so far as to liken addresses of a more modern date to those presented to the infatuated James II.; and, not stopping there, has spoken of the possibility, if not probability, of a similar catastrophe. He has reprehended the king's servants in the strongest terms for their despotic doctrines in parliament, and their correspondent measures, and lamented, in the face of the whole nation, the dangerous effects such doctrines may be productive of, when it is known that they are promulgated, and publicly asserted and maintained by those who have equally the will and opportunity of endeavouring to instil them into the royal On the whole, as he is one of the most able, so, if he could once more regain the confidence of the party he at first embarked with, and the favour and good opinion of the public, he would be, without question, by much the most formidable opponent to the measures of the court in either house of parliament."

ear.

His grace was selected by Junius for one of the principal objects of his tremendous invective. On the subject of his appointment to the premiership, in 1771, Junius writes thus: "The spirit of the favourite had some apparent influence upon every administration, and every set

• Bute.

of ministers preserved an appearance of duration as long as they submitted to that influence. But there were certain services to be performed for the favourite's security, or to gratify his resentments, which your predecessors in office had the wisdom, or the virtue not to undertake. A submissive administration was, at last, gradually collected from the deserters of all parties, interests, and connections; and nothing remained but to find a leader for these gallant, well-disciplined troops. Stand forth, my lord, for thou art the man!" The duke died on the 14th of March, 1811.

11.-ECCLESIASTICAL SERIES.

Bishop Bildesley.

BORN A. D 1698. DIED A. D. 1772.

THE subject of this article was the eldest surviving son of the reverend Mark Hildesley, rector of Houghton with Witton, All-Saints, in the county of Huntingdon. He was born on the 9th of December, 1698, at Murston, near Sittingbourne, in Kent. He was educated at the Charter-house; and at the age of nineteen was sent to Trinity college, Cambridge, where he took his degree of A. B. in 1720, and of A.M. in 1724, having been elected a fellow the year preceding. He was ordained deacon in 1722, and in 1723 was appointed domestic chaplain to Lord Cobham.

In 1725 he was nominated a preacher at Whitehall, by Dr Gibson, bishop of London; and from 1725 to 1729 held the curacy of Yelling in Huntingdonshire. In 1731 he was presented by his college to the vicarage of Hitchin in Hertfordshire. At Hitchin-the value of which would not admit the expense of a curate-he began that course of strict attention to the duties of his office which he exhibited throughout life; and having advanced a considerable sum to repair the vicarage-house, he was obliged to add to his labours by undertaking the education of a few pupils. In October, 1735, he was presented to the neighboruing rectory of Holwell, in the county of Bedford. He was selected by the duke of Athole as a proper person to succeed the excellent and venerable Bishop Wilson, who died in 1755; and was accordingly consecrated in Whitehall chapel, after being created D.D. by Archbishop Herring; and on the 6th of August, 1755, was installed in the cathedral of St German on Peel, in the Isle of Man.

His removal took place, as he terms it in one of his letters, at a critical juncture, when the double charge of pupils and a large parochial care together began to be too heavy for his "weak shoulders." He added, that he had, "in his new province, as much care, but not quite so much labour." For some time after his promotion he had been obliged to retain by commendam the rectory of Holwell, on account of

the smallaess of his episcopal income, which was too slender to support the dignity of his station. Indeed it appears that the expenses, fees, and other charges attendant, or consequent on, his acceptance of the bishopric, amounted to no less than £928,-a sum which must greatly have embarrassed him. As soon, however, as was possible, he resigned Holwell; and in the same year was presented by the bishop of Durham, Dr Trevor, to the mastership of Sherburn hospital; he had also a prebend of Lincoln given him, but at what time does not appear.

In his regulation of his diocese he made it the invariable rule of his conduct to tread as nearly as possible in the steps of his excellent predecessor, of whom, both in his letters and conversation, he always spoke with a kind of filial respect and veneration. He devoted himself to the various duties of his charge with a generous assiduity, and amongst the very chief of those duties, undertook to execute the arduous task of getting the Holy Scriptures translated into the Manks language, and printed for the use of the native inhabitants. This had been already begun by Bishop Wilson, who, at his own expense, proceeded so far as to print the gospel of St Matthew; and had also prepared for the press a manuscript version of the other evangelists, and the Acts of the Apostles, which afterwards underwent a very careful revision. At first, with the sanction and support of the society for promoting Christian knowledge, Dr Hildesley printed only the New Testament, the Book of Common Prayer, the Christian Monitor, Lewis's Exposition of the Catechism, and Bishop Wilson's Form of Prayer for the use of the Herring-fishery. But the bencfactions for this peculiar object came in so far beyond expectation, that, about the year 1766, the society was encouraged to set on foot a Manks version of the Old Testament, which had scarcely been accomplished when the good prelate's health, which was always delicate, showed alarming symptoms of approaching dissolution. He expired on the 7th of December, 1772, deeply regretted by the clergy and inhabitants of his diocese, to whom his amiable manners and active benevolence had endeared him. Bishop Hildesley is known as an author only by a small tract which he published without his name, entitled 'Plain Instructions for Young Persons in the principles of the Christian religion; in six conferences between a minister and his disciple; designed for the use of the Isle and Diocese of Man. By a resident Clergyman.' In two parts, 1762 and 1767.

Alban Butler.

BORN A. D. 1710.-DIED A. D. 1773.

THIS Roman Catholic divine was the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. of Appletree, in the county of Northampton. He was born in 1710, and commenced his education at a school in Lancashire, whence, in his eighth year, he was sent to the English college at Douay. Here his conduct was of the most exemplary kind, and he advanced rapidly in the studies prescribed at that seminary. "He was never reproved or punished but once; and then for a fault of which he was not guilty," is the honourable testimony borne to his general conduct by one who was his college-fellow. He generally allowed himself no