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SILVA, No. 55.

Jam glandes atque arbuta sacrae

Deficerent silvae.

Virg. 1. Georg. 149.

RICHARD CROMWELL.

RICHARD CROMWELL, in the decline of his life, was compelled by his daughters to appear in chancery, before Sir John Holt, chief justice, and first commissioner for keeping the great seal in the reign of Queen Anne. On that occasion, Holt desired Cromwell to sit with him on the bench, insisted on his remaining covered, and, after reprimanding the daughters, who wished to deprive their poor father of his property, made a decree in Cromwell's favour, to the great satisfaction of the court and her majesty.

IMMORTAL FAME

may be very short-lived. Dryden somewhere extols a nameless name, in strains like these:

Holmes, whose name shall live in epick song,

While musick numbers, or while verse has feet.

DR. FRANKLIN.

It is well known what hard thoughts and hard speeches were occasioned in some real and some pretended friends of republican liberty in this country, by the establishment of the society of the Cincinnati, which thirty years trial has proved as harmless as the Historical Society, or any charitable association. Dr. Franklin probably had his share of jealousy and dislike towards the institution; but did not choose to give explicit judgment against a proceeding, which was generally popular and countenanced by a great part of the best citizens. The Marquis de la Fayette, with whom it was a favourite project, in company with the doctor, said, “Pray sir, what is your opinion of the establishment of the Cincinnati ?" "Why truly, Marquis," said the doctor slily, "I have no opinion of it at all."

SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON

Concludes his eloquent Epistle dedicatory of Croke Elizabeth to Charles II. with these words:

"I beseech your majesty to accept this poor oblation from the heart and hands of him who makes it his daily prayers that you may live long, and triumphantly reign; and that your sceplike Aaron's rod, bud and blossom, and be an eternal testimony against all rebels.”

tre may,

And of the three volumes of judge Croke's reports, Sir Harbottle, in his admirable preface, which immediately follows the epistle dedicatory, after the life and character of his illustrious author, says, "concerning the whole work itself, I may think and not immodestly use the words of the Roman Praeco, proclaiming the Ludi Seculares: Venite et videte quod nemo mortalium vidit aut visurus est."

In the letters between Erskine and Boswell, published in London somewhere about the year 1763, is the following

ODE ON GLUTTONY.

Hail Gluttony! O let me eat
Immensely at thy awful board,

On which to serve the stomach meet

What art and nature can afford.
I'll furious cram, devoid of fear,
Let but the roast and boil'd appear,
Let me but see a smoking dish,

I care not whether fowl or fish.

Then rush ye floods of ale adown my throat,
And in my belly make the victuals float.

And yet why trust a greasy cook?
Or give to meat the time of play?
While every trout gulps down a hook,

And poor dumb beasts harsh butchers slay.
Why seek the dull, sauce-smelling gloom,
Of the beef-haunted dining room;
Where Dr gives to every guest
With liberal hand whate'er is best;

While you in vain th' insurance must invoke,
To give security you shall not choke ?

UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF MR. HUME.

The following letter from Mr. Hume to Lord Hardwick, respecting King James' II. manuscripts in the Scotch college at Paris, and the character and conduct of Charles II. was translated for and published in the Mercure de France, for November 1807, No. 332. As Mr. Fox's masterly, though imperfect history of the reign of James II. is now published in this country, Mr. Hume's letter must be doubly interesting. The retranslation subjoined (for the original, as the French publishers say, was in the possession of M. Joncourt, librarian to the prince of Orange) is taken from the Literary Panorama, for August 1808. page 950.

Compiègne, 23d July, 1764.

My Lord, Soon after my arrival at Paris, I had the curiosity to consult the Memoirs of James II. They form about thirteen volumes in folio, all written with that king's own hand, without

being reduced into regular history. Such is, for instance, an account of the negotiations that preceded the second Dutch war; a point of history which has always appeared to me extremely obscure, and perplexed with a multiplicity of contradictions. Father Gordon, principal of the Scotch college, an obliging and communicative person, nevertheless made some difficulty of permitting me to peruse this passage; but after I had assured him of my having been employed in the office of the secretary of state, and that I was waiting for an authoritative permission to consult the French Registers which were expected to contain the treaty concluded between Charles II. and Louis XIV. all his scruples ceased, and I inspected the MS. I am about to mention its contents, by recollection, My Lord, for I have left at Paris the different extracts, that I made from it, for all of which I had the consent of Father Gordon.

The treaty was concluded at the end of 1669, or the beginning of 1670, the memoirs of the time have not assigned it a precise date. It was Lord Arundel, of Wardour, who signed it secretly, in a journey which he made to Paris for the purpose. The two principal articles stipulate the re-establishment of the Catholic religion in England, and an offensive alliance between the two powers against Holland. Louis promises to Charles an annual subsidy of £.200,000; with 6,000 troops in case of insurrection. As to Holland, that was to be divided according to the basis afterwards described by the Abbe Primi. England was to have Zealand, and the seaports: all the rest was to form the division of the king of France and the prince of Orange. Besides that, there was no mention made of establishing arbitrary power in Great Britain. Because, probably, the king regarded that event as a necessary consequence of the projected revolution, and that, moreover, it formed a part of his plans, as of his brother's, to combine that important undertaking with the affairs of religion. But Louis had also other views: to promote which he sent the duchess of Orleans to Dover, with instructions to persuade her brother the king, that it was necessary to begin with ruining the republick, before attempting the change of religion in England. These hints displeased the duke of York, who constantly opposed this deviation from the general plan. I must own to you, my Lord, that this MS. has convinced me that I had been often deceived in regard to the character of Charles II. I had, till that time, been of opinion that the careless and what may be called the indifferent disposition of that prince had rendered him incapable of devotion, and that he had all his life fluctuated between deism and popery; but I acknowledge that Lord Halifax had better developed the secret sentiments of Charles, than I had done, when he said that this monarch affected irreligion the better to conceal his zeal for the Catholic faith. His brother informs us, that immediately after the treaty was signed, he assembled his cabinet council, and that he spoke to them of the re-establishment of the Romish religion with so much earnestness

that the tears stood in his eyes. I have often been astonished at the blindness of the two brothers who suffered themselves to be carried away by their religious opinions, so far as to imagine, that on the slightest occasion they would be adopted by the clergy and the nobility, in which there can be no doubt but they were extremely mistaken, for the writings of the time make no mention of this disposition of mind. However that might be, the princes believed it, and trusted to it principally for the success of their undertaking.

I shall profit, probably, of a new edition of my history to correct my mistakes on this affair, as well as on sundry others of less importance. While waiting for that time, I am happy in an opportunity of gratifying your lordship's curiosity, and of expressing my acknowlegment for your obliging behaviour towards me ever since I undertook to write the reign of Elizabeth. I shall think myself extremely fortunate if your lordship will furnish me with frequent opportunities of this nature. I cannot at present answer the question which you have put to me, my lord, concerning the Gallery of Fortifications; but immediately on my return to Paris I shall have the honour of informing your lordship on the result of my inquiries. I have the honour to be, &c.

Louis de Joncourt,

Librarian to the prince of Orange.

DAVID HUME.

SIR F. NORTON.

Upon Sir Fletcher Norton's appointment to be chief justice in eyre, Mr. Burke made him the following compliment: "Your dignity, sir, is too high for a jurisdiction over wild beasts; your learning and talents are too valuable to be wasted in gloomy pomp, as chief justice of a desert. I cannot reconcile it to myself, that you should be stuck up as a useless piece of antiquity."

ORIGINAL POETRY.

FOR THE ANTHOLOGY.

On seeing a White Rose, dry and faded, which the preceding evening had been presented by a young Lady.

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My God, I thank thee! may no thought
L'er deem thy chastisements severe;
But may this heart, by sorrow taught,
Calm each wild wish, each idle fear.

Thy mercy bids all nature bloom;
The sun shines bright and man is gay;
Thine equal mercy spreads the gloom,
That darkens o'er his little day.

Full many a throb of grief and pain

Is earth's pale wanderer doom'd to know;
But not one prayer is breathed in vain,
Nor does one tear unheeded flow.

Thy various messengers employ
Thy purposes of love fulfil;
And mid the wreck of buman joy
May kneeling faith adore thy will.

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