In 1704, Sherlock was appointed to succeed his father in the Mastership of the Temple. The sermons delivered by him in the Temple Church, which are published among his works, are justly considered to be some of the best specimens of pulpit oratory in the language. One of the "Quarterly Reviewers," in speaking of the various schools of preaching, says :

"The calm and dispassionate disquisition on some text of Scripture, or the discussion of some theological question, henceforward (after the Restoration) to be the exclusive object of an English sermon, was carried by Sherlock to a perfection rarely rivalled, unless by Smalridge, nearly his own contemporary, and by Horsley in more recent times. The question is clearly stated and limited, --every objection anticipated, and the language is uniformly manly and vigorous. Sherlock indeed occasionally breaks out in passages of greater warmth and earnestness."

The truth is, that he is always earnest, but seldom excited; and this is what best befits the gravity of the pulpit. An enthusiastic preacher is almost always certain either to rush into rant or to sink into sentimentality, both of which are not only sins against good taste, but are by far more serious errors, on account of the disgust which they excite in the best educated and most intellectual part of the audience; a disgust which is too apt to be extended to the place as well as to the preacher.

In 1714, Sherlock was elected Master of Catherine Hall, and in 1715, he was made Dean of Carlisle. He came forward early in the celebrated Bangorian controversy, as Bishop Hoadly's most formidable opponent. He showed in this contest his own independence, and freely risked the loss of the favour which he enjoyed at Court to do what he considered his duty to the Church. He was removed from the list of King's chaplains in 1717; but his high reputation and the friendship of Walpole soon not only restored him, but raised him to much higher rank.

In the controversies which arose at that period respecting the proofs of the divine origin of Christianity, Dr. Sherlock distinguished himself by his valuable writings, particularly his "Use and Intent of Prophecy," and his "Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus," which is a masterly reply to the objections of those who reject the evidence of miracles, and particularly to those of Woolston. In 1727 he succeeded his old opponent Hoadly as Bishop of Bangor, and was translated to Salisbury in 1734. His

learning and eloquence gave him considerable weight in the debates of the House of Lords, and his reputation both as a divine and a ruler in the Church was so great that in 1747 the Archbishopric of Canterbury was offered to his acceptance, but declined by him on account of the state of his health. In the next year, however, he accepted the Bishopric of London.

In 1750 he published his celebrated "Pastoral Letter to the Clergy and Inhabitants of London and Westminster on occasion of the late Earthquakes." Some severe shocks of an earthquake were felt in the region of the metropolis and other parts of England in that year, and the utmost consternation prevailed. Bishop Sherlock's address was, in this excited state of public feeling, bought up and read with such eagerness that more than 100,000 copies were sold within a month. In 1759 Sherlock published an excellent charge to his clergy, in which he expatiates very forcibly on the evils of non-residence. Bishop Sherlock died at the advanced age of 84, on the 18th of July, 1761. (Life by Hughes.—Cunningham's British Biography.)

On approaching the close of the seventeenth century, we find the names of Eton statesmen increasing rapidly in number and in renown. Indeed, for the last hundred and fifty years Eton has supplied our Houses of Parliament with an unbroken succession of chiefs in the war of eloquence; and for far the greater portion of those years she has supplied England with her Premiers. Lord Bolingbroke, Sir William Wyndham, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Townshend, Lord Lyttelton, Lord Chatham, the elder Fox, Lord North, Charles James Fox, Mr. Wyndham, the Marquess of Wellesley, Lord Grenville, Canning, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Grey, and Lord Stanley-are all Etonians. The names of other living statesmen, besides the great Duke's, might be added to this list; but this work does not comprise the memoirs of the living; and long may it be before it will be possible for any writer to complete a biography of the hero-statesman whom I have named, or of the other distinguished political chiefs of the present time to whom I have referred.

I pass to the consideration of the life and character of the greatest of our statesmen.

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

ROBERT WALPOLE (afterwards Sir Robert Walpole, and first Earl of Orford) was born at Houghton, in Norfolk, on the 26th of August, 1676. His family was ancient, honourable, and opulent, and his father had signalised himself in his county by his zeal in promoting the Revolution of 1688. Fortunately for Sir Robert Walpole he was a third son; for his natural easy disposition, and love of society and pleasure, would probably have fixed him in indolence and obscurity for life, if he had been brought up with the expectation of inheriting his father's estate. But the knowledge that he was a younger son, and that he must look to his own exertions for his fortune, taught him the necessity of making early use of his abilities and opportunities, and his strong common sense must have soon shown him the practical value of application and regularity. After being for a short time at a private school at Massingham, he was placed at Eton on the foundation, where he was educated under the care of Mr. Newborough, the head master of the school, who seems early to have discerned and appreciated the solid merits of Walpole's mind, and is said to have taken peculiar pains in stimulating him to exertion. This judicious care, and the beneficial effects of the emulation which prevails in a public school, co-operated with Walpole's knowledge of the necessity for exertion which his prospects in the world required; and he acquired at Eton the deserved character of an excellent classical scholar. Horace was his favourite author, and continued so during his life, when his familiarity with other classics had long faded away. His talents for oratory must have shown themselves very early, for Coxe records (and I have heard the anecdote confirmed from family tradition by Mr. Spencer Walpole, the present member for Midhurst,) that when Walpole and St. John were young members of the House of Commons, and the success of the latter there was reported to Newborough, under whom both had been educated, he replied, "But I am impatient to hear of Robert Walpole having spoken; for I am convinced that he will be a good orator."

It is commonly stated that the rivalry between St. John and Walpole commenced while they were contemporaries at Eton.

But this can hardly have been the case, as Walpole was two years older than the other; a disparity of age which is nothing in manhood, but which is enormous between two boys, so far as any trial of proficiency in their studies is concerned. No boy of fifteen expects or wishes to be measured by the same standard as his senior of seventeen; nor does the latter feel any complacency in being acknowledged to be a riper scholar than one who is several forms below him.

On the 22nd of April, 1696, Walpole was admitted a scholar of King's College, Cambridge. He only resided there two years, but he always remained sincerely attached to his college; and long afterwards, when he was Prime Minister, on a collection being made among old Kingsmen for the new building in the College, now known as Gibb's Building, Walpole subscribed 5007., remarking that he deserved "no special thanks, as he was only paying for his board and lodging while a scholar."

Coxe relates that Walpole, " during his residence as a scholar at King's," was seized with the small-pox, which was of a most malignant sort, and he continued for some time in imminent danger. Dr. Brady, the famous historical advocate for the Tory principles of the English constitution, who was his physician, said to one of the fellows of King's College, warmly attached to the same party, "He must take care to save this young man, or we shall be accused of having purposely neglected him, because he is so violent a Whig." It was indeed principally owing to his kind and assiduous attention that Walpole recovered. Notwithstanding Brady's political prejudices he was so much pleased with the spirit and disposition of his young patient, that he observed with an affectionate attachment, "His singular escape seems to me a sure indication that he is reserved for important purposes." In the latter period of his life, when the prediction had been fulfilled, this anecdote was frequently related by Walpole with a complacency which showed that it had made a deep impression on his mind, and proved his satisfaction at the recollection of an event that seemed to anticipate his subsequent elevation." Coxe also says, college he formed a strict intimacy with Hare and Bland, who were members of the same foundation, and in every situation of life showed an affectionate regard for the friends of his early youth. He raised Hare, who afterwards ably distinguished himself in defending the measures of the Whig administration, to the

"At

Bishopric of Chichester, and promoted Bland to the Provostship of Eton College and Deanery of Durham."

Walpole resided at Cambridge only two years, as on the death of the last of his elder brothers, in 1698, his father immediately withdrew him from the university, and endeavoured to make him devote all his thoughts to the management and improvement of the family estates. For about two years Walpole led a country life, the mornings devoted to field sports or agricultural pursuits, and the evenings to the Bacchanalian festivities which then were the general recreations of all hearty and hospitable English squires. His father's death, at the end of 1700, left him master of himself and of the paternal acres; and his marriage with the daughter of a Lord Mayor of London enabled him to clear off all incumbrances on the property, and gave him a clear income of 2000l. a year.

Though Walpole had acquired a keen relish for field sports and boisterous conviviality during his two years' rustication under the paternal auspices in Norfolk, he was not insensible to ambition; and he must have felt conscious that he was fitted to shine in a higher sphere than the society of worthy men "whose talk is of bullocks," and whose favourite arena for emulative striving is either the hunting field or the drinking room.

Part of Walpole's inheritance consisted in borough influence; and having resolved on entering public life, he caused himself to be elected member for Castle Rising in each of the two short parliaments that sate during the last two years of King William's reign. The pocket borough of King's Lynn also belonged to Walpole, and, when Queen Anne's first Parliament was summoned, he chose King's Lynn as his place to be returned for, and thenceforth represented that place until he became Earl of Orford.

Thus possessed of considerable parliamentary influence, as well as of independent fortune, of good abilities, and of social and agreeable manners, Walpole was a welcome recruit to the Whigs, in whose ranks he instantly arrayed himself on entering Parliament in 1701. His eloquence, his capacity for business, his resolute spirit, and his sound common sense, manifested themselves by degrees, and before long raised him to eminence among the chiefs of his party. His first attempt at speaking in the House is said to have been unsuccessful; but acute observers could discern in Walpole, even amid the embarrassment and confusion of his early