proper for triumph, when he had overcome all those difficulties which for some years had per

with such baleful splendour upon mankind, and the example and practices of republican France, instead of inspiring her partizans in this country with disgust and horrour, seem only, in their eyes, to have invested the demon of democracy with additional and irresistible attraction.

When Lord Rochester was driven from the office of First Lord of the Treasury, and accepted that of President of the Council, Lord Halifax, who had been instrumental in displacing him, observed, that he had heard of many men being kicked down stairs, but never of any man being kicked up stairs, before.

Soon after the Revolution, several persons of high rank, who had been very zealous and serviceable in bringing about that happy event, but at the same time had no great abilities, applied for some of the most considerable employments in the government. The Marquis of Halifax, being consulted upon this, answered, "I remember to have read in history that Rome was saved by geese, but I do not remember that these geese were made Consuls.”This anecdote is recorded by Dr. Maty, who probably derived his information from Dr. Chenevix, Bishop of Waterford, and a friend of Lord Chesterfield, who was grandson to the Marquis.-The others are told by Burnet.

"He was a man (says Burnet) of a great and ready wit; full of life, and very pleasant; much turned to satire. He let his wit run much on matters of religion, so that he passed for a bold and determined atheist; though he often protested to me, he was not one, and said, he believed there was not one in the world.

always talking of morality and friendship.

He was

He was

punctual in all payments, and just in all private dealings;

plexed his peaceful reign; but when he had just restored his people to their senses, and made the

་་་

but with relation to the publick, he went backwards and forwards, and changed sides so often, that in conclusion no side trusted him. Yet he went into the worst part of King Charles's reign. The liveliness of his imagination was always too hard for his judgment. A severe jest was preferred by him to all arguments whatsoever; and he was endless in consultations; for when after much discourse a point was settled, if he could find a new jest, to make even that which was suggested by himself ridiculous, he could not hold, but would study to raise the credit of his wit, though it made others call his judgment in question. When he talked to me, as a philosopher, of his contempt of the world, I asked him what he meant by getting so many new titles, which I called the hanging himself about with bells and tinsel. He had no excuse for it but this;

that since the world were such fools as to value these matters, a man must be a fool for company: he consi dered them but as rattles; yet rattles please children; so these might be of use to his family."

The Marquis of Halifax died in April, 1695. At his death," he professed himself a sincere Christian, and lamented the former part of his life, with solemn resolutions of becoming in all respects another man, if GoD should raise him up. And so (adds the Bishop of Salisbury) I hope he died a better man than he lived."

By his first wife, Dorothy, daughter of Henry Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, he had a son, William, who succeeded him; and by a second wife, the daughter of William Pierrepoint, second son of Robert, Earl of Kingston, he had a daughter, Gertrude, who was married to Philip Stanhope, the third Earl of Chesterfield.-William, the second Marquis of Halifax, died in 1699; leaving by his

latter end of his government of a piece with the happy beginning of it, he was on the sudden snatched away from the blessings and acclamations of his subjects; who arrived so late to the knowledge of him, that they had but just time enough to desire him longer, before they were to part with him for ever. Peace be with the ashes of so good a King! Let his human frailties be forgotten, and his clemency and moderation, the inherent virtues of his family, be remembered with a grateful veneration by three kingdoms, through which he spread the blessings of them. And as your Lordship held a principal place in his esteem, and perhaps the first in his affection, during his latter troubles, the success which accompanied those prudent counsels cannot but reflect an honour on those few who managed them; and wrought out, by their faithfulness and diligence, the publick safety. I might dilate on the difficulties which attended that undertaking,-the temper of the people, the power, arts, and interest of the contrary party; but those are all of them invidious topicks; they are too green in our remembrance; and he who touches on them, incedit per ignes, suppositos cineri doloso. But without reproaching one side, to praise another, I may justly recom

wife, Mary, the eldest daughter of Daniel the second Earl of Nottingham, three daughters; Anne, married to Charles Bruce, Earl of Aylesbury; Dorothy, to Richard Boyle, the last Earl of Burlington; and Mary, to Sackville Tufton, Earl of Thanet.

mend to both those wholesome counsels, which, wisely administered, and as well executed, were the means of preventing a civil war, and of extinguishing a growing fire which was just ready to have broken forth among us. So many wives, who have yet their husbands in their arms; so many parents, who have not the number of their children lessened; so many villages, towns, and cities, whose inhabitants are not decreased, their property violated, or their wealth diminished, are yet owing to the sober conduct and happy results of your advice. If a true account may be expected by future ages, from the present, your Lordship will be delivered over to posterity in a fairer character than I have given; and be read, not in the Preface of a play, (whose author is not vain enough to promise immortality to others, or

3 The Marquis of Halifax "delivered himself over to posterity," having left behind him Memoirs of his own Times. He kept a journal every day of all the conversations which he had with Charles II. and the most distinguished men of his time. Of these MEMOIRS two fair copies were made, one of which fell into the hands of Daniel, Earl of Nottingham, and was destroyed by him. The other devolved to the Marquis's grand-daughter, Lady Burlington, in whose possession it long remained; but Pope (as the late Horace, Earl of Orford, informed me) finding on a perusal of these Memoirs, that the papists of those days were represented in an unfavourable light, prevailed on her to burn them, and thus the publick have been deprived of probably a curious and valuable work.

to hope for it himself,) but in many pages of a chronicle, filled with praises of your administration. For if writers be just to the memory of King Charles the Second, they cannot deny him to have been an exact knower of mankind, and a perfect distinguisher of their talents. It is true, his necessities often forced him to vary his counsellors and counsels, and sometimes to employ such persons in the management of his affairs who were rather fit for his present purpose, than satisfactory to his judgment; but where it was choice in him, not compulsion, he was master of too much good sense to delight in heavy conversation; and whatever his favourites of state might be, yet those of his affection were men of wit. He was easy with these; and complied only with the former. But in the latter part of his life, which certainly required to be most cautiously managed, his secret thoughts were communicated but to few; and those selected of that sort, who were amici omnium horarum, able to advise him in a serious consult, where his honour and safety were concerned, and afterwards capable of entertaining him with pleasant discourse as well as profitable. In this maturest part of his age, when he had been long seasoned with difficulties and dangers, and

66

3 illa potius urbana esse dixerim, quæ sunt generis ejusdem, quæ ridicula dicuntur et tamen ridicula non sunt; ut de Pollione Asinio seriis jocisque pariter accomodato dictum est, esse eum omnium horarum." Quintil. lib. vi. c. 3.