fubject more worthy of the pen of an able writer, or that requires a more enlarged and comprehenfive view of human affairs. R. Letters between the Duke of Grafton, the Earls of Halifax, Egremont, Chatham, Temple, and Talbot, Baron Bottetourt, Right Hon. Henry Bilfon Legge, Right Hon. Sir John Cust, Bart. Mr. Charles Churchill, Monfieur Voltaire, the Abbé Winckelman, &c. &c. and John Wilkes, Efq. With Explanatory Notes. Vol. I. Small 8vo. 1769. Pr: HE public will, probably, pay the more attention to this collection of letters, as it is not advertised for sale, in the ufual manner of new books and pamphlets, nor commonly to be purchased: no bookfeller's name is printed in the titlepage, nor any intimation given of the means by which the copies will be diftributed. The prefent volume, it appears, is the firft of an intended. feries, relative to the literary correfpondence of our celebrated patriot and his friends. This first volume, however, contains very few letters, or papers, that have not already been communicated to the public, either through the conveyance of the news-papers or in the form of pamphlets. We have drawn out the following particulars, for the information of our Readers : 1. From page 1, to 33, we have the feveral letters, fo often printed and re-printed, relating to the quarrel between Earl Talbot and Mr. Wilkes, occafioned by the fatire on his lordfhip in one of the papers entitled The North Briton. The laft of the letters on this occafion, was addreffed by Mr. W. to Earl Temple, on the fame evening on which this volatile and fpirited genius fought the duel, by moon-light, with his noble antagonist, at Bagfhot; and is remarkable for the extraordinary compofure of the writer's mind, as well as for the vivacity of ftyle and manner in which it is written, in so critical an hour. 2. An expofition of the following paffage in Churchill's Candidate, where he speaks of Medmenham Abbey: Whilft Womanhood, in habit of a Nun, At Mednam lies, by backward Monks undone, Dashwood shall pour, from a Communion Cup, And Hob or Nob in Cyder and Excise. Paul Whitehead, Efq; the celebrated author of Manners, a fa tire, and other poetical pieces. . Medmenham, or as it is pronounced Mednam, Abbey, is a very large house on the banks of the Thames near Marlow in Buckinghamfhire. It was formerly a convent of Ciftertian Monks. The fituation is remarkably fine. Beautiful hanging woods, foft meadows, a crystal ftream, and a grove of venerable old elms near the house, with the retiredness of the manfion itself, made it as fweet a retreat, as the most poetical imagination could create. Sir Francis Dashwood, Sir Thomas Stapleton, Paul Whitehead, Mr. Wilkes, and other gentlemen to the number of twelve, rented the Abbey, and often retired there in the fummer. Among other amufements they had fometimes a mock celebration of the more ridiculous rites of the foreign religious orders of the church of Rome, of the Francifcans in particular, for the gentlemen had taken that title from their founder, Sir Francis Dashwood.' The rest of this paper contains a defcription of the levities. practifed, and the obfcene rites performed at the celebrations of thefe English Eleufinian myfteries:' at which, we are here told, Mr. Wilkes had not affifted for many months before the publication of this poem, in 1764. 3. A Letter, firft printed in the St. James's Chronicle, about the time of the publication of the Candidate; it contains a farther account of certain erections, &c. of no very commendable fort, at L--d D-'s villa, at Weft Wy-be; and of the convivial rites that were celebrated in what Mr. W. ftyles the best Globe Tavern he was ever in.' 4. Letter from the late Henry Bilfon Legge to Mr. Wilkes, dated March 26, 1763; on a point of minifterial management, in a financiering jobb: which the Dublin journalist, in whose paper this letter first appeared, ftyles an infamous fcene transacted by the Scottish minifter.' 5. Three letters from Dr. Smollett to Mr. W. written in the years 1759 and 1762: they contain nothing worthy of public notice +, except the Doctor's warm profeffions of perfonal regard to Mr. W. which poffibly might be fincere, notwithftanding the political enmity then fubfifting between these gentlemen, as authors, one of the Briton, the other of the North Briton. 6. Letter from Mr. Wilkes to his daughter, written on the day after his commitment to the Tower. It informs the young lady, then at Paris, of his confinement, and the cause of it; and is remarkable for the engaging and uncommon politeness with which a parent addreffes himself to his child. The gilt ball on the top of the fteeple at Weft-Wycombe, erected by Lord D, We are ftruck, however, with the Doctor's condefcending to de fire Mr. W. to interfere, in his favour, with regard to the profecution then carrying on against him, by Admiral Knowles, for a libel; in the hope of getting the prosecution quashed. 7. Letters which paffed between Lord Egremont, Lord Temple, and Mr. W. on the difmiffion of the latter from the command of the Buckinghamshire militia: these have been frequently printed in the news papers, &c. 8. Mr. Wilkes's fpirited letters to the two secretaries of ftate, on his hou e being robbed, and his goods ftolen; with their lordships' answers. 9. Letters concerning Captain Forbes's wrong-headed affair with Mr Wilkes; from the St. James's Chronicle. 10. The well-known proceedings relating to the duel between Mr. W. and Mr. Martin, and its confequences; from the fame. 11. Between Dr. Heberden, Dr. Brocklefby, and Mr. W. occafioned by a vote of the H. of C. ordering Dr. H. &c. to attend Mr. W. 12 Particulars of the crazy attempt of Lieutenant Dun; from the fame. 13. Letters to Sir John Cuft, fpeaker of the house of commons, with certificates from Paris, relating to Mr. W.'s illnefs, and incapacity of attending the house. 14. Letter to the Earl of Bute; prefixed, by way of dedication, to the Fat of Mortimer; a Tragedy. In this paper, by way of note, we have the following account of a person who was once adored for his patriotism: Of all political adventurers, Mr. Pitt has been the most fuccefsful, according to the venal ideas of modern statesmen. Pulteney fold the people only for a barren title The mercenary Fitt difpoted of his popularity like an exchange-broker. Befides the same title with the other apoftate, Fitt fecured from the crown a large family penfion, and the lucrative finecure of the privy feal, which he held for a few years. His retreat into the houfe of lords was a political demife. He paled away, but is not yet quite forgotten. His treachery to the caufe of the people ftill loads his memory with curfes. He raifed himself to the greatest offices of the state by the rare talent of command in a popular affembly. he was indeed born an orator, and from nature poffeffed every outward requifite to befpeak refpect and even awe. A manly figure, with the eagle face of the famous Conde, fixed your attention, and almost commanded reverence, the moment he appeared, and the keen lightenings of his eye spoke the haughty, fiery foul, before his lips had pronounced a fyllable. His tongue dropped venom. There was a kind of fafcination in his look, when he eyed any one afkance. Nothing could withstand the force of that contagion. The fiuent Murray has faultered, and even Fox fhrunk back appalled from an adverfary fraught with fire unquenchable, if may borrow the expreon of our great Milton. always cultivated the art of fpeaking with the most intenfe care and application. He has paffed his life in the culling of words, the arrangement of phrafes, and choice of metaphors, yet his theatrical manner did more than all, for his fpeeches could not be read. There Bb 4 was was neither found reafoning, nor accuracy of expreffion, in them. He had not the power of argument, nor the correctnefs of language, fo ftriking in the great Roman orator, but he had the verba ardentia, the bold, glowing words. This merit was confined to his fpeeches; for his writings were always cold, lifeless, and incorrect, totally void of elegance and energy, fometimes even offending against the plaineft rules of conftruction. In the purfait of eloquence he was indefatigable. He dedicated all his powers and faculties, and he facrificed every pleasure of focial life, even in youth, to the fingle point of talking well. Multa tulit fecitque puer; fudavit et alfit; Abftinuit venere et vino. to a greater degree than almost any man of this age. He acknowledged, that when he was young, he always came late into company, and left it early. He affected at firft a fovereign contempt of money, and when he was paymafter, made a parade of two or three very public acts of difintereftedness. When he had effectually duped his credulous friends, as well as a timid miniftry, and obtained enormous legacies, perfions, and finecure places, the mask dropped off. Private intereft afterwards appeared to be the only idol to which he facrificed. The old duke of Newcastle ufed to fay, that Mr. Pitt's talents would not have get him forty pounds a-year in any country but this. At his entrance into parliament, he attacked Sir Robert Walpole with indecent acrimony, and continued the perfecution to the last moment of that minifter's life. He afterwards paid fervile and fulfome compliments to his memory, not from conviction, as appeared from many other particulars, but to get over a few Walpolians. He had no fixed principle, but that of his own advancement. He declared for and against continental connections, for and against German wars, for and against Hanoverian fubfidies, &c. &c. ftill preserving an unblushing, unembarraffed countenance, and was the most perfect contradiction of a man to himself which the world ever faw. If his speeches in parliament had been faithfully published to the English, foon after they were delivered, as thofe of Demofthenes and Cicero were to the Greeks and Romans, he would have been very early detected, and utterly caft off by his countrymen. He is faid to be ftill living at Hayes in Kent.' 15. Extract of a letter from Mr. W. at Paris, giving an account of the manner of celebrating the birth-day of his majefty King George III. at the British ambaffador's. 16. Letter to the worthy electors of the borough of Aylesbu ry; dated, Paris, Oct. 22, 1764. This famous epiftle, containing a fummary view and defence of Mr. W.'s political conduct, hath appeared in the pamphlet form, and in preceding collections, political regifters, &c. 17. Two Letters from Mr. W. to the Duke of Grafton. Thefe are likewife well known. The fecond was formerly printed as a pamphlet. It contains a fpirited review of the memorable arreft of the author, of what paffed in his examination before the fecretaries of ftate, and the fubfequent proceedings againft him. 18. A critical defence of the Latin prayer, printed at the end of the fecond letter to the Duke of G. 19. A letter to Mr. Wilkes, from Mr. Andrew Baxter, author of MATHO, an enquiry into the nature of the human foul. This letter fhews the very high opinion which the learned and worthy author of Matho had conceived of Mr. W. It is dated in 1750.. 20. Four letters from the late Dr. Brewster, author of a translation of Perfius, which is here ftyled an excellent one; with what juftice we cannot fay, having never feen the book: but we have heard it commended by competent judges, who knew both the work and its author, and gave the Doctor the character of an ingenious man. There is nothing, however, in his letters here publifhed, of any importance to the public. 21. A letter from the Rev. Dr. Douglas, the detector of the impoftures of Lauder and Bower. It is a very brief note, dated in 1762, and founded on a falfe report that Dr. D. was the author of a pamphlet entitled Obfervations on the Spanish Papers: this work the Doctor utterly difclaims, to Mr. Wilkes ; who, in his anfwer, promises to do the Doctor juftice, by circulating his difavowal. 22. Four short and unimportant letters to Mr. W. from the Jate ingenious but unfortunate Mr. Robert Lloyd, the intimate friend and affociate of the celebrated Charles Churchill. They are prefaced by a fhort account of poor Bob; who died in the Fleetprifon, (as the Editor fays, of a broken heart) very soon after the decease of Mr. Churchill. 23. Six letters from Churchill to Wilkes. There are dates to only two of them; but they all appear to have been written in the years 1762,-63-and 64. We fhall give some extracts from one of thefe; viz. that of Auguft 3d, 1763.. I am full of work,' fays Mr. Churchill, and flatter myfelf my fpirits are pretty good-I live foberly-enjoy health-and could, f believe, anfwer a bill on fight to any woman-but my wife. Next winter is certainly ordained for the rifing and falling of many in Ifrael-The Lord forbid I should be idle in fo great a work, aut tanto ceffarim cardine rerum. Several poems I fhall have out foon, but not, I hope, fo foon as to cut them off from the advantage of your criticifm. Mr. Pope ought furely to feel fome inftinctive terrors, for against him I have double pointed all my little thunderbolts, in which as to the defign, I hope I fhall have your approbation, when you confider his heart, and as to the execution, if you approve it, I can fit down eafily, and hear with contempt the cenfures of all the halfblooded, prudifh lords. For fomething relative to Pope take the following lines, intended as an answer to thofe, who because I have flightly mentioned a few qualities of a goodly nature of one of my friends, would have me enlarge on his bad, and think me inexcufeable for not mentioning them. |