not diminish the revenue. Previously to the reversion falling in, he was made Warden of the Stannaries, but which, when the Tellership fell, he resigned, telling the king (no doubt again to the surprise of the duke), that the place of Teller alone was as much as any man was entitled to, and as much as he either wanted or wished. But now came temptation, not merely to his ambition, but to his sincere attachment to the king, who complained, and with reason, of the desertion of his servants, who had left him without a friend. The place of prime minister was offered him, and this time, from conscientious insufficiency, declined. The distress, however, increased; the king complained; he besought, he implored, and at last succeeded; and we cannot but love this ingenuous man for the manner in which he relates the event. He told the king that his insufficiency would soon appear, and that any supposed influence drawn from his known independence would vanish in an instant; that prudence and diligence could only be rated among the inferior qualities of a First Lord of the Treasury; and that a minister must expect few followers, who had never cultivated political friendships, and had always abhorred party violence. But these and many other reasons, continues this estimable and honest-minded noble, having not the least effect on the king, who, he says, continued to press me in the strongest and most affecting terms, and "partly moved by his distress, partly by his persuasion, or perhaps fired by some latent spark of pride or ambition" (observe and respect the honesty of the relation), "I told his Majesty I would yield up my own judgment and obey his commands." The result is pleasing, as it respects both the king and his friend. "I had scarce uttered my consent, when his Majesty took me by the hand, saying, with great eagerness: 'I heartily thank you; you have now given your word, and cannot go back."" Happily for Lord Waldegrave, with his sober and independent views of things, the projected arrangement did not take effect; he once more felt himself free, without disobliging the king; and his excellent appreciation of the duty and motives of a public man in seeking office are too pointed not to be recorded. He had received the garter as a mark of personal favour from the master who really loved him, and to whom lamenting, from the turn of affairs, that he could not still be one of the ministry, he replied, that "though in promising to accept office he had obeyed his Majesty's command without any show of uneasiness, he had no conception how a reasonable man, not necessitous, could have inducement to undergo the fatigue and anxiety of a ministerial employment, unless he was animated by a probable expectation of rendering his king and country some important service, and of being afterwards rewarded with that general approbation which such services merited. But knowing," said he, "that the first was impracticable, and the latter unattainable, I considered the place of minister as the greatest misfortune that could befall me." These are excellent and virtuous sentiments; but how often reduced to practice by the worshippers of At power, the page of history scarcely informs us. any rate, his renunciation of power did not make Lord Waldegrave renounce his merriment. "On the day they (the new Ministry) were all to kiss hands, I went," says he, "to Kensington, to entertain myself with the innocent, perhaps ill-natured, amusement of examining the different countenances." He ends in a more serious and philosophic strain. "I have now finished my relation of all the material transactions wherein I was concerned; and, though I can never forget my obligations to the kindest of masters, I have been too long behind the scenes, and had too near a view of the machinery of a court, to envy any man either the power of a minister, or the favour of a prince." And with this we would finish our dreams of ambition, agreeing with the maxim, ""Tis from high life high characters are drawn;" and hence most of the examples we have shown are drawn from high nobles and statesmen. "But all our praises why should lords engross? There is another set of beings, more humble indeed, but more tranquil, if not more amiable, who, from their happiness being totally independent of this exciting passion, afford a lesson upon it which it cannot but do us good to learn. This, however, must be the subject of another dream. No. X. POPE.-WHITE OF SELBORNE.-WARTON. "I was not much afear'd; but, once or twice, I was about to speak, and tell him plainly, How delightful, after having been engaged in the investigation of the great tumultuary passions, as exemplified in the struggles of the world, and these again painted by such writers as Clarendon, or Davila, or De Thou, or De Retz; how soothing to sit down to the quieter pictures of humbler but philosophic life, remote from all temptation, and gratified to content with domestic or intellectual enjoyments! How bewitching the life of some poet, or pious divine, or other lettered and retired man, possessing his own mind, doing good in his station, conversing with his God, or cultivating the muse! The contrast is enchanting. Various are the writers of this description; nor do I know a greater relief to the mind, when tossed with ambition or the pursuit of riches, particularly if likely to fail, but even also if with a prospect of success, than a collection of examples amongst those poets, or moral writers in prose, which prove the charms of golden moderation: "Auream quisquis mediocritatem Sordibus tecti, caret invidenda Sobrius aula." The happiness to be found in a life of nature, innocence, and privacy, the independence of such a life, that has no hankerings (those baleful enemies of our peace, especially when directed to forbidden objects), is beyond all that ever crowned a statesman, soldier, or even a monarch's felicity. * With a few of these examples I will now refresh the reader, which will pleasingly close the subject, after the harassing anecdotes that have hitherto occupied us. And in beginning with some of the sentiments of Pope, let it not be thought that I quote him as a specimen of the equanimity I have been describing, though a great pretender to it. For, of all the genus irritabile, he was the most irritable; and, when he professed that the attacks upon him were his amusement, he writhed under them so much, that his selfdeception was detected by a mere youth. But still Pope was a poet of sweetness as well as vigour; approached to sincerity in his professed indifference to courts; and was, as far as he could be, a genuine lover of independence. He was often, indeed, an actor, but as often natural; and, when the eyes of the world were not upon him, his heart might be trusted. Johnson has dealt fairly by him; shown up his many vanities and pretensions, but done justice to many virtues; among them, his prudence in owing every thing to himself. Chesterfield, who drew him as accurately as he did all others whom he painted, allows he was the most irritable of his class; but lays the blame, in * Young Richardson. |