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And he concludes his wretched effusion :

But why so much digression,

This fatal loss to show?
Alas! there's no expression
Can tell a parent's woe!

The Duke himself expired, 24th February, 1721, at the age of seventy-one. His corpse lay in state in great magnificence at Buckingham House, whence it was transferred to Westminster Abbey, and interred with much pomp in Henry the Seventh's chapel. By his will the sum of five hundred pounds was to be expended on his monument, on which was to be inscribed the following remarkable epitaph, written by himself:

Dubius sed non improbus vixi,
Incertus morior sed inturbatus,
Humanum est nescire et errare,
Christum adveneror, Deo confido
Omnipotenti, benevolentissimo;
Ens Entium misere mihi.

By order of Bishop Atterbury, then Dean of Westminster, the words Christum adveneror were omitted, it being supposed that they were intended to derogate from the Divine Nature of our Saviour. If it were really necessary, however, to make an exception at all, an objection might just as well have been raised to the commencing couplet, which is quite as offensive as the words that were omitted.

The Duke, as has been already mentioned, was succeeded in his titles by his only surviving son,

Edmund, the second and last Duke of Buckingham of his name. This young man, after a short life of great promise, died at Rome, on the 30th of October, 1735. His remains having been brought to England, were interred near those of his father in Henry the Seventh's chapel, where a curious effigy of him in wax still points out the spot where he lies. Pope also wrote his epitaph, in verses which are sufficiently well known, but which would be considered unworthy of a less gifted genius than himself.

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CATHERINE DARNLEY,

DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM.

CHAPTER I.

Character of the Duchess written by herself-Her marriage in 1699 to James Annesley, third Earl of Anglesea-Second marriage to Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham and separation from him by act of parliament-Her daughter by the Duke married to William Phipps, Esq., ancestor of the present Marquis of Normanby-Singular anecdote of the Duchess's mother, Lady Dorchester, mistress of James the Second-The Duchess's zeal in the cause of the Pretender -Anecdote of her related by Horace Walpole-Anecdote of Pulteney, Earl of Bath-The Duchess's efforts to interest Sir Robert Walpole in the cause of the Stuarts-Her correspondence with him-Singular interview with Lord Hervey-Her love of pomp and display-Extract from Horace Walpole's letter to Sir Horace Mann-The Duchess's flattering character of herself-Her death in 1743.

THERE is extant a "Character," of this extraordinary woman, teeming with fulsome compliments and unblushing encomiums, which, there is every reason to believe, was the production of her own pen. After her death, an attempt was made to father it on Pope; but not only does Bishop Warburton positively deny that it was written by the poet, but Pope himself, in one of his letters, throws some important light on this literary

"There was a

curiosity. In a letter to James Moyser, Esq., dated 11th July, 1743, he writes, character written of her Grace, by herself, with what help I know not, but she showed it to me in her blots, and pressed me by all the abjurations of friendship to give her my sincere opinion of it. I acted honourably and did so. She seemed to take it patiently, and, upon many exceptions which I made, engaged me to take the whole, and select out of it just as much as I judged might stand, and return her the copy. I did so. Immediately she picked a quarrel with me, and we never saw each other in five or six years. In the meantime, she showed this 'Character,' (as much as was extracted of it in my handwriting,) as a composition of my own in her praise, and, very probably, it is now in the hands of Lord Hervey." Thus much it was necessary to premise; first, because the performance was an extraordinary one, and, secondly, because we may more than once have occasion to refer to it in the present memoir.

Catherine Darnley was the illegitimate daughter of James the Second, by Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester, the too celebrated offspring of Sir Charles Sedley, the poet and the wit. James conferred on his daughter the surname of Darnley, and married her, at an early age, on the 28th of October, 1699, to James Annesley, third Earl of Anglesey. With this nobleman she lived on the worst terms. In her "Character" it is said, "She was married first to James,

Earl of Anglesey, and secondly to John Sheffield, Duke of Bucks and Normanby; with the former, she exercised the virtues of patience and suffering, as long as there was any hopes of doing good by either; with the latter, all other conjugal virtues." Their union was of very short duration, for the Earl's ill-treatment of her, exceeding all bounds of endurance, they were separated by Act of Parliament, on the ground of "cruel and causeless ill-usage" on the part of the husband. The only issue of this ill-sorted marriage was a daughter, Catherine, married to William Phipps, Esq., from which union the present Marquis of Normanby is descended.

The Earl of Anglesey died on the 18th of January, 1702, and, about three years afterwards, his widow accepted the hand of John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, for whose talents she professed the highest admiration, and whose happiness, she informs us, it was the sole object of her existence to promote. The Duke, on his part, repaid her affection with far more kindness and respect than he seems to have shown towards either of his former wives. "Whenever she was ill," we are told, "or in danger, (which generally happened when she was with child, or at her lying-in,) he showed all possible marks of concern; and when there was more than ordinary danger, his servants often found him on his knees at prayers; and on those occasions he has made vows, in case she recovered, to give, in charities, sometimes two hundred, sometimes three hundred pounds at a time,

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