him "the best writer of the age ;" and Parr speaks of "hanging with rapture over the gorgeous declamation of Bolingbroke." As a statesman, his talents were of the first order, and as an orator, he presents the most shining figure in the forensic gallery of our country. Swift speaks of his "invincible eloquence;" Burnet, prejudiced as he was against Bolingbroke, admits his oratorical powers to have been almost superhuman; and Pitt, in a circle of friends, observed that he would sooner recover a speech of Bolingbroke, than the missing books of Livy, or any other literary treasure which has been lost to the world. His political writings are of the same high order, They will probably continue to be read for their force of argument, their perspicuity, and the extreme elegance of their diction, as long as the English language shall remain a written tongue. On the merits of Bolingbroke as a philosophical writer, and on his peculiar tenets in regard to revealed religion, it is neither our province, nor our desire to dwell. Those writings and those tenets, which were formerly inveighed against by the clergy from the pulpit, and denounced by a jury in a court of justice as a nuisance, have now fortunately sunk into the oblivion they deserve. Putting aside every higher consideration, the mere attempt to undermine a creed on which the hope and happiness of thousands are fixed, is an act the most cruel and unjustifiable that can be conceived. We ourselves, indeed, have just as little right to judge

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Bolingbroke for his peculiar opinions, as Bolingbroke had a right to force them on others. Neither the pure life of Hume, the gratitude which we owe to the illustrious Gibbon, nor the brilliant philosophy of Bolingbroke,- true and conscientious as may have been their disbelief,-can exempt them from the charge of cruelty towards their fellows; while, at the same time, they derived no advantages to themselves.

Bolingbroke, by his last will, bequeathed all his "manuscript books, papers, and writings" to David Mallet, whom he selected to be his editor, but who proved singularly incompetent to perform the task. A complete edition of his works, edited by Mallet, came out on the 6th of March, 1764, and it was on this occasion that Dr. Johnson gave vent to his memorable tirade against the infidelity of Bolingbroke :-"Sir, he was a scoundrel and a coward,-a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotchman, to draw the trigger after his death.”

The publication of Bolingbroke's works, (among which there was considerable matter that had not hitherto seen the light,) excited an extraordinary sensation alike in the religious and in the literary world. His memory and his principles were attacked by a host of assailants, and the occasion gave rise to numerous angry denunciations from the highest order of literary controversy, to the most insignificant lampoons.

Many who had trembled at the name of Bolingbroke when alive, became the virulent maligners of his memory when he was dead. Among others, the celebrated Garrick exerted himself in the cause of religion, and in a poem which he wrote on the death of Mr. Pelham, who expired on the same day that Mallet's edition made its appearance, we find him thus stigmatizing the impiety of Bolingbroke. With this trifle, which is not without the kind of merit at which such productions aim, we will conclude our present Memoir :

"The same sad morn to Church and State,

(So for our sins 'twas fixed by fate,)

A double stroke was given;

Black as the whirlwinds of the north,
St. John's fell genius issued forth,
And Pelham fled to heaven."

180

CHARLES MORDAUNT,

EARL OF PETERBOROUGH.

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Lord Peterborough's romantic and adventurous turn of mind.— His birth. Embarks for Tangier.- Joins the Prince of Orange at the Hague, and is, subsequently, appointed a Lord of the Bed-chamber and first Lord-Commissioner of the Treasury.-Created Earl of Monmouth.-Serves under King William.-Engaged in an intrigue against the Duke of Ormond and Lord Orford.-Publishes an attack against the Duke.-Committed to the Tower in consequence. His publication burned by the common hangman.-Succeeds to the Earldom of Peterborough.-Gets into favour with Queen Anne.-Commands an expedition against Spain, and is appointed joint-Admiral of the Fleet.-His Manifestoes, and romantic exploits at Barcelona.-His letter to the Duchess of Marlborough.-His justice and disinterestedness in Spain. -His recall.-Compliments paid him by the House of Lords. -Made a Knight of the Garter, and sent ambassador to Sicily. -Anecdote of the Earl related by Richardson.-The Earl's contempt for appearances.-His letter to Pope. His admiration of Penn the Quaker.-Accompanies him to Pennsylvania. His character as a letter-writer.-Specimen of his poetry. His literary society.-Pope's account of his last illness.-His singular letter to Lady Suffolk.His death. Sketch of his person. His autobiography suppressed by his widow.

LORD PETERBOROUGH appears to have been the last of that peculiar class of heroes, who mingled

with an almost romantic courage and a Quixotic love of adventure, a taste for literature, and a devotion to poetry and the fine arts. To these qualities may be added a chivalrous admiration of the fair sex, an agreeable figure, and a graceful wit. He was formed in the same mould as Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Sir Kenelm Digby, and the Admirable Crichton, and if the days of chivalry be indeed over, they may be said to have expired with the hero of Barcelona and the accomplished courtier of Queen Anne.

Charles, eldest son of John, first Viscount Mordaunt, was born in 1658. He was descended from an ancient family; his ancestor, Sir Osbert le Mordaunt, having accompanied William the Norman to England, and having been rewarded with a grant of land by the Conqueror. His family appear to have ever devotedly attached themselves to the service of their sovereign; and during the civil wars, both his father, Lord Mordaunt, and his uncle, the Earl of Peterborough, having zealously supported the royal cause, were declared traitors by the Parliament, and deprived of their estates. They both figured in their generations as gallant, but profligate, men; in addition to which, the circumstance of their professing the Roman Catholic religion rendered them peculiarly obnoxious during the rule of the Puritans. Their gallantry and their profligacy appear to have been the only qualities which descended from them to their illustrious relative.