Mr. Justice HARDINGE to Mr. NICHOLS.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,

Milbourne House, June 20, 1814. "I send you a jeu d'esprit, which attempts to Latinize one of the loveliest Ballads that any English Catullus ever produced. It was written by the great Uncle of the present Duke of Dorset, and was addressed by him to his Mistress. I have heard it sung, but never possessed the notes. Lord Dacre, my Uncle-in-law, repeated the words to me when I was a boy; and I never could forget them t. You will observe that I have attempted a little improvement of the Poet, by turning his feathered Minstrels into Syrens and cheating Prophets. Ever yours, G. HARDINGE."

ARNO'S VALE, BY CHARLES SACKVILLE, EARL OF MIDDLESEX. "When here, Lucinda, first we came,

Where Arno rolls his silver stream,.

How brisk the Nymphs, the Swains how gay!
Content inspir'd each rural lay.

The birds in livelier concert sung,

The grapes in thicker clusters hung;
All look'd as joy could never fail
Among the sweets of Arno's Vale.
But, since the good Palemon died,
The chief of Shepherds, and the pride,
You read distress in every face,
And joy to sorrow now gives place:
The taste of Pleasure now is o'er,
Thy notes, Lucinda, charm no more:
Now Arno's Sons must all give place
To Northern men, an iron race :
The Muses droop- the Goths prevail :
Adieu the Sweets of Arno's Vale."
"Lucinda! fugit hora, fugit alipes,
In quâ, beatiore passu venimus,
Ubi per hæc vireta dulce labitur
Arni fluentum: Pastor et Nymphæ simul
Choros agebant, Gratiis faventibus,
Amore et otio Racemi pensilem
Uvam gerebant ampliore copiâ-
Aviumque voces perfidas audivimus;
Dixere passim Gaudeatis advenæ !

'Perennis hic Voluptas commoratur.'

Eldest son of Lionel seventh Earl and first Duke of Dorset. He was born in 1711; succeeded as Duke of Dorset in 1765; and died s. p. Jan. 6, 1769. He possessed the bereditary talents of his Family; and was endowed with a brilliancy of fancy, and elegant fluency of language, which displayed themselves in many occasional compositions, and attracted the just admiration of the publick.

+ Written at Florence, in or soon after 1737, on the death of John Gaston, the last Duke of Tuscany of the House of Medici; and addressed to Signora Moscovita, a Singer, and a friend of the Author's.-It was set to music by Mr. Holcomb, and printed, with the notes, in a Collection of Songs, very neatly engraved, called "Amaryllis ;" and also in Gent. Mag. vol. XV. p. 45. VOL. III. Palemon

L

Palemon occidit, Pastorum amabilis
Princeps, decusque; cedit ista terris,
Boreæque natis ripâ; cedit elegans
Loci venustas; nec diutius places
Vel ipsa tu, Lucinda, voce melleâ,
Cytharæve pulsu; Pieridum muta est cohors;
Furitque Gothus, militum superbia.

Vale Arne dulcis, improbo cedens jugo."

ON LORD HUGH SEYMOUR *; BURIED, AT HIS OWN REQUEST, IN THE SAME TOMB WITH HIS WIFE t. BY MR. HARDINGE.

"Parted once-the fair and brave,

Meet again—but in their grave:
She, was Nature's brightest flower,
Struck before its drooping hour:
He, was Britain's Naval pride;
Young-but old in fame, he died.
Love, but with a Patriot's tear,
Mourns, and consecrates them here."

MR. HARDINGE TO A LADY, IN ANSWER TO A JOCULAR
INVITATION TO VISIT HIS GRANDFATHER'S MONUMENT.
"Travel to see the dead!" Ah, no.

I am not to be tempted so.
Shall money, that is scarce, be spent
To gaze upon a Monument ?
And, whilst I gaze, for you to tell,
'Here lies a man who passing well
Fulfill'd the duties of his station :
This Village was to him the Nation.
Here, from the busy world retir'd,
He drew the breath which here expir'd.'
Of Ancestors I little know,

But that one Grandsire lost his toe-
And yet so vigorous and stout,
He walk'd as well, it seems, without.
Of years full ninety was his lease;
His fame-a Justice of the Peace.'
And peace be his! he rests, I trust,
Whose life was harmless as his dust.
Good souls like these in shade can rest,

With turf and flowers; upon their breast.

Lord Hugh Seymour had obtained the rank of Admiral, and was much beloved in the Navy, and adrnired for his gallant spirit. He died of the yellow fever, on the Jamaica sitation, in 1803.

He had lost his wife, the most admired Beauty of the age, Lady Horatia Anne Seymour, daughter of Earl Waldegrave by the Duchess of Gloucester, then Countess Waldeg rave.

But

But sepulchres, with sculpture deckt,
That claim Posterity's respect,
Should tell of something we admire,
And stir within us kindred fire.

Let me proclaim that Grandsire mine,
Whose tomb is hallow'd by the Nine.
Where his own Arts their vigils keep,
Lest Fame should chance to fall asleep;
Where Genius o'er the marble strews
The laureat wreaths that speak the Muse;
Where the wrought pallet seems to tell
This emblem shews he painted well;'
The lyre, in marble, seems to say,
I am the symbol of his play.'

Could you but shew me such a shrine,
To Pilgrimage I could incline

;

And with rapt zeal could wandering go,
A sainted homage to bestow.

But Fame, to all our Males averse,

No panegyrick will rehearse.
Her trumpet, silent and supine,
Waits to adorn the Female Line,"

"A CONVERSATION, IMPROMPTU,

BETWEEN THE HEAD AND THE HEART OF G, H.

"Said the Head to the Heart-Pray, what is it you mean?
You are almost the same that you were at sixteen:
So alive to sensation-such vigour-such glow;
You remind me of Ninon; your name is L'Encios.

The sly Heart, with dissembled concern, thus replied:
'You would hint that I ought long ago to have died:
But you do not consider, my very good Head,
That, while you are alive, I shall never be dead.
Say, from you is it not that my eloquence flows ?
It is your inspiration this ardour bestows:
Yestis you that my raptures of genius infuse,
And that quicken my pulse with your Juvenile Muse.'

The Head felt the reproof-yet a something would say: 'You are surely too playful at your time of day;

But pray why lay the fault of such frolics on me?
Whom it seriously hurts, your vagaries to see:

I would have you renounce your poetical airs,

I would have you attend with more zeal to your prayers;
But you know (to deny it would only be fudge)

That you'd scribble to me on the Bench of a Judge.
Yet in vain I reprove you would laugh should I weep.'

Here the Heart gave a sigh:—and the Head fell asleep." G.H.

Letters to Mr. HARDINGE, from eminent Prelates, and other distinguished Literary Characters.

From Dr. JOHN MOORE *, Abp. of CANTERBURY.

"DEAR SIR,

"Lambeth, Jan. 27, 1784. A thousand thanks, my dear Sir, for your kind remembrance of me this morning, and for a great deal of information and amusement it has afforded me this evening t. I had much pleasure in hearing your argument on the India Bill; and shall sit down to it with a good appetite when you are so good as to favour me with the opportunity of reading it. "I have the honour to be, with the utmost regard, dear Sir, "Your faithful humble servant, J. CANTUAR." Lambeth House, Monday, March 20, 1786. "When I offered Mrs. Moore's name and mine for Miss Williams's publication ‡, I paid the subscriptions to the person who brought your letter. The bearer of this received from me, and paid into his hands, the two guineas. I supposed it was a servant of yours; but my servant (the bearer, a man entirely to be depended on) says that he does not think it was a servant of yours. On looking at your letter, which I happen not to have destroyed, the receipts being wrapt up in it, I find you desire my subscription to be sent then. I think my servant would know the man he paid the money to. Inclosed is a ticket for Westminster Hall.

"I am faithfully, your humble servant, J. CANTUAR." "MY DEAR SIR, Lambeth House, March 21, 1786. "I am sorry you had the trouble of writing more than a single line of answer to my letter of yesterday. I said the more on account of my man, who fancied he might be suspected of not having paid the money I gave him to pay. I considered it merely as a matter between him and the man he paid it to. That, with your various engagements, a matter so trifling should have made no impression on your memory is very natural..

"Yours faithfully, "DEAR SIR,

J. CANTUAR." Lambeth House, March 6, 1788. "I apprehend that a Dispensation cannot be had to hold the Livings which you mention. I take the distance between them to exceed what is allowed by law very considerably. The utmost allowance is thirty computed miles; and I believe it has been adjudged that the thirty computed miles may be construed to extend to forty-five measured miles, but no farther. I am, faithfully, "Your humble servant, J. CANTUAR."

See the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VIII. p. 94. This was Mr. Hardinge's famous Speech on Mr. Fox's India Bill. Two small volumes of "Poems" were published in 1786 by HelenMaria Williams, under the patronage of a very numerous and respectable list of Subscribers; which was warmly promoted by Mr. Hardinge.

Dr.

From Dr. BEILBY PORTEUS, Bishop of CHESter, and afterwards Bishop of LONDON.

"DEAR SIR, Great George-street, April 13, 1782. "Although I was hard-hearted enough to deny your request, yet I will not deny myself the pleasure of congratulating you on the honours which the papers say are to be conferred upon you. The way is now fairly open before you, and if you give yourself wholly up to your profession, and exert the whole force of your talents in the prosecution of it, there is no situation in it which you may not look up to. I am, with much regard,

"Your faithful and obedient servant, B. CHESTER." "George-street, Jan 29, 1784. The Bishop of Chester presents his compliments to Mr. Hardinge, and returns him many thanks for the obliging present of his book *, from which he promises himself much information and entertainment, and which he will take the first opportunity of reading with that attention which every thing that comes from Mr. Hardinge deserves."

"DEAR SIR, Hunton, Dec. 24, 1785. "I thank you for your many obliging expressions of partiality towards me, and am willing to flatter myself that it is not any abatement of esteem on either side, but the distance we are at from each other, the business we are both engaged in, and other casual circumstances, which have interrupted the intercourse that formerly subsisted between us.

"Miss Williams's † history is a very interesting one, and she has an Historian whose powers of description are worthy of the benevolent cause in which they are engaged. If my subscription was to bear any proportion to her merits and your eloquence, it would be a very large one; but the numberless claims that come upon me from various quarters (to which duty, as well as compassion, demands my first attention) necessarily restrain my donations on other occasions within very narrow limits.

"You will, therefore, I hope, accept the inclosed guinea as a small testimony of the high opinion I entertain of Miss Williams's talents and virtues, as well as of that regard with which I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient, &c. B. CHESTER." Jan. 10, 1794.

"DEAR SIR,

"Your letter found me in the midst of bills, trunks, and parcels, preparing for our removal to London next week. This, added to the usual pressure of my business, prevents me from giving any immediate answer to your queries. As soon as I feel myself a little at leisure in London, I will endeavour to satisfy them, and, in the mean while, have the honour to be, Sir,

"Your most obedient servant,

B. LONDON."

« Fulham, July 1, 1795. The Bishop of London presents his compliments to Mr. G. Hardinge, and incloses him a draft for five guineas for his protegè; and desires Mr. Hardinge will inform him by a penny-post letter to Fulham whether he received it safe." + See before, p. 148. From

His Speech on Mr. Fox's India Bill.