represents himself as fuffering Perfecution for having ferved his Country with Abilities and Integrity. A State of Exile thus incurred, he very juftly fhews to be rather honourable than diftrefsful; and indeed, there are few Men that will deny, but that the Company of Strangers to Virtue is better than the Company of Enemies to it. Befides this philofophical Tract, he alfo wrote this Year feveral Letters in Answer to the Charge laid upon him by the Pretender and his Adherents; and the following Year he drew up a Vindication of his whole Conduct with refpect to the Tories, in the Form of a Letter, to Sir William Wyndham.

Nor was he fo entirely devoted to the Fatigues of Bufinefs, but that he gave Pleasure a Share in his Purfuits. He had never much agreed with the Lady he first married, and after a fhort Cohabitation, they feparated, and lived ever after afunder. She therefore remained in England upon his going into Exile, and by proper Application to the Throne, was allowed a proper Maintenance to fupport her with becoming Dignity: However, fhe did not long furvive his firft Difgrace; and upon his becoming a Widower, he began to think of trying his Fortune once more, in a State which was at firft fo unfavourable. For this Purpose he caft his Eyes on the Widow of the Marquis of Villette, and Niece to the famous Madam Maintenon; a young Lady of great Merit and Understanding, poffeffed of a very large Fortune, but encumbered with a long and troublesome Law-Suit. In the Company of this very fenfible Woman he paffed his Time in France, fometimes in the Country, and fometimes at the Capital, till the Year 1723, in which, after the breaking up of the Parliament, his Majefty was pleafed to grant him a Pardon as to his perfonal Safety, but as yet neither reftoring him to his Fa

mily Inheritance, his Title, or a Seat in Parlia

ment.

To obtain this Favour had been the governing Principle of his Politics for fome Years before; and upon the first Notice of his good Fortune, he prepared to return to his native Country, where, however, his dearest Connections were either dead, or declared themselves fufpicious of his former Conduct in Support of their Party. It is obfervable, that Bishop Atterbury, who was banifhed at this Time for a fuppofed treasonable Correspondence in Favour of the Tories, was fet on Shore at Calais juft when Lord Bolingbroke arrived there on his Return to England. So extraordinary a Reverse of Fortune could not fail of ftrongly affecting that good Prelate, who obferved with fome Emotion, that he perceived himself to be exchanged: He prefently left it to his Auditors to imagine, whether his Country were the Lofer or the Gainer by fuch an Exchange.

Lord Bolingbroke, upon his Return to his native Country, began to make very vigorous Applications for further Favours from the Crown; his Pardon, without the Means of Support, was but an empty, or, perhaps, it might be called a diftrefsful Act of Kindness, as it brought him back among his former Friends in a State of Inferiority his Pride could not endure. However, his Applications were foon after fuccessful; for in about two Years after his Return,. he obtained an Act of Parliament to restore him to his Family Inheritance, which amounted to near three thousand Pounds a Year. He was also enabled by the fame to poffefs any Purchase he should make of any other Estate in the Kingdom; and he accordingly pitched upon a Seat of Lord Tankerville's, at Dawley, near Uxbridge in Middlefex, where he settled with his Lady, and laid himself out to enjoy the rural Pleasures in Perfection, fince the more glorious ones

of

of Ambition were denied him. With this Refolution he began to improve his new Purchase in a very peculiar Style, giving it all the Air of a Country Farm, and adorning even his Hall with all the Implements of Husbandry. We have a Sketch of his Way of living in this Retreat, in a Letter of Pope's to Swift, who omits no Opportunity of reprefenting his Lordfhip in the most amiable Points of View. This Letter is dated from Dawley, the Country Farm abovementioned, and begins thus: "I now hold the Pen for my Lord Bolingbroke, who is reading your Letter between two Hay-cocks; but his Attention is fomewhat diverted, by cafting his Eyes on the Clouds, not in Admiration of what you fay, but for Fear of a Shower. He is pleafed with your placing him in the Triumvirate, between yourself and me: though he fays he doubts he fhall fare like Lepidus, while one of us runs away with all the Power, like Auguftus, and another with all the Pleasure, like Antony. It is upon a Forefight of this, that he has fitted up his Farm, and you will agree that this Scheme of Retreat is not founded upon weak Appearances. Upon his Return from Bath, he finds all peccant Humours are purged out of him; and his great Temperance and Economy are fo fignal, that the firft is fit for my Conftitution, and the latter would enable you to lay up fo much Money as to buy a Bishoprick in England. As to the Return of his Health and Vigour, were you here, you might enquire of his Hay-makers; but as to his Temperance, I can answer that for one whole Day, we have had nothing for Dinner but Mutton-Broth, Beans and Bacon, and a Barn-Door Fowl. Now his Lordship is run after his Cart, I have a Moment left to myself to tell you, that I overheard him yefterday agree with a Painter for two Hundred Pounds, to paint his Country Hall with Rakes, Spades, Prongs, &c. and other Ornaments, merely to coun

tenance

1

tenance his calling this a Place a Farm.' What Pope here fays of his Engagements with a Painter, was shortly after executed; the Hall was painted accordingly in Black Crayons only, fo that at first View it brought to Mind the Figures often feen fcratched with Charcoal, or the Smoke of a Candle, upon the Kitchen-Walls of Farm-Houfes. The Whole however produced a moft ftriking Effect, and over the Door at the Entrance of it, was this Motto: Satis beatus ruris honoribus. His Lordfhip feemed to be extremely happy in this Pursuit of moral Tranquility, and in the Exultation of his Heart, could not fail of communicating his Satisfactions to his Friend Swift. "I am in my own Farm,' fays he, and here I shoot ftrong and tenacious Roots: I have caught Hold of the Earth, to use a Gardener's Phrafe, and neither my Enemies nor my Friends will find it an eafy Matter to transplant me again.'

There is not, perhaps, a ftronger Inftance in the World than his Lordfhip, that an ambitious Mind can never be fairly fubdued, but will still feek for those Gratifications which Retirement can never fupply. All this Time he was mistaken in his Paffion for Solitude, and fuppofed that to be the Child of Philofophy which was only the Effects of Spleen: it was in vain that he attempted to take Root in the Shade of Obfcurity; he was originally bred in the Glare of public Occupation, and he fecretly once more wifhed for Tranfplantation. He was only a titular Lord, he had not been thoroughly reftored; and, as he was excluded from a Seat in the House of Peers, he burned with Impatience to play a Part in that confpicuous Theatre. Impelled by this Defire, he could no longer be reftrained in Obfcurity, but once more entered into the Buftle of public Bufinefs; and difavowing all Obligations to the Minifter, he embarked in the Oppofition against him, in which he had feveral powerful Coadjutors: but previously he had taken

Care

Care to prefer a Petition to the Houfe of Commons, defiring to be reinftated in his former Emoluments and Capacities. This Petition at firft occafioned very warm Debates: Walpole, who pretended to espouse his Caufe, alledged that it was very right to admit him to his Inheritance; and when Lord William Pawlett moved for a Claufe to difqualify him from fitting in either Houfe, Walpole rejected the Motion, fecretly fatisfied with a Refolution which had been fettled in the Cabinet, that he should never more be admitted into any Share of Power. To this artful Method of evading his Pretenfions, Bolingbroke was no Stranger; and he was now refolved to shake that Power, which thus endeavoured to obftruct the Increase of his own: taking therefore his Part in the Oppofition with Pultney, while the latter engaged to manage the Houfe of Commons, Bolingbroke undertook to enlighten the People: accordingly he foon distinguished himself by a Multitude of Pieces, written during the latter Part of George the Firft's Reign, and likewife the Beginning of that which fucceeded. These were conceived with great Vigour and Boldness; and now, once more engaged in the Service of his Country, though difarmed, gagged, and almost bound, as he declared himself to be, yet he refolved not to abandon his Caufe, as long as he could depend on the Firmness and Integrity of those Coadjutors, who did not labour under the fame Difadvantages with himself. His Letters in a Paper called the Craftfman, were particularly distinguished in this political Conteft: and though feveral of the moft expert Politicians of the Times joined in this Paper, his Effays were peculiarly relished by the Public. However, it is the Fate of Things written to an Occafion, feldom to furvive that Occafion: the Craftsman, though written with great Spirit and Sharpnefs, is now almoft forgotten, although when it was published as a weekly Paper, it fold much

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