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justly referring the principles of Liberty to the Saxon system, and imputing the corruptions of it to the Norman. This was a great deal too deep for that superficial mountebank Hume to go for a mountebank he was.He mounted a system in the garb of a philosophic empiric, but dispensed no drugs but what he was authorized to vend by a Royal patent, and which were full of Turkish opium. He had studied nothing relative to the English constitution before Queen Elizabeth, and had selected her most arbitrary acts to countenance those of the Stuarts; and even her's he misrepresented, for her worst deeds were levelled against the Nobility, those of the Stuarts against the People. Her's, consequently, were rather an obligation to the People; for the most heinous part of common despotism is, that it produces a thousand despots instead of one. Muley Moloch cannot lop off many heads with his own hand at least, he takes those in his way, those of his Courtiersbut his Bashaws and Viceroys spread destruction every where. The flimsy, ignorant, blundering manner, in which Hume executed the reigns preceding Henry VII. is a proof of how little he had examined the history of our Constitution.-I could say much, much more, Sir, in commendation of your work, were I not apprehensive of being biassed by the subject. Still, that it would not be from flattery, I will prove, by taking the liberty of making two objections; and they are only to the last page but one. Perhaps you will think that my first objection does shew that I am too much biassed.-I own I am sorry to see my Father compared to Sylla. The latter was a sanguinary usurper, a monster-the former, the mildest, most forgiving, best-natured of men, and a legal minister. Nor, I fear, will the only light in which you compare them, stand the test.— Sylla resigned his power voluntarily,

insolently-perhaps timidly, as he might think he had a better chance of dying in his bed, if he retreated, than by continuing to rule by force. My Fa ther did not retire by his own option. He had lost the majority of the House of Commons. Sylla, you say, Sir, retired unimpeached-it is true, but covered with blood. My Father was not impeached, in our strict sense of the word; but, to my great joy, he was in effect. A Secret Committee, a worse inquisition than a Jury, was named-not to try him-but to sift his life for crimes-and out of such a Jury, chosen in the dark, and not one of whom he might challenge, he had some determined enemies, many opponents, and but two he could suppose his friends. And what was the con sequence? A man charged with every state-crime almost, for twenty years, was proved to have done-what? Paid some writers much more than they deserved, for having defended him against ten thousand and ten thousand libels, (some of which had been written by his Inquisitors,) all which libels were confessed to have been lies by his Inquisitors themselves,

for they could not produce a shadow of one of the crimes with which they had charged him! I must own, Sir, I think that Sylla and my Father ought to be set in opposition rather than paralleled.-My other objection is still more serious; and if I am so happy as to convince you, I shall hope that you will alter the paragraph, as it seems to impute something to Sir Robert, of which he was not only most innocent, but of which, if he had been guilty, I should think him extremely so, for he would have been very ungrateful. You say he had not the comfort to see that he had established his own family by any thing which he received from the gratitude of that Hanover family, or from the gratitude of that country, which he had saved and served-Good Sir, what does this sentence seem to im

ply,

ply, but that either Sir Robert himself, or his family, thought or think, that the Kings George First and Second, or England, were ungrateful in not rewarding his services!-Defend him and us from such a charge! He nor we ever had such a thought. Was it not rewarding him to make him Prime Minister, and maintain and support him against all his enemies for twenty years together? Did not George I. make his eldest son a Peer, and give to the father and son a valuable patent place in the Customhouse for three lives? Did not George II. give my elder brother the Auditor's place; and to my brother and me other rich places for our lives?— for, tho' in the gift of the First Lord of the Treasury, do we not owe them to the King who made him so? Did not the late King make my Father an Earl, and dismiss him with a pension of 4000l. a year for his life? Could he or we not think these ample rewards? What rapacious, sordid wretches, must he and we have been, and be, could we entertain such an idea? As far have we all been from thinking him neglected by his Country. Did not his Country see and know those rewards? and could it think those rewards inadequate? Besides, Sir, great as I hold my Father's services, they were solid and silent, not ostensible. They were of a kind to which I hold your justification a more suitable reward than pecuniary recompenses. To have fixed the House of Hanover on the Throne, to have maintained this country in peace and affluence for twenty years, with the other services you record, Sir, were actions the eclat of which must be illustrated by time and reflection, and whose splendour has been brought forwarder than I wish it had, by comparison with a period very dissimilar! If Sir Robert had not the comfort of leaving his family in affluence, it was not imputable to his King or his Country. Perhaps I October 1812.

am proud that he did not. He died forty thousand pounds in debt. That was the wealth of a man that had been taxed as the plunderer of his country! Yet, with all my adoration of my Father, I am just enough to own that it was his own fault if he died so poor. He had made Hough

ton much too magnificent for the moderate estate which he left to support it; and, as he never, I repeat it with truth, never got any money but in the South Sea, and while he was Paymaster, his fondness for his paternal seat, and his boundless generosity, were too expensive for his fortune.— I will mention one instance, which will shew how little he was disposed to turn the favour of the Crown to his own profit. He laid out fourteen thousand pounds of his own money on Richmond New Park. I could produce other reasons too why Sir Robert's family were not in so comfortable a situation, as the world, deluded by misrepresentation, might expect to see them at his death. My eldest brother had been a very bad economist during his father's life, and died himself fifty thousand pounds in debt, or more; so that to this day neither Sir Edward nor I have received the five thousand pounds apiece which Sir Robert left us as our fortunes. I do not love to charge the dead; therefore will only say, that Lady Orford, (reckoned a vast fortune, which till she died she never proved) wasted vast sums; nor did my brother or father ever receive but the twenty thousand pounds which she brought at first, and which were spent on the wedding and christening; I mean, including her jewels.

"I beg your pardon, Sir, for this tedious detail, which is minutely, perhaps too minutely, true; but, when I took the liberty of contesting any part of a work which I admire so much, I owed it to you and to myself to assign my reasons. I trust they will satisfy you; and, if they do,

am

sure you will alter a paragraph, against which it is the duty of the family to exclaim. Dear as my Father's memory is to my soul, I can never subscribe to the position that he was unrewarded by the House of Hanover. I have the honour to be, Sir, with great respect and gratitude, Your most obliged and obedient humble servant, HOR. WALPole. "P.S. I did not take the liberty of retaining your Essay, Sir; but should be very happy to have a copy of it at your leisure."

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Berkeley-square, Nov. 7. 1783. "You must allow me, Sir, to repeat my thanks for the second copy of your tract on my Father, and for your great condescension in altering the two passages to which I presumed to object; and which are not only more consonant to exactness; but, I hope, no disparagement to the piece. To me they are quite satisfactory. And it is a comfort to me too, that what I begged to have changed was not any reflection prejudicial to his memory; but, in the first point, a parallel not entirely similar in circumstances; and, in the other, a sort of censure on others to which I could not subscribe. With all my veneration for my Father's memory, I should not remonstrate against just censure on him. Happily, to do justice to him, most iniquitous calumnies ought to be removed; and then there would remain virtues and merits enough, far to outweigh human errors, from which the best of men, like him, cannot be exempt. Let his enemies, aye and his friends, be compared with himand then justice would be done! Your Essay, Sir, will, I hope, some time or other, clear the way to his vindication. It points out the true way of examining his character; and is itself, as far as it goes, unanswerable, As such, what an obligation it

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MR WALPOLE TO MR GOUGH.

Strawberry Hill, Aug 24. 1789.

"I shall heartily lament with you, Sir, the demolition of those beautiful chapels at Salisbury. I was scandalized long ago at the ruinous state in which they were indecently suffered to remain. It appears as strange, that, when a spirit of restoration and decoration has taken place, it should be mixed with barbarous innovation. As much as taste has improved, I do not believe that modern execution will equal our models. I am sorry that I can only regret, not prevent. I do not know the Bishop of Salisbury even by sight, and certainly have no credit to obstruct any of his plans. Should I get sight of Mr Wyatt, which it is not easy to do, I will remonstrate against the intended alteration; but probably without suc cess, as I do not suppose he has authority enough to interpose effectually-Still I will try. It is an old complaint with me, Sir, that, when families are extinct, Chapters take the freedom of removing antient monuments, and even of selling over again the site of such tombs. A scandalous, nay, dishonest abuse, and very unbecoming Clergymen! Is it creditable for Divines to traffick for consecrated ground, and which the Church had already sold?—I do not wonder that magnificent monuments are out of fashion, when they are treated so disrespectfully. You, Sir, alone have placed several out of the reach of such a kind of simoniacal abuse; for, to buy into the Church, or to sell the Church's land twice over, breathes a similar kind of spirit.Perhaps, as the subscription indicates taste, if some of the Subscribers could be persuaded to object to the removal of the two beautiful Chapels, as contrary to their view of beautify

ing, it might have good effect; or, if pasome letter were published in the pers against the destruction, as barbarous, and the result of bad taste, it might divert the design. I zealously wish it were stopped-but I know none of the Chapter or Subscribers. I have the honour to be, with great regard, Sir, Your much obliged and most obedient, &c.

HOR. WALPole.

General View of the Progress and present State of the Manufactures at PAISLEY.

"the inhabitants being chiefly em-
"ployed in that sort of manufactory."
It is certain, however, that the manu-
factures of Paisley, which consisted
at that time chiefly of Bengals, in
imitation of striped muslins, and
coarse linen checks, were very limi-
ted; for we find that, more than thirty
years after this period, there were only
867 looms employed, and the whole
value of their manufactures, though
far more elegant fabrics had been in-
troduced, only amounted to £.15,000.
At this time the kinds of goods manu-
factured were checkered linen hand-
kerchiefs, some of them fine and beau-
tifully variegated, by the manner in
which the colours were disposed; which

(From Wilson's View of the Agriculture of were succeeded by goods of a lighter

Renfrewshire.)

THE
HE chief manufactures of Ren-
frewshire have been carried on at
Paisley and its environs, and in the
numerous villages connected with this
It was erected into
populous town.
a burgh of barony, in favour of George
Shaw abbot of Paisley and his succes-
sors, by James IV. in the year 1488,
and a charter was granted to its ma-
gistrates by the abbot in 1490: and
the possessions of the abbey having
been erected into a temporal Lordship,
that charter was confirmed to the ma-
gistrates in 1658 by the Lord of
erection, who disponed to them the
superiority and common lands, all
which grants were in the year 1665
confirmed by a charter from the crown.
The magistrates have therefore every
privilege of a royal borough, except-
ing representation in parliament.
Crawford describes it in 1710, as con-
sisting of only one principal street,
about half a mile in length, with sever-
al other lanes, and it is probable the
population did not then exceed 1500
Souls. With regard to manufactures,
"That which renders
his words are,
"this place considerable, is its trade
“of linen and muslin, where there is
"a great weekly sale in its markets

of those sorts of cloth; many of

texture, such as lawns, some of them
plain, and others striped or checkered
with cotton, and others spotted or
figured, according to the taste or fan-
The weaving of
cy of the artist.
linen gauze was also carried on to
About this pe-
considerable extent.
riod the manufacturers, or merchants
connected with them, resorted occa-
sionally to England for the sale of
their goods, particularly to fairs, such
as are still held at Chester for the sale
of Irish linens and Welsh flannel, &c.
The extent of manufacture of these
different kinds of goods about the
middle of last century, seems to have
been about 600,000 yards, and the
value about £.40,000. By the good
taste of the manufacturers, and the
ingenuity of the weavers in this dis-
trict, fabrics from the loom were still
farther varied and improved, so that
the manufacture of linen goods of
these descriptions gradually increased,
till at last, between the years 1778
and 1786, there were manufactured an-
nually from a million and a half to
two millions of yards, the values
of which
from £.90,000 to
were,
£.165,000. From that time this ma-
nufacture, being superseded by cotton
goods, as shall be afterwards explained,
constantly declined, till at length it is

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into Britain; that numbers settled in London, and established the manufacture of silk goods in Spittalfields. Soon after the middle of the last century, when the traders in Paisley had increased their small capitals, they occasionally went to London, where the light fabrics or fancy lawns were vended, and directed their skill and ingenuity to the imitation of the silk gauzes of Spittalfields, The first attempts were in the year 1759; and, in consequence of the taste and industry of the merchants, and the talents of the workmen, their success was complete; and the result was, that elegant and richly ornamented silk gauzes were manufactured in great variety, so as to surpass any thing of the same kind which had been produced. The success of the manufacture brought several companies from London to Paisley; and a general mourning taking place in 1760, when the

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