worthy men, and fo ill a diffembler of liis diflike and difinclination to ill men, that it was not poffible for such not to difcern it. He was conftant and pertinacious in every laudable design he undertook, and not to be wearied by any pains that were neceffary to that end, an inftance of which has been mentioned: we mean his refolution of learning the Greek tongue. He was fuperior to all thofe paffions and affections which affect vulgar minds; and was guilty of no other ambition than of knowledge, and to be reputed a lover of all good men. Many attempts were made by the inftigation of his mother (who was a lady of another perfuafion in religion, and of a moft masculine understanding, allayed with the pathon and infirmities of her fex) to pervert him from the church of England to that of Rome; which were profecuted with the more confidence, becaufe he declined no opportunity or occafion of conference with thofe of that religion. In all controverfies he had fo difpassionate a confideration, fuch a candour in his nature, and fo profound a charity in his conscience, that in thofe points wherein he was in his own judgment most clear, he never thought the worse, or in any degree declined the familiarity of those who were of another mind: an excellent temper for the propagation and advancement of Christianity! He was fo great an enemy to that paffion and uncharitableness, which he faw produced by difference of opinion in matters of religion, that in all his difputes with priests and others of the Roman communion, he affected to manifest all poffible civility to their perfons and efteem of their learning or ingenuity. His affability was fo tranfcendent and obliging, that it drew reverence, and fome kind of compliance from the roughest, and most unpolished and stubborn conftitutions; and made them of another temper in debate, in his prefence, than they were in other places. In his converfation, which was the most chearful and pleasant that can be imagined, he had so chaste a tongue and ear, that there was never known a profane or loofe word to fall from him, nor in truth in his company; the integrity and cleanlinefs of the wits of that time not exercifing itself in that licence before perfons for whom they had any esteem. As his parts were great, fo was his knowledge and learning, of which he hath left a fignal proof in his writings; the chief of which are his difcourfes against the infallibility of the church of Rome, much admired by all learned men; and his speeches in parliament, when he oppofed the arbitrary measures of the court. He likewife very much affifted the immortal Chillingworth in his book of The Religion of Proteftants, &c. He had an extreme affection for his wife, and a very great fondness for his children. By his will he left all he had to her, and committed them entirely to her care. His ufual faying was, I pity unlearned gentlemen in a rainy day." As to his perfon, it was not very graceful, for he was low of ftature, and his afpect was not inviting, having rather fomewhat of fimplicity in it, and his voice had a kind of harshness not very agreeable; but thefe defects were entirely overlooked, and loft in the contemplation of the virtues of his mind. It was accounted enough for any man's reputation to have his acquaintance, fo univerfally acknowledged was his merit. He was a true fon of the church of England, and, in a word, as a late historian obferves, the darling of the mufes, the patron of learning and merit, the mir ror of integrity, and the pattern of con'fummate virtue.' To which we may add, he was the envy and wonder of his time; and it will redound to the eternal honour of England to have produced the lord viscount Falkland, one of the most perfect and finished characters to be met with on record. The Character of an Antiquary. BUTLER, the inimitable author of inherited from nature thefe happy qualities. Hudibras, is allowed to have poffeffed the talents of wit and fatire, and eafy verfiâication in as eminent a degree as any of the English poets. He feemed to have His fancy had no bounds, his thoughts had a peculiar original turn, and every thing flowed from him with the greatest ease and velocity of imagination. His rhimes ap pear pear eafy and natural, and are neither forced nor laboured. His fame, as a poet, has been well known and acknowledged for a century paft; but the world has long remained unacquainted with his great talents in profe, which have been fo lately brought to light, by the publication of his genuine remains, by the ingenious Mr.Thyer of Manchester, in 1759. In perufing thefe works it will be found in point of humour, true wit, and fatire, Butler has no fuperior; perhaps no equal. How horrid a reflection must then arise in our minds, when we confider that this man was born and lived in fuch an ungrateful age as to be difregarded, and left to the dreadful neceffity of want of bread, when in happier times he would have met with the higheft honours! Long before this publication it was remarked that he had more thoughts than lines: a very just observation, and ftill more applicable to his profe works. In thefe his fentiments follow each other with furprizing quickness, treading upon each other's heels, in such a manner, that before it is poffible to digeft what is past, a fecond obtrudes itself; and this too, like a wave, is immediately followed by another : fo great a profufion of thoughts may almost be termed a defect. As a fpecimen of this excellent writer's abilities, in the qualities mentioned above, we have extracted for the amufement of our readers, his Character of an Antiquary: "An Antiquary is one that hath his being in this age, but his life and converfation are in the days of old. He defpifes the prefent age as an innovation, and flights the future; but has a great value for that which is paft and gone, like the madman that fell in love with Cleopatra. He is an old frippery-philofopher, that has fo ftrange a natural affection to worm-eaten fpeculation, that it is apparent he has a worm in his skull. He honours his forefathers and foremothers, but condemns his parents as too modern, and no better than upftarts. He neglects himself because he was born in his own time, and fo far off antiquity, which he so much admires; and repines like a younger brother, because he came fo late into the world. He spends the one half of his time in collecting old infignificant trifes, and the other in fhewing them, which he takes fingular delight in, because the oftener he does it, the farther they are from being new to him. All his curiofities take place of one another accordApril, 1761. ing to their feniority, and he values them not by their abilities, but their standing. He has a great veneration, for words that are ftricken in years, and are grown fo aged that they have outlived their employments....Thefe he ufes with a respect agreeable to their antiquity, and the good fervices they have done. He throws away. his time in enquiring after that which is paft and gone fo many ages fince, like one that shoots away an arrow to find out another that was loft before. He fetches things out of duft and ruins, like the fable of the chemical plant raised out of its own afhes. He values one old invention that is loft and never to be recovered, before all the new ones in the world, tho" never fo ufeful. The whole business of his life is the fame with his that fhews the tombs at Westminster, only the one does it for his pleafure, and the other for money. As every man has but one father, but two grandfathers, and a world of ancestors; fo he has a proportional value for things that are ancient, and the further off the greater. He is a great time-ferver, but it is of time out of mind, to which he conforms exactly; but is wholly retired from the prefent. His days were spent and gone long before he came into the world, and fince, his only bufinefs is to collect what' he can out of the ruins of them. He has fo ftrong a natural affection to any thing that is old, that he may truly fay to duft and worms, You are my father; and to rottennefs, You are my mother. He has no providence nor forefight; for all his contemplations look backwards upon the days of old; and his brains are turned with them as if he walked backwards. He had rather interpret one obfcure word in any old fenfelefs difcourfe, than be author of the moft ingenious new one; and with Scaliger, would fell the empire of Germany, (if it were in his power) for an old fong. He devours an old manufcript with greater relish than worms and moths do; and, though there be nothing in it, values it above any thing printed, which he accounts a novelty. When he happens to cure a fmall botch in an old author, he is as proud of it, as if he had got the philofophers ftone, and could cure all the dif cafes of mankind. He values things wrongfully upon their antiquity, forgetting that the most modern are really the most ancient of all things in the world; like thofe that reckon their pounds before their fhillings and pence, of which they are made up. He esteems no cuftoms but fuch as have outlived themselves, and are long fince out of ufe; as the Catholics allow of no faints, but fuch as are dead; and the Fanatics, in oppofition, of none but the living." The VISITOR. NUMB. XCIV. [From the PUBLIC LEDGER.] but it does not follow from thence, that they are lefs afflicting. It is fome relief to unburthen the mind; and if I gain no other advantage, I fhall at least obtain that by your favourable admiffion of my cafe. I am a merchant of this refpectable city, of no inconfiderable fortune and rank, and I am very willing to live in a manner fuitable to my station: I abhor meannefs, but I love propriety. I have been honoured with my present wife's hand and heart (I hope) now near 15 years, and till within thefe two or three years paft, we lived de cently, pleasingly, and frugally. I faved money, and tho' I have four daughters, befides two fons, I can give them five thousand pounds à piece: But alas! what are five thousand pounds to fupport the manner of life, in which my good wife thinks fit to bring them up! For you must know, that having picked up fome acquaintance at the other end of the town, having gained a high goût for cards and gaiety, by an unfortunate journey to Bath, and having been much confulted and confidered in our merchants affembly, my poor wife's brain is turn'd, Sir; actually turn'd; and she has certainJy forgotten, or at least no longer is able to discharge the proper duties of wife, mother, miftrefs, neighbour, or friend. This is a heavy charge: but be patient a while, and I'll make it good. She is continually engaged; her acquaintance, as the expresses it, is immense: the can scarcely be civil to half of them: the is for ever hurrying to routs and parties at cards, or making my houfe a place of everlasting rout and confufion. Nothing but drefs, pleasure, noife, cards, nonfenfe, and company run in her head! She returns home, perhaps, at two, three, or four in the morning, from her no&urnal orgies; my fervants are kept up accordingly; I am disturbed, and the whole family dif ordered. She cannot rife very early, as you may imagine: if she is half dreffed by twelve, it is fçarce time enough to receive not: fhe makes a shift just to get in time enough to decorate her head for dinner, and then fits down, with a thousand apologies to any friends I happen to bring in.... "Really fhe has been so immoderately hurried, and fuch a profufion of bufinefs to do, that the could not possibly get quite dreft." However, the flies away foon after dinner to this work, in which two or three hours are generally spent upon herself, and her two eldest daughters. Two fine girls enough....But oh, Mr. Vifitor, it makes my heart ach to think what must be the end of this! Early initiated into pleasure, what a taste must they have for it! Early attached to the luxury and extravagance of drefs and gaiety, what fortune will be equal to their expences! Uncultivated in mind, what wretched wives and companions muft they make! Who can wonder, that educated as our modern miffes are, men are afraid to marry them, and prefer a lefs honourable connection. I am fatisfied, that the intereft of the fortune I had proposed to give my daughters, will scarce be fufficient to fupply their heads only, with ornaments! Fifty guineas not long fince were paid for one garnet cap! And the mischief is, I cannot prevent this! Now you must difcern that I have no fatisfaction in the converfe of fuch a wife, perpetually in a hurry herself, and endeavouring always to make me fo, by engaging me in every party where the can; and ever condemning my city and old-fashioned notions, (as fhe calls them) when I remonstrate either against her own manner of proceeding, or her method of educating my daughters. Now, Mr.Vifitor, as I am well convinced mine is no fingular cafe, I know that I have many fellow fufferers; and as this destructive love and purfuit of pleasure, is every day growing more and more predominant in our city, let me intreat you to inform the ladies, how unfeemingly and pernicious, how fatal to conjugal felicity, and A Letter from a Gentleman among the Dead to Lord Lyttleton, My LORD, AS your lordship's Dialogues are a proof, that you hold a correfpondence with the Dead, and are obliged to them for intelligence of what passes below, we think we have a right to enquire of your lordship, what is doing in the world above: and as I fee you are equally acquainted with the time paft and the prefent, I am more follicitous for your opinion upon what follows, than of any of my learned friends here at hand. I should be glad to learn of your lordship, what you think of our good old confitution being fo much altered from what it was in Edward the Third's time, when I had the honour of fitting in parliament. One of the honeft fellows, who came as drunk as he could wifh, from your regions to ours the other day, faid he was obliged to an election mob for this journey. Upon talking with him, I found he had received fifty guineas for his vote, had been kept drunk for a week at the expence of his candidate, and that twenty thousand pounds had been spent at the election before he left it. How different is this, my lord, from what it was in my days? No pains were fpared with us to avoid what you court at any labour and cost. We used to make as strong interest to be excused serving as a knight or a burgess, as your country gentlemen do to escape ferving as fheriff. Your commoners may decline ftanding, when nominated at a general meeting of the county we were obliged to ferve, if our freemen were defirous of electing us. The practice of chairing the candidate, which ftill, I find, obtains among you as an old cuftom, was well fupported by fenfe and reason with us. As our members were elected to ferve in parliament, whether they approved of it or not, the voters, as foon as the majority of voices had determined the choice, immediately put the candidate, for whom this majority was found, into a chair, and carried him by force through the shouting multitude, in this involuntary triumph, to the return ing officer. The like feafon continues the like practice with you in chairing your fpeaker for the commons, when he is chofen by the house. He is unwilling to undertake the important business, but is forced to fubmit to the general choice, tho', in the language of a bishop at his election to the fee, he loudly cries out, Nolo epif copari. I cannot help expreffing my fatisfaction here, that there is no reafon to imagine we shall foon fee this conduct reverfed either in a bishop or a speaker: that the one will be as anxious for the chair and the other for the crofier, as every candidate feems to be for a feat in parliament. Before an election for members, we dreaded being chofen, though we were to be paid for our attendance in parliament, .... for a knight 4s. a citizen and burgess 2s per day wages, according to the value of money in your days, equal to 41. a day for a knight, and 21. for a citizen or burgess. But how is the cafe altered? Your commoners tremble, left they should be thrown out, and frequently part with half their eftate to fecure their election, though they defire no wages at all. It was very common in my days for the members to fue the county for their wages; while yours are continually rewarding their conflituents for the honour of representing them. We thought the obligation conferred by the members; you think it received. Your parliament, by making ftatutes 2. against against bribery and corruption, and requiring qualifications, fhews you want to exclude fome who defire to be admitted: our parliaments were follicitous to retain thofe, who would wish to be exempt from attending. If the wages for attending parliament were encreased, and even allowing for the difference in the value of money, exceeded what they were in my days, I should not be much furprised at this alteration : for as the time of your attendance, amounts to 220 or 230 days, a member's wages would come to gco or 1000l. per annum: but, as I find your members expect no wages at all, their conduct is fomething extraordinary. I am told by a noble earl, who, while plain Sir Robert, had a principal hand in this change, that the many places and penfions, which your minifters have to difpofe of among the members of the house of commons, would, in his time, make every one willing to come in for a fhare. I cannot, however, imagine, that thefe places and penfions are fufficient to gratify 558 members; efpecially if we confider that fome of the 230 in your lordship's houfe would be naturally glad to put in their pretenfions. I will be bold to fay, that, if an account was taken of the number of perfons ruined, among those who gain their election, and thofe who lofe it, we should find, that all the places and penfions given among them, would not bring the ballance to be in their favour. Befides, we are told, that the times are changed from what they were, when the noble earl before mentioned was in power. Your prefent king has commanded his minifters not to interfere in elections, and his minifters with great readinefs obey him; places and penfions will no longer be given to any one; because he is a member of parliament, because he can, or has ferved his country. Glorious change! yet I still find, as much money is fquandered, as many electors drunk, as many candidates ruined, and as many returning officers p....d in this general election, as any during the noble earl's administration: and I hear, but I cannot believe it, that fome of the members of your lordship's house have been as bufy in canvaffing, bribing, and influencing electors, as if there was no act of parliament against it. All this feems strange to me in this my retirement from the world. If I was now upon earth, either a nobleman or a commoner, I should choose peace and quiet, both public and private; I should be happy in preferving religion and morality among my countrymen, instead of fuborning them to take the oath falfely about bri bery and corruption, debauching their minds by giving them money, that is of no use to their families, and keeping them in continued drunkennefs, that makes them incapable for fome time of serving their country. To this, my lord, I attribute the lofs of what is found only in romances and novels among you, and what was common in my days....I mean, fimplicity of manners among the country people. Ruftic innocence was, in my time, as much among the men as among the women; but, there is fcarce any mode of vice or folly, that is not at this time equally known and practifed by both fexes, and equally in the moft obfcure villages as the most populous cities. Let us confider, that a million of money was spent in treats and bribery at the laft general election; and, if we take into the calculation the contested elections, for which there are fome three, fome four candidates, and the money that is fpent by their friends on thefe occafions, we fhall not find the computation too high. What place then will not the influence of this immenfe fum extend to? Not even the fmalleft hamlet can escape; and you may as well look for purity of manners, innocence and fimplicity among the Capuans of old, or in your Covent-garden, as in any place that an election guinea, has found its way to. If I am too antiquated in my notions, if you difcover too much of the laudator temporis acti in me, I fhall very readily kifs the rod of correction, from the hand of your Lordship. I am, my lord, Your lordship's Moft obedient humble fervant, N. B. John Shordich in the reign of Edward III fued the county of Mindlesex (for which he was returned to Parlament) to recover his wages. A fort |