of all legates and nuncios, in the king of Spain's dominions, cardinal Pole being mentioned therein among the reft; and though he was diverted from the immediate execution of this project, by the reprefentations of Sir Edward Carne, then the English ambaffador at the court of Rome; yet, upon the fatal blow given the French, at the battle of St. Quintin, chiefly through the affiftance of the English auxiliaries, and the ill fuccefs of his own forces in Italy, where, the duke of Alva laid all wafte before him, his wrath broke out with redoubled fury; he became utterly implacable; accufed Pole as a fufpected heretic (the old fubterfuge of the cardinal's enemies, grounded on his averfion to perfecutions) fummoned him to Rome to answer the charge; and depriving him of the legatine powers, conferred them upon Peyto, a Francifcan friar, the queen's confeffor, and who had ferved her mother queen Katherine in the fame capacity. The Pope made him a cardinal for this very purpofe, fent for him to court, and defigned the bishopric of Salisbury for him. The new legate fet out on the road for England, and in the mean time the queen received the bulls: but having been informed of their contents by the ambaffador, the prudently made ufe of a little cunning, and laid them up unopened, pretending ignorance of what they contained, and took care not to acquaint cardinal Pole with them. In his behalf the wrote to the Pope, though the imagined this would be of little effect; but affuming fome of the fpirit of Henry VIII. her father, fhe wrote alfo to Peyto, refolutely forbid him proceeding on his journey, and charged him at his peril, not to fet foot upon English ground, on pain of being punished with all the rigour of a premunire. This letter ftopped the new cardinal in his journey, and enraged the Pope to a violent degree. But notwithstanding all the caution of Mary, to conceal the af. fair from the cardinal, it was impoffible to keep it long a fecret; and he no fooner became acquainted with his Holiness's will, than, from that implicit veneration which he conftantly and unalterably obferved for the apoftolic fee, he voluntarily laid down, the enfigns of his legatine power, and forebore the exercise of it; difpatching his minifter Ormaneto to Rome, with letters, wherein he cleared himself in fuch fubmiffive terms, as, it is faid, even softened and melted the obdurate heart of Paul. But the pontiff was now brought into a better temper by fome late events, which had turned his regard from the French to the Spaniards *; and a peace being concluded this year, the ftorm against Pole blew over entirely. In one of the fecret articles of the treaty, it was ftipulated, that the cardinal-archbishop fhould be restored to his legatine powers. The restoration of thefe he lived not to enjoy a full twelve-month, being feized with a double quartan-ague, which carried him off the ftage of life, early in the morning of the 18th of November 1558. His death is faid to have been haftened by that of his royal miftrefs and kinfwoman, queen Mary, which happened but fixteen hours before. During his illnefs, he was continually enquiring after her majefty, and her death affli&ed and fhocked him exceedingly. He had attained the 58th year of his age. During this his laft illnefs he made his will, wherein he appointed his best beloved friend Aloifius Priuli, his fole executor and teftamentary heir. But that Italian, who furvived him only twenty months, was of a more noble temper than to enrich himself with his friend's wealth. He collected together the cardinal's effc&s, which lay difperfed in feveral countiest; and having difcharged all the legacies, gave away the remainder in fuch a manner, as he knew moft agreeable to the cardinal's difpofition and mind when alive, referving to himself only the breviary and diary, particularly endeared to him by his As there is fcarce an inftance in all the hiftory of the Popes equal to this, of the fuperftitious veneration paid to the apoftolic fees we fhall beg leave to infert it: The duke of Alva, the Spanish general, had ravaged the Pope's dominions, and reduced him to the last extremity. Yet the Pope, though clofely befieged, haughtily declared he would fuffer any death rather than yield to a furrendery; and by this perfeverance he conquered. The duke, seized with the dreadful apprehenfions of fpilling the blood of Chrift's vicar, yielded on his fide to a furrendery, and even fubmitted to afk pardon of his Holiness upon his knees, October, 1761, Uuu friend's friend's frequent use of them. The friend- his expences were conftantly proportioned fhip between these two noble perfons commenced fix and twenty years before the death of the cardinal, and contained ever uninterrupted: a cardinal's hat was offered Priuli, but he refufed it, because it would have feparated him from his friend. A noble mark of affection and friendship! The cardinal was not a man to raise a fortune: the greatnefs of his birth, and his excellent virtues, elevated him above fuch felfish defigns; fo that the archbishopric was little benefited by him, except in a grant he obtained from queen Mary of the patronage of ninteen parfonages for it; all that he did befides for it was the endowment of fome houfes built by him, and a ground rent on the east-fide of Lambeth. It is faid, he had conceived a defign, if he had lived, to have built a ftately archbishop's palace at Canterbury. He gave to that church two very weighty filver candleflicks, gilt, a filver incenfe pot, in the form of a fhip, partly gilt, a filver mitre adorned with jewels, a filver paftoral staff and crofs, partly gilt, two pontifical rings fet with jewels of great value, and a very large filver ciftern for the holy water. His body, being put into a leaden coffin, lay in great ftate forty days at Lambeth; after which, it was conveyed with as great funeral pomp to Canterbury, and ininterred with much folemnity, on the north side of Thomas à Becket's chapel, in that cathedral. Over his grave a tomb was erected, on which were inferted only thefe three words, as fufficient to his fame, DEPOSITUM CARDINALIS POLI, that is, The remains of cardinal Pole. In perfon, he was of a middling stature and flender make; his complexion fair, and agreeably tinctured with red; his beard yellow in his youth. His countenance was open, enlivened with a chearful and pleafant eye, a true index of the temper, fweet and placid, of the inhabitant within. Though his conflitution was not strong, yet in general he enjoyed a good state of health, which was fometimes difordered by a catarrh, that fell upon one of his arms, and brought an inflammanon into both eyes. He always kept a table fuitable to his ftation and quality, which he even extended to a kingly magnificence on proper occafions. He used a fpare diet himself, eating only of plain dishes. He was a good œconomist, and to his revenues. In his dress he called for little aflistance, and often rose out of bed, and dreffed himself without any attendants. With refpect to the qualities of his mind, he was learned, eloquent, modest, humble, and good-natured; examplarily pious and charitable, generous as became his birth, and a kind mafter to his domestics; tho' he never would fuffer them to take prefents after the English fashion. In his fecond legation, he diftributed four thoufand ducats, paid to him at Trent to fupport his expences, among his fervants, according to the merit and ftation of each. A lady having left him, by her will, nine thousand ducats, he would not touch the money, but bestowed it on her niece in marriage. In a town the royalty of which devolved to him as cardinal, he fet up a woollen manufactory to employ the poor. These are some few proofs, drawn out of many, of a noble temper. He likewife poffetfed a true fpirit of magnanimity. When his life was attempted at Viterbo, by three Italian ruffians, who were fecured and fent to prison, he forgave them, and ordered them to be discharged. In the fame fpirit, when two Englishmen, who had been fent by Henry VIII. to murder him, were feized at Capranica, where he had retired to avoid the fcorching heat of the fummer, he would not confent to their being put to death, and suffered them only to be sent for a few days to the gallies. It is also mentioned to his honour, that he never asked for any thing, not even though it was his right; nor could he be prevailed with by his friends to apply for the earldom of Warwick, which Mary would doubtless have granted him, fince, had not that earl been attainted by king Henry, it would have fallen to the cardinal by inheri tance. Though more inclined by nature to study and contemplation than an active life, yet he was prudent and dexterous in bufinefs, and ever remarkable for the greatest fincerity. It is more than probable, that he hindered the Jefuits from coming into England in the reign of queen Mary. This mungrel order had been inftituted about twelve years before, in the view of adding a firm fupport to the fee of Rome; to which, befides the usual oaths of other regulars, they swore an implicit universal obedience. Therefore, knowing how fuperftitiously devoted cardinal cardinal Pole was to support that fee, they had reason enough to hope for his countenance and protection in England, upon which, as a good morfel, they presently. fixed their eyes. To this end they procured a petition to be prefented to the cardinal, wherein they fuggefted to him, that the queen was reftoring the goods of the church in her hands; that it was hut to little purpose thus to raise up the old foundations, fince the Benedictine order was become rather a clog than a help to the church: therefore, they defired that thofe houses might be affigned to them for maintaining schools and feminaries, which they would quickly fet up; and they did not doubt, by their dealing with the confciences of those who were dying, they should recover the greatest part of the goods of the church. But the cardinal entirely rejected this propofal, which was certainly not penned with that artful addrefs for which the Jefuits order is generally distinguished; fince Pole was known to be particularly devoted to the Benedictines, and the patron and protector of that order at Rome. Thus we are indebted to cardinal Pole, that we were preserved from the Jefuits in the reign of Mary I. and that mischievous brood never have had an opportunity of procuring an eftablishment in England fince. Cardinal Pole was the author of feveral books which were printed; chiefly on religious and controversial points. He had been feveral years collecting various readings, emendations, and caftrations, of Cicero's works, with intention to publish a We cannot better conclude this life than in the words of bishop Burnet, who fcruples not to afcribe to the cardinal, "Such qualities, and fuch a temper, that if he could have brought the other bishops to follow his measures, or the Pope and queen to approve of them, he might probably have done much to have reduced this nation to popery again. But God, continues that hiftorian, defigned better things for it; fo he gave up the queen to the bloody counfels of Gardiner, and the rest of the clergy. She imputed his opinion in that particular rather to the fweetr.efs of his temper, than to his wifdom and experience; and he feeing he could do nothing of what he projected in England, fell into a languishing, firft, of his mind, that brought after it a decay of his health, of which he died. What mistakes foever his education, and heats with king Henry, and the difafters of his family might have involved him in, it cannot be denied that he was a man of as great probity and virtue as most of the age, if not all of that church in which he lived." Thus far the bishop; and there remains only to add, that, had not his superstitious devotion to the fee of Rome carried him, contrary to his nature, to commit fome very wrong fteps, and injuries against the Protestants, he would have been a finished character; though, as hath been before remarked, thofe may with greater juftice be placed to the account of the bishops of Rome. THOUGHTS occafioned by a late Refignation. THE great earl of Clarendon fome where obferves, that after the Reitoration, he was often obliged in parliament to divide for questions that he had oppofed in council. With all deference to the memory of that great man, this acknowledgment is not that of a patriot, but that of a man who was determined at all events to remain a minifter. The parliament is his majesty's fupreme council, and it was a forry compliment to the conftitution of his country, to say that he dared to speak his mind in the little council, but not in the great one; that he dared to give his maf ter good advice from a chair, but that he was obliged to prevaricate from the woolpack. Were all minifters to follow his lordship's example in this refpect, in what a miferable condition must this country be. Truth would not dare to approach the throne, nor could the lift up her head in parliament. Either a veil would be thrown over public meafures to conceal, or a varnish laid upon them to mifreprefent them. Free agency, I apprehend, is at once the teft and the exertion of liberty. In GreatBritain it may not always be in the power Uuu 2 of a subject to be a free agent, as a minifter, but he certainly may, as a man, affert that prerogative of reafon. He may meet with oppofition to what he thinks right measures, and if he is fond of retaining his power, he may not be fuffered to follow his judgment. But the conftitution of England confiders fuch a conduct as containing in it fomewhat of criminality. During three or four reigns preceding the above period, the people had fmarted fo much under it, that for fome time after every privy-countllor in England was obliged to fign the opinion he gave, at the council-board. This, however, was conúidered as too much fettering the freedom of debate, and too rauch expofing the members of the privy-council, especially fuch of them as were ministers, to aftercharges; and therefore the practice was fufpended, and I think with great reafon, Notwithstanding this, the conftitution of Great-Britain confiders every man who fills a poft, as poffeffing the power annexed to that poft, and as being anfwerable for the confequences, even though his meafures may have had the approbation of parliament. The treaty of Utrecht had that approbation, but it did not prevent the earl of Oxford from being tried for his life, and lord Bolingbroke from being attainted, for the concern they had in it. Sir Robert Walpole, while he was looked upon to be first minifter, honeftly declared, that he considered himfelt as being anfwerable even with his head, for all the measures of government, and that he would not shelter himself under any fubterfuge, of not having been confulted, or of having matters carried against his opinion. This minifterial amenibility (the reader will pardon the expreffion) is coeval with the English government, and is a principle more deeply rooted, perhaps, than any other in cur conftitution. That the king can do no wrong is a conftitutional maxim. But Britons would be the greatest flaves under the fun, fhould minitters not be accountable for their mafters mealures. A fecretary of fate, if his poft is confidered in ftrictness and with propriety, is the only minifter a king of England has. The other great departments of public bufinefs are filled with officers of ftate, and have a relation to the king in his civil and legal capacity, that 3 is, as being connected with his people and parliament. All fuch officers have the laws and stated boundaries of duty for their direction; and if they have upright intentions, it is fcarcely poffible for them to err in point of judgment. The province of a secretary of state, on the other hand, lies in matters of prero gative, which, were it bounded by law, would ceafe to be prerogative. Hence it follows, that they have no direction but their own sense of things to fteer by. The king's perfonal conduct therefore is prefumed to be influenced by them; and tho' bis majefty cannot do turong, yet if wrong is done, a fecretary of state is refponfible for the fame, if he fhall retain that department of public bufinefs through which the wrong is fuppofed to proceed. I am at the fame time fenfible that this country has known many minifters, who, tho' not secretaries of ftate, have been rendered accountable for offences against the public. But the reader is to observe, that I fpeak according to the strictness of the conftitution. Neither would I be underftood, as meaning that a fecretary of ftate by his poft is a first, far less, a fole, minifter. The great operations and conclufions of government being founded upon laws, treaties, records, and precedents, are equally objects of deliberation, with every privy counsellor, as well as with a fecretary offtate. But when thofe great lights fail a minifter, be he fecretary or not, he must have recourfe to his own judgment, and by that stand or fall. Other ministers, however, have great advantages in this respect over fecretaries. the latter's duty in the executive part of it is known; and if they put the feals to what is improper, fhould they iffue difpatches for what is ruincus or difhonourable, they may not be taxed for advifing fuck meafures, but they undoubtedly are cenfured for their execution. The precifion of Such are my reafons for thinking that the right honourable gentleman, who has lately refigned the feals of his office, has afted the only part that a wife and honest mirifter can follow. The public voice has pointed him out as the chief director of all measures during the prefent war, and even that opinion would have rendered him accountable for the confequences, even tho' he had not had the feals, but he was doubly fo while he poffetfed them. The The right honourable gentleman, therefore, in refigning them, did no more than recur to that principle of free-agency which every Briton will wish to enjoy. Had he kept them he might have been reduced to the difagreeable alternative of being obliged either to put them to the exe cution of measures for which he was responsible, tho' he did not concur in them, nay tho' he oppofed them; or he muft by his backwardness have put a clog upon public bufinefs, which might have been detrimental to the nation. IF An ESSAY on the Pleasures of the Table, among the Greeks. TF we confider the writings of the ancients, fo far as they relate to their manners, we fhall not find them lefs worthy of our attention, than thofe which treat of their wit and knowledge. The two celebrated banquets of Plato and Xenophon are elegant models of the innocent pleatures of their sestal board, and plainly point out what kind of entertainment was there conftantly to be found. It was by converfations like thefe, equally learned and moral, that the pleasures of the table were rendered useful, and that great licentiousness and forgetfulness of decorum, which too often grew upon a long fitting, were happily corrected. A review of thefe, and of our modern conversations, fpeaks much in behalf of the manners of antiquity, and argues but little in our favour. Instead of this fenfible elegance, fo pleafing to every truly generous mind, we enjoy nothing but inebriating drenches of wine, followed by that deftructive corroder of human happiness, play, that harpy which corrupts the whole mafs, if it touch but a particle of the blood. It feems beyond a doubt, that by the help of fuch converfation, as is in reality the life and foul of a rational creature, the pleasures of the Greek board far furpaffed ours, which is but too often, and almost always grofs and inelegant. In Athens eight or ten people of fashion were affembled round the table of a common friend for fome hours; their bufinefs was not drinking, but amusement: and of what nature was their amufement ? It confifted not of the brifkly circulated glafs, the high feasoned toast, or obscene fentiment; but of difcourfes the freeft, the moft unconstrained, social, and polished; the most learned, and the most solid. They were fuch as became philofophers and men; fuch as, to their shame be it spoken, are little cultivated among the profeffors of the pureft, the infpired doctrine, Chriftianity. If a licentious fentiment dropped from any mouth, any thing that infringed upon the decent liberty of the table, the offence was not paffed without a tacit and proper reprimand, by turning the converfation upon fome point of morality, which hinted at, or difplayed it in proper colours. This pofition is proved by the behaviour of Socrates, who at the banquet of Xenophon, perceiving his friends inclined to make rather too free with the bottle, delivered himfulf elegantly upon the excellency of drinking with moderation, "Liquor," faid this great fight of antiquity, "has the fame effect upon us, as rain has upon plants, beneath which, when exceffive, they fink oppreffed, nor can they rife to the foftering breeze: but if lightly fprinkled, they acquire new ftrength; they thrive apace, the flower blooms upon the strong stalk, and at length matures into fruit: thus it is with us. If we drink exceffively, we not only find our bodies heavy and languid; but ve cin fcarcely breathe, much lefs express ourfelves intelligibly: whereas, let us drink our wine, to ufe a faying of Gorgias, as plants imbibe the dews; let us take it often, but always in fmall quantities; inftead of oppreffing with violence, it will warm with perfuafion, and give spirit to keep alive the utile et dulce of converfation." In this fenfe did Horace mean to speak of Cato, in saying that he strengthened his virtue with a measure of wine. Narratur et prifcilato is fapultero caluiffe virtus. It will, undoubtedly, be objected by thofe who have attentively perufed the banquet of Plato, that the conversation is often very licentious; that from love, which is the fubject, are deduced many maxims, far from being confiftent with the gravity of the wife men who affifted at this celebrated repaft. The answer is obvious to a few moments reflection; here we find |