pany her to France. He carried his ridiculous paffion to fuch an excefs, that he quarrelled with the admiral for his attention to his amiable paffenger during the voyage, which was tempeltuous and dangerous. "Alarmed at these appearances, the Queen defired Buckingham to proceed immediately to Paris, while the remained a few days at Havre with her daughter, who was attacked with a fever, in confequence of her fright. "She foon recovered, and returned to Paris, where the perfevering paffion of Buckingham gave fome uneafinefs to the intended husband. He complained to his mother; but that Princefs feeing no probability of the Duke's fuccefs, and perhaps not difpleafed at a prefumptuous paffion fo like that which Buckingham's father had felt for herfelf, calmed her fon's inquietudes, and the marriage was 1oon afterwards completed. "This event made the Princefs more known than fhe had hitherto been, and he was generally admired. Even the King was fuppofed to make amends for the indifference with which he had formerly viewed her, by a degree of paffion utterly inconfiftent with his confanguinity. There is, however, no well-founded reafon to fuppofe that this predilection was at tended with any improper circumftances, though the Princefs always retained a great fhare of influence over the King, infomuch that the excited the anger of the queen mother, and the jealoufy of her husband, who, though incapable of love, was very fufceptible of that tormenting paffion which is generally and often falfely fuppofed to proceed from it. In the gay and diffipated court of Louis XIV. where the intrigues of politics and love were blended in the moft inextricable manner, and where beauty, joined with high birth and diftinguished fituation, could not fail of attracting general homage: in fuch a court it was impoffible that the Princefs fhould efcape a confiderable fhare of obloquy. Her husband's jealoufy was carried to an excefs by the number and rank of her admirers. None of them, however, feems to have infpired her with fo much partiality as her husband's own favourite, the Comte de Guiches: for this young nobleman, who was every way quali VOL. III.-No. XXV. fied to deferve her preference, the Princefs felt an undoubted predilection, though it does not appear ever to have been carried to a criminal ex tent. "She lived about ten years in the centre of admiration and intrigue; and, though often incommoded by her hufband's jealoufy, and the efforts of his miftreffes to make her uneafy, in a state of apparent felicity, when the went to England on a fecret miffion to her brother Charles II. "In this fhe was eminently fucceffful, and on her return to France expected all the honours which could refult from her peculiarly aufpicious fituation, that of being, at the age of twenty-fix, the medium of amity between the two moft powerful fovereigns in Europe. But, alas! how vain are the hopes of mortals! In eight days after her return fhe was feized with a diforder which terminated her existence. "The twenty-fourth of June 1670 fhe went to St. Cloud with her hufband, and occafionally complained of a pain in her fide; this, however, did not hinder her from bathing, or feem likely to produce fatal confequences. The twenty-ninth the arofe appa rently in good health, but in the courfe of the day, and particularly after dinner, grew fo ill that medical advice was thought neceffary. By fome ftrange fatality, the phyficians confidered her complaint as trifling, though the Princefs complained of the moft excruciating internal torture, and expreffed her firm belief that the had been poifoned. After nine hours of dreadful agony, fhe expired the thirtieth of June. "A fufpicion that he was poifoned by her husband generally prevailed, and appearances were fuch as to afford foundation to the opinion." "When the king was reduced to great pecuniary diffrefs, Sterne, with feveral other heads of houses, was very inftrumental in forwarding the measure of fending the univerfity plate to be coined for his Majefty's ufe. "Cromwell was fo highly incenfed at this effort of honeft zeal, that he feized Sterne, and two more mafters of colleges (Dr. Beale, mafter of John's, and Dr. Martin, master of Queen's), whom he carried in triumph to London. They were shown at Bartholomew Fair, and at Temple Bar, in order to give the people an opportunity of ftoning them; but that not fucceeding; it was judged expedient to confine them in the Tower. "After remaining in this place nineteen weeks, Sterne was imprisoned thirty weeks in Lord Petre's houfe. He was afterwards fent on board a fhip at Wapping, and, with near threefcore gentlemen, put under the hatches, all inlets for air being ftop ped, with the obvious intent of ftiAling the prifoners. The fpace did not admit of their ftanding upright, and they had no accommodation but the bare boards. It is even faid, that a project was entertained of felling them for flaves to the Algerines. "After three years imprisonment, Sterne was released, and had the confolation to attend his worthy patron, Laud, for a fhort time before his execution, and of performing for him the last offices on the fcaffold. "His oppreffors had completely plundered him of every part of his property; they did not even fpare the poultry in his yard, and robbed an unborn infant of the linen in which it fhould have been wrapped. "He lived in penury, which he fuftained with great fortitude, and total obfcurity, till the refloration, when he refumed his maftership of Jefus College, which he held till he was made Bishop of Carlifle, and afterwards Archbishop of York. He is the reputed author of that inettimable treatise the Whole Duty of Man; befides which he compiled a fyftem of logic, wrote a cominent on the 103d Pfalm, and afliited in the Polyglot. "It is to be recorded, as an honouralle infiance of charitable munificence, that he gave 1850l. towards the rebuilding of St. Paul's cathedral. "He died the 18th of June 1683." LADY SUNDON. "LADY Sundon, whofe maiden name was Dives, was the daughter of a gentleman in Hertfordshire. She married William Clayton, Efq, a gentleman of private family. "Mrs. Clayton had the good fortune to obtain the fituation of bedchamber woman to the Princess of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline, to whom the rendered her fervices in the highest degree acceptable, and obtained a very great fhare of favour and influence. "The exact circumstances to which her afcendancy is to be attributed are not known. Lord Orford afcribes it to her being entrusted with a fecret relating to the Queen's health, which was not difclofed even to the King, or to the Queen's own phyficians, till it was too late to fave her life. This account is deficient in fome circumftances of probability. Lady Sundon's influence was, however, fo great, that Sir Robert Walpole frequently expreffed his furprife at it, and declared that he had never been able to fhake her credit. "The interest of this lady's hufband was greatly promoted by the Queen's kindness. On the acceffion of George II. in 1727, he was appointed one of the Lords of the Trea fury; he was afterwards member for St, Mawes and for Plympton; and in 1735 he was made a peer of Ireland. His refidence was at Sundon House, in Bedfordshire; and he was fo remarkable for his parfimony, that in 1741, when he was candidate on the court intereft to reprefent the city of Westminster, the oppofition party caufed a dead rat to be carried about the streets, which they faid had been tarved in his kitchen. "Queen Caroline being a diftin guished patronefs of learning, her fa vourite lady was likewife emulous of being thought a protectrels of men of letters. She was courted by Dr. Clarke and Dr. Hoadly, and by many others who expected favours from the Queen. She correfponded with Dr. Hoadly; * «‹ Lord Orford's Works, vol. iv. p, 307.” and and his letters to her, which are publifhed, thow his high opinion of her talents and influence. "She died, without iffue, in January 1742.” SIR ANTHONY MILDMAY "WAS fon of Sir Walter Mildmay, the founder of Emanuel College, and obtained the honour of knighthood at the hands of Queen Elizabeth, who likewife employed him in an embally to France. "He was fent to that court in September 1596, and, in conjunction with Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, had the honour of invefting Henry IV. with the order of the garter. "Sir Anthony remained in France about two years, and feems to have been in confiderable favour with the King, who expreffed his notion of the Queen's attachment to the Earl of Effex, by faying, that her Majelly would never fuffer that nobleman to stray from her petticoat. Sir Anthony reported this expreffion to the Queen, who wrote four lines, in her own hand, to Henry IV. fo replete with feverity, that, when he read them, he was fo exafperated against the ambaffador, that he drove him out of the chamber, and hardly refrained from ftriking him. "By his wife Grace, co-heir to the eftate of Sir Henry Sherington, he had one daughter, who married Sir Francis Fane, afterwards Earl of Weftmoreland." STR ROBERT SHIRLEY. "SIR Robert Shirley was the youngest of three fons of Sir Thomas Shirley, of a very ancient and refpectable family in Sussex. He was, by his elder brother, Anthony, a great traveller, introduced to the Perfian court; and, being promoted in the army, performed great fervices against the Turks, and added to his military wreaths the honours of humanity. "He was envied by the lords, and beloved by the ladies; and at length, after fome oppofition, married a reputed relation of the great fophy, who accompanied him to England. He made himself fingular by affecting conftantly to appear in his Persian ha bits. "To this affectation it is probable that he added a confiderable thare of pride, as he engaged in a quarrel with the Perlian ambaffador, to whom he is faid to have given, a box on the ear. The King (James 1.), who hated quarrels, fent them to Perfia, to prefer their mutual complaints to the fophy; but they both died in the paffage. "The exploits of Sir Robert and his two brothers, Sir Anthony and Sir Thomas, were the subject of a dramatic picce; and Fuller compares them to the Horatii." XLVIII. Letters during a Refidence in England. Tranflated from the French of HENRY MEISTER. Containing many curious Remarks upon English Manners and Cuftoms, Government, Climate, Literature, Theatres, &c. &c. &c. Together with a Letter from the Margravine of Aufpach to the Author. 8vo. pp. 324. 6s,Longman and Rees. CONTENTS, ETTER I. General Defcription LE of England-Comparison of the English and French Character.-II. Defcription of London--Revolu tionary Anecdotes.--III. Playhouses Sitting of Parliament.-IV. Of the British Constitution--Of popular Elections.-V. Sunday-The Englifh delight in the Country--Women.-V1. Prifons, Hofpitals, Greenwich Hofpital-Lettre de Miladi C***** à l'Auteur-Tranflation of Lady C*****'s Letter to the Author Of the Defects of the British Conftitution-Difficulty of characterizing the English Nation-The Author's Reply to Lady C*****'s Letter.— VII. Of Shakespeare.-VIII. Opinion of the English Nation on Rouffeau's Social Contract.-IX. More of old-fashioned Politics; being a Continuation of the Subject of the foregoing Letter.-X. What a Traveller ought to be.-XI. Effects of Climate on the English CharacterPrefent State of England, with refpect to the French Revolution.XII. Of Sea-coal, and its moral and phyfical M m 2 phyfical Effects.-XIII. Second Defcription of London.--XIV. Of the English Stage.--XV. Of the English Language.--XVI. Dinner at Fishmongers' Hall.-XVII. Windfor, Slough, Oxford, Stowe, Blenheim.--XVIII. English WomenMorals of the Englith.-XIX. The Author, under the Similitude of a Dream, gives the Countefs de V a Defcription of the magnificent Country-feat of William Beckford, Efq. in Wiltshire.-XX. The Countefs de V's Answer to the foregoing Letter. EXTRACT FROM THE TRANSLATOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. "THE Author, a Swifs by birth, refided, for twenty years before the French revolution, at Paris, in qua. lity of correspondent and literary agent for the Emprefs of Ruflia, the Duke of Brunswick, and the Margrave of Anfpach, together with other northern fovereigns; a character in which the great Voltaire himself appears to have been employed by the princes of the Houfe of Brandenburgh, and which, though it does not entitle the perfon bearing it to be enrolled in the corps diplomatique, is yet neceffary to promote the benefit of fociety; and, if not fo honourable, is, perhaps, a more innocent employ than that of an avowed fpy under the protection of letters of credence. "Mr. Meifter is now, or was lately, at Zurich, in Switzerland, and is fup. ported by a penfion allowed him by the Margrave of Anfpach. He is efteemed, by thofe who know him beft, as a worthy and refpectable man, poffefling much literary knowledge, and more tafte." P. xxiii. EXTRACT. EFFECTS OF CLIMATE ON THE ENGLISH CHARACTER. “A DISTINGUISHABLE characteristic of the climate of this ifland is, its very great variableness, and a confiderable degree of humidity. Winds, from whatever quarter they blow, bring with them rain; and in the fairest days it is very feldom that the air is not Joaded with vapours, more or lefs perceptible. We are every where enveloped in a fog; and, of all the coun tries I have ever travelled in, never did I find fogs fo frequent, or fo thick and heavy. This is furely the land of mifts and vapours; and, were it not for high winds which every now and then sweep and dry the earth, it would be conftantly damp and wet; for it is eafy to imagine that the rays of the fun, having to force a paffage conftantly through fuch a denfe atmofphere, must be greatly weakened in power and activity. I will not fay the brightest funfbine in England is not with the Marquis de Caraccioli, that equal to the brilliancy of a moonlight night in Naples: it is, however, very certain, that the fun appears very seldom in his full fplendour: for, when you fuppofe you are going to enjoy the comfort of his beams, he is, in a moment after, hid from you by impenetrable clouds; and, in general, for whatever cause I know not, except it be a peculiar predilection for the immortal Newton and his difciples, nature appears to be here more lavish of brilliant nights than fair days. Young, fo harthly apoftrophized by Le Mierre, in his Fafles; this Young, I fay, (Noctambule pressé que le foleil fe couche,) the night walker, eager to fee the fetting fun,' confidering the partial diftribution of day and night in his country, had more reafon for hating daylight than is generally believed. "I am fenfible that these remarks apply rather to London than other parts of England. The immenfe confumption of fea-coal increases the quantity of fog, thickens it, and renders it of longer duration, and, moreover, caufes thefe mifts to be more gloomy and fuffocating. I am never fo much incommoded as at the moment I rife from my bed. To breathe the fresh air of the morning is a fort of luxury which is not to be enjoyed in this noble large city; it is a poetical fancy con ceived, like other felicities of the Golden Age, in the brain of the writers of eclogues. I am of opinion, that it is from being deprived of this enjoyment, that we may account for the habit fo common with the English, of rifing later than we are accustomed to do. They will endeavour to perfuade you here, that these exhalations being impregnated with nitre and ful phur, are fo far from being prejudicial, that they neutralize the fogs, purify the air, and preferve it in a proper degree of temperature. This may pollibly poffibly be, but it is very certain they render the atmosphere thicker, and more dark and heavy, and perceptibly charge the air you breathe with a very difagreeable black smoke. As a proof that the climate throughout England does not greatly differ from that of London, except in the circumftance juft before mentioned, we may inftance the nature of its produce. By an excellent mode of culti vation, the land is made to produce the best of corn, and in fuch abundant crops that one year's harvest is fufficient for the confumption of fourteen months; the pafturage is rich; potatoes are fuperior to any grown in France, and hops are very good; but grapes, and all the fruits and pulfe which owe their perfection to the genial influence of a warm fun, are not to be had; it is only by mere dint of art that they are raífed; and their vegetation being factitious, they have rather the refemblance than the reality of what they are called. It is very eafy to difcover the great labour and painful industry which luxury employs in effecting this impofition upon itfelf; it is Vulcan endeavouring to get the better of Apollo, and it must be confessed, the gods themselves are apt to fail whenever they attempt any thing out of their province. "A fky in which no cloud is to be feen, is fo great a novelty, that it takes place of all other news; and it is impoffible for a foreigner not to remark the joyful congratulations which he hears on all fides, when the fun condefcends to fhow himfelf ever fo little a very fine day very fine weather, indeed! "Is it no from the uncommonnefs of fine weather in England that the country has produced fo many good poets and fo few painters of excellence? Nature is rarely feen there in her belt drefs. How much more fenfible and lively then muft the imagination prove? Nature, in the perfection of her charms, is a mittrefs only feen in this ifland for fhort time, and, as it were, in fecret; in other countries, as in Switzerland, Italy, and in the fouthern parts of France, he is a wife, and her beauty is lefs thought of and admired. Lively impreffions may form a great poet, but they will not make great painters. Because it is not enough that the painter is ftrongly charmed, but he muft Copy nature with the pencil in his hand; he requires the advantage of time for obfervation; he mutt confider his model at leifure; he must have ferene weather to view it in, and a perfect daylight to fee clearly every object of his imitation; it is only under a clear fky that colours appear in their full truth and luftre. "If you were told of an island in a certain latitude, in which the winds were extremely variable, the climate rather temperate, but the air almost continually loaded with fogs and watery mifts; if you were further informed, that the inhabitants of this ifland, after having, by their labour and induftry, acquired a competency, indulged in habits which induced a neceflity for an abundant diet; that, indeed, they confumed little bread, an aliment which is eafily changed to chyle, but a great deal of flesh, much butter, and large quantities of potatoes, and that their conftant beverage was a ftrong beer of a peculiar rattening quality, and in which a little opium was infufed; would you not be inclined to pronounce, that with fuch a regimen, in fuch a climate, the men must, in general, have much bodily fubftance, and materials for life and reproduction, and, in many refpects, great ftrength and vigour for action, and the fupport of labour and hard. fhips; but that for the most part their fibres must be foft and flaccid, and confequently without elasticity and feeling; and that, with a few excep. tions, their animal fpirits were dull, and circulated but flowly? Well, now, what you would prefume, I think I have feen. "The English caricatures always picture a Frenchman lean and half ftarved; and it cannot be denied but that the English, in general, have the appearance of being far better fed. This does not altogether proceed from their eating more, but from the difference of the aliments which the one and the other nation accuftoms itself to. There is more grofs and elementary matter in the English diet; ours is at the fame time lefs heavy, and of a more bracing quality, confequently it muft more eafily cherish the warmth of the vital principle, and accelerate the circulation of the blood. It is impoffible but from excefs of the former regimen there must be produced in the moral character a greater degree of heavi nefs, indolence, and melancholy; and by |