THOMAS,

LORD LYTTELTON,

Was a meteor, whose rapid extinction could not be regretted. His dazzling eloquence had no solidity, and his poetry no graces that could atone for its indelicacy.

"One of his Speeches in the House of Lords," and " A Volume of his Verses," have been printed; and some lines he wrote to his wife, were published in the Westminster Magazine, 1773. No. 5.

[This lord, the only son of the first and celebrated lord, was born in 1744, succeeded his father in 1773, and followed him in 1779: but without leaving any kindred memorial of virtues or accomplishments, his life being marked by habitual profligacy 2, and his writings by indecorum.3 He was as remarkable, says

A fracas which took place between himself and parson Bate Dudley, at Vauxhall Gardens, about an actress, made much stir at the time, and produced a pamphlet.

3 Such is reported to have been the local abhorrence excited by his depravity, that his funeral at Hagley was made to take place late at night, lest the fury of the country people should tear him from his coffin. He is believed to have predicted his death at the time it happened.

Dr. Anderson, for an early display as for a flagitious prostitution of great abilities. Yet he attained no small consequence as a parliamentary speaker, and was appointed chief-justice in eyre; a place which his father, with better pretensions, could never procure. One of his "Speeches" in the house of lords has been printed.

"Poems by a young Nobleman of distinguished Abilities, lately deceased," &c, 1780. 4to. are admitted to be lord Lyttelton's.

6

Two volumes of "Letters," published in 1780 and 1782, though attributed to him, are now considered as spurious; yet as features of an epistolary portrait, they possess much imitative merit.7

The following verses to his wife, before marriage,

• Anderson's British Poets, vol. x. p. 246.

5 Lord Mulgrave in some forcible lines, which may be seen in his article, gave excellent advice to this heedless character; and stimulated him to emulate the virtues and the senatorial eminence of his father, that he might surpass him in posthumous fame: but folly listens not to the voice of the charmer, charm it never so wisely.

6 The editor of these poems says, he knew the noble author both in his convivial hours, and those which were more rationally employed. The superiority of his abilities, he adds, was always acknowledged, and the goodness of his heart for the last three years of his life became as conspicuous as the excellency of his head: while, alas! another friend avers, that the period which marked his lordship's emancipation from the fetters of pleasure and indolence, also marked his dissolution. Prefix to the Poems.

7 The composition of these letters is now imputed to Mr. Combe, the author of The Diaboliad, &c.

will evince his lordship's capacity for higher exertions:

"AN INVITATION TO MISS WARB-RT-N.

"Already wafted from th' impurpled meads
Of blest Arcadia, with soft vernal airs
Zephyr had op'd the tender buds that fear'd
Th' inclement sky; and now the genial sun
His vivid beams o'er herb, tree, fruit, and flow'r
Effuses, and calls forth the wanton Spring

In all her charms and shall she spread around
Her honey'd treasures and delicious bloom,
Whilst in dark cities pent, 'mid noxious fumes,
My Amoret wastes the rosy hours, nor heeds
Their nectar'd sweets; unmindful how expand
The new-born leaves, or how th' enlivening ray
Paints ev'ry flower with green and native gold?
O! come, thou fairest flower, by Nature's hand
Made not to bloom unseen, where ardent love
Invites; and 'midst the love-inspiring gloom
Of Hagley-shades, deign tread the rural haunts.
Of universal Pan; for there he dwells,

And those his lov'd retreats, where shadowy woods
Weave leafy arches cross the gushing rills,
That ever and anon from airy heights

Descend, and, gurgling through the opening vale,
Glide smoothly onward, whilst the Naiads mark
Their calm soft course. - Such was the blissful scene
By fine poetic fancy view'd of old

In Tempe's vale, where the delighted gods
With wood-nymphs danc'd, in chorus to the tune
Of pipes and voices sweet, whose charming sound
The mute herds mov'd, and held their savage hearts