In rapture. But not she, who in those plains With thee could be compar'd; nor could their charms 66 8 Poems, p. 36. His poetical talent might have surpassed his father's had he cultivated it with as purified a taste. He is described by Mrs. Carter, in one of her letters, as equally vain, elegant, and profligate: in the morning, melancholy, squalid, and disgusting, and half-repentant; in the evening, the delight, the admiration, and the scandal of society:-always fearful and superstitious, yet not religious." How sad and pitiable a portraiture is this of a fallen creature in a lost estate! JOHN DUNNING, LORD ASHBURTON, He [WAS the son of an eminent attorney settled at Ashburton in Devonshire 2, and born in 1731. served a clerkship to his father, then went to London, and was trained to the bar, to which he was called in 1756: but it was not till some time after he put on the gown, that his abilities became discovered and countenanced. When they were, his rise was rapid; and few causes came on in the court of king's bench in which he was not employed as leading counsel, either for the plaintiff or defendant. His industry and zeal for the interest of his clients were equal to his abilities, and he frequently pleaded the causes of the poor and the oppressed without reward. In 1767 he was made solicitor-general; before he had been dignified by a silk gown. His powers as a speaker introduced him to farther patronage, and a seat in parliament for lord Shelburne's borough of Calne. He steadily and faithfully adhered to his 2 It is probable that the family had long been settled in that quarter, as I find a tract put forth by Richard Dunning in 1616, showing how the office of overseer to the poor may be managed, so as to save 9000l. per annum to the county of Devon. party, whether in or out of place, till they were enabled to bestow upon him those honours and emoluments, which he had well earned and justly merited. He was created baron Ashburton in 1782, was entered on the privy-council, and accepted a sinecure, as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. Shortly after these events his health declined, from the pressure of family afflictions: and he was necessitated to retire from public business, which he did to a favourite retreat at Exmouth, where he died August 18, 1783. 3 He had lost one son, which greatly affected his mind; and the other being in imminent danger, he hung over him with so much solicitude, that a fever ensued, which proved mortal, and he fell the victim of parental affection. His lordship claims introduction here as author of the following professional pamphlets : "A Letter to the Proprietors of East-India Stock, on the Subject of Lord Clive's Jaghire; occasioned by his Lordship's Letter on that Subject." 1764, 8vo. "A Letter from John Dunning, Esq. solicitor to the queen, to a gentleman of the Inner Temple; containing directions to the Student." This was printed in The Templar, vol. i. p. 10. "An Answer to the Dutch Memorials." Lord Ashburton was also concerned, as I understood from Mr. Reed, in a pamphlet written against the law on libels: and he has had the honour of Gent. Mag. vol. liii. p. 717; and Debrett's Peerage. being considered as the soundest constitutional lawyer of his day. *] * See Memoir of the Earl of Rosslyn in the Monthly Magazine for Feb. 1805. An earlier writer, however, after admitting his lordship's ingenuity as a pleader, and giving him credit for perspicuous language, for ready wit, and steadiness to his party, expressed a wish that he had been equally steady to the cause of the public, which cause he is stated to have forgot when he accepted the sinecure of the duchy of Lancaster, after standing foremost in painting the abuses of sinecure places, and the inability of the country to support such extravagance. Gent. Mag. ut sup. p. 1006. GEORGE, VISCOUNT SACKVILLE, [THE Son of Lionel, and younger brother of Charles, duke of Dorset, was born in 1716. Early in life, through the means of his father, he became the convivial companion of George: the second. In the army he served as aid-de-camp to the king, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, and made commander of the British forces in Germany under prince Ferdinand, until the memorable battle of Minden involved him in disgrace, and subjected him to trial by a court-martial in 1760. After incurring the displeasure of his sovereign, who erased his name from the list of privy-counsellors, he made his appeal to the public in a skilful defence. From Sackville he changed his name to Germaine in 1770, for a considerable fortune left by his relation lady Betty, who makes so distinguished a figure in the correspondence of Swift. Some years afterwards he was restored to royal favour, and promoted to the office of secretary of state for the American department. On retiring from thence he was honoured with a peerage, by the titles of viscount Sackville and baron Bolebrooke, in 1782, and died on the 26th of August 1785.2 2 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lv. p. 667. For a more extended biographical account, see Almon's Anecdotes, vol. ii. |