the violentest enemies lord Somers had. I must confess I ever wish'd well to this correspondence that now is between lord Somers and our lord; but can pretend to have had no share in effecting it. With all the other lords of the junto I have maintain'd only a very cool and distant acquaintance; but I have ever distinguish'd lord Somers, and believe so well both of our lord and him, that the union between them is upon a handsomer and better bottom than that of giving up their particular friends on either side; and even lord Pembroke, a Tory, on whom all this turns, is a proof I think that this change is not wholly a party matter. "Lord Wharton indeed is true as steel: but as little partiality as I have for him, and as ill an opinion of his private life and principles, I fancy his good understanding will make him show himself a better lord-lieutenant than is expected. More changes I know not of: nor do I believe many are to be expected. "Forgive this hasty sheet I here enclose to you. 'Tis late, and I shall miss this night's post sending hence to town; so add only my constant and sincere profession of being, "Dear sir, "Your obliged friend, "And faithful humble servant, "Chelsey, Nov. 20, 1708. "SHAFTESBURY."] 4 Lord Somers succeeded the earl of Pembroke as president of the council, and lord Wharton was appointed viceroy of Ireland. CHARLES MONTAGUE, EARL OF HALIFAX, RAISED himself by his abilities and eloquence in the house of commons, where he had the honour of being attacked in conjunction with lord Somers, and the satisfaction of establishing his innocence as clearly. Addison has celebrated this lord in his account of the greatest English poets.2 Steele has drawn his character in the dedication of the second volume of the Spectator, and of the fourth of the Tatler; but Pope, in the portrait of Bufo 2 [Addison styles him 66 the noble Montague, For wit, for honour, and for judgment fam'd."] 3 ["Proud as Apollo on his forked hill Sat full-blown Bufo, puff'd by every quill; Fed with soft dedication all day long, Horace and he went hand in hand in song." Lord Halifax's portrait was thus daubed, under the title of Bathillo, in Faction Display'd, 1704: "Last rose Bathillo, deck'd with borrow'd bays, in the Epistle to Arbuthnot, has returned the ridicule, which his lordship, in conjunction with Prior, had heaped on Dryden's Hind and Panther. Besides this admirable travesty, lord Halifax wrote "An Answer to Mr. Bromley's Speech, in relation to the occasional Conformity Bill." 4 1704. "Seasonable Enquiries, or Questions, concerning a new Parliament." 1710.5 "A Poem on the Death of Charles II." 1684. "The Man of Honour; a Poem.” 6 "Ode on the Marriage of her Royal Highness the Princess Anne and Prince George of Denmark." 7 66 Epistle to Charles, Earl of Dorset and A gay, pragmatical, pretending tool, 4 Published in the Memoirs of Lord Halifax's Life. 5 [In support of queen Anne's parliamentary right.] } 6 [Occasioned by a postscript to Penn's Letter. Cibber's Poets.] 7 [Written in Latin verse, and printed in Hymenæus Canta brigiensis, 1683; and in Dr. Anderson's comprehensive edition of the British Poets.] Middlesex, occasioned by King William's Victory in Ireland." s All which, except the Enquiries, with several of his speeches, have been published together in an octavo volume, with Memoirs of his Lordship's Life, 1716. "Verses written at Althorp, in a blank leaf of a Waller, on seeing Vandyke's Picture of Lady Sunderland.” 9 "Verses written for the Toasting-glasses of the Kit-cat Club." 1703. His lordship's are the best of this set. 2 8 [After he had written this epistle, his patron the earl of Dorset introduced him to king William with this expression: Sir, I have brought a mouse to wait on your majesty;" in allusion to the burlesque he wrote, in conjunction with Prior. The king replied: "You do well to put me in the way of making a man of him ;" and immediately ordered him a pension of 500l. a year. "This story," as Dr. Johnson observes, "however current, seems to have been made after the event. The king's answer implies a greater acquaintance with our proverbial and familiar diction than king William could possibly have attained." Lives of the Poets.] 9 State Poems, vol. iii. p. 356. 2 [In 1705, were printed." Miscellanies, historical and philological being a curious Collection of private Papers, found in the Study of a Nobleman, lately deceas'd." In 1750 these miscellanies are said to have been reprinted, as from the original MSS. of lord Halifax. (See art. of George, Marquis of Halifax, in vol. iii.) But there is much reason to believe that these were distinct and different publications; the former being wholly of [Lord Halifax was the fourth son of the hon. George Montague, a younger son of the earl of Manchester. He was born in 1661, educated in Westminster school, where he is said to have recommended himself to Dr. Busby by his felicity in extemporary epigrams, and removed in 1682 to Trinity college, Cambridge, where he commenced an acquaintance with the great Newton, which continued through his life, and was at last attested by a legacy. He intended to have taken orders; but afterwards altering his purpose, purchased for 1500l. the place of one of the clerks of the council. In 1691, being a member of the house of commons, he argued warmly in favour of a law to grant the assistance of counsel in trials for high-treason; and in the midst of his speech, falling into some confusion, he is said, by his biographers, to have drawn a dexterous argument from the circumstance, precisely in the same way lord Shaftesbury has been stated to do. 3 After this he rose fast into honours and employments, being appointed, in 1691, a commissioner of the treasury, and a privy-counsellor. In 1694 he became chancellor of the exchequer; and the next year engaged in the arduous attempt of recoining the an antiquarian cast, and without any other agreement than in the general title of "Miscellanies." 3 Vide sup. p. 56; and New Biog. Dict. vol. iv. p. 242. and vol. xi. p. 33. See also Dr. Johnson's Life of Lord Halifax. |