sure you must needs have in looking back upon the true fortitude with which you have passed through the dangers, arising from the rage of the people, and the envy of the rest of the world." Pope, who was well acquainted with the abilities and moral virtues of Lord Oxford, has consecrated his memory, by one of the finest productions of his genius; by lines which, probably, when every other record has dropped into oblivion, will still shed lustre round the name of Harley. The following passage paints strongly, yet without flattery, the prevailing feature of his character: 66 "Sure, if aught below the seats divine Strength of mind," remarks Dr. Warton on this passage, appears to have been the predominant characteristic of Lord Oxford; of which he gave the most striking proofs, when he was stabbed, displaced, imprisoned. These noble and nervous lines allude to those circumstances: of his fortitude and firmness, another striking proof remains, in a letter which the Earl wrote from the Tower to a friend who advised him to meditate an escape, and which is worthy of the greatest hero of antiquity. This extraordinary letter I had the pleasure of reading, by the favour of the Earl's excellent grand-daughter, the late Duchess Dowager of Portland, who inherited that love of literature and science, so peculiar to her ancestors and family. “I am well informed that Bolingbroke was greatly mortified at Pope's bestowing these praises on his old antagonist, whom he mortally hated; yet I have seen two original letters, in the hands of the same Duchess of Portland, of Lord Bolingbroke to Lord Oxford, full of the most fulsome flattery of the man whom he affected to despise, and of very idle and profane applications of scripture." * The expulsion of Steele from the House, an event which he in some degree expected, neither oppressed his spirits nor diminished the fertility of his pen. He very soon appeared before the public, with proposals for a History of the Duke of Marlborough, to commence from the date of his Grace's commission of Captain-general and Plenipotentiary, and to end with the expiration of those commissions. This work was * Warton's Pope, vol. ii. p. 306. to have been printed in folio by Tonson; but either from want of encouragement, of leisure, or inclination, it was never executed. "The long retardation of the Life of the Duke of Marlborough shews, with strong conviction," observes Johnson," how little confidence can be placed in posthumous renown. When he died, it was soon determined that his story should be delivered to posterity; and the papers supposed to contain the necessary information were delivered to Lord Molesworth, who had been his favourite in Flanders. When Molesworth died, the same papers were transferred, with the same design, to Sir Richard Steele, who in some of his exigences put them in pawn. They then remained with the old duchess, who in her will assigned the task to Glover and Mallet, with a reward of a thousand pounds, and a prohibition to insert any verses. Glover rejected, I suppose with disdain, the legacy, and devolved the whole work upon -Mallet, who had from the late Duke of Marlborough a pension to promote his industry, and who talked of the discoveries, which he had made; but left not, when he died, any historical labours behind him." * How far Steele was calculated to excel as the * Johnson's Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 351. VOL. I. I biographer of Marlborough cannot now be as certained. That his work would have been partial, however, and strongly tinctured with his political opinions and prejudices, there is but too much reason to suppose. It is without regret, there fore, that we behold him relinquishing the task, to resume a mode of composition more consonant to his habits and genius. On February the 14th, 1714, he commenced a periodical paper, entitled, The Lover, written in imitation of the Tatler, and published thrice a week. It was continued until May the 27th, 1714, and includes forty numbers. The delineation of the Lover seems founded on, and a continuation of, our author's character of Cynthio, in the first number of the Tatler, and is not without its portion of originality and spirit. Politics, however, still occupied the greater part of Steele's time; and on April the 22d, 1714, he began a paper called The Reader, in opposition to the Examiner, which continued with unabated zeal to blazon forth the virtues of the Tory administration, and to calumniate the merit of its opponents. The Reader, which, as well as the Lover, had the occasional assistance of Addison, reached but to nine numbers, and ceased on May the 10th, 1714. A short time previous to these periodical papers, he had written and printed A Letter to Sir Miles/ Wharton concerning occasional Peers. Twelve had been created in one day, with the view of obtaining a majority in the upper house; but Sir Miles, conscious of the conditions annexed to the title, had refused the proffered dignity.. To annihilate the influence arising from these newly created peers, Steele proposes in this epistle, that a bill be brought into the house to prevent any peer from voting until the expiration of three years from the date of his patent. In order to enforce the propriety of the plan, he introduces some observations, which pointedly allude to the singular events then passing on the public stage. "When the minds of men," observes he, are prejudiced, wonderful effects may be wrought against common sense. One weak step, in trying a fool for what he said in the pulpit, with all the pomp that could be used to take down a more dangerous and powerful man than ever England yet has seen, cost the most able ministry that England was ever honoured with, its being. The judgment of the house of lords was by this means insulted and evaded; and the anarchical fury ran so high, that Harry Sacheverell swelling, and Jack Higgins laughing, marched through England in a triumph more than military." |