323 MEMOIR OF MISS PARDOE. WITH A PORTRAIT. THE lady whose portrait forms the illustration to our present number, is one who has largely ministered to the instruction, as well as the amusement of the age. Miss Pardoe is the second daughter of Major Thomas Pardoe, of the Royal Waggon Train, an able and meritorious officer, who, after having partaken of the hardships and shared the glories of the Peninsular campaigns, concluded a brilliant military career on the field of Waterloo, and has not since been engaged in active service. It is but doing bare justice to this amiable and excellent man to say that he was as much beloved by the men whom he commanded, as he was popular among his fellow-officers, and his honourable retirement is still cheered by the regard and respect of all who have ever known him. Miss Pardoe gave promise, at a very early age, of those talents which have since so greatly distinguished her. Her first work, a poetical production, was dedicated to her uncle, Captain William Pardoe, of the Royal Navy, but is not much known, and though exhibiting considerable merit, will hardly bear comparison with her more mature and finished productions. The earliest of her publications which attained much notice, was her "Traits and Traditions of Portugal," a book which was extensively read and admired. Written in early youth and amid all the brilliant scenes which she describes, there is a freshness and charm about it, which cannot fail to interest and delight the reader. The good reception which this work met with, determined the fair author to court again the public favour, and she published several novels in succession-"Lord Morcar," "Hereward," "Speculation," and "The Mardyns and Daventrys." In these it is easy to trace a gradual progress, both in power and style, and the last-named especially is a work worthy of a better fate than the generality of novels. But we are now approaching an era in the life of Miss Pardoe. In the year 1836 she accompanied her father to Constantinople, and, struck by the gorgeous scenery and interesting manners of the east, she embodied her impressions in one of the most popular works which have for many years issued from the press. "The City of the Sultan" at once raised her to the height of popularity. The vividness of the descriptions, their evident truthfulness, the ample opportunities she enjoyed of seeing the interior of Turkish life, all conspired to render her work universally known and as universally admired. This was speedily followed by "The Beauties of the Bosphorus," a work, like "The City of the Sultan," profusely and splendidly illustrated, and this again by "The Romance of the Harem." Miss Pardoe's powers of description and habits of observation, appeared to point out to her her line of literature, as peculiarly that of recording the wonders of foreign lands, and a tour which the VOL. XXVI. B B family made through the Austrian empire, enabled her to give the world the results of her observations on Hungary in that excellent work "The City of the Magyar," a work now more than ever deserving of public notice-less gay and glittering than "The City of the Sultan," her work on Hungary exhibits deeper research; its statistics are peculiarly accurate; and it is on all hands admitted to be one of the best books of travel ever submitted to the public. A very short time after the publication of this work, appeared "The Hungarian Castle," a collection of Hungarian legends in three volumes, interesting on all grounds, but especially as filling up a very little known page in the legendary history of Europe. About this time, Miss Pardoe, finding her health suffering from the too great intensity of study and labour to which she had subjected herself, retired from the great metropolis, and has since resided with her parents in a pleasant part of the county of Kent. The first emanation from her retirement was a novel entitled "The Confessions of a Pretty Woman," a production which was eagerly read, and rapidly passed into a second edition. In due course of time this was followed by another-" The Rival Beauties." These tales are more able than pleasing; they are powerful pictures of the corruptions prevalent in modern society, and bear too evident marks of being sketches from the life. We have placed "The Rival Beauties" out of its proper order, that we may conclude by a notice of those admirable historical works on which Miss Pardoe's fame will chiefly rest: her "Louis the Fourteenth," and "Francis the First." The extremely interesting character of their times admirably suited Miss Pardoe's powers as a writer, and she has in both cases executed her task with great spirit and equal accuracy. The amount of information displayed in these volumes is really stupendous, and the depth of research necessary to produce it, fully entitles Miss Pardoe to take a very high rank among the writers of history. Her style is easy, flowing, and spirited, and her delineations of character as vivid as they are just; nor would it be easy to find any historical work in which the utile is so mingled with the dulce, as in those of Miss Pardoe. She is now, we hear with much pleasure, engaged on "A Life of Mary de Medici," a subject extremely suited to her pen. Looking on her portrait, we may trust that she has half her life, or more, still in the future, and may reasonably look to her for many contributions to the delight and learning of ourselves and our posterity. 325 THE PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE OF KING GEORGE THE THIRD AND THE ROYAL FAMILY WITH BISHOP HURD. FROM 1776 To 1805. RICHARD HURD, Bishop of Worcester, was a very considerable man in his day. The friend and follower of Warburton, he could read this passage in a letter of his master, "of this Johnson, you, and I, I believe, think much alike," and not feel ashamed of the imputation of contemning so illustrious a man as the author of the English Dictionary. But the world, "which knows not how to spare," has long ago decided which was the greater man of the two; and accordingly, while every man is familiar with all that befel Johnson, the life of Hurd is known comparatively to few; for which reason we subjoin a short account of him. Richard Hurd was born on the 13th January 1720, at Congreve, in the parish of Penkrich, Staffordshire. He was the second son of John and Hannah Hurd, who, he has himself told us, were "plain, honest, and good people,-farmers, but of a turn of mind that might have honoured any rank and any condition." These worthy people were solicitous to give their son the best and most liberal education, and sent him to the grammar school at Brerewood. In 1733 he was admitted of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, but he did not go to reside there until a year or two afterwards. He took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1739, and that of Master in 1742; in which year he was elected a fellow, and ordained deacon in St. Paul's Cathedral, London; and in 1744 he was admitted into priest's orders at Cambridge. Dr. Hurd's first literary production was, Remarks on Weston's "Inquiry into the Rejection of the Christian Miracles by the Heathens," published in 1746; and in 1748, on the conclusion of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, he contributed some verses to the University collection for 1749. In the same year he took the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, and published his "Commentary on the Ars Poetica of Horace," in which he endeavoured to prove that the Roman poet has treated his subject with systematic order and the strictest method; an idea which has been strenuously combated by several eminent writers. In the preface to this Commentary, he took occasion to compliment Warburton, in a manner which won him the favour of that learned dogmatist, and procured for him a return in kind in the Bishop's edition of " Pope's Works," where Hurd's Commentary is spoken of in terms of the highest commendation. This exchange of flattery gave rise to an intimacy between these persons, which continued unbroken during their lives, and is supposed to have exercised considerable influence over the opinions of Hurd, who was long considered as the first scholar in what has been termed the Warburton school. The "Commentary" was reprinted in 1757, with the addition of two dissertations, one on the drama, the other on poetical imitation, and a letter to Mr. Mason on the marks of imitation. In 1765, a fourth edition, corrected and enlarged, was published in three volumes octavo, with a third dissertation on the idea of universal poetry; and the whole was again reprinted in |