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THE

LIFE

OF

LORD BOLINGBROKE.

THERE are fome characters that feem formed by Nature to take delight in ftruggling with oppofition, and whose most agreeable hours are paffed in ftorms of their own creating. The fubject of the prefent sketch was perhaps of all others the most indefatigable in raifing himself enemies, to fhew his power in subduing them; and was not lefs employed in improving his fuperior talents, than in finding objects on which to exercife their activity. His life was fpent in a continual conflict of politics, and as if that was too fhort for the combat, he has left his memory as a fubject of lafting contention.

It is indeed no eafy matter to preserve an acknowledged impartiality, in talking of a man fo differently regarded on account of his political, as well as his religious principles. Thofe, whom his politics may please, will be fure to condemn him for his religion; and on the contrary, thofe moft ftrongly attached to his theological opinions, are the most likely to decry his politics. On whatever fide he is regarded, he is fure to have oppofers; and this was perhaps what he moft defired, having from nature a mind better pleased with the struggle than the victory.

Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, was born in the year 1672, at Batterfea in Surrey, at a

feat

feat that had been in the poffeffion of his ancestors for ages before. His family was of the first rank, equally confpicuous for its antiquity, dignity, and large poffeffions. It is found to trace its original as high as Adam de Port, Baron of Bafing in Hampfhire, before the conqueft; and in a fucceffion of ages to have produced warriors, patriots, and ftatefmen, fome of whom were confpicuous for their loyalty, and others for their defending the rights of the people. His grandfather Sir Walter St. John, of Batterfea, marrying one of the daughters of lord chief juftice St. John, who as all know was ftrongly attached to the republican party, Henry, the fubject of the prefent memoir, was brought up in his family, and confequently imbibed the first principles of his education amongst the diffenters. At that time Daniel Burgess, a fanatic of a very peculiar kind, being at once poffeffed of zeal and humour, and as well known for the archness of his conceits as the furious obftinacy of his principles, was confeffor in the prefbyterian way to his grandmother, and was appointed to direct our author's firft ftudies. Nothing is fo apt to disgust a feeling mind as mistaken zeal; and perhaps the abfurdity of the firft lectures he received might have given him that contempt for all religions, which he might have juftly conceived againft one. Indeed, no talk can be more mortifying than what he was condemned to undergo: "I was obliged," fays he, in one place, "while yet a boy, to read over the commentaries of Dr. Manton, whose pride it was "to have made an hundred and nineteen fermons, "on the hundred and nineteenth pfalm." Dr. Manton and his fermons were not likely to prevail much on one, who was, perhaps, the moft fharp-fighted in the world at difcovering the abfurdities of others, however he might have been guilty of establishing many of his own.

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But

But these dreary inftitutions were of no very long continuance; as foon as it was fit to take him out of the hands of the women, he was fent to Eton fchool, and removed thence to Chrift-church college in Oxford. His genius and understanding were feen and admired in both these feminaries, but his love of pleasure had fo much the afcendency, that he feemed contented rather with the confcioufnefs of his own great powers, than their exertion. However his friends, and those who knew him moft intimately, were thoroughly fenfible of the extent of his mind; and when he left the university, he was confidered as one who had the faireft opportunity of making a fhining figure in active life.

Nature feemed not lefs kind to him in her external embellishments, than in adorning his mind. With the graces of an handfome perfon, and a face in which dignity was happily blended with sweetness, he had a manner of addrefs that was very engaging. His vivacity was always awake, his apprehenfion was quick, his wit refined, and his memory amazing : his fubtlety in thinking and reafoning was profound, and all thefe talents were adorned with an elocution that was irrefiftible.

To the affemblage of fo many gifts from nature, it was expected that art would foon give her finishing hand; and that a youth, begun in excellence, would foon arrive at perfection: but fuch is the perverfeness of human nature, that an age which fhould have been employed in the acquifition of knowledge, was diffipated in pleasure, and inftead of aiming to excel in praife-worthy purfuits, Bolingbroke feemed more ambitious of being thought the greateft rake about town. This period might have been compared to that of fermentation in liquors, which grow muddy before they brighten; but it must also be confeffed, that thofe liquors which never ferment are feldom VOL. IV.

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clear.

clear. In this ftate of diforder he was not without his lucid intervals; and even while he was noted for keeping Mifs Gumley, the moft expenfive proftitute in the kingdom, and bearing the greatest quantity of wine without intoxication, he even then defpifed his paltry ambition. "The love of ftudy, fays

he, and defire of knowledge, were what I felt all 66 my life; and though my genius, unlike the dæmon "of Socrates, whifpered fo foftly, that very often I "heard him not in the hurry of these paffions with "which I was tranfported, yet fome calmer hours "there were, and in them I hearkened to him." These facred admonitions were indeed very few, fince his exceffes are remembered to this very day. I have spoken to an old man, who affured me that he faw him and one of his companions run naked through the Park, in a fit of intoxication; but then it was a time when public decency might be tranfgreffed with lefs danger than at prefent.

During this period, as all his attachments were to pleasure, fo his ftudies only feemed to lean that way. His first attempts were in poetry, in which he dif covers more wit than tafte, more labour than harmony in his verfification. We have a copy of his verfes prefixed to Dryden's Virgil, complimenting the poet, and praifing his tranflation. We have ano ther not fo well known, prefixed to a French work published in Holland by the Chevalier de St. Hyacinth, intituled, le Chef de Oeuvre d'un Inconnu. This performance is an humorous piece of criticism upon a miserable old ballad; and Bolinbroke's compliment, though written in English, is printed in Greek characters, fo that at the first glance it may deceive the eye, and be mistaken for real Greek.

*Our authors appears fond of this figure, for we find it introduced into his Effay on Polite Literature. The propriety however, both of the fimile, and of the position it endeavours to illuftrates, is ably examined in a periodical work, entitled the Philanthrope, published in London in the year 1797.

There

There are two or three things more of his compofition, which have appeared fince his death, but which do honour neither to his parts nor memory.

In this mad career of pleasure he continued for fome time; but at length in 1700, when he arrived at the twenty-eighth year of his age, he began to diflike his method of living, and to find that fenfual pleasure alone was not fufficient to make the happiness of a reasonable creature. He therefore made his first effort to break from his ftate of infatuation, by marrying the daughter and coheirefs of Sir Henry Winchefcomb, a defcendant from the famous Jack of Newbury, who though but a clothier in the reign of Henry VIII. was able to entertain the king and all his retinue in the moft fplendid manner. This lady was poffeffed of a fortune exceeding forty thousand pounds, and was not deficient in mental accomplishments; but whether he was not yet fully fatiated with his former pleasures, or whether her temper was not conformable to his own, it is certain they were far from living happily together. After cohabiting for fome time together they parted by mutual confent, both equally difpleased; he complaining of the obftinacy of her temper; fhe of the fhameleffness of his infidelity. A great part of her fortune fome time after upon his attainder was given her back; but, as her family eftates were fettled upon him, he enjoyed them after her death, upon the reverfal of his attainder.

Having taken a refolution to quit the allurements of pleasure for the ftronger attractions of ambition, foon after his marriage he procured a feat in the houfe of commons, being elected for the borough of Wotton Baffet in Wiltshire, his father having ferved feveral times for the fame place. Befides his natural endowments and his large fortune, he had other very confiderable advantages that gave him weight in -the fenate, and feconded his views of preferment. His grandfather Sir Walter St. John was ftill alive;

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and

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