some particular services; first, by the attention he gave to the state of the currency, which, greatly worn and infamously clipped, had for a long time been reduced to an ebb of depreciation most prejudicial to commerce, and ruinous to public credit. This he called in with address, and again issued with great dispatch, in a better form; so that a new coin of standard value was in full circulation, within two years after the commencement of a reformation in its form and quantity. In 1696, he enjoyed great praise for having projected the general fund, a financial scheme, which, though it must cede in ingenuity to the expedi ents of modern times, was in his day deservedly well thought of, for it raised the character of the national credit in a very effective manner. These measures, and an inquiry he subsequently moved into the grants made of crown-lands in Ireland, were so highly appreciated by the Parliament and the people, that a vote passed the Commons, declaring, that Charles Montague, Esq, had deserved his Majesty's favour. So signal a confirmation of the deserts of his political services naturally led to still higher rewards. Thus we find him progressively first Commissioner of the Treasury in 1698; auditor of the Exchequer during the year after; and in the next year again, created Lord Halifax.

Fortune, however, is seldom constant, and popularity never consistent. The House of Commons, who had actually fathered his greatness, became dissatisfied with the creature of their own acclamations, when they saw it firmly elevated, and impeached his services; but the Lords, with more sense, refused to countenance an inquiry which arose out of clamour, and was never strengthened by facts. It is to this course of political eminence more than to any superiority in his compositions, that we are chiefly to ascribe the literary reputation of Lord Halifax Unquestionably, he was less great as a poet, than as the patron of poets; and the charm of his celebrity in this capacity is to be traced to his own generosity, and the gratitude of his brothers on the lyre. Unlike many others who have advanced in life to a rank superior to that they started from, or originally studied to acquire, he always cherished a regard for his early pursuits; and as he was ever sensible of the difficulties and poverty that generally cloud its sunshine, and repress the ripening of its fruits; so he was never remiss in lightening the one, and assisting

the other such generosity certainly may be allowed to extenuate flattery. Addison, Prior, Smith, Thomson, Tickell, and many others, too numerous to remember or particularize, were his intimate associates, even when most exalted, and were all complimented by him, advanced in place, or rewarded with money, as their wants or their wishes required. At no period in our history were literary men so much honoured, and their lucubrations so well recompensed, as immediately about the reign of William III.; and the praise of this discernment is to be given, above all others, to the Earl of Halifax. Not only the readiest, but the surest road to reputation at that period, was to dedicate to him; it was in fact the passport of authority to public regard and private fortune. Hence it has been recorded without exaggeration, that Halifax lived upon dedications; and it is pleasing to be able to add, as was also admitted after his death, that no one encomiast went away disappointed and unrecompensed.

The accession of Queen Anne threw all those who had supported King William and a foreign influence back into the shade of privacy, and with them Halifax also was forced to retire. But though unemployed, he was not idle; and though not preferred, far from unimportant. The former opposition to his success now revived with a new flame, and the Commons again tendered articles of impeachment against him upon the old grounds; but for their old reasons the Lords also rejected them again He next appeared before the public at the head of the boisterous finquiry into the danger of the Church, but soon turned his mind to a more important concern. The political union between England and Scotland, which was consummated during this reign, was not only carried into effect under the direction of Lord Halifax, but is said to have been devised by his ingenuity.

The tide of fortune was now about to flow into its former bed, and he stood forward among the first who floated upon the stream. He led the party who passed the act for securing the protestant succession in the House of Hanover; and when the Court was obliged to confer the order of the Garter upon the elector, he was chosen as the ambassador who should invest it. Upon his return he was forward in obtaining the writ which summoned the elector to sit in Parliament as Duke of Cam bridge; and when, soon after, his grace was invited to the

The

crown, Halifax received the full measure of royal favour. order of the Garter which he had already presented to the new sovereign, the sovereign himself now returned to him, and with it added the patent of an earldom. He was immediately restored to his former power, by being reinstated in the Treasury as First Commissioner, and securing to his nephew the reversion of that more profitable post, the auditorship of the Exchequer. Higher he could not reasonably have expected to be raised in place there was no one superior to him; and as for honours, when heaped together at once, they fail in respectability. What additions, either of desert or distinction, time would have led to, it is vain to conjecture, for he was spared for what he possessed but a short time. An inflammation seized on his lungs, and put a period to his life, on the 19th of May, 1715: but the gratitude of praise did not cease with the power of reward, and Halifax was lamented after his death by almost all who had eulogised him during life.

The following is the inscription upon his monument :—

HANDEL.

ABOVE the statue of Addison, in the south cross aisle of Westminster Abbey, is the monument of this great musician, who vainly provided for the honours of an interment and commemoration here, in his last will and testament. It is the work of Roubilliac, and was the last piece he lived to finish. The back-ground is filled with an organ; above, an angel is introduced playing on a harp; and in front is placed a figure of the deceased, in the act of composing, and attitude of inspiration. Beside him is the score of The Messiah,' and that page open beginning. I know that my Redeemer liveth,' &c. This statue has been generally praised for a good likeness; but the whole perform. ance can boast no peculiar elegance. The inscription only recapitulates his name, and the dates of his birth and death.*

At the same elevation are two monuments, which demand particular notice, as much on account of the striking manner in which they are finished, as the particular reputation of the names they record. Of these, the one nearest to Handel, was erected by Augusta, mother of George the II. to the memory of Stephen Hales, D.D. F.R.S., the philosopher. It is tabular, and wrought in alto relievo, presenting figures of Religion and Botany supporting a medallion of the deceased. Underneath is a globe, on which, in allusion to the doctor's invention of the ventilator, the winds are displayed. The mere allegory of this design cannot delight, but the grace and neatness with which it is finished are highly pleasing. Dr. Hales was a clergyman deservedly eminent in botany, chemistry, and experimental philosophy. Born at Bekesbourne, in Kent, during the year 1677, he was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and attained a fellowship in 1703. Devoting his mind, from this period, with great assiduity and no mean success, to philosopnical investigations, he first became known by the invention of a brass machine, for the purpose of demonstrating the pla