Page images
PDF
EPUB

she had a desire it should; yet she never envied that of any other which might better please in general." Her beauty was probably always of the scornful kind. Lord Lansdowne writes, in his "Progress of Beauty,"

Soft and delicious as a southern sky,

Are Dashwood's smiles;—when Darnley frowns we die.

The Duchess appears to have preserved her beauty to a late period. Baron de Bothmar, in a letter dated the 13th of August, 1714, alluding to the Duke of Buckingham having applied for the appointment of Lady of the Bedchamber for his eccentric wife, writes to his correspondent, M. Bernsdorff, "She is handsome, and appears to me fit for such a place; but she could not obtain it from the late queen, although she was her natural sister. I don't know if it was for that reason she did not choose to have her so near her, but preferred rather to give her a pension."*

The Duchess of Buckingham died at the age of sixty-two, 13th March, 1743. Walpole writes to Sir Horace Mann, the day following her death :"Princess Buckingham is dead or dying: she has sent for Mr. Anstis, and settled the ceremonial of her burial. On Saturday she was so ill that she feared dying before the pomp was come home. She said, 'Why don't they send the canopy for me to see? let them send it though all the tassels are not finished.' But yesterday was the greatest

* Macpherson's Orig. Papers. vol. ii. p. 642.

stroke of all. She made her ladies vow to her, that if she should lie senseless, they would not sit down in the room before she was dead." By her own direction she was buried with great pomp in Henry the Seventh's chapel, where there was formerly a waxen figure of her, adorned with jewels, and, in the same case, another figure of her daughter, Lady Sophia Katharina Sheffield, standing by her side. The figure of the Duchess had been prepared in her lifetime by her own hands.

33

ROBERT HARLEY,

EARL OF OXFORD.

CHAPTER I.

Ancestors of Robert Harley.-His birth.-Offers his services to the Prince of Orange at the Revolution.-Is coldly received by him. Elected Speaker of the House of Commons.Appointed Secretary of State.-Procures the Secretaryship at War for Henry St. John.-His intrigues with Mrs. Masham. His efforts to insinuate himself into her confidence by promoting her union with Mr. Masham.-Jealousy of the Duchess of Marlborough.— Harley's influence over Queen Anne. His intrigues against the Duke of Marlborough, and Godolphin.-The Queen attends a Privy Council in person. -Harley dismissed from his office, through the influence of the Whig party.-The Queen's increasing dislike of the Whigs. Harley's interested patronage of literary men.-The Duke of Shrewsbury persuaded to league himself with the Tories. Ultimate overthrow of the Whig party.-Attempt on Harley's life by the Marquis de Guiscard. - Warrant issued for his arrest.-Brought before the Privy Council.He endeavours to revenge himself on St. John.-Failing in that, he stabs Harley with a penknife during his examination before the Council. And dies a few days afterwards in Newgate.

ROBERT HARLEY, the celebrated minister, was the representative of an ancient family, who held the lordship of Harley, in Shropshire, and dis

VOL. II.

D

tinguished themselves by their loyalty and valour, previous to the Norman conquest. The father of the statesman was Sir Edward Harley, a staunch Presbyterian, who raised a regiment during the civil troubles, and in one of the first engagements between Charles the First and the Parliament, was shot with a musket-ball, which, it is said, he carried in his body fifty-eight years. In 1647, this gentleman was one of the eleven members of the House of Commons who insisted on the expediency of coming to terms with the unfortunate King, and who were in consequence impeached by the army for high treason. He had a considerable share in effecting the restoration of Charles the Second, for which service he was rewarded with the government of Dunkirk and the order of the Bath, and was also offered a peerage, which he thought proper to refuse. During the whole of this reign, Sir Edward Harley distinguished himself as a frequent and able speaker in the House of Commons. At the Revolution of 1688, the old man joined the cause of the Prince of Orange, and marched with a troop of horse, of his own raising, to Worcester, of which place the gentlemen of the county voted him the governor. He sat in more than one Parliament during the reign of William and Mary, and died, at a very advanced age, on the 8th of December, 1700.

His eldest son, the subject of the present memoir, was born in Bow Street, Covent Garden, on the 5th of December, 1661. He was carefully

instructed in the Presbyterian principles of his family, and received his education at a private school, kept by the Rev. Mr. Birch at Shilton, in Oxfordshire. At the Revolution, he engaged with ardour in the cause of the Prince of Orange; and after assisting his father in raising a troop of horse, waited personally on the Prince with a tender of his allegiance. allegiance. William, however, either underrated his services, or was blind to his abilities, and, consequently, he again found himself dependent on his own genius and resources, for the advancement of his interests, and the gratification of his ambitious views.

In the first Parliament called by William and Mary, he was chosen member for Tregony, in Cornwall; and in 1690, was returned for Radnor, for which place he sat, during several successive Parliaments, till he was called up to the House of Lords. His genius seems to have been rather of that order which attracts public attention imperceptibly and by degrees, than which flashes with sudden brilliancy, and commands the observation of mankind. He was a close debater rather than a splendid orator; and was better qualified to figure as a minister of finance, than as the leader of an administration. To talents, however, of a high order, he added industry and unwearying application. He was, moreover, inordinately ambitious; and, in the gratification of that passion, was little scrupulous in availing himself of chicanery and intrigue. Neglect and disappointment are excellent incentives to am

« PreviousContinue »