"He practifed his arts on fuch fmall occafions, "that Lady Bolingbroke used to fay, in a French phrafe, that he played the politician about cab"bages and turnips. His unjustifiable impreffion of the Patriot King, as it can be imputed 66 to no particular motive, muft have proceeded " from his general habit of fecrecy and cunning; he caught an opportunity of a fly trick, and * pleafed himself with the thought of outwitting "Bolingbroke. ล In familiar or convivial converfation, it does "not appear that he excelled. He may be faid " to have resembled Dryden, as being not one that was diftinguished by vivacity in company. It is remarkable, that, fo near his time, fo be known of what he much One apoph memory retains no fallies of raillery, nor fen*tences of obfervation; nothing either pointed or folid, either wife or merry. * thegm only ftands upon record. When an obC) jection railed against his infcription for Shake"Spear was defended by the authority of Patrick, •he replied-horrefco referens-that he would allow the publisher of a dictionary to know the meaning of a fingle word, but not of two "words put together. "He was fretful, and eafily difpleafed, and allowed himself to be capriciously refentful. He would fometimes leave Lord Oxford filently, no b 3 66 one t ༣,་།་ ́ ́ one could tell why, and was to be courted back by more letters and meffages than the footmen were willing to carry. The table was indeed "infefted by Lady Mary Wortley, who was the friend of Lady Oxford, and who, knowing "his peevishnefs, could by no entreaties be re"ftrained from contradicting him, till their dif .. દ putes were sharpened to fuch afperity, that one or the other quitted the house. He fometimes condefcended to be jocular with fervants or inferiors; but by no merriment, either of others or his own, was he ever seen excited to laughter. Of his domeftic character, frugality was part eminently remarkable. Having determined not to be dependent, he determined not to be in want, and therefore wifely and magnanimously rejected all temptations to expence unfuitable "to his fortune. This general care must be uni verfally approved, but it fometimes appeared "in petty artifices of parfimony, fuch as the practice of writing his compofitions on the back of letters, as may be feen in the remaining copy of the Iliad, by which perhaps in five years five fhillings were faved; or in a niggardly recep"tion of his friends, and fcantinefs of enter"tainment, as, when he had two guests in his houfe, he would fet at fupper a fingle pint upon the table; and having himself taken two small glaffes, would retire, and fay, Gentlemen, I leave you to your wine. Yet he tells his friends, 66 that he has a heart for all, a houfe for all, and, whatever they may think, a fortune for all. } He fometimes, however, made a fplendid dinner, and is faid to have wanted no part of the "kill or elegance which fuch performances require. That this magnificence fhould be often difplayed, that obftinate prudence with which "he conducted his affairs would not permit; for " his revenue, certain and cafual, amounted only "to about eight hundred pounds a year, of which "however he declares himself able to affign one "hundred to charity. "Of this fortune, which, as it arofe from public "approbation, was very honourably obtained, ..his his imagination feems to have been too full: "it would be hard to find a man, fo well entitled to notice by his wit, that ever delighted fo much in talking of his money. In his letters, and in his poems, his garden and his grotto, his quincunx and his vines, or fome hints of his opulence, are always to be found. The great topic of his ridicule is poverty; the crimes with which he reproaches his antagonists are their "debts, their habitation in the Mint, and their "want of a dinner. He feems to be of an opinion not very uncommon in the world, that to want money is to want every thing. Next to the pleasure of contemplating his poffeffions, feems to be that of enumerating the 66 men "men of high rank with whom he was acquainted, and whofe notice he loudly proclaims not to have "been obtained by any practices of meannefs or servility; a boat which was never denied to be “true, and to which very few poets have ever "afpired. Pope never fet his genius to fale; he "never flattered those whom he did not love, or "praife thofe whom he did not efteem. Savage "however remarked, that he began a little to "relax his dignity when he wrote a diftich for his Highness's dog. "His admiration of the great, feems to have increafed in the advance of life. He paffed over peers and ftatefmen to infcribe his Iliad to Congreve, with a magnanimity of which the praife had been complete, had his friend's virtue been equal to his wit. Why he was chofen for so great an honour, it is not now poffible "to know; there is no trace, in literary history, of any particular intimacy between them ; nor does "the name of Congreve appear in the letters. To his latter works, however, he took care to annex names dignified with titles ; but was not very happy in his choice; for, except Lord "Bathurst, none of his noble friends were fuch as that a good man would wish to have his intimacy with them configned to pofterity: he can “ derive little honour from the notice of Cobham, "Burlington, or Bolingbroke.” 66 σε CON |