country-the death of the Prince of Wales.

He was

not much distinguished for prudence or steadiness; but all who had been disappointed in their hopes of advancement were inclined to speak favorably of his openness of manner and, warmth of heart, and the reign of Frederic I., while dreaded by some, had been looked forward to by many with impatience.

The reigning Sovereign being turned of seventy, and the youth who was now heir apparent being of tender years, it became necessary, in case of a demise of the Crown, to provide for the exereise of the royal authority by a Regent. George II. wished to appoint his favorite son, the Duke of Cumberland,-styled alternately the "Hero of Culloden" and the "Butcher;" and the people demanded the Princess Dowager of Wales, insinuating that an infant sovereign would be safer under the guardianship of his mother than of his uncle.' By way of compromise, a bill was brought in to constitute the Princess Regent-with a Council of which the Duke of Cumberland was to be President. Murray had the drawing of this bill, and the conduct of it though the House of Commons. His speech in support of it forcibly pointed out the defect in our constitution by which the next heir coming to the throne, although a baby incapable of uttering an articulate sound, is supposed to be of full age, and instruments passing under the great seal in his name have the same validity as if he had actually approved and sanctioned them, being of mature years, so that the person who can get the baby monarch into his custody may first usurp supreme power as Protector, and then attempt to make himself the head of a new dynasty-as was done by the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III.; pointed out the impossibility of a general law to provide for carrying on the executive government during the minority-of disability of the Sovereign; and dwelt upon the wisdom of going no further for the present than enacting the course to be pursued if his Majesty should be called away before his grandson, Prince George, had reached the age of

1 "I fear no uncles dead," was a common quotation, although the Duke of Cumberland was a very honorable and, upon the whole, a very respectable character.

eighteen. He proved, easily enough, that the Princess Dowager was the fittest person to be named for Regent; but he ineffectually tried to enforce the point that she ought to be controlled by a Council-the constitutional notion being that, with a few exceptions to protect the established religion and the succession to the throne, a Regent ought to exercise all the royal prerogatives under ministerial responsibility. In this courtier-like fushion did he try to struggle with the difficulty:

"I have so firm, so well-grounded an opinion of the many good qualities of the Princess, that I am convinced our investing her with sovereign power would be attended with happiness, and perhaps glory, to the nation; but for this very reason I am against it: the precedent would have such weight, that a future parliament could not depart from it, however strong the reason might be for following a different course; and, as this might be of dangerous consequence to her posterity, I am prevented from evincing the regard which is due to her extraordinary endowments."'

The bill passed; but George II. survived till his grandson was able to say from the throne that "gloried in the name of Briton."

Murray had managed this matter with such dexterity that he seemed hardly liable to the political vicissitudes by which hopes of official stability or promotion are sometimes dashed, and he himself thought he was equally secure under King or Regent,-when, in a clear sky, a storm arose which very nearly overwhelmed him. He was charged with being an adherent of the Pretender.

The scrape in which he so unexpectedly found himself involved occasioned infinite annoyance and vexation to him, and he did not get out of it with entire credit.

When at Westminster School, his most intimate associates were four boys in the same form with himself; Fawcet, Johnson, Stone, and Vernon. The father of the last, although a draper in Cheapside, was of ancient blood, and had embraced trade when a younger brother. The family estate descended upon him, but it was considerably reduced, and he continued to vend his wares as before. Like most of the landed aristocracy, he was

1 14 Parl. Hist. 1033.

a furious Jacobite,-making no secret of his political propensities. Young Vernon was in the habit of taking Murray, Fawcet, Johnson, and Stone to his father's house on holidays; and there they most unquestionably have heard much Jacobitism talked, whatever else may have happened. Old Vernon was very kind to them, and took particularly to Murray-being charmed with his good looks, his vivacity, and his agreeable conversation, as well as prejudiced in his favor by his noble birth and his true blue connections. The five young friends, although carried away in different directions by the accidents of life, still kept up a correspondence by letter, and occasionally met together at supper at the Jacobite draper's in Cheapside after Mr. Murray had been called to the bar. Young Vernon embraced the same profession, but, from ill health, had been unable to prosecute it. Fawcet had settled as a provincial barrister at Newcastle, and had become Recorder of that town. Johnson had taken orders, and was an assistant master of Westminster School. Stone, who was a remarkably fine classical scholar, was dedicating himself to literature, and hoped by his pen to rise to be a Prebendary, or a Commissioner of Customs. In the course of a year or two, young Vernon died, but Murray continued a friendly intercourse with the father, who, being childless, threw out hints that he meant to adopt him as a son, and actually left him by will his family estate in the counties of Chester and Derby, which still belongs to the MansfieldMurrays.

After the death of Frederick Prince of Wales, Fawcet remaining Recorder of Newcastle, Johnson, by Murray's interest, from being a Prebendary of Durham was promoted to the see of Gloucester. Stone having been some time private secretary to the Duke of Newcastle, had been appointed sub-governor or preceptor to Prince George.

It happened that at the dinner-table of the Dean of Durham the conversation turned upon Johnson's late elevation, and the interesting question arose, who was to have his prebend? The Dean said, "The last news from London is, that Dr. Johnson is to keep it." Fawcet, who was one of the party, observed, "I am glad John

son gets on so well, for I remember him a Jacobite several years ago, when he used to be with a relation of his, who was very disaffected,-one Vernon, a mercer,where they frequently drank the Pretender's health." The imprudent Recorder, elevated by wine and gnawed by envy, gave further particulars of those love feasts, and introduced the names of Murray, the Solicitor General, who had gained such éclat by prosecuting the rebel Lords, and of Stone, now intrusted to conduct the studies and to form the principles of the Heir-Apparent to the throne.

Among the guests present was the foolish old Lord Ravensworth. He most officiously, and in breach of the implied confidence which forms the charm of social intercourse, posted off to London, and communicated this conversation to Mr. Pelham. The Prime Minister listened to the tale with much distaste, but felt it his duty to repeat it to the King. With admirable good sense, his Majesty exclaimed, "It is of very little importance to me what the parties accused may have said, or done, or thought, while they were little more than boys: I am quite satisfied with the assurance that they have since become, and now are, my very faithful subjects and trusty servants."

But the matter was seriously taken up by the opponents of the Government; and a petition to the King, numerously signed, praying for investigation, contained the following passage:-"That to have a Scotchman of a most disaffected family, and allied in the nearest manner to the Pretender's first minister,' consulted on the

'The following is Horace Walpole's account of this gentleman, in his sketch of the court of the Pretender:-" His next prime minister was Murray, nominal Earl of Dunbar, brother of the Viscount Stormont, and of the celebrated Solicitor General. He was a man of artful abilities, graceful in his person and manner, and very attentive to please. He had distinguished himself before he was of age, in the last parliament of Queen Anne, and chose to attach himself to the unsuccessful party abroad, for whose re-establishment he had co-operated. He, when still very young, was appointed governor to the young princes; but, growing suspected by the warm Jacobites of some correspondence with Sir Robert Walpole, and not entering into the favorite project of Prince Charles's expedition to Scotland, he thought fit to leave that court and retire to Avignon, where, while he was regarded as lukewarm to the cause, from his connection with the Solicitor General here, the latter was not at all less suspected of devotion to a court where his brother had been so long first minister."

education of the Prince of Wales, and intrusted with the most important secrets of Government, must tend to alarm and disgust the friends of the present royal family, and to encourage the hopes and attempts of the Jacobites."

It was resolved that the accusation deserved no further notice; and Murray, who had been made very uneasy by the rumor about him which had got afloat, believed that the matter was at an end. But Stone preposterously insisted on a solemn inquiry; and the charge against him, Murray, and Johnson was referred by the King to the Privy Council.

Murray, strongly protesting his innocence, at first said he would resign his office sooner than submit to such a degrading examination, but was afterwards persuaded by his friends to appear and make his defense along with Johnson and Stone.

When the hearing came on, there was no case made against the first supposed delinquent; for Fawcet, the only witness, said that at such a distance of time he could not swear that Johnson had drunk the treasonable healths, or had been present at the drinking of them.'

He afterwards wrote the following suspicious letter to clear the Bishop, who, hearing that he was repeating the calumny, insisted on a written recantation from him :

:

"London, 29th January, 1753. "My Lord,—I take the liberty of giving you the trouble of this letter, in order to wipe off any reflections which may have been to your Lordship's prejudice from a misconstruction or misrepresentation of anything said by me at the Dean of Durham's last summer. It is now, I believe, near twenty years since your Lordship and I met at my relation's, and before that time I never had any acquaintance with your Lordship; and it really surprises me very much that any inference from what I said of my relation's principles in politics should, by any one, be applied to your Lordship. It is a very disagreeable thing to be giving an account of what has passed in any conversation; but it is my duty, in the most solemn manner, to declare, that I did not, and could not, say anything which in the least could, or which was any way meant by me to charge your Lordship with being the proposer of, or ever being present at the drinking of any disloyal healths. I am sorry for the trouble you have had about this affair, and am with the greatest respect,

"My Lord,

“Your Lordship's most ebedient, humble servant, CHR. FAWCET. "Whatever has been construed as a surprise of mine at your Lordship's preferment, I am sure it was meant by me as an intimation only that your Lordship was fortunate in having the preferments drop at the time they

did.

"Lord Bishop of Gloucester."