no more than their conftitutional rights, to which they were justly entitled, and which, to preferve the model of the conftitution entire, they muft neceffarily enjoy. It is true, that in profecuting the recovery of thefe rights, they committed many imprudent, with fome unjust and illegal actions, refpecting their fellow fubjects; and that in the end they extended their privileges to ufurpation over the other eftates of the kingdom: but admitting thefe charges in their utmoft extent, yet their indifcretion and injuftice afford no arguments againft their rights. It was reafonable and proper to reftrain their excefies, but not to curtail their lawful privileges, which, the public having an intereft in them, could not be forfeited by their abuses. Though the chancellor, however, may be excufable where he appears to have acted from a wrong biafs of judgment, yet he is unpardonable in fome inftances, where he feems to have erred with his eyes open. Of this nature is his conduct with regard to the fale of Dunkirk. He profefies to have been extremely averfe to that meafure, in a conference with the lord treasurer on that fubject; but when it was debated before the fecret committee, though he does no where declare himself fatisfied with the reafons given for parting with it, yet we do not find that he faid a word in oppofition to the fale. Neither, when it was afterwards difcuffed before the privy council, does it appear that he uttered a fyllable against it on the contrary he tells us, that the Earl of St. Alban's was the only man who oppofed it; and that his oppofition did not proceed from public confiderations. A fhameful unanimity, in favour of fuch a fcandalous propofal * ! The chancellor is likewife altogether inexcufable, in having affixed the great feal to the grant appointing Lord Ashley treasurer of the prize-money, and exempting him from accounting into the Exchequer: a grant, which, from the chancellor's own confeflion, was without precedent; in many particulars not only deftructive to the king's fervice, but to the rights of other men; and laftly, fubverfive of the law of the land, which makes all receivers of the revenue accountable in the Exchequer. After thefe ftrong and just objections of his own creating, with what grace could he suffer fuch a grant to pass the feal; and to what end can he plead the king's pofitive order for that purpofe? Can fovereign commands countenance fupreme injuftice? Ought he not rå It appears alfo,. from the evidence of the Count D'Eftrades, who negotiated that bufinefs here, that Lord Clarendon was the most active man in it, and made a great merit of his fervices, in that refrect, to the French king. ther ther to have acted like one of his late fucceffors, of glorious memory, who nobly refufed to obey the royal mandate, in oppofition to his confcience, and the law of the land? Had Clarendon been deprived of the feal on account of fuch a refufal, he would then have loft it gloriously, and prevented the difgrace which enfued. In the courfe of this article we may have occafion to enlarge further on fuch particulars. We only mention them flightly for the prefent, to warrant the free cenfure which we have paffed on fo celebrated, and, in many circumftances, fo refpectable a character. We do not endeavour to depreciate, nor prefume to determine his real worth: we only mean, by producing inconteftible facts against indifcriminate panegyric, to enable the reader to decide with juftice. That the chancellor had great abilities, and practifed many amiable, ufeful, and exemplary virtues, is not to be denied; but we cannot difcover in him that confiftency of conduct, that noble and confcientious pertinacity, which conftitutes the truly great and magnanimous character. But to proceed to the history. Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, was born at Dinton in the county of Wilts, in the house of his father, who was Henry Hyde, the third fon of Laurence Hyde, whofe pedigree is traced from beyond the conqueft. Edward, being a younger brother, was fent to Oxford, in expectation of being chofen Demy of Magdalen-College: but Henry, his elder brother, dying, and his father having then no other fon, changed his former inclination, and refolved to 'fend Edward to the Inns of Court. He was accordingly entered in the Middle Temple, and foon after took the degree of batchelor of arts, and then left the univerfity, as he fays, rather with the opinion of a young man of parts and pregnancy of wit, than that he had improved it much by industry. In a fhort time he married the daughter of Sir George Ayliffe, who died in less than fix months, leaving him inconfolable for her lofs. After a widowhood of three years, however, he married the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Bart. mafter of the requests to the king, by whom he had many children. He now began to apply himself seriously to his profeffion, in which he met with uncommon fuccefs, quickly acquiring the moft extenfive practice: and by means of a fuit, wherein he was of council with fome merchants in relation to cuftom-houfe duties, he gained an introduction to archbishop Laud, which was the foundation of his future. greatness. His His application to the law, however, did not hinder him from indulging in focial recreation, in which he greatly delighted. His companions, in the hours of feftivity, were Ben. Johnfon, John Selden, Charles Cotton, John Vaughan, Sir Kenelm Digby, Thomas May, and Thomas Carew. But his more intimate friends were Sir Lucius Carey, eldest fon to the Lord Viscount Falkland, Lord Deputy of Ireland; Sir Francis Wenman of Oxfordshire; Sidney Godolphin of Godolphin in Cornwall; Edmund Waller of Beaconsfield; Dr. Gilbert Sheldon; Dr. George Morley; Dr. John Earles; Mr. John Hales of Eton; and Mr. William Chillingworth. T He has characterized all thefe eminent perfonages with that pcculiar ftrength and fpirit, which, in the opinion of many, conftitutes the chief excellence of his compofition. As we have not room to prefent the reader with the picture of each as here drawn from the life, we must be content to exhibit fuch as we deem moft obfervable among this diftinguished groupe; beginning with Ben. Johnfon. Ben Johnfon's name can never be forgotten, having by his very good learning, and the feverity of his nature and manners, very much reformed the ftage; and indeed the English poetry itself. His natural advantages were judgment to order and govern fancy, rather than excefs of fancy, his productions being flow and upon deliberation, yet then abounding with great wit and fancy, and will live accordingly; and furely as he did exceedingly exalt the English language in eloquence, propriety, and mafculine expreffions; fo he was the beft judge of, and fitteft to prescribe rules to poetry and poets, of any man who had lived with, or before him, or fince: if Mr. Cowley had not made a fight beyond all men, with that modefty yet, to afcribe much of this, to the example and learning of Ben. Johnson. His converfation was very good, and with the men of most note; and he had for many years an extraordinary kindness for Mr. Hyde, till he found he betook himfelf to bufinefs, which he believed ought never to be preferred before his company. He lived to be very old, and till the palfy made a deep impreffion upon his body, and his mind. Mr. Selden was a perfon, whom no character can flatter, or tranfmit in any expreffions equal to his merit and virtue. He was of fo ftupendous learning in all kinds, and in all languages (as may appear in his excellent and tranfcendent writings) that a man would have thought he had been entirely converfant amongit books, and had never spent an • hour hour but in reading and writing; yet his humanity, courtefy, and affability was fuch, that he would have been thought to have been bred in the beft courts, but that his < good nature, charity, and delight in doing good, and in communicating all he knew, exceeded that breeding. His • ftile in all his writings feems harfh and fometimes obfcure; which is hot wholly to be imputed to the abftrufe fubject of which he commonly treated, out of the paths trod by other men; but to a little undervaluing the beauty of a ftile, and too much propenfity to the language of antiquity; but in his <converfation he was the moft clear difcourfer, and had the beft faculty in making hard things eafy, and prefenting them to the understanding, of any man that hath been known. Mr. Hyde was wont to fay, that he valued himfelf upon nothing more than upon having had Mr. Selden's acquaintance from the time he was very young; and held. it with great delight as long as they were fuffered to continue together in London; and he was very much troubled always when he heard him blamed, cenfured, and reproached, for staying in London, and in the parliament, after they were in rebellion, and in the worst times, which his age obliged him to do; and how wicked foever the actions were, which were every day done, he was confident • he had not given his confent to them; but would have hin⚫dered them if he could, with his own fafety, to which he was always enough indulgent. If he had fome infirmities with other men, they were weighed down with wonderful and prodigious abilities and excellencies in the other scale.' Sir Kenelm Digby was a perfon very eminent and notorious throughout the whole courfe of his life, from his cradle to his grave; of an ancient family and noble extraction; and inherited a fair and plentiful fortune, notwithstanding the attainder of his father. He was a man of a very extra⚫ ordinary person and prefence, which drew the eyes of all men upon him, which were more fixed by a wonderful. graceful behaviour, a flowing courtesy and civility, and fuch a volubility of language, as furprized and delighted; and though in another man it might have appeared to have fomewhat of affectation, it was marvelous graceful in him, and feemed natural to his fize, and mould of his perfon, to the gravity of his motion, and the tune of his voice and delivery. He had a fair reputation in arms, of which he gave an early teftimony in his youth, in fome encounters in Spain, and Italy, and afterwards in an action in the Mediterranean fea, where he had the command of a squadron of fhips of war, fet out at his own charge under the king's • commiffion; 8 ⚫ commiffion; with which, upon an injury received, or ap-, prehended from the Venetians, he encountered their whole • fleet, killed many of their men, and funk one of their galeaffes; which in that drowfy and unactive time, was, looked upon with a general effimation, though the crown, difavowed it. In a word, he had all the advantages that nature, and art, and an excellent education could give him; which, with a great confidence and prefentnefs of mind, buoyed him up against all thofe prejudices, and difadvantages, (as the attainder, and execution of his father, for a crime of the highest nature; his own marriage with a. lady, though of an extraordinary beauty, of as extraordi-, nary a fame; his changing, and re-changing his religion; and fome perfonal vices, and licenfes in his life) which. would have fuppreffed and funk any other man, but never, clouded or eclipfed him, from appearing in the best places, and the best company, and with the beft eftimation and fatisfaction. 6 • Thomas May was the eldest fon of his father, a knight, and born to a fortune, if his father had not spent it; fo that he had only an annuity left him, not proportionable to a liberal education; yet fince his fortune could not raise his mind, he brought his mind down to his fortune, by a great modefty and humility in his nature, which was not affected, but very well became an imperfection in his fpeech, which was a great mortification to him, and kept him from entering upon any difcourfe but in the company of his very < friends. His parts of nature, and art were very good, as appears by his tranflation of Lucan (none of the eafieft work of that kind) and more by his fupplement to Lucan, which being entirely his own, for the learning, the wit, and the language, may be well looked upon as one of the best epic poems in the English language. He writ fome other commendable pieces, of the reign of fome of our kings. He was cherithed by many perfons of honour, and very accepta-, ble in all places; yet (to fhew that pride and envy have their influences upon the narroweft minds, and which have the greatest semblance of humility) though he had received much countenance, and a very confiderable donative from the king; upon his majefty's refufing to give him a small penfion, which he had defigned and promifed to another very ingenious perfon, whofe qualities he thought inferior to his 6 own; he fell from his duty, and all his former friends; and • proftituted himself to the vile office of celebrating the infa6 mous acts of thofe who were in rebellion against the king; which he did fo meanly, that he feemed to all men to have < |