pikes were the least numerous. Next, stopping under any hedge, where he saw grass for his horse, and a little water for himself, he would sit down and refresh himself and his animal. From his seat at Marcham, in Berkshire, he went to reside at the mansion-house of his late uncle, at Stoke, in Suffolk. Here he first began to keep fox-hounds; and his stable of hunters, at that time, was said to be the best in the kingdom. This was the only instance, in his whole life, of his sacrificing money to pleasure; but even here every thing was conducted with the utmost parsimony. Mr. Elwes had an equal aversion to an inn on the road, and an apothecary's bill; therefore, when he once received a dangerous kick from one of his horses, nothing could prevail on him to have any assistance. He rode the chase through, with his leg cut to the bone; and it was not till some days afterwards, when it was feared amputation would be necessary, that he consented to repair to London, and part with a few guineas for advice. Though he made frequent excursions to Newmarket, he never engaged on the turf. A kindness, however, which he performed there merits notice. Lord Abingdon, who was slightly known to Mr. Elwes in Berkshire, had made a match for 7000l. which it was supposed he would be obliged to forfeit, from an inability to produce the sum, though the odds were greatly in his favour. Mr. Elwes, unsolicited, made him an offer of the money, which he accepted, and won the engagement. On the day this match was to be run, a clergy

man had agreed to accompany Mr. Elwes to see the fate of it. Imagining they were to breakfast at Newmarket, the gentleman took no refreshment. After the bet was decided, Mr. Elwes still continued to ride about till the hour of four, at which time his reverence grew so impatient that he mentioned something of the keen air of Newmarket heath, and the comforts of a good dinner. "Very true," replied Elwes, "so here do as I do;" offering him at the same time, from his greatcoat pocket, a piece of old crushed pancake, which he had brought from Marcham two months before, but, that it was as good as new." As Mr. Elwes knew little of accounts, and never reduced his affairs to writing, he was obliged, in the disposal of his money, to trust much to his memory, and still more to the suggestions of other people. Hence he supplied every person who had a want or scheme, with an apparent high interest, whether the projector was knavish or honest. Hence are to be reckoned, visions of distant property in America, phantoms of annuities on lives that could never pay, &c. by which he is supposed, in the course of his life, to have lost about 150,000l. Mr. Elwes, from his father, Mr. Meggot, had inherited some property in houses in London: to this property he added greatly by building. Great part of Mary bone soon called him her founder. Portland-place, and Portland-square, the riding-houses and stables of the Life Guards, and houses too numerous to be mentioned, all rose out of his pocket. He had resided about

thirteen

thirteen years in Suffolk, when, on the dissolution of parliament, he was chosen for Berkshire, having been proposed by Lord Craven. He did not object to the nomination, as he was to be brought in for nothing. All his expence consisted in his dining at the ordinary at Reading, and he got into parliament for about eighteen pence! He now returned to his seat at Marcham, relinquished his hounds, and distributed them among some farmers. He was approaching the sixtieth year of his age when he thus entered upon public life, In three successive parliaments he was chosen for Berkshire, and sat about twelve years in the house. To his honour be it said, that, in every vote he gave, he proved himself to be an independent country gentleman, wishing neither post nor rank, wanting no emolument, and being perfectly conscientious. When Mr. Elwes quitted parliament, he was, in the familiar phrase, "a fish out of water." He had for some years been a member of a card-club, at the Mount Coffee-house, and, by a constant attendance on this meeting, he consoled himself for the loss of his seat. The play was moderate, and he enjoyed the fire and candle at a general expence. Still, however, he retained some fondness for play, and he imagined that he had a thorough knowledge of picquet. It was his misfortune to meet with a gentleman who thought the same of himself, and on much better grounds; for, after a contest of two days and a night, Mr. Elwes rose the loser of three thousand pounds; which was paid by a draught on

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Messrs.

Messrs. Hoares. This was the last folly of the kind that he was guilty of. At length he retired to his seat at Stoke, where no gleam of favourite passion, or any ray of amusement, broke through the gloom of penury. His insa

tiable desire of saving was become uniform and systematic. He still rode about the country on an old brood mare, but he rode her very œconomically on the turf adjoining the road, without putting himself to the expence of shoes. In the advance of the season, his morning employment was to pick up chips, sticks, or bones, and put them in his pocket to carry to the fire. During the harvest, he would amuse himself with going into the fields to glean the corn on the grounds of his own tenants. When he had his river drawn, though sometimes horse-loads of small fish were taken, not one would he suffer to be thrown in again. Game, in the last state of putrefaction, would he continue to eat. In short, whatever Cervantes or Moliere have pictured, in their most sportive moods, of avarice in the extreme, was realized or surpassed by Mr. Elwes, though then supposed to he possessed of about a million. The eighteenth of November, 1789, closed the life of this extraordinary man, who left by will (of property and estates not entailed), the sum of 500,0001. to his two natural sons, George and John Elwes. EPICTETUS, an antient stoic philosopher, born at Hierapolis, in Phrygia. He was the slave of Epaphroditus, and the freedman of Nero; but how he obtained his liberty does not ap

pear.

pear. When Domitian banished the philosophers from Rome, Epictetus went to Nicopolis, but returned on the death of that tyrant, and was much esteemed by Adrian and Marcus Aurelius. Preferring poverty to riches, he lived in a small cottage, without even a door, and no other furniture than an earthen lamp, which sold after his death for a sum equal to a hundred pounds sterling. Lucian ridicules the purchaser of this curious utensil, as hoping to acquire the wisdom of the former owner by studying over it. No authentic account is extant of the birth or death of Epictetus, except that he was born near the conclusion of Nero's reign. In his cottage he wrote his Enchiridion, or Compendium of the Stoic Philosophy. It abounds in the purest maxims of morality, expressed with energy and plainness. We are indebted to Mrs. Carter for a good translation of it into English.

EURIPIDES, a Grecian tragic poet, born in the isle of Salamis, in the first year of the 75th Olympiad, or 480 years before CHRIST. He studied at Athens, under Anaxagoras and Prodicus. He wrote a great many tragedies, which were highly esteemed in his life time, and are to the present period. He left Athens in disgust, and repaired to the court of Archelaus, king of Macedonia, where his life was terminated by a most extraordinary accident. Walking pensively in a wood, as was his custom, he was attacked by the hounds of Archelaus, and torn to pieces. This happened in his 75th year. His death was so much lamented, that