royal word was pledged, and that bargain Mr. Huffey faid, he had fcarce everought, in his mind, to be kept. The heard the rt. hon. Sec. with fo little conclaufe, being formally moved, was agreed viction as at prefent. He infified, that to without a divifion. It being late, the A no placeman whatever had a right to committee broke up. The chairman carve out a freehold from the yearly was directed to report progress, and afk grants of the public. leave to fit again. July 7. The House refolved itfelf into committe on the bill for fupporting the credit of the E. I. Company. Mr. Jackson thought it neither decent B nor proper that, when the Company's affairs flood in need of affittance from the public, the proprietors fhould divide 4 per cent. every half year. He there fore moved, that the Christmas dividend fhould be 3 inftead of 4 per cent. The motion, however, after long de bate, was negatived, and the bill with fome amendments paffed. July 8. The Houfe in a committee on the bill for appointing commiffioners to enquire into the claims of the loyalifts. Lord 7. Cavendish moved, to have the blanks for the coramiffioners names filled up, among whom were the names of Mr. Coke, Mr. Wilmot, Mr. Roberts, Sir T. Dundas, &c. which were agreed to. Sir Ad. Ferguson earnestly recomCmended to the commiffioners the cafe of a Mr. M'Knight, who, having fitted out a fhip to carry relief to the King's troops and friends in America, had her condemned under the prohibitory act. Sir Henry Fletcher opposed the motion, as injurious to the Company's credit. He faid, there were 69 fhips in all belonging to the Company expected home in the courfe of the prefent or the next year, whofe cargoes would be very little thort of 11,000,000l. So that, from this state of the Company's affairs, he faw no neceffity for lowering the dividend. Mr. Jack fon's motion was therefore negatived D without a divifion. F Mr. Wilmot faid, the cafe of Mr. Mr. Grenville feconded the motion. Mr. W. Pitt inoved to addrefs his MaThe Houfe then refumed the further jefty on the fums paid to fub-accountants confideration of the bill for regulating the for public fervices, amounting in the fees of officers in the Exchequer; when whole to 44,500,000l. and not yet acMr. Rigby took occafion to revive the counted for before the auditors of the debate relative to the promise to Lord impreft; and humbly to befecch his MaThurlow, of a tellerfhip in the Exche-jefty, to give directions that the most efquer, by moving a new claufe, That Efectual meafures may be taken to compel nothing in the bill now before the House the perfons to whom fuch fums have been fhould extend to the grant of the teller- iffued, to account for the fame; and fhip of the Exchequer which his Majefty that the Houfe will co-operate in fuch had been pleafed to promife to Edward measures as may appear proper, in order Ld Thurlow when he accepted of the to prevent the like delays for the future. office of Chancellor of Great Britain. He moved, at the fame time, that the claufe, as now ftrnding in the bill, be rejected. This brought on a long uninterefting debate, except to the parties concerned, which terminated in rejecting the claufe. Mr. Pulteney rofe, and moved for leave to bring up a clause to regulate the fees of the officers of the Exchequer in time of war. This, he faid, he did on the fuggeftion of the report of the commif. fioners of accounts, who had recommended the reduction of thofe fees as an object worthy the attention of Parliament. He inftanced a charge of 30,000l. paid in fees at the Exchequer on the itiu-H ing out of one fum of money only. Mr. Fox oppofed the motion, declaring he would not touch places that had been confidered as freeholds, and negotiated as perfonal property. Sir Grey Cooper entered into an explanation. He faid, there were inftances where perfons who had received public money food debtors for 50,000l. in the Treafury books, who, notwithstanding, upon the auditors ftatement had claims for balances due to them. He did not deny but large fums were unaccounted for; and therefore, upon the whole, he did not object to the propriety of the addrefs. Mr. Frazer was for no fpecific fum being mentioned in the addreís. And Gen. Smith was precifely of the raine opinion. The addrefs with tome amendments was carried without a divifion. July 16. The Houfe attended the Crown in the Houfe of Peers, when his Majefty clofed the feffion with a moft gracious fpeech. Sec p. 625. MR. I MR. URBAN, Dec. 10. Though I fhould fail to pleafe the author of this criticifm fo emphatically as Mr. Whitaker, in his Hiftory of Manchefter, has done; yet, I hope, he will treat with no " undue afperity" my adducing the opinion of Dr. Doddridge, a Diffenter, on the occafion. Speaking of old divines, he ventures to aver; "I must needs fay, that I look upon the generality of modern divines as but little people, when compared with most of them." Beg leave to correct Mr. Bickerstaffe (Mag. for October, p. 811) concerning Mr. Lettice (not Lettuce). The Rev. John Lettice, B. D. was chaplain (not to Sir Wm. Hamilton, but) to Sir Robert Gunning, envoy or refident at Copenhagen; and fince that has been tutor to Wm. Beckford, Efq; fon of the famous Alderman: he is now fenior fellow of Sidney Suffex Coll. Camb. As your Magazine is a valuable repofitory of biographical anecdotes, I an folicitous that it fhould be exact; otherwife I should not have ventured to fay any thing of a living character. Though I cannot find the word, yet I have no doubt but that Goddes-good is fynonymous with yeft and barm, Beergood being ftill the name for it among the common people in Suffolk. See p. 926. To what you have faid in your obituary for laft month of Mr. Whiffon, you may add, that he was for many years one of the moft diftinguifhed characters in the univerfity of Cambridge; highly useful both as tutor and burfar of his large and opulent college; confulted and looked up to by moft perfons in difficult occurrences, both public and private, for his abilities and integrity. He declined every opportunity that offered of being called forth into public life; and when an ill ftate of health had at length compelled him to give up thofe offices, which he had discharged fo much to the honour and advantage of his college, he intended retiring to St. Neots, under the care of his fifters; but death prevented him. P. B. C. If the moral tendency of the following conceit fhould or fhould not have intereft enough to engage your approbation, difpofe of it at your pleature: Query, Why are the laws against fabbath-breaking, drunkennefs, adultery, profane curfing and fwearing, like a mifer's treafure? Anfwer, Because they are never, or but fparingly, made ufe of. In Sept. Mag. p. 733, you have erroncoufly given the Epitaph and Anagram to St. Martin's instead of St. Margaret's church, where a relation of the deccafed on the floor, near the tablet which contains them, is taught to egotize thus in climax: "Formâ magnus, nomine major, maximus jure." Permit me to offer you another inflance of an eloquent defunct, from an elegant engraving on brats, faved from a decaying tomb, in the chancel of Aylefton near Leicefter, over a rector, dated 1594. "Ia obitum pientiffimi viri GUILIELMI HEATHCOT, Avunculi et patroni fui colendiflimi J. H. Si natale folum quæras; en, quæ tibi fummis Ad cælum affurgit Derbia verticibus; Illa mihi prima indulfit fpiramina vitæ, Communi præbens in patrià pairiam. Natus ibi, hic vixi; hic dudum vixiffe fatetur Geus inopum, et luget me male cinéta cohors. Hic vixi, fobolis fraternæ educator et altor. fle dedit viam, viétum ego munifice. Ille dedn fp rare luis, ego protinus auxi Et manibus fovi v.fuera nata meis. Nec tamen exorata mihi mors, mors pietatera Si feriat, quantum fæviet in reprobus ?" N. B. It is not John Balve, but John Balue, p. 920 in your latt. When a thing not only fails to anfwer the end propofed, but operates commonly on the contrary, the fooner it is laid aide or changed the better. Is not this the language of reafon, the dice tate of common fenie? The obfervance or wakes, and keeping the holidays, feem to be able to this cenfure, when we confider the riot and excels, not religieus regard, which, with few few exceptions, ufually prevail on thefe occafions, and the expence of time and money; it seems advifeable, if we be long to the established church of England, not to continue a fcandal to other Reformed churches, much less to the church of Rome, by our open licentioufnefs at these times; as he too has her feafts and holidays. The parishes in Leicefter have long difcontinued the cuftom of keeping the dedication of their churches; which, as conducted in our days, feems rather an imitation of the honours paid to heathen temples, and their intemperate and obfcene deities, than to a God of Purity, who has awfully pronounced, that without holiness no man fhall fee the Lord." Abi viator, et fac fedulo Ut ibidem bonus ipfe tunc appareas.” Dr. Fofter was the fon of a tradefman of this place; the propinquity of it to Eton was fortunately for him the motive for fending him to Eton college for his education, where, at a very early age, he manifefted great abilities, and, in an uncommon manner, baffled all the hardships which other boys in their progrefs tually encounter. He however had two confiderable advantages; the firit, being received as a pupil by the late Rev. Septimius Plumptre, then one of the aflitants; and the fecond, that he was noticed by the reverend and very learned Dr. John Burton, vicepravoft of Eton; by the abilities of the former in the Greek language, and of the latter in the Hebrew, Mr. Fofter profited exceedingly. It was a matter highly pleafing to them, that they did not throw their feed on a barren foil; whatever inftruction he received, he cultivated inceffantly; and it is but juftice to add, he in a great meafure excelled his contemporaries. His learning and his fobriety recommended him to many friends while he continued at Eton, which was till 1748, when he was eleted at King's College in Cambridge; a college to which, as Mr. Pote obferves in his advertifement to his "Regiftrum Regale," Eton annually fendeth forth her ripe fruit. Mr. Fofter here improved himself under the late provost Dr. Wm. George, a Grecian and a fcholar. At the expiration of three years he there (as ufual) became a fellow, and fhortly afterwards was fent for to Eton by the late Dr. Edw. Barnard, to be one of his affiftants. Great honour was fure to attend Mr. Fofter by this fummons, for no man diftinguished better, or could form a ftronger judgement, of his abilities and capacity than Dr. Barnard; and fuch was his attention to the fchool, that he made it his primary confideration, that it should be fupplied with alliftants the mott capable and the moft deferving. Dr. Barnard not only chofe with judgement, but managed with delicacy. There was a pleafantry in his convertation, which led to the point, and rendered the deteftable practice of flagellation almost unneceifary. of his fcholars in a moft peculiar manDr. Barnard could rally the affections ner. He excited love, and he could imBoys that would have been hardened by prefs fear, with wonderful management. the infliction of punishment cringed from his rebuke; the fmarts would wear off, but his reprobation never could. The fons of the firft nobility were committed to his care, who afterwards made the greatest figure in the world: by a mere knowledge of the claffics they could not have done fo; but the Doctor, in their carly days, worked upon their feelings. There was a dignity in his manner, a certain greatnefs in his mode, which excited, whilft it inftilled, the principles of a gentleman. It is to be obferved, Dr. Barnaid had not ploughed through the inferior offices of aliftant and under-mafter; he came at once fresh to the bufinefs, and, delighted with the fituation, his mind was given to the duties of his office; he worked by per fuafion, and he certainly had a great acquaintance acquaintance with men and manners. The little diftractions which difturb the school now and then, were less frequent in his time than fince; he reftrained the rebellious ardour by fuch a ftrain of nervous eloquence, as defeated it at its dawn; in fhort, few mafters, except the great Dr. Snape, exceeded him in politenefs, in management, in delicacy, or in attention. At the refignation of this great mafter, which happened Oct. 25, 1765, being chofen provoft on the death of Dr. Sleech, he exerted his whole intereft for Dr. Fofter to fucceed him in the mafterfhip, and by his weight in the college he carried his point. But it did not prove fortunate for his fucceffor, or for the feminary; the temper, the manner, the perfuafion, the politenefs, the knowledge of the world, which Dr. Barnard fo eminently displayed, did not appear in his fucceffor. His learning justly entitled him; but learning is not the fole ingredient to conftitute the mafter of fuch a school; more, much more, is required. And Dr. Fofter appeared to a greater difadvantage, immediately fucceeding fo great a man. Nor could he long fupport himself in his fituation; his paffions undermined his health, and, notwithstanding his abilities as a fcholar, his government was defective, his authority infufficient, and he judged it beft to refign, that he might not deftroy a fabric which he found himself unequal to fupport. He wifely chofe to withdraw himself rather than to fuffer a foundation to which he was under to great obligations to be ruined. Dr. Fofter however did not retire unrewarded; his Majefty, on the death of Dr. Sumner in 1772, beftowed on him a canonry of Windfor. But this he did not long enjoy; his health carried him to the German Spa, where he died in September the year following; and where his remains were intei red, but afterwards removed to Windfor, and were re-depofited near thofe of his father, who had been mayor of the corporation. Dr. Fofter published "An Essay on the different Nature of Accent and Quantity, with their Ufe and Application in the Pronunciation of the English, Latin, and Greek Languages: Containing, an Account and Explanation of the Ancient Tones, and a Defence of the prefent Syftem of Greek Accentual Marks, against the Objections of Ifaac Voffius, Henninius Sarpedonius, Dr. Gally, and others." This learned Ef fay fufficiently exalted his character as a fcholar: it was printed for Mr. Pote in 1762. Divers exercises of the Doctor's are extant in MS. which alfo do him peculiar honour. MR. URBAN, WHEN a man dies who has diftin guished himself by his abilities, it is ufual to offer incenfe at his fhrine, compofed of the richest perfumes, carefully avoiding to intermix any thing, the fcent of which may not be grateful to his friends or to his family; but if this is always done, from whence is the future hiftorian to draw the true character? Let him, Mr. Urban, draw it from your repofitory; be it yours to ftrip hypocrify of its difguife, nor fear to give the real character of a judge who fhall difpenfe his own opinions inftead of law; of a prelate who fhall difgrace religion by his vices; or of one who shall affume the fair face of a patriot, only to further his own ambitious views. Do you, Mr. Urban, take on you the office of an embalmer; if in embowelling you find the heart found, beftow the choiceft fpices, preferve it as a noble example for pofterity; but if you find that tainted, throw afide the carcafe, and let the worms feed fweetly on it. I mean not to bring forth to public view the private frailties of human nature; we all want a friendly veil in fome refpe&t; and where thofe frailties do not concern the public, let that veil be drawn. But if ever those frailties do concern the public, they ought to be expofed. I readily allow (what indeed every one muft allow) that in your character of the late Mr. Dunning, p. 717, you have not gone beyond the truth, when you fpeak of his perfpicuity, his ingenuity, his language, his wit, and his fteadiness to his party. Would he had been equally steady to the caufe of the public! But if the man, who, ftanding foremoft in complaints of the increased and increafing influence of the crown, in painting the abufes of finecure places and penfions, and the inability of the country to fupport fuch extravagance ; if fuch a man, having driven out the rcputed author or continuator of fuch deftructive meafures, thall be the first to accept a finecure place, a place particularly pointed out as ufelcfs, burthenfome; nay, to ftipulate for a large penfion to be annexed beyond the ufual falary; if fuch was Mr. Dunning (and the AUGUSTUS EARL OF BRISTOL. "Haud dubiè illa ætate nemo unus erat vir "quo magis innixa res noftra ftaret." Liv. "The active zeal and diligent affidui ty with which the Earl of Bristol ferved [in the navy], had for fome years impaired a conftitution, naturally ftrong, by expofing it to the unwholesomeness of a variety of climates, and the infirmities incident to conftant fatigue of body and anxiety of mind. His family, his friends, his profeffion, and his country, loft him in the fifty-fixth year of his age. "The detail of the merits of fuch a man cannot be uninterefting, either to the profeffion he adorned, or the country which he ferved; and the remembrance of his virtues must be pleafing to those who were honoured with his efteem. As every hour, and every fituation of his life, afforded fresh opportunities for the exercife of fuch virtues, they were best known to those who faw hini moft; but, however ftrong and perfect their impreffion, they can be but inadequately defcribed by one who long enjoyed the happiness of his friendship, and advantage of his example, and muft ever lament the privation of his fociety. "He engaged in the fea fervice before he was ten years old. The quick nefs of his parts, the decifion of his temper, the excellence of his understanding, the activity of his mind, the eagerness of his ambition, his indefatigable induftry, his unremitting diligence, his correct and extenfive ineinory, his ready and accurate judgement, the promptitude, clearness, and arrangement with which his ideas were formed, and the happy perfpicuity with which they were expretted, were advantages peculiar to himself. His early education under Captain William Hervey and Admiral Byng (two of the best officers of their time), with his conftant employment in actual fervice, from his firft going to fea till the clofe of the laft war, had furnished ample matter for experience, from which his penetrating genius and juft obfervation had deduced that extenfive and fyftematic knowledge of minute circumftances and important principles which is neceffary to form an expert feaman and a fhining officer. With the most confummate profeffional skill, he poffeffed the most perfect courage that ever fortified a heart, or brightened a character; he loved enterprize, he was cool in danger, collected in diftrefs, decided in difficulties, ready and judicious in his expedients, and perfevering in his determinations; his orders, in the most critical fituations, and for the moft various objects, were delivered with a firmnefs and precision which fpake a confidence in their propriety, and facility in their execution; that enfured a prompt and fuccefsful obedience in thofe to whom they were addressed. "Such was his character as an officer, which made him defervedly confpicuous in a profeflion, as honourable to the individual, as important to the publick. Nor was he without thofe qualifications and abilities which could give full weight to the fituation in which his rank and connections had placed him in civil life. His early entrance into his profeffion had indeed deprived him of the advantages of a claffical education. This defect was, however, more than balanced by the lefs ornamental, but more folid, inftruction of the school he studied in. As a member of parliament, he was an eloquent, though not a correct fpeaker; thofe who differed from him in politicks confeffed the extent of his knowledge, the variety of his information, and the force of his reafoning, at the fame time that they admired the ingenuity with which he applied them to the fupport of his opinions. "He was not more eminent for thofe talents by which a country is ferved, than diftinguished by thote qualities which render a man ufetul, refpected, efteemed, and beloved in fociety. In the general intercourfe of the world, he was an accomplished gentleman and an agreeable companion; - his manners were noble as his birth, and engaging as |