H. But thy two Yorkes will swear that shame is lost,
If thou canst jeer at legal wisdom's cost,

Which their own Parent, studious of his art,
Was born, for Britain's welfare, to impart;
Which Charles the Barrister in sable vest
Has proudly to his midnight lamp address'd,
With hast'ning speed his model to revive,
And at the same pre-eminence arrive ;---
So would thy Philip, if the elder-born
Could have rejected Amalthea's horn.

He, for the Senate's trust,-a Senate's pride—
Through civic storms the vessel is to guide;
In the young Statesman wreaths of age have crown'd
His calm discernment, and his thought profound.
Thou little know'st the value of the Laws.
W. Thou little know'st, but I avenge his cause,
The value of a RUM:-H. I only ask

If a book 's worthy of a reader's task. `
W. This, my dear friend, though others may pursue,
You know, has nothing with a RUM to do.
H. But for yourself alone your feast you buy,
You have no visitors,-no guest am I.

W. Wouldst thou a man that's form'd like me persuade
My books to shew in Brindley's* cost array'd,
Bound, gilt, and letter'd, for a birth-day suit,
With splendour my possession to commute;
Which thou, attracted by the robes they wear,
Shouldst prompt thy pilfering hands at home to share;
Till one by one the sun-beams melt away?

No, let my volumes be no HARDINGE'S prey!

* A celebrated bookseller in Bond-street, famous in his day for books elegantly bound.

Hence

Hence all profane! ye giddy hands desist,

Nor let me lose what never may be miss'd. II. What, are the walls, then, to engross the load, Which thy Jew-brokers have on thee bestow'd? W. Not in my secret are thy jest, and thou;

For though, to keep some rash, but plighted vow,
Yorke's playful inmate, or thy laughing guest,
The Nymphs in me their Comus have address'd,
I have these chaster pleasures in reserve,
And with a faithful heart their smile deserve.
Oft in St. James's Square*, or Saville-row †,
When rooms are full of eye-traps for a beau,
When boys and girls around my path coquette,
And cards all other intellect forget,
From tea my feign'd allegiance I remove,
And my insulted feelings thus reprove.
"O RUM! dear passion; when shall I again
Be an associate of thy soothing train?
When, seated in my hack, to thee return,
With no degrading appetites to burn?"

H. I've seen it, and have mark'd the silent prayer;
Have seen thee when, of Coaches in despair,
Thy restless hands were cross'd upon thy head,
And the deep oath was ling'ring on its bed.
W. Alas! thy hints renew impassion'd grief;
Nor coach nor chair at hand for my relief,
I sneak away on foot, and when at home,
Swear, that abroad I never more will roam :
I bid my boy repair the coal asleep;
To cap, and slippers with impatience leap:
A Bachelor's neat perquisites are these,
That with a gentle indolence can please.
* Where Lord Hardwicke (then Mr. Yorke) lived.
+ Where my father lived.

Then

Then I look round me, with a hope to find
A book that never shall be undermin'd,
Which to no pedant shall its wealth reveal,
But from whose page I now and then can steal
A lively thought, and sparkling repartee,

Which all who hear me shall ascribe to me.

When Mr. WRAY became a resident generally in town, he lodged at the house of Arthur Pond, the famous Painter and Collector of curiosities, inGreat Queen Street, Lincoln's- Inn-Fields. Mr. Pond had a picture of the celebrated Warburton, to whom WRAY could not be partial, as being a friend of Edwards, who had ridiculed him with immortal wit, (and had been lashed by him with so coarse a whip, that, for the honour of his memory, one could wish it might be forgotten.)-He used to relate, in his laughing manner, that a dog of Mr. Pond, uninformed by him, never passed this picture without lifting up his tail! though he respected the other portraits.

The Yorkes were fond of Mr. Edwards, and they were admirers of his antagonist. Mr. WRAY banters his friend upon this duplicity of attachment with his accustomed archness, and good humour

"I could not help reflecting how adroitly you "two Brothers managed the two contending Wits. "Edwards indulges on venison at Wrest, while "Warburton is entertained with whitings at "Lincoln's Inn. Whichever side prevails, your "family are secure; nor is the difference of the fare "neglected; just in proportion to the respective "merits of the Canons' and of the Dunciad notes'." In 1745 Mr. Yorke, as Teller of the Exchequer, appointed Mr. WRAY his Deputy Teller, and he continued in that laborious office till 1782. Here was a new theatre of his talents; and one should little have conceived, that a man of brilliant wit, of lively manners, a Philosopher, a deep Scholar, and a man of Science, would have made a figure in that niche.

But

But it is agreed by all who were conversant with him there, that his order, his method, and rule, his luminous precision, his acute memory, his diligence, his readiness, temper, command of the accompts, in a word, his possession of all that was required of him, were unexampled. We must not here forget the energy, and spirit of his mind, oppressed in vain by incessant complaints upon his breath, and fits of asthma which threatened his life. His letter of thanks to his Patron appears to me a perfect model of its kind, and that kind one of the best. It is manly, and affectionate, gracefully polished, and playfully natural :-I cannot suppress it.

66

66

"You will probably, dear Sir, knit your brows, "and will turn up your nose at a direction in my hand, who was never good at a news-book, and, in my recent attention to Exchequer business, must "be unqualified the more to give you any informa"tion. But I don't mean to inform you: 1 mean "to thank you.-An event of such consequence to "me, so unexpected, and sudden, besides the hurry "of settling myself in the office, kept me in such a

perpetual agitation of spirits, that every part of "this transaction appeared like a phantasma, or "delicious dream* I was in the condition of the "Sultan just lifting his head out of the water; nor "could I, for the soul of me, conceive, how such a "multitude of things could have happened in six "little days, or that my situation could have been "altered from all it was, or thought it should ever be, "a week before. But, now that I am seated in your deputed throne, and have snuffed up the cœlum "Aventinum, the sober air of the Exchequer, I "have returned in some degree to my senses; and "the more I consider your favour, the more I turn "it over in all its lights, the more heightened is the "obligation. In this age, corrupt as it is called,

* This happily varied line of Shakespeare in the original stands thus: "like a phantasma, or a hideous dream."

"and

" and as I believe it is, here is an instance of great "preferment (for, amongst ourselves in the office, we

may allow that it is great) bestowed, not upon the "footing of parliamentary interest, or private accom❝modation, or because a Duke is my cousin, and my sister a ; but, who can believe it? be"cause you love me, and because my Lord is not "wise enough to disallow the modest claim of dis"interested friendship; because you think I shall "discharge the duty reposed in me faithfully, and "have a kind prepossession that (ut me collaudem) "I am good for something else. It is the reverse "of Swift's great man and his dependents:

"At table you can Horace quote,

"He at a pinch can bribe a vote, &c.

"There is, however, I doubt, some danger as to "the poetical, and classical qualifications. May not "the chink of the money-bags a little spoil the ear " for diviner music? and may not we learn to hold ❝a bank-note more cantabile than an ode,

"Inter scabiem tantam, et contagia lucri ?

"Horace wonders that his friend Iccius can study "the Philosophers, et adhuc sublimia curet; and "I can scarce believe that Agrippa's Bailiff in Sicily "had more weights to hinder him from soaring "than your Deputy has.

"This affair has one circumstance, which, when "it first struck into my head, made me a little "serious-you had honoured me with your affection, "and, what is ever the consequence of such whims, "treated me as your equal. Now, this equality is "no more; not only from the relation of principal "and of subordinate, but from the very obligation "itself: we are properly no longer friends; we are patron and client. But my second thoughts have "set all this right again. The best part of my good "fortune is, that I am obliged to you. Favours

* Lord Hardwicke.

"received