A Sketch of the Chara&er of the late George Lord Lyttelton. NEW characters, recorded in ever united so many rare, valuable, and amiable qualities, as that of the late Lord Lyttelton. Whether we confider this great man in public or private life, we are juftified in affirming, that he abounded in virtues not barely fufficient to create reverence and efteem, but to infure him the love and admiration of all who knew him. Look upon him as a statefman, and a public man; where shall we find another, who always thought right and meant well, and who fo feldom acted wrong, or was mifled or miftaken in his minifterial, or fenatorial conduct? Look upon his lordship in the humbler fcene of private and domeftic life; and if thou hadst the pleasure of knowing him, gentle reader, point out the breaft, warm or cold, that fo copiously abounded with every gift and acquirement which indulgent nature could bestow, or the tutored mind improve and refine, to win and captivate mankind. His perfonal accomplishments, and the fweetnefs and pliability of his temper, which accompanied and fwayed them, always recalled to my memory, that line of his own, only varying the fex; his "Wit was nature by the graces dreft.'His affability and condefcenfion to those below him, was not the effect of art, or constrained politeness, dictated by the hackneyed fterile rules of decorum andgood-breeding: no: the benevolence of his heart pervaded the whole man; it illuminated his countenance; it foftened his ac meanor, and gave evidence at once of the goodness of his heart, and the foundnefs of his understanding To fuch as were honoured with his friendship and his intimacy, his kindness was beyond example; he fhared at once his affections and his interefts among his friends, and towards the latter part of his life, when his ability to ferve them ceafed, he felt only for thofe who depended on him for their future marriage. Voltaire adds, "The princefs, defpifed, ill-treated, wanting even neceffaries, and deprived of all comfort, pined away in difappointment, and died at laft of grief, Nov. 1, 1715.” advancement advancement in life. The unbounded authority he poffe Ted over them was established in parental dominion, not in the cold, haughty, fupercilious superiority of a mere patron. Among this latter defcription, the author of the prefent rude outline is proud of ranking himself, and is happy in recollect ing, that he obeyed, or rather an ticipated, the wishes of his noble friend, as far as lay in his power, with more cheerfulness and alacrity than he would in executing even the confidential mandates of the greatest monarch or minifter in Christendom. His lordship's acquaintance with men and books was accurate and extenfive. His ftudies in the early part of his life must have been well directed, and his tafte remarkably judicious, for no perfon ever lived who was lefs tinctured with the vulgar moroseness, and felf-conceited air of a pedant, nor with the affectation and frivolity of that rank in life, which his birth, fortune, and fituation, rendered cuftomary and familiar to him. He was perfectly and intimately acquainted with the works of the most celebrated writers of antiquity in verfe and profe. His memory was flocked with the moft ftriking paffages contained in them; but he never indulged nor gave way to the ftrong impreflions they had ftamped on his mind, but to gratify his confidential friends. Whenever he confented to their entreaties, his allufions were judicioufly felected, and applied with the moit confummate propriety. His language was manly, nervous, and technical. It was fuited to the perfonal rank, knowledge, and dif pofition of thofe he converfed with by which means he reodered himself agreeable and intelligible to every perfon, whom chance, amusement, or business, threw in his way, His difcernment of fpirits, the term which the late Lord Bolingbroke fubftitutes for the familiar phrafe of knowing mankind, was no lefs confpicuous, when he thought proper to exert it with fleadiness and vigour; but unfortunately for his own domeftic peace, it was extremely difficult to roufe him. He trufted too much to the reprefentations of others, and was always ready to leave the labour of difcriminating characters, to thofe who too often found an intereft in deceiving him. Though his fteadinefs of principle, penetration, and juftnefs of reflection, might be well ranked in the first clafs, thofe talents were in a great measure effectually loft, because his employments and purfuits as a public man, his amufements as a man of taste and fcience, and, in the latter part of his life, his avocations as a writer, fo totally engroffed his attention, that he entirely neglected his private affairs, and in a variety of inftances fell a prey to private rapine and literary impofition. This was the joint effect of native indolence, and a certain incurable abfence of mind. To fhow that his want of difcrimination was not native, but that the power of knowing thofe he communicated with, was rendered to fome purpofe ufelefs, because it was not employed, a ftronger proof need not be given, than his thorough knowledge of the court, as exhi bited in parties, and the feveral individuals who compofed them. He could could tell the political value of almost every veteran courtier, or candidate for power, He could develope their latent views; he could foretell their change of conduct. He forefaw the effect of fuch and fuch combinations, the motives which formed them, the principles which held them together, and the probable date of their diffolution. Whenever he was impofed on, it was through the want of attention, not of parts; or from a kind of fettled opinion, that men of common plain understandings, and good reputation, would hardly rifque folid advantages in purfuit of unlawful gain; which lat might eventually be accompanied with lofs of character, as well as the object propofed to be attained. Whatever plaufibility there may appear in this mode of reafoning, experience frequently informed his lord hip, that it was not to be depended on. He was plundered by his fervants, deceived by his humble companions, mifled by his confidants, and impofed on by feveral of those whom he patronized. He felt the effects of all this, in his family, in his finances, and even in the rank he should have preferved. Those who were not acquainted with the folidity of his judgment, the acuteness of his wit, the brilliancy and juftnefs of his thoughts, the depth of his penetration, and with the amazing extent of his genius, were apt to confound the confequences of his conduct, with the powers and refources of his mind. If his lordfhip remained out of place, on principle, the ignorant inclined to afcribe this feeming court profcription to fimplicity or want of talents. If he did not fupport his rank with that oftentatious fplen dor now become fo fashionable, the world was ready to impute it to a want of economy, or a want of fpirit; but in all thofe conjectures and conclufions, the world were much mistaken and milled. He had frequent offers, fome of them the most flattering, to take a part in adminiftration; but he uniformly rejected them. His manner of living at his feat at Hagley was founded on the trueft princi ples of hofpitality, politenefs, and fociety; and as to money, he knew no other ufe of it but to answer his own immediate calls, or to enable Him to promote the happiness of others. When the author of this sketch first fat down to delineate fome of the outlines of the character of this truly great and amiable man, it was his intention to have faid fomething of his lordship as a politician, ftatefman, orator, hiftorian, and a writer of talle and genius, ab, ftracted from his more deep and ferious purfuits and ftudies. A variety of difficulties threw themfelves in the way, befides the mere want of abilities, or fufficient detailed information. For though he had the honour of being intimately acquainted with his lordship in the latter part of his life, and was no ftranger to his political fentiments, he found himself in a great meafure deprived of those lights neceffary to explain his first connection at Carleton-Houfe, with the late Prince of Wales, father to his prefent Majefty; his retreat from thence and union with the Pelhams, and his final retreat from court, under the adminiftration of Mr. Pitt, now Earl of Chatham. These are points well worth C.4 knowing knowing; and, to draw his lord. T particulars, which are in the THE truth of the following fhip's character even in miniature with any tolerable degree of precifion, are abfolutely neceffary. Another motive ftill ftronger, though a compound of the preceding reafons, which forbids the attempt, is, that the author was informed from good authority, that a lady (Mrs. M-n-e) no lefs famed for her fine taste and mafculine underftanding, than for every virtue that renders the fex eftimable and truly amiable, intended, or more truly fpeaking, was folicited by fome of his lordship's nearest friends, to take the execution of the pleasingly mournful task on herself, upon a full and extenfive plan. Being convinced that no one knew the late Lord Lyttelton in every different light he fhone, or fhared more of his confidence and friendship, than the lady alluded to, the author of this rude, hafty attempt, here lays down his pen, in expectation that the lady will either promife to oblige the world, or will furnish him with fuch materials as may be the means of bringing for ward the character of this nobleman, and making his abilities as well known, and his public virtues as much revered, as his genius was penetrating, his mind liberal, his heart benevolent, his perception clear, his judgment found, and his knowledge extenfive. New Anecdotes of Sir Ifaac Newton, by I. H. a Gentleman of his Mother's Family. hand writing of my mother, whose grandfather was brother to Sir Ifaac Newton's mother, may be depended on. She made thefe memorandems for the information of her children: her words are thefe: "Hannah Afcough was younger fifter of the late Mr. Afcough, my father's father. She married a Mr. Newton of Colfworth, not far from Grantham in Lincolnshire, who had an eftate of about 1201. per annum, which he kept in his own hands and occupied himself. She had by him one fon called Ifaac; her brother, my grandfather, who lived near her, directed her in all affairs, (after the death of Mr. Newton) put her fon to school at Grantham, to a very good mafter, Mr. Stokes. When he had finished his school learning, his mother took him home, intending, as he had no other child, to have the pleasure of his company, and that he, as his father had done, fhould occupy his own eftate; but his mind was fo bent upon his improving in learning, that my grandfather prevailed upon her to part from him, and fhe fent him to Trinity-College * in Cambridge, where her brother, having himself been a member of it, had ftill many friends. Ifaac was foon taken notice of by Dr. Ifaac Barrow, who obferving his bright genius, contracted a great friendfhip for him; indeed he became fo eminent for his learning, joined with his fingular modelty, that he was courted to accept the honours It does not appear to me, that what has been afferted of Sir Ifaac having been fent to the univerfity by the pecuniary aid of fome neighbouring gentlemen, is at all true. It certainly was not neceffary. His mother had fufficient; fo had his uncle. I therefore fufpect there must have been fome misinformation as to this point; a point, however, of no importance. after afterwards conferred upon him, on the calling in of the coin, and the neceffity of a new coinage. He was unwillingly brought from the univerfity into the bufy part of the world-his great averfion; but by his great judgment, and ftrict in tegrity, he faved the nation at that time, on that occafion, 80,ocol. as I have had related by thofe who well knew the affair, and alfo from himfelf. "Sir Ifaac's mother, after her fon went to Cambridge, was courted by a rich old batchelor, who had a good eftate and living near her, the Rev. Mr. Benjamin Smith; but the fettled fome land upon Ifaac, before marriage. She had by this Smith, one fon and two daughters; thefe married and had defcendants, to all, or many of whom, Sir Ifaac, when his fortune increafed, was kind and munificent; giving to one 500l. to another an eftate of 4000l. or thereabouts, to make up a lofs, occafioned by the imprudent marriage of one of them, and to prevent a law-fuit among themfelves. This was done many years before his death. He had a halffifter, who had a daughter to whom he gave the best of educations, the famous witty Mifs Barton, who married Mr. Conduit*, of the mint, who fucceeded Sir Ifaac in the mint, and is buried at the weft door of Westminfter-Abbey, leaving only one daughter, married to the eldest fon of Lord Lymington. Sir Ifaac bought an estate of about feventy or eighty pounds a year, and gave it Mifs Conduit, (then very young) before he died. He was kind to all the Afcoughs, and generous and munificent to fuch (of them) whofe imprudence had made his affiftance neceffary: to one of them he gave 800l. to another 200l. to another 100l. and many other fams; and other engagements did he enter into also for them. He was the ready aflistant of all who where any way related to him, to their children, and grand-children. He made no will; his paternal estate of 120l. a-year went to a diftant relation of his grandfather Newton; he had no relations on that fide, his father nor himfelf had no brother nor fifter. He is faid never to have fold the copies of any (of his) books, published in his life-time, but gave them freely to the bookfeller. He was generous to his fervants, and had no love of riches, though he died worth 30,000 l. which fell to three of his half-brother Smith's children, three of his half-fifter Pilkington's, and his half-fifter Barton's two daughters: all thefe furvived Sir Ifaac. "He was a perfon of very little expence upon himself; kept a handfome, genteel, conftant table, never above three men and three women fervants; towards his latter end, when he could not use a chariot, only a chair, he kept but two men fervants; he was exceedingly bountiful and charitable (not only) to relations, but to acquaintance, or perfons well recommended, and to ingenious perfons, in any ufeful art or fcience." Thus far the extract of the family papers. It does not appear to be true that ever he became imbecile; he did not, or would not recollect the folution of many of his problems Author of a treatise on the gold and filver coin. of |