members of both houses, was carried by a great majority; and George I. by the uniform fupport of the whigs, who in their love of power forgot their former maxims, found himself firmly feated on the British

throne..

Sir Robert Walpole was confidered as firft minifter of England when George I. died, and fome difference having happened between him, and the prince of Wales, it was generally thought, upon the acceffion of the latter to the crown, that fir Robert would be dif placed. That might have been the cafe, could another perfon have been found equally capable, as he was, to manage the house of commons, and to gratify that predilection for Hanover which George II. inherited from his father. No minifter ever underflood better the temper of the people of England, and none, perhaps, ever tried it more.. He filled all places of power, truft, and profit, and almost the house of commons itself, with his own creatures; but peace was his darling object, because he thought that war muft be fatal to his power. During his long adminiftration, he never loft a queftion that he was in earneft to carry. The excife fcheme was the firft measure that gave a fhock to his power, and even that he could have carried, had he not been afraid of the fpirit of the people. He was fo far from checking the freedom of debate, that he bore with equanimity the moft fcurrilous abufe that was thrown out to his face. He gave way to one or two profecutions for libels, in compliance to his friends, who thought themselves affected by them; but it is. certain, that the prefs of England was never more free than during his adminiftration. And as to his pacific fyftem, it undoubtedly more than repaid to the nation all that was required to fupport it, by the increase of her trade and the improvement of her manufactures. With regard to the king's own perfonal concern in public matters, Walpole was rather his minifter than his favourite; and his majefty often hinted to him, as Walpole himself has been heard to acknowledge, that he was refponfible for all the mcafures of government.

R 6

CHAP.

THE

CHAP. IV.

LITERATURE.

A. D. 1688-1803.

HE names of Newton and Locke adorned the reign of William III. and he had a particular efteem for the latter, as he had alfo for Tillotson and Burnet, though he was far from being liberal to men of genius. During this reign Locke wrote his Essay on Government, and Swift, his Tale of a Tub. Thefe are two of the most excellent profe compofitions in our language, whether we confider the ftyle or matter.. The former is an example of clofe manly reasoning, and the latter of the irresistible force of ridicule, when fupported by wit, humour, and fatire.

But as William, though a powerful prince, and the prime mover of the political machine of Europe, was regarded in England, by one half of the nation, as only the head of a faction, many of the nobility and gentry kept at a distance from court; fo that the advance of tafle was very inconfiderable, till the reign of queen Anne. Then the fplendor of heroic actions called off, for a time, the attention of all parties from political difputes, to contemplate the glory of their country. Then appeared a croud of great men, whofe characters are well known, and whofe names are familiar to every ear. Then fubfifted in full force that natural connection between the learned and the great, by which the latter never fail to be gainers. Swift, Addifon, Congreve, Rowe, Steele, Prior, Pope, and other men of genius in that age, not only enjoyed the friendship and familiarity of the principal perfons in power, but moft of them in early life obtained places in fome of the lefs burthenfome departments of government, which put it in their power to pafs the rest of their days in ease and independence.

Thus raifed to refpect, above the neceffity of writing for bread, and enabled to follow their particular vein,

feveral

feveral of those men of genius united their talents, in furnishing the public with a daily paper, under the name of the Spectator; which, by combating with reafon and raillery, the faults in compofition, and the improprieties in behaviour, as well as the reigning vices and follies, had a wonderful effect upon the talte and manners of the nation. It contributed greatly to polifh and improve both.

The minifters of George I. were the patrons of erudition, and fome of them were no mean proficients themselves. George II. was himself no Mæcenas, yet his reign yielded to none of the preceding in the numbers of learned and ingenious men it produced. The bench of bishops was never known to be fo well provided with able prelates, as it was in the early years of his reign; a proof that his nobility and ministers were judges of literary qualifications. In other departments of erudition, the favour of the public generally fupplied the coldness of the court. After the rebellion in the year 1745, when Mr. Pelham was confidered as firft minifter, this fcreen between government and literature was in a great measure removed, and men of genius began then to tafte the royal bounty.

Since that period, great progrefs has been made in ufeful fcience and polite learning. Hutchefon, Hartley, Reid, Johnson, Hawkefworth, Kippis, and Paley, have excelled in philofophy, morality, and biography; Sherlock, Porteus, Watson, Blair, Campbell, and Gerard, in divinity and belles lettres; Keill, Maclaurin, Ferguson, Walker, Garnet, Nicholson, and Dinwiddie, in mathematics, aftronomy, experimental philofophy, and chemistry; Hume, Robertfon, Stuart, and Ĝibbon, in history; Fielding, Richardson, and Sterne, in works of fancy and imagination.

No nation in the world can produce fo many examples of true eloquence as the English fenate; witness the fine fpeeches made by both houses of parliament, in the reign of Charles I. and those that have been printed fince the acceffion of the present family.

CHA

CHAP. V.

ARTS. A. D. 1688-1803.

URING the courfe of the laft fifty years, focie

DURING years,

ties, formed for that purpose, have much contributed to the improvement of agriculture. For the art of modern gardening, we are indebted to the taste and genius of Kent. He taught us to imitate nature, or more properly fpeaking to act upon her plan, in forining our pleasure grounds, inftead of impreffing upon. every natural object the hard ftamp of art; he taught us, that the perfection of gardening, confifts in humouring and adorning, not in conft aining nature; conse quently, that ftraight walks, regular parterres, circular and fquare pieces of water, and trees cut in the shape of animals, are utterly inconfiftent with true talle. In a word, the whole fecret of modern gardening confifts in making proper ufe of natural feenery, wood and water, hill and valley, in conjunction with architecture, fo as to give beauty and variety to the embellished ground, in judicioufly veiling and expofing the furrounding country; in contrafting the luxuriant meadow with the barren heath, the verdant flope with the rugged fteep, the fylvan temple with the ruined tower, the meandering rill with the majeflic river, and the fmooth furface of the lake, or artificial fea, with Nature's moft fublime object, a view of the boundless and ever-agitated ocean.

The printing of linen and cotton cloths has been carried to fuch perfection, as to furpass in beauty those of India. Our paper for the lining of rooms has been taught to imitate velvet and fattin, and even to rival tapeftry. Much tafte and fancy have been difplayed in the patterns of our figured filks; and our carpets vie with thofe of Perfia in fabric, equal them in luftre, and exceed them in harmony of colours.

In architecture, Inigo Jones found a fucceffor not unworthy of himfelf in fir-Chriftopher Wren, rendered immortal by the plan of St. Paul's and of St. Stephen's Walbroke. Sir William Chambers, Wyat, Adam, and others, have adorned the capital and every part of the kingdom with edifices in the pureft tafte of antiquity. They have united elegance with conveniency, and lightness with folidity.

Dryden, Pope, Thomson, Gray, Cowper, Goldfmith, Beattie, Hayley, Ogilvie, Ramfay, and Burns, are names celebrated in the annals of poetry. Nor have the Mufes been courted in vain by Southey, Pratt, Bloomfield, and the amiable author of the Pleafures of Hope.

Hogarth, the firft eminent English painter, if we except Scott, who excelled in fea-pieces, may be faid. to have formed a new fchool. But Hogarth knew nothing of the elegance of defign, the delicacy of drawing, or the magic of colours. Thefe were referved for English painters of a higher order. Copley's earl of Chatham, Weft's Departure of Regulus, his Pennfylvania Charter, and his Death of Wolfe, to fay nothing of Reynolds's Ugolino, fill the mind with noble ideas, and awaken the heart to generous emotions. These painters have made public virtue visible in some of its molt meritorious acts. They have painted as became the fons of freedom.

Engraving, of which painting may be faid to be the prototype, has not made less progrefs in England during the prefent century than the parent art. Hiftorical pictures can only become the property of the rich, and are very liable to be injured by time or accident. Hence the utility of engraving in plates of copper. It multiplies copies at a moderate price. The exhibitions of painting and fculpture, in Somerfet-Houfe, have been extremely favourable to the arts, by promoting a fpirit of emulation and exciting a greater attention to works of genius of this kind among the public in general.

Mufic has been much encouraged during the prefent reign. The grand concerts, in the capital, afford

ample