Retrospect of Domestic Liten'ature-^Biographi/. 633 



was at laft gratified witli a high ftation, 

 as a bachelor, auioiif; tlie wranglers of 

 his 3'ear. Mr. Cunibeiland's next change 

 was for die fituation of private coutideu- 

 tial fecretary to Lord Halifax, who then 

 prefided at the Board of Trade. He was 

 iliortly after chofen fellow of his college. 

 Lord Halifax however, before a very long 

 time, became an cx-niiniOcr, and INIr. 

 Cumberland, of courfe, an cx-fecietary. 

 He now feems to have turned his mind 

 with enthuiialin to the drama, which had 

 very frequently, in hours of relaxation, 

 afforded him amnfemont : though his 

 firfl attempt, defigned for reprefentation, 

 n-as rcfufed by Mr. Cariick. At the 

 iicceflion of his prefent Majefty, Lord 

 Halifax was honoured with the high of- 

 fice of lord-lieutenant of L-cland, and 

 Mr. Cumberland went in his fuite. The 

 fuperannuutGd politics of that time, of 

 courfe, are in fonie mcafure introduced. 

 Air. Cumberland, it feems, was offered 

 a baronetage, but declined the honour. 

 After Lord Halifax returned to England, 

 onr author entered upon a new hue of 

 iife, and became clerk of the reports to 

 the Board of Trade ; an otKce of no 

 great labour, and which gave him leilure 

 to addrefs Jumfelf to other liudies. With 

 the plots, the merits, or the defects of 

 Mr. Cuuiberland's theatrical productions, 

 our Retrofpeit has no concern. We pre- 

 fer fuch parts of the volume as relate 

 anecdotes of thofc in whofe focict^' he 

 lived, and whofe very names are fuffi- 

 cient to attract the reader's notice. The 

 portrait of Soame Jenyns is evidently 

 drawn from life, and is truly entertain- 

 ing. Foote is completely characteri/.ed 

 in a fingle llory; and the anecdotes of 

 Goldfmith and Johnfon will be perufed 

 with complacency by all who read them. 

 The accellion of Lord George Germain 

 to the fcals of the coioni;il department, 

 was followed by Mr. Cumberland's pro- 

 motion, and he found in his new prin- 

 cipal a faithful friend. A commiliion 

 which took him to Spain, however^ ma- 

 terially changed the complexion of his 

 life: it is enough, peiliaps, to fay that 

 it was unfucccfsful ; and that, if his own 

 narrative is correct, he appears to have 

 been hadhly treated by the minilier who 

 employed him. In order to relieve hini- 

 felf from the cmbarraifments occafioned 

 by his expenditure there, ho was under 

 the ncceillty of facrilicing his patrimony ; 

 belide which, nearly one half of liis 

 otlicial income was fwept away by the 

 reform which diflblved the board of 

 trade, leaving iiim but H very niodtuiile 



remnant. The laft twenty years of his 

 life have been principally palled at Tun- 

 bridge Wells, in tlie enjoyment of lite- 

 rary eafe. 



Such is the principal outline of Mr. 

 Cumberland's memoirs. As we have 

 already mentioned, they arc occafionally 

 relieved by charafcters and anecdotes of 

 others : one of the molt ftriking, per- 

 haps, is that which informs us that Dr. 

 Johnfon, in the midlt of literary exer- 

 tion, was necelVitated to fublill himfelf 

 for a confiderable fpace of time on the 

 fcanty pittance of fourpence halfpenny 

 per day. Another portion of the vo- 

 lume which carries a lively intereft, is 

 that which relates to the miffion into 

 Spain. Mr. Cumberland's Iketches, both 

 of the face of the country, and the man- 

 ners of the people, are fpinted. 



The intereft which a father muft be 

 allowed to feel in the difplay of prema- 

 ture abilities by a child who had not 

 attained his feventh year, is a fufficient 

 apology for " Mr. Malkin's Memoirs ijf 

 hk Sun." They contain proofs of early 

 genius, afionithing even to thofe who are 

 without the partiality of parents ; though 

 at the fame time we mult own, they are 

 better adapted for the pcrufal of private 

 friends than geneial diitribution. The 

 poetry of Mr. Blake, inferted in the de- 

 dication, does not rife above mediocrity ; 

 as an artift he appears to more advan- 

 tage. 



.Sir William Forbes's " Life of Dr. 

 Beuttie" is funilar, in the nature of its 

 compofition, to that of Cowper by Mr. 

 Hayley: the moft interefting of Dr. 

 Beattie's letters connecting the narrative 

 at proper periods. Many of thefe let- 

 ters, Sir William Forbes aJfiirms, with juf- 

 tice, will be found of no inconllderable 

 value, as containing the opinions on li- 

 terary fubjetts of one who was himfelf 

 fo excellent a judge, and fo eminent an 

 example, of what is moft valuable in 

 philofophy, poetry, or criticifm. The 

 firft fe&ion of the work contains the 

 incidents of Dr. Beattie's life, from his 

 birth at Lawrence-kirk in 1735, to his 

 eftablifliment at Aberdeen in 1753: a 

 relation, perhaps, of no peculiar intereft ; 

 though we learn from it that he was ini- 

 tiated in Englifli poetry by the perulal of 

 Ogilvie's Virgil, and that the habits of 

 ills mind received an early bias from the 

 fccnic beauties round his native village. 

 Dr. Blackwell, under whom he ftudied 

 at Marifchal college, was the firft perfon 

 w'r.o gave him reafon to beheve that he 

 was puffeiTcd of any genius. The feoond 

 fe6liuit 



