1824.] Original 



than fur llicir loyally lo the abdicated 

 house of Stuart. They, however, did 

 nbt disdain to enter into trade, or form 

 connexions with the children of citizens, 

 for one of tiieni appears to have been a 

 goldsmith in Leadenhall street, and ni- 

 lerniarried with the Gibbous, then also 

 engaged in commerce. 



" The sncce.«sful industry of my grand- 

 father (says the historian,) raised him 

 above tlie level of his inuiiediate an- 

 cestors. He appears to have launched 

 into various and extensive dealings : even 

 his opinions were subordinate to his inte- 

 rest ; and I find him in Flanders clothing 

 Kw^ William's troops, while he would have 

 contracted with more pleasure, though not 

 perhaps at a cheaper rate, for the service 

 of King James. During his residence 

 abroad, his concerns at home were ma- 

 naged by his mother Hester, an active and 

 notable woman. Her second husband 

 was a widower, of the name of Acton : 

 they nuited the children of their first nup- 

 tials. After his marriai^e with the dangli- 

 ter of Richard Acton, goldsmith, in Lead- 

 enhall-street, he gave his own sister to Sir 

 Whitmore Acton, of Aldenham ; and I am 

 thus connected, by a triple alliance, with 

 that ancient and loyal family of Sliropshire 

 liaroiicts. It consisted about that time of 

 seven brothers, all of pinaiitic stature; one 

 of whom, a pigmy of six feet two inches, 

 confessed himself the last and least of the 

 seven, adding, in the true spirit of parly, 

 that surh men were not born since tiie 

 Revolution." 



" iVIy father, (says the historian, in 

 the account of his own life, vol. i. p. 16,) 

 resided sometime in Paris to acquire the 

 fashionable exercises; and, as his temper 

 ■was warm and socir.l, he indulged in those 

 pleasures for which the strictness of his 

 former education had given him a keener 

 relish. He afterwards visited several pro- 

 vinces of France; but his excursions were 

 neither long nor remote, and the slender 

 knowledge he had gained of the French 

 language was gradually obliterated. His 

 passage through Besan^on is marked by a 

 singular consequence in the chain of hu- 

 man events. In a dangerous illness, Mr. 

 Gibbon was attended, at his own request, 

 by one of his kinsmen of the name of 

 Actnn, the younger brother of a younger 

 Lrothcr, who had applied himself to the 

 study of physic. During the slow reco- 

 very of his patient, the physician himself 

 was attacked by the malady of love ; be 

 married his mistress, renounced his coun- 

 try and religion, settled at Bcsan^on, 

 and became the father of three sons ; the 

 eldest of whom. General Acton, is conspi- 

 cuous in Kiirope, as the principal mini>ter 

 of the King of the Two Sicilies. IJy an 

 nucle, whom auylher stroke of good for- 



Poclry. 525 



tune had transplanted to Legliorn, he wa^ 

 educated in the naval service of the em- 

 peror ; and his valour and conduct in the 

 command of the Tuscan frigates protected 

 the retreat of the Spaniards from Alsiicis," 



Lord Nelson ajipeais to have changed 

 his opinion of this baronet towarils iho' 

 hitter end of his losidencc in Sicily, as 

 may be seen from the hiilowing extract 

 of a letter lo a friend: — "Yon will 

 liavc heard, that Mr. Arthur Paget i» 

 daily expceled lo rejilace, for the pre- 

 sent, Sir William. Comte Ponskin }» 

 also superseded by Ilalinskoy ; in short, 

 great changes are going on, and none 

 that I can see for the better. I have not 

 yet seen General Acton ; but I am led 

 to believe, that the king's not retnrnin^ 

 to Naples has been (irincipally ovying lo 

 the general. At present, perhaps, he 

 l»as so much frightened him, that tiie act 

 appears his own. We of the Nile are 

 not equal to Lord Keitti, in his estima- 

 tion, and ought to think it an iionour to 

 serve under such a clever man." 



At the conclusion of the letler his 

 lordship adds, "Aclon has, I am almost 

 convinced, played us false." 



Gascon's dinner For. a week. 



Are you Frenchman enong!» to know 

 Iiow a Gascon sustains his family for a 

 wei^k : — 



Dimanche, nne esclanche ; 



Lnndi, froide et salade; 



Mardi, j'ainio la grillade; 



Mercredi, liachee; 



Jeiidi, bon pour la capillotade ; 



Vendredi, point de gras; 



Samedi, qu'on me casse les os, et Ie» 

 ehiens creveront des restes de mon inontoii. 



WASHINGTON TO THE MARQUIS DE 

 CHATELLUX. 



" If all states shall, at length, adopt a 

 constitution like ours, — and, in my opi-. 

 nion, this will be eventually the case, — 

 America will become glorious and ho- 

 nourable, as she eminenlly deserves lo 

 he, in the remembrance of other coun- 

 tries. This presage the friends of free- 

 dom will hail with delight; and, as they 

 must think our reformation worth con- 

 tending for, principles in conformity 

 with our views will gradually be formed 

 concerning governinenls. The future 

 philosopher and virtuous patriot will be 

 irresistibly impelled to consider our 

 preceding experiment as only a pledge 

 of what may be cxpeclcd, in the next 

 and succeeding generations." 



CARDINAL DUIIOIS, 



"though he loved women, yet he form- 

 ed no connection with them ; althougU 

 he tijiplcd, yet he never got drunk; 



and 



