74 



His remarks on some of the characters of Shakspeare 

 (whom, in his Observations, he calls the great master of 

 nature) breathe in many of his pages, that fire, which he 

 could have caught only from those of the great poet. Such 

 was his eagerness to complete his Observations, that he for a 

 short while " suspended his design" of examining other cha- 

 racters of the poet, when the bright effusions of his genius 

 " fled up to the stars from whence they came. 5 ' This elegant 

 little work is merely a fragment, nay, even an unfinished frag- 

 ment. It must, then, cause deep regret, that death should 

 so prematurely have deprived us of that rich treasure of 

 animated thoughts, which, no doubt, would have sprung 

 from his further tracing the poet's deep and piercing know- 

 ledge of the human heart. One may safely apply to Mr. 

 Whateley, what he himself applies to the poet: — " He had 

 a genius to express all that his penetration could discover." 

 The Journal Encyclopedique, Juilliet, 1771, when speaking 



Lord Chatham spoke of Franklin in the highest strain of panegyric, when 

 adverting, in the year 1777, to his dissuasive arguments against the Ameri- 

 can war. 



William Whateley was administrator of the goods and chattels of his bro- 

 ther Thomas, who, of course, died without a will. 



In vol. ii. of Seward's Biog. Lit. and Political Tracts, the nineteenth chap- 

 ter consists of his account of two Political Tracts, by Thomas Whateley, Esq- 

 and he thus concludes this chapter: — " Mr. Whateley also wrote a tract on 

 laying out pleasure grounds." In vol. iii. is an account of the quarrel and 

 duel with Mr. Temple and one of the brothers. It appears that Thomas 

 Whateley died in June, 1772, and left two brothers, William and Joseph. 

 Thomas is called " Mr. Secretary Whately." 



Debrett published " Scarce Tracts," in 4 vols. 8vo. In vol. i. is one called 

 "The Budget," by D. Hartley, Esq. This same volume contains a reply to 

 this, viz. " Remarks on the Budget, by Thomas Whateley, Esq. Secretary 

 to the Treasury." There is also in vol. ii. another tract by Thomas Whateley, 

 Esq. entitled " Considerations on the Trade and Finances of the Kingdom." 

 These two pamphlets, upon subjects so very different from the alluring one 

 on landscape gardening, and his unfinished one on Shakspeare, convinces 

 us, what a powerful writer he would have been, had hk life been longer spared. 



