502 



CUMBERLAND. 



Cumber- 

 land, 



Rirlurd. 



ry to prepare him for passing through his academical 

 trials with eclat ; worked all his propositions, formed his 

 minutes, and even thought and meditated in Latin, in 

 consequence of which he acquired an extraordinaiy and 

 enviable facility in expounding, solving, and arguing in 

 that language ; made such progress, that at the age of 

 seventeen he kept an act against one whom he describes 

 as a " blackbearded philosopher" and a " finished ma- 

 thematician,'' and after a long and obstinate contest, de- 

 feated him, receiving unusually high compliments from 

 the moderator who presided on the occasion ; and at the 

 end of a scrutiny peculiarly trying and severe, but ter- 

 minating completely in his favour, he first took his ba- 

 chelors degree, and then obtained a distinguished place 

 among the wranglers of his year. The intense applica- 

 tion by which these honours were gained, had nearly 

 Cost him his life ; for six months he laboured under a 

 rheumatic fever, which threatened to prove fatal ; at 

 length, however, by the skilfulness of his physician 

 and the attention of his friends, he recovered from his 

 indisposition, and was enabled to resume his studies. 

 To restore his health, his father took him, along with 

 the rest of the family, to reside in York. There he 

 seems to have spent his time without pleasure and with- 

 out improvement. He hunted in the morning, danced 

 in the evening, wrote silly verses to employ his fancy, 

 but did nothing that could either inform or invigorate 

 his understanding. From this scene of trifling he was 

 happy to escape, and hastened as soon as possible to 

 college, where he had already acquired so much honour, 

 and expected to gain still more by the continuance of 

 his exertions. His natural dispositions, and the exam- 

 ple of his ancestors, had directed his views to the cleri- 

 cal profession, and he was on the eve of obtaining a 

 Fellowship in a manner the most creditable and advan- 

 tageous, when a different path of life was opened to 

 him, on which he entered without sufficient reflection, 

 and on which he seems to have looked back at the end 

 of his career with little else than feelings of bitter re- 



§ ret 



He received an invitation from Lord Halifax, then 



president of the Board of Trade, to whom his father 

 had been useful during a canvass in Northamptonshire, 

 to be his private confidential secretary. This invitation 

 Was not altogether welcome to himself, but his father 

 and his friends, who anticipated nothing but prosperity 

 and eminence, prevailed upon him to accept of it, and 

 he accordingly plunged into the world of ceremony and 

 politics, having his head full of Greek and Latin, his 

 heart fixed on the college he had left, and little or no 

 stomach for his new occupation. His principal study 

 consisted in reading books upon the colonies, with 

 which he was desired to acquaint himself; and the 

 whole of his business, in copying a few private letters 

 to civil officers abroad. All this, along with the incon- 

 veniences of London lodgings and London hours, did 

 not prevent him from preparing, with his accustomed 

 diligence, for the approaching election at Trinity Col- 

 lege. His preparation was complete, and his efforts 

 were successful. He had formidable rivals to contend 

 with, and some prejudices in a higher quarter to en- 

 counter ; but his abilities overcame all opposition, and 

 after a difficult struggle, he obtained the Fellowship 

 which had been the object of his ambition. This was 

 an excellent opportunity for returning into the line of 

 life which he had abandoned, but it is probable that the 

 brilliant prospects which had dazzled his father, were 

 now equally enchanting to the son ; and he persevered 

 in his course. He went back as soon as possible to his 

 situation under Lord Halifax. 



About this time he made his first literary offering Cumber* 

 to the press. It was a church-yard elegy, entitled ! and ' 

 St Mark's Eve, in imitation of Gray's, composed du- ,_ cl ' a ^, 

 ring some of his college vacations ; but it excited lit* "'"" 

 tie interest in the public, and procured as little gain 

 to the publisher. As Lord Halifax wrote all his own 

 dispatches, and as there was otherwise not a great 

 deal of official duty for Mr Cumberland to perform; 

 he betook himself to literature and the muses. He was 

 bold enough to project a heroic poem on the Histo- 

 ry of India. But after having been at considerable 

 pains in collecting materials for the work and ma- 

 king some progress in it, he desisted ; and in this he 

 acted wisely, if we may judge of the whole from the 

 specimen he has given in his memoirs. Though he 

 continued to read and write incessantly, yet he had 

 leisure enough to reflect on his situation, to feel its de- 

 pendance and its gloom, and to meditate a retreat. His 

 father, however, removing to the vicarage of Fulham 

 in his neighbourhood, and thus restoring him to those 

 domestic enjoyments, the loss of which he had all along 

 deeply regretted, he was prevented from taking that 

 step ; he remained in town during the hours of business, 

 and spent the rest of his time at home. About a mile 

 from Fulham, was La Trappe, the residence of the fa- 

 mous Bubb Doddington, to whom he was introduced, 

 and with whom he became a frequent guest. 



Lord Halifax having resigned his office in adminis- 

 tration, and Mr Cumberland being ousted of course, 

 he went to spend the summer at Eastbury, Mr Dod- 

 dington's seat in Dorsetshire, where he saw a great 

 many fashionable and amusing characters ; and while 

 he listened to the conversation, and admired the wit of 

 others, did not forget to exhibit the powers of his own 

 genius ; having written a small poem, which was read 

 by Mr Doddington to his company, and in which he 

 attempted to console his patron on the event of his re- 

 signation, and complimented his host for his polite- 

 ness and his politics. On his return from Dorsetshire, 

 he offered himself as a candidate for a lay-fellowship, 

 then vacant in Trinity college, and by the kindness of* 

 his friends he succeeded ; but celibacy being an essen- 

 tial qualification for the place, he did not hold it long. 

 It Was about this time that he wrote his first dramatic 

 piece. The subject, the Banishment of Cicero, was 

 unfortunate for a tragic plot ; the execution was not 

 much better than the subject ; and, accordingly, though 

 strongly recommended by Lord Halifax, it was reject- 

 ed by Garrick as unfit for representation. The pub- 

 lication of the play justified the refusal of Garrick, but 

 did not prevent his Lordship from resenting it long 

 and warmly. 



In February 1759, having obtained a small establish- 

 ment as crown agent for the province of Nova Scotia, 

 he married the only daughter of George Ridge, Esq. of 

 Kilmiston, in the county of Hants, — a young lady of 

 great worth and beauty, by whom he had several~child- 

 ren, and with whom he lived affectionately and happily. 

 In the following year, upon the death of the king, 

 Lord Halifax, who had previously re-assumed Iris office 

 of First Lord of Trade, was appointed Lord-Lieute- 

 nant of Ireland, and Mr Cumberland went along with 

 him to fill the post of Ulster Secretary. Before he set 

 out, he wrote in blank verse, and published without his 

 name, a poem on the King's accession, addressed to 

 his Majesty, and containing the common-places about 

 princely virtues, wise government, and public happi- 

 ness. In Dublin Castle his situation was neither plea- 

 sing nor profitable. He was entrusted with the regu- 

 lation of the Lord-Lieutenant's establishment ; and, not- 



