LYTTELTON. 



the patronage of letters, the beneficial effeft of which Mallet, 

 Thomfon, and others experienced. It was probably on this 

 account that Pope gave him the praife of pure patriotifm, 

 rather than from any regard to his political principles : 



" Free as young Lyttelton her caufe purfue ; 

 Still true to virtue, and as warm as true." 



On the death of Thomfon, who left his affairs in a very 

 embarralfed condition, Mr. Lyttelton took that poet's filler 

 under his protedlion. He revifed the tragedy of Coriolanus, 

 and bro\ight it out at the theatre-royal Covent-garden, with 

 a prologue of his own writing, in which he fo affeftingly 

 lamented the lofs of that bard, that not only Quiii, who fpoke 

 the lines, but the whole audience, fpontaneoufly burft into 

 tears. He had married, in 1^-42, Lucy, daughter of Hugh 

 Fortefcue, efq. and enjoyed in her fociety the moft unalloyed 

 happinefs, which was raiferably interrupted by her death in 

 1746, leaving him one fon, Thomas, the late lord, and a 

 daughter, Lucy, who married lord Valentia. On the monu- 

 -Hient of his beloved lady, heinfcribed the following lines. 



" Made to engage all hearts, and charm all eyes : 

 Tho' meek, magnanimous ; tho' witty, wife ; 

 Polite, as all her life in courts had been ; 

 Yet good, as (he the world had never feen : 

 The noble fire of an e.Kalted mind, 

 With gentled female tendernefs combin'd. 

 Her fpeech was the melodious voice of love 

 Her fong the warbling of the vernal grove. 

 Her eloquence v?as fweeter than her fong, 

 Soft as her heart, and as her reafon llrong. 

 Her form each beauty of her mind expretf'd 

 Her mind was virtue by the Graces drefl 'd." 



Befides thefe lines, her affeftionate hulband wrote a monody 

 t)n her death, which difplays much natural feeling amidft 

 the more elaborate ftrains of a poet's imagination. 



On the expulfion of Walpole from the miniftry, Lyttelton, 

 in 1744, was appointed one of the lords of the treafury. 

 He was always affiduous in his parliamentary attendance, 

 and a vigorous fupporter of the meafures in which he par- 

 took, but never attained the ftation of leader. He fpoke 

 with eafe and fluency, but was not eloquent in the ufunl 

 fenfe of the word. In early life, he feems to have enter- 

 tained ftrong doubts of the truth of revelation, probably 

 from the corruptions of it, which he had witnefled on the 

 continent, but upon ferious and impartial inquiry he became 

 a firm behever in Chriftianity, and wrote in its defence, 

 " A Differtation on the Converfion of St. Paul," which 

 has ever been regarded as a mafterly performance. This 

 piece was written at the defire of Gilbert Weft, efq. in 

 confequence of Mr. Lyttelton's afferting, that, befides all 

 proofs of the Chriflian religion, which might be drawn from 

 the prophecies of the Old Teftament, from the ncceffary con- 

 ne6kion it has with the whole fyftem of the Jewifli religion, 

 from the miracles of Chrill, and from the evidence of his 

 refurreftion by all the other apoftles, he thought the con- 

 verfion of St. Paul alone, was of itfelf a demonftration fuf- 

 ficient to prove Chriftianity to be a divine revelation. 



In 1749 he married again, but the conduft of his fecond 



wife proved fo little to his fatisfaAion, that a feparation by 

 mutual confent enfued in a very (hort time. By the death of 

 his father in 1751, he fucceeded to the title and eftate. His 

 tafte for rural ornament he difplaycd at Hagley, which he 

 rendered one of the moft deliglitful places in the kingdom. 

 He occupied feveral pofts under government, but at the dif- 

 folution of the miniftry in 1759 he went out of office, and 

 was, as a reward for his ferviccs, raifed to the honour of a 

 peerage, under the ftyle and title of baron Lyttelton, of 

 Frankley, in the county of Worceftcr. 



From this period he chiefly devoted himfelf to the pur- 

 fuits of literature, and to an extenfive correfpondence with 

 the pious and learned. In 1760 he publiflied " Dialogii» 

 of the Dead," a work abounding in good fenfe and found 

 morality, and which was well received by the public. In 

 1767 and 1 77 I he gave the world his " Hiftory of Henry II , 

 in three vols. 410." a valuable work, which had occupied a 

 great portion of the latter part of his life, and on which 

 he probably placed his chief expeftations for future fame. 

 He has given an accurate and comprehenfive view of the 

 Enghfti conftitution, as it cxiftcd at the early period of our 

 hiftory with which his book is concerned, and of the changes 

 fubfequent to the Norman conqueft. The ftyle of the hif- 

 tory is good ; its fentiments are judicious and liberal, fa- 

 vourab'eto the beft interefts of mankind. The poems of this 

 nobleman preferve a place among the feledl produftions of 

 the Britifti mufe, rather on account of the corrednefs of 

 their verfification, the elegance of their diftion, and the de- 

 licacy of their fentiments, than as exhibiting any uncommon 

 poetical powers. As a politician, his fpeechi-s on the Scotch 

 and mutiny bills, in 1747 ; on the naturalization of the 

 Jews in 1753 ; and on the privilege of parhament in 1763, 

 hold him out to public eftimation. Hedied in Auguft 1773, 

 in the 64th year of his age. His mifcellaneous works were 

 publiflied after his death in one volume 4to. His lordfiiip, 

 among other qualities, had a remarkable facility of ftriking 

 out an extemporary compliment, which obtained for him a 

 confiderable fliare of reputation ; an inftance is recorded, 

 when lord Cobham, in a large company, mentioned his defign 

 of putting up a buft of lady Suffolk in his beautiful gardens 

 at Stowe, he turned to his friend Lyttelton and faid " George, 

 you mull furnifti me with a motto for it." I will, faid he, 

 and inftantly produced the couplet ; 



" Her wit and beauty for a court were made. 

 But truth' and goodnefs fit her for a fiiade." 



Johnfon's Lives of the Poets. 



Lytteltojj, Charles, an Englifh prelate, brother 

 of the above, was educated at Eton in grammar learn- 

 ing, from whence he entered himfelf at Univerfity col- 

 lege, .Oxford, and afterwards ftudied the law in the 

 Temple and was called to the bar. He, however, foon 

 quitted the profeffion, entered into holy orders, and in 1747 

 was appointed chaplain to the king. The year following he 

 was made dean of Exeter, and in 1762 promoted to the 

 bifliopric of Carlifle. He was feveral years prefident of the 

 Society of Antiquaries, and contributed feveral articles t® 

 their Tranfadltons. Hedied in 1768. 



