(8) BISfORr of the SOCIETY, 



Account of Lord muft make his account with furviving the greater part, per- 

 haps the whole, of his friends. He miifl fee them fall from 

 " him by degrees, while he is left alone, fingle and unfupported, 

 like a leailefs trunk, expofed to every ftorm, and fhrinking 

 from every blaft. 



" I HAVE been led to thefe reflections by a lofs I lately fu- 

 flained in the fiidden and unlooked-for death of a friend, to 

 whom, from my earliefl youth, I had been attached by every 

 tie of the mofl tender affection. Such was the confidence that 

 fubfifled between us, that, in his bofom, I was wont to repofe 

 every thought of my mind, and every weaknefs of my heart. 

 In framing him, nature feemed to have thrown together a va- 

 riety of oppofite qualities, which, happily tempering each other, 

 formed one of the mofl engaging charadlers I have ever known. 

 An elevation of mind, a manly firmnefs, a CaJlHian fenfe of 

 honour, accompanied with a bewitching fweetnefs, proceeding 

 from the mofl delicate attention to the fituation and the feel- 

 ings of otliers. In his manners fimple and unaffuming ; in 

 the company of flrangers modefl to a degree of bafhfulnefs ; 

 yet poffefling a fund of knowledge, and an extent of ability, 

 which might have adorned the mofl exalted flation. But it 

 was in the focial circle of his friends that he appeared to the 

 highefl advantage ; there the native benignity of his foul diffii- 

 fed, as it were, a kindly influence on all around him, wliile 

 his converfation never failed at once to amufe and to in- 

 flrua. 



" Not many months ago I paid him a vifit at his feat in a 

 remote part of the kingdom. I found him engaged in embel- 

 lifliing a place, of which I had often heard him talk with rap- 

 ture, and the beauties of which I found his partiality had not 

 exaggerated. He ihewed me all the improvements he had 

 made, and pointed out thofe he meant to make. He told me 

 I . all 



