E D G 
Tong : the locks and hinges of the doors were of filver or 
gold ; and all the decorations and furniture were in a 
ftile of correlpondent magnificence. The eftablilhment 
of the houfehold was nor inferior to tl>e fplendour of the 
habitation, and extended even to the ceremonies of re¬ 
ligion. .“ The chapel (fays a writer who vifited this 
manfion in its' glory) hath a choir of vocal and inftru- 
xnental mufic, as in the royal chapel ; and, when his grace 
goes to churcii, he is attended by his Swifs guards, 
ranged as the yeomen of the guards : his mufic alio plays 
•when he is at table; he is lerved by gentlemen in the 
bed order; and I mud fay, that few fovereign princes 
live with that magnificence, grandeur, and good order.” 
What was meant by Swifs guards, is explained by an¬ 
other paffage in the fame work : “At the end of eacli of 
his chief avenues, the duke hath neat lodgings for eight 
old ferjeants of the army, whom he took out of Cheliea 
college, who guard the whole, and go their rounds at 
night, to prevent diforders ; and they wait upon the 
duke to chapel on Sundays.” The duke, indeed, had 
divine fervice performed with all the aids that could be 
derived from vocal and inllrumental mufic. To this end 
he retained fome of the molt celebrated performers of 
both kinds, atid engaged the greatefi: mailers to compofe 
anthems, and fervices, with inllrumental accompaniments, 
after the manner of thole performed in the churches of 
Italy. Near twenty of Handel's anthems were compofed 
for this chapel ; and the morning and evening fervices 
were principally compofed by Dr. Pepufch. It has been 
queltioped, however, whether true talle was predominant 
in this profufion of expence. Pope, in his Defcription 
of Timon’s Villa, has ieverely fatirized the-whole: 
even find the propin t and the bard united, and the fate 
all this magnificence foretold : 
Another age (hall fee the golden ear 
Imbrown the (lope and nod on the parterre ; 
- Deep harvelt bury all his pride had plann’d. 
And laughing Ceres re-alfuine the la d. 
Moral EJfays, epifir. 4. 
It is to be lamented that Pope, by his fatire ori'the 
profufe'and oftentatious, but kind and benefie, Chandos, 
lubjeded himfelf to the imputation of ingratitude ; it 
Iiaving been faid, that lie was under great perfonal obli¬ 
gations to this munificent nobleman. “ From the re¬ 
proach which the attack upon a charafter fo amiable 
brought upon him, (fays Dr. Johnfon,) Pope tried all 
means o.f efcaping. He atempted an apology by which 
no man was fatisfied ; and he was at lad reduced to fhel- 
ter his temerity behin dillimulation, and to endeavour 
to make that dilbelieved which he never had confidence 
openly to deny, lie wrote an exculpatory letter to the 
duke, which was anfwered with great magnanimity, as 
by a man who accepted his excufe, without believing his 
profefiions.” The houfe was built in 1712; and, not- 
withflanding three fuccellive fhocks, which his fortune 
received,' by bis concerns in the African company, and 
in the Miflilfippi and South Sea fpecula.ions, in the years 
1718, 1719, and 1720, the duke continued to live in fplen- 
dour at Canons till his death, in 1744. The ellate was 
unqueltionably incumbered ; on which account the earl 
of Aylefbury, father-in-law to Henry the fecond duke, 
and one of the trufiees in whom it was veiled, determined 
to part with a princely palace, which required an elta- 
blilhment too expenfive for the duke’s income. As no 
purchafer could be found for the houfe, that intended to 
relide in it, the materials of the building were fold by 
auftion, in 1747, in feparate lots, and produced, after de¬ 
ducting the expences of fale, eleven thouland pounds. 
The marble (lair-cafe, in particular, was purchafed by 
the late earl of Chellerfield, for his houfe in May-fair; 
the fine columns were bought for the portico of Wan- 
fted-houfe, near Epping, (where now, September 1803, re- 
Jide the dethroned and unfortunate royalfamily of France ;) and 
the equeflrian (tatue of George I. one of the numerous 
Vol, VI. No. 346, 
EDI -24-3 
fculptures that adorned the grounds, is now the central 
ornament of Leicelter-fquare. 
It is curious to remark, that when the plan of living 
at Canons was originally projected, the utmoft abilities 
of human prudence were exerted to guard againlt impro¬ 
vident profufion. One of the ableft accomptants in Eng¬ 
land, Mr. Watts, the mailer of an academy in Little 
Tower-lireet, was employed by the duke to draw a plan, 
which alcertained the total of a year’s, a month’s, a 
week’s, and even a day’s, expenditure. The fcheme was 
engraved on a very large copper-plate; and thole who 
have feen it pronounce it a very extraordinary effort of 
economical wifdom. To this we may add, that the duke, 
though magnificent, was not walleful. All the fruit in 
the garden, not wanted for his table, was fold on his own 
account: “ It is as much my property (he would fay) as 
the .corn and hay, and other produce of my fields.” An 
aged man, who had been the duke’s fervant, and now ap¬ 
peared “ the fad hiltori.m of the pen'five feene,” informed 
the writer of this account, that, in his occafional bounties 
to his labourers, the duke would never exceed fix pence 
each: “This (he would obferve) may do you goodj 
more may make you idle and drunk.” 
Two miles from Edgware we enter Bulhy-heath, where 
every traveller flops with rapture to partake of its de¬ 
lightful profpefts. On the right is a charming view of 
the town of St. Alban’s ; and all the fpaces between, and 
farther beyond if, prelent the riches of a luxuriant gar¬ 
den. The inclofed corn-fields make one grand parterre ; 
the thick-planted hedge-rows appear like a wildernefs or 
labyrinth ; and the villages interlperfed look like fo many 
noble feats of gentlemen at a diftance. In a word, it is 
all nature, yet with the femblance of all the decorations 
of art. On the left we are prefented with a noble view 
of the welt end of London, Weltminlter-abbey, and the 
parliament-houfe ; but the body of the city is cut off by 
the hill, at which Hampllead intercepts the fight on that 
fide. More to the fduth we have the magnificent appear¬ 
ance of Hampton-court, and foiith-wClt Windfor; and, 
between both, thofe beautiful parts of Middlefex and 
Surrey, on the banks of the Thames, which are the de¬ 
light of the world. 
ED'IBLE, adj. [from edo, Lat.] Fit to be eaten; fit 
for food.—Some flelh is not edible, as horfes and dogs. 
Bacon. —Wheat and barley, and the like, are made either 
edible or potable by man’s art and indullry. More. 
ED'IBLE NESTS. See the article Birds-Nests, 
vol. iii. p. 56. 
E'DICT, /. \_cdiclum, Lat.] A proclamation, or com¬ 
mand, or prohibition ; a law promulgated.—When an 
abfolute monarch commandeth his lu bj efts that which 
feemeth good in his own diferetion, hath not- his edidl 
the force of a law r Hooker. 
Severe decrees may keep our tongues in awe. 
But to our thoughts what edid can give law ? Dryden. 
EDIFICA'TION, /. [ edificatio , Lat.] The’aft of 
building up man in the faith ; improvement in holinefs. 
—Our blelfed Saviour told us, that we mult account for 
every idle word, not meaning that every word not de- 
ligned for edf cation, or lefs prudent, fhall be reckoned 
for a fin. Taylor. —Improvement; inltruftion.—Out of 
thefe magazines I fhall fupply the town with what may 
tend to their edification. Addifon. 
ED'IFICE, f [adificium, Lat.] A fabric; a build¬ 
ing ; a Itrufture.—My love was like a fair houfe built on 
another man’s ground ; fo that I have loll my edifice by 
miltaking the place where I erefted it. Shakjpeare, 
God built 
So fpacious, and his line llretch’d out fo far, 
That man may know he dwells not in his own ; 
An edifice too large for him to fill. Milton. 
EDTFIER, f. One that improves or inftrufts an- 
other, 
jR To 
