LON 
pendent fortune.” This letter was produced to the lioufe 
of commons. Mrs. Clarke gave Dr. O’Meara'a letter of 
introduction to the duke of York. On the r 3 th of February, 
flie brought to the bar a letter of his royal highnefs, writ¬ 
ten to her from Weymouth, telling her, that Dr. O'Meara 
liad applied to him in order to be allowed to preach before 
royalty , and that he would put him in the way of it, if he 
could. Dr. O’Meara did preach before royalty; and an 
article appeared in the Morning Poll, under the date of 
Weymouth, OClober 3, 1809, dating, that “the Rev. Dr. 
O’Meara preached on Sunday an excellent fermon, from 
Rom. chap. xii. ver. 5. on univerfal benevolence. He ex¬ 
patiated with great eloquence on the relation which the 
public and private affections bear to each other, and their 
ufe in the moral fyftem. He inveighed with peculiar 
energy againlt the favage philofophy of the French dei-fts. 
We with our young eccleiiaftics would aroufe theml'elves, 
and fliake off that mental languor which oppreffes them in 
the pulpit,and (how themlelves in earned. Sacred eloquence 
is, in this country, certainly feeble and unimpreffive. No 
other excellence can ftipply the want of animation. That 
fvveet charm, that celedial unction, which Chriftian ora¬ 
tory demands, this gentleman certainly poffeffes in an 
eminent degree : His lips are touched with the live coal from, 
the altar. The king‘was very attentive, and flood during 
nearly the whole of the fermon, which we never before ob- 
l’erved ; and expreffed his high approbation to the earl of 
Uxbridge and others ; whillt the queen and princefles, and 
the whole audience, were melted into tears.” The public 
was at no lofs to conjecture who was the author of this 
newfpaper-puff. But, after all this alleged attention and 
approbation of his majelty, Mrs. Clarke declared in her 
evidence, that, after communicating the doctor’s offer, with 
all his documents, to the duke of York, the iffue of the 
bufinefs, as reported to her by his royal highnefs, was, that 
the king did not like the great O in his name. The Rev. 
Dr. O’Meara became as general a f'ubjeCt of ridicule as the 
Rev. Mr. Bowles. 
During this inquiry, which was continued without in- 
termiflion for feven weeks, Mrs. Clarke, the principal evi¬ 
dence, and as it were the heroine of the accufing party, 
was examined at the bar again and again ; and, by the rea- 
dinefs and fmartnefs of her anfwers to an infinitude of 
queftions, fometimes gave a degree of relief to the long 
and wearifome fittings of a protracted examination. She 
feemed to be very much at home, and to reckon with con¬ 
fidence on the complacent regards of a great part, at leafi, 
of the members of the houfe of commons, and to be well 
pleafed in the poffeflion of fo fplendid a theatre for dis¬ 
playing the attractions of both her mind and perfon. She 
carried, however, her eafe, gaiety, and pleafantry, to a de¬ 
gree of pertnefs, in a few infiances, which was very repre- 
henfible, and contrary indeed to that fenfe of propriety 
and decorum, of which we cannot but fuppofe, from the 
quicknefs of her underftanding, file was in reality pof- 
feffed. Having find that (he ftated or fhowed fomething 
to Mr. Adam, the queftion -was put to her, what Mr. 
Adam thought of it, under the impreflion no doubt that 
Mr. Adam would naturally lay fomething about it. Mrs. 
Clarke anfwered, “I do not know what Mr. Adam 
thought." The queftion being put to her by Mr. Croker, 
if ever file had written an anonymous letter to his royal 
highnefs, the prince of Wales, file anfwered that file had, 
and that colonel M c Mahon had called on her in confe- 
quence. Did you fign, faid Mr. Croker, any name to this 
anonymous letter? Mrs. Clarke, looking to the chair¬ 
man, burft into a fit of loud laughter, in which, indeed, 
flie was joined by the houfe. The queftion being put, 
What fituations did you endeavour to procure through Mr. 
Maltby, and for whom ? file anfwered, I forget. Being 
clofely interrogated and prefled on this point; file named 
a Mr. Lawfon, but faid file did not recoiled any other. 
Do you ffake the veracity of your teftimony on that laft 
anlwer, that you recollect but one of thole perlons ? “I 
think that J ought to appeal to the chairman now, wlie- 
D O N. 207 
tiler I am obliged to anfwer that queftion.” The chair¬ 
man direded the witnefs to ftate the objection (he had, ob- 
ferving, that the committee w’ould decide upon it. “ He 
is a very relpectable man, and lie has been already very 
ill ufed ; and I am afraid of comiinitting him and his fa¬ 
mily.” The chairman direded the witnefs to name the 
man to whom (lie had alluded as a refpedtable perfon, 
“That,” faid Mrs. Clarke, “would be giving his name at 
once. Really I cannot pronounce his name rightly, 
though I know how to fpell it ; and I mu ft be excufed.” 
The chairman obferved to her, that her prefeut conduct 
was very difrefpedtful to the committee. “I mean (fhe 
replied) to behave very refpedfully to the committee. I 
am very lorry if I do not. But I do not know but the 
gentleman may lole the money lie has already lodged, if I 
mention his name.” This objedion was over-ruled ; and 
Mrs: Clarke faid, that the refpedtable perfon to whom file 
had alluded was Mr. Lodowick, or Ludowick.—It is 
amufing to refledt on the change of manners in the courfe 
of a few generations. How differently would the gaiety 
and levity, and in florae inftances the trifling conduct, of 
Mrs. Clarke towards the houfe of commons, have been 
treated by the long parliament ! She could not po/fibly 
have elcaped a fevere rebuke for even the elegance of her 
apparel; or being told, that it would have better become 
her to appear in fackcloth and afies. 
After the examination of witnefles was over, tlie manly 
and difinierefted condudl of colonel Wardle, and that of 
thofe too who had been h‘19 principal fupporters, was pub¬ 
licly acknowledged in the warmelt terms of gratitude, efi- 
teem, and admiration, by the cities of Glafgow and Can¬ 
terbury ; and, after the inquiry was brought to an ifiue 
by the decilion of the lioufe of commons and the refigna- 
tion of the commander-in-chief, by the cities of London 
and Weftminlter, the county of Middlelex, and a great 
proportion of the other counties, cities, and boroughs, 
throughout the kingdom. 
The inquiry into the condudl of the duke of York by 
the houfe of commons, gave rife to many other inquiries. 
On the sytli of March, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
purfuant to notice, role to move for leave to bring in a 
bill to prevent the fide and brokerage of offices. The 
practices, lie obferved, lately difclofed, confided not in the 
tale of offices by thofe who had the power to give them 
away, but in the arts of thofe who pretended to have in¬ 
fluence over fuch perfons, and iffued public advertife- 
ments, giving occafion to the notion that thefe abufes pre¬ 
vailed to a much greater extent than they actually did. 
Some perfons in a certain office, Kylock and Co. who had 
carried on this trade, were under profecution. As there 
were feveral perfons in that concern, they were profecuted 
for a confpiracy. But, if there had been only one indivi¬ 
dual, he did not fee how the law, as it at prefent flood, could 
have reached him, though perhaps he might have been in¬ 
dicted for obtaining riioney under falfe pretences. The 
material point then would be, to make it highly penal to 
folicit money for procuring offices, or to circulate any ad- 
vertifement with that view.—After a few words from the 
Attorney General, leave was given, the bill was brought 
ill, and pafled through the ufual ftages into a law.. 
In the courfe of the inveftigation of the condud of the 
duke of York, it was afcertained beyond all doubt, that 
there was a regular, fyftematic, and almofi an avowed, 
traffic in Eaft-India appointments, as well as in fubordi- 
nate places under government 5 wherefore a feled com¬ 
mittee was appointed by the houfe of commons, to “in¬ 
quire into the exiltence of any corrupt practices, in regard 
to the appointment and nomination of writers or cadets 
in the fervice of the Eaft-India Company ; or any agree¬ 
ment, negociation, or bargain, direCt or indireft, for the 
fale thereof; and to report the fame - as it fliould appear to 
them, to the houfe, together with their obfervations there¬ 
on ; and who were empowered to report the minutes Of 
evidence taken before them, and their proceedings from 
time to time to the houfe,” From the report of the com- 
1 mittes 
