114 
meaning, to how much greater perfection 
would thefe fciences f{peedily arrive? 
This idea has been lately illuftrated and 
improved upon in the laft of a Triplet of 
Inventions, by the ingenious Mr. THo- 
MAS NoRTHMORE. i. 
With refpect to. thefe hints, particu. 
Jarly thar relative to the plan of a repo- 
fitory for painting, I fhould be happy to 
recelve any information through the 
medium of the Monthly Magazine. 
Should thefe be acceptable, I will fend 
you an account of fome defeéts that ftill 
exift, and fome impofitions that are ftill 
pradctifed in our public Prifons. 
Your’s, &c, 
GD. 
SEE EE 
REMARKS ON Mr. BuRKE’s LETTER 
ro A Nose Lorp. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
1 HE very diftinguifhed talents of 
Mr. Burke, as a writer, naturally 
excite the attention of the public to his 
produétions ; and when his late pamphlet 
was' announced, I partook of the general 
curiofity, and gave it a perufal as oon as 
Icould procure it. As I obferve, that, 
in your Firft Number, you have inferted 
remarks, from your correfpondents, on 
different authors, I fhall take the liberty 
of troubling you with fome annimadver- 
fions on Mr. Burke’s Letter to a Noble 
Lord. ay 
One of the mof ftriking particulars 
in Mr. Burke’s pamphlet is, the inquifi- 
tion which he has- entered into, relative 
tothe duke of Bedford’s eftates and ti- 
tles; and which, if regularly purfued 
and aéted upon, with other men in fimi- 
lar fituations, would completely overturn, 
not only the ariftocracy of England, but 
all the ariftocracies of Europe. Surely 
this could not eafily have been expeéted 
from the great advocate for nobility, from 
the eloquent encomiaft of “ the Corin- 
thian capital of polifhed fociety.’? Mr. 
Burke has, indeed, very properly ob- 
ferved, that, till the publication of this 
pamphlet, he has ‘{ done all he could to 
difcountenance inquiries into the fortunes 
of thofe, who hold large portions of 
wealth without any apparent merit of 
their own;” and has fupported, with 
great zeal, “thofe old prejudices which 
buoy up the ponderous 'mafs of nobility, 
wealth, and titles.’*> But the duke of 
Bedford having, unfortunately, ftarted 
objections in the houfe of peers, to the 
penfion lately conferred on Mr. Burke, 
“Remarks on Mr. Burke's Letier. 
[March 
this attack of the noble duke has excited 
fo much wrath in him'that it Teems 
almoft wholly to have deprived him of 
his reverence for ariftocracy. 
The inquiry which Mr. Burke has fet 
on foot, into the manner in which the 
anceftors of the duke of Bedford acquir- 
ed their eftates and titles, 1s certainly a 
very dangerous precedent. How many 
of our nobility can ftand this kind of in- 
quifition ? If men have been made lords 
in the prefent reign, merely on account 
of their virtue, this was certainly not 
the cafe in the reigns of his majefty’s 
predeceffors. A hiftory of the peerage, 
which fhould contain a fair and honeft 
account of the marner in which high 
titles and great eftates have been ob- 
tained, would be very far diftant from a 
panegyric on nobility. rea 
Mr. Burke obferves, that, if real 
merit had been attended to, if“ the 
ceconomy of feleétion and proportion 
had been at all times obferved, we fhould 
not now have had an overgrown duke of 
Bedford, to opprefs the induftry of hum- 
ble men.’ ‘He alfo expreffes himfelf 
fomewhat difrefpeétfully of the talents 
and acquifitions of the duke of Bedford, 
and {peaks of “his few‘and idle years.” 
But he well knows, that it is one of the 
advantages of ariftocracy; that large for- 
tunes and high titles, naturally defcend 
to men, though, to ufe his own Jan. 
guage, they are “foohfh, even beyond 
the weight of privilege allowed to 
wealth.”’ Such, indeed, is the proprie- 
ty with which ariftocratic - diftinétions 
are conferred, that, as he expreffes it, in 
another place, in the peerages, “ they, 
who alive, were laughed at or pitied by 
all their acquaintance, make as good a 
fizure as the beft of them in the pages of . 
Guillim, Edmonfon, and Collins.” But 
the duke of Bedford has no occafion to 
have recourfe to this ariftocratic apology. 
He has certainly exhibited abilities and 
knowledge as a fenator, in the houfe of 
peers, far beyond thofe of the generality 
of his own order. Many of the peers 
of England, to ufe Mr. Burke’s ‘lan- 
guage, have been ‘ fwaddled, and rock- 
ed, and dandled into legiflators ;** but 
the duke of Bedford has difcoyered rea] 
talents. His grace had undoubtedly a 
right, asa lord of parliament, to inquire 
whether the penfion beftowed on Mr. 
Burke was properly conferred, and whe- 
ther it was really conferred for fervices, 
that he may heve occafionally rendered 
to his country, or for fervices of a very 
i . different 
