416 
part of heaven, and never fuffers himéelf 
to defcend an inch below the fun, the 
moon, and the ftars. 
- Thofe two plays are now very rare, 
and it is to be lamented that they are not 
more diffufed among the world, for the 
benefit of tragic, or would-be-fublime: 
authors in general. ‘Thefe were not his 
lordfhip’s only produétions in the dra- 
‘matic line, for I was favoured, by an 
ingenious gentleman who had refort to 
his papers after his death, with two ma- 
nufcsipt plays, in the fame ftyle as the 
two before mentioned, together with a 
printed dialogue, intitled ‘* Court and 
Country.”> The gentleman who furnifhed 
me with thefe plays, was Bryan Grey, 
Efg. of Lancafter, lately deceafed, a 
man, who, with the moft amiable difpo- 
fitions of the heart, united an elegance of 
mind, an intelligence, a variety of ac- 
quirements poffefled by few. 
as a moft acreeable companion, as a man 
of fuperior talents, kind, condefcending 
to all, he will be long remembered and 
regretted by as numerous a circle of 
friends, as perhaps ever graced the ac- 
quaintance of a private gentleman. I 
could not help paying this fmall tribute 
to departed merit, though it has fome- 
what interrupted the thread of my narra- 
tive.—But, to return, on a blank leaf in 
one of thefe manufcript plays, is the copy 
of a letter written by Lord Flame, and 
feemingly intended for the manager of 
one of the theatres, which, as it throws 
alittle light upon the author’s character, 
I -tranfcribe. 
«¢ Sir, laft May twelvemonth J call’d to 
fee you, and offer you a play, but you thought 
proper to tell me that you were then engaged 
for two years, and that time being now near 
expired, I write this to let you know that I 
have been thirty years compofeing mufic and 
fongs, and, out of a great number, I have 
pick’d out thirty fongs, and have made an 
Englith. comedy, or opera, and fuch a one 
that will introduce all the paffions that mufic 
can defcribe, I have fome bufinefs in London 
in May, and I think to do myfelf the ho- 
mour to wait on you with the drama-part ef 
Iny opera, and will leave it with you to pe- 
rufe as long as you fthall think proper. What 
T defire of you is, to hear the comedy read 
over, and when it comes toa fong then J will 
play the.aire and fymphony; and.I have the 
happynefs to think, that there is no better 
judg of 2 fong in the kingdom than yourfelf, 
and when you have heard it, if you fay that 
you have ever heard a better, then 1 will not 
defire you. to play it; butif you should think 
it better than amy, and not take itiin, then 
you will. be cruel to the author, and.hinder 
a 
Confidered ° 
Memoirs of Lord Flame. 
the town of an entertainment; and, in the 
third place, you may prevent any great ge- 
nius rifing up ia the age you live in. I - 
heard the Duke of Montague fay, that if 
Homer was in London in this age, and did 
write for the play-houfe, his genius would 
be thrown away, for the mafters would not 
do his work the honour to look at it. .I have 
made five operas, and all of them were per- 
formed in public, but then I was young and 
atted in them myfelf, but now I am about 
fourfcore years old, and cannot a& any more; 
but, as this opera is much.the beft that ever 
I made, Jam defirous to fee it performed be- 
fore I leave the world.* 
There ts no date or fignature to this 
letter, nor any title pages to the two ma~ 
nufeript plays in my poffeffion, as fonie 
of the firft leaves are torn away; but 
whenever the learned world fhall exprefs 
any defire to fee thefe ineftimable treafures 
of genius in print, they fhall be brought 
forth, difplayed on a fine cream-coloured 
wove paper, and hot prefled, with en- 
gravings by the beft artifts, expreflive of 
the moft iublime paflages. The other 
epera alluded te in this letter, I have not 
feen, and -am fearful it has fhared the 
fate of many claffic authors, the want of 
which we now deplore, namely, that it is 
totally loft. As a poet, the plays above 
mentioned, which ‘ are interfperfed with 
many original pieces of poetry,’ exaétly 
in the manner of our modern novels 
(another recommendation for the world 
to have them printed) bear the genius of 
Lord Flame ample teftimony. The po- 
etry, no doubt, contributed not a little 
to the fame of his dramas. So much for 
his writings. Lord Flame, after having 
moved the chief part of his life in the 
higher circles, was, in his declining age, 
prefented by the late Earl of H******- 
***, to whofe family he had formerly been 
tutor in the art of dancing, with a {mall 
maniion at Gawfworth, a romantic vil- 
lage near Macclesfield, im Chefhire, where 
e might fpend the remainder of his days 
in peace, and indulge his paflion for the 
mufes, in rural leifure. To this place he 
retired, where he was liberally fupported 
by the annual contributions of feveral of 
the fir wits of the age, and many) of 
thofe families with which he had before 
been intimate. The nominal nobleman 
had been fo long accuftomed to hear him- 
felf addreffed by his title, that he at laft 
abfolutely fancied himfelf to be a lord, 
aping the manners and affuming al] the 
dignity of one deicended from a long 
train of illuftrious anceftry.. His patrons, 
willing perhaps te humeur the conceit, 
{ were 
