Retrospect of Franch Literatwre—MM iscellanies. 
himself to study, to an intercourse with 
men of wit, and to good cheer. 
His father having died in 1740, lord 
Bolingbroke’ received a considerable 
augmeniation to his fortune; and in 
1742, on the change of ministers, he re- 
turned a second time to England. He 
now obtained ‘the confideuce of the 
prince of Wales, father of the reigning 
monarch in our own tine, to whom he 
addressed, and for whom indeed he is 
said to have written, one of the most 
celebrated of his works. 
Ely spent the chief part of his time in 
Wiltshire,* and at Battersea, uear Jon. 
ton, where he had a hbrary, equally va- 
Juable on account of the nurrber and 
the rarity.of the books contained there 
** Bolingbroke, during the latter part of 
his life, was considered as an oracle, and 
regularly consulted as such by states. 
men and men of letters. Ele was-in full 
possession of glory, and was enjoying | 
himself in ihe bosom of opulence and 
repose, wien he became completely mi- 
serable from a single shock = from 
the hand’ of blind Destiny. ‘The 
marchioness de Villette, after  lan- 
guishing for. several years, died on the 
18th of Mareh, 1750, aid he regretted 
her during the short remainder of his 
own life, which was only twenty months 
continuance. Throughout the whole of 
that period, this philosopher never passed 
a single day without shedding tears. 
He himself was at length attacked by -a 
slow and lingering malady, which put 
his constancy to the severest proofs. An 
ulcer in his face gave him great pain; 
but he supported his anguish with a sto- 
icism, which had always constituted the 
basis of his principles He died at Bat- 
tersea, November 25, 1751, at the age 
of 79, and his fortune devolved on his 
nephew. : 
Immediately after the demise of the 
dady just. alluded to, her relations coni-: 
menced a process against lord Baling- 
broke, which not only tended to dep-ive 
him of his property tn France, but 
been so long dear to him. The cause 
washeard, and the sentence pronounced 
proved unfavourable to the hopes and 
wishes of the subject of this memoir, 
whose life closed before he was enabled 
to take the proper means for obtaining a 
reversion of the judgment. But the 
marquis de Matignon, actuated by the 
impulse of that mutual regard which had 
Nn I ee eee 
* <* Au chateau de Lydiard, dans la pro- 
vince de Wilts." ~ ° 
. Puddlic good.* 
637 
subsisted so long between them, imme- 
diately appealed to the parliament of . 
Paris, and obtained a final decision ata 
period when his frignd was no more, with 
a view of rescuing his character and 
fortune from unmerited censure and loss. 
The character of Bohngbroke has af 
forded a fertile subject of discussion, 
both to his friends and his enemies. 
The earl of Orrery, on one hand has ob- 
served, “that he united in himself the 
wisdom of Socrates, the dignity and ease 
of Pliny, and the delicacy of Horace,- 
both in his writings and conversation,” 
He has been also praised by two great 
men, the earls of Chatham and Chester- 
field; as well as by Swift, Pope, &c. 
On the other hand, Sheridan, Hervey, 
the bishop of Cloyne, with a multitude 
of others, have attacked his memory; 
and indeed it has been, for many years 
past, the fashion to condemn his prin- 
ciples without scruple, and without ree 
morse. The French editor of his works, 
maintains that he was not an atheist. Op 
the contrary, he asserts, on the credit of 
Mrs. Mallet, who died about fifteen years 
since, at the age of eighty, ‘“ that him. 
self, Swift, and Pope, constituted a so- 
ciety of pure deists; and that although 
‘the second of these, being dean of Sr. 
Patrick’s, was somewhat more reserved 
than the rest, “yet he was fundamentally 
of the same way of thinking.” | 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
“« Lettres Inedites de Mirabeau.”—Un- 
published Letters of che late Count de Mi- 
rabeau: containing Memoirs, and Extracts 
of Memoirs, written in 1781, 1782, and 
1783, during his Law-suits at Pontarlier 
and Provence; the whole, forming an 
Appendix to the Letters written from the 
Dungeon of Vincennes, from: 1777 uatil 
1780, inclusive. Published by J. F, 
Vitry, formerly employed in the foreign 
department. Published at Paris, and 
inported by -M. De Boffe, Nassau- 
street, 1810. 1 vol. Svo. : 
The motto to this article is admirably 
‘adapted tp the work, as it conveys the 
throw discredit on.a person who. hat dea, “that most of those who declaim ~ 
against the privaté vices of an illustrious 
man, prove rather that they envy his 
tlents, than that they are incitéd by the 
The character of Mira- 
bear, however, will not bear investiga= 
Re aE CU I rR ON LB aE ON 
‘ * “ba plupart de ceux qui s’emportent 
avec fureur contre les vices domestiques d’un 
homme illustre, prouvent moins leur amour 
pour le bien publique, que leur envie contre 
let talens; envie qui prendsouvento, 3 leur 
yetx, le masque dune yertu, mais qui n’est 
tion, 
