pal undertaker in that expenfive work of draining the fens, called Bedford-levels, extending into the counties of Northampton, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Norfolk, and Lincoln., He was, with other lords, impowered to treat of peace, with commiffioners on the part of Scotland, at Ripon, when the forces of that nation entered England in the year 1640. He was in the number of those who, in the course of that fame year, figned a petition to the king, advifing him to call a parliament; and in the following year died of the small-pox, univerfally lamented, as a nobleman of great virtue and moderation, which (had he lived) must have been of great ufe in preventing matters from coming to extremity between the king and parliament.

By his wife Catherine, daughter and heir of Giles Bridges, lord Chandos, he had four fons; the eldeft of whom, William lord Ruffel, fucceeded to his title and fortune, at a time when every thing feemed to threaten a rupture between the king and parliament. His lordship, who had been made knight of the Bath, and ferved as a meinber in the house of commons, joined the oppofition, and was now declared general of horfe in the fervice of the parliament. At the head of a choice body of troops, he obliged the marquis of Hertford to abandon Somersetshire; and at the battle of Edgehill commanded the referve of horse, which did good fervice, and in all probability faved the whole army of the parliamenta rians. Being afterwards weary of the war, he helped to influence the houfe of lords to defire a conference with the commons; in which they

advised, that propofitions might be fent to the king; but this aim mifcarrying, through the artifice of fome individuals in the lower house, the earls of Bedford, Holland, and Clare, repaired to the king at Oxford, where he asked and received the king's pardon: he then ferved in his majefty's army that befieged Gloucefter, and charged in the king's own regiment of horse at the battle of Newbury. Being in the fequel difgufted by the treatment he received at the court of Oxford, he and his affociates returned to the other party, by whom their eftates were fequeftered for fome time, The fequeftration was, however, removed; but the earl of Bedford never afterwards affifted at any of their councils. He heartily concurred in all the measures for the reftoration, and carried St. Edward's fceptre at the coronation of Charles II. in whofe reign he was inftalled knight of the Garter, and on many occa, fions approved himself a fteady patriot. When William and Mary afcended the throne, he was sworn of the privy council: he carried the queen's fceptre, with the dove, at the coronation; was conftituted lord lieutenant of the counties of Bedford, Cambridge, Middlefex, and liberties of Westminster; and in the year 1694 was created marquis of Tavistock and duke of Bedford by a patent, in which his own merit and the virtue of his fon were mentioned in very extraordinary terms of applaufe. He married Anne, daughter of Robert Carr, earl of Somerfet, by whom he had feveral fons and daughters; and died in the year 1700, at the age of eighty-seven. His eldest fon died, without iffue, in the year 1679; and he had also the

mortification to furvive his fecond fon, lord William Ruffel, one of the most virtuous noblemen that ever lived in any country, who was brought to the scaffold in the year 1683, as an accomplice in the Ryehoufe plot; though, in effect, his fate was owing to the courage he had shewn in fupport of the Exclufion-bill, against the duke of York, before he afcended the throne. He espoused the lady Rachel, fecond daughter of Thomas Wriothefley, earl of Southampton, widow of Francis lord Vaughan, by whom he had one fon, named Wriothefley, who fucceeded his grandfather as duke of Bedford.

This nobleman had married Elizabeth, fole daughter and heir of John Howland of Stretham, Efq; in confequence of which he was created a baron by that title before his grandfather died. At the acceffion of queen Anne he was appointed lord high conftable for the coronation, fworn of the privyCouncil, installed knight of the Garter, and conftituted lord lieutenant of the counties of Bedford, Cambridge, and Middlesex, and cuftos rotulorum of Middlesex and the liberties of Westminster. He died of the small-pox in the year 1711, and was fucceeded by his eldest fon, of the fame name; who dying in Spain in the year 1732, his honours and eftate devolved to his brother, lord John Ruffel, the prefent duke of Bedford; who, by his fecond dutchefs Gertrude, eldest daughter of John

late earl Gower, has iffue Francis, marquis of Tavistock, born in the year 1739; and lady Caroline, born in 1742.

He is diftinguished by the appellation and titles of John Ruffel, duke of Bedford, marquis of Ta vistock, earl of Bedford, baron Ruffel, and baron Ruffel of Thornhaugh, and baron Howland of Stretham, lord lieutenant and cuftos rotulorum of Bedfordshire, Devonfhire, and of the city and county of Exeter.

His grace is knight of the Garter, and has ferved his king fucceffively in the important offices of first lord commiffioner of the board of admiralty, principal fecretary of ftate, one of the lords of the regency while his late majefty was abroad, and lord lieutenant of Ireland.

Arms. Argent, a lion rampant, gules, on a chief, fable, three escallops of the first.

Creft. On a wreath, a goat paffant, argent, armed, or.

Supporters. On the dexter fide a lion, on the finifter an antelope, both gules; the latter gorged with a ducal collar, chained, armed, crested, tufted, and hoofed, or.

Motto. Che fara, fara, Ital.What will be, will be.

Chief Seats. At Wooburn-abbey in Bedfordshire; Thornhaugh in Northamptonfhire; Cheneys in Bucks; and at Bedford-house in Bloomsbury-fquare, London.

Political

high as when he does not know where he's going; and certain it is, that nothing is more difficult to learn by precept than the way to make a fortune. Circumftances are fo complicated, and have fuch in fluence upon events, that it is impoffible to lay down fixed maxims to regulate the conduct of those who afpire to wealth or greatness. Practice and experience are the fureft guides in this rugged road, and upon them we fhould chiefly rely, though they are far from being infallible. The first thing, indeed, that experience fhould teach us is to distrust it, and always doubt of fuccefs; as fortune, being naturally inconftant and capricious, at last grows weary of favouring the fame enterprizes. This has given occafion to a very juft obfervation, which has almost become a proverb, namely, that men attain to the fame ends by different means.

The friendship of those in power, which feems to be the fureft road to advancement, fometimes occafions the ruin of those who place too much confidence in it. Thus the duke of Alva, after having made many terrible executions in the Low Countries, had no way left to efcape the popular odium, but by facrificing a minifter, who had ferved him with the utmost zeal and fidelity.

A certain counfellor of one of the kings of Perfia, whofe advice was

most prudent measures will not always fucceed. "I cannot, faid he, answer for any thing more than the goodness of the plan: the execution depends upon a variety of different perfons, and, above all, upon fortune, who is hired to nobody."

The known integrity of a perfon in office, feems to be a reproach to the knavery of others. Add to this, that men in power are not willing to employ perfons of merit, whom they cannot always manage as they think proper; and political governors generally require more fubmiffion than fkill in those below them. Thus Tacitus informs us, that Poppæus Sabinus continued a long time governor of Spain, nullam ob eximimiam artem fed quia par illi negotiis ingenium erat nec fupra; not on account of any extraordinary merit, but because he had a genius equal to bufinefs, and not above it.

Men of genius are feldom patient or fervile enough to arrive to elevated stations; yet grandeur is to be attained only by patience and perfeverance.

A modern author has obferved, that an unbounded ambition is always accompanied by an equal meannefs of fpirit. The truth of this obfervation we shall not vouch for; but certain it is, that temporifing spirits, which are seldom the moft elevated, are ofteper favoured by fortune than others.

A Let

Dear Sir,

IN a voyage, which proved much more tedious than was expected, Iamufed myself with reading Horace: and as I had not, for several years paft, looked into his Art of Poetry, which, I believe, is univerfally esteemed the most valuable of his works, it was almost become quite new to me, and therefore the more entertaining. This epiftle I read over attentively at one ftretch. My edition was Maittaire's, without either notes or paraphrafe: and though, for want of commentaries, I was often at a lofs to comprehend fully the true meaning and beauty of particular paffages, yet, by fo doing, I gained one advantage; to wit, I had in a manner, all at once, a view of the whole conduct of the celebrated performance, its different parts, and their connexions with and dependence upon one another; and confequently was more likely to form a juft idea of the fcope and drift of the whole, than if I had proceeded more leifurely. Befides, as there were no annotations in my copy, I was left intirely to my own thoughts, and no ways biaffed by the opinions of much more learned critics, to whofe judgment 1 probably should have paid more deference than to my own.

However, the upfhot was, that I landed in an opinion, concerning the fcope and intention of the poem in queftion, and the occafion of its writing, different in fome refpects, not immaterial, as I apprehended, to the right underftanding of it, from any yet offered, as far as I

either then could recollect, or have been able to find out fince.

My opinion, to explain it briefly, is, that the poet, in his epiftle to the Pifos, carries on two different defigns: the one, to throw out, in his own beautifully negligent way, fuch obfervations, and precepts relating to poetry in general, but more fully and particularly concerning dramatic poetry, as he apprehended might be most useful in correcting and forming the taste of the town: the other, to combat and run down a fashionable folly of that time amongst the young men of rank, with which the elder of the young Pifos appears to have been deeply fmitten, to wit, an itch of figuring in poetry. And I cannot help thinking, that the latter, though it seems to be only accidental, is yet, in reality, the principal intention, the chief motive of the poet in writing the epiftle, or at leaft a conditio fine qua non thereof: and that the former, which appears the principal, and is, no doubt, in its own nature, the more important of the two, is chiefly a cover to the other; and fo managed by the poet, as to screen young Pifo from any ridicule that might stick to him, upon being pointed out, as labouring under a weakne's, and at the fame time make the defigned impreffion firmly and deeply. This was a delicate tafk, worthy of Horace's genius; and accordingly he difplays all his wit, learning, humour, and art, in the execution thereof, as we fhall in part fee by and by.

I fhall endeavour, briefly, to fupport

port this my opinion by arguments drawn from the character of the poet, and from the conduct and management of the poem under confideration; the only good grounds, I think, we have left to proceed upon, as he hath no where told us himself what his motives were in writing it, nor any of his friends or confidents for him.

The true character of Horace was to be, with all his abilities and accomplishments, as a poet, a fcholar, and a gentleman, extremely indolent; infomuch, that, probably, there never was a great poet, who had his fortune to make, that, in a middling long life, wrote fo few verfes as he did. This is fo evident, from numerous paffages in his works, that it would be quite fuperfluous to fet about proving it. At the fame time he was extremely fenfible of the charms of friendship; and, by his merit, he contracted intimacies with many of the greatest and worthieft perfons in Rome. Amongst thefe, Pifo was eminent; a man of confular dignity, of great abilities both in public and private life, and of a moft amiable character. To him, and his two fons, the epiftle we are confidering is infcribed: and as the elder of them appears to have been much attached to the ftudy of poetry, as hath been faid, it is, in my opinion, highly probable, that the principal intention of the epiftle was to moderate and reftrain that ardour of his, fo unfuitable (when extreme) to the heir of a great family, and which perhaps was prejudicial to his health: I fay, it appears highly probable, that the great regard and intimate friendship our poet had for the illuftrious family, was the chief incentive that fpurred

him on to pen this, the moft learned and elaborate of all his works; and that the fingle intention of correcting and modelling the taste of the town, would not have been powerful enough to have made a man of his caft undertake a task fo laborious, without an additional motive.

It is hoped, that the fhort account we are going to give of the conduct and management of the epiftle itself, will farther juftify the opinion we have embraced.

He begins with giving a multiplicity of precepts, relating to poetry in general. These are delivered, though in few words, yet with great ftrength, clearness, and precision. They take up the firft eighty-nine lines. Their obvious and natural ufe, no doubt, is to inform the reader's judgment, and direct his tafte; and affift him either in juftly criticising a poetical performance, or writing a good one himself, if he fhould hazard commencing author. But there is likewise a secondary use of them; to wit, to caution him against any attempt of this kind, unless he has reasonable grounds to think himself qualified, both in point of genius and industry, to write up to these rules: so that, even in the very beginning, he is craftily promoting his principal intention, which he does not explicitly broach till towards the end; and then only as it were by accident. This, I think, appears remarkably in the following precept:

Sumite materiem veftris qui fcribitis æquam
Viribus, & verfate diu quid ferre recufent
Quid valeant bumeri.

As if he had faid, "Authors fhould not only compofe with great deliberation, and at great leisure, but even think much, and long, on

the