tlemen at Eton, he received an invitation from the Prince and Princess of Wales to dine with them at Cliefdon; and he said that nothing was ever more pleasing than their ease and condescension, they dined quite in a family way, and after dinner the children were called in to the desert, and were made to repeat seveal beautiful passages out of plays and poems; and upon the whole he never passed a more agreeable day in all his life. This was reported to the King with a view to prejudice him in the King's opinion for his familiarity with the Prince. What had he to do at Cliefdon? said the King. What brought him into those parts? When it was answered, that he was there upon his visitation, O, said the King, I find it was no private affair; as he was there in a public capacity, if he had failed in proper respect to any part of my family, I should have had reason to be angry indeed. The truth is, Lord Granville was his friend, and had recommended him; and he was upon that account more favored by the King, and less acceptable to the other ministers.

Old age is narrative, and one story commonly produces another, especially if there be something singular and similar in their nature or circumstances. The following is rather a more extraordinary story than the foregoing, but it is not so well known and attested. It must rest upon the credit of the said Bishop Thomas of Salisbury,

who

who constantly affirmed that he had received it from undoubted authority. When Dr. Younger was abroad upon his travels, he passed some time at the Court of Hanover, where he was well received and esteemed by the Princess Sophia and her family before ever they came into England. When George I. succeeded to the throne, Dr. Younger was Dean of Salisbury, Residentiary of St. Paul's, and Deputy Clerk of the Closet, in which station he had served under Queen Anne, and was continued under George 1. The King was very glad to renew his acquaintance with him, and in the closet, as he stood waiting behind his chair, turned often and talked with him, and the more as Dr. Younger did, what few could do, converse with the King in High Dutch. The King used to call him his little Dean, and was so condescending and gracious to him, that he was looked upon in some measure as a favorite, and likely to rise to higher preferment. This was by no means agreeable to the ministers, for Dr. Younger was reputed to be what they called a Tory; and a letter of office was sent to dismiss him, the King having no farther occasion for his service. It was not long before the King missed him, and asked What was became of his little Dean that now he never saw him? It was answered, that he was dead. Dead, said the King, I am sorry for it, for I meant to do something for him. This the ministers understood well enough,

5.

and

and therefore had removed him out of the way, Such an imposition, one would think, could hardly have been put upon any prince. It was a bold stroke, even when the King was a stranger to our people and a stranger to our language; but even then it did not escape detection. For some time after the King went a progress into the West of England, and among other places was at Salisbury, and in the cathedrai there seeing the Dean, he called him eagerly up to him, and said My little Dean, I am glad to see you alive, they told me you were dead; but where have you been all this while, and what has prevented my seeing you as usual? He mentioned the letter of dismission which he had received, and said He thought it would ill become him after that to give his Majesty any further trouble. Oh, said the King warmly, I perceive how this matter is; but-with an oath-you shall be the first Bishop that I will make. But it happened, that Dr. Younger being advanced in year's died before any Bishop, so that he never obtained the good effect of the King's gracious intentions.

In 1749 was published Dr. Newton's edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, which it is hoped has not been ill received, by the public, having in 1775 gone through eight editions. So full and particular an account has been given of this work in the Dedication, Preface, &c. that any repetition would be superfluous and

needless.

needless. Whether the Duke of Newcastle had heard or suspected, that something might be said in the Dedication which might have some reference and give some umbrage to him, or whatever else was the motive, he sent a little before publication to the editor his old friend and school-fellow Dr. Johnson, who was then Residentiary of St. Paul's, to desire that a copy of the Dedication might be communicated to his Grace. The editor answered that he would willingly wait upon his Grace with a copy of the Dedication if he pleased but it would be to little or no purpose, for it was already printed, and in a week or two would be published; he had also sent a copy of it to Lord Bath who was then at Paris, and after that he could not upon any account consent to make the least alteration in it. Dr. Johnson "hoped that there would be nothing in the Dedi"cation which might undo all that had been "done," alluding to the preferment which Lord Bath had been for some time solliciting for him from the Duke of Newcastle. It is supposed that the Duke was curious to see whether any thing or what was said concerning papers in Lord Bath's hands relative to former transactions: but no farther mention was made of them, than that it was in his Lordship's power to set all these transactions in a clear light, and he had sufficient materials by him for this purpose. Another passage

in the Dedication, to be fully understood, may require some explication. When Mr. Pulteney had refused to accept of any public employment, even those of first Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Vice-treasurership of Ireland, which is usually divided into three places, and three very good places they are and held by three considerable persons, was offered to him singly, and with a patent for life, but he refused this also and it was in allusion to these particu lar transactions that it was said in general terms, that he was even courted to accept the place of the greatest power and confidence, or if he had foreseen any difficulty of maintaining himself in power, as that is a slippery and uncertain situation, he might have secured himself in the possession of any of the most lucrative employments, and might have enjoyed it with a patent for life. Whatever it might be thought, the Dedication was not written in the usual style of dedications, but in the words of soberness and truth. The writer has asserted nothing, but what either he knew to be true, or believed to be true upon the best grounds and reasons; and could now after so many years as well as then subscribe every clause and sentence with hand and heart.

The Prince and Princess of Wales having done him the honor of being two of his subscribers, he was very much at a loss how to present his books

to

1