no man is more apt to take fire, upon the least appearance of provocation; which temper he strives to subdue, with the utmost violence upon himself: so that his breast has been seen to heave, and his eyes to sparkle with rage, in those very moments when his words, and the cadence of his voice, were in the humblest and softest manner: perhaps that force upon his nature, may cause that insatiable love of revenge, which his detractors lay to his charge, who consequently reckon dissimulation among his chief perfections. Avarice he has none; and his ambition is gratified, by being the uncontested head of his party. With an excellent understanding adorned by all the polite parts of learning, he has very little taste for conversation, to which he prefers the pleasure of reading and thinking; and in the intervals of his time, amuses himself with an illiterate chaplain, an humble companion, or a favourite ser vant * These *This character of lord Somers, lord Oxford observes, is very different from the picture drawn of him in the dedication to the Tale of a Tub. Yet, distorted as the features are in this new history, it is a pleasure to find that party-malice attempted to discolour rather than alter them. How lovely does a character burst forth, when the greatest objections to it are, that it was steady to its principles, of universal civility, conscious of an humble birth, of no avarice, of satisfied ambition, that the person so accused did violence to himself to govern his passions, and (one can scarce repeat seriously such a charge!) preferred reading and thinking to the pleasures of conversation! How black a statesman, not to be fickle! How poor a philosopher, to master his passions, when he could not abdicate them! How bad a man, to endeavour to improve his mind and understanding!However, as the greatest characters cannot be clear of all alloy, 1 These are some few distinguishing marks in the character of that person, who now presides over the discontented party, although he be not answerable for all their mistakes: and if his precepts had been more strictly followed, perhaps their power would not have been so easily shaken. I have been assured, and heard him profess, that he was against engaging in that foolish prosecution of Dr. Sacheverell, as what he foresaw was likely to end in their ruin; that he blamed the rough demeanour of some persons to the queen, as a great failure in prudence; and that when it appeared her majesty was firinly resolved upon a treaty of peace, he advised his friends not to op. pose it in its progress, but find fault with it after it was made; which would be a copy of the like usage themselves had met with, after the treaty of Ryswick; and the safest as well as the most probable way, of disgracing the promoters and advisers. I have been the larger in representing to the reader some idea of this extraordinary genius, because, whatever attempt has hitherto been made, with any appearance of conduct, or probability of success, to restore the dominion of that party, was infallibly contrived by him; and I prophesy the same for the future, as long as alloy, Swift might have known that lord Somers was not justifiable in obtaining some grants of crown-lands, which, though in no proportion to other gains in that reign, it would have become him to resist, not to countenance by his example. Catalogue of Noble Authors, vol. ii. p. 107. This elegant writer had before observed, that lord Somers "was at once the model of Addison, and the touchstone of Swift: the one wrote from him, the other for him." N. his age and infirmities will leave him capable of business. The duke of Marlborough's character has been so variously drawn, and is indeed of so mixed a nature in itself, that it is hard to pronounce on either side, without the suspicion of flattery or detraction. I shall say nothing of his military accomplishments, which the opposite reports, of his friends and enemies among the soldiers, have rendered problematical: but if he be among those who delight in war, it is agreed to be, not for the reasons common with other generals. Those maligners who deny him personal valour, seem not to consider, that this accusation is charged at a venture; since the person of a wise general is too seldom exposed, to form any judgment in the matter and that fear, which is said to have sometimes disconcerted him before an action, might probably be more for his army than for himself. He was bred in the height of what is called the tory principle; and continued with a strong bias that way, till the other party had bid higher for him than his friends could afford to give. His want of literature, is in some sort supplied by a good understanding, a degree of natural elocution, and that knowledge of the world which is learned in armies and courts. We are not to take the height of his ambition, from his soliciting to be general for life: I am persuaded, his chief motive was the pay and perquisites, by continuing the war; and that he had then no intentions of settling the crown in his family, his only son having been dead some years before. He is noted to be master of great temper, able to govern, govern, or very well to disguise his passions, which are all melted down, or extinguished, in his love of wealth. That liberality which nature has denied him, with respect to money, he makes up by a great profusion of promises: but this perfection, so necessary in courts, is not very successful in camps among soldiers, who are not refined enough to understand or to relish it. His wife, the duchess, may justly challenge. her place in this list. It is to her the duke is chiefly indebted for his greatness, and his fall; for above twenty years she possessed, without a rival, the favours of the most indulgent mistress in the world, nor ever missed one single opportunity that fell in her way of improving it to her own advantage. She has preserved a tolerable court-reputation, with respect to love and gallantry; but three Furies reigned in her breast, the most mortal enemies of all softer passions, which were, sordid Avarice, disdainful Pride, and ungovernable Rage; by the last of these often breaking out in sallies of the nost unpardonable sort, she had long alienated her sovereign's mind, before it appeared to the world. This lady is not without some degree of wit, and has in her time affected the character of it, by the usual method of arguing against religion, and proving the doctrines of Christianity to be impossible and absurd. Imagine what such a spirit, irritated by the loss. of power, favour, and employment, is capable of acting or attempting; and then I have said enough. The next in order to be mentioned, is the earl of Godolphin. It is said, he was originally in VOL. VI. D tended tended for a trade, before his friends preferred him to be a page at court; which some have very unjustly objected as a reproach. He has risen gradually in four reigns, and was much more constant to his second master king James, than some others, who had received much greater obligations; for he attended the abdicated king to the sea side, and kept constant correspondence with him, till the day of his death. He always professed a sort of passion for the queen at St. Germain's; and his letters were to her, in the style of what the French call double entendre. In a mixture of love and respect, he used frequently to send her from hence, little presents of those things which are agreeable to ladies, for which he always asked king William's leave, as if without her privity; because, if she had known that circumstance, it was to be supposed she would not accept them. Physiognomists would hardly discover, by consulting the aspect of this lord, that his predominant passions were love and play; that he could sometimes scratch out a song in praise of his mistress, with a pencil and card; or that he has tears at command, like a woman, to be used either in an intrigue of gallantry or politicks. His alliance with the Marlborough family, and his passion for the duchess, were the cords which dragged him into a party, whose principles he naturally disliked, and whose leaders he personally hated, as they did him. He became a thorough convert, by a perfect trifle; taking fire at a nickname* delivered by Dr. Sacheverell, with great indiscretion, from the pulpit, which |