that nothing can be more ridiculous than for a man to presume that the honour resulting from the good works of his ancestors, devolves to him in right of blood only, without his taking the least pains to shew, by his own good works, that their blood is still inherent in him-a cheap way of purchasing honour!-so cheap, that the world will very justly never admit it. It is from a man's own merit or demerit only, that he can expect to rise or fall in the opinion of the sensible part of the world:

Honour or shame from no condition rise,

Act well your part, 't is there true honour lyes.'

The fool or knave may hold forth to view a long list of noble and worthy ancestors; but what other purpose does it answer, than to place him in a more conspicuous degree of contempt? My motive in attempting this detail, was to furnish my well-disposed readers with some amiable pictures of a good life; which may be pleasing in the view, and beneficial in contemplating. That they happened to be those of some Howards, and not of any other name, was only occasioned by my being, from my connexions, more familiar with them. The life of a good man I always contemplate with pleasure, and this I look upon to be the most pleasing as well as instructive part of history; inasmuch as it proposes to every man in private life, worthy examples which are within his power for the most part to imitate: a benefit which he seldom finds in the voluminous accounts of the rise and fall of empires, with which every library abounds."]

PHILIP YORKE,

SECOND EARL OF HARDWICKÉ.

[THIS accomplished nobleman was the eldest son of lord chancellor Hardwicke 2, and received his early education at Dr. Newcome's academy at Hackney, whence he was removed to Bennet College, Cambridge, under the care of Dr. Salter, afterward master of the Charter-house. In 1741, the year after he quitted the university, he was chosen member of parliament for Reygate, Surrey; and in 1747, for the county of Cambridge. In 1749 he had the degree of L.L.D. conferred upon him, and in 1764 succeeded his father in title and estate. He was beside, lord lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the county of Cambridge, high steward of the university, and a teller of th exchequer. The infirm state of his health combined with strong attachment to literary pursuits, is supposed to have prevented him from becoming a partizan in the politics of the day: yet he held a seat in the cabinet during the short-lived administration of lord Rockingham in 1765, but without any salary or official situation; which, though repeatedly offered to

• An extemporaneous addition to lord Lyttelton's poem of Virtue and Fame, by the first lord Hardwicke, surpasses the poem itself, and induced the author to say, "If s your lordship can write such verses extempore, it is well for other poets that you chose to be lord chancellor rather than laureat.”

him, he never would accept 3. He died May 16, 1790, in his seventieth year 4.

His lordship through life was attentive to literature, was himself an elegant scholar, and produced several useful works. He also contributed his assistance to various authors, who have acknowledged their obligations to him in various ways.

On the death of queen Caroline, in 1738, he inserted a poem among the verses printed on that occasion at Cambridge. While a member of the university he engaged with several friends in a work similar to the Travels of Anacharsis, by M. Barthelemi. It was entitled, "Athenian Letters," and assumed to be the epistolary correspondence of an agent of the king of Persia, residing at Athens during the Peloponnesian war; while the letters were supposed to have been written by contemporaries of Socrates, Pericles, and Plato. A few copies were printed in 1741, and a hundred copies were reprinted in 1781, 4to. but the work was not put into full possession of the public till 1789, when it appeared in 2 vols. 8vo.

In 1798 a very beautiful edition was put forth under the auspices of the present earl of Hardwicke, in 2 vols. 4to. 5. By all students of the belles lettres

* European Magazine for February 1803.

* British Cabinet.

› An advertisement prefixed to vol. i. attributes its having been so long withheld from publication, to an ingenuous diffidence, which forbad the authors of it to obtrude on the notice of the world what they had considered merely as a preparatory trial of their strength, and as the best method of im

it must ever be regarded as so ingenious and interesting a performance, than an impression of less costliness may still perhaps be a desideratum.

Lord Hardwicke published in 1757, The Correspondence of Sir Dudley Carleton, Ambassador to the States General during the Reign of James I.; and prefixed an "Historical Preface," containing an account of the many important negotiations which were carried on at that period. This was not printed for sale; and the second impression in 1775 consisted only of fifty copies: but the work has since been reprinted.

The last publication of lord Hardwicke was entitled,

printing on their own minds some of the immediate subjects of their academical studies. The friends who assisted in this production were the hon. Charles Yorke *; Dr. Rooke, master of Christ's college, Cambridge; Dr. Green, afterward bishop of Lincoln; Daniel Wray, esq.; the rev. Mr. Heaton, of Bennet college; Dr. Heberden, the celebrated physician; Henry Coventry, esq.; the rev. Mr. Laury; Mrs. Catherine Talbot; Dr. Birch; and Dr. Salter. This work, in the original preface, was pretended to be a translation from a MS. in the Spa nish language, which had been translated by a learned Jew from an ancient MS. in the Persic language, preserved in the library at Fez, in the dominions of the king of Morocco. In the edit. of 1781 the truth was owned, the masquerade was closed, the fancy-dresses and dominos were returned to their respective wardrobes, and the literary maskers resumed their proper habits and their ordinary occupations in life. See Preface to 4to. edit.

• Europ. Mag. ubi sup. Dr. Lort said, "one hundred copies." Vide article of viscount Dorchester, vol. ii. p. 262.

* See art. of lord Morden.

"Miscellaneous State Papers, from 1501 to 1726,"

in 2 vols. 4to. 1779;

and contains a number of select, curious, and important reliques, from the paper-office and British Museum, &c. which serve to mark most strongly the characters of celebrated princes and statesmen, or to illustrate some memorable æra, or remarkable series of events.

The following extract will convey to those readers who have not perused the Athenian Letters, but an imperfect specimen of lord Hardwicke's literary talent ; for the whole should be read, to form any judgment of the writer's skill and erudition in exhibiting the philosophy, literature, and costume of ancient Greece.

Letter XLI. Cleander to Gobryas, chief Scribe to Artaxerxes, King of Persia; relating the Death of Pericles, the Circumstances attending it, &c. (Third Year of the Peloponnesian War.)

"An universal sorrow and confusion reign at present in this city; the old and the young, the civil magistrate and the military officer, the private citizen and the recluse scholar, join equally in deploring the irretrievable misfortune which has befallen Athens, and look upon themselves as equally involved in its fatal consequences. Thou mayst at first imagine, potent lord, that the late devouring pestilence has returned; that the naval force of this republic, its ornament and bulwark, has been defeated by the formi

'The work comprises 180 letters.