No. VIII. LORD TOWNSHEND. "Shall I be tempted to infringe my vow SHAKSPEARE: Coriolanus, ANOTHER example of the sound ambition, above all low selfishness and vulgar attachment to place for its own sake, is presented by Lord Townshend, long one of the most considerable ministers of George I.; equal indeed to Temple in integrity and independence of mind and of conduct, though inferior to him in mental accomplishments and polite learning. His character has been drawn with his usual clearness and force by Chesterfield, who does not conceal his defects, which, being chiefly confined to too much impetuosity, and a want of elegance, or rather a coarseness of manner, partook of nothing approaching to a spot on his reputation, though they were sins in the eyes of his Lordship, and rendered him disagreeable to Queen Caroline. On the other hand, Lord Chesterfield bears warm testimony to the kindness of his nature, as a husband, father, and master, and to his integrity and knowledge of business, observing that never minister had cleaner hands. He retired, therefore, because not of a temper to act a second part under George II., after having acted a first under George I. But, though he felt forced to resign the Cabinet from the opposition, if not illusage of men (with the exception of Walpole) far his inferiors, and therefore had at least as many provocations to engender spleen as Swift, his mind was (unlike Swift's) too genuinely free from it, to retire under the slightest suspicion of being under its influence. On the contrary, never was office, after so long an enjoyment of it*, laid down with so much dignity, the dignity of principle and self-respect. The account of it by Coxe, though in the biography of his successful rivalf, and therefore not likely to be misrepresented in his favour, is gratifying in every point to him who studies human nature in studying history. "Townshend," says the Archdeacon, " retired with a most unsullied character for integrity, honour, and disinterestedness, and gave several striking proofs that he could command the natural warmth of his temper, and rise superior to the malignant influence of party-spirit and disappointed ambition. The Opposition, who had formed sanguine expectations of the consequences of the disunion in the Cabinet, were prepared to receive him with open arms; but he resisted their advances, and firmly persevered in his original determination. Soon after Chesterfield commenced his ardent opposition to Walpole, he went to Rainham, and requested Townshend to attend an important question in the House of Lords. Townshend replied, that he had formed a resolution, which he would not With the exception of the not quite four years of the Tory administration, it lasted almost continuously from 1709 to 1730. † Walpole. Not to return to party politics., break, of never again engaging in political contests. "I recollect,” he added, "that Lord Cowper, though a staunch Whig, had been betrayed by personal pique and party resentment, in his opposition to the Ministry, to throw himself into the arms of the Tories, and even to support principles which tended to serve the cause of the Jacobites. I know that I am extremely warm, and I am apprehensive, if I should attend the House of Lords, I also may be hurried away by my temper, and by personal resentment, to adopt a line of conduct which in my cooler moments I may regret.” Coxe adds: "He maintained this honourable and patriotic resolution, and thus proved himself worthy of the highest eulogium." "He passed the evening of his days in the pursuit of rural occupations and agricultural experiments; his improvements ameliorated the state of husbandry*, his hospitality endeared him to his neighbours, and the dignity of his character insured respect. Apprehensive of being tempted again to enter into those scenes of active life which he had resolved totally to abandon, he never revisited the capital, but died at Rainham, in 1738, aged sixty-four." Thus far Coxe. † Can we add any thing to such a character, as an example of honourable and well-regulated ambition? * They did more than ameliorate, they created it anew; for whereas Norfolk was of so light a soil, that, in ridicule, it was said it might be ploughed with a carving-knife and a couple of rabbits, the introduction of the sward and turnip husbandry made it what it now is; and this owed its rise chiefly to this real patriot and truly wise man. How mean, with all their wit, are the selfish Swift and Bolingbroke in comparison! † Memoirs of Walpole, 4to, 338. No. IX. LORD WALDEGRAVE. "Thou Art not without ambition, but without SHAKSPEARE: Macbeth. It is refreshing to a mind occupied with this subject, that there are other characters which, in the true principles of a wise moderation, resemble the lastnamed excellent person. Of these one somewhat nearer to our own times, and remarkable for the refusal, rather than the enjoyment, of power, was Lord Waldegrave, whose recent " Memoirs," by himself, form a valuable acquisition to the library of either a politician or retired observer of the world. Though on his tomb was engraved, by his beautiful and accomplished widow (" once," as she described herself, "his most happy wife, now the remembrancer of his virtues"), that "ambition visited him not, and contentment filled his hours;" still, in the whole range of the more real votaries of this passion, no man stood so distinguished by the king, or so high in the estimation of all. Indeed, for sense, honour, and vigour, however careless of office, he yielded to none of the nobles of the court, and was far above most of those who actually administered the state. As governor to the prince (afterwards George III.), he had to un dergo many disagreeable things, from the wish of the family to disgust him, and place Lord Bute in his This his attachment to the king made him long bear, though his high sense of independence resisted it, letting them, as he says, civilly understand that he feared their anger no more than he had deserved it. It, however, in time worked upon his patience so much, that nothing but his duty to his sovereign, who wished him to remain, kept him from resigning; and, from his character, we believe him when he says he could have quitted his Royal Highness, and given up all future hopes of court preferment, without the least regret or uneasiness. When he applied for relief to the Duke of Newcastle, we have an amusing picture of the difference between the men. "The duke," he says, "had not the least conception how my situation could be so very unpleasant, measuring, perhaps, my feelings by his own, and thinking that, from long attendance at court, with four years' practice in the school of politics, I must have lost all sensibility." Having obtained his dismissal by applying to the king himself, the latter, with fair and just liberality, perceiving that he had incurred the displeasure at Leicester House from his attachment to him (the king), ordered the duke to prepare a grant of a pension of 2000l. a year for life, as a remuneration for his services. This, no less, we suppose, to the duke's astonishment than his uneasiness in place, he refused, though he afterwards accepted the reversion of a Tellership of the Exchequer, as it would cause no clamour, he says, like a pension, while it would |