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THE

EUROPEAN MAGAZINE,

AND

LONDON REVIEW;

FOR JULY 1797.

FRANCIS GROSE, ESQ. F. A. S.

[WITH A PORTRAIT.]

this Gentleman, who, while he tation: we mean, his Views of Anti

lived, promoted in a very eminent degree the entertainment of his friends, may be faid, in the words of Shakfpeare:

it

a merrier man,
Within the limits of becoming mirth,
I never spent an hour's talk withal:
His eye begets occafion for his wit;
And every object that the one doth catch,
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest.

He was born about the year 1731 *, and was the fon of Mr. Francis Grofe, of Richmond, jeweller, who filled up the coronation crown of George the Second, and died 1769. By his father he was left an independent fortune, which he was not of a difpofition to add to, or even to preserve. He early entered into the Surry Militia, of which he became Adjutant and Paymafter; but fo much had diffipation taken poffeffion of him, that in a fituation which above all others required attention, he was fo careless as to have for fome time (as he ufed pleafantly to tell) only two books of accounts, viz. his right and left hand pockets. In the one he received, and from the other paid; and this too with a want of circumfpection which may be readily fuppofed from fuch a mode of book-keeping. His loffes on this occafion roufed his latent talents: with a good claffical education he united a fine tafte for drawing; and encouraged by his friends, as well as prompted by his fituation, he undertook the work from which he derived both profit and repu.

old.

* In the year 1773, his friend Mr. Davies, See the Sketch prefixed to the Olio.

quities in England and Wales, which he firft began to publifh in numbers in the year 1773, and finifhed in the year 1776. The next year he added two more volumes to his English Views, in which he included the Islands of Guernsey and Jerfey, which were compleated in 1787. This work anfwered his moft fanguine expectations; and, from the time he began it to the end of his life, he continued without intermiffion to publifh various works (a lift of which we fubjoin), generally to the advantage of his literary reputation, and almost always to the benefit of his finances. His wit and good-humour were the abundant fource of fatisfaction to himself and entertainment to his friends. He visited almost every part of the kingdom, and was well received wherever he went. In the fummer of 1789 he fet out on a tour in Scotland; the refult of which he began to communicate to the public in 1790, in numbers. Before he had concluded this work, he proceeded to Ireland, intending to furnish that kingdom with views and defcriptions of her Antiquities, in the fame manner he had executed thofe of Great Britain; but foon after his arrival in Dublin, being at the house of Mr. Hone there, he fuddenly was feized at table with an apoplectic fit, on the 6th May 1791, and died immediately. He was interred in Dublin.

"His literary hiftory," fays a friend, "refpectable as it is, was exceeded by his good-humour, conviviality, and friendship. Living much abroad, and

of Wandsworth, speaks of him as then 42 years 8vo. 1793.

in the beft company at home, he had the eafieft habits of adapting himself to all tempers; and, being a man of general knowledge, perpetually drew out fome converfation that was either ufeful to himself, or agreeable to the party. He could obferve upon most things with precifion and judgment; but his natural tendency was to humour, in which he excelled both by the felection of anecdotes and his manner of telling them: it may be faid too, that his figure rather affifted him, which was in fact the very title page to a joke. He had neither the pride nor malignity of authorship: he felt the independency of his own talents, and was fatisfied with them, without degrading others. His friendfhips were of the fame caft; conftant and fincere, overlooking fome faults, and fecking out greater virtues. He had a good heart; and, abating thofe little indifcretions natural to moft men, could do no wrong.'

He married at Canterbury, and refided there fome years, much beloved and refpected for his wit and vivacity; "which," another friend obferves, "though he poffeffed in an extreme degree, was but little tinctured with the cauftic fpirit fo prevalent among spirits of that clafs. His humour was of that nature which exhilarates and enlivens, without leaving behind it a fting; and though perhaps none poffeffed more than himfelf the faculty of fetting the table in a roar,' it was never at the expence virtue or good manners. Of the moft careless, open, and artlefs difpofition, he was often (particularly in the early part of his life) the prey of the designing; and has more than once (it is believed) embarraffed himself by a too implicit confidence in the probity of others. A

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tale of diftrefs never failed to draw commiferation from his heart; and often has the tear been difcovered gliding down that cheek which a moment before was flushed with jocularity."

He was father of Daniel Grofe, Efq. Captain of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (who, after feveral campaigns in America, was appointed in 1790 DeputyGovernor of the New Settlement at Botany Bay), and fome other children. His works are as follow:

(1) The Antiquities of England and Wales, 8 vols. 4to. and 8vo. (2) The Antiquities of Scotland, 2 vols. 4to. and 8vo.

(3) The Antiquities of Ireland, z vols. 4to. and 8vo.

(4) A Treatife on ancient Armour and Weapons, 4to. 1785.

(5) A Claffical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 8vo. 1785.

(6) Military Antiquities; being a Hiftory of the English Army from the Conqueft to the prefent Time, 2 vols. 4to. 1786, 1788.

(7) The Hiftory of Dover Caftle, by the Rev. William Danell, 4to. 1786.

(8) A Provincial Gloffary, with a Collection of local Proverbs and popular Superftitions, 8vo. 1788.

(9) Rules for drawing Caricatures, 8vo. 1788.

(10) Supplement to the Treatife on ancient Armour and Weapons, 4to. 1789

(1) A Guide to Health, Beauty, Honour, and Riches; being a Collection f humourous Advertisements, pointing out the Means to obtain those Bleffings; with a fuitable introductory Preface, 8vo. (12) The Olio; being a Collection of Essays in 8vo. 1793.

MEMOIRS
OF THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE EDMUND BURKE.

THE Public have a claim to the hiftory

of great men, for the benefit of their example; and few, very few of modern times, have had fuch a claim to this character as Edmund Burke-" clarum et venerabile nomen !"-a name not only long known to his own country, but to all Europe, for the brilliancy of his political talents; and, in our opinion, still lifted higher in the annals of literature, by his amazing eloquence as a fpeaker, and the uncommon ftrength and harmony of his powers as a writer,

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Edmund was his fecond fon, who, at

a very early age, was fent to Baly tore fchool; a feminary in the North of Ireland of very great repute, and well known for furnishing the bar and the pulpit of Ireland with many refpectable and eminent characters. This fchool has been kept by Quakers for near a century; and the fon of the man to whom Mr. Burke was a pupil has been for thefe many years paft the head-master. It has been creditable to both parties (viz. the prefent preceptor and the quondam pupil of his father), that the strictest friendhip has always fubfifted between them; not only by a constant correspondence, but by occafional vints; in which the reiteration of boyifh adventures, compared with the chain of fucceffive events, muft have formed fuch converfations as moft feel to a degree, though none but minds of a refined and congenial temper can enjoy the true relish.

At this fchool young Burke foon diftinguished himself by an ardent attachment to study, a prompt command of words, and a good tate. His memory too unfolded itfelf very early, and he foon became diftinguished as (what was called) the beft capper of veries in the school; but as this phrafe is not fo generally known in England as in Ireland, it may be neceffary to explain it : What is called capping of verfes is repeating any one line out of the Claffics, and following it up by another, beginning with the fame letter at which the former line ended; for instance,

Æquam memento rebus in ardui s
Servaré mentem, non fecus in bonis.

This was carried on, in the way of literary conteft, between two boys, which begat an emulation for reading above the ordinary line of duty, and at the fame time called out and ftrengthened the powers of memory. Burke not only took the lead in this, but in all general exercises: he was confidered as the first Greek and Latin fcholar; to these he added the study of poetry and belles lettres; and, before he left the school, produced a play in three acts, founded on fome incidents in the early part of the History of England.

Concerning this play we have made many inquiries to little purpofe; the probability is, that a work of this kind, after it was read amongst his fchoolfellows, or perhaps acted, loft its novelty and was forgotten; or perhaps the Author, as he grew up to be a man, and "forward to put off his boyish days,”

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voluntarily deftroyed it. All that we know of it, to any degree of certainty, is, that Alfred formed the principal character; and we have been told, on the credit of a co-temporary fchool-boy, that this part breathed a ipirit of freedom and fublimity that was wonderful, confidering the age of the author.

The report, however, which one fchool-fellow makes of another, influenced by the fubfequent reputation of fuch a man as Burke, cannot be much depended on. If we did not know the early productions of Dryden, judging of them by the merits of his maturer day, what fhould not we imagine we had loft? but, knowing what they are, how trifling they appear by comparifon! The early works of ingenious men, however, are far from being incurious: Dryden's Poem to the Memory of Henry Lord Haftings, with all its falle metaphors, grofs images, and hobbling rhymes, fhews an excurfive fancy, and fome latent traits of genius burting to come forward; but above all, it thews what the powers of application and experience in the aid of genius will do, when the fame author, even in his old age, could produce fuch a fublime poem as the Ode on St. Cecilia's Day.

Before Edmund left Balytore school, his elder brother died, which determined his father to change his plan of defignation in regard to his family: and here it is curious to reflect how a fingle incident opens a way to great and confiderable events had the elder fon lived, he would have been educated to all the advantages of primogeniture, whilft this, his fecond, would in all probability have been either configned to his father's profeffion as an attorney, or bred to fome trade; and thus have ended his days in the inglorious buftle of a country town, unknown to fame and to pofterity. But fate decided it otherwise: Edmund, foon after this event, was entered a fellowcommoner at the Univerfity of Dublin, where he pursued his ftudies with the fame unceasing application as at school; and where he was no lefs efteemed as a scholar, than beloved for his agreeable manners and the integrity of his friendfhips indeed this latt feature of his character was his peculiar praife through life, as he not only retained his political connections with fidelity, but all thofe of an earlier date; and fome of thefe, to the ftill higher praife of his generofity, as his purfe, his table, and his influence, were constantly at their fervice: nor did

:

he

he "ever meet an old friend with a new face," but those who by their fubfequent conduct had forfeited his protection.

After ftaying the ufual time at the Univerfity of Dublin, he came over to London, and entered himself as a ftudent of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Here, though neither the duties of the Inns of Courts, or the example of "his fellow-practifers in the law," demanded or ftimulated his attention, fuch

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ORIGINAL LETTER FROM EDMUND BURKE, ESQ.

Beaconsfield, April 5, 1796. SIR, HAVE read the manufcript which you have had the goodness to fend for my entertainment and inftruction. You have not failed in your humane and honourable purpose: I was very much entertained; and, if I were treated with lefs partiality, I should have received more inftruction. I have feldom feen fo much wit in fo small a compafs as there is in your piece: as to the prudence of publifhing it, I have nothing at all to fay; I have never given advice to an author on that subject, that I recollect, in the whole courfe of my life. If you fhould follow the advice you have received (except that a very pleasant performance would be denied to the public), I fee nothing ill that can happen by confining it to the entertainment of your particular friends. I am almoft afhamed to fay, that I have been so much out of the literary world as not fo much as to have heard of Mr. Wakefield's name until yesterday, except what I found about him in your manufcript, and in the printed book of another Gentleman but I find he is a man of confiderable literary reputation. Of the other I had heard fometime, I believe two years fince, as the author of fomething very fcandalous and abfurd against myself and the Gentlemen of France: I did not read more than a page or two of it; and that as it was fhewn to me, for I never was in poffeffion of the pamphlet. What I fee from your piece, and from the extracts made in Mr. Townsend's, he appears to be juft the fame illiterate, ftupid, and impudent railer that I thought him at that time. As to the reft, whe-, ther this fort of stuff pleases the public is a matter unknown to me, but not wholly indifferent; becaufe, if it did, I fhould be forry for the bad tafte of my countrymen with regard to morals and

;

to compofition. As to myself, perfonally, if I were fo weak as much to attend to this foolish fort of fcurrility, it can never affect my tranquillity. I am under no obligation to read the works of those who revile me; and in fact I never do; and I affure you, that if it were not for the refpectful attention I owe to the men of talents who are generous enough to take an intereft in me, I fhould live in the most profound ignorance of the exiftence of what this fort of authors write against me. Their pieces, when they are fent to me, I read; and by what I perceive, they are engaged in a kind of conflict which indeed does honour to their humanity; but which gives, to fome at least amongst their antagonists, an importance which they could otherwife obtain.

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I am rather furprised at your speaking of fuch a perfon as Haftings with any degree of refpect; at prefent I fay nothing of thofe who chofe to take his guilt upon themselves: I do not fay I am not deeply concerned; God forbid I should fpeak any other language. Others may be content to prevaricate in judgment; it is not my tafte; but they who attack me for my fourteen years' labours on this fubject, ought not to forget, that I always acted under public authority, and not of my own fancy; and that, in condemning me, they afperfe the whole Houfe of Commons for their conduct continued for the greater part of three Parliaments. I beg leave once more to return you my beft acknowledgments. I have the honour to be, with great refpect and efteem,

Your moft obedient,
and obliged humble fervant,
EDM. BURKE.

Jofeph Mofer, Efq. Little
Smith-freet, Dean's-
yard, London.

HAMBURGH

HAMBURGH DESCRIBED,

IN AN EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM GERMANY TO THE PRINCESS ROYAL OF ENGLAND. BY HERBERT CROFT, L L. B. PRINTED AT HAMBURGH.

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- I WRITE, Madam, from a city where the well fortified ramparts are of ufe only for walking, and the illpaved streets for any thing but walking; where the outside of the houfes is often all windows, and the infide all entrance; where it is not reckoned unmercantile to play at billiards in the 'Change time; and to pafs from making a hazard for nothing to making a bargain for many thoufands; where the circulation of commerce on their univerfal 'Change is in an inverse ratio to the circulation of air in their ftove-heated apartments; where families are forbidden by law to feed their fervants with falmon more than twice a week; and where they are obliged, by custom, to give them carp for fupper on Chriftmas-eve; where a common long waggon, with two or three ftools, makes a ufual carriage for country excurfions; and where a fhort wooden box without a lid, and with nothing but two large bags of feathers, makes a common bed; where the bells at all the doors tell of an arrival or a departure before either can take place, and all the clocks of the churches tell the time half an hour before it arrives; where life feems to be counted by the number of pipes (whence King James, who wrote against the fin of tobacco, would have been whiffled away in an hour); but where the beef is improved by fmoaking, whatever the men may be; where they •have more than eighty phyficians to keep them from or guide to Charon's ferry in the next world, and almost as many bridges to fave them the trouble of ferrying over their unhealthy and baneful canals in this world; where they who wish for hofpitable and tempting fuppers, as much as Johnfon liked Scottish breakfafts, may be well content to live; and they, who after a full meat of life wish to be pompously and temptingly carried to their laft home, fhould contrive to die; where a female when abroad goes in all weathers without any thing on her head, or with a Danish hat, put on as if the were carrying it to fome one elfe; where the gates of the city are fhut every evening, and the windows of many of the houses are not opened for weeks together; where, in private apartments, one tastes along with the fparkling, highflavoured politeness of modern life the

full-bodied unadulterated manners of the lait century; and where, in the public cellar of the city, one drinks genuine hock, folemnly dated almoft two centuries ago (1620); where all the inhabitants are wakened with the beating of cottons on the canals for female drefles, and where I wake for no better purpose, perhaps, than to lay all my male and female readers to fleep; where, every two fleps, one meets travellers from all the four quarters of the world, and from almoft all their different parts; and where in a week one confules one's own language and does not acquire another, both which I fear this letter may prove.

"But I write, Madam, alfo in a city which has many more things to boast of than to be imiled at: in a city which, though now perhaps the fecond in the world for commerce, exhibits a public library, little known even in Germany, containing more than 80,000 volumes and many rare manuscripts, a city, in which I know already more liberal, valuable, amiable, informed, and even learned characters, than I ever found any where elfe during the fame space of time: which has fuch a connection with the rest of Europe at prefent, that one of its newfpapers (The Correfpondenten), publifhed four days in the feven, prints 96,000 copies every week: a city, in which the French Revolution has enabled the Refident at Geneva, under the old Government, of the first talents and education, to fhew his good fenfe by becoming a book feller; and where the literary traveller may find a regular bookfeller, of whom I should fay more in this letter from Hamburgh, if he were not the printer and publisher of it; a city where the late Emprefs of Ruffia was in part educated, and where Guftavus Vafa spent part of his retirement: which, with its fifter Altona, affords a refuge juft now to much worth and many talents, not often seen in a city which juftly boasts that it has given birth, among its cafks, its bales, and its packages, to fuch men as Hagedorn, Brockas, Gifecke, Fabricius, Ehert, and Efchenburg: which Klopftock has chofen to dignify by making it his abode for the last twenty-five years: and where a merchant, though an extenfive one (Calpar Voght) difplays the mind of a

prince,

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