Contentment had contriv'd to overcharge
And bury meaning, save that we might spy
Sense low'ring on the penthouse of his eye;
His arms were two twin oaks, his legs so stout,
That they might bear a mansion house about,
Nor were they, look but at his body there,
Design'd by Fate a much less weight to bear.

O'er a brown Cassock, which had once been black,
Which hung in tatters on his brawny back,
A sight most strange, and aukward to behold,
He threw a covering of blue and gold.
Just at that time of life, when man by rule,
The fop laid down, takes up the graver fool,
He started up a fop, and fond of show,
Look,d like another HERCULES, turned beau.
A subject, met with only now and then,
Much fitter for the pencil, than the pen;
HOGARTH Would draw him (envy must allow)
E'en to the life, was Hogarth living now.

With such accoutrements, with such a form,
Much like a porpoise just before a storm,
Onward he roll'd; a laugh prevail'd around,
E'en Jove was seen to simper at the sound.
(Nor was the cause unknown, for from his youth
Himself he studied by the glass of truth);

He join'd their mirth, nor shall the gods condemn
If, whilst they laugh'd at him, he laugh'd at them.
Judge REASON view'd him with an eye of grace,
Look'd through his soul, and quite forgot his face,
And, from his hand received, with fair regard

Plac'd in her other scale the name of Bard."

At the latter end of the year 1764, Churchill went to France, to pay a visit to his friend Mr. Wilkes, who was then in that kingdom. They met at Bologne, where Mr. Churchill was seized with a military fever, and where he died on the 4th day of No. vember, in that year, in the 34th year of his age. His poems have been collected and published together, in two volumes, 8vo. and this collection has passed through several editions. Some of his pieces were written with extraordinary rapidity. He had great force of genius; but he did not allow himself sufficient time to correct his performances, or to polish his versification. Dr. Kip

pis has justly remarked, that Churchill has "unhappily added another name to the catalogue, already too numerous in literary history, of those men of genius who would have arisen to a much greater excellence in writing, and to a far more illustrious reputa, tion, had their intellectual talents been accompanied with the uniform practice of virtue."

** Authorities. Biographia Britannica, second edt. Churchill's Works,

THE LIFE OF

ROBERT CLIVE.

[A. D. 1725, to 1774.]

ROBERT CLIVE was born at Styche, in the parish of MoretonSay, near Market-Drayton, in Shropshire, on the 29th of September, 1725. His father, Richard Clive, inherited the estate of Styche, the ancient possession of his family; but thinking the income, which scarcely exceeded five hundred pounds a year, too small a provision, he followed the business of the law. · In his early youth Robert Clive was sent to a private school, which was kept by Dr. Eaton, of Lostock, in Cheshire. The doctor observed, that in courage and sagacity, he far surpassed his fellows, and discerned in the school-boy the character of the future hero. “If,” said he, “ that lad should live to be a man, and an opportunity be given for the exertion of his talents, few names will be greater than his." From this school, at the age of eleven, he was removed to another at Market Drayton. In that town stands, on the edge of an high hill, an ancient Gothic church, from the lofty steeple of which, at the distance of a few feet from the top, projects an old stone spout, in the form of a dragon's head. On this head, he once seated himself, to the great astonishment and terror of his school-fellows, who were gazing from below. He was not however insensible to danger, nor did he seek it unless it produced

applause; but then he flew with eagerness to meet it for even when a boy he loved honor more than he feared death. From the school at Market-Drayton, he was sent to Merchant-Taylor'sschool, London; but he did not long continue at that seminary; for his father once more resolved to try the effects of a private. school, and entrusted him to the care of Mr. Sterling, of HemelHempstead, a village in Hertfordshire; where he continued till he obtained the appointment of a writer in the service of the EastIndia company. From a dislike to restraint, and an abhorrence of all compulsion, the academical attainments of young Clive seldom obtained, or deserved, much applause from his masters; but they all agreed, in giving him the character of the most unlucky boy they ever had in their schools, However, after his arrival in India, he devoted some of his leisure hours to study, and much improved himself in classical literature.

It was in 1743 that Mr. Clive was appointed a writer in the service of the East-India company, He embarked in one of their ships, and arrived at Madras in the year 1744, in the 19th year of his age. The same dislike to the drudgery of the desk, the same impatience of controul, which distinguished him at school, still marked his character, and rendered his appointment as trouble. some to his superiors, as it was irksome to himself. On one occasion, his conduct to the secretary, under whom the writers are placed, was so inconsistent with what was supposed to be the proper subordination of office, that the governor, to whom it was reported, commanded him to ask the secretary's pardon.-The sub mission was made in terms of extreme contempt; but the secretary received it graciously, and invited him to dinner: "No, sir," replied Clive, "the governor did not command me to dine with you."

On the surrender of Madras to the French admiral, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, in September, 1746, the company's servants, both civil and military, became prisoners on parole. But as Monsieur Dupleix, who was commander-in-chief of the French forces in India, and who was not present at the surrender, refused to ratify the treaty, and made the English prisoners to the town, insisting upon their taking a fresh parole from the new governor ; the English on their part, considered their engagement to Bour

donnais as broken, and thought themselves at liberty to make their escape, if possible, and to take up arms when an opportunity should offer. Accordingly, Mr. Clive, disguised as a Moor, in the dress of the country, and a few others, escaped to St. David's, which lies on the same coast, at the distance of twenty-one miles to the south.

Shortly after his arrival, he happened to be engaged in a party at cards with two ensigns, who were detected in a combination to cheat the rest of the company. The ensigns had won large sums, which, as their knavery was proved, the losers refused to pay; but the threats of the two gamblers soon intimidated all but Clive, who still persisted in his refusal, and accepted the challenge which the boldest of them gave. Clive delivered his fire; but his antagonist, as each had only a single pistol, reserved his, and quitting ground, presented the pistol to Mr. Clives's head, and bade him ask his life. After some hesitation, Clive complied; but his antagonist telling him he must also recant the expressions he had used to his dishonor, and promise payment of the money, for that otherwise he would fire; "Fire and be damned," said Clive, "I said you cheated; I say so still, nor will I ever pay you." The ensign finding that all remonstrances were vain, called him a madman, and threw away the pistol. When Clive was complimented by his friends on his behaviour on this occasion, he made the following remark: "The man has given me my life, and I have no right in future to mention his behaviour at the card-table, although I will never pay him, nor ever keep him company." In other contests with some of his brother officers, Clive also displayed the same intrepidity.

In 1747, being disgusted with his former situation at Madras, and weary of an idle life at St. David's, Mr. Clive solicited, and obtained a commission in the royal service. The events of the year 1747 and 1748, gave him few opportunities of exerting the talents he possessed; yet even in those few he exhibited such proofs of an ardent inflexible mind, as raised the admiration, and engaged the confidence of the troops. After the capture of Madras, the power of the French had obtained the ascendancy through the whole Carnatic; but the arrival of admiral Boscawen with two thousand regular troops, in July, 1748, raised the hopes of the

government of St. David's, and determined them to retrieve their sinking reputation, by an attack on Pondicherry, a neighbouring fort, and the principal settlement. At this siege our young ensign distinguished himself by his gallant behaviour in the defence of the advanced trench, which the enemy attacked with so much resolu→ tion, that some of the officers in the same detachment fell, and he himself received a shot in the hat, and another in his coat. But hotwithstanding this partial success, the English were soon after compelled to raise the siege, and to return to Fort St. David's.

The season for military operations being over, the troops remained inactive at St. David's, and the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle being afterwards concluded, lieutenant Clive, to whose active mind the idleness, which in time of peace attends a soldier's life, was extremely irksome, returned to the civil establishment, and was admitted to the same rank as that which he would have held if he had never quitted the civil for the military line. His income was now considerably increased by his appointment to the office of commissary to the British troops; an appointment which the friendship of major Lawrence had procured him. He had not been long settled at Madras, when he was seized with a fever of the nervous kind, which greatly injured his constitution, and of which he is said to have felt the effects to the end of his life, when not engaged in active services.

In order to understand the nature of those military operations in which Clive was afterwards engaged in the East Indies, it will be necessary here to take some notice of the state of affairs in that country.

After the peace of Aix-la-Chappelle, by which an end was put to hostilities between the English and French, Mons. Dupleix, a man of courage and abilities, who commanded the French forces in India, began by his intrigues to sow the seeds of dissention among the nabobs, in hopes thereby to increase the power and wealth of the French in Hindostan. Nizam Almuluck, the Mogul's viceroy of Decan, having the right of nominating a gover nor of the Carnatic, now more generally known by the name of the nabob of Arcot, appointed Anaverdy Khan to that office in the year 1745. The viceroy dying, was succeeded in his vice