SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

BIOGRAPHY.

Correspondence of John Fourth Duke of Bedford : selected from the Originals at Woburu Abbey. With an Introduction. by Lord John Russell. Volume I. Loagmas and Co. TRAVELS, The Rural and Domestic Life of Germany; with Characteristic Sketches of its Cities and Scenery, collected in a general Tour, and during a Residence in the Country, in the years 1840. '41. and 42. By William Howitt, Author of "The Rural Life of England," "Visits to Remarkable Places," &c. &c. With above fifty illustra-

tions, by G. F. Sargent Longman and Co. Fromm/.

The Jack 0' Lantern (Le Feu.Follet) ; or the Privateer. By J. Fenimore Cooper, Esq. Author of "The Pilot." "The Two Admirals." &c. &a. In three volumes.

Bentley, CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FOURTH DUKE OF BEDFORD.

Jons, fourth Duke of BEDFORD, was the grandson of the Lord RUSSELL whose death upon the scaffold, in the reign of Cnenum the Second, invested the house of Bedford with the only historical emi- nence it possessed until the present generation. This Joarr, born in 1710, was a second son ; but his elder brother, WRIOTHESLEY, dying after a short life, spent in pursuits which injured alike his fortune, repute, and constitution, he succeeded to the dukedom, at two-and-twenty. On entering Parliament, the young Duke joined the mongrel Opposition, which eventually succeeded in driving WALPOLE from power, and then immediately split into sections, incapable (notwithstanding the great talent possessed by individu- als) of doing any thing—of either carrying on the government or the war they had provoked, or effecting the punishment of their enemy, the retention of their power, or the preservation of their popularity. On the expulsion of WALPOLE, the Duke of BEDFORD was not in the Ministry; but on an early crack in the brittle ware, he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1744; which office he held till 1748, when he became Secretary of State. He was afterwards Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland : in 1763 he represented Lord BUTE as Ambassador at Paris, to negotiate the peace which the elder PITT was dismissed to accomplish ; he became President of the Council in GRENVILLE's Administration, formed the same year ; and continued to busy himself in politics to the close of his life. Though by no means a man of shining talents, he pos- sessed more active ability than has distinguished the other Dukes of his house ; who have rather been known for a kind of jog-trot amiability, or good-nature, than for any thing in the shape of vigour or command. But, apart from his station and property, ,the abilities of the fourth Duke, consisting mainly in a narrow justness of view and a methodical manner of conduct- ing business, would have conferred no distinction, and would have left him in the state where fortune placed him, unless his method and economy (which some called avarice) had enabled him to make money. Even with the advantages of his dukedom, his boroughs, and his princely fortune, he could not of himself have cut a "figure in history." He is only known to posterity by the un- relenting enmity of a bitter opponent, who has preserved and pickled him in gall. The interest attached to Joan fourth Duke of BEDFORD arises from his being the Duke of BEDFORD of JUNIUS. But the political events of the career which the " Stat Nomi- nis Umbra" handles in his celebrated letter relate to a much more advanced period than the correspondence in the volume before us; which begins in 1742, on the expulsion of WALPOLE, and ends in 1748, with the conclusion of the discreditable peace that wound up the war,—a peace necessary, perhaps, under the difficulties of the time, but made necessary by the mismanagement and incapacity of the placemen who had the conduct of hostilities.

The general character and political importance of this Corre- spondence will be better considered at the conclusion of the under- taking. It will be sufficient at present to convey an idea of the contents and scope of the volume before us, with a few examples of the better kind of epistles. As a collection of letters, not (as yet) throwing any very new or striking light upon the history or manners of the period, the volume may in the main be considered readable ; for though some of the epistles exhibit rather a lordly disregard of English construc- tion, the drift of their meaning is clear enough ; and it is curious to trace the laborious mo/ing of common minds through their mother-tongue, when English composition formed no branch of education, and those who had a style must have formed it for them- selves. There is also a sufficient variety of subject, the letters being reducible to some five classes,—private or family affair!, frequently possessing the personal interest attaching to indi- viduals with whose names the student of the times is familiar; struggles and intrigues for places ; business connected with the Admiralty ; occasional or passing accounts of the war; and the correspondence respecting the negotiation for peace, which pre- dominates over all the other topics, though not always with an interest proportioned to its bulk.

Besides the Duke of BEDFORD himself, who comes out' as a me- thodical manager and a firm friend, the principal correspondents are the profligate Lord SANDWICH, who exhibits himself exactly as Junes describes him, a " dependent " of the Duke of BEDFORD, but who wears his yoke in a becoming manner, and writes a good man-of-the-world's letter; NEWCASTLE, who appears weaker than ever, with a kind of silly common sense ; and LEGGE, who was a personal friend of the Duke, and pens by far the best and most lively epistle of all the correspondents. In addition to a mob of names, there are also occasional letters from Anson., writing a straightforward English style; and VERNON, using English words, with a construction of his own ; as well as two or three common- place affairs from HosAca WALPOLE ; and a few from CHESTER- PIELD, the most trifling carefully sustained, and one, written when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, which places his humanity in a credit- able point of view, and gives an insight into the corrupt practices

of that age.

"The Earl of Chesterfield to the Duke of Bedford. " Dublin Castle, 17th September 1745.

"My Lord—Your Grace will remember, that some time ago I laid a complaint before the Regency, of the cruel manner in which the French prisoners at Kin- sale were treated; and I have now the honour of assuring your Grace that they are not in any degree better used than they were then; which I am sure is very contrary to your Grace's intentions. Brigadier de Grangues, a man of

truth and honour, is just come from thence ; and has assured me of his own knowledge, that those unhappy people are more inhumanly treated than Negroes in the West Indies. One Newman, who takes care of them, and who I sup- pose is appointed by the commissioners of sick and wounded, not only defrauds them of good part of what the Government allows them, but loads them with irons if they complain. His deputy, one Webb, is an apothecary at Kinsale, who, when his master has made them sick either by starving or bad food, crams and drenches them with his physic, and then ruins them with his bills. Though I have no power over Mr. Newman, I could not hear of his brutalities without letting him know that 1 knew them, and reprimanding him for them. I have accordingly had him writ to, and acquainted that I intended to lay the affair before your Grace; which, in common humanity, I thought myself obliged to do.

"By the accounts we have here from Scotland, nothing is more ridiculous than that rascally Highland army, with which his Royal Highness Prince Charles intends to conquer us, except it be our army that runs away from such a pack of scoundrels. But if they have no foreign assistance, which your Grace will take good care to prevent or intercept, there must be soon an end of them one way or another. I wish other things now depending may end as well, as I am persuaded this rebellion will. I need not, I believe, assure your Grace, that no man living can be with greater truth and respect than I am, &c. "CHESTERFIELD." A MAN OF THE WORLD'S ANNOUNCEMENT.

"Lord Chesterfield to the Duke of Bedford.

"Loudon, 30th October 1746.

"My Lord—The King having done me the honour to give me the seals which were resigned by Lord Harrington, your Grace will give me leave to assure you, that in this post, in which I am most undeservedly and unexpectedly placed, your Grace shall always find me with the truest attachment, &c. &c.

"CHESTERFIELD."

Our other extracts, for the present, shall be taken from LEGGE'S ; because he is longo intervallo the best writer, and the public events have hardly sufficient point or matter to maintain themselves, without more space and explanation than we can give to them. This is a manly solicitation- " Mr. Legge to the Duke of Bedford.

" Temple, 29th June 1742.

'My dear Lord—Whilst the fate of my old patron [ Walpole] was depending, I avoided any application to your Grace for protection, and did so, that I might the more effectually preserve your Grace's good opinion of me; well knowing that I should advance my pretensions very little with any man of sense and honour by appearing more solicitous for myself than for the person to whom I owed the highest obligations. As that debt of gratitude is now punctually paid, the cause of my reserve consequently ceases ; nor can I see all men around Inc in- tent upon self-preservation, and be so insensible of my own danger as to think of no refuge, or so forgetful of your kind disposition towards me as to think of any other than your Grace's friendship: permit me, therefore, without any further preface, to acquaint you with the present state of my affairs. The only danger I apprehend is from Mr. Pulteney; and, after many rumours, to which, as mere town-talk, I gave little attention, I am now convinced he has a design of putting Mr. Furnese into my place. If this happens, not only my whole income is taken away, but that which was my study and profession, and by which I hoped, one day or other, to have been serviceable to the public as well as myself, is converted into a sinecure, and added to the superfluities of one who is already possessed of a large estate. How far any personal application to Mr. Pulteney upon this occasion may be decent for me to ask, or agreeable to your Grace's situation and inclination to grant, I am very doubtful ; but this I would venture to affirm, that if it were conveyed to Me. Pulteney through some channel of undoubted authority, that I have the honour to be an old, (pardon the vanity if I say,) an intimate acquaintance of your Grace, in the support and preservation of whose fortune you have the goodness to inte- rest yourself warmly, a description so much to my advantage would, I dare say, put me beyond the reach of all danger. I have received too many marks of favour from your Grace to doubt your willingness to assist me ; and there- fore ought to leave the time, as well as manner, to your better judgment ; but as this is the crisis of my fortune, upon which the whole success of my future life depends, pardon my warmth when I add, that there is no time to be lost, and that nothing but your speedy patronage can effectually preserve,

"My Lord, your Grace's most obedient and faithful servant, "B. LEGGE."

The conclusion of the affair-

" Mr. Legge to the Duke of Bedford.

•• King's Bench Walk, 13th July 1742.

" My dear Lord—I thank your Grace for the sight you have given me of Mr. P.'s letter, which I return enclosed to you; and as the situation of affairs is described in it, am not surprised that even your intercession was ineffectual to- wards maintaining me in the Treasury, though I dare gay I felt the good effects of it in the manner of turning me out ; for this morning, at the same time that Mr. Furnese kissed hands for my place, I likewise kissed for being Sur- veyor of the Woods, &c. To be sure, it is a fall ; but as they have laid the boughs of trees under me to break it, 1 am not near so much bruised as if I had been tossed out on the bare pavement. "I send you a list of the executions which were performed this morning : it is as authentic as any you will see in the papers, and will come at least as soon to you as you can receive it from any other private band. I hope very soon to make my personal acknowledgments to you in a green coat, with all the emblems of forest jurisdiction about me ; and shall never lose the sense I have of the zeal and affection with which you have protected "Your most obliged, &c. H. LEGGE." LEGGE ON THE PROMISE OF WARLIKE AFFAIRS AT THE HAGUE. "Things here, by dint of going much worse than could possibly have been imagined, will, I believe in the end, go better than was expected. Everybody begins to be convinced that it is impossible to go on; and that effect could not have fallen shorter of promise and expectation if we had tied ourselves fast to a dead corpse and called it our ally, than it will do in the present case. Men, money, and resolution, are the three trifles wanting; and barring those defi- ciencies, every thing here is in an admirable posture for making a vigorous de- fence. I shall set out in an hour for Aix. I have been detained so long merely to get the matters settled here which relate to the pert the Republic is to take with us at Berlin ; and had I stirred a step till it was concluded, I am very sure the whole affair would have fallen fast asleep, for you must know the civil lethargy of this country is full as profound as the military. His Serene High- ness has received me very graciously as an old acquaintance, and one he knows wishes him well. He does me justice in this supposition ; and therefore I can't help wishing he would abate a little of the serenity of his style, and not remain playing at Stadtholder, receiving deputations, and deliberating without deter- mining, till the Gauls come and pull him by the beard in his Senate-house. I hope to see Lord Sandwich in five or six days at furthest : he has certainly been deceived (1 don't wonder at it) by the blustering language that has been talked here in the winter, and by the large and formal declarations of the strength of this country. When be knows how little it will prove when realized, he has too much sense not to see what is obvious to men of much in- ferior capacity."

A. SPECIMEN OF PLEASANTRY.

"So much for politics. I rejoice extremely in the good account you send me of my playfellow, and congratulate your Grace and my Lady Dutchess upon the happy effects of your prudent courage [inoculation]. I can't help think- ing myself greatly interested in the preservation of Lady Caroline's charms, u I think they will not fail hereafter to torment and mortify many of those saucy rascals who will have the insolence to be very young men at the time when I shall have the misfortune to be a very old one. It is an interest of a more generous nature which I take in Lord Tavistock's education, though per- haps a little selfish too, at bottom. I take it, one may relish applause long after beauty has lost all its effect ; and when hereafter Lord Tavistock makes a good figure in the world, as I don't doubt but he will, your Grace will not grudge me the little comfortable vanity of supposing I have been in a small de- gree accessory to it. Though the soil and the cultivation is the work of others, yet it must be confessed I called aloud for the gardener, and may therefore pre- tend to a kind of merit, somewhat akin to that of a certain sexton recorded in metre-

" The sexton thus of preaching well

Claimed half the praise—who rang the bell." "It is well for your Grace that paper has bounds if nonsense has none, and that I can defer no longer to acknowledge myself,

"Yours, &c. H. LEGGE."

An Introduction by Lord JOHN RUSSELL is prefixed to the Cor- respondence; giving a sort of biographical notice of the Duke, and a resume of public events during the period which the volume refers to. It will be found useful to the reader, but might have been fuller with advantage. As a composition, it is clever in parts, but not very distinct as a whole. When the reader has gone through it, he will have to go through it again pen in hand, if he want to have the matter mapped out in his mind. From this part we will take a curious story, indicative of the minute particularity of the Duke's character.

"In the year 1743, the Duke planted the large plantation in Woburn Park known by the name of the Evergreens,' to commemorate the birth of his daughter, afterwards Caroline Dutchess of Marlborough : the space was some- thing more than a hundred acres, and was before that time a rabbit-warren, producing nothing but a few blades of grass, with the heath or ling indigenous to the soil, and without a single tree upon it. " In the course of a few years, the Duke perceived that the plantation re- quired thinning, in order to admit a free circulation of air, and give health and vigour to the young trees. Be accordingly gave instructions to his gardener, and directed him as to the mode and extent of the thinning required. The gardener paused, and hesitated, and at length said, Your Grace must pardon me if I humbly remonstrate against your orders, but I cannot possibly do what you desire : it would at once destroy the young plantation, and, moreover, it would be seriously injurious to my reputation as a planter.' "The Duke replied, Do as I desire you, and I will take care of your repu- tation.'

"The plantation was consequently thinned according to his instructions, and the Duke caused a board to be fixed in the plantation, facing the road, ott which was inscribed, This plantation has been thinned by John Duke of Bed- ford, contrary to the advice and opinion of his gardener.'"