ber for Bristol, and his colleague, who had to follow him as orator on the hustings, in thanking the electors, contented himself with, "Gentlemen, I say ditto to Mr. Burke! ditto to Mr. Burke!" On the 22d of March, 1775, Burke laid before the House of Commons thirteen resolutions for reconcilement with America, and made a famous "Speech on American Conciliation." After the peace with America made in 1783, Burke held office in the coalition ministry; and was foremost prosecutor in the seven-years' trial of Warren Hastings, which ended with acquittal, in April, 1795. He first expressed in the House, in February, 1790, his desire to check the French Revo lution by armed interference. In November, 1790, he published his "Reflections on the Revolution in France." This pamphlet was answered by Thomas Paine with the first part of "The Rights of Man;" by James Mackintosh, afterwards Sir James, then a young man, with his "Vindicia Gallica." In December, 1791, Burke wrote "Thoughts on French Affairs." 1794 occurred the calamity of Burke's life, that crushed all his energy. He had lived in his son Richard, then thirty-six years old, a barrister, for whom, in 1794, he vacated his seat at Malton. Richard was to outshine his father, who was anxious to become Lord Beaconsfield, that he might transmit the title to his son; and that his son, uniting himself with the aristocracy, might realize his own highest ideal. Because it crossed this hope, Burke had forbidden his son's marriage to a young lady who had lived in the house as com panion to his mother, and whom he loved. Richard obeyed. On the 26th of July there was a dinner-party at Burke's house, to celebrate his son's return as member for Malton - father and mother alike blind to the fact that he was dying of consumption. The truth was urged on them. Richard was taken to a house at Brompton, and, as he lay there dying, he heard his father and mother in loud lament in the next room, rose, dressed, and tottered in to them, that he might seem well and cheer them. He spoke comfort, heard the rustle of the trees outside, said, "What noise is that - does it rain?" then, seeing what it was, he repeated twice the lines of Milton that his father had delighted in: “His praise, ye winds, that from four quarters blow, then bowed his own head in sign of worship, sank into the arms of his parents, and died. Burke cared no more to be Lord Beaconsfield. He was a broken man for the remaining three years of his life, and died in July, 1797. 12. William Paley, the son of a clergyman, was born in 1743, and was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, of which he was elected fellow in 1766. He resided at the university during the next ten years. He received many valuable ⚫ positions in the church. He died in 1805. He was an acute thinker, and wrote powerful works on morals, politics, and theology. The chief of these are the following: "The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy;" "Hora Paulina; or, the Truth of the Scripture History of St. Paul evinced by a comparison of the Epistles which bear his name with the Acts of the Apostles, and with one another; "A View of the Evidences of Christianity;" and "Natural Theology." 13. Joseph Priestley, born in 1733, became a Dissenting minister, and first devoted himself to the study of physical science, in which he made many important discoveries. He subsequently gave great attention to theology and politics; was a defender of the French Revolution; and in 1794 he removed to America, where he died in 1804. His writings on all subjects include more than sixty titles. Thomas Paine, born in Norfolk, in 1737, became a staymaker and an exciseman; removed to America, and by his writings greatly influenced events during the American Revolution; returned to Europe in 1787. where he wrote "The Rights of Man," in reply to Burke. He wrote many political and theological pamphlets. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born in 1759, and published in 1792 a bold and radical book, entitled "Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” 14. Sir Joshua Reynolds was born in 1723, became the most famous artist of his day, and published his "Discourses" on Art. Gilbert White (b. 1720, d. 1793) has still great reputation as a naturalist, and as a delightful writer, by his "Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne," first published in 1789. Edmund Malone (b. 1741, d. 1812) distinguished himself as an acute literary critic. He published editions of Shakespeare and Dryden, and several biographies. Anna Seward (b. 1747, d. 1809) wrote verses and a "Life of Dr. Darwin; " but is chiefly remembered for her "Letters," published after her death. Hannah More (b. 1745, d. 1833) was a prolific and popular writer of dramas, and afterwards of religious and moralizing works, especially in the form of stories. Her most noted books are "The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain," "Practical Piety," and "Cœlebs in Search of a Wife." Henry Mackenzie (b. 1745, d. 1831) wrote plays, essays, and novels. His most successful novels are "The Man of Feeling," 1771; "The Man of the World," 1773; and "Julia de Roubigné," 1777. Frances Burney, or Madame D'Arblay (b. 1752, d. 1840), wrote several famous novels, "Evelina,' "Cecilia,” and “Camilla." The sisters Sophia and Harriet Lee were once popular story-writers, their joint work, "The Canterbury Tales" (five vols., 1797-1805), having still a wide diffusion among children. A celebrated romance entitled "Vathek " was published in 1784 by William Beckford (b. 1760, d. 1844). Clara Reeve (b. 1725, d. 1803) wrote several novels, of which the most notable is "The Old English Baron.” Ann Radcliffe (b. 1764, d. 1823) has had great popularity as a novelist, especially by her "Mysteries of Udolpho." CHAPTER XVI. SECOND HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: POETS AND DRAMATISTS. 1. Mark Akenside. -2. Thomas Gray.—3. Oliver Goldsmith; Thomas Chatterton; Charles Churchill.-4. James Grainger; William Falconer; James Beattie; James Macpherson; Thomas Percy. - 5. Samuel Foote; David Garrick; Richard Cumberland ; John Home; Richard Brinsley Sheridan.-6. William Cowper.-7. Robert Burns.-8. Erasmus Darwin; Elizabeth Carter; John Wolcot; Anna Lætitia Barbauld; Henry James Pye; James Grahame.—9. Elizabeth Inchbald; Hannah Cowley; Charles and Thomas Dibdin. 1. Mark Akenside (b. 1721, d. 1770) was son of a butcher at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He was sent to the Edinburgh University, with aid of a fund for the purpose, to be educated as a Dissenting minister; but he made medicine his study, was proud of his oratory in the debates of the Medical Society, and aspired to a seat in Parliament. After three years at Edinburgh Akcnside went to Leyden, where he staid another three years, took his degree as M.D., and found a friend in a student of law, Jeremiah Dyson, who came home with him. "The Pleasures of Imagination," in its first form, appeared in 1744, when Akenside's age was twentythree. Its subject was suggested by Addison's essays on Imagination, in the "Spectator." Akenside wrote odes also, and worked at the elaboration of his chief poem throughout his life, publishing the enlargement of his First Book in 1757, and of the Second in 1765; the enlargement of Book III., with an unfinished fragment of Book IV., appeared after his death. Akenside had less feeling for the sense of poetry than for its sound. His style was artificial. In life he affected a false dignity, and his pompous manner laid him open to Smollett's ridicule. He was ashamed of a lameness caused in childhood by the fall of a cleaver in his father's shop. He never married, and was greatly indebted to the liberality of Mr. Dyson for income while he was endeavoring to make a practice. 2. Thomas Gray, born in 1716, was son of a money-scrivener on Cornhill, and the only one of his twelve children who survived their infancy. His father was morose and indolent, neglected business, and spent money in building a country house at Wanstead, without telling his wife what he was about. Mrs. Gray, on her part. had joined Miss Antrobus one of her sisters-in business, and made money by a kind of India warehouse, on Cornhill. Gray was sent to school at Eton, because his mother had a brother among the assistant masters there. At Eton he formed a friendship with Horace Walpole, youngest son of Sir Robert. His uncle at Eton being a fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, Gray entered there as a pensioner, in 1734, but afterwards removed to Peterhouse. In 1738 he left without a degree, and in the spring of 1739 set out for travel in France and Italy, as the companion of Horace Walpole. In Italy the friends disagreed. Gray left Walpole at Reggio, went on before him to Venice, and returned to England about two months before his father's death, in 1741. Gray and Walpole were not reconciled till 1744. Being urged by his friends to make law his profession, Gray went to reside at Cambridge again, and took the degree of B.C.L. At Stoke, in 1742, he wrote his ode "On the Spring much verse was written by Gray in the spring and summer of this year and in the autumn his ode "On a Distant Prospect of Eton College," the first published verse of Gray's, although it did not appear until 1747. From 1742 until his death, in 1771, Gray lived chiefly at Cambridge, where, in 1768, he was made Professor of Modern History. In 1750 he had completed his "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," suggested by the churchyard at Stoke Pogis. In February, 1751, Gray wrote to Horace Walpole that the proprietors of a magazine were about to publish his Elegy, and said: "I have but one bad way left to escape the honor they would inflict upon me; and therefore am obliged to desire you would make Dodsley print it immediately (which may be done in less than a week's time) from your copy, but without my name, in what form is most convenient for him, but on his best paper and character. He must correct the press himself, and print it without any interval between the stanzas, because the sense is in some places continued beyond them; and the title must be, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.' If he would add a line or two to say it came into his hands by accident, I should like it better." Walpole did as was wished, and wrote an advertisement to the effect that accident alone brought the poem before the public, although an |