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HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap. was no longer a member. In his stead appeared the Lord1(i87 ' - Chamberlain, John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave. The fateThe Earl ^’ s nobleman has, in one respect, resembled the fateof Mui- of his colleague Sprat. Mulgrave wrote verses which scarcelygrave, ever rose above absolute mediocrity; but, as he was a manof high note in the political and fashionable world, theseverses found admirers. Time dissolved the charm, but, un-fortunately for him, not until his lines had acquired a pre-scriptive right to a place in all collections of the works ofEnglish poets. To this day accordingly his insipid essays inrhyme and his paltry songs to Amoretta and Gloriana arereprinted in company with Comus and Alexander’s Feast.The consequence is that our generation knows Mulgravechiefly as a poetaster, and despises him as such. In truthhowever he was, by the acknowledgment of those who neitherloved nor esteemed him, a man distinguished by fine parts,and in parliamentary eloquence inferior to scarcely any oratorof his time. His moral character was entitled to no respect.He was a libertine without that openness of heart and handwhich sometimes makes libertinism amiable, and a haughtyaristocrat without that elevation of sentiment which some-times makes aristocratical haughtiness respectable. Thesatirists of the age nicknamed him Lord Allpride. Yet washis pride compatible with all ignoble vices. Many wonderedthat a man who had so exalted a sense of his dignity could beso hard and niggardly in all pecuniary dealings. He hadgiven deep offence to the royal family by venturing to enter-tain the hope that he might win the heart and hand of thePrincess Anne. Disappointed in this attempt, he had exertedhimself to regain by meanness the favour which he had for-feited by presumption. His epitaph, written by himself,still informs all who pass through Westminster Abbey that helived and died a sceptic in religion; and we learn from thememoirs which he wrote that one of his favourite subjects ofmirth was the Romish superstition. Yet he began, as soonas James was on the throne, to express a strong inclinationtowards Popery, and at length in private affected to be a con-