THE BRITISH CRITIC, For MAY, 1806. Εὐφημεῖν χρὴ, καξίστασθαι τοῖς ἡμετέροισι χοροῖσιν, Ye, whom the Mufe hath never call'd her own, ART. I. Memoirs of Richard Cumberland, written by himself; containing an Account of his Life and Writings, interfperfed with Anecdotes and Characters of feveral of the most diftinguished Perfons of his Time, with whom he had Intercourfe and Connexion. 4to. 583 pp. 21. 2s. Lackington. 1806. A LL friends to literary anecdote, who are at prefent not a few, will of course rejoice, when a veteran author of celebrity takes up the pen to write his own life. If there are fome things which an author will not tell of himself, there are many more which no other person is able to tell; and if the narrative be tinctured with fome partiality, it will be fo, probably, in a lefs degree, than thofe lives which, with infe rior means of information, are ufually compiled by furviving friends. Of contemporary perfonages, particularly authors, who can fpeak fo well as one who has affociated with them on familiar terms, whofe habits of life have been congenial, Ii.. BRIT, CRIT, VOL, XXVII, MAY, 1806. and and whose fagacity has been exercised and proved by a long continued obfervation of manners and characters ? Expecting the Memoirs of Mr. Cumberland to poffefs thefe and other advantages, derived from his peculiar talents, we must acknowledge that we have not been at all difappointed. We have read with avidity, and clofed with regret, this various hiflory of a man, whofe works will long fpeak for him, and fupply any deficiencies of his narrative. Yet, it must be confeffed, that fome difadvantages alfo attend an author, who is the principal fubject of his own book. Of the nature of his talk, in this refpect, Mr. C. thus feelingly writes in an early part of his book. "Here then for awhile I paufe for felf-examination, and to weigh the task I am about to undertake. I look into my heart; I fearch my understanding; I review my life, my labours, the talents i have been endowed with, and the ufes I have put them to, and it shall be my ferious study not to be found guilty of any par tial effimates, any falfe appreciation of that felf, either as author or man, which of neceffity must be made to fill fo large a portion of the following pages. When from the date, at which my hif tory now paufes, I look forward through a period of more than feventy and two years, I difcover nothing within my horizon, of which to be vain-glorious; no fudden heights to turn me giddy, no dazzling gleams of Fortune's funthine to bewilder me; nothing but one long laborious track, not often ftrewed with roses, and thorny, cold and barren towards the conclufion of it, where wearinefs wants repofe, and age has need of comfort. I fee myself unfortunately caft upon a lot in life neither congenial with my character, nor friendly to my peace; combating with dependence, difappointment and difgufts of various forts, tranfplanted from a college, within whofe walls I had devoted myself to studies, which I purfued with ardent paffion, and a rifing reputation, and what to obtain? What, but the experience of difficulties, and the credit of overcoming them; the useful chaftifement, which unkindness has inflicted, and the confcious fatisfaction of not having merited, nor in any inftance of my life revenged it? "If I do not know myfelf I am not fit to be my own biogra pher; and if I do know myfelf I am fure I never took delight in egotifms, and now behold! I am felf-devoted to deal in little elfe. Be it fo: I will abide the confequences: I will not tell ` antruths to fet myfelf out for better than I have been, but as I have not been overpaid by my contemporaries, I will not fcruple to exact what is due to me from pofterity.-Ipfe de me scribam. (Cic." P. 20. The most interesting anecdotes, introduced in these Memoirs, are thofe of Bithop Cumberland, the author's great grand grandfather; of the celebrated Dr. Bentley, his maternal grandfather; of Lord Halifax, his first, but not very efficient patron; of Lord Melcombe (Bubb Dodington); of Garrick, Goldfmith, Jenyns, Johnfon, and other contemporary. writers; and laftly, touched with more particular care, thofe of his long attached friend, the late Lord Sackville, whofe laft hours he attended, and whofe character he has drawnwith no less marks of truth than of attachment. Of the author's own life, the sketch is diftinct and pleafing. Prepared by education and inclination for the church, he defcribes himself as led by circumftances to attach himself to Lord Halifax, whom he attended into Ireland as one of his fecretaries. Returning from thence, though his patron was appointed Secretary of State, he was not advanced under him, but became Secretary to the Board of Trade and Plantations. Thefe political fituations leaving much leifure time upon his hands, Mr. C. was able to follow the impulfe of his genius in becoming an author, and accounts of fome of his productions neceffarily forin a part of the narrative. Specimens are also introduced of a few of his early compofitions, which were never given to the public. The part of his narrative which is related moft at large, is that of his political miffion into Spain in 1780; in which, taking his own report, it is impoffi Lle not to fay that he was cruelly ill ufed. Who can refuse to fympathize with a man, all the comforts of whofe latter days have been abridged by the lofs of fums expended in a public employment, the repayment of which appears to be an act of the plainest and most indifpenfable juftice? Who does not, by fuch exertions, expect rather to improve than to impair his fortunes? Yet Mr. C. ftates a debt of 4500l. due to him from his employers; not for falary, but for money of his own actually expended, not one farthing of which appears by his account to have been replaced. Something would doubtlefs have been ftated by the parties in answer to thefe allegations, but how far it could be fatisfactory cannot eafily be conjectured. Mr. C. has laid his cafe at large before the public. If it cannot, in any material points, be còntroverted, fome means ought even yet to be found for giving him redrefs, before he fhall be beyond the reach of any human interference. We shall not attempt further to analyfe the narrative of Mr. C. It is not replete with events, but it is very full of paffages from which it will be eafy to make an agreeable felec. tion. Any thing new refpecting Bentley must be acceptable, and we have read with pleasure the vindication of him from Ii2 the the charge of morofenefs, of which the following is a mate rial part: "I had a fifter fomewhat elder than myself. Had there been any of that fternnefs in my grandfather, which is fo falfely imputed to him, it may well be fuppofed we should have been awed into filence in his prefence, to which we were admitted every day.. Nothing can be further from the truth; he was the unwearied patron and promoter of all our childish fports and fallies; at all times ready to detach himself from any topic of converfation, to take an intereft and bear his part in our amufements. The eager curiofity natural to our age, and the queftions it gave birth to, fo teazing to many parents, he, on the contrary, attended to and encouraged, as the claims of infant reafon never to be evaded or abused; ftrongly recommending, that to all fuch enquiries anfwer fhould be given according to the strictest truth, and information dealt to us in the cleareft terms, as a facred duty never to be departed from. I have broken in upon him many a time in his hours of ftudy, when he would put his book afide, ring his hand-bell for his fervant, and be led to his shelves to take down a picture-book for my amusement. I do not fay that his good-nature always gained its object, as the pictures which his books generally fupplied me with were anatomical drawings of diffected bodies, very little calculated to communi. cate delight; but he had nothing better to produce; and furely fach an effort on his part, however unfuccefsful, was no feature of a cynic: a cynic should be made of ferner stuff." P. 7. This zeal to defend a perfon to whom he had many early obligations, and whofe name muft ever do honour to his defcendants, is very laudable; but it leads the author much too far, when it induces him to fay, by way of retort upon Bishop Lowth, for his Caprimulgus aut foffor, that he traced this quotation up to its fource," in one of the moft uncleanly famples in Catullus;" for in truth, the epigram from which it is taken is not only as cleanly as can be found in any author, however modeft, but is even fo inftructive, that the last line out of 21, of which it confifts, has paffed into a moral proverb, * Sed non videmus manticæ quod in tergo eft *. The following character, to the truth of which many perfons now living can bear ample teftimony, is written with a warmth of feeling which does peculiar honour to the author. It offers to the world a beautiful picture of exalted private worth, which, for the fake of example, ought to be exhibited * Catulli Carmen xxii. Edit, Doering, far far beyond the circle in which it must be known and remem bered. "And here I muft indulge myself in dilating on the character of one of his best friends, and beft of men, Ambrose Ifted, efq. of Ecton aforementioned. Through every fcene of my life, from my childhood to the lamented event of his death, which happened whilft I was in Spain, he was invariably kind, indulgent, and affectionate to me. I conceive there is not upon record one, who more perfectly fulfilled the true character of a country gentleman, in all its most refpectable duties and departments, than did this exemplary perfon; nor will his name be forgotten in Northamp tonfh re fo long as the memory or tradition of good deeds fhall circulate, or gratitude be confidered as a tribute due to the bene volent. He was the pattern and very model of hofpitality moft worthy to be copied, for his family and affairs were adminiftered and conducted with fuch measured liberality, fuch correct and wife economy, that the friend, who found nothing wanting, which could conftitute his comforts, found nothing waftefully fuperfluous to occafion his regret. Though Mr. Ifted's eftate was not large, yet by the procefs of enclosure, and above all by his prudent and well-ordered management, it was augmented without extortion, and left in excellent condition to his fon and heir. The benefits he conferred upon his poorer neighbours were of a nature far fupe. rior to the common acts of almfgiving (though these were not omitted) for in all their difficulties and embarraffments, he was their counfellor and advifer, not merely in his capacity of acting juftice of the peace, but also from his legal knowledge and experience, which were very confiderable, and fully competent to all their ufes; by which numbers, who might elfe have fallen under the talons of country attornies, were faved from pillage and beggary. With this gentleman my father acted as justice, and was united in friendship and in party, and to him he reforted upon all occafions, where the opinion and advice of a judicious friend were wanted. Our families correfponded in the utmoft harmony, and our interchange of vifits was frequent and delightful. The houfe of Ecton was to me a fecond home, and the hofpitable master of it a fecond father; his gaiety of heart, his fuavity of temper, the interest he took in giving pleasure to his guests, and the fund of information he poffeffed in the ftores of a well-furnished memory, and a lively animated genius, are ever fresh in my recollection, and I look back upon the days I have paffed with him as fome of the happieft in my life. For many years before his death, I faw this excellent man by intervals excruciated with a tormenting and incurable disease, which laid too deep and undiscoverable in his vitals to admit of any other relief than laudanum in large dofes could at times administer: nothing but a foul ferene and piously refigned as his was, could have borne itself up against a visitation at once fo agonizing and so hopeless; a fpirit however fortified by faith, |