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Leader (1850-1860), 11th August 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 8

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      Memoirs Of Bishop Hurd* The Editor Of Tl...

      Tt was not until 1749 that Hurd published his well-known " Commentary and Notes on Horace ' s Art of Poetry ; " on winch , in 1762 , Gibbon wrote an elaborate critique . Hurd s notion \ yas , that it was the aim of Horace to reform the Roman stage . Ihe general opinion , however , is , that the Epistle was a personal appeal to , the Pisos , who were in danger of committing themselves precipitately to dramatic composition , warning theni of the difficulties of the dramatic art , and the disgrace and ridicule attending failure . In this opinion Hurd himself ultimately concurred ,. One passage from this work must be quoted , as predicting the characteristics of our present literature and language : —

      " When a language , as purs at this time , hath been much polished and enriched with perfect models of style in almost every way , it is in the order of things that the next step should be to a vtcipus affectation . For the simplicity of true taste under these circumstances grows insipid ; something better . than the best must be aimed at ; and the reader ' s languid appetite raised by the provocatives of an ambitious refinement . And this in sentiment as well as language . " Somewhere about 1749 Hurd became acquainted with Warburton , and this was the turning-point of his fortunes . He was introduced bv the latter to Mr . Murray and Mr . Charles Yorke ; and in 1750 , SherlockHurd

      by Warburton ' s recommendation to Bishop , was appointed one of the preachers at Whitehall . In 1751 , Hurd published his " Commentary on Horace ' s Epistle to Augustus , which he characterized as " An apology for the poets of his own time . " In 1756 , Hiird was presented with the living of lhurcaston , in Leicester—a College gift . Its value was about £ 230 per annum . •« The profits of my living , " he writes to Warburton , " with alittle good husbandry , will make me quite easy . I , who was born to no hopes , bred in the school of parsimony , have no large necessities , and have been trained to philosophy , ought to he ashamed if so decent a provision did not satisfy me . " ISext

      year he completed and published the dissertation on which his fame rests , namely ; " 1 , On the Idea of t'niversal Poetry , 2 , On the Province of . Dramatic Poetry . 3 , On Poetical Iniitation ; and 4 , On the Marks of Imitation . " Two years afterwards , appeared his " Moral and Political Dialogues ; " and he further enhanced his reputation as a critic in 1762 by his twelve " Letters .. on Chivalry and Romance . *' In 1768 he ^ preadhed in Lincoln ^ Inn chapel twelve sermons , as ppenihg the lecture founded by . Bishop Warbutton for the iHustration of the argument in favour of Christianity derived from prophecy . In 1774 he was advanced to the episcopate as Bishop of Lichiield and Coventry—an elevation Thirdadmiration of his

      which was ascribed to King George the ' s ' < Moral and Political Dialogues . " It seems , therefore , clear that Hiird owed his bishopric to his literary merit . Twp years afterwards he held the office of preceptor to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York . In-1781 : ho was translated to the see of Worcester . From that moment his life appears to have become thoroughly practical . His time was divided between the calls : of his important diocese , his studies , and becoming hospitality towards his friends and ! neighbours , varied only by occasional visits and attendance upon his parliamentary duties . In 1 / 83 the King offered him . the Archbishopric of Canterbury , but Hurd l ins oatn

      declined , lie died in . May , » u » , m yum . HWd appears in disposition and manner to have been a proud , learned man ; but of an affectionate heart , as well as of an elegant mind . Vulgarity , in fact , was intolerable to him . Madame l ) 'Arblay describes Mm as" dignified , placid , grave , and mild , but rather cold and rather distancing . ' ? He was never married , nor , it would appear , ever had an attachment ; and his appearance and air may have been due to his solitary and studious habits . Certain it is , he loved his books better than ho loved mankind . We can smell a fault in that . On further acquaintance , Madame D'Arblay found that " piety and goodness ^ are so marked on his countenance , which is truly a line . ono ^ that ho , has been named , and very justly , ' The Beauty of Holiness . Those characteristics redeem somewhat the sterner features of his mind and carriage . On the wholo , wo must regard him as an

      intelligent , thoughtful , aad venerable man , devoted to letters , ot a nice porcoption and fine taste , not strong in imagination , and gifted rather with judgment than genius . /

      72q The Saturday Analyst And Leader. [Au...

      72 q The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Aug . 11 , 1860 .

      Vicissitudes Of Families.* In A Former S...

      VICISSITUDES OF FAMILIES . * IN a former series we sought to do justice to the author for his interesting narratives , more romantic than romance , and yet as true as history . The decadence of wealthy families is inevitably instructive . Its causes are not far to seek . Tho civil wars ruined many great houses . Sir Bernard Burke remarks that , owing- to them there is not now in the House of Poors a single male xlespendant of tho twenty-five Barons who wore appointed to entorco the observance of MagnaCharta . What a fact ! Howpregnant ! How important ! We cannot pursue the subject to tho length that bir Bernard has done . Another source , however , pointed out by him mu « t iVdFfro-overl ^^ tlmt have led to the uggTiinditjemont of any one person uro seldom repeated in Inn immediate successor . It in not often that a misur is

      p . roperty goes to one line , and the dignity to another incapable of supporting it . Sir B . Burke proposes some remedies for this inconsistency : but , we take it , that the law of vicissitude will always find , or make , some loophole , under any possible arrangement . Sir Bernard opens with the story of . an extinct family m Derbyshire . The house of Finderne exists no more .. . Not a single record in the village remains . Not one ? Yes ; one . " I accosted a villager , " says Sir Bernard , " hoping to gain some stray tradition of the Findemes . ' Findernes , ' said he , * we have no Findernes here , but we have something that once belonged to them ; we have Finderne's Flowers . ' ' Show me them , I replied , ' and the old man led me into a field which still retained faint traces of terraces and foundations . < There , ' said he , pointing to a bank of garden fiowers grown Wild , ' there are the Finderne ' s Flowers , brought by Sir Geoffrey from the Holy Land ; and , do what we will , they will never me . '" .- ' .. _

      The storv of Feargus O'Connor is told by Sir Bernard with great force . Of the Martinet William Wray of Ards , he presents us with a curious account . With a connection as wide as his fortune , lie managed to fall into pecuniary difficulties ; and so vanished a splendid estate . " Yet there is no record of anything coarse or vicious in the extravagance which beggared the Master of Ards . One hears nothing of hard drinking , or loud swearing , or boisterous revels in his courtly mansion . William Wray was -a gentleman , a hio-h- Irish o-entleman , too proud to be popular , and too eccentric to be understobd ; lie could not be estimated by the unimaginative and matter-of-fact people among whom he dwelt ; the shrewd and money-loving Northerns called his unbounded hospitality riotous living * , and his diffuseness they termed madness ; but had these things been done in France in the fourteenth century , and chronicled by such a pen as that of Froissart , He would have classed him with such entertainers as Phoebus , Gaston , Count de Foix , and pronounced him a courteous and liberal , a bountiful and most gentle

      In recounting the strange stoiy of the avaricious family of the Elwes , Sir Bernard interposes a remark which , for moral significance , is perhaps unequiuled . " Warriors , statesmen , merchants , and lawyers , " says he , " all have originated great and nourishing houses f but misers are rarely the patriarchs of families of enduring prosperity ; the same remark may be madehvreference to those who gathered gain by the slavetrade ; they never nourished . It has been ascertained as a positive fact , that no two generations of a slavedealer ' s race ever continued resident on the estate acquired by the unholy pursuit of their founder ; and a similar observation applies , to a certain extent , to the profits of the usurer . A very-learned friend of niihe , deeply versed in the vicissitudes of genealogy , assures me that he never knew four generations of van . usurer ' s iamily to endure in regular unbroken succession . *' of

      The fate Of the last of the Myttomv Shropshire , suggests an opposite moral;—* ' a warning to the extravagant and a lesson to the profligate . It tells , too , of the instability of all human ; things . A iamily far more ancient , and apparently as vigorous as the grand old oaks , that once were the pride of ilalston , was destroyed , after centuries of honourable and historic eminence , by the mad follies of one man in the brief space of eighteen years . " _ . . the life of John Robinson , of Appleby , the builder of the . " ¦ House ^ hat ^ Jadc-b ^ tf ^ ir ^ Abergavenny , is as singular as it is interesting , and proves that the elements of romance are : now as strong in bur actual history as x'ver they were in the past . But we cannot repeat the records of the book , and must remain content with selections . We can only glance at the Lady Henrietta Anne Leslie , who married a gardener , and lived with him for years , supported only by his honest industry , a happy woman ; at the Livingstones , in their splendour , decline and fall ; and at the Lairds of Calendar and Westquarter .

      We come then to a story of distinction , acquired not by tlio exercise of talent , but merely by the caprice of fortune . The Bristol boddicemaker , John Diddlestone , who dared to address neglected royalty , and invited Prince George , the husband of Queen Anne , to cut pudding with him . Whereupon the guest invited the host to London , and introduced him and his wife to the cjueen . " So pleased was the latter with tho blunt novelty of her visitors' manners , that she took a gold watch from her side , and presented it to the wife , who , full of the pride of such a memorial , never failed afterwards to

      display it attached to her blue apron when she went to market . Nor did her Majesty stop here ; she proposed to confer a pension upon the boddieomaker . But this he refuaed to accept , declaring that ho had got the sum of fifty pounds out ut interest ; and , moreover , ho well saw that her Majesty could spare no money , when she had such a flock about her to support . Amused with this naive trait , the queen , who was as famous for her good humour as her love of good winoj bade him kneel down , and before the Bristolian became quite aware of what was intended for him , he rose up a knight . "

      But what is the end of the story P Hear Sir Bernard : " From this day , the fortunes of Sir John went pn increasing till he had amassed a very considerable sum , and had a baronetcy conferred on HiiiFm 7 . 091 ^ -27 ~ "Woul < rtlittt iny"taleicouTd end fioro ; TiuTtYie story of life is pretty sure either to end or to begin in sorrow . All this wealth was embarked in merchandise that wits intrusted to tho mercy of . the suit seas ; und before tho ships that bore it could return , there came the tremendous » torm , in November , 1701 , in which tho wholo was lost . ' From this blow Sir John nover recovered , but continued to liyo in very reducod circumstances until the hour of" hi * deuth ; hiH grandson and hoir , the second Sir John Diuldlostono , hold n humblo nppointinont in tho Customs at Bristol ; but of his descendants , if h'i had any , nothing hm boon It'll on ret'onl , "

      .... i . a !_ ± i . « . ..., w « i ! , in i « f . > i-niuiw n nmtf . bv il nbet : or a coinaucceeded in the ' mine lino by a miser ; a poot by a poet ; or a comlnundor by u non of tho wamo militnry ubility as Ins liithcr . But tlio main cnuae lies in the state of the law of inheritance . In the absence of direct heirs male , tho estate is allowed to pass to tho Wires * , whilo tho titlo to which it belongs may devolve on a . collntorol branch that may bo devoid of wealth or education ; thus , tho

      *A^Lco,Ul'jii Rit'7' Nr Viehtiiud^ Of ~ ...

      * A ^ lco , ul'Jii rit' 7 ' nr Viehtiiud ^ of ~ Fmtli « H . " ~ lV Sir liKUNAi . D HuiiKB , Ulster KliiKut Arms , l . oiulon : Kohuiiiuiim .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 11, 1860, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11081860/page/8/