world of fashion, without fharing its follies; and heard thofe flatteries which are there addreffed to youth and beauty, without being betrayed to that light and selfifh vanity which is often the only fentiment that fills the heart of the high-praifed beauty. She delighted in reading, in literary converfation, in poetry, and in the fine arts, without contracting, from this tafte, any of that pedantic felfconceit and affectation which usually characterize literary ladies, and whofe prefence often frightens away the do. meftic virtues, the graces, the delicacies, and all the more interefting charms of the fex. When Burns, the well-known Scottish poet, firft arrived from the plough in Ayrshire to pub. lith his poems in Edinburgh, there was none by whom he was more zealoufly patronized than by Lord Mon boddo and his lovely daughter. No man's feelings were ever more powerfully or exquifitely alive than thofe of the ruftic bard, to the emotions of gratitude, or to the admiration of the good and fair. In a poem which he at that time wrote, as a panegyrical addrefs to Edinburgh, he took occafion to celebrate the beauty and excellence of Mifs Burnet, in, perhaps, the fineft ftanza of the whole : "Fair Burnet ftrikes th' adoring eye; "Heav'n's beauties on my fancy thine, "I See the Sire of Love on high, "And own his work, in deed, divine!" She was the ornament of the elegant fociety of the city in which the comfort of his domeftic life in his de refided, her father's pride, and the clining years. Every amiable and every noble fentiment was familiar to her heart, every female virtue was exemplified in her life. Yet, this woman, thus lovely, thus elegant, thus wife and virtuous, whofe life, for the confolation of her father, fhould have been prolonged till she had closed his dying eyes in peace; who, for a bles. fing to fociety, fhould have been fpared till he had fet the fame example in the difcharge of the duties of a wife and mother which he had exhibited in performing thofe of a daughter:-this woman was cut off in the flower of her age, and left her father bereft of the laft tender tie which bound him to fociety and to life. She died about fix years fince, of a confumption; a difeafe that in Scotland proves too often fatal to the loveliest and most promifing among the fair and the young. Neither his philofophy, nor the neceffary torpor of the feelings of extreme old age, were capable of preventing Lord affected by fo grievous a lofs; and Monboddo from being very deeply from that time he began to droop exceedingly in his health and fpirits. DR CAMPBELL'S ACCOUNT Of the Manner in which "Memoirs concerning the Affairs of Scotland from Queen Anne's Acceffion, to the Commencement of the Union of the two King. doms of Scotland and England in May 1707;-with an Account of the Origin and Progrefs of the defigned Invafion from France in March 1708, and fome Reflections on the ancient State of Scotland ;-to which is prefixed, an Introduction fhewing the Reafons for publishing thefe Memoirs at this Juncture, 8vo. 1714," came to be published. (FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT IN HIS OWN HAND-WRITING.) "TH THE time in which thefe Me- as the fingular preface prefixed theremoirs were publifhed, as well to, has ever created fome doubts a bout bout the book. Now the truth of this business stands thus:-Mr Lock hart actually wrote them, and, what is more, continued them to the time up to his death, or very near it, as his fon informed me. In the last parliament of Queen Anne, while in town, he happened to lodge in the fame house with Sir John Houston, who defired the favour of perufing them, which being granted, he was fo unpolite as to order his valet to copy them. Sir John's valet telling Sir David Dalrymple's valet what he was about, Sir David directed his fervant to propofe giving him twenty guineas if he would copy them likewife for him, which he did. Sir David, having thus obtained them, thought himself at full liberty to publish them, and the preface was of his writing. By a very odd mistake, as my noble friend the Duke of Argyle told me, Bishop Burnet mistook A- --, in thefe Memoirs, for Argyle, which in reality ftands for Annandale; and, in confequence of that miftake, makes the Duke of Argyle iu King James's intereft. Feb. 7th, 1760, The fellowing Account, by Mr Boyer, is extracted from The Political State, Nov. 1714: "The Duke of Athole, and fome other Scotch Noblemen, having about this time made their complaints to the Government against a Book, entituled Memoirs concerning the Af. fairs of Scotland, from Queen Anne's Acceffion to the throne, to the Commencement of the Union; with an Account of the defign'd Invafion,' &c. Mr J. Baker, who had publish'd the Book, was thereupon fummon'd to appear before the Duke of Montrofe, one of his Majefty's principal Secretaries of State. Being examined by his Grace, on Thursday the fourth of November, he produced a note, by which it appeared that Mr Ed. Mag. July 1799. John Vere Kennedy had fold him the copy; upon which Mr Baker was discharged. Mr Kennedy was at the fame time fummoned and examined; but, whether or no he made an ingenuous confeffion about that matter, he was likewife difmiffed: the Book in queftion having made a great noife, and containing matters of the higheft importance, both for the prefent age and pofterity, I defired one of my friends in Scotland to give me what light he could concerning the fame: upon which I received the following anfwer: F SIR, Edinburgh, Nov. 15, 1714. The Earl of Balcarras having, fome years after the Revolution, writ Memoirs giving an account of perfons and things in Scotland, as they were at and after that memorable juncture, for the fervice and fatisfaction of the late King James, and his Court at St Germains, his Lordship retired thither with his original manufcript, after having left feveral copies of it behind him. In imitation of the Earl of Balcarras, fome perfons of the fame Jacobite party did lately write other Memoirs of Affairs of Scotland, after the late Queen's acceffion to the throne, with the character of the moft confiderable perfons concerned in thofe tranfactions, calculated and defigned for the fervice of the Pretender, that he might know how to treat both friends and foes, when, as they fondly and firmly expected, he fhould come over, upon, or even before, the Queen's demife. The true Authors of thefe laft Memoirs are yet unknown; nor were my friends or myself able to trace the discovery farther backwards than what follows. The Manufcript was, it feems, firft fent up laft winter from Scotland to London, to Mr Lockhart, by a perfon known only to him, who gave copies of it to fome of his friends. Thefe copies were af terwards tunities that may fall within my fmail sphere, to advance the reputation of your ufeful and entertaining Journal. ́ I am, &c.' terwards multiplied by a furreptiti- you; and readily embrace all opporous one, which one of his amanuenfes, Mr. Brown, communicated to Sir Andrew Kennedy's eldeft fon, who, upon the quite contrary view to the defign of the original author, fold or gave other copies to other Noblemen and others, particularly to the Earl of Oxford. From one of these copies the Book was printed and published in London, immediately upon King George's acceffion to the throne; and because these Memoirs severally reflect on the Scotch Whigs, called here Squadroni-Men, or fuch as made the Union, they all agree to father them upon Mr Lockhart, who oppofed that tranfaction more ftoutly and more violently than any other. The Editor of the Memoirs, in the Introduction he has prefixed to them, feems to embrace that opinion: but those who are well acquainted with that Gentleman, think him moft unfit for a work of fo nice a nature: both because he is a young man (not much above thirty), and confequently cannot relate, upon his own knowledge, matters that were tranfacted when he was a youth, and because he wants thofe advantages of education that qualify a man to be an author; being altogether ignorant of the Latin and polite modern languages; and fpeaking but indifferent English. Upon this confideration, fome are apt to believe, that Mr Lockhart collected the materials of thefe Memoirs, and that he afterwards caufed them to be digefted into form by his chaplain, Mr Gullen: but men of the best sense judge them to be the production of a Club, of whom Mr Dowgal Stewart of Blairhal, brother to the Earl Bute and a Lord of the Seffion deceased, was the Chief; and that he was affifted by Mr Lockhart, his chaplain Mr Gulen, Mr Houftoun, Mr Dundafs of Arnistoun, and fome others. If I can make a further difcovery, I fhall forthwith communicate it to "To this letter I fhall only add, that the Memoirs mentioned in it, and faid to be written by the Earl of Balcarras, were, about the beginning of this month, likewife published by Mr Baker, with this title, An Account of the Affairs of Scotland, relating to the Revolution in 1688, as fent to the late King James II. when in France, by the Right Honourable the Earl of B——,' &c. Both thefe and the other Memoirs, fathered upon Mr Lockhart, contain a full account of Scotch affairs from the Revolution in 1688, to the dif appointment of the Pretender's Inva fion in 1708; and are so far entertaining and ufeful, both to the English and foreigners, as they contain bold, lively pictures and characters of the most confiderable perfons in Scotland, written by Scotchmen themfelves. How the latter can justify to their own confciences the befpattering fo many men of honour, and the laying fuch a load of infamy on their own country, let themfelves determine: I fhall only here take notice of two or three remarkable paffages in the Earl of Balcarras's Memoirs. The firft is page 108, 109, and 110, as follows: Next day (fays the Author) after the fight, an officer riding by the place where my Lord Dundee fell, found lying there a bundle of papers and commiffions which he had about him. Thofe who ftripped him thought them but of small concern, that they left them there lying. This officer, a little af ter fhewed them to several of your friends (meaning King James's, to whom thefe Memoirs are addressed), among which there was one paper did no fmall prejudice to your affairs; and would have done much more, had * had it not been carefully fuppreft. It was a letter of the Earl of Melfort's to my Lord Dundee, when he fent over your Majefty's Declaration, in which was contained not only an Indemnity, but a Tolerance, for all perfuafions. This the Earl of Melfort believed would be checking to Dundee, confidering his great hatred to fanaticks, for he writes, That, nótwithstanding of what was promifed in your Declaration, Indemnity and Indulgence, yet he had couched things fo, that you would break them when you pleased, nor would you think yourfelf obliged to ftand to them. This not only diffatisfied him, but alfo many of your friends, who thought a more ingenuous way of dealing better both for your honour and intereft: which thews how much the Declarations of injured Princes to their subjects are to be depended upon.' The fecond paffage (page 119) acquaints us, That the Prince of Orange (fo the Author calls the late King William III.) was fo weary of the Scots, that he told Duke Hamilton, that he was so much troubled about their debates, that he wished he were a thousand miles from England, and that he were never King of it.' But here either the Author, or the transcribers of his manufcript, committed a mistake; for King William's faying was, That he wifhed Scotland were a thoufand miles from England, and that Duke Hamilton were King of it.' The third paffage I fhall quote, is this (page 129, 130.): Sir James Mont gomery, in the first meeting we had with him, laid out the great advantages your intereft could obtain, if this fucceeded (viz. the Jacobites joining with the Williamites, in order to break the army.) The ftrength of his own party, and all the influence he had over them. He told us likewife of their fending a meffenger to your Majefty, with affurances of their returning to their duty, but faid nothing of the inftructions, commiffions, and pernicious advices he had fent along, believing (as undoubtedly) it would have hindered us from joining with them, for by this we fhould have clearly feen it was only trying to make a better bargain for themfelves, made them change parties, and not out of any fentiments of conviction, for having done amifs: but though it was very evident to us what diforders we would make among our enemies, and what profit to your party by going into the Parliament, yet to join with our mortal enemies, only to make the one half ruin the other; and to take the Oath of Allegiance to an Ufurper; and to comply with them in things that had always been against our principles, were fo hard to get over, that fome of us had greater difficulties to overcome them; nor even could any have done it, but the great defire we had to be inftruments of your Majefty's Reftoration, and Ruin of your Enemies.' This, without any further comment, plainly fhews, that the Scotch Jacobites would stick at nothing that is bafe and infamous : for what can be more fo than the breaking of folemn oaths? F 2 "This fhews likewife how little their profeffions of affection and loyalty to King George are to be relied on, who have all along notoriously been in another intereft. To this purpose we may compare the Address of the Scotch Highlanders, printed in the Flying Poft of January 30th, 1713-14, and prefented to the late Queen Anne, with the Letter from the Chieftains of the Highland Clans, to the Earl of Mar, printed first in the Poft-Boy of October 7, then in the Scots Courant of the 13th of October; and laftly reprinted in the Daily Courant, of the 23d of the fame month." Thefe memoirs, a few years after, * A Scoticism for shocking. were were the occafion of the author's fon being brought into fome danger, as may be seen from the following paragraph in the British Journal, Janua ry 30, 1725: "On Tuesday night laft, his Grace the Duke of Hamilton and Mr Lockhart, fon to Mr Lockhart, who wrote the Memoirs of Scotland, had the misfortune to quarrel about the faid memoirs at his grace the Duke of Wharton's houfe, in Lincoln's-innfields, and did propofe to fight a duel as next morning; but the fame was prevented, Mr Lockhart being put under an arreft before day by Col. Howard, and had notice given him of what was intended by a Justice of the Peace, who was prefent when the quarrel happened." THE HE celebrated St. Evremond ments or misfortunes, I had recourse gave the following advice to his to his remedy, and always with the friend Count d'Olone, who had been happieft fuccefs. Researches respectbanished from the court of Louis ing the nature of that powerful anXIV. "The unfortunate ought never tidote against melancholy, will not to read books which may give them therefore I hope displease those, who, occafion to be afflicted on account of tormented by its black vapours, may the miseries of mankind; but rather have need of such assistance. A celethose which may amufe them with brated phyfician of the mind †, who their follies; prefer therefore Lucian, with this remedy performed miracuPetronius, and Don Quixote, to Se- lous cures, fhall be my guide. The neca, Plutarch, and Montaigne." In English call this antidote Humour, the early part of my youth, I hap. and its hiftory is as follows: It was pened to meet with this paffage, and found out among the Greeks by A. I have fince often reflected upon this riftophanes: and after him Lucian, great truth, that events, apparently and other authors who fucceeded, of very little importance, have fome carried it to perfection. Plautus, times the greatest influence upon our Horace, and Petronius, among the happiness or unhappiness during the ancient Romans, employed it with courfe of our lives. advantage; among the modern Latinifts, Erafmus, Sir Thomas More, and Holberg; among the Italians, Pulci, Ariofto, Cæfar Caporali, Pasferoni, Gozzi, and Goldoni; among the Spaniards, Cervantes, Quevedo, Hurtodo The lively impreffion which the advice of St. Evremond made on my mind, induced me very clearly to follow it; and whenever I found myself too much afflicted by difappoint *Though it is generally believed, and though Congreve has been at great pains to prove, that the words humour and humourist are originally English, it is however certain that they are derived from the Italian. We find the word umorista in the comedies of Buonarotti, who wrote in the beginning of the fixteenth century, and it was employed alfo by feveral other writers of that period. According to the Dictionary della Crufca, this word fignifies fome one, che ha humore, perfona fantaßica ed inconftante. In the beginning of the laft century, there was a society or academy at Rome, called Societa de gli humorifti. The French have no expreffion anfwering to humour, in the fenfe in which it is here taken. Facetiofité is, perhaps, that which would approach neareft to it could it be adopted. The Germans have Laune, and the Dutch Luim, which correspond perfectly with the meaning of our English word. Fielding, in his Covent Garden Journal, No. 55. |