THOMAS-PHILIP WEDDELL ROBINSON,

EARL DE GREY,

LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND, ETC. ETC. ETC.

More glorious than the conqueror's brand,

The rule entrusted to such hand;

From it the past and present claim

The rights they teach, the hopes they frame;

Do what the island of the free

What Ireland should expect of thee.

THE family of Robinson became conspicuous at York during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, where William Robinson, a merchant of great wealth and respectability, resided, and attained the age of ninety-four years; having been twice chosen a representative of that city in parliament. His descendants, for several generations, were Lord Mayors of York, and occasionally discharged the office of high-sheriff of the county. William Robinson, the fourth in descent, was created a baronet, and represented his native city in eight parliaments. His son, Thomas, created Lord Grantham by George III., had been employed during the preceding reign as ambassador at the courts of France and Vienna; and was so highly esteemed for his diplomatic talents, that he was appointed, with the Earl of Sandwich, plenipotentiary at the congress held at Aix-la-Chapelle, in March, 1747. As a recompense for his services in concluding that treaty, he was made a lord of trade and plantations, and a privy counsellor. On the death of Mr. Pelham, in 1754, a vacancy occurring in the cabinet, and the Duke of Newcastle, brother of the deceased minister, being appointed first lord of the treasury, Sir Thomas Robinson succeeded his grace as secretary of state. The commencement of that administration was successful. Since the death of the Prince of Wales, the party opposed to the measures of the court had manifested a want of unanimity; and while the more talented contended with one another for the leadership, their adherents accepted employment under the administration. The new elections were favourable to the views of the cabinet, but the first session is remarkable in parliamentary history for its brevity. On the last day of May, the Right Honourable Arthur Onslow was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, and, the two branches of the legislature being informed, by Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, that his majesty reserved all points of general business to the usual time of their assembling in the winter, they were prorogued on the 5th of June. Meanwhile, the conduct of the French government, in fitting out expeditions and sending troops to North America, alarmed the British colonial and mercantile interests in that quarter; and, in the March of the ensuing year, Sir Thomas Robinson brought a message from

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the king to the parliament, intimating the necessity of augmenting the navy and the army, in order to secure the rights and possessions of the crown in America. From an apprehension that the French government would invade our Hanoverian dominions also, treaties were concluded with the Empress of Russia and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel. Ministerial majorities continued to give security to the measures of the cabinet, yet they still wanted the conduct of an able debater and an enlightened statesman.

"Sir Thomas Robinson," says Smollett, “had not been long in possession of the office of secretary of state, before it was generally perceived, that though an honest, well-meaning man, and a favourite with the king, his abilities were not equal to the functions of that post. Much less were they so at this juncture, when the nation was on the point of being engaged in a difficult and expensive war, and plunged into foreign measures and connections, which would require the utmost skill of an able politician to render them palatable to the people. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, though they scarce ever agreed on any other particular, had generally united in opposing his measures, and their superior influence in the House of Commons, and universally acknowledged abilities, though of very different kinds, had always prevailed-uncommon as it was to see two persons who held considerable places under the government, one of them being Paymaster General, and the other Secretary at War, oppose, upon almost every occasion, a Secretary of State who was supposed to know and speak the sentiments of his master. Sir Thomas himself soon grew sensible of his want of sufficient weight in the statecouncil of the nation; and therefore of his own accord, on the 10th of November, (1755,) wisely and dutifully resigned the seals of his office to his majesty, who delivered them to Mr. Fox, and appointed Sir Thomas master of the wardrobe, with a pension to him during his life, and after his death to his sons."

The son of this popular senator was employed in several diplomatic transactions: he inherited, from his father, the baronry of Grantham, and, by his marriage with Mary Jemima, sister of the Countess de Grey, became connected with the ancient family of the De Greys, for twelve generations Earls and Dukes of Kent, and of whom the last male heir, at the commencement of the eighteenth century, was created Viscount Goderich of Goderich Castle. His Lordship died in 1786, leaving two sons in their infancy-the subject of our present memoir, and his younger brother, the present Earl of Ripon, who for above twenty years has occupied one of the most distinguished positions in successive ministries.

Under the tutelage of an amiable and sensible mother, these brothers were educated in a manner suitable to the rank in which they were to move. The elder inherited the vast entailed estates, which a long minority and collateral inheritances greatly contributed to increase. On the 4th May, 1833, his lordship succeeded his aunt, Amabel, Countess de Grey, in that earldom, with the extensive possessions attached to the title. These included the ancient mansion and demesne of Wrest Park, called the Stow of Bedfordshire, with its surrounding manors. This was once the seat of the fifth earl of the title, conspicuous in history for his austerity on the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots.

In the year 1805, his lordship espoused Lady Henrietta Frances Cole, youngest sister of the Earl of Enniskillen, by whom he has several children; and his preference for the tranquillity of domestic life long prevented him from sharing in the public services of his country. In his legislative capacity he always manifested a manly independence, while in his adherence to the ancient prerogatives of the crown he has

THE MONTMORENCY WATERFALL AND CONE.

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continued unshaken. On the occasion of a judicial inquiry relative to the conduct of Queen Caroline, consort of George IV., his lordship dissented from the bill of pains and penalties, although his brother was a member of the administration by which it was introduced and supported. On the formation of the first Peel and Wellington administration, at the close of the year 1834, his lordship accepted the place of First Lord of the Admiralty; and on their return to office, nearly ten years afterwards, was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.

THE MONTMORENCY WATERFALL AND CONE.

"When the river St. Lawrence is frozen below the Falls, the level ice becomes a support on which the freezing spray descends as sleet; it there remains, and gradually assumes the figure of an irregular cone, which continues to enlarge its dimensions till, towards the close of the winter, it becomes stupendous. The height of the cone varies considerably, in different seasons; as the quantity of spray depends on the supply of water to the Falls-the spray, of course, being most dense when the rush of water is strong and impetuous. In 1829 and 1832, it did not reach a greater altitude than one hundred and thirty feet. The face of the Cone, opposite to the Fall, differs from the rest of its surface, in being composed of stalactites; this formation arises from the dashing of the water against its base, which freezes in its descent, and by the continual action produces enormous icicles." -"The formation of this Cone may serve to explain the origin of glaciers."

"To the inhabitants of Quebec, the Cone is a source of endless amusement. When the weather is temperate, parties in single-horse curricles and tandems are seen hurrying to the spot, to enjoy the beauty of the scene, and to make descents, upon small sleighs, from the top of the Cone to the plain below."

BY L. E. L.

We do not ask for the leaves and flowers,

That laugh as they look on the summer hours;

Let the violets shrink and sigh,

Let the red rose pine and die :

The sledge is yoked, away we go,

Amid the firs, o'er the soundless snow.

Lo! the pine is singing its murmuring song,

Over our heads as we pass along;

And every bough with pearl is hung,

Whiter than those that from ocean sprung,

The sledge is yoked, away we go,

Amid the firs, o'er the soundless snow.