on by the importance of the subject to canvass it thoroughly; and at length, on account of some violent disputes and personal abuse among our magistrates in the city, I thought it my duty as speedily as possible to print my Remarks on it in a separate tract."

MS. September 3, 1773.-Sent to the press my 'book on Crown Law, respecting the due distinc<tion between murder and manslaughter.

'October 7.-Sent copies to the twelve Judges, 'the Recorder, the Lord Mayor; also to Aldermen Sawbridge, Oliver, Wither; and Mr. M. Lovell.'

The year 1774 produced a work which has been also mentioned; viz. "A Declaration of the People's "natural Rights to a Share in the Legislature."

The motives have been given in the Manuscript minutes, in which the account is thus continued :

"This Declaration was reprinted even in the same year, 1774, in almost every part of America, at the very time that the British Government had most fatally determined to enforce its unconstitutional and unjust pretensions, and thereby incurred an extraordinary national punishment,-even the forfeiture of all the colonies which they had intended to oppress, together with an immense loss of lives and a most ruinous expense!

"Such are the baneful effects of yielding to the false political suggestions of the prince of this world

and his spiritual agents! The providential effect of the wicked notions which, through a fatal delusion, have prevailed in the cabinets of princes, is completely contrary to their political expectations. For they conceive that there is (what they call) an imperial necessity, or a political expediency, for adopting illegal and unjust measures. But they are not aware that such measures always produce the very mischiefs which they hoped to prevent by them, and draw down the Divine vengeance declared in the 64th Psalm: They imagine wickedness, and practise it; but God shall suddenly shoot at them with a swift arrow; yea, their own tongues shall make them fall; and all men that see it shall say, 'This hath God done! for they shall perceive that it is his work!' ver. 7, 8, and 9*."

* On the occasion of this work he received the following lines from Payne, Esq., one of the Directors of the Bank

of England.

"TO MR. GRANVILLE SHARP,

"On reading his late instructive and excellent Book, entitled 'A Declaration of the People's natural Right to a Share in the Legislature, as the fundamental Principle of the British Constitution of State.'

Wise, learned, meek, with reverential love

Of God's just laws, and love of man inform'd,
O may thy labours by the midnight lamp
Pour day's effulgence on thy country's darkness;
Teach lawyers rectitude; teach statesmen truth;
Teach tyrants justice; and the village hind,
Lord of his little freehold, teach to prize
His personal importance, and to deem

His own rights sacred as the rights of monarchs!

In the year following he published another tract (or rather an enlarged edition of the last mentioned) entitled, "A Declaration of the People's natural "Rights to a Share in the Legislature, against the Attempts to tax America, and to make Laws for "her against her Consent:" and again, in 1775, "A Declaration of the People's Rights to a Share " in the Legislature; containing a Defence both of "America and Ireland, and stating the Illegality "of those declaratory Acts of Parliament called Poining's Acts."-The latter tract was reprinted in Ireland in 1776.

The three works last mentioned contain his sentiments on Parliamentary elections.

"The Law of Retribution; " "The just Limi"tation of Slavery in the Laws of God, with a

But should the voice of warning not be heard;
Should this devoted nation, left of God,
Worship hell's blackest dæmon, lawless pow'r,
And, driv'n by pride and wrath, precipitate,
Through streams of kindred blood, her hasty strides
To the dark gulph of dissolution — then,
O then, may thy just spirit, self-approv'd
In its past efforts, with the eye of faith,
Awful, yet calm, behold the signal vengeance,
And on the spotless wing of liberty

Rise uncorrupted to its native heaven!"

Over these verses is written, in red ink—

"Mem. A seasonable warning to G. S., not of what he is, but what he ought to be."

"Plan for the gradual Abolition of Slavery in the "Colonies; ""The Law of Passive Obedience;" and, "The Law of Liberty," all the produce of the year 1776*, close the account of Granville's literary progress up to the period at which he resigned his employment under the Government; and the whole, when combined with the zealous and effective public action which we have contemplated, forms a mass of important exertions, scarcely within the bounds of credibility in the life of a diligent clerk in ordinary in the Minuting Office of the Ordnance.

During his progress in literary industry, the severity of his studies had no power to abstract him from the enjoyment of the most social relaxations. A barge on the Thames, long known to the circle of his friends for its festive hospitality, and particularly as a scene of musical delight, begins to occupy a place in his MS. notes, from the August of 1775, immediately on his obtaining his first leave of absence from the Ordnance Board. The history even of his amusements cannot be told without adding to the dignity of his character. The barge appears, from his memoranda of various dates, to have been the resort not only of men of the most eminent talents and skill, but also of those of the highest and most distinguished rank. It was occasionally crowded with

* See the account of these tracts in Part III. Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Foreign Ambassadors; it received on board at one time the Minister, and at another the Sovereign, of England; to such distinction the virtues of the

-

possessors had entitled them, and such was the deference shewn to the integrity of Granville, even while he was strenuously contending against the measures of the Cabinet in the momentous point of our American contest*.

*To the inhabitants of the banks of the Thames the subjoined recollections will be interesting.

The Union Yacht was built in 1775; seventy feet long, and thirteen feet six inches wide; forty-five tons burthen. Several other vessels were afterwards added, till they formed a little fleet, which was usually moored off the Bishop of London's Stairs, at Fulham. Three of the vessels were named after the daughters of the family-viz. a chaloup, The Jemima ; a smaller ditto, The Catherine; a canoe, The Mary. A fourth was called The Apollo, which had a large commodious cabin, and was used for sailing, rowing, and towing. A picture, painted by Zoffany, represented the whole family sitting in this latter vessel.

The Union was constantly inhabited (except in the depth of winter) by Mr. and Mrs. William Sharp, till the death of Mr. James Sharp, when the surviving brothers took no longer any delight in their boats; and the yacht was put up to auction, but was bought in, from an apprehension that it would be converted into a sort of tavern on the water; and it was finally broken up.

An account of the musical entertainments of this singular barge is given in Mr. Shield's letter on the "Introduction to Vocal Music." (See Appendix.) A few notices of its visitors are here selected from Mr. Sharp's notes.

MS. 1775. August 2d.-Went up in the barge with Sir Thomas and Lady Halifax (the Lord and Lady Mayoress),