and the ministry till July 1766; at which period he accepted the office of principal secretary of state for the southern department. This situation he held little more than two years, when he resigned along with Lord Chatham. From that time till 1782 he continued in decided opposition to all the measures of government relative to the American war, and took a very active share in the parliamentary debates. At length, on the overthrow of Lord North's administration, and the accession of the Marquis of Rockingham to the premiership, Lord Shelburne was nominated secretary of state for the foreign department; and, on the death of the premier, succeeded him as first lord of the Treasury. Upon this, Fox, Burke, and all the Portland party, seceded; and his lordship finding his own power unable to withstand the strong coalition of North and Fox, resigned early in 1783. When at the close of that year the late illustrious Mr. Pitt drove his successors from the helm, it was expected that the Earl would have been appointed prime minister. He, however, formed no part of the new arrangement, but, as a reward for his various services, was raised to the rank of Marquis, and received the honour of the garter. He then retired from public life; but, on the breaking out of the French Revolution came forward once more, and continued, with all his influence and eloquence, to deprecate our interference in the events of that unparalleled political convulsion, to the period of his death, which happened at Lansdowne House, London, May 7, 1805.

The public character and abilities of Lord Lansdowne have been variously estimated, according to the political principles of different writers. By some he has been extolled as "the first statesman in Europe;" while others, though they admit him to have been "noted for extent and exactness of intelligence," assert that he was incompetent "for the formation of able and beneficial plans from the result." He was, therefore, says Bisset, alluding to his appointment as premier, "less fitted for the supreme management in so trying and critical a situation, than for some secondary department, in which, from his abundant stores, he

might have supplied materials for the operation of some more energetic and less experienced genius." But whatever may have been the extent of his powers of decision and planning, it is undoubted that he possessed first-rate talents for the conduct of business, as well as powerful and impressive eloquence in debate. If he was unable to decide, on trying occasions, himself, he could reason with great force of argument on the measures of others, and develope their bearings with a truth that seemed to savour of prophecy. He was intimately acquainted with the constitution and laws of his own country; and was likewise minutely versed in foreign politics and foreign courts. It is well known that he kept up a constant correspondence with many of the first political and literary men of his age, in Europe.

The library of Lord Lansdowne was replete with the choicest treasures of foreign and domestic literature: it was also stored with a large, and very choice mass of manuscripts. These were chiefly diplomatic, historical, and political: and, since his lordship's death, have been purchased by the trustees of the British Museum, in which repository they are now preserved. Knowing the importance attached to the Fine Arts, and the dignity they reflect on the discriminating connoisseur, the marquis collected many choice specimens of painting and sculpture: thus Lansdowne-House, in London, and Bowood, were justly regarded as museums of the arts and of literature. In the selection of intimate friends and associates the noble marquis evinced also the judgment of the politician, the philosopher, and the patriot. During the summer months Bowood might be considered as the emporium of talent: as the seat of learning and of science. Here the literati, and politicians of all nations, sects, and classes, associated for the purpose of friendly and intellectual intercourse; to enjoy that truly delectable pleasure, "the feast of reason and the flow of soul." The following remarks are from a private letter of a gentleman fully qualified to speak of the person and place now referred to. "In my frequent visits to Bowood, I had repeated opportunities of conversing with persons of high rank in this as well as in other countries; with men

of learning, and artists of the first eminence: in short with every thing that could conduce to render the table of an English nobleman elegant, polite, easy, and instructive. Politics were seldom the subject of conversation; religion never; though I have often met there not only clergymen of the established church, but Doctors Price, Priestley, Franklin, &c. &c. &c. The only allusion I ever heard from his lordship to the church, was on a remark made by a gentleman, as to the recent death of a bishop :"Then," replied his lordship "we shall have a rookery at St. James's."

Among the number of persons to whom the Letters of Junius have been attributed, is the Marquis of Lansdowne: but on this point all our sagacious pamphleteers, and political quidnuncs, have failed to produce proofs, or probabilities. The author of these justly admired essays remains, according to his own notto "Stat nominis umbra." His name, connections, private character, and public pursuits, are unknown to the world: but the writer of this article can affirm, and is enabled to prove, that the secret was not deposited in one breast, nor is it buried with the author. On this delicate, intricate, and highly interesting subject, he must however forbear to dilate in these pages, but may probably be induced to advance some arguments and develope some facts at a future time, and in another place.

On the subject of the private character of the noble Marquis most persons are agreed: "Elevation of mind and gentleness of disposition were so mixed in him, that those who knew him best were most at a loss whether more to admire or to love. Friendship was with Lord Lansdowne a passion: none ever surpassed him in sincerity of attachment; and, in the minutiae of affectionate attention, he never perhaps was equalled. Even they, who by the calls of business, or accidental circumstances, were admitted to his presence, became charmed by the elegance of his manners, and retired with indelible impressions of his affability and benevolence. A great mind, it has been observed, may be traced in its amusements. Those of the Marquis consisted chiefly in the pursuits of archi

tecture

tecture, ornamental gardening, and the encouragement of every polite art. Of every exertion of the human mind he was indeed the liberal patron; and unfriended genius never made a fruitless application to his bounty."*

LACOCK, OR LAYCOCK,

about three miles south of Chippenham, is a large village and parish, seated in a fertile vale on the banks of the river Avon, This place is highly interesting to the topographer and antiquary, from its famous monastic establishment, and buildings, and ou account of the eminent persons connected with it at different periods. An ABBEY was founded here in 1232. by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, concerning whom, as well as her family, the following particulars may prove interesting:

We find that among other puissant Normans who accompanied William, Duke of Normandy, on his expedition for the conquest of this realm, was Walter de Eureux, Earl of Rosmar; to whom, in consideration of his valour, the Conqueror gave the lordships of Saresburie and Ambresburie. This Earl had a son called Edward, who, in process of time, became sheriff of Wiltshire, and obtained, on assuming the title, the surname of Saresburie. At the period of the general survey he possessed two lordships in Dorsetshire, three in Somersetshire, one in Surrey, two in Hamp shire, one in Middlesex, two in Hertfordshire, two in Bucking hamshire, and thirty-three in Wiltshire; out of which county he received in rent, as belonging to his office of sheriff, one hundred and thirty hogs, thirty-two bacons, two bushels and sixteen gallons of wheat, as much barley; . . . . bushels and eight gallons of oats; thirty-two gallons of honey, or sixteen shillings; four hundred and forty hens; a thousand and sixty eggs; one hundred cheeses; fifty-two lambs; two hundred fleeces of wool; having likewise one hundred and sixty-two acres of arable land; and, amongst the Reves land to the value of forty pounds per annum.

Monthly Magazine, June, 1805.-See also Collius's Peerage of England, by Sir Egerton Brydges, and Memoirs of " Public Characters of 1799, 1800," "*

This Edward left issue a son and heir, Walter, who founded and endowed the priory of Bradenstoke, in Wiltshire, and was buried there in the same grave with his wife. By her he had a son, Patric, who succeeded him, and was afterwards advanced to the title and dignity of Earl of Salisbury.

This Earl Patric, for the welfare of the souls of his father and mother, and for the soul of Maud, his first wife, confirmed the original grants to the canons of Bradenstoke, and gave them all his lands and immunities in Wilecote, in exchange for those in Wyndsford, which had been conferred upon them by his father, and in lieu of the church of Caneford, and chapel of St. Andrew in Cettre. After the death of Maud he married a second wife, called Ela, and was appointed king's lieutenant and captain-general of Aquitain, where he was slain by Guy de Lusignan in the year 1167, upon his return from a pilgrimage, which he had made to St. James in Galicia. This act, perpetrated while he was attending on Queen Alianore, so highly excited the resentment of Henry II. that he expelled the said Guy out of Poictiers, and bestowed his customs in Benai on the church of St. Hillary, in Poictiers, where Earl Patric was buried. This nobleman was succeeded in the earldom of Salisbury by a son, named William, who bore the golden sceptre, with the dove on the head of it, at the coronation of Richard I. He subsequently exercised the office of sheriff of Wiltshire, which he held till the eighth year of King Richard's reign; and was one of the four earls who carried the canopy of state at the king's second coronation. He died the year after, 1196, leaving issue by Alianore de Vitrei, his wife, an only daughter, who inherited his titles and property, and afterwards became the foundress of Lacock-Abbey. Both he and his lady were buried at Bradenstoke.

Ela's birth-place was Ambresburie, but her Norman relations took her over to Normandy at an early age. It is related, that being so great an heiress, one William Talbot, an Englishman, and an eminent soldier, took upon him the habit of a pilgrim and went into Normandy; where, wandering about for two months,

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