In Britain's senate he a seat obtains, 395 400 401 The devil and the king divide the prize. Warburton, in that perpetual struggle between the judgment of a critic and the zeal of an advocate, which renders his commentary so amusing, toils to take the sting out of this passage. This,' says he, is to be understood in a very sober and decent sense; as a satire only on such ministers of state (whom history informs us to have been found) who aided the devil in his temptations, in order to foment, if not to make, plots for the sake of confiscations.' After having thus exonerated the ministerial character, he undertakes the panegyric of the poet :-'So sure always and just is our author's satire, even in those places where he seems most to have indulged himself only in an elegant badinage !' Some information, collected by Mr. Bowles, relative to the 'Man of Ross,' deserves a place here, from its giving a more distinct statement of the actual services of a man whose example might be imitated with such national effect, and whose spirit ought to be a model to country gentlemen. The statement is given in the words of his immediate descendant, the late Thomas Hutchison, barrister, whose sister is now in possession of the property. OBSERVATIONS ON THE FACTS STATED BY POPE AS THEY RESPECT THE CHARACTER OF THE MAN OF ROSS. 6 'Who hung with woods yon mountain's sultry brow?' There was, and still is, a very long shady walk, of nearly a mile and a half in length, called Kyrle's Walks, which, whilst I had the estate, was kept in good preservation, and is on the summit of an eminence, commanding a beautiful prospect of the river Wye and the country to a great extent. There is a summer-house now remaining thereon, erected by the Man of Ross,' with a motto over the door, 'Si non tibi, non ibi.' From the dry rock who bade the waters flow?' The Man of Ross' promoted, and partly assisted by his own pecuniary aid, the erection of a small water-work near the river, which supplied the town of Ross with water, in which article it was very deficient before. 'Whose causeway parts the vale with shady rows?' A causeway, of the greatest safety to the country in the time of floods, was, when surveyor of the roads, made by him; and his estate being on each side of it, he, I think, gave up some land for the conveniency of its erection, and caused the same to be completed. Whose seats the weary traveller repose?' Seats were fixed by him in the walks first mentioned, which the different possessors of the estates kept, until lately, in good repair. The church-path being through them, also being a short way to Goodrich-ferry, &c. they certainly afforded rest and pleasure to passengers, and to the inhabitants of the town of Ross. 'Who taught that heaven-directed spire to rise?' The Man of Ross' certainly first promoted the erection of that beautiful structure, by both his pecuniary aid and personal attention, each of which was considerable. 'Behold the market-place with poor o'erspread.' His house was opposite to the market-place. He kept an open house every market-day: any person without distinction might meet on that day at his hospitable board, which, according to the stories related to me by some old tenants, consisted of a joint of meat of each sort. The poor, who were always in waiting on that day, and every other, had distributed to them, by his own superintendence, the whole of the remains of each day, besides continual distributions of bread, &c. 'He feeds yon alms-house.' He founded a small alms-house in Ross, and left an annual sum charged on his estate towards its assistance. His chari ties, whether by pecuniary aids, sustenance, or the gift of medicines, were more than commensurate with his income. He was the constant and just arbitrator of all differences. 'And what? no monument.' This stigma on provincial gratitude was removed some years since by lord Kinnoul, a relative, by marriage, of Kyrle; a handsome monument was erected at an expense of £200. The 'Man of Ross' was of one of the best families of Herefordshire, and was allied to the Scudamores, Traceys, and principal families of the county: the estates of his cousin, sir John Kyrle of Much Marcle, amounted to £4000 a-year. But his simple liberality has eclipsed all their rent-rolls! |