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VICISSITUDES OF FAMILIES.*
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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It was not until 1749 that Huvd published his well-known "Co mmentary and Notes on Horace ' s Art of Poetry ; " on Avhich , in 1762 , Gibbon wrote an elaborate critique . Kurd ' s notion was , that it was the aim of Horace to reform the Roman stage . The general : opinion , however , is , that the Epistle was a personal appeal to the Pisos , who were in danger of committing themselves precipitately to dramatic composition , warning them of the difficulties of the dramatic art , and the disgrace and ridicule attending failure . In this opinion Hurd himself ultimately concurred . One passage from this work must be quoted , as predicting- the characteristics of our present literature and language : —
" When a language , as ours at this time , hath been much polished and enriched with perfect models of style in almost every way , it is in the order of things that the next step should be to a vicious affectation . For the simplicity of true taste under these circumstances grows insipid ; something better than the W must be aimed at ; and the reader ' s languid appetite raised by the provocatives of an ambitious refinement . And tliis in sentiment as well as language " Somewhere about 1749 Hurd became acquainted with Warburton , and this was the turning-point of his fortunes . He was introduced by the latter to Mr . Murray and Mr . Charles Yorke ; and in 1750 , by Warburton ' s recommendation to Bishop Sherlock , Hurd was appointed one of the preachers at Whitehall . In 1751 , -Hurd published his " Commentary on Horace ' s Epistle to Augustus , which he characterized as "An apology for the poets of his own time . " In 1756 , Hurd was presented with the living of Ihuvcaston , in Leicester—a College gift . Its value was about £ 2 : 30 he writes to WarbuTton
per annum . " The profits of my living , " , 4 with a little good husbandry , will make me quite easy . I , who was bom to no hopes , bred iii the school of parsimony , have no large necessities , and have been trained to philosophy , ought to be ashamed if so decent a provision did not satisfy me . ISext year he completed and published the dissertation on which his fame rests , namely , " 1 , On the Idea of Universal Poetry . 2 , On the Province of Dramatic Poetry . 3 , On Poetical Imitation ; and 4 , On the Marks of Imitation . " Two years afterwards appeared his floral and Political Dialogues ;" ¦¦ and he further enhanced his reputation as a critic in 1702 by his twelve " Letters on Chivalry and Romance . " In 1768 he preached in Lincoln ' s Inn chapel twelve sermons , as opening the lecture . founded by Bishop Warburton for the illustration of the argument in iayour of . Christianity derived from prophecy . In 1774 he was advanced to the enisoopate as Bishop of Liehfield and Coventry ^ an elevation
which was ascribed to King George the Third ' s admiration ot ^ his " Moral and Political Dialogues . " It seems , therefore , clear that Hurd owed his bishopric to his literary merit . Two years afterwards he held the office of preceptor to the Prince of W ales and the Duke of York . In 1781 ho was translated to the see ot Worcester . From that moment his life appears to have become thoroughly practical . His time was divided between the calls ot his important diocese , liis studies , and becoming hospitality towards his friends and neighbours , varied only by occasional visits and attendance upon his parliamentary duties .. In . 1 / 83 the King offered him the Archbishopric of Canterbury , but Hurd declined . He died in May , 1808 , in his 89 th year , Hurdappears in disposition and manner to have been a proud . ol
learned man ; but of an affectionate heart , as well as an elegant mind . Vulgarity , in fact , was intolerable to him . Madame D'Arblay describes him as " dignified , placid , grave , and mild , but rather cold and rather distancing-. " lie was never married , nor , it would appear , ever had an attachment ; and his appearance and air may have been duo to his solitary and studious habits . Certain it is , he loved his books better than ho loved mankind . We can smell a fault in that . On farther acquaints ance , Madame D'Arblay found that . " piety and goodness ^ are so marked on his countenance , which is truly a line one , that ho has been named , and vory justly , ' The Beauty of Holiness . These characteristics redeem somewhat tho sterner features oi Jus mind and oarriago . On the whole , we must regard him as an lettersot
intelligent , thoughtful , and venerable man , devoted to , a nico perception and tine taste , not strong in imagination , and gifted rather with judgment than genius .
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property goes to one line , and . the dignity to another incapable of supporting it . Sir B . Burke proposes some remedies for this inconsistency : but , we take it , that the law of vicissitude will always find , or make , some loophole , under any possible arrangement . ^ Sir Bernard opens with the story of . an extinct family in Derbyshire . The house of Finderne exists no more . Not a single record in the village remains . Not one ? Yes ; one . "X accosted a villager , " says Sir Bernard , " hoping to gain some * tray tradition of the Findernes . < Findemes , ' said he , * we have no Fmdernes here , but we have something that once belonged to them ; we have Finderne ' s Flowers . ' ' Show me them , I replied , and the old man led me into a field which still retained faint traces of terraces and foundations . ' There / said he , pointing to a bank ot garden flowers srown wild , ' there are the Finderne ' s Flowers , brought by bir Geoffrey from the Holy Land ; and , do what we will , they will
never die . '" ,,, «• -- »¦»• i -xi . ' * The storv of Feargus O'Connor is told by Sir Bernard with great force Of the Martinet William Wray of Ards , he presents us with a curious account . With a connection as wide as his fortune , he managed to full into pecuniary difficulties ; and so vanished a splendid estate . " Yet there is no record of anything coarse or vicious in the extravagance which beggared the Master ot Ards . One hoars nothing of hard drinking , or loud swearing , or boisterous revels in his courtly mansion . William Wray was a gentleman , a high Irish gentleman , too proud to be popular , and too eccentric to be understood : he could not be estimated by the unimaginative and
matter-of-fact people among whom he dwelt : the shrewd and monev-loving Northerns called his unbounded hospitality riotous living and his diftuseiiess they termed madness ; but had these thin ° s been done in France in the fourteenth century , and chronicled by such a pen as that of Froissart , 7 < e would have classed him with such entertainers as Phcebus , Gaston , Count de * Foix , and pronounced him a courteous and liberal , a bountiful and most gentle Iri recounting the strange story of the avaricious family of the Elwes , Sir Bernard interposes a remark which , for moral significance , is perhaps unequalled , " Warriors , statesmen , merchants , inated and
and lawyers , " says he , " all have orig great flpurishing houses : but misers are rarely the patriarchs of families ot enduring prosperity ; the same remark * may be made in reference to those who " athered gain by the slave trade ; they never flourished . It has been ascertained as a positive fact , that no two generations x > f a slavedealer ' s race ever continued resident on the estate acquired -by ^ the unholy pursuit of -their , founder ; and a similar observation applies , to a certain extent , to the profits of the usurer . A very learned friend of mine , deeply versed in the vicissitudes of genealogy , assures me that he never knew , four generations of an usurer ' s family to endure in regular unbroken succession . "
The fate of the last of the Myttons , of Shropshire , suggests an opposite ¦ moral ' ;—" a -. warning to the extravagant and a lesson to the profligate . It tells , too , of the instability of all human things . A family far more ancient , and apparently as vigorous as the grand old oaks , that once were the pride of Halston ,-was destroyed , ^ aiter centuries of honourable and historic eminence , by the mad follies of one man in the brief space of eighteen .- . vears .. " .: . . _ The life of John Kobinsoii , of Appleby , the builder of the House ttiaW-aek- * builtr ? -in—Westinoi ^ land-and ^ father -of-, tlwiX ountess--ot
, Abergaveimy , is as singular as it is interesting , and proves that the elements of romanceare now as strong in our actual history as ever they were in the past . But we cannot repeat the records of the book , and must remain content with selections . We can only glance at the Lady Henrietta Anne Leslie , who married a gardener , and lived with him for years , supported only by his honest industry , a happy woman ; at the Livingstones , in their splendour , decline and fall ; and at the Lairds of Oallemlar and Westquarter . t the
We come then to a story of distinction , acquired noby exercise of talent , but merely by the caprice of fortune . The Bristol boddicemaker , John Diddlestonc , who dared to address neglected royalty / and invited Prince George , the husband of Queen Anne , to eat pudding with him . Whereupon tho guest invited the host to London , and introduced him and his wife to the queen . " So pleased was the latter with tho blunt novelty of her visitors' manners , that she took a gold watch from her side , and presented it to the wife , who , full of the pride of such a memorial , never failed afterwards to disnlav it attached to her blue apron when she went to market . Nor
did her Majesty stop hero ; she proposed to confer a pension upon tho boddicemaker . But this he refused to accept , declaring that ho had got the sum of fifty pounds out at interest ; and , moreover , ho well saw that her Majesty could spare no money , when she had such a flock about her to support . Amused with this naivo trait , tho queen , who was as famous for her good humour as her love of good wine , bade him kneel down , and before tho Bristolian became quite awaru of what was intended for him , ho roue up a knight . " But what is tho end of the story P Hear Sir Bernard ; " Irom this day , tho fortunes of Sir John went on increasing- till he had amassed a vory'Considerable . sum , nnd had a baronetcy conferred on hmrinIWlr-X ; ~ Wouldthalrmy talo : could ~ cndhcro-j"but tho ^ tory--of litb is pretty sure either to end or to begin-in sorrow . AH this wealth wa » embarked in merchandise that was intrusted to tho mercy of the salt seas ; and before tho ships that boro it could return , there came tho tremendous storm , in November , 1701 , m which tho whole was lout . From this blow Sir John never recovered , but continued to live in very reduced oircmnstanoorf until tho hour of his death ; his grandson and hoir , tho second fcjir John Duddleslono , held a humblo appointment in tho Customs at Bristol ; but of lus defendants , il hi hud any , nothing has been loit on record . "
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720 Tlxe Saturday ' AnalystandLeader . [ Aug . 11 , i 860 .
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IN a former series we sought to do justice to tho author for his interesting narratives , moro romantic than romanco , and yet as true as history . The decadence of wealthy families is inevitably instructive . Its causes are not far to seek . The civil wars ruined many great houses . Sir Bernard Burko remarks that , owing to them there is not now in the House of Peers a single male doscunduntof the twenty-five Barons who were appointed to enforce tho observance of MagnaCharta . What a fact ! How pregnant ! . How important ! Wo cannot pursue tho subject to the length that &iv Bernard has done . Another source , however , pointed out by him must thut have led to tho uggrandiMeinont of any one person ^ are seldom reucatod in his immediate successor . It is not often that a miner is succeeded in the name lino by a miser ; u poet by a poet ; or a commander by . ii son of tho sumo military ability as his lather . But tho main cause lies in the state of tho law of inheritance . In the absence of direct heirs male , the estato is allowed to puss to tho heiress , whilo tho title to which it belongs may devolve on a co lateral branch that may bo devoid of woaltn _ orjKluetttum ; thus , tho ~ 7 J ^ . ^ riten ^ 7 ^^ »» y « *• " ' *™* " » 1 juiiki : » Ultftur Kliitfat Anuu . London * Lonuuuuia .
Vicissitudes Of Families.*
VICISSITUDES OF FAMILIES .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 11, 1860, page 720, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2360/page/8/
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