MY DEAR SIR,

Crescent, Bath, July 18, 1820. The loss of my dearest friend has so overpowered me that I can scarce see to write to you. By a letter I have this moment received from his excellent niece, I find he has appointed me his sole executor in England, which will oblige me to be in town the beginning of next week. This painful office, which millions would not have tempted me to accept, he pressed upon me so urgently when I last saw him, that I could not refuse him. He is to be buried in Plumstead Church, somewhere near London. Should you like to attend the funeral, you have nothing to do but to send word to Montague-square. I trust to your friendship to mention his death in the public papers. Alas! I am incapable of doing any thing but to lament the irreparable loss I have sustained. Yours most truly, THOMAS LEMAN.

MY DEAR SIR,

Crescent, Dec. 1, 1820.

Being now able to read your letter, I can return you specific answers to all your queries. The monument, or tablet, is directed in his will; and in a private paper, left to me as his executor, he adds, "I hope the Master and Fellows of Emanuel College will let my monnment be (after the design, and with the inscription affixed to my will) placed at the north end of the cloisters." As to any alterations that you may think necessary, I leave them entirely to your pure taste and sound critical judgment; and I add only, that I shall readily pay any expense relative to the having it written by your schoolmaster. I never saw Mr. Shout, nor do I know any thing of him; but I suppose, of course, that he will rigidly follow any orders you are so good as to give him.

You cannot conceive what a weight you have taken off my mind by employing an amanuensis; for since I received the stone from Rosetta, and the brick from Babel, I have never been so completely puzzled. Your writing certainly is more mysterious than the former, and more inexplicable than the latter.

Sir William Scott has written to me to inquire if I had found among my friend's papers some letters relating to the late Dr.

Goldsmith, and which had passed between him and Burke, and Johnson and Marley, and were supposed to be in the Bishop's possession. There are none such in England, and I do not recollect ever having heard of such having been in his possession. Can you, who lived in such intimacy with the Bishop, recollect any thing about them?

I do hope, and even entreat you to pay some attention to your health, and not to neglect the trifling complaint in your leg; for your life is of consequence to the world, and more particularly to your friends. I remain, with great respect, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully, THOMAS LEman.

490

CHAPTER XI.

Irish Politics,-the Alexanders,-Annuity,Warwick Meetings.

Irish politics are so much the topics of Bishop Bennet's correspondence, that under this head Dr. Parr's Irish friends will be properly associated. The Alexanders, now ennobled under the title of Earl of Caledon, became Parr's friends at Stanmore, and he has left a notice of the commencement of his acquaintance.

The writer of the enclosed, William Alexander, was not only a very sensible man, but the best mannered man I ever saw on the east side of Temple-bar. He lived in Cateaton-street, where I often visited him: he married a very sensible woman, daughter of the very odd, but ingenious and scientific physician, Dr. Monsey.* After his death she lived at Acton, Middlesex. He was uncle to Harry Alexander, M. P., and to Nathaniel Alexander, Bishop of Down. He was father of Monsey Alexander, who removed from Harrow to my school at Stanmore. He was an excellent scholar, and his recitation and tones were exquisite. He was an acute reasoner; he, by my advice, was made pupil of Sir William Scott, tutor of University College; and at lectures, whether in logic or classics, he was selected by Sir William Scott as the cleverest youth in the lectureroom; he was the friend also of the ingenious Tom Maurice. He went into Ireland, and took a country living. William, the father, died of an apoplexy: he had been sorely afflicted by the

* Mrs. Montague compared Dr. Monsey's mind to the wrong side of a piece of embroidery. With great oddities he had considerable scholarship, and he was a frequent guest in Portman-square.

gout, and went into the extreme of abstinence in food and wine. He was a truly respectable man and my friend.

Henry Alexander, Esq. M. P. and the Right Hon. and Right Rev. Nathaniel Alexander, D. D. Lord Bishop of Meath, were Dr. Parr's pupils at Stanmore, and continued his friends ever after. On one part of the politics of Ireland the following letters will display Mr. Alexander's opinions; and those letters of the Bishop, which are copied in the Appendix, will amply testify his Lordship's affectionate attachment to his old master.

Jan. 8, 1799.

MY DEAR DOCTOR, Laudari à laudato viro ea vera laus est. The agitation of the question of Union, will, in all probability, expatriate me. It is severing the families of this kingdom, and men who never differed before now differ. The remote contingencies of poli tical results have never struck me as justifying deviations from private gratitude and private ties. I am sorely pressed upon that subject, and am reduced to one of those practical paradoxes where my gratitude to my uncle, Lord Caledon, and my duty to the country, militate most strongly. Bred a Presbyterian, his loyalty is inflexible; but it is a constitutional rather than personal loyalty; and in the union of the legislatures he sees extinction of the Irish, not a modified existence, according to the imperial interests of both.

I feel his fortune has formed the basis of our influence in Ireland. His unlimited confidence has given me a weight beyond my talents and age; I can assure you I have not been an unprofitable servant to the common interests of my family. Ten years ago, when I entered into public life, we were with. out a name in Ireland; now he is a Viscount, married his eldest daughter to the third oldest peer in Ireland, Lord Blay. ney, with his estate clear of debt. He possesses a borough; his two nephews represent Londonderry, and I hope a third will be a Bishop. All these prospects are blasted, and this edifice destroyed by this question of Union, The old man is

also torn with an idea of its removing an only and delightful son to England; and that his life, spent in the service of his country, a family of his creation, and all the imaginary and lengthened honours of his race, must be lost to Ireland, or excluded from the exertion of their political faculties possibly, except gaining the only employment that excludes satiety— I speak not of religion.

I inclose you by to-night's post two pamphlets, the best that have appeared. My uncle's hesitation forbids my taking a part one way or the other. Whether he will yield to me, or I give way to him, depends much upon collateral impressions. Should he persist, I will leave Ireland. I think it disgraceful to hold office under any administration you differ from on a substantial question. I therefore resign my situation, both as representative of Londonderry, and as a member of the Board of Ordnance.

My friends have suggested to me the possibility of going to India, connected as I am in a very advantageous situation; but I fear my want of influence, and doubt my capabilities for the situation, I mean that of a Judge. Dublin and the Midland Counties outrageous on the question, and men, otherwise not dispassionate, threatening destruction to individuals, and rebellion against the state.

The North, like their Scotch ancestors, plodding and calcu lating the commercial advantages, principally anxious for the continuance of the preferences now given to Irish linens.

If I encouraged instructions from my constituents, I could procure orders to support the Union; but at some other time, when they had fitted the bridle to my mouth, they might use if I once gave up Londonderry, because I consider implicit obedience an unconstitutional and unmanly promise. Cork, and the South generally, from ideas of self-interest, are in favour of the measure.

The women in Dublin, who apprehend the diminished charms of the metropolis, young lawyers, all classes of Dublin, mercantile interests, and all that low ballads, desperate caricatures, tending to every thing ferocious, and a storm of pamphlets can influence, are adverse.

But the real opposition lies in our great law officers, who,