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To the credit of the chair, it seems to have been considered as a point of honour on the part of whoever has occupied it of late years, to act on such occasions contrary to the declared wish of the minister of the crown. Sir Fletcher Norton, afterwards Lord Grantley, in a case not exactly similar to the present, excited the indignation of a former premier by his spirited conduct, in the presence of majesty itself:† and Mr. Pitt, on a former occasion, when the votes of the House were nicely equipoised, found that Mr. .Cornwall had spirit enough to make the unpopular cause kick the beam, by throwing the mace into the opposite scale. In the present instance, Mr. Abbot, after expressing his reasons in a short but comprehensive speech, conducted himself in a similar manner, and decided in the first instance on the guilt and prosecution of Viscount Melville.

The Speaker, who has been some years † married to Elizabeth, the elder daughter of § Sir Philip

* Lord North.

+ The administration of that day being notoriously profuse, it was considered as a reflection on it, to entreat the king, at the bar of the House of Peers; "that what his faithful Commons had granted liberally, might be applied wisely and economically."

They were inarried December 29, 1797.

§ It may not be altogether inapposite in this place to state the worthy and very laudable conduct of the father-in-law of the Speaker of the House of Commons, in the express words of a very able and eloquent member of the British parliament. "I have not the honour," says he, while striving to modify the horrors of the slave-trade," of knowing the gentleman whose example I am going to appeal to, I mean Sir Philip Gibbs; but I know his character, and what his conduct has been in the management of his

estate

Gibbs, Bart. of Springhead, in the island of Barbadoes, usually resides with his family during the recess, at his seat called Mayfield, at Kidbrook, near East Grinstead it is a charming house, surrounded by extensive grounds, formerly in the possession of the Earl of Abergavenny.

It may at first appear extraordinary, that so grave a character, exchanging the mace for the sword, should accept a commission in the volunteers; but even this is not without precedent during the civil wars, nor without example in the person of one of his predecessors * in our own times. Mr. Abbot, reflecting on the propriety of affording a salutary example, as well as evincing the policy of a general armament, some time since accepted of a troop of cavalry in the North Pevensey Legion, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel; and actually commanded the right wing of the Sussex line, under Lord Sheffield, during a late review.

In his official capacity, the Speaker is a trustee of the Bristish Museum, one of the governors of Green

estate in Barbadoes. The former is eminently humane, the latter equally judicious. His virtues are to me a proof of his wisdom, He gives his negroes land and stock, with time to cultivate, He feeds and clothes them well.

"He encourages marriage among them, and allows of no pu nishment but by a sentence of a jury of negroes. The consequence is, that his slaves do double the work of others, because they are better able, and more willing. The instructions he has given to the managers of his estate are a model for imitation. The success and the profit have corresponded with the benevolent design." *Mr. Addington, now Lord Sidmouth.

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wich Hospital, &c. &c. In his private, he is likewise a Doctor of Law of the university, and Recorder of the city, of Oxford; F. R. S. and A. S.; and Keeper of the Privy Seal in Ireland.

THE MOST REY. FATHER IN GOD, HIS GRACE

CHARLES, LORD ARCHBISHOP OF
CANTERBURY,

METROPOLITAN OF ALL ENGLAND.

IN every stage of society, and in every political body hitherto known to us, an intermixture of something in the shape of religion has always been discernible: the histories of barbarians and polished states alike agree in this particular. It is indeed often found to be disfigured by the rude manners of a people, or perverted by the discordant interests of individuals; but it is still visible in the actions, and generally gives a favourable tincture to the character, of a nation.

Our own island was once renowned for a very sin gular species of worship; into which, notwithstanding the Druids, like the Phenicians of old, introduced the horrid custom of human sacrifice, yet this singular species of ecclesiastical aristocracy at the same time inculcated maxims of high importance, and sentiments not a little favourable to the practice of virtue.

The mighty people who overcame both them and

their votaries, seem on this occasion to have departed from their usual moderation; for they proceeded to the length of extirpation; and introduced the gods and the superstition of ancient Rome, in the place of a faith which they had been at such pains to proscribe.

The Saxons, whose deities, partaking of their own fierceness, breathed nothing but slaughter and de vastation, in their turn demanded the adoration of an insensate multitude; till at length, during the pontificate of Gregory the Great, St. Augustine, happily undertaking the mission to Britain, introduced a purer and a milder worship, in consequence of which the blessings of Christianity happily triumphed over the horrors of paganism.

This pious monk, landing in the Isle of Thanet, chose Kent as the scene on which he was to distinguish his ardour; and having been fortunate enough to find an obedient convert in Ethelbert (to whose mind, terrified with doubts, was held out the pleasing prospect of "eternal salvation"), he propagated a new religion with equal zeal and success.

The splendour of the see of Canterbury, supposed to have been founded at the end of the sixth* century, tended not a little perhaps to the more extensive propagation of the faith; but it was not till a long period, and after many bitter disputes, had intervened, that its prelate became invested with the special honour of being designated metropolitan of all England.

* In 597.

+ In 1029.

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The

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The power annexed to this high office has always been considered so extensive, and was exercised with such rigour both in the time of Becket and of some of his predecessors, that even in our own days great care has been generally taken that family dignity should not be superadded to official influence, and that the dictates of age and experience shall have modified the sallies of youthful ambition. Accordingly, we find that with two exceptions only, no churchman of a noble descent has been promoted to this see since the time of Cardinal Pole; while it has been asserted, that only one child of an archbishop

The powers claimed, and even exercised, by some of the English prelates, were extensive in their nature, and sometimes singular in their practice. When armed with the delegated authority of Rome, they threatened with impunity the prince, his favourites, and even the whole kingdom, with the terrors of an interdict. One of them, of his own authority, proceeded to excommunication against some persons who had wickedly cut off the tail of his palfrey; and at a more recent period divine service was prohibited to a whole parish, because the churchwardens had omitted to ring at a visitation. But that stretch of authority most frequently. quoted is the flagellation of Henry II. for the murder of Thomas Becket: a churchman ambitious, haughty, and unaccommodating; but most unjustly, as well as treacherously, murdered, in conse quence of the following speech, which rendered the monarch an accessary, and made him deserving of punishment of a different kind: Shall this fellow, who came to court on a lame horse, with all his estate in a wallet behind him, trample upon his king, the royal family, and the whole kingdom? Will none of all those lazy cowardly knights whom I maintain, deliver me from this turbulent priest?" Vita S. Thomæ, l. 3. c. 10. p. 119.

The Honourable Dr. Cornwallis, and the present Arch bishop.

has

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