many concurring circumstances, he withdrew himself from his neighbours to his books, and the unbroken solitude of domestic privacy. The love of reading now revived once more with double ardour; the Muses again deigned to visit him; and the pen was continually in his hand. He was in his 35th year; he had seen something of the world, in spite of his reserved manners and retired disposition, while his faculties were in their full vigour. A vacancy which now occurred in another large town in his neighbourhood, induced some of the inhabitants to solicit him to come forward to oppose the court candidate, who offered himself to be re-elected, He hesitated, on account of the expense, and the difficulty of overcoming the ministerial influence; in this he resisted his own wishes, for it would have been the most delightful event of his life could he have succeeded; and at length he declined a resolution of which he has often since repented. In October 1798 came out a novel, in two volumes, entitled "Arthur Fitzalbini," which is universally attributed to Mr. B. This was instantly bought up and read with unusual eagerness; and in two or three months more a new edition, which had been too long delayed, was published. Like Mary de Clifford, it has scarcely any plot, and is merely a vehicle of description, sentiments, characters, and acute observations on life. The language has been pronounced to be eloquent, flowing, and powerful; and the poetry, with which it is interspersed, has received warm apS 4 plause. plause. But there was instantly raised against it a cry of personal allusions, which immediately produced a torrent of resentment, calumny, and abuse, that has not yet subsided. All the periodical works of criticism which spoke well of it were assailed by private letters, some of them with names, others anonymous, in which every effort was made to blast the character of the person whom they supposed guilty of drawing portraits that resembled themselves or their friends; much persuasion was tried to induce them to retract the approbation they had bestowed; and there is too much reason to believe that this reputed author was falsely represented as a monster of iniquity and base ness. Soon after this novel saw the light, Mr. Brydges published the first volume of a new edition of a work, originally compiled by a nephew of Milton, the "Theatrum Poetarum," by Edward Philips. This came out in 1800, and exhibits proofs of Mr. Brydges' extensive knowledge of biography, as well as his intimate acquaintance with typographical antiquities, and the ancient writers in that enchanting art, which he himself has cultivated. Not long before this he had written two pamphlets, one on the late augmentations of the peerage, in which the lovers of private history and anecdote will find much amusement; the other, a short financial statement, entitled, "Tests of the National Wealth and Finances in December 1798;" which discovers his acquaintance with a new line of study, generally supposed to be uncongenial with those those other attainments which he had hitherto proved himself master of. In October 1802 there came out a novel, in three volumes, entitled "Le Forester, by the Author of Arthur Fitzalbini," in which the story is interesting, and in many parts pathetic; the style too is surely not inferior to that of Mr. Brydges' other productions. But, we believe, it has had less success than the author's previous works in the same line. In both the last novels the author has been reported to allude to his own character. It is not impossible that some prominent traits in the minds of each of his heroes may be consonant to those he is most fond of cherishing in himself; but it is impossible that the leading events in the lives of both can belong to him, for they are inconsistent with each other. In truth, many of the outlines of the latter tale scem borrowed from the famous Anglesea cause; nor could he ever imagine himself, as a younger brother, entitled to any honours, or unjustly deprived of any inheritance. Mr. Brydges is said to have vented at times strong expressions of discontent at the privacy in which it has been hitherto his lot to waste his talents. But he ought to recollect, that if he has not received the support, nor been encouraged by the countenance, of his numerous, powerful, and not distant relations, he is in a station too independent, of a mind too lofty, of manners too reserved, and unobtrusive, for the necessary attendance. His remaining prospects, perhaps, are principally fixed fixed to a country life, where many recent accessions have rendered his property considerable, and where his son, a minor, has succeeded by maternal inheritance to a beautiful scat and surrounding estate. But amidst the profusion of modern titles, and the gaiety and dissipation which modern modes enforce, a country gentleman is no longer it seems of any im * Lee, near Canterbury.-Lord Orford in a note to the Anecdotes of Painting, vol. IV. p. 94, third edit. 1786, speaking of Gothic architecture at Oxford, says "should the university be disposed to add decorations in the genuine style of the colleges, they possess an architect who is capable of thinking in the spirit of the founders. Mr. Wyat, at Mr. Barrett's, at Lee, near Canterbury, has, with a disciple's fidelity to the models of his masters, superadded the invention of a genius. The little library has all the air of an abbot's study, except that it discovers more taste, †The World o'erlooks him in her busy search Tho' more sublimely, he o'erlooks the world.- Oft water fairest meadows; and the bird His sphere tho' humble, if that humble sphere Some taste of comfort in a world of woe, He portance; his person and his equipage are too humble to be known in the world, and the obscurity of his station has been deemed sufficient to stifle the rights of descent, and debase the splendour of illustrious blood! CYRIL JACKSON, D. D. DEAN OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD. NO one has ever attained a greater degree of celebrity as governor of a college than the well-known subject of this sketch; and, if viewed in this light, we do not hesitate to pronounce him one of the most conspicuous PUBLIC CHARACTERS of the present age. Cyril Jackson, D. D. was born in the year 1742, at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, where his father was for many years an eminent surgeon and apothecary; but having obtained a diploma for the degree of M. D. during the latter part of his life he practised as a physician, in which profession he supported a very re He serves his country, recompenses well He sits secure, and in the scale of life Holds no ignoble, tho' a slighted place. The man, COWPER'S TASK, B. 31. spectable |