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In the mean Time, as it was evident, that a Mart of his active Ambition, in chufing Retirement when no longer able to lead in public, must be liable to Ridicule in refuming a refigned philofophical Air: in order to obviate the Cenfure, he addressed a Letter to Lord Bathurst, upon the true Ufe of Retirement and Study; in which he fhows himself still able and willing to undertake the Caufe of his Country, whenever its Diftreffes fhould require his Exertion. I have, fays he, renounced neither my Country, nor my Friends; and by my Friends I mean all those, and those alone, who are fuch to their Country. In their Profperity they fhall never hear of me; in their Diftrefs, always. In that Retreat wherein the Remainder of my Days fhall be fpent, I may be of fome Ufe to them, fince even from thence I may advife, exhort, and warn them, Bent upon this Purfuit only, and having now exchanged the gay Statefman for the grave Philofopher, he fhone forth with diftinguished Luftre. His Conversation took a different Turn from what had been usual with him; and, as we are affured by Lord Orrery, who knew him, it united the Wis. dom of Socrates, the Dignity and Ease of Pliny, and the Wit of Horace.

Yet ftill amidst his Refolutions to turn himself from Politics, and to give himself up entirely to the Calls of Philofophy, he could not refift embarking once more in the Debates of his Country; and coming back from France, fettled at Battersea, an old Seat which was his Father's, and had been long in the Poffeffion of the Family. He fuppofed he faw an impending Calamity, and though it was not in his Power to remove, he thought it his Duty to retard its fall. To redeem or fave the Nation from Perdition, he thought impoffible, fince national Corruptions were to be purged by national Cala

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mities;

mities; but he was refolved to lend his feeble Affiftance, to stem the Torrent that was pouring in. With this Spirit he wrote that excellent Piece, which is intituled, The Idea of a Patriot King: in which he defcribes a Monarch uninfluinced by Party, leaning to the Suggeftions neither of Whigs nor Tories, but equally the Friend and Father of all. Some Time after, in the Year 1749, after the Conclufion of the Peace, two Years before the Meafures taken by the Administration feemed not to have been repugnant to his Notions of political Prudence for that Juncture; in that Year he wrote his laft Production, containing Reflections on the then State of the Nation, principally with Regard to her Taxes and Debts, and on the Caufes and Confequences of them. This Undertaking was left unfinished, for Death fnatched the Pen from the Hand of the Writer.

Having paffed the latter Part of his Life in Dignity and Splendor, his rational Faculties improved by Reflection, and his Ambition kept under by Difappointment, his whole Aim feemed to have been to leave the Stage of Life, on which he had acted fuch various Parts, with Applaufe. He had long wifhed to fetch his laft Breath at Batterfea, the Place where he was born; and Fortune, that had through Life feemed to traverle all his Aims, at last indulged him in this. He had long been troubled with a Cancer in his Cheek, by which excruciating Dif eafe, he died on the Verge of fourfcore Years of Age. He was confonant with himfelf to the laft, and thofe Principles which he had all along avowed, he confirmed with his dying Breath, having given Orders that none of the Clergy fhould be permitted to trouble him in his lateft Moments.

His Body was interred in Battersea Church, with thofe of his Ancestors; and a Marble Monumenterected

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erected to his Memory, with the following excel

lent Infcription.

Here lies

HENRY ST. JOHN,

In the Reign of Queen Anne

Secretary of War, Secretary of State, and
Viscount Bolingbroke.

In the Days of King George I. and King George II.
Something more and better.

His Attachment to Queen Anne Exposed him to a long and fevere Perfecution; He bore it with Firmness of Mind.

He paffed the latter Part of his Time at home,
The Enemy of no national Party;
The Friend of no Faction.
Distinguished under the Cloud of Profcription,
Which had not been entirely taken off,
By Zeal to maintain the Liberty,
And to restore the ancient Prosperity
of Great-Britain.

He died the 12th of December, 1751,
Aged 79.

In this Manner lived and died Lord Bolingbroke ; ever active, never depreffed, ever pursuing Fortune, and as conftantly difappointed by her. In whatever Light we view his Character, we shall find him an Object rather proper for our Wonder, than our Imitation; more to be feared than esteemed, and gaining our Admiration without our Love. His Ambition ever aimed at the Summit of Power, and nothing feemed capable of fatisfying his immoderate Defires, but the Liberty of governing all Things without a Rival. With as much Ambition as great Abilities, and more acquired Knowledge than Cæfar, he wanted only his Courage to be as fuccessful; but the Schemes his Head dictated, his Heart often refused to execute; and he loft the Ability

Ability to perform, juft when the great Occafion called for all his Efforts to engage.

The fame Ambition that prompted him to be a Politician, actuated him as a Philofopher. His Aims were equally great and extenfive in both Capacities: unwilling to fubmit to any Power in the one, or any Authority in the other, he entered the Fields of Science, with a thorough Contempt of all that had been established before him, and feemed to think every Thing wrong, that he might fhew his Faculty in the Reformation. It might have been better for his Quiet, as a Man, if he had been content to act a fubordinate Character in the State; and it had certainly been better for his Memory as a Writer, if he had aimed at doing less than he attempted. Wisdom in Morals, like every other Art or Science, is an Accumulation that Numbers have contributed to increase; and it is not for one fingle Man to pretend, that he can add more to the Heap, than the thousands that have gone before him. Such Innovators more frequently retard, than promote Knowledge; their Maxims are more agreeable to the Reader, by having the Glofs of Novelty to recommend them, than those which are trite, only because they are true. Such Men are therefore followed at first with Avidity, nor is it till fome Time that their Difciples begin to find their Error. They often, though too late, perceive, that they have been following a fpeculative Enquiry, while they have been leaving a practical good; and while they have been practifing the Arts of Doubting, they have been lofing all Firmnefs of Principle, which might tend to establish the Rectitude of their private Conduct. As a Moralift, therefore, Lord Blingbroke, by having endeavoured at too much, feems to have done nothing but as a political Writer, few can equal, and none can exceed him. As he was a practical Politician, his Writings are

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lefs

lefs filled with thofe fpeculative Illufions, which are the Result of Solitude and Seclufion. He wrote them with a Certainty of their being oppofed, fifted, examined, and reviled; he therefore took Care to build them up of fuch Materials, as could not be eafily overthrown: they prevailed at the Times in which they were written, they still continue to the Admiration of the prefent Age, and will probably laft for ever.

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