I shall take no further notice, except when a selection of essays shall have been published from their contents, and of which the immediately succeeding article is a specimen.

30. ESSAYS ON THE VICES AND FOLLIES OF THE TIMES. This volume is the production of Amhurst, the author of Terræ Filius, and consists of "select papers formerly published in Pasquin and the London Journal.” It appeared year 1726.

in the

31. THE CRAFTSMAN.

Amhurst was, for

several years, the principal conductor of this political paper, which commenced on December 5th, 1726. It was written to oppose the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, and he was assisted in the attack by very powerful coadjutors. "He was the able associate," remarks Davies, "of Bolingbroke and Pulteney in writing the celebrated weekly paper called The Craftsman. His abilities were unquestionable; he had almost as much wit, learning, and various knowledge, as his two partners; and when these great masters chose not to appear in public themselves, he supplied their places so well that his essays were often ascribed to them."* Such was the popularity of these essays, and such the indignation of the country against the measures of Walpole,

*Lord Chesterfield's characters reviewed, p. 42.

that ten or twelve thousand were frequently sold

in a day. A complete set of the Craftsman forms fourteen volumes duodecimo.

32. THE INTELLIGENCER. Dr. Thomas Sheridan, the chief author of this work, was a native of the county of Cavan in Ireland, and born about 1684. Though his parents were not able, from their narrow circumstances, to afford him the benefit of a liberal education, he had fortunately that great advantage conferred upon him by the generosity of a friend to the family, who, perceiving in young Sheridan indications of uncommon ability, sent him to Trinity College, Dublin, and supported him there during the necessary period of education. At this university he took his Doctor's degree, entered into holy orders, and shortly afterwards established a school at Dublin, which, for several years, was esteemed the first in the kingdom. His intimacy with Swift, which commenced soon after the Dean's settlement in Ireland, might, had he possessed common prudence and economy, have been of essential service to him; but carelessness and extravagance were the rocks on which Sheridan's fortunes were continually wrecked. He had no sooner obtained a living from the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to whom he had been appointed chaplain, and which was meant but as an earnest of

future promotion, than his inadvertency destroyed all his hopes of subsequent preferment. On going to be inducted into his living in the South of Ireland, he was requested, by Archdeacon Russel, of Cork, to preach for him on the following Sunday. The day happened to be the anniversary of the Hanoverian accession to the crown of Great Britain; and the Doctor, not recollecting the circumstance, unfortunately pitched upon a sermon with the following text, "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." The clamour occasioned by this unhappy choice, notwithstanding the discourse was altogether free from a political tendency, proved so great, that he was ultimately erased from the chaplains' list, and ordered to appear no more at the castle.

Though the Doctor had thus, to use Swift's phrase," shot his own fortune dead by one single text," he was nevertheless indebted to the accident for a considerable addition to his property; for the Archdeacon, considering himself, by his request, as in some measure instrumental to the ruin of Sheridan's expectations in the church, made over to him, with unparalleled generosity, by a deed of gift, the manor of Drumlane in the county of Cavan, the clear rent of which amounted to two hundred and fifty pounds per annum.

Dr. Sheridan had now an income arising from

his landed property, his living, and his school, of not less than twelve hundred pounds a year; a fortune which should have exempted him from the possibility of want; but such was his prodigality, and his love of company, that his school gradually decreased; he was compelled to mort gage his land, and, to add to his difficulties, hé foolishly exchanged his living in the county of Cork, worth nearly one hundred and fifty pounds a year, for one at Dunboyne, within a few miles of Dublin, whose value did not exceed eighty pounds per annum. This he again gave up, in a short time, for the free-school of Cavan; but, finding the situation unhealthy, he sold the school for four hundred pounds, and, after a residence of two years, returned to Dublin, in the neighbourhood of which he soon after died of a polypus in the heart. He was apprised of the nature of his complaint, and of the probability of his sudden death, by his physician Dr. Helsham, who advised him instantly to settle his affairs. He adopted the advice, and having made his will on September 10th, 1738, in his fifty-fifth year, he appeared afterwards singularly cheerful. He dined that day in great spirits, with a few friends; one of whom remarking that the wind was easterly, the Doctor exclaimed, "let it blow east, west, north, or south, the immortal soul will take ite

flight to the destined point," and immediately falling back in his chair, expired without a groan or a struggle.

Dr. Sheridan was an excellent classical scholar, and a very worthy man; for, though extravagant, he was never vicious. Being totally ignorant of the world, he was the perpetual dupe of the artful and designing; and having no value for money, he had consequently no regard for economy. He was generous, charitable, and of an independent spirit; a most affectionate friend, and, as a companion, unrivalled for wit, humour, and taste.

The Intelligencer was published weekly in Dublin, in the years 1728 and 1729. It is a miscellaneous paper, and had the occasional assistance of Dr. Swift. In the first number, which was written by the Dean, we meet with the following account of the object and plan of these essays. "There is a society," he observes, "lately established, who, at great expence, have erected an office of intelligence, from which they are to receive weekly information of all important events and singularities which this famous metropolis can furnish. Strict injunctions are given to have the truest information; in order to which, certain qualified persons are employed to attend upon duty at their several posts; some at the play-house, others in churches; some at balls,