to any situation prematurely. Ambitious, he was devoid of vanity; and with a singular absence of effort or pretension, found his foot at last on the topmost rail of the ladder he had been long unostentatiously mounting. Such were the ascending steps of a prosperous life, toward the end of which, fortune constantly accompanying him, the hero of this memoir reached the summit of public distinction. It must be admitted, however, that he engaged in public affairs with advantages which are great at all times and in every country, but which were especially great in England during what may now be called "the old régime." He was of a good family, with a well-known name, and a fair fortune. The Temples were gentlemen in the reign of Henry VIII. A Sir William Temple was the secretary of Sir Philip Sidney, and afterward of the unfortunate Earl of Essex. He seems to have been a man of letters, with the chivalric temperament that characterized his age. His son Sir John held posts of confidence and authority in Ireland, and Sir John's son was the celebrated diplomatist who had William III. for his friend, and Swift for his dependent. Lord Palmerston descended directly from a younger brother of the great diplomatist, this brother rising to be Attorney. General and Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. His son Henry, created a Peer of Ireland (March 12, 1722), was for several years a member of the English Parliament, sitting successively for East Grimstead, Bossiney, and Weobley. The heir to his title died young, but left issue, and thus the second viscount was grandson to the first. He was known as an accomplished and fashionable gentleman, a lover and appreciator of art, which made him, no doubt, an admirer of beauty. Of this he gave a proof in his second marriage* to a Miss Mee, the sister of a director of the Bank of England, and who is said to have been the daughter of a respectable Dublin tradesman, into whose house, in consequence of a fall from his horse, the peer had been carried. Our late Prime Minister was the son of this nobleman and of Miss Mee, who, though not of aristocratic birth, appears from all accounts to have been not only handsome, but accomplished and agreeable, and to have taken in a becoming manner the position in Dublin and London society which her marriage opened to her. Her husband's artistic tastes led him at various times into Italy; and it was thus that a portion of the future minister's boyhood was passed in that country, in the fate of which he always took an interest. He formed at this time an intimate acquaintance with a lad of the name of Hare, who became in after-years one of the bestknown and most accomplished gentlemen of his time; and I happen to have a curious letter from young Francis Hare to young Harry Temple, then at Harrow, and a letter from Harry Temple in reply: * His first wife, whom he married Oct. 6, 1767, was Frances, only daughter of Sir Francis Poole. She died June 1, 1769, without leaving issue. Francis Hare* to Harry Temple, vale. "BOLOGNA, Jan. 5, 1798. "I hope, dear Harry, that you continue always well, and that you profit much at school, both in Greek and Latin. I make you this wish, as I think it the very best that a true friend can make, and I think I ought to believe that you place me in this number. * Hare was the eldest of four brothers (Francis, Augustus, Julius, and Marcus), of whom Augustus and the Archdeacon-Juliusauthors of the "Guesses at Truth," became the best known publicly, though all were remarkably accomplished, and held in high esteem by the scholars and poets of their time. In Mr. Forster's "Life of Walter Savage Landor," several notices occur of Harry Temple's correspondent Francis, who met Landor at Tours in 1815, and during their joint residence in Italy became his most intimate friend. When Hare first went to Christ Church, Cyril Jackson referred to him as the only rolling stone he had ever known which was always gathering moss; and Landor, of whom the same might with equal truth have been said, told Mr. Forster that from Hare's society he had derived the animation and excitement that had helped him most in the composition of his "Imaginary Conversations." Excepting a few remarks (signed F.) in the "Guesses at Truth," Francis Hare published nothing; but so accurate and extensive were his classical attainments that his brother Julius, a most distinguished scholar, told Mr. Maurice he owed as much to him as to any of his instructors. "I remember our Consul-General at Rome," writes Mr. Seymour Kirkup, "calling him a monster of learning." And Landor, in introducing him in 1827 to Southey and Wordsworth, dwells even less on his prodigious scholarship than on "his wit and the inexhaustible spirit and variety of his conversation." In April, 1828, he married Anne, eldest daughter of Sir John Dean Paul, and had with her £20,000. He died in Sicily in 1840, and there is an allusion to him in a poem by Landor as one "Who held mute the joyous and the wise With wit and eloquence; whose tomb, afar "I hope you take no part in those vices which are common to a public school, such as I suppose Harrow, as swearing and getting drunk; but I imagine the son of a gentleman so well taught cannot partake in things like these. 66 Pray give a kiss to each of your two amiable sisters, but particularly to Fanny, and tell her to write me a letter whenever you answer mine. I still persist in my opinion of never marrying, and I suppose you think the same, as you must have read as well as myself of the many faults and vices of women. am an English Pray salute for knew in Italy. "Perhaps I at Bologna may have learnt more Greek than you, and that you at Harrow may know best how to fight with your fist; however, if you challenge me I shall not hesitate to accept, for I remember I boy, and will behave like a brave one. me Willie Ponsonby, whom you and I Billy desires not to be forgotten by you. I have no more time for writing, so shall only add that I shall wait for your answer with impatience. I protest myself, with all my heart, your most affectionate friend, "I am just recovered from the measles, which, however, I have had very slightly, and am now very well. I am sincerely obliged to you for your kind wish, and trust that I make as much progress as boys in my situation at school generally do. I have begun Homer's Iliad, which I did in that beautiful episode, in the 5th* book I think, in which Andromache takes leave of Hector, when returning from * Really 6th book, line 116. the war to Troy, to order a general supplication to Minerva, at this line, Ὡς ἄρα φωνήσας ἀπέβη κορυθαίολος Εκτωρ. I suppose, however, that you have made considerable progress in your learning, more than is perhaps in my power, we having tasks regularly allotted for each day, as long as we stay in each form or class. I am now doing Cæsar, Terence, Ovid, Homer, Greek Testament, and a collection of Greek epigrams, and after the Easter holidays, which are now drawing near, I shall begin Virgil, Horace, and some more. I am perfectly of your opinion concerning drinking and swearing, which, though fashionable at present, I think extremely ungentlemanlike; as for getting drunk, I can find no pleasure in it. I am glad to see that though educated in Italy you have not forgot old England. Your letter brings to my mind the pleasant time I spent in Italy, and makes me wish to revisit the country I am now reading so much about; and when I am sucking a sour orange, purchased by perhaps eight biochi, I think with regret upon those which I used to get in such plenty in Italy; and when eating nasty things nicknamed sausages, envy you at Bologna, who perhaps now are feasting off some nice ones. I have begun to learn Spanish, and have also begun to read Don Quixote in the original, which I can assure you gave me no small pleasure. Mr. Gaetano, if you remember him, desires to be remembered to you. I can assure you I have by no means left off my Italian, but keep it up every holidays with Mr. Gaetano, who has published a new Italian grammar, which has been very much approved of here in England. I cannot agree with you about marriage, though I should be by no means precipitate about my choice.* Willy is come to Harrow, and sends *This intention was literally carried out. |