f the State. The day when Somers died was the very
day when the Septennial Bill passed its third reading in the House of
Commons. It had come down from the House of Lords, and had to go back to
that House, in consequence of some alterations made in the Commons.
Somers lived just long enough to be assured of its safety. Born in 1650,
the son of a Worcester attorney, he had won for himself the proudest
honors of the law, and had written his name high up in the roll of
English statesmen. Steele wrote of him that he was "as much admired for
his universal knowledge of men and things as for his eloquence, courage,
and integrity in the exerting of such extraordinary talents." The
_Spectator_, in dedicating its earliest papers to him, spoke of him as
one who brought into the service of his sovereign the arts and policies
of ancient Greece and Rome, and praised him for a certain dignity in
{148} himself which made him appear as great in private life as in the
most important offices he had borne. It was in allusion to Somers,
indeed, that Swift said Bolingbroke wanted for success "a small infusion
of the alderman." This was a sneer at Somers, as well as a sort of
rebuke to Bolingbroke. If the "small infusion of the alderman" was
another term for order and method in public business, then it may be
freely admitted by his greatest admirers that Somers had more of the
alderman in his nature than Bolingbroke. Perhaps the only thing, except
great capacity, which he had in common with Bolingbroke was an ungoverned
admiration of the charms of women. His fame was first established by the
ability with which he conducted his part of the defence of the seven
bishops in James the Second's reign. His consistent devotion to the Whig
party, and his just and almost prescient appreciation of the true
principles of that party, set him in sharp contrast to other statesmen of
the time--to men like Marlborough and Shrewsbury and Bolingbroke. His is
a noble figure, even in its decay, and the historian of such a time parts
from him with regret, feeling that the average of public manhood and
virtue is lowered when Somers is gone.

[Sidenote: 1716--Mary Wortley Montagu]

While Jacobites were lingering in prison and dying on Tower Hill, Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu was writing from abroad imperishable letters to her
friends. We may turn away from politics for a moment to observe her and
her career. Mr. Wortley Montagu had been appointed Ambassad