returning from it only in the humiliation of a pardon
under the hand of his rival,--Bolingbroke died in retirement, without
respect, and in the obscurity, without the peace of a private station.
It must be acknowledged that, in his instance, ill-fortune was only
another name for justice; that the philosopher, whose pen was employed
in defaming religion, was punished in the politician, who felt the
uncertainty of human power; and that a life expended in treachery to the
religion in which he was born, was well punished by his being forced in
public life to drink the bitterest dregs of political shame, live with
an extinguished reputation, and be buried in national scorn, long before
his body was consigned to the tomb.

At this period, the king, far advanced in years, was destined to feel
the heaviest pressure of domestic calamity. His queen, a woman of sense
and virtue, to whom, notwithstanding the grossness of his vices, he
could not help paying public respect, died from the effects of an
accident, which had grown into a confirmed disease. Her death was
followed by that of his youngest daughter, the Queen of Denmark, a woman
"of great spirit and sense," who died of an accident resembling her
mother's. She, too, like the Queen of England, had led an unhappy
life,--for like her, she had the vice and scandal of royal mistresses to
contend with.

The king, on the news of this death, broke into unusual expressions of
sorrow and fondness. "This," said he, "has been a fatal year to my
family; I lost my eldest son, but I was _glad of it_. Then the Prince of
Orange died, and left every thing in confusion. Poor little Edward has
been cut open, (for an imposthume in his side,) and now the Queen of
Denmark is gone. I know I did not love my children when they were young,
I hated to have them running about my room; but now I love them as well
as most fathers."

The contrast between the Walpole and the Pelham administrations, is
sketched with great force and fidelity. In our days the character of a
cabinet depends upon the party. In those days the character of the
cabinet depended upon the premier. Walpole was bold, open, steady, and
never dejected: Pelham was timorous, reserved, fickle, and apt to
despair. Presumption made Walpole many enemies: want of confidence in
himself estranged from Pelham many friends. Walpole was content to have
one great view, and would overlook or trample on the intermediate
degrees: Pelham could never re