and beneficent deeds. Surely, he
who was celebrated by Pope and Thompson, honored by the Reverend Dr.
Burton, vindicated and praised in Parliament by the excellent Duke
of Argyle, and favored by the regards of Dr. Johnson, "the English
moralist,"[2] must have had a large prevalence of what, in the opinion
of the best judges, is estimable in disposition and conduct, and
irreproachable in character!

[Footnote 1: "All the stories of Horace Walpole are to be received
with great caution; but his Reminiscences, above all, written in
his dotage, teem with the grossest inaccuracies and incredible
assertions." LORD MAHON'S _History of England_. Lond. 1837. Vol. II.
p. 174, _note_.]

[Footnote 2: This honored friend he outlived; and, while attending
the sale of his library, February 18th, 1785, the fine characteristic
portrait of him was taken by S. Ireland, an engraving of which makes
the frontispiece of this volume.]

He had a pleasing talent at narrative, and when animated by the
cheering attention of his friends, he would give full scope to it.
Anecdotes of times past, incidents and scenes of his eventful life,
and occurrences which had passed under his observation, when detailed
by him at length, and set off with his amusing episodical remarks and
illustrations, made him a most entertaining chronicler. These were
sometimes enlivened with a sportive humor that gave a charm to the
social hour, and contributed to the amusement of his guests and
friends. If in his extreme old age he indulged in egotisms or
loquacity, still his observations were those of one who had seen and
read much, and was willing to communicate his acquired knowledge and
the results of his observation and experience; and few who attended to
him, did so without receiving information and entertainment. Even his
old stories of his own acting, served to confirm what he said, and he
made them better in the telling; so that he was rarely troublesome
with the same tale told again, for he gave it an air of freshness.

Polite in his address and graceful in his manners, the gallant veteran
was a favorite visiter in the parties of accomplished ladies that
occasionally met at the house of Mrs. Montague, Mrs. Garrick, Mrs.
Boscawen, and Mrs. Carter.--Hannah More, in a letter to her sister,
in 1784, says, "I have got a new admirer; it is the famous General
Oglethorpe, perhaps the most remarkable man of his time. He was
foster-brother to the Pretender; and is much a