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1922.

Memoirs of Sir Charles Sedley.

June 1663, Sir Charles Sedley being
in company with Lord Buckhurst,
afterwards the celebrated Earl of
Dorset, and Sir Thomas Ogle, at a
tavern in Bow-street, the whole party
became so thoroughly intoxicated,
that they committed the grossest in-
decencies, in the sight of the passen-
gers; and when they had collected
a large mob, Sedley stripped himself
naked, and in that situation proceed-
ed to harangue them with considera-
ble eloquence, though in the grossest
and most impious language. The in-
dignation of the populace being ex-
cited by this shameless conduct, they
attempted to break into the house,
and a desperate riot ensued, in which
the drunken orator and his equally
drunken companions had nearly paid
for their frolic with their lives, being
forced by repeated vollies of stones to
retreat into their room, the windows
of which were dashed to pieces. For
this outrage, the baronet and his as-
sociates were indicted in the court of
King's Bench, in Michaelmas Term,
15 Charles II, and having pleaded
guilty to the charge, Sedley was fined
two thousand marks, imprisoned a
week, and compelled to find sureties
for his good behaviour for three years.
He conducted himself with great in-
solence when brought up to receive
sentence, and when in order to repress
it, the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Hyde,
asked him if he had ever read the
Complete Gentleman," he replied
with more rudeness than wit, that he
had read more books than his Lord-
ship. The culprits employed Killi-
grew, remembered in our times but
as the King's jester, though then a
man of considerable influence, with
some others of the King's favourites,
to solicit a mitigation of their fine;
but in the true spirit of court friend-
ship they begged it for themselves,
and exacted its payment to the ut-
most farthing. It was probably to
silence their importunities or threats,
that Sedley sold the manor of Great
Okeley, which had been in his family
ever since the time of Henry VII.

Another of his recorded freaks
was more witty, and less discredit-
able to him. Though somewhat in-
clined to corpulency he was a hand-
some man, and very like Kynaston
the actor, who was so proud of the
resemblance that he got a suit of
clothes inade exactly to the pattern

of one which Sir Charles had lately
worn, and made his appearance in it
in public. To punish his vanity,
Sedley hired a bravo, or bully, who,
accosting the actor in the Park, as he
was strutting along in his holiday
clothes, pretended to mistake him for
the poet, and alleging that he had
received a very insulting message
from him, caned the poor son of Thes-
pis very soundly. În vain did Ky-
naston protest that he was not the
person he was taken for; the more he
protested the harder were the blows
laid on, as a punishment for his en-
deavouring to escape chastisement
by so impudent a falsehood. The
story soon got wind, and when some
of the belaboured actor's friends re-
monstrated with Sedley upon this
harsh treatment of an inoffensive
man, he coolly told them that their
pity was very much misplaced, and
ought rather to be bestowed on him,
since Kynaston could not have suf-
fered half so much in his bones, as he
himself had done in reputation from
the whole town believing it was he
who had been thus publicly dis-
graced.

'He was a man whom it was not
easy to get the better of, or to dis-
compose. Amongst the facetio of
his days it was the custom when a
gentleman drank a lady's health as a
toast, by way of doing her greater
honour, to throw some part of his
dress into the fire, an example which
his companions were bound to follow
by consuming the same article of
their apparel, whatever it might be.
One of his friends perceiving at a
tavern dinner that Sedley had on a
very rich lace cravat, when he named
his toast committed his cravat to the
flames, as a burnt offering to the
temporary divinity, and Sir Charles
and the rest of the party were obliged
to do the same. The poet bore his
loss with great composure, observing
it was a good joke, but that he would
have as good a one some other time.
He watched therefore his opportu-
nity, when the same party was as-
sembled on a subsequent occasion,
and drinking off a bumper to the
health of Nell Gwynne or some other
beauty of the day, he called the wai-
ter, and ordering a tooth-drawer into
the room, whom he had previously
brought to the tavern for the pur
pose, made him draw a decayed

tooth which long had plagued him, The rules of good-fellowship, as then in force, clearly required that every one of the company should have a tooth drawn also, but they very naturally expressed a hope that Sedley would not be so unmerciful as to enforce the law. Deaf, however, to all their remonstrances, persuasions, and entreaties, he saw them one after another put themselves into the hands of the operator, and whilst they were writhing with pain, added to their torment by exclaiming "patience, gentlemen, patience, you know you promised that I should have my frolic

too."

Of a disposition to make light of his own misfortunes as well as those of his friends, rather than lose a jest he would make one at his own expense. When the comedy of Bellamira was acted, the roof of the theatre fell in, and he was one of the few that were hurt by the accident. His friend, Sir Fleetwood Shepherd, condoling with him on his ill-fortune, told him that the fire of the play had blown up the poet, house and all; to which he replied, "No; the play was so heavy that it broke down the house and buried the poet in his own rubbish."

After the disgraceful affair at Bowstreet, his mind took a somewhat more serious turn, and beginning to apply himself to politics, he represented the borough of New Romney, in the neighbourhood of his property and his birth-place, in the parliament assembled at Westminster in the 31st of Charles II. (1678) in that at Oxford in the next year, and those of the 10th and 12th of William III. as he was also returned for it in those called in the 2d and 7th years of the same reign, but he made his election for Appleby in Westmorland, whence he had also been returned, though soon vacating his seat, on the second occasion, to be re-elected for his old borough. He was extremely active for the Revolution, a circumstance which some thought extraordinary, as he had received favours from James II, but these were completely cancelled by that monarch's having taken his daughter into keep ing as a mistress. To gild over her disgrace he created her countess of Dorchester, an honour by no means agreeable to her father, who, liber,

tine as he was, felt her degradation, which this title rendered but the more conspicuous. His wit, however, for even on a daughter's and an only daughter's fall he would be witty, seemed to be at least as keen as his resentment when, as he came out of the House of Commons on the day that William and Mary were crowned King and Queen, on being asked why he appeared so warm for the Revolution, he replied, " From a principle of gratitude; for since his late Majesty has made my daughter a countess, it is fit I should do all I can to make his daughter a queen.”

If traditionary evidence may be believed, Sedley was given to the dangerous practice of reading in bed. Harefield-place, about three miles from Uxbridge, once the seat of Lord Keeper Egerton, and then honoured by the presence of Elizabeth,—and where also Milton was a frequent visitor, and his Arcades was performed by the Countess of Derby's grandchildren, was burnt down about the year 1660, in consequence of his thus carelessly amusing himself, when on a visit to his brother's widow, to whom this seat had been bequeathed by her first husband, Lord Chandos.

Associating on terms of equality with the nobility and other men of fashion and "of parts," (to use the phraseology of the times to which I refer) abounding in the reign of Charles II. Sedley seems also to have been a patron of genius in humble life, as we find him accompanying his friends, the Earls of Rochester and Dorset, and other persons of distinction, on a visit to Oldham the poet at Croydon, where he was master of the school attached to Archbishop Whitgift's hospital, at the time that he wrote his satires against the Jesuits, which, together with some other of his works, these wits had seen in manuscript, and were therefore anxious for a personal acquaintance with their author. By a very natural mistake they were introduced to Shepherd, the master of the hospital, who would very willingly have taken the honour of a visit from such distinguished characters to himself, though he was soon convinced to his mortification that he had neither wit nor learning enough to sustain a part in such a

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always to have been dignified and mdependent. He opposed the introduction of a standing army, pithily assigning as a reason for doing so, that if the nation was true to itself, ten thousand men were sufficient for its defence; whilst if it was not, a hundred thousand would be too few. On another occasion he closed a speech against a bill for dissolving the parliament, which many members of the House of Commons supported, from a fear of losing their seats if they did not vote for so popular a measure, with this manly sentiment: "Truly, sir, for my part I renounce those partial measures; and if I cannot be chosen on account of general service to the nation, 1 will never creep into the favour of any sort of men, and vote against my judgment." Gay as his life had been, and intemperate, especially in the earlier part of it, Sedley lived to the age of 90, passing in the country near London the few years immediately preceding his death, which happened on the 20th of August, 1701, at Hampstead, where he occupied a house on Haverstock-hill, in which Sir Richard Steele afterwards resided, though I can find no other trace or memorial of him there.

His works were collected and published in two very neatly printed volumes, 12mo, in 1788, with the "Memoirs of the Author's Life," written, as the title tells us, by "an eminent hand," though in truth the production of some miserable bookseller's-hack, as such anonymous "eminent hands' half a century since pretty uniformly were. I am not aware of any other professed memoir of his life than those contained in Jacob's and Cibber's lives of the poets, neither of which gives us much information about him; and much is not, I am satisfied, now to be obtained. There are two engraved portraits of him mentioned by Bromley and Noble, one by Vander-Gucht and the other by Richardson, but both from the painting of an

unknown artist.

Dying without issue male, for he had no children but the Countess of Dorchester, all his family estates (except the manor of Mottenden, which went to his daughter, and from her to her second son Charles, second Earl of Portmore, who sold it to Alderman Sawbridge, of Wilkes and Li

berty notoriety) passed by a previous settlement to Sir Charles Sidley, of St. Giles's in the Fields, Knight,-a third cousin of the poet's, by descent from Richard, the younger brother of the first baronet of the family,who was himself raised to the same rank by the same stile and title, when the baronetage became extinct by the death of his more celebrated namesake. His son removing into Nottinghamshire on his marriage with Miss Firth, an heiress, who brought him the seat of Nuthall Temple, and a good estate in that county, the long established connection of the family with the county of Kent was considerably weakened; and his son and successor, Sir Charles Sedley (for his descendants adopted the poet's orthography) put an end to it entirely by selling, I believe, every acre of land left to them there.

This Sir Charles Sedley, the last baronet of the family, resided chiefly at Nuthall Temple and Nottingham, which borough he twice represented in parliament. He was a convivial and popular character, of an amiable disposition, and highly esteemed in the county in which he lived. He was one of the persons upon whom the honorary degree of DCL. was conferred on the opening of the Radcliffe library, in 1739. Dying at his seat, on the 25th of August 1778, without issue male, the baronetcy of Sedley, of Southfleet, became a second time extinct, and has never been revived. A year after his death, his only daughter married the Hon. Henry Vernon, fourth son of George Venables first Lord Vernon, who thereupon took the name of Sedley, and bore it after the decease of his wife, the last of the Sedleys, which happened on the 16th of March, 1793, until, on the death of his elder brother, George Venables, without issue male, he succeeded to the title of Lord Vernon, and re-assumed his family name. In his Lordship and his children, two of whom, (a son, the heir apparent to the title, and a daughter) he had by Miss Sedley, the property of the Sedley family now vests; though all the estates which once had the poet for their owner, have long since passed by sale into other hands. His Lordship's eldest son by his second marriage with the daughter and heiress of Sir John Whiteford, Bart.

who is now a Lieutenant and Captain in the Grenadier regiment of Foot Guards, bears the name of Sedley in addition to his christian name of Henry, and the family ones of Venables Vernon.

Of the Sedleys of Great Chart it is only necessary to say, that the title became extinct some time before 1771, on the death of Sir Charles Sedley, the ninth baronet of this branch of the family, who was a journeyman upholsterer in London, in 1741, having succeeded to the title on the death of his brother Sir George without issue. Whether he left any children who might be claimants of the baronetcy, had they the means either of prosecuting their claim, or supporting their rank, if they could succeed in establishing it, I know not. At all events, there can be little doubt that if there be any of his male descendants alive, -and it is singular that three titles in one family should become extinct in little more than 150 years from the grant of the first of them, and each with a Charles, a name fatal it would seem to the Sedleys, as Sextus was to Rome - they are sunk in that poverty and obscurity in which the namesake of the licentious wit lived and died.

The best memorial of a family,

whose name has thus singularly disappeared from the list of living men, is to be found in the charitable foundations and bequests for the encouragement of learning already mentioned, to which may be added the legacies of four hundred pounds to the schools at Wymondham and Southfleet, and one hundred pounds each to Merton and Magdalen Colleges, Oxford, by Sir Charles Sedley, the first baronet of the third creation, and the foundation of the school at Southfleet, by his ancestors. Noble, in a note to his continuation of Grainger, from some imperfect memoranda collected in Kent, says of a branch of the Sedley family, whom he confounds with the real founders of one of these charities, "they built a hospital at Aylesford, but forgot to endow it, or pay its income." The will of John, the elder brother of Sir William Sidley, of Aylesford, the first baronet of the family, and the steps which Sir William himself took as his executor, disprove however this last statement; though we regret to add that too much colour has been afforded to it, by the long continued appropriation of the endowment to private purposes. The Earl of Portmore is now the patron of the hospital. LL. D.

SONNET.

ERE I had known the world, and understood
How many follies Wisdom names its own,
Distinguishing things evil from things good;
The dreads of sin and death;-ere I had known
Knowledge the root of Evil ;-had I been

Left in some lone place, where the world is wild,
And trace of troubling man was never seen,
Brought up by Nature as her favourite child,
As born for nought but joy, where all rejoice,
Emparadised in ignorance of sin,-

Where nature tries with never-chiding voice,

Like tender nurse, nought but our smiles to win ;— The future dreamless-beautiful would be

The present-foretaste of eternity.

JOHN CLARE.

REPORT OF MUSIC.

THE chief subject of conversation in the musical circles is the probability attending the establishment of the ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC. It is prosecuted with all the ardour that projectors usually feel for a new undertaking; but it is accompanied by difficulties in the detail, which, though probably foreseen, will oppose more impediments to the formation of the institution than can be easily removed. These lie principally in the collection of the sum required for the maintenance of the establishment, and in the just fears the members of the profession entertain, lest the country should be overrun with musicians, to the diminution of their sources of income. It is computed that not less than from eight to ten thousand pounds per annum will be wanted for all the expences incident to the design. At present the subscriptions do not amount to more than five thousand pounds. The number of students is fixed at eighty; and should they all pay even the highest rate of admission, not more than about nine hundred per annum will be yielded. It is scarcely possible to conceive that any such sum as is stated to be necessary can be drawn from the public by donations, subscriptions, and concerts; and consequently the only means of addition seem to lie in extending the number of extra-students, whose education will involve no other expenditure than the provision of instruments and masters. While, therefore, the desire to augment the funds of the society, on the one hand, and the facility of obtaining the best masters, and the most complete course of practice, on the other, hold out such considerable temptations to increase indefinitely the number of these extrastudents, as the easiest and most efficient method of guarding against pecuniary contingencies, there may be reason enough for the doubts and fears which certainly prevail amongst all below the very first class of professors.

Our ambassador to Florence, the president of the sub-committee, has delayed for the last three weeks to

embark on his mission, to give his attention, it is said, to the further organization of the institution, in which it is also reported, and we believe correctly, that Mr. Bochsa is his grand assistant. The committee meet almost daily, and they have divided the course of instruction into classes, and issued a circular, requesting the professional assistance of the following celebrated musicians, according to the order stated.

Organ and Piano-forte-Mr. Clementi, Mr. Potter, Sir George Smart. Mr. Cramer, Mr. Greatorex, Mr. Horsley,

English and Italian Singing-Mr. Braham, Mr. Crivelli, Mr. Knyvett, Mr. Liverati, Mr. Vaughan.

Harmony and Composition-Mr. Attwood, Mr. Bishop, Mr. Coscia, Mr. Kramer, Doctor Crotch, Mr. Shield.

Corded Instruments-Mr. F. Cramer, Mr Dragonetti, Mr. Lindley, Mr. Loder, Mr. Mori, Mr. H. Smart, Mr. Spagnoletti, Mr. Watts.

Wind Instruments-Mr. Ash, Mr.

Griesbach, Mr. Mackintosh, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Puzzi, Mr. Wilman.

The invitation appears to have been not very warmly received. In the first class, Mr. Clementi, as was to be expected, from his age, eminence, and engagements, has declined giving his assistance. Mr. Cramer has, it is said, named two hundred a year as the consideration for his services. Mr. Horsley has expressed his willingness to assist in any object that has in view the eventual interests of the art itself, and of those engaged in it; and Sir George Smart has signified his wish to be allowed to decline any personal share in the course of instruction, tendering, however, a donation of 50 guineas.

Dr. Crotch has been chosen Principal, and a salary of 500l. a-year assigned him. Mr. Latour has also consented to teach the piano-forte; but, it is understood, has declined to attend any committee.

At present, as it seems to us, no judgment can be formed as to the advantages of the institution, until the details of its organization be entirely settled. All the power certainly is made to reside with the sub-com

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