in process of time, with an exception of three or four at most,' in all the families of distinction within the county, and in the adjacent ones. At length his chaste manners, his learning, and his probity, as they were more generally known, rendered him not only the physician, but the confidential friend of some of the best families into which he was introduced. His warm and friendly attention to the interests of the late Mr. Hutchins, author of "The History of Dorset," in bringing into light that well-written and well-arranged work, cannot better be expressed than in the grateful language of its Author: "One of the gentlemen to whom my acknowledgements are eminently due permitted part of that time which is so beneficially employed to far better purposes, and is so precious to a gentleman of his extensive practice, to be diverted to the work in hand; the publication of which he patronized and promoted with great zeal and assiduity; nor did his success fall short of his zeal. Without his friendly assistance my papers might yet have remained undelivered to the press; or, if they had been committed to the Publick, would have wanted several advantages and embellishments with which they now appear." [The Doctor's interleaved copy of this work, which he bequeathed to Mr. Gough, his friend and co-adjutor in its publication, has been of very great service in improving a Second Edition.]-The tenderness of his eyes was, through life, the greatest misfortune he had to struggle with; and, considering the many obstacles which the complaints of those organs have occasioned in the pursuit of knowledge, it is wonderful how he attained the degree of erudition which he was well known to possess. In his retreat from the more busy pursuits of this world, the surviving companions of his youth continued the friends and correspondents. of his advanced years; and he enjoyed to the last the singular satisfaction of being visited by the most respectable persons in the county for probity, rank, and fortune. It is much to be regretted that Dr. Cuming, who had been the means of so many valuable performances being laid before the Publick, and some of them improved by his pen, had not himself stood forth to give that information for which he was so well qualified, both in point of classical learning and elegant composition.-The Sherborne Mercury of March 31, 1788, records his death with this honourable testimony: "He was a Physician of learning, strict integrity, and great humanity; possessed of a happy turn for enquiry and observation; devoted, from an early age, to the faithful discharge of the duties of his profession. The death of this excellent man is a misfortune to his friends and neighbours more immediately, to the faculty in general, and to all mankind," See Memoirs of his Life, and several of his Letters, at the end of the fourth edition of the Life of Dr. Fothergill by Dr. Lettsom, by whose favour a good Portrait of Dr. Cuming, by Sharp, after Beach, is here annexed.-I possess a considerable number of his friendly and intelligent Letters.

VOLUME

VOLUME V.

P. 7, 1.23. "Mr. Cave had this improvement so much at heart, that it was hardly possible to miss the good effects of such a temper. If he heard of the loss of a single customer, he would say, "Let us be sure to look up something, taking of the best, for the next month."

P. 12. Sir Thomas Raymond was made Serjeant at Law 1677; Baron of the Exchequer April 1679; and Judge of the Common Pleas February following. He died on the Circuit, 1683. His Law Reports are well known. His only son and heir, Sir Robert Raymond, was appointed Solicitor-general 1710, and Attorneygeneral 1720; a Judge of the King's Bench Jan. 31, 1723-4; one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal January 1724-5; and Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench Feb. 24, 1724-5, on the death of Sir John Pratt. He was created Lord Raymond Jan. 15, 1731. He died March 18, 1732-3, having married Anne daughter of Sir Edward Northey, Attorney-general, by whom he left an only son, Robert, second and last Lord Raymond; on whose death, 1753, without issue, the title expired. P. 18, 1. 14, for "lest," r. "last."

P. 32. The following particulars of Mr. James Ralph, "an Author by profession," were communicated by the late Rev. S. Ayscough, from Ralph's Letters to Dr. Birch, and other sources. May 20, 1739, requests Dr. Birch to correct the Universal Spectator. May 30, requests farther lights for the Debates in Parliament, in which he was engaged. - Nov. 12, requests the loan of two or three guineas. Feb. 14, 1740-1: "I am to have a benefit at Drury-lane on Tuesday Feb. 24; and, if it suits you to do me any service, it will most seasonably oblige," &c. Without date. He complains that all his schemes are broken requests to be redeemed from such a plunge of misfortune. No date. Mentions his Poems of Night, Zeuma, Muses' Address, and Clarinda. No date. As poor as a Poet. I am now really at my last resource till my Play is finished; and, unless you can reprieve me, both that and I shall die together." -March 22, no year. Requests attendance at the Hay-market, to a new Comedy of his.-Birch MS. 4304, Letter from Thomas Dale to Dr. Birch. "I have seen some extracts of the Prompter. By the manner and style, I take Ralph to have a hand in it. Pray let's know what he does now, and how he lives; whether still with Astrea; and what's gone with the woman and children." Dec. 19, 1736.— James Ralph, Literat. ob. 1762, Jan. 24. See Biog. Dram.; Whincop's Poets; Lond. Mag. 52.— Miss Ralph, Chiswick, dau. of Literat. 1762. Lond. Mag. 166.— See Monthly Review, XVIII. 348. He wrote anonymously 'The Case of Authors by Profession or Trade stated, with regard to Booksellers, the Stage, and the Publick.'- Egerton's Theatrical Remembrancer, p. 165: James Ralph, esq. 1. The Fashionable Lover, or Harlequin's Opera; performed at Goodman's-fields.

1730, 8vo. 2. The Fall of the Earl of Essex, altered from Banks's Play; acted at Goodman's-fields. 1731, 8vo. 3. The Astrologer, a Comedy; acted once at Drury-lane. 1744, 8vo. 4. The Lawyer's Feast; acted at Drury-lane. 1744, 8vo.Hawkins, Life of Johnson, p. 861: " Ralph, a writer of this class (by profession), and who had formed some such connexions as would have flattered the hopes of any man, was a tool of that Party of which the late Lord Melcombe laboured to be the head. To serve the interests of it, he wrote a periodical paper, and a voluminous History of England, fraught with such principles as he was required to disseminate. This man, in a pamphlet intituled The Case of Authors by Profession,' has enumerated all the evils that attend it, and shewn it to be the last that a liberal mind would choose."-Again, p. 329, speaking of the favourites and dependants on Mr. Doddington, afterwards Lord Melcombe: "Mr. James Ralph was another of his dependants; of whom, as a pretender to genius, much may be learned from the Dunciad. He was a tool of that Party of which his Lordship laboured in vain to become a leader; and, to serve its purposes, by inflaming the minds of the people, wrote a weekly paper, called The Remembrancer.' For this, and other good deeds of the like kind, he is, in the Diary, held forth as an exemplar to all Writers of his profession, and dignified with the character of an honest man."- On looking over Doddington's Diary, Ralph seems to have been employed chiefly as a confidential messenger, and only occasionally consulted. "On this account I could patiently hear his Lordship recommend Mr. Ralph as a very honest man:" and in the same page inform us, that he was ready to be hired to any cause; that he actually put himself to auction to the two contending Parties (the Bedford and the Pelhams); and that, after several biddings, the honest Mr. Ralph was bought by the Pelhams. See Preface, p. ix. Thursday July 5, 1764. Mr. William Martin, Deputymaster of the Office of Pleas in the Court of Exchequer, told me, that he had been assured by a worthy Dissenting Minister, that, at a public meeting and dinner of his Brethren, at which himself was present, Mr. Rose of Chiswick related to them the following story: That Mr. James Ralph, when he was so ill as to apprehend death, observed to Mr. Rose, whom he left his executor, that there was in a certain box papers that would prove a sufficient provision for his family. Upon Mr. Ralph's death, on Jan. 23, 1762, the box was examined by Mr. Rose, who found in it a bundle of papers, with an inscription on the cover, purporting that they were given him by the Prince of Wales's own hand. The title of them was, 'The History of Prince Titus ;' and the piece appeared to be the History of the Prince of Wales himself, which had been drawn up by his Royal Highness in conjunction with the Earl of Bute, and transcribed from their several papers, which were in the bundle, by the Prince himself. The chief subject of the History was, to represent how much

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