King, as it can be imputed to no particular motive, must have proceeded from his general habit of fecrecy and cunning; he caught an opportunity of a fly trick, and pleased himself with the thought of outwitting Bolingbroke.

In familiar or convivial converfation, it does not appear that he excelled. He may be faid to have resembled Dryden, as being not one that was dif tinguished by vivacity in company. It is remarkable, that, fo near his time, fo much fhould be known of what he has written, and fo little of what he has faid traditional memory retains no fallies of raillery, nor fentences of obfer vation; nothing either pointed or folid, either wife or merry. One apophthegm

only

only ftands upon record. When an objection raised against his infcription for Shakspeare was defended by the authority of Patrick, he replied-horrefco referens-that he would allow the publisher of a Dictionary to know the meaning of a Single word, but not of two words put together.

He was fretful, and eafily displeased, and allowed himfelf to be capriciously refentful. He would fometimes leave

Lord Oxford filently, no one could tell why, and was to be courted back by more letters and meffages than the footmen were willing to carry. The table was indeed infefted by Lady Mary Wortley, who was the friend of Lady Oxford, and who, knowing his peevifhness, P 4

could

could by no intreaties be reftrained from contradicting him, till their difputes were fharpened to fuch afperity, that one or the other quitted the house.

He fometimes condefcended to be jocular with fervants or inferiors; but by no merriment, either of others or his own, was he ever feen excited to laughter.

Of his domeftick character, frugality was a part eminently remarkable. Having determined not to be dependent, he determined not to be in want, and therefore wifely and magnanimously rejected all temptations to expence unfuitable to his fortune. This general care must be univerfally approved; but it fometimes appeared in petty artifices. of parfimony, fuch as the practice of

2

writing

writing his compofitions on the back of letters, as may be feen in the remaining copy of the Iliad, by which perhaps in five years five fhillings were faved; or in a niggardly reception of his friends, and fcantinefs of entertainment,.as, when he had two guefts in his houfe, he would set at fupper a fingle pint upon the table; and having himself taken two fmall glaffes would retire, and fay, Gentlemen, I leave you to your wine. Yet he tells his friends, that he has a heart for all, a house for all, and, whatever they may think, a fortune for all.

He fometimes, however, made a fplendid dinner, and is faid to have wanted no part of the kill or elegance which fuch performances require.. That this

magnificence fhould be often difplayed, that obftinate prudence with which he conducted his affairs would not permit; for his revenue, certain and cafual, amounted only to about eight hundred pounds a year, of which however he declares himfelf able to affign one hundred to charity.

Of this fortune, which as it arose from publick approbation was very honourably obtained, his imagination feems to have been too full: it would be hard to find a man, fo well entitled to notice by his wit, that ever delighted fo much in talking of his money. In his Letters, and in his Poems, his garden and his grotto, his quincunx and his vines, or fome hits of his opulence, are al