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royalty of Ireland,he was made secretary of state. Mr. CUMBERLAND now aspired to the place of under-secretary, the appointment to which was in his lordship's gift. But, when the unfortunate gentleman applied for the office, he was coldly informed, that he was not fit for every situation. Mr. CUMBERLAND's history does not suggest any encouragement to those who are disposed to persevere in their homage on the great. All he had hitherto obtained by an uninterrupted attendance on Lord HALIFAX, for the long period of eleven years, was a place of two hundred pounds a year. If he had devoted the same time to his literary labours, or to any species of profitable occupation, he would probably have gained more, and with less alloy of dissatisfaction and discontent.

The first comic production of Mr. CUMBERLAND, that was brought upon the stage, was entitled 'The Brothers.' This piece was far from being unsuccessful; and though its merits were surpassed by some of the author's subsequent productions, still it tended powerfully to lay the basis of his dramatic fame.

The following year, Mr. CUMBERLAND COMposed another comedy, called 'The West Indian,' in which he made ample use of the knowledge that he had acquired of the Irish character, in delineating one of the heroes of the piece. In most of the previous dramas, where the Irish character is introduced, a heap of absurdities and blunders, oddly jumbled together, is sufficient to make an Irishman. The

foolery was always the most predominant feature of the composition; and it was this foolery, out of which the ridiculous was to be engendered, and laughter to be produced. But Mr. CUMBERLAND'S Irishman was not a composition of this preposterous kind; nor one sc much out of nature, and so little in unison with reality. The art as I conceive it,' says Mr. CUMBERLAND, of finding language for the Irish character on the stage, consists not in making him foolish, vulgar, or absurd, but, on the contrary, whilst you furnish him with expressions, that excite laughter, you must graft them upon sentiments that deserve applause.'

The above-mentioned comedy was brought out at Drury-lane. It experienced a most favourable reception, and was acted for eightand-twenty successive nights. The author, previously to the representation of this comedy, was so little sanguine with respect to its success, that he offered to resign the produce to GARRICK, for a picture of a Holy Family, which was only a copy from ANDREA DEL SARTO. It was fortunate for the author, that a trivial circumstance prevented this offer from being accepted; for his profits amounted to a considerable sum, besides the copy-right of the play, which he sold for 1507.

As it is by no means the object of this biographical notice to analyze the merits of Mr. CUMBERLAND as a dramatic poet, it is not necessary to particularize the other numerous c 3

pieces which he wrote for the stage. They amounted to about twenty-four in number; and some of them are still favourites with the public, and take their places in the routine of theatrical representation.

Lord GEORGE GERMAIN had not long received the seals for the colonial department, before his lordship appointed Mr. CUMBERLAND his secretary in the room of Mr. PouNALL. Of Lord GEORGE GERMAIN, Mr. CUMBERLAND says, in the language of GERARD HAMILTON, that there was no trash on his mind.

He studied,' says Mr. C. 'no choice phrases, no superfluous words, nor ever suffered the clearness of his conceptions to be clouded by the obscurity of his expressions; for these were the simplest and most unequivocal that could be made use of, for explaining his opinions, or dictating his instructions. In the mean time, he was so momentarily punctual to his time, so religiously observant of his engagements, that we, who served under him in office, felt the sweets of the exchange we had so lately made in the person of our chief.'

In the year 1780, Mr. CUMBERLAND, who had lately been so busy in his labours for the stage, was destined to move in a new sphere, and to act his part on the slippery arena of political negotiation. An opportunity appeared at this time to offer itself to the British ministry of detaching the court of Spain from its alliance with France. Mr. CUMBERLAND was selected for this delicate office; and though

he did not succeed in effecting the main object of his mission; he seems to have conducted the negotiation, as far as he was personally concerned, with a very creditable degree of candour and ability. In order to keep Mr. CUMBERLAND's mission concealed from the French court, he was first sent to Lisbon, under the pretext of trying the effect of the air on one of his daughters, who was seriously indisposed; and of afterwards travelling through the Spanish dominions into Italy. Mr. CUMBERLAND accordingly proceeded to Lisbon, and thence to Aranguez, where he arrived on the 28th of June. He received a very favourable reception; and found both the court and the nation in general anxious for peace, while the French interest retained little influence. Mr. CUMBERLAND was convinced that the preliminaries of peace would have been adjusted, if the news of the dreadful riots in London had not arrived during the negotiation. This gave a new turn to the sentiments of the Spanish cabinet. They believed, or affected to believe, that England was on the brink of a revolution; and that the government was about to be overwhelmed by the fury of the populace. The king of Spain appears to have been rendered averse to a continuance of the negotiation, by the influence of his confessor, who exercised a sort of arbitrary domination over the royal mind. The confessor himself was a bigot, and he artfully infused into the bosom of his Catholic majesty, a virulent repugnance to re

turn to the relations of amity, with an heretical people who had recently committed such dreadful outrages against the members of the Romish communion.

After this event, Mr. CUMBERLAND still lingered in Spain, vainly trusting that the negotiations, which had been interrupted, would be renewed; and that the treaty would still be brought to an amicable conclusion. Of this he had entertained the strongest hope, or he would not otherwise have taken a house at Madrid; and formed an establishment upon a scale of considerable expense. In this proceeding, there was much more temerity than discretion; and more of the facility of the dupe than of the sagacity of the diplomatist. Mr. CUMBERLAND was blamed by his government at home for conversing upon any particular proposition, before he was satisfied of the willingness of the court of Spain to treat at all. But Mr. CUMBERLAND in reply said, that he was sufficiently satisfied of that willingness, by the actual progress which had been made in the treaty, before any intelligence of the riots in the British metropolis had been received. It is quite superfluous to discuss this subject at length; but it is certain that Lord HILLSBOROUGH, the secretary of state, did conceive that Mr. CUMBERLAND had not acted in conformity to his instructions; and this furnished the plea for refusing to pay the expenses of his embassy when he returned home.