LIFE OF SHEFFIELD.

JOHN SHEFFIELD, the descendant of an ancient and illustrious family, was born in 1649. He was placed under the care of a private tutor; but, at the immature age of twelve, he turned away his appointed guide, and undertook to direct himself. When the Dutch war broke out, in 1656, he sailed in the same ship with Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle; but adverse winds prevented them from coming to action; and, rather than not serve the King at all, our young Lord accepted the command of one of the troops of horse, raised for the protection of the coast.

From the camp, he was, next year, summoned to the council-chamber; but a legislator at eighteen was such an anomaly to the Earl of Northumberland, that Sheffield was obliged to leave the summons unanswered. He quarrelled with the Earl of Rochester; and he considered the result as so honourable to himself, that he could not help relating the circumstance with too much ostentation. He received a keen rebuke from Lady Sandwich, Rochester's surviving sister; who showed him, that there was, at least, one of the family brave enough, were it proper on other accounts, to take up his gauntlet.

At the rupture of the second Dutch war, in 1672,

he went as a volunteer on board of Lord Ossery's ship; and it was in this expedition that he observed two things, which were not generally believed. 'One was, that the wind of a cannon-bullet, though flying ever so near, is incapable of doing the least harm and, indeed, were it otherwise, no man above deck could escape. The other is, that a gun shot may sometimes be avoided, even as it flies, by changing one's ground a little; for, when the wind sometimes blew away the smoke, it was so clear a sunshiny day, that we could easily perceive the bullets (that were half spent) fall into the water, and from thence bound up again among us, which gives sufficient time for making a step or two on any side; though, in so swift a motion, 'tis hard to judge well in what line the bullet comes, which, if mistaken, may by removing cost a man his life, instead of saving.'

It is not likely, that Sheffield himself was ever caught practising this new mode of tactics; for a dodger of cannon balls would not have been appointed to the command of the Catherine, the best second rate ship in the navy. His next service was upon land, in the capacity of a colonel. In 1664, he was raised to the Garter, and made gentleman of the bed-chamber. He went, a short time, into the French service, to learn the art of war under Turenne; and was afterwards appointed Lieutenant of Yorkshire and Governor of Hull. In 1680, being sent with 2000 men to relieve Tangier, then besieged by the Moors, he composed the Vision during the voyage; and, as to the Moors, he came, he saw, he conquered.

At the accession of King James, he was admitted into the Privy Council; made Lord Chamberlain; accepted a place in the court of High Commission; and became a Catholic, so far as the bending of knees was concerned. The Priests could get him no farther; and it is probable that he went so far, merely to avoid singularity. He was neutral in the

Revolution; nor would he take a very active part, for either side, immediately on the accession of King William. He pretended to treat the new monarch with contempt, both in prose and verse; and, though made Marquis of Normandy, in 1694, he still held out against the Court; nor was he subdued at last, but with a pension of 3000 pounds, and a seat in the Cabinet Council.

He is said to have courted Queen Anne, when they were both young; and it is not wonderful, therefore, that he was particularly favoured both before and after her coronation. She gave him the privy seal, in 1702; and, soon after, appointed him Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire. He was commissioner in the Scotch treaty concerning the Union; and was, the next year, created Duke of Normandy, and Duke of Buckinghamshire. His jealousy of Marlborough soon after induced him to resign the privy seal, and join the Tories in a motion, not at all pleasant to the Queen to send for the Princess Sophia. The Queen tempted him back with an offer of the Chancellorship; but he had changed sides too often already; and, finding political life but toil and trouble, he retired from businesss; built a house in the Park; and, for the want of other occupations, wrote two tragedies. The last scene of his own life was on the 24th of Feb. 1721.

He owes his poetical renown to the Essay on Poetry; which, being received with applause, at its first appearance, was anxiously revised and amended in each successive addition; and at last became one of the most finished poems in the language. But this is its greatest praise. The author undertakes to analyse each particular kind of poetry; but his precepts are generally without discrimination; and what is said of one species may be equally applied to another. Nothing is described with strength; and the author will never be censured for redundance of originality.