Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/270

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HE unhappy nobleman, the memoirs of whoſe life we are now about to relate, was endowed by nature with all thoſe ſhining qualifications by which a great man can be formed. He poſſeſſed a moſt extenſive memory, a ſtrong and lively imagination, and quick and ready apprehenſion.

By the immediate authority of his father, our noble author’s ſtudies were confined to one particular branch of learning; with a view, no doubt, that his ſon’s uncommon genius might make the greater progreſs, and ſhine with a ſuperior luſtre in that ſpecies of erudition he had made choice of for him. On this account it was, that the earl his father would not permit the young lord to go to public or private ſchools, or to any college, or univerſity, but had him carefully inſtructed by domeſtic tutors; and as he gave an early diſplay of the moſt aſtoniſhing parts, the earl bent all his thoughts how to improve them in the beſt manner, for his ſon’s future advantage.

As ſoon as this ſprightly genius, had laid a ſufficient foundation in claſſical learning, he ſtudied hiſtory, particularly that of his own country, by which he was able to diſcern the principles of the conſtitution, the revolutions it has undergone, the variety of accidents by which it may be endangered, and the true policy by which it can be preſerved. While he thus read hiſtory, he became a politician; and