25 t Mas дегег How al thr they m and the end to t and did sible. Th So Roger few Pribb then-and was over in despairing by all his Keene, who the same vi Brown) to f months deter last effort. uff the living of Tilney, to which he had that ng been presented. I say this seemed to them done in a huff, but was in reality a thing he termined to do, be the event of the Election it would; they were desirous of electing two, emaster proposed, Knowles and Mason, or n and Gaskarth, for they were sure he would admit Tuthill, as he had so often declared it. ver, I say, Brown continued stedfast, that ree should come, or none at all; and when met next day, he begun by resigning Tilney, hen desired the master would either put an their long disputes himself, as they intreated or else they would refer the whole to a visitor, id conjure him to call one in, as soon as posThe rest did not contradict him, though the sal was much against their real inclinations. oger believing them unanimous (after some Pribbles and Prabbles,) said, well then, if it the good of the College-but you intend les shall be senior ?-To be sure master-well and so they proceeded to Election, and all ver in a few minutes. I do believe, that Roger, iring now of a visitor to his mind, and advised I his acquaintance (among whom I reckon e, whose acquaintance I have cultivated with ame views you mentioned in your letter to m) to finish the matter, had been for some s determined to do so, but not till he made effort. He made it indeed, but not having sagacity enough to find out, how near carrying his point he was; being ignorant of the weakness of a part of his College, and they not cunning, or perhaps not dishonest enough, to discover it to him; he thought he had missed his aim, and so gave it up without farther struggling. I hope you will be glad to see so good an end of an affair you gave birth to Brown is quite happy, and we vastly glad to be obliged to the only man left among them, that one would care to be obliged to. There are two more Fellowships remain to be filled up at the Commencement. By the way Tuthill has been just holding a candle-not to the devil, but to the master, as he was reading some papers in Hall: and the boys peep'd in at the screens to see it, and to laugh. Keene is most sadly implicated in the beginning of his reign about an Election, and I am of his Cabinet-council, hitherto for the reasons you wot of, and now because I can't help it, but I am rather tired of College details (as I doubt not, you are) and so I leave this story to be recorded by the Annalists of Peter-house; and let historians of equal dignity tell of the triumphs of Chappy, the installations, the visitations, and other memorable events that distinguish and adorn his glorious reign. You ask for some account of books. The principal I can tell you of is a work of the president Montesquieu's, the labour of twenty years, it is , L'Esprit des Loix,* 2 vols. 4to. printed at va. He lays down the principles on which ounded the three sorts of government, Desn, the limited Monarchic, and the Republican, hews how from thence are deducted the laws customs, by which they are guided and maind: the education proper to each form, the inces of climate, situation, religion, &c.: on the s of particular nations, and on their policy. subject (you see) is as extensive as mankind; houghts perfectly new, generally admirable, ey are just; sometimes a little too refined: in there are faults, but such as an ordinary man never have committed: the style very lively oncise (consequently sometimes obscure) it is ravity of Tacitus (whom he admires) tempered the gayety and fire of a Frenchman. e time of night will not suffer me to go on, will write again in a week. My best comnts to Mrs. Wharton and your family, I am most sincerely yours, rch 9th, [1748-9] Thursday, Cambridge. |