DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 39) failed of fulfilment because they were in advance of the time. Unprincipled as he may have been, it must be said to his credit, that he publicly denounced religious persecution in every form, even saying of an Atheist, ‘T think he has a right to toleration, for he wants the consolation which I enjoy.’ Nor did he fail to redeem the blemish of his domestic relations by his fondness for and devotion to his daughter, who, to the end of his days, remained his most intelligent sympathiser and sweetest companion. Indeed, it was for her sake that he chiefly valued his popularity, and proved it by dividing with her the monies and presents that flowed in upon him from every quarter. As he put aside for his ‘Polly,’ as he called her, ‘a pine-apple out of a hamper of fruit, or salmon-trout out of a basket of fish, and four exquisitely beautiful paro- quets which had come by coach from Portsmouth,’ so he never failed to let her know, in his long corre- spondence with her, how he had been cheered and mobbed ; how ladies at the Assembly Rooms pulled caps to dance with him ; how he visited Cambridge for his amusement, and was received as if he were a famous foreign general. Nor does he fail to evince anxiety for the cultivation of her intellect, as in his letters he is constantly recommending to her the study of modern classics, both French and English.