Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 011.djvu/19

changed his name twice for two estates; first to that of Stevenson, and then Wharton, which is his present name. He was then a member of the British Parliament, and to his friendship I was indebted for the sum of a hitindred and fifty pounds at a time when I was under pecuniary difficulties. Another old college friend I recall with sentiments of sincere affection, Benjamin Phillips of Cork. He kept a kind of bachelor's house, with good wine and an excellent collection of books (not law books), all of which were as much at my command as at his. With some oddities, which to me only rendered him more amusing, he had a great fund of information, particularly of political detail; and in his company I spent some of the pleasantest hours which I passed in London. At length, aher I had been at the Temple something better than a year, my brother William, who was returned a few months before from his first expedition to St. Helena, joined me, and we lived together in the greatest amity and affection for about nine months, being the remainder of my stay in London. At this distance of time (now eight years) I feel my heart swell at the recollection of the happy hours we spent together. We were often without a guinea; but that never affected our spirits for a moment; and if ever I felt myself depressed by any untoward circumstance, I had a never-failing resource and consolation in his friendship, his courage, and the invincible gaiety of his disposition, which nothing could ruffle. With the companionable qualities he possessed, it is no wonder he recommended himself to Ben Phillips, so that he was soon, I believe, a greater favourite with him than ever I was. They were inseparable. It fills my mind now with a kind of tender melancholy which is not unpleasing, to recall the many delightful days we three have spent together, and the walks we have taken, sometimes to a review, sometimes to see a ship of war launched, soinetimes to visit the Indiamen at Deptford, a favourite expedition with Phillips. William, besides his natural gaiety, had an inexhaustible fund of pure Irish humour. I was pretty well myself, and Phillips, like the landlord of the "Hercules Pillars," was "an excellent third man." In short we made it out together admirably."

"As I foresaw by this time that I should never be Lord Chancellor, and as my mind was naturally active, a scheme accurred to me, to the maturing of which I devoted some time and study. This was a proposal to the minister to establish a colony in one of Cook's newly-discovered islands in the South Sea on a military plan (for all my ideas ran in that track), in order to put a bridle on Spain in time of peace, and to annoy her grievously in that quarter in time of war. In arranging this system, which I think even now was a good one for England, I read every book I could find relating to South America, as Ulloa, Anson, Dampier, Woodes, Rogers, Narborough, and especially the Buccaneers, who were my heroes, and whom I proposed to myself as the archetypes of the future colonists. Many and many a delightful evening did my brother, Phillips, and I spend in reading, writing, and talking of my project, in which, if it had been adopted, it was our firm resolution to have embarked. At length, when we had reduced it into a regular shape, I drew up a memorial on the subject, which I addressed to Mr. Pitt, and delivered with my own hands to the porter in Downing-street. We waited, I will not say patiently, for about ten days, when I addressed a letter to the minister, mentioning my memorial, and praying an answer; but this application was as unsuccessful as the former. Mr. Pitt took not the smallest notice of either memorial or letter; and all the benefit we reaped from our scheme was the amusement it afforded us during three months, in which it was the subject of our constant speculation. I regret those