patriot, who has been justly said to have by his life, and planned them for posWorcester, 1652. He was educated at ds entered himself of the Middle Temple, law with great vigour, judiciously blendrature. He soon distinguished himself 681 had a considerable share in a piece nd modest Vindication of the two last 1688 he was of counsel for the seven biand argued with great learning and e dispensing power. In the convention Prince of Orange's summons, Jan. 22, ed Worcester; and was one of the manacommons, at a conference with the house ord abdicated. Soon after the accession Queen Mary to the throne, he was aperal, and received the honour of knightmade attorney-general, and in 1693 adlord keeper of the great seal of England. an expedient to prevent the practice of nd the same year was constituted one of England during his majesty's absence, the two following years. In 1697 he others, Baron of Evesham, and made

services which you have effected. Do what you will, the present age will be talking of your virtues, though posterity alone will do them justice.

Other men pass through oppositions and contending interests in the ways of ambition; but your great abilities have been invited to power, and importuned to accept of advancement. Nor is it strange that this should happen to your lordship, who could bring into the service of your sovereign the arts and policies of ancient Greece and Rome; as well as the most exact knowledge of our own constitution in particular, and of the interests of Europe in general; to which I must also add, a certain dignity in yourself, that (to say the least of it) has been always equal to those great honours which have been conferred upon you.

It is very well known how much the church owed to you, in the most dangerous day it ever saw, that of the arraignment of its prelates +; and how far the civil power, in the late and present reign, has been indebted to your counsels and wisdom.

But to enumerate the great advantages which the public has received from your administration,

lord high chancellor of England. In the beginning of 1700 he was removed from his post of lord chancellor; and the year after was impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors by the house of commons, of which he was acquitted upon trial by the house of lords. He then retired to a studious course of life, and was chosen president of the Royal Society. In 1706 he proposed a bill for the regulation of the law; and the same year was one of the principal managers for the union between England and Scotland. In 1708 he was made lord president of the council, from which post he was removed in 1710, upon the change of the ministry. In the latter end of Queen Anne's reign, his lordship grew very infirm in his health; which indisposition is supposed to have been the reason that he held no other post than a seat at the council table after the accession of King George I. He died of an apoplectic fit, April 26, 1716. Lord Somers, besides being a most incorrupt lawyer, and honest statesman, was a master-orator, a genius of the finest taste, a great patron of men of parts and learning, and was the person who redeemed Milton's 'Paradise Lost' from that obscurity in which party-prejudice and hatred had suffered it long to lie neglected. He wrote several pieces on the subject of politics, and translated certain parts of Plutarch and Ovid. + Trial of the seven bishops, June 29, 1689.