BATTERSEA.

Tuis village, which is about three miles from London, on the Surry bank of the Thames, has a claim to that character which is conferred by remote antiquity. The manor belonged to Earl Harold previous to the conquest; and an exchange was made of it by William the Conqueror with the monks of Westminster for Windsor. After the dissolution of the monasteries, it was retained in the possession of the crown, and afterwards became the property of the St. John family, who closed the enjoyment of it during a period of one hundred and fifty years, by selling it to the trustees of the present Earl Spencer, during his minority.

This place is remarkable for having given birth to one of the most splendid characters which this country can boast, Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke. He was born in the old family mansion in 1672, and died there November 15, 1751. His remains were interred with those of his ancestors, in a vault in the parish church, in which a monument was erected to his memory, and that of his second wife, the relict of the Marquis de Vilette, a nobleman of France, and niece of the celebrated Madame de Maintenon. The following inscription records their characteristic virtues;

Here lies

HENRY ST. JOHN,

In the reign of Queen Anne,
Secretary of War and Secretary of State,
And Viscount Bolingbroke:

In the days of King George the First,
And King George the Second,
Something more and better.

His attachment to Queen Anne

Exposed him to a long and severe persecution;
He bore it with firmness of mind,

The enemy to no national party,
The friend to no faction:

Distinguished, under the cloud of a proscription,
Which had not been entirely taken off,

By zeal to maintain the liberty,
And to restore the ancient prosperity
Of Great Britain.

In the same vault

Are interred the remains of
MARY-CLARA DES CHAMPS DE MARESILLY,
Marchioness Vilette and Viscountess

Bolingbroke:

Born of a noble family,

Bred in the court of Louis XIV.
She reflected a lustre on the former,
By the superior accomplishments of her
Mind:

She was an ornament to the latter,
By the amiable dignity and grace of her
Behaviour.

She lived

The honour of her own sex,

The delight and admiration of ours;
She died

An object of imitation to both;

With all the firmness that reason,

With all the resignation that religion
Can inspire.

Lord Bolingbroke possessed a splendour of talent, of which there are few examples: of his eloquence, Lord Chesterfield, a living witness, and a judge beyond all challenge, declares himself unable to give an adequate idea: of his superiority as a statesman and a writer, his works inform the present, as they will every future age. Of the social charm, in which he maintained a characteristic pre-eminence, we find repeated and affectionate testimonies in the letters of Pope and the Dean of St. Patrick.

According to contemporary authors, nature seemed not less kind to him in his external embellishments than in adorn. ing his mind. With the graces of a handsome person, and a face in which dignity was blended with sweetness, he had

a manner of address, that was irresistibly engaging. His vivacity was always awake, his apprehension was quick, his wit refined, and his memory of a tenacity that nothing escaped his subtlety in thinking and reasoning was profound; and all these talents were adorned with an elocution that bore down every thing before it. But, as if it were to vindicate the imperfection of human nature, his early years were passed in a career of extreme dissipation: and as the object of his whole life was pre-eminence, it appears at this period to have been his determination to be the first of profligates. It seems, however, that at the age of twenty-eight he began to be satiated with a life of sensual pleasure; as he then took refuge from it by marrying a lady who brought him a large fortune, and a considerable portion also of mental endowments. But, as it has been generally believed, he did not, on this occasion, discard all his former habits: such at least was the subject of her complaint; and, after some time, they parted by mutual consent.

The history of this great man's public life must involve that of the public transactions in which he was concerned. His eloquence, his talents, and the influence which he derived from them, soon introduced him into the service of his country. The latter end of Queen Anne's reign was the period in which he shone with the greatest lustre. That critical juncture required the exertion of all his eminent qualities, and it is universally acknowledged, that he managed the contending factions which then divided the nation, an expensive continental war, an intriguing court, and a fickle queen, with unexpected success and transcendent ability.

On the accession of George the First, he shared in the ruin of his party; and as he considered it unsafe for him to remain in England, he took refuge in France; when a bill of attainder was preferred against him. His engaging in the service of the Pretender has been attributed by some to resentment and disgust, by others to his ambitious spirit; it may perhaps be more justly ascribed to the blended influence

of those emotions.

But in this little Utica he suffered such continual mortification, that, in less than twelve months, he retired from it. To this interval we are indebted for his Reflections on Exile, which has been styled, by no ordinary judge, to be one of the most masterly, most elegant, and most affecting moral compositions in the English language.

It was owing, perhaps, more to the intrigues of the court, than to the zeal of friends, or any other cause, that Lord Bolingbroke was recalled to his country, and restored to his rights of inheritance; but still he was excluded from every other.-He, therefore, for some time devoted himself to the amusements of rural life, the charms of philosophy, and social friendship. While, however, his friends thought him perfectly reconciled to his fate, he petitioned the House of Commons to be reinstated in his former capacities, in order that he might emerge again into the career of public duty; but the cabals of the cabinet defeated his wishes. This instigated him to take part with Mr. Poulteney, in his opposition to Walpole; and, during this great political controversy, Lord Bolingbroke, in his various publications, elucidated all the excellence of the British constitution with equal strength, elegance, and perspicuity.

The latter part of his life he passed in dignity and splendour, his superior faculties in continual exertion, and his ambition controuled by his disappointments. He had long wished to breath his last at Battersea, and fortune, who had long thwarted his views of life, at length gratified him in that which respected his death; and there he died on the verge of fourscore years.

It was aptly, wittily, and prophetically said of him, by Pope, that when he wrote of any thing in this world, he was more than mortal, and that if ever he trifled, it must be when he turned divine. Thus it has proved, that his metaphysical works have been but little read, and are already forgotten, while his political writings will be lasting as the language in which they are composed.

Bolingbroke House, which was an ancient, plain, and roomy