own constructing, that was moored
on a reach of the Severn; and the Prince gratified him by declaring,
that he had often made similar attempts on the Thames, but never with
equal success. To the exercise of mechanical ingenuity in improving the
art of boat-building, he added uncommon skill in the use of the bow and
arrow, and had assembled all the varieties of those instruments that
could be procured from different countries.

He appears to have possessed in an unusual degree, the power of suddenly
ingratiating himself with those who conversed with him. A gentleman who
had never before seen him, and who had reluctantly accompanied the
Prince in his aquatic expedition, was so much pleased with Cambridge, as
to be among the foremost to acknowledge his satisfaction; and having
been introduced by William Whitehead, then tutor to the Earl of Jersey's
eldest son, into the house of that nobleman, he soon became a welcome
guest, and formed a lasting friendship with one of the family, who was
afterwards Earl of Clarendon. In the number of his intimates he reckoned
Bathurst, afterwards Chancellor, with whom an acquaintance, begun at
Eton, had been continued at Lincoln's Inn; Carteret, Lyttelton,
Grenville, Chesterfield, Yorke, Pitt, and Pulteney. In order to
facilitate his intercourse with such associates, and perhaps in
conformity with the advice of his departed friend Berkeley, who had
recommended London as the proper stage for the display of his poetical
talent, he was induced to pass two of his winters in the capital; but
finding that the air of the town was injurious to his health, in 1751 he
purchased a residence at Twickenham. He had now another opportunity of
showing his taste for rural embellishment, in counteracting the effects
of his predecessor's formality, in opening his lawns and grouping his
trees with an art that wore the appearance of negligence. An addition to
his fortune by the decease of his uncle Mr. Owen, who left him his name
together with his estate, enabled him to gratify these propensities. By
some of his powerful friends he had been urged to obtain a seat in
Parliament, and addict himself to a public life; but he valued his
tranquillity too highly to comply with their solicitations. A sonnet
addressed to him by his friend Edwards, author of the Canons of
Criticism, and which is not without elegance, tended to confirm him in
his resolve.

In the year[1] of his removal to Twickenham, the Scribleriad was