nister, from
whom he obtained a peerage. This, as we have seen, was not long enjoyed.
Lord Melcombe, as this able, intriguing man was now styled, died on the
28th of July, 1762; and with him terminated the short-lived distinction
for which he had sacrificed even a decent pretext of principle and
consistency.

So general has been the contempt felt for his character, that it seems
almost needless to assert that Bubb Dodington was eminently to be
despised. Nothing much more severe can be said of him than the remarks
of Horace Walpole--upon his 'Diary;' in which he observes that Dodington
records little but what is to his own disgrace; as if he thought that
the world would forgive his inconsistencies as readily as he forgave
himself. 'Had he adopted,' Horace well observes, 'the French title
"_Confessions_," it would have seemed to imply some kind of penitence.'

But vain-glory engrossed him: 'He was determined to raise an altar to
himself, and for want of burnt offerings, lighted the pyre, like a great
author (Rousseau), with his own character.'

It was said by the same acute observer, both of Lord Hervey and of Bubb
Dodington, that they were the only two persons he ever knew that were
always aiming at wit and never finding it.' And here, it seems, most
that can be testified in praise of a heartless, clever man, must be
summed up.

Lord Melcombe's property, with the exception of a few legacies, devolved
upon his cousin Thomas Wyndham, of Hammersmith, by whom his Lordship's
papers, letters, and poems, were bequeathed to Henry Penruddocke
Wyndham, with an injunction, that only such as 'might do honour to his
memory should be made public.'

After this, in addition to the true saying, defend us from our friends
one may exclaim, 'defend us from our executors and editors.'

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wits and Beaux of Society
by Grace & Philip Wharton

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