to make him either a prudent prince or a great monarch. It was so austere, perhaps we should not use too harsh a word if we were to say so repulsive, that the moment of his royal highness's emancipation was that of a prisoner from confinement: debarred from those pleasures so natural to youth, he plunged into the joys of society with all the avidity of one who had never tasted of joy.

It is not intended in this place to cast the slightest insinuation on the character of those who were the prince's preceptors; they were not answerable for the defects of a plan, in the formation of which it is probable they were never consulted. Indeed, it would be injustice to the memory of one of them, and a neglect of the merit of those who survive, not to declare that the persons to whose care the charge of the juvenile years of the Prince of Wales was

At

committed, were men eminently qualified for the due execution of so important a trust. Dr. Markham, the late venerable Archbishop of York, who in February, 1771, on the first establishment for the education of the Prince of Wales, was appointed preceptor to his royal highness, was a clergyman who had risen in his profession solely by his own merit. the early age of thirty he had the distinguished honour to be chosen first master of Westminster school, and during fourteen years he discharged, with the highest reputation, the laborious duties of that useful and honourable employment. His merits while he presided over the first school in the kingdom were not overlooked, and in 1767, his public services were rewarded with the deanery of Christ-church. This lucrative benefice is a dignity of great importance and responsibility,

involving the care both of a college and a cathedral. The college, distinguished by its wealth, by the magnificence of its buildings, and the rank and number of its members, towers above the sister institutions of Oxford; and it has long been the endeavour of those who have presided over it to justify its claims to superiority more by the solid distinctions of eminence in discipline, in learning, and whatever can add lustre to a religious and literary foundation. Under the vigilant guardianship of Dr. Markham, Christchurch preserved its accustomed pretentions to superiority, and seldom less than from twenty to thirty youths of the first families in the kingdom were entrusted to his care. On his consecration to the bishopric of Chester, he resigned the deanery of Christchurch, and soon after was appointed preceptor to the Prince of Wales.

The sub-preceptor of the prince at this period was Dr. Cyril Jackson, a man who, like Dr. Markham, had advanced his fortune in life by his diligence in the pursuit of knowledge and the variety of his literary attainments.

Dr. Markham and Dr. Jackson continued preceptors to the prince till the year 1776, when a new establishment was formed, and Dr. Markham was succeeded by Dr. Hurd, the present Bishop of Worcester, and Dr. Jackson by Mr. Arnold, tutor of St. John's College, Cambridge.* Why Dr. Mark

*The spirited author of "Lessons to a Prince," a work that has gone through several editions, and is well deserving of perusal both on account of the soundness of its principles and the elegant language in which they are conveyed, speaking of this change of the royal preceptors says, "The question, Whether it was expedient that princes should be scholars?' greatly agitated the domestic cabinet of B- House

had

almost a year. Dr. M and Mr. Jengaged them in the road of knowledge. Lord H. traversed their endeavours; and they

ham and Dr. Jackson were not allowed to complete the education of the Prince of Wales is not generally known, but we cannot entirely subscribe to the censure that is passed on their successors in the subjoined note. Dr. Hurd, it is almost unnecessary to say, is in every respect an amiable prelate, a polished scholar, and a man of the most exemplary morals. Both he and the sub-preceptor, Mr. Arnold, had been celebrated tutors at Cambridge, as their. predecessors had been distinguished ornaments of the sister university. It seems, therefore, that the dismission of Dr. Markham and his colleague was not designed to convey any censure on their characters, but merely intended to afford his royal highness the united advantages that might be expected

were exchanged for the supple H-d and the insignificant A-d.”