CHARACTERS OF THE MINISTERS.

Before we proceed to the transactions of parliament in this session, it may not be amiss to sketch the outlines of the ministry as it stood at this juncture. The king’s affection for the earl of Portland had begun to abate in proportion as his esteem for Sunderland increased, together with his consideration for Mrs. Villiers, who had been distinguished by some particular marks of his majesty’s favour. These two favourites are said to have supplanted Portland, whose place in the king’s bosom was now filled by Van Keppel, a gentleman of Guelderland who had first served his majesty as a page, and afterwards acted as private secretary. The earl of Portland growing troublesome, from his jealousy of this rival, the king resolved to send him into honourable exile, in quality of an ambassador-extraordinary to the court of France; and Trumball, his friend and creature, was dismissed from the office of secretary, which the king conferred upon Vernon, a plodding man of business who had acted as under-secretary to the duke of Shrewsbury. This nobleman rivalled the earl of Sunderland in his credit at the council-board, and was supported by Somers, lord chancellor of England, by Russel now earl of Orford, first lord of the admiralty, and Montague, chancellor of the exchequer. Somers was an upright judge, a plausible statesman, a consummate courtier, affable, mild, and insinuating. Orford appears to have been rough, turbulent, factious, and shallow. Montague had distinguished himself early by his poetical genius; but he soon converted his attention to the cultivation of more solid talents. He rendered himself remarkable for his eloquence, décemment, and knowledge of the English constitution. To a delicate taste he united an eager appetite for political studies. The first catered for the enjoyments of fancy; the other was subservient to his ambition. He at the same time was the distinguished encourager of the liberal arts, and the professed patron of projectors. In his private deportment he was liberal, easy, and entertaining; as a statesman, bold, dogmatical, and aspiring.