And all in order at her toilet lay
Prayer-books, patch-boxes, sermon-notes, and paint,
At once t'improve the sinner and the saint.'

A Mæcenas who paid for his dedications was sure to be well spoken of,
and Halifax has been made out a wit and a poet, as well as a clever
statesman. Halifax got his earldom and the garter from George I., and
died, after enjoying them less than a year, in 1715.

Chancellor Somers, with whom Halifax was associated in the impeachment
case in 1701, was a far better man in every respect. His was probably
the purest character among those of all the members of the Kit-kat. He
was the son of a Worcester attorney, and born in 1652. He was educated
at Trinity, Oxford, and rose purely by merit, distinguishing himself at
the bar and on the bench, unwearied in his application to business, and
an exact and upright judge. At school he was a terribly good boy,
keeping to his book in play-hours. Throughout life his habits were
simple and regular, and his character unblemished. He slept but little,
and in later years had a reader to attend him at waking. With such
habits he can scarcely have been a constant attender at the club; and as
he died a bachelor, it would be curious to learn what ladies he selected
for his toasts. In his latter years his mind was weakened, and he died
in 1716 of apoplexy. Walpole calls him 'one of those divine men who,
like a chapel in a palace, remained unprofaned, while all the rest is
tyranny, corruption, and folly.'

A huge stout figure rolls in now to join the toasters in Shire Lane. In
the puffy, once handsome face, there are signs of age, for its owner is
past sixty; yet he is dressed in superb fashion; and in an hour or so,
when the bottle has been diligently circulated, his wit will be brighter