advantage; for he continued his name in the book ten years, though
he took no degree. After the first four years he put on the
civilian's gown, but without showing any intention to engage in the
profession. About the time when he went to Oxford, the death of his
grandmother devolved his affairs to the care of the Rev. Mr. Dolman,
of Brome in Staffordshire, whose attention he always mentioned with
gratitude. At Oxford he employed himself upon English poetry; and
in 1737 published a small Miscellany, without his name. He then for
a time wandered about, to acquaint himself with life, and was
sometimes at London, sometimes at Bath, or any other place of public
resort; but he did not forget his poetry. He published in 1741 his
"Judgment of Hercules," addressed to Mr. Lyttelton, whose interest
he supported with great warmth at an election: this was next year
followed by the "Schoolmistress."

Mr. Dolman, to whose care he was indebted for his ease and leisure,
died in 1745, and the care of his own fortune now fell upon him. He
tried to escape it awhile, and lived at his house with his tenants,
who were distantly related; but, finding that imperfect possession
inconvenient, he took the whole estate into his own hands, more to
the improvement of its beauty than the increase of its produce. Now
was excited his delight in rural pleasures and his ambition of rural
elegance; he began from this time to point his prospects, to
diversify his surface, to entangle his walks, and to wind his
waters, which he did with such judgment and such fancy as made his
little domain the envy of the great and the admiration of the
skilful; a place to be visited by travellers and copied by
designers. Whether to plant a walk in undulating curves, and to
place a bench at every turn where there is an object to catch the
view, to make the water run where it will be heard, and to stagnate