Throughout the whole, and in every part of it, the marks of a judgment which cannot be questioned, and of an unerring taste, which was regulated by discreet expense, are so eminently conspicuous, as to proclaim Mr. Nicholls to have been, what a kindred poet so happily terms,

Un artiste qui pense,
Prodigue de génie et non pas de dépense.*

To be a visitor and an inmate guest to Mr. Nicholls at Blundeston in the gay season, when his lake was illuminated by summer suns and rippled by the breeze; when every tree and shrub, in its chosen position, seemed to wave in homage to its possessor and cultivator; when a happy and youthful company of either sex, distinguished by their talents and accomplishments, was enlivened by the good humour and spirit which presided over the whole; with the charm of musick, and with every well-tempered recreation which the season could present, and with all the elegance of the domestick internal arrangements; it was difficult, indeed, I say, to be a visitor and a guest at Blundeston in that gay season, and not to be reminded of Spenser's imagination;

" For all that pleasing is to eye or ear, Was there consorted in one harmony; Birds, voices, instruments, winds, waters, all agree!" Whoever have been witnesses of the scene will know that I speak of it as they have seen it, and that I have set down nothing in fiction. I had fondly hoped that I should have revisited this favourite spot, and its beloved and accomplished master, for many a year with increasing pleasure. But what are the prospects of man! The mind which presided over it is fled; and the scene is solitary: Secca è la vena dell usato ingegno : Vedove l'erbe, e torbide son l'acque!

If Mr. Nicholls indeed had devoted his time and talents exclusively to the ornamental laying out of grounds, and had originally made it his

profession, it might be said with truth, in the diction of poetry, that Pactolus might have rolled through his own domains. But to embellish the form of rural nature was only his amusement. In his own neighbourhood there could be no emulation nor vanity; for where could he discover a competitor? His villa at Blundeston was an Oásis. Even the severe but dignified moralist,* to whom nature had denied an ear for harmony and an eye for painting or for rural scenery, even he has declared, that "some praise must be allowed to him who does best, what such multitudes are contending to do well." To say this, is something, yet it is to be a niggard of our speech to say no more, when such liberal delight is the object of communication.

In every department of elegant literature Mr. Nicholls displayed the same correct taste. His knowledge of history was copious but chosen; in ancient and in modern writers he was accurately versed, and in all subjects he had recourse to the original springs of knowledge. In the French and Italian languages, as well as in the particular modes of the life and manners of those countries, he was eminently instructed; and the merits of every author and poet of distinction were familiar to him. In the most polished society of un-revolutionized France, and in the Tuscan conversations, he was received as a native. He seemed, indeed to have transfused into his habits and manners such a portion of their spirit, that many persons were inclined to think, that either the Seine or the Arno might have claimed him for their own. In Italy, during his short sojourn among the unrivalled remains of genius and of art, he accurately studied and comprehended the works of the greatest masters of the pencil. He did this, not with the idle spirit of a loitering traveller, but with the unremitting application of a man who knew the value of his time and of his talents. He felt and prosecuted the desire of improving them by an honourable familiarity with the designs of great painters and sculptors, and of fixing in his own mind those forms of excellence by which his judgment might be guided, and his recollection gratified, in the future course of his life, among its choicest and most liberal

amusements.

Mr. Nicholls was by nature communicative, " and his spirit was not finely touched, but to fine issues." His younger friends will be gratefully alive to my words, when I allude to his willingness, and even his eagerness, to impart information and to diffuse rational pleasure. Such indeed were his good manners, his benevolence, and his hospitality, that his spirits might be said to shine through him: and in the reception of friends, of acquaintances, and of strangers under his roof, were shewn that readiness and urbanity which announced the gentleman of birth and the man of breeding. I am indeed convinced that there is