ERASMUS LEWIS

109

Lord Macclesfield, then Ambassador in Paris, after whose recall in 1701 Lewis appears to have fallen to the prosaic position of a schoolmaster at Carmarthen. By some means he became known to Harley, who, with his usual insight into character, appointed him in May 1704 one of his secretaries. His fortune was now assured. Hard-working, judicious, and agreeable, he became an invaluable assistant to Harley. After the fall of his chief, he was given, in 1709, the place of Under-Secretary of State, a post he continued to hold throughout Harley's Administration. When the Whigs came into power in 1714, Lewis' official career ended, but Harley, with his customary kindness, appointed him his steward, chiefly, one may think, for the purpose of paying him a salary. For Lewis transacted very little business, and lived thenceforward an easy, agreeable life, now visiting in this house and now in that, playing ombre with the ladies and gossiping with the men. He had reached the mature age of fifty-four before he married, when, with his usual prudence, he selected a well-to-do widow lady no younger than himself. A typical permanent official, he was the business man of that coterie of men of letters and statesmen with whom Harley foregathered; the judicious friend of Swift and Prior, of Parnell and Pope, of Arbuthnot and Gay, he outlived them all, not dying till the age of eighty-three, in 1754.

ERASMUS LEWIS

109

Lord Macclesfield, then Ambassador in Paris, after whose recall in 1701 Lewis appears to have fallen to the prosaic position of a schoolmaster at Carmarthen. By some means he became known to Harley, who, with his usual insight into character, appointed him in May 1704 one of his secretaries. His fortune was now assured. Hard-working, judicious, and agreeable, he became an invaluable assistant to Harley. After the fall of his chief, he was given, in 1709, the place of Under-Secretary of State, a post he continued to hold throughout Harley's Administration. When the Whigs came into power in 1714, Lewis' official career ended, but Harley, with his customary kindness, appointed him his steward, chiefly, one may think, for the purpose of paying him a salary. For Lewis transacted very little business, and lived thenceforward an easy, agreeable life, now visiting in this house and now in that, playing ombre with the ladies and gossiping with the men. He had reached the mature age of fifty-four before he married, when, with his usual prudence, he selected a well-to-do widow lady no younger than himself. A typical permanent official, he was the business man of that coterie of men of letters and statesmen with whom

Harley foregathered; the judicious friend of Swift and Prior, of Parnell and Pope, of Arbuthnot and Gay, he outlived them all, not dying till the age of eighty-three, in 1754.