the court on account of his Tory principles. His son, our author, was also educated for the church, and obtained a doctor's degree. His edition of "Horace" made his name known in England about 1743, and raised him a reputation as a classical editor and translator, which no subsequent attempts have diminished. Dr. Johnson, many years after other rivals had started, gave him this praise: "The lyrical part of Horace never can be properly translated; so much of the excellence is in the numbers and the expression. Francis has done it the best: I'll take his, five out of six, against them all."
Some time after the publication of Horace, he appears to have come over to England, where, in 1753, he published a translation of part of the "Orations of Demosthenes," intending to comprise the whole in two quarto volumes. In 1755, he completed his purpose in a second volume, which was applauded as a difficult work well executed, and acceptable to every friend of genius and literature; but it's success was by no means correspondent to the wishes of the author or of his friends.
The year before the first volume of his "Demosthenes" appeared, he determined to attempt the drama, and his first essay was a tragedy, entitled, "Eugenia," but it was not very successful. In 1754, Mr. Francis brought out another tragedy at Covent Garden theatre, entitled, "Constantine," which was equally unsuccessful, but appears to have suffered principally by the improper distribution of the parts among the actors. This he alludes to, in the dedication to Lord Chesterfield, with whom he appears to have been acquainted, and intimates at the same time that these disappointments had induced him to take leave of the stage.
During the political contests at the beginning of the late reign, he employed his pen in defence of government, and acquired the patronage of Lord Holland, who rewarded his services by the rectory of Barrow, in Suffolk, and the chaplainship of Chelsea Hospital. What were his publications on political topics, as they were anony-
