Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/15

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Mrs. Manley.
5

that manuſcript, which he reſerved to his proper uſe, and by his own pen, and the aſſiſtance of ſome others, continued the work till the eighth volume was finiſhed, without having the honeſty to acknowledge the author of the firſt.

The governor likewiſe wrote the Hiſtory of the Rebellion in England, Scotland, and Ireland; wherein the moſt material paſſages, battles, ſieges, policies, and ſtratagems of war, are impartially related on both ſides, from the year 1640, to the beheading of the duke of Monmouth, 1688, in three parts, printed in octavo, in the year 1691.

His daughter, our authoreſs, received an education ſuitable to her birth, and gave very early diſcoveries of a genius, not only above her years, but much ſuperior to what is uſually to be found amongſt her own ſex. She had the misfortune to loſe her mother, while ſhe was yet an infant, a circumſtance which laid the foundation of many calamities, which afterwards befell her.

The brother of Sir Roger Manley, who was of principles very oppoſite to his, joined with the Parliamentarian party; and after Charles I. had ſuffered, he engaged with great zeal in the cauſe of thoſe who were for ſettling a new form of government; in which, however, they were diſappointed by the addreſs of Cromwell, who found means to transfer the government into his own hands, and in place of inſtituting a republic, reſtored monarchy under another name, and erected a tyranny as dangerous, perhaps, in its conſequences, as that which he had contributed to overthrow. During theſe heats and diviſions, Mr. Manley, who adhered to the moſt powerful party, was fortunate enough to amaſs an eſtate, and purchaſed a title; but theſe, upon the reſtoration, reverted back to the former poſſeſſor; ſo that he was left with ſeveral ſmall children unprovided for. The eldeſt of theſe orphans, Sir Roger Manley took under his protection, beſtowed

a very