patronage with so much munificence and judgment.

Possessing an ample fortune and exquisite taste, Mr. Hope judiciously
applied his knowledge of the fine arts to the internal decoration of
houses: thus producing, in numberless instances, the rare combination of
splendour and convenience. On this subject, Mr. Hope published, in 1805,
an illustrative folio work, entitled "Household Furniture and Internal
Decorations." He also published two very superb works on costume,
entitled, "The Costumes of the Ancients," two vols. 8vo. 1809; and
"Designs of Modern Costume," folio, 1812: in which he displayed high
classical attainments and love of the picturesque.

Mr. Hope, however, subsequently appeared before the literary world in a
work which at once places him in the highest list of eloquent writers
and superior men--viz. _Anastasius; or, the Memoirs of a Modern
Greek_: published in the year 1819. There are, indeed, few books in
the English language which contain passages of greater power, feeling,
and eloquence than this work, which delineate frailty and vice with
more energy and acuteness, or describe historical scenes with such
bold imagery and such glowing language. We remember the opinion of
a writer in the Edinburgh Review, soon after the publication of
_Anastasius_. With a degree of pleasantry and acumen peculiar
to northern criticism, he asks, "Where has Mr. Hope hidden all his
eloquence and poetry up to this hour? How is it that he has, all of a
sudden, burst out into descriptions which would not disgrace the pen
of Tacitus, and displayed a depth of feeling and vigour of imagination
which Lord Byron could not excel? We do not shrink from one syllable of
this eulogy." The subjects upon which Mr. Hope had previously written
were not calculated to call forth his eloquent feeling; and, such
excellence was not expected from him, who, to use the harmless satire