YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
of the
ALFRED E. PERKINS FUND

NATIONAL
PORTRAIT GALLERY
OF
ILLUSTRIOUS AND EMINENT PERSONAGES
OF THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY;
WITH MEMOIRS, BY WILLIAM JERDAN, ESQ. F.S.A.
M.R.S.L. M.R.A.S. ETC.

DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO
THE KING.

VOL. I.

LONDON:
FISHER, SON, & JACKSON, NEWGATE STREET.
1830.

HENRY FISHER, PRINTER TO HIS MAJESTY.

ADDRESS.

On presenting the First Volume of The National Portrait
Gallery to the Public, the Proprietors beg leave to -say a
few words upon the origin, the progress, and the prospects of
their design.
To those who are conversant with such undertakings, it
need not be explained, that the paramount difficulty lies in the
beginning, when you can only state intentions, and have nothing
to show of performance, to entitle your claims to confidence
and consideration. The possessors of valuable pictures, the
exalted personages from whom the favour of sittings to artists
for their portraits must be solicited, and, in general, the pur
chasers of productions of art, very naturally desire to see and
form their opinions of the work, before they trust their posses
sions, lend their time, or give their money upon the mere
assurances of a prospectus. It therefore invariably happens,

ADDRESS.
that the earlier Numbers, when they do appear, are so impeded
by obstacles, that they do not afford complete satisfaction even
to their Publishers ; and cannot be held by subscribers to be
fair specimens of the contemplated whole.
Having thus candidly described their past condition, the
Proprietors of the National Portrait Gallery turn, with extreme
gratification, to their present position, and their future pros
pects. Encouraged by rapidly increasing popularity, and
crowned by the highest approbation in the kingdom, they now
find their zealous efforts approved of and aided by the condescen-
sion, kindness, and patronage of those " illustrious and eminent
Personages," who alone can enable a publication of the kind
to attain a distinguished character in Art and Literature, and to
flourish, both in its own period and through succeeding genera
tions, as a standard reference for the labours of the Painter, the
Engraver, the Biographer, and the Historian. Most of its recent
Memoirs have accordingly to boast, of the greatest recommenda
tion which can belong to such papers, viz. accuracy ; the facts
having not only been diligently ascertained, but submitted to
the best sources of correction : and it would hardly be credited
how much the latter is required, although, in the first instance,
apparently the most official and authentic documents have been
consulted. The Proprietors have to express their very grateful thanks
for the benefits they have thus received ; and they also return
their cordial acknowledgments to the Nobility and eminent
individuals, who have granted them permission to copy
Portraits, or, where these did not exist, who have obliged

ADDRESS.
them by sitting to artists expressly for this Gallery. Among
the latter, it cannot be invidious to mention the name of the
Earl of Aberdeen, who, amid all the cares of state, has liberally
acceded to this request, and thereby conferred a favour, not
more prized on account of his rank and station, than on account
of his fame as a friend to the Arts, and one of the most accom
plished scholars of the age. Among the former, may, with
equal propriety, be enumerated the names of Prince Leopold,
the Earl of Fife, Lord Bexley, Lord Clifden, Lord Exmouth,
Lord Farnborough, Lord Goderich, Lord Melville, Lord de
Tabley, (a Portrait of his late noble Father, and princely patron
of native Art,) the Hon. George Agar Ellis, and other eminent
persons, (besides those already engraved,) who have confided
the chef d' ceuvres of our greatest painters to the conductors
of this publication, with which to adorn and enrich it.
The above are in preparation ; and the list may be swelled
by the addition of many interesting portraits, obtained or
promised from various estimable quarters, for the speedy
appearance of which the Proprietors may pledge themselves :
such as Portraits of His Royal Highness the late Duke of
Kent, of her Grace the late Duchess of Rutland, of the late
lamented George Canning, of the Right Hon. W. Huskisson,
of the Bishop of London, of Sir Abraham Hume, of Sir Walter
Scott, of T. Moore, of Campbell, of L. E. L., of Sotheby, of
Mr. Davies Gilbert, of Sir Thomas Lawrence, of Sir Gore
Ouseley, of Sir Alexander Johnston, of the late Mrs. Darner,
of Sir Thomas Munro, of Sir Benjamin and Mr. Cam Hob-
house, of Archdeacon Nares, of Dr. Young, of Captain Sir
John Franklin, and others of celebrity in the many walks

ADDRESS.
of life, which are happily open in a free country to enlightened
rank, to political ability, to discriminating and generous
wealth, to gallant enterprise, to honorable talents, and to
enduring genius. For it is the grand object of the National
Portrait Gallery, to preserve and transmit to posterity, the
features and the memory of those who have earned greatness
in the present age, in all the paths that lead to distinction or
to glory ; and their mixed examples* will show that their
plan embraces beauty, illustrious birth, the church, the law,
the army, the navy, the sciences, the fine arts, and the literary
character. There remains but one other topic to be noticed ; and as it is
connected with business, it is approached with some degree of
hesitation. It is, however, but in justice to themselves, that
the Proprietors observe upon the very moderate cost at which
their work was in the first instance issued, in consequence of
their ardent desire to give it general circulation by the small-
ness of the price. Their expenses have far exceeded what
they anticipated, and they have been obliged to contemplate
a higher rate — not with the view of putting a profit into their
pockets, but solely to enable them to render the publication all
that can possibly be wished by the public to whom it is
addressed. But their sense of gratitude for the encouragement
they have experienced is so strong, that, though truly war
ranted in adopting this measure at once, they only venture
» These are not cited exclusively, but simply as types of the several classes to
be included in the work : and it is only owing to opportunities not yet having
presented themselves for obtaining the means, that many other names are not
positively stated.

ADDRESS.
now to submit their claim, and to intimate the probability of
their eventually advancing the price of their numbers, at least
to new Subscribers.
Having trespassed so long upon their friends and readers,
they respectfully take leave, by assuring them, that either on
the question of fair remuneration, or with respect to the most
zealous endeavours to raise the Gallery to superior excel
lence, they will look for nothing with so much anxiety as
for their approbation.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

Pages in each Memoir.
ArthurWellesley, Duke of Wellington, paittteu" Bg sir t. lawrenoe, p.r.a. 8
George Gordon, Lord Byron,  wm. westall, r.a. ... 8
John Jefferies Pratt, Marquis Camden , . . . j. hoppner, r.a  4
William-Pitt Amherst, Earl Amherst, . . . . sir t. Lawrence, p.r.a. 4
H. R. H. the Princess Charlotte  sir t. Lawrence, p.r.a. 8
William Hyde Wollaston, M.D. F.R.S  j. jackson, r.a  8
William Wyndham Grenville, Lord Grenville, . j. jackson, r.a  4
Elizabeth, Marchioness of Stafford, . . . . t. phillips, r.a  2
John Jervis, Earl St. Vincent,  j. keenan.  4
Wm. Wentworth Fitzwilliam, EarlFitzwilliam, . w. owen  8
Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. F.R.S  t. phillips, r.a  8
Francis Hastings, Marquis of Hastings, . . . . m. a. shee, r.a  8
Richard Wellesley, Marquis Wellesley, . . . sir t. lawrenoe, p.r.a. 8
Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. P.R.S  i. lonsdale  8
Major-Gen. Sir Henry Torrens,  sir t. Lawrence, p.r.a. 8
Thos. -Philip Weddell Robinson, Lord Grantham, w. robinson  4
The Right Rev. Reginald Heber, D.D  t. phillips, r.a  12
Henry-Chas. Somerset, Duke of Beaufort, . . . t. phillips, r.a  4
Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson,  j. hoppner, r.a  8
Major-Gen. Sir Charles-William Doyle, . . . m. carpenter  14
John Julius Angerstein, Esq  sir t. lawrenoe, p.r.«. 4
Benjamin West, Esq. P.R.A  g. h. harlow  12
The Ven. Archdeacon Wrangham, M.A  j. jackson, r.a  10
The Right Honorable William Pitt,  j. hoppner, r.a  4
His Majesty George the Third,  sir t. lawrenoe, p.r.a. 8
The Right Honorable Spencer Perceval, . . .sir w. beechey, r.a. . . 12
Admiral Lord Keith,  j. hoppner, k.a  6
The Right Honorable Charles James Fox, . . h. richter  14
William-Carr Beresford, Viscount Beresford, . sir w. beechey, r.a. . . 4
The Right Honorable Thomas Grenville, . . . j. hoppner, r.a  4
The Right Honorable the Earl of Liverpool, . . sir t. Lawrence, p.r.a. 12
The Honorable Lady Georgiana Agar Ellis, . . j. jackson, r.a  2
Dugald Stewart, Esq. F.R.S  w. h. lizars  8
The Right Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, . . sir j. Reynolds  16
James Wandesford Butler, Marquis of Ormonde, comerford  6
William Carey, D.D. Lord Bishop of Exeter, . s. w. Reynolds, jun. . . 4

IK&tiiC'i'ji .

AB.THUH WELLESLEY, DUKE OF

FISHER.. SON fc CPLOMDOM.1B30

ARTHUR WELLESLEY,
DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
THE circumstances under which this country has been placed,
during the last half century, have been such, as to call forth
public talents of every description. In no age have greater
statesmen or more eloquent orators been raised, to advocate
the cause of the English people ; and within the same period,
the military defences of the nation have acquired a stability
and perfection, by which its armies have been rendered equally
renowned with its long before celebrated navy. To the late
Duke of York is the honour due, of having commenced that
military reformation, without which the prosperous termina
tion of the late war would have been more than doubtful;
but to the subject of this Memoir must be ascribed the high
praise both of carrying that reformation to perfection, and of
leading the forces thus disciplined, to the successful defence as
well of Europe as of England.
This celebrated and illustrious man is the third son of
Viscount Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, and was born in
Ireland, in May, 1769. Having received his classical education
at Eton, he was sent to pursue his studies at the military
school of Angers in France, where he laid the foundation of
that pre-eminent knowledge of his profession, to which his
personal reputation and the safety of his country are attri
butable. The first commission which he held was in the
41st, but having risen rapidly in rank, he was appointed,
in the year 1793, to the Lieutenant-colonelcy of the 33rd
regiment of foot. In the following year he accompanied Lord
Moira to Ostend ; and during the retreat of the late Duke
of York from Holland, was engaged as commander of a
brigade. 1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
About two years subsequent to this campaign, he received
orders to proceed to the West Indies, and had set sail, but
the fleet in which the forces were embarked was detained by
contrary winds, and the orders of his regiment having been
countermanded, he was sent to Ireland. The delay, however,
which occurred in his departure from his native shores, was but
short, for in the year 1797 he was appointed to accompany his
brother, Lord Mornington, then Governor-General, to India,
and was actively engaged in the siege of Seringapatam, and in
the other operations of the army against Tippoo Sultan. The
success which attended the proceedings of the British forces
opened the way for his rapid advancement. He was made
Governor of Seringapatam, and one of the commissioners to
fix the divisions of the conquered provinces ; in both of which
situations he fulfilled his office with ability and justice. In
the war against the Mahrattas, his success at the battle of
Assye, in which he had to oppose an army ten times greater
than his own, confirmed his character and reputation. The
consequences of this victory were of the utmost importance to
the cause in which he fought; a triumphal monument was
erected at Calcutta to his honour, he received the thanks of
Parliament, and was made a Knight Companion of the Bath.
Having thus commenced the career, which was in a few
years to place him among the most celebrated captains of
this or any other country, he returned in the year 1805 to
England, and, shortly after, became Member of Parliament for
Newport. It was about this period that his mind was directed to
pursuits which scarcely belonged to the studies in which he
was then engaged, but which were afterwards to find an
ample, though unthought of, subject for their application.
His military services not being immediately required, he was
sent to Ireland as Secretary of State, under the Duke of
Richmond, but was soon again called into the field, to accom
pany Lord Cathcart to Copenhagen, and shortly after received
the thanks of both houses of Parliament for his conduct in
that expedition. 2

DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
But these events in the life of this distinguished General,
though such as would render an ordinary man conspicuous
among his contemporaries, formed but the introduction to his
history ; a splendid one, it is true, but still the preface only to
records which identify his memoirs with the annals of his
country. On the 12th of July, 1808, Sir Arthur Wellesley
sailed from Cork for the Peninsula, having under his command
a force of about ten thousand men, and arrived at Corunna on
the twentieth of the same month. The situation of affairs in
Spain at the moment of his arrival were far from encouraging.
The activity of the enemy, and the divisions and uncertainty
which existed among the natives, presented the most formid
able barrier to the success of their ally. It was believed by
the Junta, with whom he held a conference immediately on his
arrival, that Spain wanted not men, but arms and money.
With this opinion his own coincided, and he proceeded at once
to Oporto. The conduct of Sir Arthur, in the difficult situation
which he occupied, gave full evidence of his qualifications for
the arduous office to which he had been appointed. Opposed
as he was to one of the most skilful and active of the French
generals, he required the full and unreserved co-operation of
the native forces. But every circumstance which occurred
gave him fresh cause for suspecting, that either feeble
ness or vacillation would prevent their ever affording him
any efficient support. In addition to the difficulties which he
thus experienced from the bad condition of the Portuguese
ai-my, and the want of judgment in its leaders, others almost
equally great were created by the imperfect manner in which his
own forces were provisioned. The good sense which he showed
in regard to the latter circumstance, is well worthy of remark,
as it furnishes us with a striking characteristic of his natural
prudence, and attention to other considerations as well as those
only immediately connected with his profession. The change
he produced in the commissariat effected the most important
benefits ; and the observation which he made, when a court of
inquiry was instituted, gave rise to an examination of the
subject, which would otherwise probably have still remained
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
neglected, to the injury of the British army. " The fact is,"
said he, "that I wished to draw the attention of the Govern
ment to this important branch of the service, which is but little
understood in this country. The evils of which I complained
are probably to be attributed to the nature of our political
situation, which prevents us from undertaking great military
operations, in which the subsistence of armies becomes a
subject of serious consideration and difficulty, and these evils
consisted in the inexperience of almost every individual be
longing to the commissariat, in the mode of procuring, con
veying, and distributing supplies."
At length a new aspect was given to the situation of the
belligerent powers, by the convention of Cintra ; the different
articles of which excited so strong a spirit of discontent in
almost every party concerned. The feelings with which the
affair was witnessed by the admirers of Sir Arthur Wellesley,
are shown in the following letter which Lord Londonderry
received, at the time, from a friend in England. " The tumult
of our joy, and Wellesley's glorious conduct and successes, has
been cruelly disturbed by a communication of a supposed con
vention, the operations of which instrument would, if carried
into effect, secure to the French advantages beyond their reach
under the most brilliant success ; whilst their ten thousand men
are now pressed upon by not less than thirty to forty thousand
men, British and Portuguese."
In consequence of the temporary cessation of hostilities,
which followed the conclusion of this apparently ill-judged
treaty, Sir Arthur obtained leave of absence, and returned to
England. During his absence, events took place which threat
ened the speedy discomfiture of the protecting army, and the
complete success of the Imperial generals. The most rapid
changes had occurred in the higher posts of our army. The
confidence of the nation had been diminished in those appointed
to the supreme command ; and the officers who possessed the
greatest reputation for activity and skill, had either an inferior
authority, or were placed in circumstances in which they were
unable to exert their abilities. Evident, as it was, that the
4

DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
most ruinous consequences would follow, if a more resolute
course were not pursued, the English ministry determined on
measures calculated at once to give a different turn to the affairs
of the Peninsula. Under these circumstances, Sir Arthur
Wellesley, having been appointed to the chief command in
Portugal, set sail from Portsmouth on Saturday, the 16th of
April, 1809. A speedy termination, however, was threatened to
his career, for the vessel had scarcely reached the Isle of Wight,
when they were alarmed with the almost inevitable danger of
shipwreck ; but the wind providentially changed, and he
arrived in the Tagus on the 22nd of the month.
The manner in which Sir Arthur was regarded in the Pen
insula, was strongly manifested by the expressions of popular
delight which followed the announcement of his approach.
" No words," says an eye-witness, " would be adequate to con
vey the faintest idea of the delight exhibited by all classes of
persons, as soon as the arrival of Sir Arthur Wellesley at
Lisbon became known. All daylong the streets were crowded
with men and women, congratulating one another on the happy
event ; and at night the city was illuminated even in the most
obscure and meanest of its lanes and alleys. In the theatres,
pieces were hastily got up, somewhat after the fashion of the
masks anciently exhibited among ourselves, in which Victory
was made to crown Hie representative of the hero with laurels,
and to address him in language, as far removed from the terms
of ordinary conversation, as might be expected from an alle
gorical personage."
As a more substantial proof, however, of the esteem in which
the Portuguese held Sir Arthur, the Government immediately
appointed him Marshal-general of the armies of Portugal, by
which office he became possessed of the unrestricted command
of the troops. No delay was now suffered to take place, and
the new commander instantly pursued the measures which were
most calculated to produce immediate results. It is far from
being the purpose of this brief memoir to attempt even a cursory
detail of the different events which called forth the enterprising
valour, and profound military genius, of this distinguished man.
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
We must, therefore, content ourselves with merely alluding to
the occurrences which gave rise to his rapid advancement
in honour and celebrity. Having, notwithstanding the many
obstacles which opposed his progress, succeeded in obtaining
the celebrated victory of Talavera, he was raised to the peer
age as Lord Wellington; and his elevation was followed by
a train of splendid occurrences, which will hereafter render
the history of the nineteenth century one of those marked
portions in the annals of the world, to which men look when
they desire to find either great examples of heroism, or the
record of events which create wonder and admiration.
When, after the battle of Busaco, Portugal had been cleared
of the French, the allied army proceeded immediately towards
the capital of Spain. The battle of Salamanca, in which all
the talents of the commander were brought into full exercise,
secured to the Peninsula the brightest hopes of peace and
freedom ; and the abundant honours which were heaped upon
Lord Wellington by Spain and England, manifested the grati
tude with which both nations observed his triumphant career.
By the government of the former, he was made a grandee of the
first order, and commander-in-chief of all the Spanish forces ;
and by that of the latter, he was created a Marquis, and
received the grant of a hundred thousand pounds. At the
battle of Vittoria, which shortly followed, the English army was
again successful, and their leader attracted the eyes of all
Europe, as its certain deliverer from the common enemy of its
repose and safety. For this victory, the Marquis was rewarded
with the grant of an estate in Spain, of the annual value of ten
thousand pounds, and, which was a still more flattering expres
sion of his Country's and his Sovereign's esteem, received the fol
lowing letter from His Majesty, then Prince Regent, accompany
ing a Fieldmarshal's baton. " Carlton House, July 2d, 1812.
"My dear Lord,
Your conduct is above all human praise, I know no
language the world affords worthy to express it ; I feel that I
have nothing left to say, but devoutly to offer up my prayers of
6

DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
gratitude to Providence, that he has in his omnipotent bounty
blessed my country and myself with such a General. You have
sent me, among other trophies of your unrivalled fame, the staff
of a French Marshal ; and I send you in return, that of England.
The British army will hail it with enthusiasm, while the universe
will acknowledge those valorous efforts that have so imperiously
called for it. That uninterrupted health, and still increasing
laurels, may continue to crown you through a glorious and long
career of life, are the increasing and ardent wishes of,
" My dear Lord,
" Your ardent and sincere friend,
" The Marquis of Wellington. " G. P. R."
The interval between these events, and those which crowned
the efforts of the allied armies, by the entrance of the English
into Paris, was filled up by the passage of the Bidassoa, and the
battles of St. Race and Toulouse, in which the already crowned
victor gave additional lustre to his laurels. On the 23rd of
April, 1814, the convention of Paris was signed, and in the May
following, his Lordship was created Marquis of Douro and
Duke of Wellington, and received the grant of four hundred
thousand pounds, to be laid out in the purchase of an estate.
On the 23rd of June, he landed in England, and having taken his
seat in the House of Lords, for the twelfth time received the
congratulations of Parliament, and returned thanks to the House
of Commons in person. He was, however, to remain but a
short time in tranquillity. By the return of Buonaparte from
Elba, the services of the Duke were again required, and on the
18th of June he completed his triumphs on the field of Waterloo.
On the 23rd of the same month, a vote of thanks was again
passed, and on the 11th of July he received the additional
grant of two hundred thousand pounds.
The season of peace has not been one of rest or leisure to
his Grace. On the death of his royal highness the Duke of
York, he was appointed (January 22nd, 1827) Commander-in-
chief; and on January 25th, of the following year, was gazetted
as First Lord of the Treasury. 7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Late events have called for the exertions of the Duke of
Wellington, in a widely different sphere of action to that of
war ; but it is in another place than this, that the tendency of
his counsels must be determined. To pass opinions without
having space or opportunity to shew their reasonableness, is at
all times a useless, if not a dishonest practice ; and we therefore
refrain from making any comments on proceedings, which
are of too great importance to be alluded to lightly, or treated
of in the superficial and passionate spirit of a momentary
excitement. While, however, there will be a long cherishing
of opposite and bitter opinions respecting the political career
of his Grace, the sense of the nation will always remain the
same respecting his services when England stood most in need
of defenders. Of the celebrated men of modern times, no one
has done more for his country, or deserved a warmer expression
of her gratitude ; and while there are many reputations which
every coming year renders more and more unstable, that of the
Duke of Wellington will be renewed, whenever France or
England opens the records of its past history.
His Grace married the Hon. Catherine Pakenham, third
daughter of Edward Lord Longford, and sister of Thomas,
present Earl of Longford ; and has issue, Arthur Marquis of
Douro, who was born February 3rd, 1807, and Charles, born
January 16th, 1808. 8

<rEOT?GE OORTJON HYRO'X, LOIU) UYKON.

'ISHtflt.SON fr C? l.OMIJON, lfl'9

THE RT. HON. GEORGE GORDON BYRON,
LORD BYRON.
Among the celebrated men of the present age, Lord Byron
stands distinguished by the circumstances of his life, as well
as by the excellency of his genius. In no instance more than
his, has the trite remark respecting the want of incidents
in literary memoirs been so strongly contradicted. From
nearly his first appearance before the public, to the con
clusion of his life, he was impelled forward by occur
rences which added romance to sensibility, and which, while
they drew forth the natural peculiarities of his thought and
feeling, were in themselves full of the strange poetry of
human existence.
George Gordon, Lord Byron, was descended from a family
of great antiquity, and inherited a name already well known in
the annals of his country. The estate of Newstead was con
ferred upon his ancestor, Sir John Byron, by Henry VIII. on
the dissolution of the monasteries, and in the year 1643, the
head of the family, having distinguished himself in the
struggles of the period, was raised to the peerage for his
services at the battles of Edge Hill and Roundway Down.
The late Lord Byron was the sixth who possessed the
title, and was born January 22, 1788. The imprudent
and licentious conduct of his father having compelled him
to become an exile from England, his infant son was left
to the sole guardianship of his mother : a woman who
appears to have deserved all the affection which he could
give in return for her maternal solicitude. At an early age
he was sent to the grammar school at Aberdeen, to which
place his mother had retired soon after his birth; but, like
many other men of pre-eminent talent, he exhibited few
early symptoms of the intellectual energy with which he
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
was endowed. While at school, his great-uncle died; and
he succeeded to the title and estates to which the death of his
father, in 1791, had left him heir.
His elevation gave, it is said, little gratification to his
boyish feelings. He was proud, fond of independence, but
free in his disposition; and the ridicule with which his
companions received the announcement of his new dignity,
strongly affected him. From these circumstances, and his pre
dilection for lonely scenes, a careful observer might have
collected a sufficient knowledge of his character, to be con
vinced it was cast in no ordinary mould ; and though it offered
few of those outward and striking instances of talent, which
are requisite to arrest the attention of the vulgar, that it
would, when fully developed, be worthy of deep regard.
Soon after coming to his title, he was placed under the
guardianship of the Earl of Carlisle, by whom he was -sent to
Harrow. At this place he continued to manifest the same
characteristics of temper which had distinguished him in child
hood — was devotedly fond of liberty, determined in his pursuits,
a great enemy to the mechanism of construing or copying the
classics, and admired by his schoolfellows more for his readi
ness to support their rights, than his capability of assisting them
in any learned difficulty. In the year 1804, his residence at
Harrow terminated, and he was sent to Cambridge; which
offered a scene still less calculated than any of those he had
previously known, to call forth his talents, or set his thoughts
in motion. The honours of the University were little fitted to
rouse his ambition. Its discipline was not of a character to
rightly influence his conduct; and there was nothing in any
one part of the studies or employments of the place, calculated
to make him conscious Of what rested within him. The time,
consequently, which he spent at Cambridge, so far as the
University was concerned, produced him little profit-; and
though he will no doubt be registered among the eminent men
it has produced, he was only known there for his eccentricities,
or as a violator of its discipline.
On completing his residence at Cambridge, he took up his
2

LORD BYRON.
abode at Newstead Abbey, a place which, if he had been left
to the free choice of an ancestral mansion, could not have been
excelled. It was ancient,' rich in legendary association, and
situated in the midst of a green and romantic country. It was
a fit home for a young and noble poet, a cradle in which thought
might well be nursed up to become the bride of imagination.
But, unfortunately, neither at this, nor at any other period of
his life, was Lord Byron sufficiently settled, to enjoy the full
advantages which this delicious retreat afforded him. It was
about this time, however, (the year 1807,) that he first appeared
before the public as an author. The "Hours of Idleness," which
were published at Newark, consisted of the miscellaneous
pieces which he had composed between his sixteenth and
eighteenth years ; but they were of the same character as hun
dreds of others, which have been written by young men of the
same a%e, and might, without any very great error of judg
ment, be mistaken for the production of a mere versifier. The
severe opinion which was passed upon the volume by the
Edinburgh Review, is well known, and contributed, there is
little doubt, to lash the yet unawakened energies of Lord
Byron's mind into action. Had it not been for the violent
convulsion this circumstance created in his feelings, there is no
determining how long he might have been a weak and puling
dribbler of fugitive pieces. The immediate consequence of the
indignation he felt at the critique, was the composition of the
"English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," in which he took
vengeance, we may almost say, on friends as well as foes.
Its publication produced considerable sensation, and no one
could any longer look upon him as a mere rhymster.
But at this period, a circumstance occurred, which more
than any other affected his mind, and gave that gloom to his
innermost feelings, which they ever after retained. Amid all
the dissipation of his youth, his heart still possessed its natural
ardour of affection ; and on the ruin of its earliest hopes,
suffered a misery, which it required something more than
human to alleviate. He had very early become attached to
Miss Chaworth, but his passion was unreturned, and he had to
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
undergo the trial of seeing the object of his attachment married
to another. From this date, it appears, he became more than
ever prodigal of his time, thought, and feelings. His poetry
had been scorned, his heart wounded in its tenderest part, and
life itself seemed to present nothing but a long and uncheering
road. In this situation of his mind, he determined on making
the tour of the continent; and he accordingly set out,
having for his companion -Mr. John Cam Hobhouse. The
journey which his Lordship took was one of considerable
extent, and varied by numerous incidents, full of delight and
profit to his mind. In July 1811, he returned home, having
been absent two years ; during which time his feelings had
recovered something of their elasticity, and had been richly
improved in all their poetical tendencies. In 1812 appeared
the first two Cantos of Childe Harold, and they were received in
a manner which fully compensated the author for his former dis
appointment. He immediately became possessed of an almost
unlimited popularity, and began thenceforward to be regarded
as the great prodigy of his age. Childe Harold was followed
by the "Giaour," the "Bride of Abydos," "The Corsair,"
"Lara," and "The Siege of Corinth;" all of which were in the
highest degree successful.
It was not till about three years after his auspicious appear
ance before the world, that he married — his lady being the only
daughter of Sir Ralph Millbaak Noel, Bart. He had made
her, it is said, a previous offer of his hand, but had been
refused. The union, it is well known, was not productive
of happiness : considerable domestic difficulties soon ensued,
and a separation took place shortly after Lady Byron had
given birth to a daughter. His Lordship then again left
England for the continent, and completed the third Canto of
Childe Harold, which was followed by the " The Prisoner of
Chillon." In 1817 appeared " Manfred," and " The Lament
of Tasso;" and in 1818, the last Canto of Childe Harold. The
same year also produced the whimsical poem of " Beppo," and
the following one "Mazeppa," with part of "Don Juan," which
has hurt the poet's character not only by its wretched morality,
4

LORD BYRON.
but by the contempt it evinces for that purity of thought, and
high spiritual beauty of mind, which is inseparable from
intellects of the finest order.
Shortly after these poems appeared, he published several
dramatic works, for which kind of composition his genius
wanted neither pathos nor depth, but that activity and inde
pendence of personal feeling which are essential to the drama
tist. These pieces, therefore, did not produce much effect, and
they are only to be admired for the occasional beauty of
poetical sentiment which they exhibit.
On leaving England, Lord Byron had expressed his deter
mination never to return to it; he, therefore, continued to
change his residence from one part of Italy to another, till he
formed the noble determination of proceeding to Greece, in
order to assist the suffering inhabitants in their efforts for free
dom. He arrived in Cephalonia in August 1823, from which
place he proceeded to Missolonghi. The sacrifice which he
made of money and health in the cause he had embraced,
renders his name venerable to humanity, and adds to the deep
regret with which we contemplate the ruin of his heart and
principles. With so much nobility of character, he might have
been as great in the pursuit of good, as in that of fame, but
dissipation and regret, united, had worn away the foundation
of his moral nature, and that which should have appeared as
constitutional virtue, was only an occasional impulse.
It is not improbable, we think, that the necessity for vigorous
exertion, which his situation in Greece imposed, might have
produced a more healthy state of feeling. But a longer career
was not allowed him. In the month of March following his
arrival in Cephalonia, his constitution gave evident signs of
weakness and decay, but he continued his usual occupations
till the ninth of April, on which day he got very wet, and
was attacked in consequence with a slow fever. His
illness continued to increase, but the physicians expressed
their opinion that no danger was to be apprehended. Their
advice, however, it is to be feared, was fatally erroneous, for
on the sixteenth they declared, after having copiously bled
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
him, that the disease had arrived at a dangerous crisis. But
the account of the last moments of this celebrated man, as
given by his faithful domestic, Mr. Fletcher, is deeply inte
resting, and is of course better to be depended upon than any
other. "I do not," says he, "believe that his Lordship had any
apprehension of his fate till the day after the 18th, when he
said, " I fear you and Tita will be ill by sitting continually
night and day." I answered, "We shall never leave your
Lordship till you are better." As my master had a slight fit of
delirium on the 16th, I took care to remove the pistol and
stiletto, which had hitherto been kept at his bedside in the
night. On the 18th his Lordship addressed me frequently, and
seemed to be very much dissatisfied with his medical treat
ment. I then said, " Do allow me to send for Dr. Thomas,"
to which he answered, "Do so, but be quick; I am sorry I did
not let you do so before, as I am sure they have mistaken my
disease. Write yourself, for I know they would not like to
see other doctors here." I did not lose a moment in obeying
my master's orders ; and on informing Dr. Bruno and Mr.
Millengen of it, they said it was very right, as they now began
to be afraid themselves.
On returning to my master's room, his first words were,
" Have you sent?" " I have, my Lord," was my answer; upon
which he said, "You have done right, for I should like to
know what is the matter with me." Although his Lordship did
not appear to think his dissolution was so near, I could per
ceive he was getting weaker every hour, and he even began to
have occasional fits of delirium. He afterwards said, " I now
begin to think I am seriously ill, and in case I should be taken
off suddenly, I wish to give you several directions, which I
hope you will be particular in seeing executed." I answered,
I would, in case such an event came to pass ; but expressed
a hope that he would live many years, to execute them much
better himself than I could. To this my master replied, "No,
it is now nearly over ;" and then added, " I must tell you all
without losing a moment :" I then said, " Shall I go, my Lord,
and fetch pen, ink, and paper?" " Oh my God ! no ; you will
6

LORD BYRON.
lose too much time, and I have it not to spare, for my time is
now short," said his Lordship ; and immediately added, " now
pay attention !"
His Lordship commenced by saying, "You will be provided
for." I begged him, however, to proceed with things of more
consequence. He then continued, " Oh, my poor dear child !
my dear Ada ! My God ! could I have but seen her ! Give her
my blessing— and my dear sister Augusta and her children ;
and you will go to Lady Byron, and say — tell her every thing
— you are friends with her." His Lordship seemed to be
greatly affected at this moment. Here my master's voice failed
him, so that I could only catch a word at intervals ; but he
kept muttering something very seriously for some time, and
would often raise his voice and say, " Fletcher, now if you do
not execute every order which I have given you, I will torment
you hereafter, if possible." Here I told his Lordship, in a state
of the greatest perplexity, that I had not understood a word of
what he said ; to which he replied. " Oh, my God ! then all
is lost, for it is now too late ! Can it be possible you have not
understood me ? " No, my Lord," said I ; " but I pray you to
try and inform me once more." " How can I ?" rejoined my
master; " it is now too late, and all is over !" I said, " Not our
will, but God's be done !" — and he answered, " Yes, not mine
be done-c-but I will try. His Lordship indeed made several
efforts to speak, but could only speak two or three words at a
time — such as, " My wife ! my child ! my sister ! — you know
all — you must say all — you know my wishes:" the rest was
quite unintelligible. A consultation was now held (about
noon,) when it was determined to administer some Peruvian
bark and wine. My master had now been nine days without
any sustenance whatever, except what I have already men
tioned. With the exception of a few words, which can only
interest those to whom they were addressed, and which, if
required, I shall communicate to themselves, it was impossible
to understand any thing his Lordship said after taking the bark.
He expressed, a wish to sleep. I at one time asked whether
I should call Mr. Parry ; to which he replied, " Yes, you may
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
call him." Mr. Parry desired him to compose himself. He
shed tears, and apparently sunk into a slumber. Mr. Parry
went away, expecting to find him refreshed on his return, — but
it was the commencement of the lethargy preceding his death.
The last words I heard my master utter were at six o'clock
on the evening of the 18th, when he said, "I must sleep now;"
upon which he lay down, never to rise again ! — for he did not
move hand or foot during the following twenty-four hours.
His Lordship appeared, however, to be in a state of suffoca
tion at intervals, and had a frequent rattling in the throat : on
these occasions I called Tita, to assist me in raising his head,
and I thought he seemed to get quite stiff. The rattling and
choking in the throat took place every half hour; and we con
tinued to raise his head whenever the fit" came on, till six
o'clock in the evening of the 19th, when I saw my master
open his eyes and then shut them, but without shewing any
symptom of pain, or moving hand or foot. " Oh ! my God !"
I exclaimed, " I fear his Lordship is gone !" The doctors then
felt his pulse, and said, " You are right — he is gone !"
Thus terminated the existence of a man, whose name will
always remain among the brightest of which this country can
boast. Our limits compel us to sum up the estimate of his
character in few words, but both in its literary and moral
qualities it merits a long and careful scrutiny. As a poet,
Lord Byron was as great as a poet can be, whose universe is
in himself — who loves nature deeply, but only as in present
sympathy with his feelings — who has a spirit's intensity of
thought, but little freedom of imagination — and whose passion
is always greater when awakened by his individual circum
stances than when roused by the variously working impulses
of a bold fancy. As a man, there was more in him to be loved
than to be despised, but more deserving of reprobation than of
pity. The circumstances of his situation contributed much to
form his poetical character, and they go far to excuse many
of his errors ; but his freedom as a moral agent remained, and
nothing but its entire destruction could have justified him
in the general conduct of his life. 8

JOHN JEFFERIES PRATT, MAKQUIS

FISMEX. SON Zc C? J.OWDOIN, J823.

JOHN JEFFREYS PRATT,
MARQUIS CAMDEN.
John Jeffreys Pratt, Marquis and Earl of Camden, Earl of
Brecknock, Viscount Bayham, and Baron Camden, K. G. F. S . A.
one of the Tellers of the Exchequer, an Elder Brother of
the Trinity House, Lord Lieutenant, Vice- Admiral and Custos
Rotulorum for the County of Kent and City of Canterbury, and
Recorder of Bath. The illustrious possessor of these several
titles was born 11th February, 1759. His grandfather, Sir John
Pratt, Knight, was a distinguished lawyer, and represented
in Parliament the borough of Midhurst in Sussex, but vacated
his seat on being appointed one of the Justices of the Court of
King's Bench, in 1724. His father, Sir Charles Pratt, was born
1714. In 1759 he was made Recorder of Bath, and soon after
Attorney General. In 1761 he became Chief Justice of the
Court of Common Pleas, and in 1765 was created a Peer, by
the title of Lord Camden, Baron of Camden. He succeeded
the Earl of Northington as Lord High Chancellor, was made
Lord President of the Council in 1784, and two years after
wards was created Viscount Bayham and Earl Camden.
The present representative of the house of Camden com
menced his public career in 1780, in which year he became a
member of the House of Commons, and distinguished himself by
his opposition to the American war. Shortly after his entrance
upon the great stage of politics, he was appointed one of the
Lords of the Admiralty, and in 1794 was nominated a Lord
of the Treasury.
In this year he succeeded, on the death of his father, to the
title of Earl Camden, and was made Lord Lieutenant of Ire
land. The period in which he entered upon the government of
the sister island, was one of peril and difficulty. The whole
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
country was in a state of the most violent commotion, and
it required immediate and vigorous counsels, to stop the
torrent of sedition by which the overthrow of the English
government was threatened. His Lordship instantly took the
steps which seemed most likely to restore tranquillity ; but
it appeared necessary to the safety of the kingdom, that a
military man should occupy a situation, the duties of which
were now of such an arduous nature, and the Marquis of
Cornwallis was appointed to the post.
On his return to this country, the Earl was received by
Government with every demonstration of respect. In the
debates which ensued on the subject of Ireland, he ably defended
the measures he had taken during his short administration, and
constantly and firmly recommended the immediate union of
the two countries. Since this period he has filled some of the
highest situations in the government of the kingdom, and has
been successively appointed Secretary of State, President of
the Council, &c.
Few persons have shewn themselves endowed with a nobler
or more genuine patriotism than his Lordship ; and there is one
action of his life which throws a greater lustre over his name
and character, than they could have derived from the most
splendid family glory. He had enjoyed from an early period
of his life, the office of Teller of the Exchequer, which had been
resigned by his father in his favour. The immense income
derived from the office may be understood from the discussion
which took place on the subject of expenditure in 1812.
On May 7th, Mr. Creevy brought forth a motion in the
House of Commons to limit the profits of the office, in support
of which he observed — that it was his intention to consider this
as a mere question of private property between those indivi
duals and the public. The places had been given as rewards
for the services of the fathers of these noblemen, (Marquis of
Buckingham and Lord Camden,) and he did not mean to find
fault with their distributions; but his objections were, that
their emoluments were indefinite in their amount, and dispro
portionate to the circumstances of the nation The fees of
2

MARQUIS CAMDEN.
these offices were of such a nature, that they rose exactly
in proportion to the distresses of the country. From the
report of the commissioners of public accounts, it appeared
that in 1782, when they were granted, which was not a time of
peace, they did not exceed £2500 per annum; which sum,
during the American war, was increased to £70,000. In 1808,
such had been the public expenditure, that the tellerships had
risen to £23,000 each, and there was no doubt that the emolu
ment must now be considerably more. This was a much
greater sum than had been granted as rewards for all the
splendid military services that had been performed for the
country ; and he could not bring himself to acknowledge the
right of these two noblemen to derive such enormous emolu
ments from the public calamities. Having read extracts from
the report of the commissioners of public accounts in 1782,
and made some observations on the right of Government to
control the profits of such offices, he concluded by moving
several resolutions, of which the seventh was thus worded :
"That it appears to this House, that Parliament has at various
times asserted and exercised a right of limitation and con
trol over the fees payable to the teller, by excepting specific
terms of money from the payment of all such fees, and that it
is the duty of Parliament, in the present unparalleled state of
national expenditure and public calamity, to exercise its right
still further over the fees now paid out of the public money at
the Exchequer, so as to confine the profits of the Marquis of
Buckingham and Lord Camden to some fixed and settled sum
of money for public services, more suited to the present means
and resources of the nation."
The motion was negatived without a division ; but, insti
gated by the most generous and admirable patriotism, the
illustrious subject of this memoir, since created Marquis
Camden, voluntarily resigned the greater part of the receipts
belonging to his situation. — Our national records will scarcely
furnish us with a more pleasing anecdote of individual pa
triotism, than that which was thus exhibited ; and the name of
his Lordship deserves to be for ever remembered, as connected
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
with whatever is best and most worthy of admiration in
nobility. It was one of those actions which not only gives a
greater lustre to the most illustrious character, but enhances
the value of history itself, there being nothing, in examples of
the boldest heroism, equal in worth with an instance of calm,
deliberate, and long-continued generosity. At no time, we
trust, will the impression which this noble conduct first made
on the public mind be less vivid : let the spirit which dictated
it be cherished in all ranks of life, and the world .will have seen
one of the worst barriers against social happiness and improve
ment broken down.
His Lordship married, in 1785, the daughter of William
Molesworth, Esq. and has issue a son, George-Charles, Earl of
Brecknock, born May 2, 1799, and three daughters.
4

Cs. ^..Z^iffi&ri

WILLIAM 1'ITT AMHERST, FARE. AMIIKKST

FL'IltLiH ;',nH fe C> TiONDOW. IflJig

WILLIAM-PITT AMHERST,
EARL AMHERST.
The first Lord Amherst, and uncle of the subject of the pre
sent memoir) was born in 1717, and was descended from a
family of respectability long settled in the county of Kent.
He entered the army at an early period of life, and became
commander of the British forces in America. For his distin
guished services in that quarter of the globe, he received the
Order of the Bath, and was made Governor of Virginia. In
1776 he was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron
Amherst of Holmesdale, and having been twice appointed Com
mander-in-Chief, died in the year 1797, at Montreal in Kent.
Not leaving issue, his nephew, the present Lord Amherst,
succeeded to the title ; and on the 2d of December, 1826,. was
created an Earl.
His Lordship, from the commencement of his public life,
espoused the opinions and views of Mr. Pitt, and uniformly
pursued the line of political conduct which the principles of
that statesman laid down. Lord Amherst appeared in
various public relations, before receiving the appointment
of Governor-General of India. Among other situations
which he occupied, was a diplomatic mission to Italy, after
returning from which, he was made one of the Lords of his
Majesty's Bedchamber, and was shortly after sent out as
Ambassador to China. The most interesting portion of his
Lordship's life, and that on which future biographers will find
it most necessary to dilate, was that which passed while he
was employed in this important mission.
The object of Government, and of the East India Company,
in sending out the Embassy, of which Lord Amherst was the
head, was the removing of those many annoyances to which
the Company's servants had been long subject, from the
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
natural tendency of Chinese jealousy. The several persons
composing the Embassy left England in February, 1816, on
board his Majesty's ship Alceste. In July of the same year
they arrived at the Leeward Islands, and an interview took
place between Lord Amherst and Sir George Staunton. The
latter, it appears, entertained from the first considerable doubts
respecting the success of the Embassy, which from the then
somewhat agitated state of the Chinese empire and of its chief,
could hardly have arrived at a more unfavourable juncture. He
represented that the Emperor was more than ever suspicious
of Europeans, from an attempt which had been lately
made to assassinate him, and which he believed origi
nated with the Missionaries. A Catholic bishop had already
suffered, and another person of the same persuasion was then
awaiting the punishment of death. But the most formidable
obstacle to the prosperous progress of the Embassy, was
shortly found to be, the haughty demand of the Chinese
authorities, that the Ambassador should perform certain cere
monies, which he considered unbecoming the representative of
the King of England. The Mandarins, who had met him at
Tien-sing, informed him that at the feast with which they
intended to honour him, it was necessary that the same forms
should be observed as if the Emperor, by whose orders it
was provided, were himself present. Lord Amherst declared
his readiness to shew the same marks of respect towards the
Emperor as he did to his own sovereign ; but that, more, he was
neither authorized nor willing to do. An intimation was then
given that the purpose of the Embassy would be materially
injured by his persisting in these sentiments. He, however,
remained firm, and the Mandarins at length yielded the point.
On the whole of this affair being made known to the Emperor,
he expressed himself highly enraged at the contumacy of the
Ambassador, and at the conduct of the Mandarins who had
suffered him to proceed. Lord Amherst was also given to
understand, that he would positively not be received, unless
he chose to comply with the prescribed forms. Shortly after
this, an official communication was made, requiring the imme-
2

EARL AMHERST.
diate departure of the Embassy, or a direct accordance with the
desire of the court. Every art of persuasion was employed to
induce his Lordship to comply; and, among other topics repeat
edly urged on his attention, one most strenuously insisted
upon was, the honour which his son would obtain by his com
pliance. Even this, however, failed ; and upon being questioned
as to the official situation which the young gentleman bore, his
father informed them that he had brought him out in order to
superintend his education himself, and had accordingly ap
pointed him his page. Lord Amherst made several offers to the
Mandarins, of even performing the much required ceremony, if it
should be made distinctly to appear that his doing so implied
no inferiority of rank in his own sovereign. This being
objected to, he said he had still another proposal to make,
which he trusted would prove more consistent with Chinese
usage ; that his reason for declining compliance with the ko-tou,
(the ceremony insisted upon,) being an apprehension that it
might derogate from the dignity of his own sovereign, it was
necessary that he should obtain some document to prevent
any such inference from being drawn, and therefore he had to
request, that in return for his performing the ko-tou, his Im
perial Majesty would issue an edict, declaring that any Chinese
Ambassador, who might hereafter be presented at the English
court, should perform the Tartar obeisance before his Britannic
Majesty. But his offers were one after the other treated with
disdain ; and, feeling as he did upon the subject, no alternative
was left, but to inform them of his willingness to return.
This he accordingly did, and the Emperor soon after pub
lished an edict, declaring his anger at the conduct of the
Mandarins, who, he said, had not given him a correct statement
of all that occurred, and laying upon them the whole blame of
the manner in which the Ambassador had been treated.
On the 20th January, 1817, Lord Amherst embarked, and
proceeded on his return to Whampoa. On the 23d he arrived
at Macao, and on the 3d of February at Manilla. About a
week after leaving this place, the vessel, in which he was
embarked, struck upon a rock, and the crew and passengers
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
were only saved by an immediate recourse to the boats. From
Middle Island, near which the accident happened, Lord Am
herst pursued his voyage in the barge to Batavia, which he
reached in safety. At St. Helena his Lordship had the gratifi
cation of being introduced to Buonaparte, with whom he had
a long and interesting conversation. He left that island on
the 2d of July, and on the 17th of the following month arrived
in England. The policy of Lord Amherst, while he was Governor-General
of India, to which high appointment he succeeded after Mr.
Adam, has been the subject of frequent political discussion, but
it does not come within the province of these memoirs to enter
upon such questions, and we cannot do better than quote the
words of Mr. Canning, who, having heard it stated, he said,
that Lord Amherst had been a tyrant in his office, exclaimed,
" Why, I could as soon believe that he had become a tiger by
going to India."
Lord Amherst married, July 24, 1800, the Countess of
Plymouth, relict of the Earl of Plymouth, by whom he has
had issue Jeffrey, born 1802, died 1826; William-Pitt, who
also died in his youth ; and a surviving son, born in February,
1807. 4

-y-

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.

FISHER., Scar de C° LONDOIT, 1829.

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS,
THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.

History occasionally presents us with a page in which she
pauses amidst her busy and exciting details, to awaken our
sympathies and affections. The characters and events which we
usually meet with in her narratives, draw us from ourselves, to
make us share in the passions which agitate the world ; and it
is rarely that she affords us a lesson, by which we are not
taught to be more politic than wise — more ready to value what is
splendid, than to meditate on what is fragile and mutable. But
the short passage which is occupied with the subject of the
present memoir, forcibly impresses the mind with other and
more useful sentiments.
The Princess Charlotte Caroline Augusta was born at
Carlton House on the 7th of January 1796, and was the only
child of his present Majesty, and of Caroline Amelia Eliza
beth, second daughter of the late Duke of Brunswick. The
infancy of this amiable Princess was distinguished by an
evidence of more than ordinary talent, and by the most excellent
natural disposition. During the first five years of her life, her
Mother was her principal instructress ; and under the watchful
superintendence of an affectionate parent, her mind every day
exhibited some new and attractive grace. An interesting
testimony to the early virtues of her Royal Highness, is found
in the private journal of the late Bishop of London, Beilby
Porteus, who visited her mother at Shrewsbury-house, Black-
heath, where she then resided. 1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
"Yesterday, the 6th of August, 1801, I passed a very
pleasant day at Shrewsbury-house, Blackheath, the residence
of the Princess Charlotte of Wales. The day was fine, the
prospect extensive and beautiful, taking in a large part of the
Thames ; it was covered with vessels of various sizes and
descriptions. We saw a good deal of the young Princess ; she
is a most captivating and engaging child, and, considering the
high station she may hereafter fill, a most interesting and
important one. She repeated to me several of her hymns with
great correctness and propriety ; and being told, when she
went to South-End in Essex, (as she afterwards did for the
benefit of sea-bathing,) she would then be in my diocese, she
fell down on her knees, and begged my blessing. I gave it her
with all my heart, and with my earnest secret prayer to God,
that she might adorn her illustrious station with every christian
grace ; and that if ever she became Queen of this truly great
and glorious country, she might be the means of diffusing
virtue, piety, and happiness through every part of her domi
nions." Such is the interesting character given of the young Prin
cess by one of the best and most pious men of which this
country has been able to boast. For a considerable period her
health was considered in a very delicate state, and she was
carried, by the advice of her physicians, to the most healthy
parts of the sea-coast. Shortly after her mother ceased the
chief superintendence of her studies, she was placed under the
care of the Dowager Lady de Clifford ; but the list of her pre
ceptors was numerous, and some of the most celebrated and
exalted personages of the day were employed in her instruc
tion. Among them are to be reckoned Doctor Fisher, Bishop
of Salisbury ; the Reverend Doctor Pott ; Doctor Short ; the
Duchess of Leeds ; the Countess of Elgin, &c. &c.
In 1814, on the occasion of her birth-day, which was
observed with great splendour, she for the first time received
the visits of the Nobility, but shortly after began to experience
the trials with which, young and royal as she was, her short
life was chequered. Owing to the distressing disputes which

THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.
existed between her parents, it was considered necessary to
place her under the charge of the Dowager Countess of Rosslyn
and the Countess of Ilchester ; shortly after which she was
directed to remove to Cranbourne-lodge, where it was intimated
that she was to receive neither letters nor visits, but by per
mission of the ladies under whose care she was placed. What
ever reasons there might be at the time for this distressing
arrangement, it served strongly to shew the noble and ardent
character of the Princess. Unobserved by her attendants, and
unaccompanied, she suddenly left her house, and hastened
with all speed to Connaught-place, where the Princess of
Wales then resided. To her disappointment, however, her
Mother was absent from home ; but, deeply affected as she was
at thus missing the much longed for opportunity of seeing
her, she was at last persuaded to return to Carlton House,
under the protection of the Duke of York. Soon after this
occurrence, the Princess of Wales retired to the continent,
and on May the 18th, 1815, her daughter was presented at
Court. About the same period, the Prince of Orange, who
had been commonly regarded as her intended husband, formally
declared his intentions of aspiring to her hand ; but the Prin
cess, it appears, had uniformly expressed her disinclination
to receive his addresses, and when, at a subsequent period,
the royal lover renewed his suit, the same sentiments were
again expressed.
In some part of the year 1814, the Prince Leopold, third
brother of the reigning Duke of Cobourg, had been presented
at the English court, and continued here for some time. In
the beginning of 1816, he paid another visit to England
when it became generally known that he was likely to become
the husband of the apparent Heiress to the Throne. The mar
riage of the illustrious lovers took place on May the 2nd, of the
same year ; the ceremony being performed by the Archbishop
of Canterbury, in the great crimson room of Carlton House, in
the presence of the Queen, the Prince Regent, the Dukes of
York, Clarence, and Kent, &c. Two days after the marriage,
the Prince Regent made his son-in-law a General in the
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
English army, and the Parliament shortly after voted a grant
of 50,000?. per annum, during the joint lives of the royal pair,
or the life of the survivor. An additional 10,000?. per annum
was granted for pin-money to the Princess, and 60,000 pounds
was advanced for plate, and the other necessary furniture of
their intended residence of Claremont.
The happiness, and that which is so rarely enjoyed by
persons of exalted rank, the domestic comfort which followed
this union, rendered it a source of gratification to the nation
at large. The virtues which had distinguished the retired
youth of the Princess shone as brightly forth in her new situa
tion. The neighbourhood of her residence was, without
fabling or flattering, blessed by her presence. Every cottage
was visited, and received some additional comfort by her
attention. No one of the humble inhabitants of the vicinity
was suffered to remain without a Bible ; and in the inclemency
of winter, their wants were provided for by the most meek
and simple-hearted benevolence. But the virtues and peace
which thus surrounded the happy abode of Claremont were
no protection against the natural instability of human good.
On the 6th of November, 1817, after having given birth to a
still-born male infant, the hopes of the nation, and the most
perfect domestic felicity, perished by her unlooked-for death.
This melancholy event, rendered more so by its suddenness,
was preceded by the most encouraging prospect of happiness,
and, till almost within the moment of her decease, ideas were
entertained of her perfect safety. Public information was
immediately given of the loss which the nation had sustained,
by the following note addressed by the Secretary of State to
the Lord Mayor.
"My Lord,
" It is with the deepest sorrow that I inform your Lord
ship, that her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte expired
this morning, at half past two o'clock. " I have, &c. "SlDMOUTH."
4

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.
The sentiments of sorrow which were expressed throughout
the country evidenced the deep sense of respect with which
her character had been regarded, nor has the remembrance of
her virtues yet lost its strength. Her name will long dwell
in the hearts of the English people, as one of the fairest
emblems of royalty, when purest and most illustrious.
We do not know how we can better describe the sensation
which her death produced in the nation, than by quoting the
words of Dr. Southey, who begins his new and interesting
Colloquies with the reminiscences of that distressing event. 'It
was,' says he, ' during that melancholy November, when the
death of the Princess Charlotte had diffused throughout Great
Britain a more general sorrow than had ever before been
known in these kingdoms ; I was sitting alone at evening in
my library, and my thoughts had wandered from the book
before me, to the circumstances which made this national cala
mity be felt almost like a private affliction. While I was thus
musing, the post- woman arrived. My letters told me there was
nothing exaggerated in the public accounts of the impression
which this sudden loss had produced : that wherever you went,
you found the women of the family weeping, and that men
could scarcely speak of the event without tears ; that in all the
better parts of the metropolis, there was a sort of palsied feel
ing, which seemed to affect the whole current of active life, and
that for several days there prevailed in the streets a stillness
like that of the sabbath, but without its repose. I opened the
newspaper, it was still bordered with broad mourning lines,
and was filled with details concerning the deceased Princess.
Her coffin, and the ceremonies at her funeral, were described as
minutely as the order of her nuptials, and her bridal dress, had
been in the same journal scarce eighteen months before. "Man,"
says Sir Thomas Brown, ' is a noble animal, splendid in ashes,
and pompous in the grave ; solemnizing nativities and deaths
with equal lustre, nor omitting ceremonies of bravery in the
infamy of his nature." On the introduction of the second
person in the dialogue, the author continues, " He asked me,
if I were not thinking of the Princess Charlotte, when he dis-

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
turbed me. That, said I, may easily be divined. All persons
whose hearts are not filled with their own grief, are thinking of
her at this time. It had just occurred to me, that on two
former occasions, when the heir-apparent of England was cut
off in the prime of life, the nation was on the eve of a religious
revolution in the first instance, and of a political one in the
second." " Prince Arthur, and Prince Henry," he replied.
This beautiful tribute to the memory of the Princess is not
less true than eloquent, and can hardly be read without inspir
ing the feelings with which it was written.
The coffin in which were deposited the remains of her Royal
Highness, bore the following Inscription :
Depositum
IUustrissimae Principissae
CHARLOTTE AUGUSTS
lllustrissimi Principis Georgii Augtjsti
Frederici
Principis Walliae, Britanniarum Regentis
Filiae unicse
Consortisque Serenissimi Principis
Leopoldi Georgii Frederici
Ducis Saxonias, Marchionis Misnise,
Landgravii Thuringiae, Principis Coburgi
Saalfeldensis, Exercituum Regis
Marescalli, Majestati Regiae a
Sanctioribus Consiliis, Ordinis Pericelidis
et Honoratissimi Ordinis Militaris
de Balneo Equitis :
Obiit &* die Novembris, anno Domini, m.dcccxvii.
iEtatis suae xxn.

The person of this lamented Princess was of the middle
size, but inclining to fulness. Her countenance was fair, but
expressive of great dignity ; to which her full blue eyes added
the grace of extreme mildness and benevolence. Of her
6

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.
amiable conduct in the more important duties of life, enough has
been already said to prove her worth ; and we may add, that
the kindness and cheerfulness of her heart rendered her equally
deserving of love, in her friendly intercourse with persons of
her own age. The following letter, sent to the young Lady
Albemarle with a bust of Fox, of whose character she was a
warm admirer, and whose name she always mentioned with the
greatest respect, is very expressive of this disposition.
"My dear Lady Albemarle,
" I most heartily thank you for your very kind letter, which
I hasten to answer. But I must not forget that this letter
must be a letter of congratulations the most sincere ; I love
you, and therefore there is no wish I do not form for your hap
piness in this world.
" May you have as few cares and vexations as can fall to
the lot of woman; and may you long be spared, and long
enjoy the blessing, of all others the most precious, your dear
mother — who is not more precious to you than to me. But
there is a trifle which accompanies this, (the bust of the Right
Honourable C. J. Fox,) which I hope you will like ; and if it
sometimes reminds you of me, it will be a great source of plea
sure to me. — I shall be most happy to see you, for it is a long
time since I had that pleasure. — Adieu, my dear Lady Albe
marle, and believe me ever your affectionate friend,
"Charlotte."
An anecdote is told of her, which also places her character
for penetration, as well as kindness, in a striking point of view.
Among her domestics was one whom she had frequent reason
to reprove, on account of negligence, and want of punctuality.
At last she thought of a method, which no one, with either less
mildness or tact of observation, would have employed in
such a case. She presented the offender with a watch! — and
it must have "been a bad heart indeed which could have resisted
such a lesson. 7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
The talents of the Princess Charlotte were, it appears,
equal to the amiability of her disposition. She was well
skilled in French, German, and Italian, all of which languages
she spoke and wrote with fluency; possessing at the same
time a considerable acquaintance with their literary treasures.
Music and painting were also among her favourite em
ployments, and she possessed more than an ordinary mastery
over their most interesting departments. Her mind, thus
stored and accomplished, was free and active, and she was
accustomed to express herself with feelings of warm admi
ration respecting either characters or principles which she con
sidered worthy of esteem. 8

^K.<77H4-&71*.

WILLIAM HYDE WOLLASTON. M D . "F R S .

FISHER. SUN Sr C? LONDON, 1829.

WILLIAM HYDE WOLLASTON,
M. D. F. R. S.
The Memoirs of men of science, generally less attractive to
ordinary minds than those of public and political characters,
are unfortunately for the most part left unwritten, till time and
accident have destroyed the materials of which they might be
composed. The most eloquent appeal which human reason
can inake in favour of science, is thus frequently lost. The
unthinking are suffered to remain unattracted by the charms
of philosophy, and her lovers unencouraged in their pure and
tranquillizing pursuits.
Little at present appears known respecting Doctor Wol-
laston's early life, except that, having finished his prepa
ratory studies, he was sent to Caius College, Cambridge,
distinguished both for the eminent philosophical scholars
it had produced, and for the incitements it offers to the
students in medicine, in the way of exhibitions and fellow
ships. So successful was Mr. Wollaston in his academical
pursuits, that he was, on taking his degree, the senior wrangler
of his year, and probably owed to his steady attention to
the particular studies of the university, that pre-eminence
in science for which he was subsequently so distinguished.
After having graduated in Arts, and been chosen a fellow
of his College, he proceeded to his medical degrees, which
having taken, he removed to Bury St. Edmund's, where he
commenced practising as a physician, but obtained so little
success, that he left the place in disgust, and removed to
London. 1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
For the interests of science, it was fortunate that Doctor
Wollaston met with no better encouragement in the metropolis
than that which he found in Suffolk. Soon after his arrival
in London, a vacancy happening in St. George's Hospital, he
became one of the candidates for the appointment of physician
to that foundation. His principal opponent was Doctor Pem-
berton, who, either by superior interest, or, as is commonly
supposed, by his more pleasing and polished manners, obtained
the situation. This second defeat in his professional career
considerably lessened the ardour with which he had set out ;
he expressed his determination never again to write a pre
scription, were it even for his own father, and, carrying this
resolution into effect, he turned his attention wholly to natural
science, forsaking what might then have been supposed a far
more likely road to wealth than that in which he amassed his
ample fortune.
But, in resigning his prospects as a medical practitioner,
this industrious, as well as eminent man, by no means intended
to pursue science in any way but in earnest ; and the magni
ficent discoveries, magnificent in point of real utility, which he
made, afford ample proof that it was not till after due delibe
ration that he thus changed the nature of his studies. Though
almost every branch of science at different times engaged the
attention of Doctor Wollaston, chemistry was that to which he
seems to have been most ardently devoted ; and it is by his
investigations in this department of natural philosophy, that
he will enjoy his greatest share of lasting reputation. One
trait in his character probably contributed in no small degree
to the success he obtained through life, and that is, the
extreme candour with which, when engaged in his favourite
pursuits, he would acknowledge the difficulties under which
he laboured, and which, this candid avowal to men, his
equals in knowledge though not in perseverance, by eliciting
useful hints, frequently enabled him to surmount.
The manner in which he was accustomed to pursue his
inquiries was almost peculiar to himself. It was always on
the smallest specimens of the substance which he wished
2

DR. WOLLASTON.
to analyze, that his experiments were made ; and his laboratory
was, it is said, only in proportion to the magnitude of his
materials. Anecdotes are told respecting the resolute manner
in which he uniformly resisted the intrusion of either friend
or stranger into his workshop ; among others, it is related, that
a gentleman of his acquaintance having been left by the servant
to ramble from one room to another, till he should be ready to
see him, penetrated into the laboratory. The Doctor, on com
ing in, discovered the intrusion ; but not suffering himself to
express all he felt on the occasion, took his friend by the arm,
and having led him to the most sacred spot in the room, said,
" Mr. P. do you see that furnace ?" " I do." Then make a
profound bow to it, for this is the first, and will be the last
time of your seeing it."
Other anecdotes are also told illustrative of his character in
another point of view. He was, it is commonly reported, fond
of acquiring wealth — and had his desire gratified by finding
most of his scientific experiments as fruitful to him in money
as they were in reputation. But if the following story be true,
and there is every reason to believe it so, it proves how distinct
a thing is the caution or prudence which acquires wealth,
from the iron-hearted parsimony which buries it. Having
been applied to by a gentleman who was involved by unex
pected difficulties, to procure him some government situation,
his reply was, " I have lived to sixty without asking a single
favour from men in office ; and it is not, after that age, that I
shall be induced to do it, even were it to serve a brother; if the
enclosed can be of use to you in your present difficulties, pray
accept it, for it is much at your service." The enclosed was a
cheque for ten thousand pounds.
Doctor Wollaston's fortune was considerable, amounting
to fifty thousand pounds, independent of an estate which
he possessed in Sussex, and all of which was amassed by
his own application and abilities. His most important dis
covery, the malleability of platinum by a purifying, instead
of an alloying process, which was formerly employed,
produced him, it is said, in the long run, about thirty
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
thousand pounds. He is also reported to have obtained a pro
portionable profit by several of his other, and even minor dis
coveries and inventions, which by being of a nature likely to
make them immediately and generally useful, were certain in a
short time to produce a considerable return. It must, however,
after all, be doubted, whether this distinguished man, great as
he was in science, and possessing many excellent qualities,
would not have been very far greater, had his views been
somewhat less directed to the acquisition of a fortune. It is
indeed almost an anomaly, to see a man of true science suffer
ing his thoughts to be engaged about the profit or loss of his
experiments. There was a time, it is true, when philosophers
sought for nothing so ardently as for the power of turning all
things to gold, but it was the power they loved, and not the
metal. It was the empirics only of the age, who laboured
among their crucibles to be rich. Doctor Wollaston was
pre-eminently a man of science, — no one could ever sus
pect him of being a mere experiment - monger ; but, it
must be allowed, there was a tendency in his mind to
lower the high and purely intellectual value of philosophy.
That mind would be the greatest of all minds, which, for the
sake of its fellow-men, would seek to make science altogether
practical ; but for its own sake, keep it altogether theoretical.
We have had some few examples of this kind, and they have
been men as great in thought, as in learning and ingenuity — as
much moral philosophers, as experimental — as studious of
divinity, as of nature. Unfortunately, we do not possess any
information respecting the subject of our memoir, which would
encourage us to believe that this elevation of intellect was a
part of his character, good as it was. And we may hence
account for that apparent absence of any deep religious
sentiment, which a mind, properly nourished by the tranquil
contemplation of nature, cannot fail of imbibing.
Dr. Wollaston discovered Palladium in 1803, and separated
it from platina by dissolving crude platina in nitro-muriatic acid
and dropping into the solution a quantity of prussiate of mer
cury : the white precipitate, washed, dried, and exposed to a
4

DR. WOLLASTON.
strong heat, is palladium. This metal, which when polished
resembles platina, is rather harder than wrought iron; its
specific gravity is 12.148.
He also discovered Rhodium in 1804, which is found com
bined with platina, and is of a white colour : its specific gravity
is 10.649. It is brittle, more difficult to fuse than any metal,
except iridium, and has the remarkable property of being-
insoluble in all acids ; but it unites readily with all metals,
except mercury.
Science is also indebted to him for the invention of the
Goniometer, for measuring the angles of crystals by reflection,
instead of doing so, as was formerly the case, by applying the
steel instrument which opens at different angles of the mineral.
This was a most important invention, as it gives the angle of
the smallest crystal with very great accuracy.
The Camera Lucida, for taking views of places, is also his
invention. Looking down on the small glass prism at the
end of a rod fixed to the table, we see the object referred to,
on the paper underneath, and are thus enabled to trace over
the outline.
Dr. Wollaston also was the first person who suggested the
molecules of crystals to be spheroidal as well as spherical. The
reader will find, in the Philosophical Transactions, a paper on
this subject, written by the Doctor himself.
Among the delicate instruments, which he was accustomed
to make in a remarkably neat manner, was a sliding rule of
chemical equivalants, which is exceedingly useful to the prac
tical chemist. He also constructed a galvanic battery of such
small dimensions, that it was contained in a thimble. Some
platina wire may likewise still be seen, of so diminutive a dia
meter, as to be very much finer than any hair, and almost im
perceptible to the naked eye. This was produced by inserting
a very fine platina wire in a mass of silver, and when at a great
heat drawing out the whole together, and afterwards separating
them, by dissolving away the silver with nitrous acid.
Towards the latter part of 1828, Doctor Wollaston became
dangerously ill of the disorder of which he died, and which
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
resulted, it seems, from an unhealthy state of the brain. Few
instances have been recorded of celebrated men, in which
attention to a favourite pursuit was more strongly evinced to
the last moment almost of life. Even on the bed of sickness
and death, Doctor Wollaston was living amid his scientific
friends, and carrying on with the ardour of health and spirits
the great object of his existence. A short time before his
decease, he gave a fresh proof of his love of science, and of
the interest he felt, even in his dying hour, for its advancement.
About this period the Secretary of the Royal Society received
a letter from this distinguished individual, who informed him
that he had that day bought out, and invested in the national
funds, in the name of the Royal Society, a considerable sum,
(it is said a thousand pounds,) the interest arising from which,
was to be used every year, for the purpose of experiments, to
assist men of science in their laudable pursuits, and afford
them facilities in pursuing their researches, of which he had
himself felt the want, in the early part of his career, as a
naturalist and an experimental philosopher. By turning to
the reports of the meetings of the Royal Society at this time, it
will also be seen that some of its most valuable and interesting
papers were the production of his mind. On the anniversary
of that learned body in December last, when the royal medals
were given5 the President thus addressed the meeting :
"The other royal medal has been awarded by your council for
a communication made under circumstances the most interest
ing, and most afflictive. An individual, of whom not this
Society alone, but all England, is justly proud ; whose merits
have been appreciated and distinguished by each of the emi
nently scientific establishments of Europe, has recently been
assailed by one of the most severe maladies to which human
nature is exposed. But the energies of his mind soaring
beyond bodily infirmities, he has employed them in a manner
(I will presume to say) most acceptable to the Divinity, because
most useful to mankind, by imparting, through the medium
of this Society, further stores of knowledge to_the world, which
has been so frequently before illuminated by the splendour of
6

DR. WOLLASTON.
his genius. On the first day of our meeting, a paper from
Doctor Wollaston was read, descriptive of the processes and
manipulations by which he had been enabled to supply all
men of science with the most important among the recently
discovered metals. Platinum, possessed of various qualities
useful in an eminent degree to chemists, even on a large scale,
withheld them all by resisting fusion in the most intense heat
of our vivid furnaces. Alloyed, indeed, with arsenic, it became
susceptible of receiving ornamental forms ; but a continued
heat expels the volatile metal, and leaves the other in a state
wholly unfit for use. Doctor Wollaston, instead of alloying,
purified the platinum from every admixture by solution, conso
lidated its precipitate by pressure and heating, and by per
cussion, so as to effect a complete welding of the mass, thus
made capable of being rolled into leaf, or drawn into wire of
a tenacity intermediate between those of iron and gold. To
these scientific and beautiful contrivances, we owe the use of a
material, not only of high importance to refined chemistry, but
now actually employed in the largest manufactories for distil
ling an article of commerce, so abundant and so cheap as sul
phuric acid. And, above all, we owe to them the material
which, in the hands of some members of this Society, has
mainly contributed to their producing a new species of glass,
which promises to form an epoch in the history of optics.
Your council having, therefore, deemed themselves bound to
express their strong approbation of this interesting Memoir,
(independently of all extraneous circumstances,) by awarding
a royal medal to its Author ; and they anticipate with con
fidence a general approbation, in both these instances, of what
they have done.
The disorder continued to exhibit signs of its fatal progress,
and, a few days after the above, his friends had no longer any
hope of the possibility of his recovery. An anecdote, however,
is related, which shows that he preserved his reason to the last,
and gives an interesting proof of the power of the mind over
physical suffering. One of his friends having observed, loud
enough for him to hear, that he was not at the time conscious
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
of what was passing around him ; he immediately made a sign
for a pencil and paper, which having been given him, he wrote
down some figures, and, after casting up the sum, returned
them. The sum was right. This was but a very short time
before his death, which occurred on the twenty-second of De
cember. A medical inquiry was instituted after his decease,
respecting its immediate cause, and from the published report
it appears, that an effusion of blood had taken place in the
ventricles of the brain, which exhibited a very remarkable
appearance. The great body of the optic nerve was converted
into a tumor of the size of a hen's egg, was of a greyish colour,
and firmer than the brain itself. In the inside it was found to
be of a brown colour, soft, and in a half-dissolved state. The
nerve contained scarcely any of its proper substance.
The funeral of Doctor Wollaston was, according to his
particular request, exceedingly private. He had uniformly
expressed a great dislike to any exhibition of parade on such
occasions, but had a particular wish of his own, which shews
how impossible it is for minds usually supposed most inde
pendent of such feelings, to shake off what may be, perhaps,
termed the instinct of a future union of soul and body — of the
connexion between them, and of the things to which they were
related not being entirely broken off. It was his particular
request that he might be followed to the grave by the descend
ants of his grandfather only. What was the immediate reason
of this we cannot tell, but it was religiously attended to. He
was buried in the parish church of Chislehurst, Kent.
This eminent man will be long remembered by the numerous
acquaintances which he had in the scientific and literary world.
There are few men also, whose names are more connected with
the general history of learning in the nineteenth century, and
a complete memoir of his scientific life would embrace many
of the most interesting details relating to the progress of che
mistry, and the other branches of natural philosophy, which
has distinguished the last thirty years.
8

r 7ax;-K.)i7nS t^-.-

WILLIAM WYNDHAM GRKNVIU.E. LORD GKVINVILLV,

FI3TTER.SON fc CP LONDON. i0:"!9.

WILLIAM-WYNDHAM GRENVILLE,
LORD GRENVILLE.
It has fallen to the fate of few statesmen to pass through
a more eventful career than that of Lord Grenville. Devoted
to political labour from the first years of manhood — the friend
and associate of Pitt — and occupying by turns the most im
portant stations in the government — the life of this distin
guished nobleman would furnish materials for many an im
portant period of our history ; or, if fully detailed, would be
a history itself.
William- Wyndham Grenville was born in October, 1759.
His father was celebrated for his political abilities ; and, at
the commencement of his late Majesty's reign, held the office
of Chancellor of the Exchequer. The talents which his son
displayed in boyhood, gave the most flattering promise of
future ability. At Eton and Oxford, the hopes of his family
received a further confirmation by the attainment he made in
learning, and his habits of application. On completing his
studies at the University, he entered one of the Inns of
Court, with the intention of qualifying for the bar; but,
having early attracted the attention of Mr. Pitt, he was in
duced to give up the idea of embracing the legal profession,
and directed the whole force of his mind to the business of
politics. In the year 1782, his brother, Earl Temple, was sent as
Lord Lieutenant to Ireland, and Mr. Grenville was appointed
to accompany him as his Secretary. He continued, however,
in this situation little more than a year, Earl Temple being-
recalled, and the Earl of Northington sent to supply his
place. But, too well connected with the great political cha
racters of the time, to remain without employment, he was,
shortly after his return from Ireland, made Paymaster-General
pf the Army, his predecessor in office being Mr. Burke. It
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
is a singular circumstance in the early part of Lord Gren-
ville's life, that, though he was thus rapidly initiated in the
details of public business, it was not till two years after re
ceiving the last-mentioned appointment, he entered the House
of Commons. He was then chosen representative of Buck
inghamshire, but not till he had endured the toils of one of
the most vigorous contests which it could fall to the lot of a
candidate, so circumstanced, to experience.
Shortly after taking his seat in the House, Mr. Grenville
was elected Speaker, but retained the office only six months,
at the end of which period he succeeded Lord Sidney, as
Secretary of State for the Home Department. In November,
1790, he was raised to the Peerage, and in the following
year was made Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The
period, at which he was appointed to this important station
in the administration, was fraught with peril, both to this
country and to Europe in general. The revolution in France
was beginning to spread, with the terror it occasioned, the
principles by which it was supported. Every government felt
the necessity of watching with attention the progress of events,
which had already been so momentous in their consequences ;
and which, whether for good or evil, were harbingers of the
most important changes. Lord Grenville was not long in
deciding upon the part which he thought it right to take in
this emergency. He considered that no room was now left
for compromise — that the most vigorous measures could alone
save England from the evils with which she appeared threat
ened ; and that if the state of affairs ever presented an aspect
that justified drawing the sword, and throwing away the
scabbard, it was in the present crisis. The first step, accord
ingly, which was taken, was the summary dismission of the
French ambassador from the English court. The Directory,
however, was not ready to receive this conduct of the British
Cabinet as an insult upon its authority, and immediately
despatched M. Maret to enter upon negotiations intended to
secure the neutrality of this country. Lord Grenville re
mained fixed to his original purpose. Intimations were given,
2

LORD GRENVILLE.
that the new government of France would be ready to make
even important sacrifices, to effect the purpose of the mission ;
but nothing could change the mind of the minister on the
subject, and he persisted to the last in not suffering the
Ambassador to visit him, or to propose his terms, as legiti
mately authorized to act as the envoy of a government.
A difference of opinion appears to have existed, under
these circumstances, between Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville.
The former considered it necessary to admit the private visits
of the French Ambassador; and this, and other similar causes,
led to the resignation of his friend and coadjutor, who was
succeeded in his office by Mr. Dundas. Lord Grenville made
himself early conspicuous for his talents as a parliamentary
speaker, and, it is probable, had he not risen to the high
station he held as a minister and a man of business, that his
eloquence alone would have rendered him one of the most
distinguished men of his time. His talents as a speaker, and
for conducting a debate, were, shortly after the events above
alluded to, put to a memorable trial. Such was the state
of the popular mind in England at this period, that his Ma
jesty, in proceeding to the House of Parliament, was assailed
by the mob in a manner which it would have been a gross
violation of duty in the legislature of the country, to neglect
noticing. Lord Grenville, accordingly, brought in a bill
intended to provide for the safety and protection of the royal
person. The debate which followed the introduction of the
bill was long and stormy, and gave ample opportunity to
Lord Grenville for the most loyal exertion of his oratorical
abilities. He had the satisfaction of seeing his motion carried,
after a strong debate, by a great jnajority ; and he followed
up his success by bringing in another bill, intended to sup
press the formation or continuance of the seditious societies,
which had so great an influence in agitating the kingdom, and
preventing either the establishment of peace, or a firm prose
cution of the war.
Lord Grenville took a conspicuous part with Mr. Pitt, in
promoting the Union with Ireland, and shared with him in
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
giving the intimations, on which the Catholics of that country
¦founded their claims to emancipation. When it was found
that government was unwilling to forward these views, the
ministers felt themselves obliged to resign their offices.
Application, however, was shortly after made to Mr. Pitt,
to form. a union with the parties then in power; but he refused
to accede, unless Lord Grenville was at the same time put into
.office ; which proposal being rejected, the negotiation ended.
But no long time elapsed, before Mr. Pitt found himself
obliged to yield to the urgent necessities of the state, and he
again took his seat in the administration. On the occurrence
of this circumstance, Lord Grenville entered the ranks of the
opposition, in which he continued to act till the death of
Mr. Pitt, in the year 1806. A total alteration in the arrange
ments of the cabinet was produced by that event, and the sub
ject of the present memoir was made First Lord of the Treasury.
The continuance of this ministry was but short. Notwith
standing the union of great talents and powerful names which it
presented, it was unable to carry into execution the designs
which the principal persons who composed it had in view.
The Catholic emancipation was an object for which Lord
Grenville had already strenuously laboured, and in this
he was aided by his most powerful coadjutors in office.
But the seeds of dissolution were sown immediately, on the
direct introduction of the measure into the debates of the
cabinet. His Majesty was determinedly opposed to its
progress, nor could their utmost exertion bear up against his
resolution. The First Lord of the Treasury suffered also at
the same time in his popularity, by accepting the office of
Auditor, which was incompatible with his situation in the
administration. After a short and feverish existence, there
fore, the ministry was dissolved. Since that period, Lord
Grenville's exertions have been principally confined to sub
jects connected with the Catholic question, on which he has
always spoken with fervour and earnestness. His Lordship
married, in 1792, the only daughter of Lord Camelford, but
has no issue. 4

fi'iuj/^j /if M.J

ELIZABETH, MAUCTllONKSS OF STAFFOKD,

1'ISJHfiH. SON t C? lOBBON. 1829.

ELIZABETH SUTHERLAND-GOWER,
MARCHIONESS OF STAFFORD,
COUNTESS OF SUTHERLAND, AND BARONESS OF
STRATHNAVER.
This noble and illustrious Lady is descended from the most
ancient house in Scotland, and represents a family whose
nobility has passed through many of the most distinguished
personages in the history of the country. The first of her
ancestors of whom we find mention, was Thane of Sutherland,
and his name is rendered interesting to us by his having fallen
a victim to the revenge of Macbeth. The Earldom of Suther
land was bestowed by King Malcolm upon the son of this noble
man, who was in his turn succeeded by his son, who built
the ancient seat of the family, Denrobin Castle. William,
the fourth Earl of Sutherland, married the eldest daughter of
King Robert the First, whose son David is recorded to have
erected the earldom into a royalty, in the year 1345. On the
decease of the ninth Earl, the titles and estates of the family
descended, as in the instance of the present Countess, to a
female possessor, married to the second son of the Earl of
Huntley, who assumed the title in right of his wife.
The present inheritor of the honours which have descended
through this long line of noble ancestry, is the only daughter
of William, the seventeenth Earl, who married the eldest
daughter, and co-heiress, of William Maxwell, Esq., of
Preston. Her Ladyship was born May 24th, 1765, and her
father died on the 16th of June, in the year following. Her
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
right of succession, as a female, was immediately strongly
disputed by Sir Robert Gordon, baronet, of Gordanstown, and
by George Sutherland, Esq., of Force. A long and difficult
discussion was entered into on this important point, but her
Ladyship's guardians succeeded in proving her clear and
distinct claim as heiress to the Earldom ; and, on the 21st of
March, 1771, her right was settled by a decision in the House
of Lords. When only four years old, she thus became pos
sessor of the most honourable title, and of the richest domain,
of any of the Scottish nobility.
In the year 1785, the Countess of Sutherland married the
first and present Marquis of Stafford, distinguished, not more
for his wealth and exalted rank, than for his splendid patron
age of the fine arts. Her Ladyship has issue, Earl Gower,
who was born August 8th, 1786, Francis, born January, 1800 ;
and the ladies Charlotte and Elizabeth, born, the former on
June 8th, 1788, and the latter in November, 1797.
The high nobility of the Countess of Sutherland received,
on his Majesty's visit to Scotland, in 1822, the royal distinc
tion. Her son, Lord Leveson Gower, being appointed to
carry the sceptre before the King, as representative of the
Earls of Sutherland, to whom that honour was determined to
belong. 2

JOHN JEKVIS , EARL OF ST. VINCENT, K..B.

FISHED, SON" fc CP LONDON, 1329

JOHN JERVIS,
EARL ST. VINCENT.

Among the many distinguished men who owe their place in
the British Peerage to their personal merits and exertions, the
late Earl St. Vincent occupies a conspicuous station. This
celebrated officer was born in the year 1736, at Meaford, in
Staffordshire, and was the youngest son of Swynfen Jervis,
Esq., a barrister, who enjoyed the offices of Counsellor to the
Admiralty, and Auditor of Greenwich Hospital. At a very
early age he was sent to the Grammar School of Burton, but
when only ten years old was removed from thence, and sent
to sea, under Lord Hawke. When the peace of Aix la
Chapelle seemed to put a stop to his hope of a speedy promo
tion, he was sent to France, to improve himself in the lan
guage, and such other branches of knowledge, as the brief
period he had remained at school rendered it necessary he
should pursue. War, however, after a short interval of tran
quillity, again broke out, and he proceeded to America, where
he distinguished himself by his conduct; and, having been
made Lieutenant, was publicly commended by Sir Charles
Saunders for his exertions at Quebec. On his return from
America, he was promoted, in the year 1780, to the rank of
Post-Captain, and was appointed to serve in the West Indies.
Shortly after this he began to make himself known to
his country, by the commencement of that splendid series
of actions, which at length placed him in so conspicuous
a station. In the famous battle between the French and
English forces, on the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth of
July, 1778, he commanded the Foudroyant, which, with the
exception of the Victory, was more exposed than any other
1

EARL ST. VINCENT.
ship to the destructive fire of the enemy. In the distressing
affair of Admiral Keppel's trial, he was thus enabled to give
a most powerful testimony in favour of that officer. He had
been a close and personal witness of his conduct, and the
manner in which he delivered his sentiments on the subject
before the Court-Martial, did the highest honour both to his
mind and feelings.
Captain Jervis remained in command of the Foudroyant
till 1782, and again distinguished himself by his conduct under
Admiral Barrington, near Ushant. While the fleet, of which
his vessel formed a part, was sailing near that island, it came
in sight of a convoy, sent by the French to guard several ships
richly laden with supplies and specie. The Admiral imme
diately ordered a pursuit, but the Foudroyant, being the
swiftest vessel in the fleet, quickly outstripped the rest, and came
up alone with the enemy. Only one ship, a seventy-four, had
been left to guard the vessels which had not been able to escape
the chase. This was subdued in the course of an hour, and
the victor had the rare glory of having obtained, so far as
his own men were concerned, a bloodless conquest. On board
the Pegase were eighty killed and wounded, while the Fou
droyant saw herself victorious, without the loss of a single
man, and with very few wounded ; among which, however
was the commander himself. Few examples could be found
in which praise was more richly deserved, than that which
Captain Jervis received for his conduct in this engagement.
On his return to England, he was made Knight of the Bath,
and shortly after married, his wife being the daughter of Sir
T. Parkin, his cousin. Soon after this, he entered upon a
new scene of exertion, and was returned member, first for
Colne, and, subsequently, for the borough of Great Yarmouth,
in Norfolk. The political connexions which he had formed,
made him espouse the side of the opposition ; but, having
been raised to the rank of Rear- Admiral of the White, when
the Avar broke out in 1793, he offered his services to govern
ment, and was put into command. The squadron, at the
head of which he was placed, was ordered to the West Indies,

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
to assist Sir Charles Grey in his operations against Marti
nique, and the other French possessions in that quarter of
the world. The former place was quickly subdued, and the
conquest of the others soon followed ; but Admiral Jervis
suffered so severely from the bad effects of the climate,
that he was obliged to hasten to England for recovery.
The repose, however, which he enjoyed was speedily con
cluded. At the end of four months he was appointed to
the squadron in the Mediterranean, the most important post,
at the time, which a Naval Commander could hold. The
confidence of the government was not deceived in the choice,
and an occasion soon offered for this excellent officer's dis
playing all the consummate skill of which he was possessed.
A considerable Spanish fleet was at that time lying at Cadiz,
and was about to join the French squadron, which was sent
to co-operate with it against the English force. Admiral Jer
vis immediately proceeded to the blockade of the Spaniards,
which he effected so completely as entirely to prevent the
designs of the two hostile powers. As this country was then
situated, no service could have been more beneficial, and
it is said that government had the intention of conferring
upon him the honours and rewards for these preparatory
efforts, which he afterwards received for the completion of his
services. The Spanish Admiral, after in vain expecting an oppor
tunity of release, at length sailed out, and was instantly pur
sued by the English fleet, which came up to him, and was in
order of battle on the morning of the 14th of February, 1797.
The force of the enemy consisted of twenty-seven ships, one
of which was a four-decker, six three-deckers; two carrying
eighty-four guns ; and eighteen seventy-four. To this powerful
armament, Admiral Jervis could only oppose fifteen sail of the
line, and these consisted of vessels of inferior size. Having
taken an attentive observation of the position of the enemy,
he determined on attempting immediately to break the line ;
this he effected in a masterly manner, and had then only to
contend with eighteen out of the twenty-seven vessels, of
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
which the force consisted. He again determined on pursuing
the same plan with which he had so successfully commenced,
and a second time succeeded in breaking the line ; in doing
which, he was materially assisted by Nelson, then a Commo
dore. This success decided the victory, and he had only now
to exert himself, to make it as useful as possible. Several of
the Spanish vessels escaped, but the force was broken, and
having taken possession of four large ships and a great num
ber of prisoners, he sailed into the Tagus with the prizes.
The loss on the side of the English in this engagement was
only three hundred men, while that of the Spaniards amounted,
even in the captured ships, to six hundred and twenty-
three. The news of this event diffused universal satisfaction
through England. It happened at a time when both the
government and the people were greatly depressed in con
fidence, and it had the effect of rousing the spirit of the nation,
and reassuring it in its procedures. On returning home,
Admiral Jervis received the thanks of both houses of parlia
ment, and was promoted to the peerage by the title of Earl
St. Vincent, and Baron Jervis of Meaford. He was also
honoured with a gold medal, and had a pension granted him
of £3000 per annum. He now sought retirement, and
remained on shore. On the removal of Lord Spencer, he was
appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, in which office he gave
general satisfaction, by the integrity with which he discharged
its duties. In 1805, he resigned this appointment, and was
subsequently put in command of the channel fleet. After this
he continued to reside at his country house, in Essex, where
he died on the 13th of March, 1823, at the age of eighty-nine.
He left no heir, but having been created a Viscount, in 1801,
with a remainder in favour of his nephew, that title remains
with this relative of the Earl.

WILLIAM WKNTWOKTH FITZWILLIAM, EAIU. VITZW1LL1AM

FrsifEIR HON & C° LONDON", M29,

WILLIAM-WENTWORTH FITZWILLIAM,
EARL FITZWILLIAM.
According to a genealogical history of this family, collected
from ancient records by one of the line, in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, it appears that the first of the stock was Sir William
Fitz-Godric, cousin to Edward the Confessor. His son, Sir
William Fitzwilliam, being sent ambassador to William Duke
of Normandy, accompanied that prince to England as marshal
of his army ; and for his valour at the battle of Hastings, the
Conqueror presented him with the scarf from his own arm.
This William was the father of Sir William Fitzwilliam, Knt.,
who married Eleanor, daughter and heiress of Sir John Elmley,
by which union the lordships of Elmley and Sprotburgh became
the property of the Fitzwilliam family, and so continued till the
reign of Henry the Eighth, when they were carried by co
heiresses into other alliances. Sir William was succeeded by
one of the same name, whose descendant, Sir John, founded a
chantry in the church of Sprotburgh. He married the daughter
of William Lord Clinton, and had three sons, the eldest of
whom, Sir William Fitzwilliam, married Maud, daughter of
Ralph Lord Cromwell, who brought him six sons. The youngest
of these, John Fitzwilliam, of Milton and Green's Norton in
Northamptonshire, married Eleanor, daughter of William Vil-
liers, Esq., of Brokesby in the county of Leicester. This John
Fitzwilliam was succeeded by his son William, a merchant, who
became sheriff of London in 1506, and subsequently alderman
of Bread-street Ward. He had been in the train of Cardinal
Wolsey, and, on retiring to his seat in Northamptonshire, he
there entertained his old lord, who was then under the royal
displeasure. For this he was called to account by Henry the
Eighth, but instead of denying the fact, he justified it, paying
that it was an act of gratitude to a munificent patron, who had
been the founder of his fortune. This dispelled the momentary
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
cloud, and the king was so pleased, that he immediately knighted
him, and made him one of his privy-council. Sir William died
in 1534, and was succeeded by his eldest son of the same name.
The next in the line was Sir William Fitzwilliam, son of the
last-mentioned. When very young, he served as a volunteer in
the Netherlands, where he obtained a command, and was as
much distinguished for his humanity, as for his military skill and
valour. It was observed of him, that, though second to none
in war, he was a lover of peace ; that he never suffered his
soldiers to go without pay ; and that he severely punished those
who injured the helpless, or violated churches. By marrying
the sister of Sir Henry Sydney, Lord-Deputy of Ireland, he
succeeded to that station, to which, in all," he was appointed
five times by Queen Elizabeth, who reposed in him such confi
dence, as to place the Earl of Essex under his command.
Sir William died in 1599, and was succeeded by his eldest
son, William, who married the daughter of Sir Walter Mild-
may, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Under Treasurer of
England. He died in 1618, and his heir, William, on the 1st
of December, 1620, was created Baron Fitzwilliam of Lifford,
in the county of Donegal. He mamed Catherine, daughter of
William Hyde, Esq., of South Denchworth, in the county of
Berks. He died in 1644, and was succeeded by his eldest
son, William, who married Jane, daughter and co-heiress of
Hugh Hunter, Alderman of London. This second Lord was
succeeded in 1658, by his son William, who married Anne,
daughter and sole heiress of Edmund Cremor, Esq., of West
Winch, in the county of Norfolk, by whom he had four sons
and six daughters. On the 21st of July, 1716, he was ad
vanced in the Irish peerage to the title of Viscount Milton
and Earl Fitzwilliam. He died at the age of 76, in 1719, and
was succeeded by his third son, John, who married Anne,
daughter and sole heiress of John Stringer, Esq., of Sutton, in
the county of Nottingham. This Earl John was succeeded,
in 1728, by his only son William ; who, in 1742, was enrolled
amongst the peers of Great Britain as Baron Milton, and, in
1746, as Earl Fitzwilliam of Norborough, in the county of
2

EARL FITZWILLIAM.
Northampton. He married, in 1744, Lady Anne Wentworth,
eldest daughter of Thomas, Marquis of Rockingham, by
whom he had two sons and six daughters. His Lordship
died on the 9th of August, 1756, and his relict on the 4th of
May, 1759.
William- Wentworth Fitzwilliam, the eldest son of the first
English Earl, was born May 30, 1748, and, of course, was only
eight years old at the death of his father. At an early age he
was sent to Eton, where he had, in the same class, Charles
James Fox and the late Earl of Carlisle ; with both of whom
he formed that connexion, which, with little interruption, lasted
through life. The character of the young Earl, while yet a
school-boy, was thus drawn by his friend Lord Carlisle.
Say, will Fitzwilliam ever want a heart,
Cheerful his ready blessings to impart ?
Will not a mother's wo his bosom share,
The widow's sorrow and the orphan's prayer?
Who aids the old, who soothes the mother's cry,
Who wipes the tear from off the virgin's eye ?
Who feeds the hungry ? Who assists the lameT
All, all re-echo with Fitzwilliam's name.
This was neither an ideal nor overcharged representation.
The portraiture, though sketched by an associate, was faithful
to the original; and that which distinguished the youth, has
invariably characterized the man, up to the extreme limit of
mortality. From Eton his Lordship went to Cambridge, where he
remained but a short time. In 1769, he took his seat in
the house of peers ; and, in the year following, married
Charlotte, the youngest daughter of William, the second Earl
of Besborough. This alliance, however, was for a long time
very unpromising to the hopes of the noble family more imme
diately interested, and no sign of fruitfulness appeared till
1786, when great joy was excited by the birth of a son, the
present Lord Milton, and one of the representatives for the
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
county of York. Earl Fitzwilliam, in taking his place in
Parliament, enrolled himself among the opponents of Lord
North's administration ; and, throughout the American war,
co-operated with the minority in resisting that contest, as
equally disgraceful and ruinous.
When the change of ministers, however, took place, at the
beginning of 1782, though his uncle, the Marquis of Rocking
ham, was at the head of the cabinet, Earl Fitzwilliam had no
part in the new arrangement. The death of the Marquis,
which happened in June the same year, put his Lordship in
possession of Wentworth House and the estates, but the title
became dormant. Another ministerial revolution ensued, by
the appointment of Lord Shelburne to the station held by the
Marquis of Rockingham. To shake this cabinet, a coalition
was formed between Mr. Fox and Lord North, with their
respective friends. This extraordinary alliance was joined by
Earl Fitzwilliam, who strenuously advocated the famous India
Bill of Mr. Fox, which, he said, was called for by the desperate
state of the Company, whose bankruptcy would be inevitable,
unless some means were adopted to restore their credit, and
recruit their impoverished treasury.
Under the authority of this bill, the noble Earl accepted
the office of President of the Board of Commissioners for
the management of Indian affairs ; but its defeat, and the
consequent dissolution of the cabinet, annulled the appoint
ment, and once more threw him into the ranks of opposition.
In the stormy debates occasioned by the proceedings for the
establishment of a provisional government, during the mental
incapacity of the late King, Earl Fitzwilliam took a very
active part, in maintaining the unrestricted right of the Prince
of Wales to assume the Regency, even without the authority
of Parliament. That right, however, was powerfully con
tested, in the lower house by Mr. Pitt, and in the upper by
Lords Thurlow and Camden. The latter venerable and patri
otic Peer would allow of no abstract right, independent of the
Legislature ; and in supporting that constitutional doctrine, he
adduced the measures pursued at the Revolution, and particu-
4

EARL FITZWILLIAM.
larly the Act of Settlement. The opposition Lords, however,
though avowed Whigs, were dissatisfied, and combated the
Regency Bill in all its stages. Earl Fitzwilliam, in replying
to Lord Camden, said, that by his doctrine he hardly knew
whether he was not speaking in a republic. The. learned Lord,
upon this, rose again, and observed, that he was as much
averse to republican principles as the noble Earl.
The recovery of his Majesty soon after set the question at
rest for the present : but the jealousies which it excited were
still attended with unpleasing effects, especially in the Royal
Family. The consequence was — that, while the King, Queen,
and Princesses went to the western coast ; the Prince of Wales
and the Duke of York made a northern tour, in the course of
which they honoured Earl Fitzwilliam with a visit. On this
occasion his Lordship gave a magnificent fete, on the 2d of
September, 1789, at Wentworth House. Nothing could be more
superb and sumptuous than the whole of the arrangements ;
which were in the true old style of English hospitality. The
gates of that noble mansion were thrown open to the loyalty
of the surrounding country, and it was supposed that not fewer
than forty thousand persons were entertained in the park.
The scale of the entertainment may be imagined from one cir
cumstance — that in the course of the day the Earl's private
cellars alone supplied fifty-five hogsheads of ale. The diver
sions, consisting of all the rural sports in use in that part of
the kingdom, lasted the whole day ; and the Prince of Wales,
with the nobility and gentry who were the noble Earl's guests,
participated in the merriment. The Duke of York, however,
was absent through indisposition. The company in the house
were about two hundred, and they comprehended all the
beauty and fashion of the neighbourhood, without distinction
of party. The dinner was in the highest style of elegance,
and the fete concluded with a ball.
Hitherto we have seen Earl Fitzwilliam in close connexion
with the Whigs; but a new era was opening, to try the
strength of political friendship. All eyes were now directed
to the revolution in France. Mr. Fox expressed an unqua-
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
lined approbation of the proceedings of the National Assembly.
Other leading men in and out of Parliament followed his
example, and some even went still further than he ventured
to go ; by setting up the Gallic system of liberty and equality,
as a model deserving of imitation in this country. The con
sequence of this was, that the levelling principle spread far and
wide throughout the kingdom ; and political, or, as they were
called, reforming clubs, started up, not only in the metropolis,
but in all the great manufacturing towns, especially in Lan
cashire and Yorkshire. Such was the state of things when
Mr. Burke sounded the alarm by his speeches in the House of
Commons, and still more effectually in his book entitled,
" Reflections on the French Revolution." The warning voice
was not lost. Most of the ancient nobility saw the danger that
menaced their titles and estates. Every arrival from the con
tinent tended to increase their fears ; and the active exertions
of the political reformers sufficiently indicated the extent to
which the spirit of innovation would be carried, if not checked
in its beginning. Sensible that the existing emergency required
unity in the support of Government, as that which alone could
ensure personal security, Earl Fitzwilliam determined at once
upon the line of conduct to be adopted. He joined the Duke
of Portland, Earl Spencer, and other members of the aristo
cracy, who, like himself, felt the necessity of sacrificing the
attachments of party to the general good. This acquisition
gave strength to the ministry and confidence to the nation.
In 1794, when the Duke of Portland became the nominal head
of the cabinet, while Mr. Pitt guided the helm, Earl Fitz
william accepted the office of President of the Council. This
step he took on the recommendation of Mr. Burke, who had
been the bosom friend of his illustrious uncle, and also his
own political preceptor.
In the following year he went to Ireland as Lord Lieu
tenant : but his stay there was very short, in consequence of
the countenance given by him to the pretensions of the Catho
lics. The Irish Parliament, after voting an address to the
new Viceroy, agreed without hesitation to the most ample
6

EARL FITZWILLIAM.
supplies ever granted in that kingdom. A bill was then intro
duced by Mr. Grattan, with the decided consent of the Lord
Lieutenant, for the relief of the Catholics ; but the joy diffused
over Ireland by this measure was speedily changed into sorrow
and indignation, on the intelligence that the British Cabinet
was adverse to the concession. His Lordship's recall imme
diately followed ; and after holding the government only three
months, he was succeeded by Lord Camden. As a proof of
the esteem in which Earl Fitzwilliam was held, the day of his
departure was observed as one of public calamity and humi
liation. All the shops in Dublin were closed, and the inhabit
ants put themselves in mourning.
On the 24th of April his Lordship appeared in the House
of Peers, and challenged ministers to a full investigation of
his instructions, which, he contended, justified and authorized
the very measure which was afterwards condemned. He said,
that as they had insinuated blame to him in his capacity of
the King's representative, he, therefore, was now prepared to
take up the gauntlet which they had thrown down. The ofier
was received in silence ; on which, the Duke of Norfolk gave
notice of a motion for an address to the King, that those parts
of the correspondence between Earl Fitzwilliam and the
ministry, which related to his Lordship's recall from the Irish
government, should be laid before Parliament. This motion
produced a debate on the 8th of May, when it was negatived.
Earl Fitzwilliam, on this occasion, declared, that he went out
with full power to act as he did in regard to the Catholics, and
that no objection to his administration arose, till the dismissal
of certain persons from office, on account of violent politics,
produced such loud complaints and gross misrepresentations,
as ended in his removal, and would, he feared, be followed by
still worse consequences. A similar motion to that of the Duke
of Norfolk was made in the House of Commons by Mr. Jekyl,
but was rejected by an overwhelming majority. This affair
made a great noise on each side of the channel ; and, what
contributed still more to agitate the public mind upon it,
without giving any satisfactory explanation, was the publica-
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
tion of the correspondence between Earl Fitzwilliam and the
Earl of Carlisle. In these letters the two noble friends took
an opposite view of the question, on the ground of expe
diency ; for, in regard to the principle, all parties had but one
opinion. Lord Fitzwilliam now engaged little in politics, till the
conclusion of the war, when he joined Lord Grenville and his
adherents, who constituted a phalanx more respectable for
talents than numbers, in reprobating the ill-managed and short
lived treaty of Amiens. When the death of Mr. Pitt produced
a new ministerial change, in 1806, the Earl returned to his seat
in the cabinet, as President of the Council ; but he enjoyed that
post a very short time, and, ever since, he has led compara
tively a retired life at his noble mansion in Yorkshire.
On the death of his first Countess, in 1822, he, the year
following, though seventy-five, married Louisa, Lady-dowager
Ponsonby, the fourth daughter of Richard, Viscount Moles
worth ; but lost her also, within the space of twelve months.
Lord Milton, the son and heir of the venerable Earl, mar
ried in 1807 his first cousin, the honourable Mary, daughter of
Thomas, the first Lord Dundas. This alliance has been pro
ductive of eight children : 1. William Charles, born in 1812 ;
2. William Thomas Spencer, born in 1815 ; 3. George, born in
1817 ; 4. Charles William, born- in 1826 ; 5. Charlotte ; 6. Mary ;
7. Frances Laura ; 8. Dorothy Henrietta.
Among various acts of public and private munificence
performed by Earl Fitzwilliam, may be mentioned his donation,
in 1807, of two thousand pounds to the Benevolent Society of
St. Patrick, at Liverpool.
Another circumstance, of a pleasing nature, deserving of
record, is that of his erecting a beacon on his estate in York
shire, commemorative of his patriotic uncle, the Marquis of
Rockingham. 8

.#".*&£

SIR JOSEPH BANK.S . BART P. R.S.

^tU.,R,SOK Be CP LONDON, 1329.

SIR JOSEPH BANKS,
BART. P.R.S.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Joseph Banks,
an eminent Swedish merchant, became possessed of Revesby
Abbey, in the county of Lincoln. He married a lady named
Hodgkinson, by whom he had two sons, Joseph, who in 1730
was elected a member of the Royal Society, and William, who
was bred to the law, which he practised for some time at
Spalding. Joseph Banks, the younger, died without issue ; on
which his brother, who had taken the name of Hodgkinson,
in virtue of his maternal grandfather's will, resumed the patro
nymic, and went to live at Revesby Abbey. He married Sarah,
the daughter of William Bate, Esq. by whom he had two
children — Joseph, born at Revesby, February 2d, 1743, old
style ; and Sarah Sophia, who was one year younger.
Mr. William Banks died in September, 1761, aged only
forty-three. He had been confined to his house many years
by an accumulation of bodily infirmities, which he bore with
great patience and resignation.
Joseph Banks, the son of this worthy man, received his
education partly in the country, and partly at Eton, where,
however, he did not continue long; nor was he ever matri
culated at Oxford ; for although he was created Doctor of Civil
Law by that University, November, 21, 1771, he is not regis
tered as belonging to any college. Mrs. Banks, on the loss of
her husband, took a house at Chelsea, where she resided till
her death in 1804. Her son was now ripening into maturity,
and his excellent qualities were the solace of her widowhood.
Botanizing constituted his favourite pursuit in the spring-tide
of life ; and while a youth, he not only visited all the gardens
about Hammersmith, but directed his attention to the forest,
hill, and dale. In one of these excursions he met with a whim
sical adventure, for while crouching among nettles and briars
in a ditch, he was espied by a posse of constables, ^o were
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
looking out for a robber. Having no doubt that this
was the object of whom they were in quest, they seized the
supposed criminal, and conveyed him before a magistrate.
In going through an examination, his pockets were turned out ;
when, instead of money and watches, nothing was found but
plants and wild flowers. On giving an account of himself,
he was dismissed with his treasures, and many apologies for
the treatment he had received. We are told that next to her-
barizing, he was extremely addicted to angling, in which
amusement he was accompanied by John Earl of Sandwich ;
and so eager were they in following this sport, as to pass
whole days, and even nights, on the Thames, or on Wbittlesea
Mere, in Lincolnshire.
In 1763, Mr. Banks made a voyage to Newfoundland and
Labrador, for the sole purpose of exploring those remote
shores, and adding to his stock of natural curiosities. After
his return from the north, he felt an eager desire to visit the
southern hemisphere, which, by the recent discoveries, held
out a wider field for exploration. Fortunately, an opportunity
for the indulgence of this inclination soon offered, and Mr.
Banks did not fail to take advantage of it. This was the
transit of Venus" over the Sun's disc, which was expected to
happen in 1769. The attention of all the astronomers in Europe
was excited to this phenomenon, on account of its importance
in affording the means of determining the distance of the Sun
from the Earth. At the request of the Royal Society, it was
resolved by the Government, to send persons to Otaheite, to
make the requisite observations. Accordingly a ship, named
the Endeavour, was put under the command of Lieutenant
Cook, who, after the accomplishment of the first object of
the voyage, was instructed to traverse the Pacific ocean, for
the purpose of making new discoveries. Mr. Banks, who had
been elected a member of the Royal Society on the first of
May, 1766, obtained leave to embark in the expedition, bear
ing his own expenses, and those of his friend, Dr. Solander,
a native of Sweden, and the scholar of Linnaeus. On the
25th of August, 1768, the Endeavour sailed from Plymouth
2

SIR JOSEPH BANKS.
Sound. Even in the passage to Madeira, Mr. Banks discovered
many aquatic animals, which had escaped the observation
of former naturalists. On the 12th of September, the ship
came to anchor in the bay of Funchal. Here Mr. Banks
and Dr. Solander went on shore, with the intention of
exploring the interior of the island ; but on applying to the
governor for his permission, it was at first refused, from a
suspicion of their designs. When, however, his excellency
understood that they were gentlemen who had no object in
view but the extension of science, he made up for his want of
courtesy by extraordinary civility, and granted their request.
After remaining a week at Madeira, the Endeavour pur
sued her course to Rio Janeiro, where Mr. Banks experienced
a mortifying disappointment, by being restricted, through a
spirit of jealousy in the Portuguese authorities, from indulging
his favourite passion for scientific inquiry.
Notwithstanding this incivility, our enterprising countryman
found means to penetrate into the country, and there load
himself with rare plants and shrubs, which were brought down
to the beach, and conveyed to the ship. After a stay of about
three weeks, our voyagers left Rio Janeiro on the 8th of
December, sailing along the coast, without any remarkable cir
cumstance till the 17th of January, 1769, when they came to
an anchor at the island of Terra del Fuego. This is one of
the most dreary spots in the universe ; and though it was now
the height of summer here, the weather was excessively cold.
Unappalled by the prospect, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander were
desirous of exploring a country that had never before been
visited by any naturalist. For this purpose, they went on shore
early in the morning, being twelve in company. Their progress,
however, was so impeded by swamps and underwood, that it was
three in the afternoon before they could ascend a mountain of
moderate height; when suddenly the air, which had till then
been serene, became piercingly cold, and snow began to fall.
Still they continued their course, and their perseverance was
rewarded by finding a variety of undescribed plants ; but the
day was so far spent, that it was impossible to return to the
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
ship that night. Dr. Solander represented to his companions
the necessity of continuing in motion, and not yielding to
lassitude ; assuring them, that whoever slept in such a situa
tion, would wake no more. They had not proceeded far,
before the apprehended symptoms began to be felt ; and he
who had thus cautioned others, was the first to violate his
own precept, by throwing himself on the ground, and de
claring that he could go no further. Richmond, the black
servant of Mr. Banks, next gave way to the fatal pro
pensity. In this distress, five of the company were sent
forward, to make a fire at the first convenient place they could
find ; the rest remaining with the Doctor, to keep him awake.
In a few minutes, news was brought that a fire was kindled
at a short distance. The Doctor was then awakened with
great difficulty ; but his muscles had become so contracted,
that the shoes fell off his feet, and he had almost lost the
use of his limbs. The attempts to rouse the servant were
ineffectual ; and, of the two men who were left to look after
him, one fell a victim to the stupor. The rest of the com
pany passed the night round the fire, but were unprovided
with refreshments, having only a vulture, which they had shot
in their journey. At the dawn of day, nothing presented itself
but an expanse of snow : and it was six o'clock before they
could discern the sun through the clouds. They then went
in search of Richmond, and the other man, both of whom
were quite dead; but a dog, which belonged to the latter,
was still alive. At about eight o'clock the snow began to
melt, and the company determined to set forward. After
dressing the vulture, they quitted this melancholy spot at ten
o'clock, and in about three hours reached the ship.
On the 13th of April, the Endeavour reached Otaheite,
where our voyagers were joyfully received by the natives,
whose queen, Oberea, is said to have been as much attached
to the subject of this Memoir, as Calypso was to Telemachus.
On the 4th of June, the observation of the transit of Venus
being completed, preparations were made for leaving the island.
This took place on the 13th of July, when Tupia, the high-
4

SIR JOSEPH BANKS.
priest of Otaheite, obtained leave to embark with his son on
board the Endeavour, where he rendered himself particularly
serviceable as an interpreter, and by the information which
he gave of the islands scattered over these seas. While at
Otaheite, the nutritious qualities of the bread-fruit tree were
discovered; and, in return for this valuable esculent, Mr.
Banks humanely employed himself in planting a quantity of
the seeds of water-melons, oranges, lemons, limes, and other
plants and trees, which he had collected at Rio Janeiro.
On the 7th of October the Endeavour reached New
Zealand, which, pursuant to his instructions, Captain Cook
circumnavigated, and thereby determined its insular character.
Near its southern extremity was discovered an islet, to which
he gave the name of Banks' Island.
On the 19th of April, 1770, they made New Holland, but
while exploring this coast, on the 10th of June, the ship, in
passing over a bed of rocks, struck, and remained immoveable
till the return of the tide, when it was apprehended she would
sink at her anchors by the influx of the water. At length
the leaks were stopped, and the vessel was brought safely into
the river. By this accident Mr. Banks lost the greater part
of his collections of natural history : but he was subsequently
recompensed by the discovery of that singular animal, the
kangaroo. He also found here a plant similar to that which
in the West Indies is called Indian kale, and which proved
an excellent edible. On the 4th of August, the Endeavour
sailed from New Holland, and after touching at New Guinea,
proceeded to Batavia, where she arrived on the 9th of October.
Here it was found necessary to repair the ship, the bottom of
which was so much eaten by worms, and abraded by the rocks,
that its thickness in many places was not a quarter of an
inch. Soon after their arrival, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander,
together with the whole crew, were attacked by the pestilential
fever of the climate. Thirty of the company, among whom were
Mr. Green *he astronomer, and the two Otaheitans, died ; but
the naturalists recovered, though not without suffering severely.
After a short stay at the Cape, they proceeded to St, Helena,
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
and from thence to England, where they landed on the 15th of
July 1771, having circumnavigated the globe in somewhat less
than three years. Mr. Banks was received with the respect
due to his intelligence and spirit of enterprise. He was, in
short, looked upon as one of the most promising young men
of the age ; for while others were dissipating their time, talents,
and property, at the gaming table, in field-sports, or still more
immoral pursuits, he was devoting his person and wealth to
the advancement of science. It might have been expected
that, after so many dangers, he would have gladly sought
repose, and contented himself with the laurels he had acquired.
But peril and fatigue had not abated his ardour. Not long
after his return, he and Dr. Solander visited Iceland, which at
that time was but little known to the rest of Europe. After
investigating this island, in which they were assisted by
another naturalist, Van Troil, they explored the Hebrides on
the north-west coast of Scotland. Here Mr. Banks was well
rewarded for his labour by the discovery of the most magni
ficent specimen of columnar basaltes in the world, the Cave of
Fingal, in the isle of Staffa.
On his return home, Mr. Banks for some years divided
his time between his seat in Lincolnshire and his town resi
dence in Soho Square, where also his old companion Dr.
Solander became an inmate. About this time the peace of
the Royal Society was greatly disturbed by two parties,
the subject of whose contention somewhat resembled that
which divided the empire of Liliput. Dr. Franklin, the im
prover of electricity, having strongly recommended pointed
rods as conductors, for the security of public buildings ;
Mr. Benjamin Wilson, the painter, no less strenuously urged
the superior advantage of blunt ones with balls. Sir John
Pringle, and the President, and most of the scientific members of
the Society, were Franklinians ; but they were opposed by his
late Majesty, in consequence of which it is not to be wondered
that the advantage should be on the side of the Wilsonians.
In consequence of this, Sir John Pringle resigned the chair,
to which, on St. Andrew's day, 1778, Mr. Banks was elected.
6

SIR JOSEPH BANKS.
On the 29th of March, 1779, he married Dorothea, daughter
and coheiress of William Weston Huguesson, Esq. of Nor
ton, in the county of Kent. Mrs. Banks survived her husband,
and died, without having had any issue, June 28, 1828.
In 1781 the dignity of a Baronet was conferred upon Mr.
Banks, and some years afterwards he was honoured with the
order of the Bath, to which distinction was, latterly, added
that of being sworn a member of the privy council. His
situation in the Royal Society was far from being easy.
Some of the discontents which had driven away his prede
cessor still prevailed, and a circumstance soon occurred to
kindle fresh disputes. Dr. Hutton, the foreign secretary, hav
ing given some offence to the President, was assailed with
charges, which he repelled, and then threw up the place. This
produced recriminating charges against Sir Joseph Banks ;
who, however, held his seat, and at length peace was
restored. Besides the Royal Society, which, notwithstanding this
temporary rupture, flourished under his administration, Sir
Joseph assisted materially in the directing of two other establish
ments — the African Association, and the Royal Institution.
The former, in particular, engaged much of his attention, and
he contributed largely to the support of its objects.
At the beginning of 1802, Sir Joseph Banks was elected a
member of the National Institute of France ; for which honour,
he expressed his acknowledgments in so high a tone of com
pliment, as gave great offence to his late Majesty; whose
resentment, however, was not of long duration. Sir Joseph
was indeed, for the greatest part of his life, a particular
favourite of the venerable monarch, who entrusted to him his
valuable flock of Merino sheep. As an experimentalist, he
was very successful ; and by the drainage of the fens in Lin
colnshire, his estates were nearly doubled in value.
In September, 1818, Sir Joseph lost his only and much
esteemed sister, from whom he had never been separated
except during his different voyages. Like her accomplished
brother, she was strongly animated with a zeal for science,
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
especially natural history and antiquities, of which she formed
a separate collection.
In his earlier days, Sir Joseph's person exhibited a manly
appearance, with a countenance expressive of benignity and
intelligence. His manners also were courteous, his conver
sation was entertaining, and his liberality was boundless.
On Sunday evenings, during the winter-season, he held a
converzatione at his house in Soho Square, where new disco
veries were communicated, and literary subjects discussed.
His library was one of the best, and his museum superior to
most private collections in the kingdom. Unfortunately, the
owner, during the latter part of his life, was so much afflicted
with the gout, as to be nearly bent to the ground. For some
years he took ginger in large quantities ; afterwards he had
recourse to a quack medicine called the eau medicinale, and,
having felt some momentary benefit from it, gave the nos
trum a recommendation to which it was not entitled.
At length, worn out with disease, he expired on the 9th of
May, 1820. The principal of his real and personal estate he
left to Lady Banks ; his botanical drawings to the Royal
establishment at Kew ; the papers relating to the Royal Society,
to that institution ; those on the coinage, to the Mint ; and his
library, to the British Museum.
Sir Joseph was not ambitious of literary fame, and his only
separate publication is a small experimental tract on the
Blight in Wheat ; but several of his communications are in the
Philosophical Transactions. 8

^4J£*<&f~3k

F KAN (IS H.WDOK, TrtAllQTIS OF HAST IN CI

<A/Az^^^

FRANCIS RAWDON HASTINGS,
MARQUIS OF HASTINGS, K.G.
The family of Rawdon is of great antiquity, and of Norman
extraction. But the English pedigree is deduced from Paulyn,
or Paulinus de Roydon, who commanded a body of archers in
the army of William, at the battle of Hastings. For this ser
vice he received from the Conqueror a grant of lands in the
West Riding of Yorkshire, near Leeds. The tenure was by
grand sergeantry ; and the condition, that of presenting to the
king and his successors a cross-bow and arrow, whenever any
of them should come to hunt there. Of the title-deed con
veying these manorial rights, Weever, in his " Funeral Monu
ments," gives the following as a faithful transcript :
I William Kyng, the thurd yere of my reign,
Give to thee Paulyn Roydon, Hope and Hopetowne,
With all the bounds both up and downe ;
From heven to yerthe, from yerthe to hel,
For the and thyne there to dwel,
As truly as this king-right is myn ;
For a crosse-bow and an arrow,
When I sal come to hunt on Yarrow.
And in token that this thing is sooth,
I bit the whyt wax with my tooth,
Before Meg, Maud, and Margery,
And my third sonne, Henry.
Some heraldic antiquaries have affected to doubt the au
thenticity of this record, but its validity seems supported by
internal evidence, and the armorial bearing, which is that of a
fess between three pheons, or arrow-heads, with this motto, —
Mt nos quoque tela sparsimus: "We too have scattered our
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
arrows." From this knight came, through a long line of
descendants, George Rawdon, who it appears went to Ireland
with the great Earl of Strafford, and there distinguished him
self so nobly in the rebellion, that on the 25th of May, 1665,
he was created an English baronet. His great-grandson, Sir
John Rawdon, in 1750, was raised to the Irish peerage, as
Baron Rawdon of the county of Down ; and in 1761, he was
further advanced to the Earldom of Moira. He married three
times : — first, Helena, youngest daughter of the Earl of Eg-
mont, by whom he had two daughters ; next, Anne, daughter
of Lord Hillsborough, by whom he had no issue ; and lastly,
Elizabeth Hastings, eldest daughter of Theophilus, ninth Earl of
Huntingdon, who brought him two sons and three daughters.
Francis, the eldest of the male issue, and the subject of
this biographical sketch, was born at the family seat in the
county of Down, Dec. 9, 1754. While a child, he exhibited
a strong attachment to the art of war ; and at the age of ten,
the bursting of a brass gun in a pigmy entrenchment, with
which he was attacking the hornworks of a battery, produced
a wound in his leg, without curing him of a taste for military
affairs. His early education he received at the school of
Lisburne, in his native country, from whence he removed to
Eton, and next to Oxford, where, however, his stay was but
short. At the age of sixteen he entered the army as ensign in
the 15th foot; and two years afterwards he obtained a lieu
tenancy in the 5th, with which regiment he embarked for North
America. That country was then in a revolutionary state,
and hostilities soon after broke out between the provincialists
and the king's troops. The first regular battle, however, was
that of Bunker's Hill, fought on the 17th of June, 1775. In
this conflict Lord Rawdon particularly distinguished him
self; and, according to the language of General Burgoyne,
" stamped his fame for life." Shortly after this affair he was
appointed to a company, and made aide-de-camp to Sir Henry
Clinton, the commander-in-chief. In 1778 he was nominated
Adjutant-General, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. At
this period his services were of the utmost importance, and
2

MARQUIS OF HASTINGS.
there was no action of consequence in which he was not
engaged. He was actively employed in the Jerseys, and
while at Philadelphia he displayed his judgment and know
ledge of human nature, in a remarkable manner. Observing
that the American line was chiefly made up of Irish deserters,
his Lordship undertook to raise a corps of his countrymen, to
be called the Volunteers of Ireland. This scheme had the
desired effect; the corps was soon completed by deserters
from the enemy, and its services in the field were of the most
decisive character: in the first battle of Camden, under the
command of Lord Rawdon, one-half of the regiment was either
killed or wounded ; and in one that followed, the proportion
was still greater. Nothing, however, could check the propen
sity to desertion until his Lordship adopted a singular expe
dient. A man caught in the attempt to go off, was brought on
the parade, before the whole regiment, to whom he was given
up, to be punished or acquitted as his comrades should deter
mine. The private soldiers alone formed a court-martial, and
having found the prisoner guilty, hung him on the next tree.
Lord Rawdon was next appointed to a distinct command in
South Carolina, where he was opposed to General Gates, and
repulsed him in all his attempts upon the British positions.
At the battle of Camden, August 16th, 1780, his Lordship
commanded one wing of the army ; and when Earl Cornwallis
pursued the Americans towards Virginia, he left Lord Raw
don to defend the frontiers of Carolina against General Green.
The republican commander having turned Lord Cornwallis's
left, fell suddenly upon Lord Rawdon's position. His Lord
ship perceiving that it was Green's intention to attack his
redoubts in the night, withdrew the troops from them after
dusk, and prepared to surprise the enemy on the open ground.
The American general, however, acted warily, and resolved
to wait for the arrival of his artillery. His antagonist, on
the other hand, was prompt and vigilant. Seeing the reason
of Green's delay, he resolved to anticipate him, and to become
the assailant. Accordingly, on the 25th of April, 1781, he
chose the hour of noon to make the attempt, when it was
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
least expected. By this rapid manoeuvre, he reached Hobkirk
Hill before Green had any suspicion of the movement. The
American not only fancied himself secure by his superiority
of force, but by the local advantage he possessed in having
a large swamp, which protected him on the only assailable
side of the hill. Lord Rawdon approached with a narrow
line of front ; and the enemy's piquets being driven in, the
alarm immediately spread through the American camp.
Green perceived the danger of his situation, and with the
utmost promptitude decided upon the means most likely to
repel the assailants. Finding that the British advanced in
a narrow front, he commenced a heavy fire of grape-shot from
his batteries, and, under their protection, charged down the
bill. Lord Rawdon was equally on the alert, and instantly
extended the whole of his line, by which evolution he com
pletely disconcerted the plan of the enemy, and gained a
complete victory. This success enabled him to concentrate
his army, and, being joined by some reinforcements, he drove
the republicans to a considerable distance ; but soon after, the
capture of Lord Cornwallis at York Town, and the declining
state of the royal cause, rendered it necessary to remove the
troops to Charleston. While here, an American prisoner,
named Isaac Haynes, voluntarily took the oaths of allegiance,
and was set at liberty. In violation of this solemn obligation,
he secretly obtained a colonel's commission in the rebel service,
and then began to practise the arts of corruption on the British
soldiers. His treachery was discovered, and he suffered the
punishment which, by the law of nations, he had incurred.
Lord Rawdon, though neither on the court martial, nor con
cerned in the prosecution, was violently attacked in and out
of Parliament for this act of justice. The Duke of Richmond
made a specific charge against his Lordship in his absence,
and, what was worse, on anonymous authority. When Lord
Rawdon arrived in England, in 1782, he called the Duke to
account for this unwarrantable attack ; but a meeting on the
ground was happily prevented by the submission of his Grace,
and his consenting to make an apology in the Upper House,
4

MARQUIS OF HASTINGS.
which he did in a manner more creditable to the offended
party than to himself.
Lord Rawdon's conduct in America was so brilliant, that
the King not only made him, immediately after his return, one
of his aides-du-camp, with the rank of Colonel ; but conferred
upon him the English Barony of Rawdon, which gave him
a seat in the Upper House of Parliament. About this time
he contracted that intimacy with the Prince of Wales, which
lasted through life. The intercourse with the Duke of York
was somewhat later; but this friendship, like the former,
never suffered any interruption.
In May 1789, his Lordship acted as second to his Royal
Highness in the duel which he fought with Colonel Lennox.
This, considering the station his Lordship held about the per
son of the King, was a very hazardous undertaking ; but a
high, and even chivalrous sense of honour, was in him para
mount to all worldly motives.
In October that year, Lord Rawdon, by the death of his
maternal uncle, the Earl of Huntingdon, came into possession
of the bulk of that nobleman's fortune ; which was a very sea
sonable acquisition, as by his great liberality he had involved
himself in considerable pecuniary difficulties. His mother at
the same time succeeded to the Barony of Hastings, and to the
other baronies in fee possessed by her father, but the title of
Huntingdon remained thirty years in abeyance. In June, 1793,
his Lordship succeeded to the Earldom of Moira by the death
of his father; and shortly after, he was raised to the rank of
Major-General, when he was appointed to the command of an
army intended to co-operate with the Royalists in Brittany.
Before the preparations could be completed, however, the de
sign was rendered abortive, by the suppression of the insur
rection, and the triumph of the French republicans. In the
following summer, Lord Moira performed a great military
exploit, by reinforcing the Duke of York with ten thousand
men, when his Royal Highness was nearly cut off by a supe
rior force, in his retreat through Brabant to Antwerp. Having
accomplished this object, and saved the British army, his Lord-
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
ship returned to England ; where for a long time he held a mili
tary, but merely nominal, command at Southampton. In 1803,
he was removed to the more efficient situation of Commander-
in-Chief of the forces in Scotland; at which time he obtained
the rank of General.
On the 12th of July, in the following year, he married Flora
Muir Campbell, Countess of Loudoun. The ceremony was
performed by the Bishop of London, at the house of Lady
Perth in Grosvenor Square, and the Prince of Wales gave
away the bride.
As his Lordship had uniformly acted with the opposition,
except in the single case of the prosecution of Mr. Hastings,
the change of ministry, occasioned by the death of Mr. Pitt,
naturally brought him into a high official situation as a mem
ber of the Cabinet. Accordingly, he was made Master General
of the Ordnance, and Constable of the Tower. He then of
course gave up the command in Scotland, when the Lord
Provost and the Inhabitants of Edinburgh presented him with
the following address : —
" We recollect with gratitude, that when the nation was
threatened with a powerful and dangerous invasion, your Lord
ship's presence commanded our confidence, and renewed our
vigour ; your military talents collected all our resources, and con
centrated our strength ; and under your Lordship, this country
rose at once to a state of proud defiance, — justifying every
expectation excited by your high military character and
renown ; while your Lordship's mild and conciliating virtues
added to our respect and gratitude, sentiments of the warmest
personal esteem and affection."
The administration, of which his Lordship formed a part,
was of short duration, and he again retired into private life.
In 1808, by the death of his mother, he succeeded to the
ancient English Baronies which had descended to her, and also
to landed property of about six thousand a year. On the
death of Mr. Perceval, in May, 1812, Lord Moira was em
ployed to form an extended administration; but when Earl
Grey and Lord Grenville insisted on having the appointment
6

MARQUIS OF HASTINGS.
of all the offices in the royal household, his Lordship resisted
the demand as disrespectful, and the negotiation terminated.
About this time he incurred considerable odium by the zeal
which he had shown, on the investigation into the conduct of
the Princess of Wales ; but, for the uniform attachment which
he had shown to his august Friend, he was rewarded with the
Order of the Garter ; and soon after nominated to the govern
ment of Bengal. His conduct in that important station gained
him great applause ; particularly for his vigorous prosecution
and successful termination of the Nepaul war. Its original
object was merely the suppression of the Pindarries, an asso
ciation, whose principle was the plunder of all the neighbouring
powers ; but it terminated in adding greatly to the territories of
the East India Company. As Governor-General, in his address
to the inhabitants of Calcutta, he observes, "Undoubtedly
your sway has been prodigiously extended by the late opera
tions. The Indus is now in effect your frontier ; and, on the
conditions of the arrangement, I thank Heaven that it is so.
What is there between Calcutta and that boundary ? Nothing
but states bound by a sense of common interest with you, or
a comparatively small proportion of ill-disposed population,
rendered incapable of raising a standard against you."
On the 7th of December, 1816, his Lordship having
obtained the royal permission to assume the maternal name,
was created Viscount Loudoun, Earl of Rawdon, and Marquis
of Hastings; and on the 6th of February following, he
received the thanks of Parliament for his conduct in the
Nepaul war.
In 1822, the Marquis returned to England : but instead of
that repose which his advanced life and services required, he
was nominated Governor of Malta. This was owing to
the great embarrassment in which he had involved himself
before he went to India, and from which, even his establish
ment there could not extricate him, without having recourse
to expedients at which his high sense of honour revolted.
At Malta his mind was continually employed, as it ever
had been, for the public benefit. It was evident, however,
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
that his constitution failed ; and at length a fall from his horse
produced distressing effects on the hernia from which he had
long suffered. Being reduced to a state of great weakness,
he resolved to seek relief in the milder climate of Naples : but
he had scarcely arrived in that bay, when he expired, on board
the Revenge, November, 28, 1826. In a letter found amongst
his papers, he requested that his right hand might be
cut off, and preserved until the death of the Marchioness,
and then interred in the same coffin. The hand was
accordingly amputated, and is kept for that purpose. It was
a great consolation to the Marquis to have the sight of his
Lady, and four of his children, round his bed at the moment
of his departure. His remains were conveyed back to Malta
for interment, but the family landed at Naples, and from
thence pursued their melancholy way to England.
The Marquis of Hastings was distinguished through life by
his benevolence and patriotism. In Parliament he was an
able and nervous speaker, without ever descending to invective
or personality. Among his exertions in the cause of humanity,
may be mentioned the zeal with which he endeavoured to
relieve the distresses of poor debtors. He was warmly
attached to Freemasonry, and as long as the Prince of
Wales was Grand Master of that Institution, his Lordship
acted as his Deputy, He had by his Lady: 1. Flora Elizabeth,
born at Edinburgh, in 1806 : 2. Francis George Augustus,
born in London, in 1807, and died next day : 3. George
Augustus Francis, now Marquis of Hastings, born in St.
James's Place, in 1808 : 4. Sophia Frederica Christina, born
in 1802 : 5. Selina Constantina, born in 1810 : 6. Adelaide
Augusta Lavinia, born in 1812.
When the Marquis retired from the government of
India, the Company presented him with sixty thousand
pounds. Notwithstanding this, he died so very poor, that the
same liberal body voted forty thousand pounds more to the
present Marquis, in consideration of his father's services.
8

KICHART) WELLESLEY, MARQUIS WE1LES1EY, K.G.

.FISHER., SOU & CP LOWDOK, 1829.

RICHARD WELLESLEY,
MARQUIS OF WELLESLEY.
Richard Wellesley, Marquis of Wellesley, of Norragh,
Earl of Mornington, Viscount Wellesley of Dangan Castle,
and Baron Mornington in Ireland, and Baron Wellesley of
Wellesley, Somersetshire, K.G., K.C., K. S. L., and D. C. L.,
was born June 20, 1760. The surname of the illustrious
family, rendered still more illustrious by its present descend
ants, from which this Nobleman derives his birth, was originally
Cowley, or Colley, and appears to have been first rendered
eminent by Walter Cowley, who sustained the office of Solicitor-
General of Ireland in the year 1537, and that of Surveyor-
General of the kingdom in 1548. Dudley Colley, one of the
descendants of this gentleman, was member, for Philipstown,
in the first parliament after the Restoration, and his third
daughter marrying Garret Wellesley, Esq. of Dangan, in the
county of Meath, the estates of that gentleman, on the death of
his sons, devolved to their cousin Richard Colley, Esq., who
thenceforward bore the name and arms of Wellesley. His
grandson succeeding him in 1728, was raised to the Irish
peerage, after having borne the office of second Chamberlain of
the Court of Exchequer, and represented the borough of Trim,
on the 9th of July, 1746, by the title of Baron of Mornington. He
was succeeded by his only son, Garret, who was born in 1735,
and elevated to the rank of Viscount Wellesley of Dangan
Castle, and Earl of Mornington, in 1760. His Lordship's issue
consisted of the distinguished man who forms the subject of the
present sketch : of William, created Baron Maryborough, and
heir presumptive to the Irish Earldom of Mornington ; Arthur,
Duke of Wellington ; Gerald Valerian, who is in holy orders,
D.D., a prebendary of Durham, chaplain to the King, and
rector of Chelsea ; Henry, created Lord Cowley ; and Anne,
who married, first the Hon. Henry Fitzroy, and secondly, her
former husband dying in 1794, Charles Cullen Smith, Esq.
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
The father of this numerous family was raised to the dignity
of Earl of Mornington shortly after the birth of his eldest son ;
and having originally determined on devoting him to a public
life, sent him at an early age to Eton. Here, it is said,
he distinguished himself by a display of talents among his fel
low students, which gave a strong prognostic of the eminence
he was destined to obtain on the great theatre of the world.
Having finished his studies at Eton, he removed to Cam
bridge ; but the death of his father inducing him to enter early
on public business, he returned home before completing his
residence, and was appointed a member of the Irish Privy-
Council, and a Knight of the newly instituted Order of St.
Patrick. In addition to these honours, he was chosen one of
the representatives of the Royal Borough of Windsor, and in
this situation took an active part in the important debates,
which the disturbed state of Europe occasioned in both Houses
of Parliament. His speeches abounded in sentiments of the
most devoted loyalty, of hatred to the principles which had
been sown by the French revolution, and in expressions cal
culated to inspire the ministry of the time with resolution to
pursue the warlike counsels which had been proposed. By
this ardent agreement with the views of Government, and a
frequent personal intercourse with his late Majesty, the
advancement of his Lordship could hardly fail of rapidly
taking place.
The Governor-generalship of India was the splendid gift
with which the King thought fit to reward the attachment of
the Earl of Mornington, and in the year 1797, he entered on that
wide and magnificent scene of action. The Indian govern
ment presented at the time, difficulties which it required talents
of the highest order, and great personal resolution, to over
come. The consequences of the French revolution were felt
as greatly in that distant part of the British dominions as at
home, and the most vigorous exertions were called for, to pre
vent their alienation from the English crown. Not only had
party spirit begun to shew itself in a variety of dangerous
forms, but the most powerful enemy of the British authority
2

MARQUIS WELLESLEY.
had recovered sufficient force and resolution to be again plan
ning a union of his arms with those of France. Tippoo,
Sultan of Mysore, was that enemy, whose co-operation with
the French republic was of too dangerous a nature for the admi
nistration to suffer it to gain maturity, without every means
being employed to prevent it, or anticipate the consequences.
Without allowing, therefore, the danger to increase by dilatory
counsels, his Lordship instantly adopted measures for the
firmest resistance to the expected enemy. Buonaparte having
landed in Egypt, he despatched a considerable part of the
Indian army, under Sir David Baird, to join Sir Ralph Aber-
crombie, who had the command of that from England. The
bold design of sending these forces up the Persian Gulf having
succeeded, his Lordship had the satisfaction of seeing his
counsels crowned with distinguished triumph. Orders were
next issued to obtain possession of Perim, a small island
situated at the entrance of the Gulf of Cambay, which
forms a communication between the Straits of Babelmandel
and the Red Sea. By the possession of this place, the pas
sage of the invading army would be effectually stopped, and
India in consequence be provided with a permanent and secure
defence. The Indian army, in the mean time, having assembled
under General Harris, received directions to proceed against
Seringapatam, the seige of which city was accordingly
commenced in April, 1799. The assurances which Buonaparte
had given the Sultan of speedy and effective aid, induced that
haughty but unfortunate prince to reject every offer of conci
liation. No other measures, therefore, seemed open, but an imme
diate and determined attack upon the seat of his government,
and the siege was formed with every care to secure its speedy
capture. The difficulty, however, of the undertaking was
greater, it is said, than had been expected, and history has few
recitals of a military nature more calculated to inspire a horror
for war, under whatever pretences, or for whatever design, it
be undertaken. So many were the obstacles which presented
themselves to the attacking army, that there was at one time
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
an idea of raising the siege, which it is probable would have
been the case, but for the pressing and energetic letters of the
Governor-General. Urged on by bis exhortations, General
Harris carried on his operations with renewed vigour, and the
place was at length earned by a desperate assault, in which
the Sultan himself was slain. Intelligence of the important
event was immediately communicated to the government at
home, and the Earl of Mornington was created, as a reward for
his services, Marquis of Wellesley.
But his Lordship was not more active in the military opera
tions of his administration, than he was in the less splendid,
but equally important affairs of domestic policy. A dispute
for a long time existing between the free-traders of Asia and
the East India Company, had induced the government, in
renewing the Company's charter, to insert a clause which
extended the hitherto very narrow limits of the free trade.
From some laxity in the wording of the article, means had been
found by the officers of the Company to continue their vexa
tious exactions upon the merchants, and disputes and heavy
grievances had been the necessary result. The first object,
almost, to which the Marquis of Wellesley directed his atten
tion, was the removal of the disorders incident to these circum
stances, and he was contented with succeeding in his just and
able policy, notwithstanding the obloqUy which the opposing
party endeavoured to heap upon his measures.
In the year 1805, his Lordship returned to his native
country, after a useful and popular administration of the
charge with which the regard of the King had invested him.
Opinion, however, was not universally in his favour. He was
said to have been extravagant in his government, and guilty
of oppression towards the native princes. Articles of impeach
ment were even preferred against him in the House of Com
mons, but they were suffered to drop, and a vote was given in
his favour.
On resuming his seat in the House of Lords, the Marquis
of Wellesley again became conspicuous as a frequent and elo
quent speaker ; and in the year 1807, on the Duke of Portland
4

MARQUIS WELLESLEY.
becoming minister, he was solicited to accept the office of minister
of state, but declined it. In 1809, he succeeded Mr. Frere as
ambassador to the court of Spain, and had the fortune to land
at Cadiz on the very day on which the battle of Talavera was
fought, and, amid the rejoicings which were made to celebrate
the surrender of Dupont's army to the patriot forces. Every
demonstration of public respect attended his arrival. A
French flag was spread upon the ground for him to walk on,
his carriage was drawn by the people to the town-house ; and,
what was a more singular proof of the heartiness of their
welcome, they refused the gold which he prepared to scatter
among them.
His Lordship's residence in Spain was short, nor was it
productive of the benefits which might have been expected
from the exertion of his eminent abilities. On his return to
England, however, he accepted the situation in the cabinet
which he had some time before declined, and was made
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ; his brother, Sir Henry
Wellesley, succeeding him in his office of Spanish ambassador.
When the sudden death of Mr. Perceval left the highest post
in the government vacant, he was offered the appointment, but,
after a long correspondence respecting the formation of a
ministry with the different men of power, he was induced
not only to decline the proffered honour, but to retire
altogether from office. The reason assigned for this deter
mination was his Lordship's discovering, that it would
be impossible for him to form a cabinet which should coin
cide with his own views respecting the Spanish war,
which his penetration and foresight taught him it would be
necessary to pursue on an extended scale, if any hope were
nourished of ultimate success.
After some years of retirement, during which he joined
the opposition, the Marquis of Wellesley accepted the
appointment of the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, whieh he
had been offered some time previously, but declined : in conse
quence of this appointment, he proceeded, in 1822, to Dublin,
where his known friendly disposition to the cause- of the
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Catholics prepared for him a highly popular reception. One
of his first endeavours, on taking possession of the vice
regal government, was to stop the customary, but fearfully
irritating processions, with which the Orangemen testified
their admiration of King William's triumph over the Catholic
James : another was, his attempt to introduce a thorough
reform into the Irish magistracy, on which every sober-minded
man, of whatever party or religion he may be, must know that
the future peace of the people so much depends. Good
sense and discretion, in this part of the government, may do
more than any political measures, of whatever nature they
may be, can do without them.
By the efforts which the Marquis used, the practical juris
prudence of the country was very greatly improved, and faction
lost much both of its evil tendency and its power. The lower
departments also of justice were rendered more effective in
their operation, and made themselves more beneficially felt, by
the institution of petty sessions ; while witnesses received every
encouragement to declare the truth, whatever parties might be
affected by their disclosures. Greater care also was thence
forward employed by the judges in impannelling juries, in
calling which, considerable abuses had been long allowed to
exist. These endeavours of the Viceroy produced much good ;
and it is greatly to be regretted, not only in respect to him,
but other governors of Ireland desirous of improving the condi
tion of the country, that the tenure of their rule should
generally be so short and uncertain, or that any mere political
and party considerations should be allowed to produce changes,
where settled measures seem so likely to prove beneficial.
His Lordship's return from Ireland terminated the most
important part of his political career, but it enabled him
again to occupy the place in parliament which he had for so
many years filled with distinguished reputation.
The Marquis of Wellesley has been twice married. His
former lady, whom he married November 29, 1794, was
Hyacinthe-Gabrielle, only daughter of Pierre Roland, who
died in November, 1816. He next married, October 29, 1825,
6

MARQUIS WELLESLEY.
Marianne, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Richard Caton,
Esq., of Maryland, in North America, and widow of Mr. Pat
terson. Several speeches and pamphlets have been published by
his Lordship at different times, on circumstances or questions
connected with his administration, or with the great public
events of the period. Among these are 'Substance of a
Speech in the House of Commons, on the Address,' which
appeared in the year 1794. 'Notes relative to the peace
concluded with the Mahrattas,' printed in quarto, in 1804,
and containing an abridged view of Indian affairs. ' Letters
to the Government of Fort Saint George, relative to the new
form of government established there,' published in 1812, and
' Letters to the Directors of the East India Company, on the
India Trade,' which also appeared the same year.
In order to commemorate the services which he performed
in India, he received, in addition to his title, the honour of
having his family arms augmented, with an allusion to the
scene and circumstances of his exertions. The addition to
the former bearings were, in the language of heraldry, " an
escutcheon purpure, charged with an estoile vert, bordered and
radiated or, between eight stripes or spots of the royal tiger,
in pairs, salterwise gold." To the dexter supporter, which is
a lion, was added, " In the paw, the French republican tri-
coloured flag depressed, and the staff broken." The sinister
supporter was also ordered to be altered from a lion to the
royal tiger of Tippoo Sultaun, vert striped, ducally collared,
and chained or, holding in the paw the standard of Tippoo
depressed, and the staff broken." To the crest of Wellesley
was added, "the standard of Tippoo Sultaun," and to the
crest of Colley, which was a man's arm grasping a sword,
instead of the sword, " a flag-staff, with the Union standard
of Great Britain, surmounting the tri-coloured flag of France,
and the standard of Tippoo."
Few public characters can be named, who have acquired
distinction by services, in a greater variety of situations, than
the Marquis of Wellesley. In the earliest part of his career, he
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
recommended himself to the Monarch by his powerful exertions
in parliament. Shortly after, he was sent to occupy a station
of acknowledged difficulty, the duties of which he performed
in a manner that gave satisfaction to almost every individual
in the kingdom, but those interested in opposing him. War
being considered necessary to the saving of the territory under
his government, he determined upon it with the most states
man-like counsels, and pursued it with military vigour and
resolution. In the measures which he took for reforming
abuses in commercial affairs, he was seconded by many of the
ablest men in the country ; and what he was enabled to effect,
obtained him their gratitude and respect. Soon after his
return from India, he occupied a totally different situation, as
Spanish ambassador ; and on resigning the latter office, took
his seat as an active member of the British Cabinet. The
Vice-Royalty of Ireland again altered the line of his duties,
and almost completed the number of changes through which it
is possible that a public man should pass in the most lengthened
and varied career. 8

ye;%*#fW*M fy ^4U. J^^^Z^^j

SIR HTTMPSaiEY DAVY, BART P R S

Ai^u^ Q

FISHER.. S OH" fc CPXOHT> 011,18.2©

SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, BART.
LL. D. M. R. I. A. &c.
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
This celebrated man, whose death the world of science has had
so lately to deplore, was born at Penzance, in Cornwall,
December 17th, 1779. Having received the rudiments of his
education, the latter part of which was entrusted to a medical
gentleman of the name of Tomkins, he was articled at the
age of fifteen to Mr. Borlase, a respectable surgeon at Pen
zance. While occupying the situation of an apprentice, he
devoted himself with an energy which surprised all who knew
him, to almost every branch of study, connected not only
with his professional views, but with philosophy in general.
It was, however, on the phenomena which chemistry seemed
to him to have the power of unfolding, that his mind fixed
itself with the greatest earnestness. Nor was his ardour
without encouragement. Having made several experiments
on the nature of water-weeds, he discovered that these plants
have the same effect in purifying the air contained in water,
as others have on the common atmosphere. This discovery
was not only highly interesting, but made at a time when it
served as a first step to the fortune and eminence he was
destined to attain. Doctor Beddoes, who was then actively
employed in endeavouring to establish an institution at
Bristol for the relief of consumption, happening to hear of
the experiment, entered into a correspondence with Mr. Davy
which produced their nearer intimacy. The object of the
Doctor was, to apply to the disease in question oxygen gas ;
and for this purpose he was desirous of commencing a series
of experiments on the nature and qualities of that and other
gaseous elements. No one appeared so well qualified
for his assistant in this design as Mr. Davy, and he was
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
accordingly engaged by him ; the former stipulating, as a part
of the agreement, that he should have the uncontrolled
management of the laboratory.
The residence of our young philosopher at Bristol was
made agreeable by the friendship of many excellent indi7
viduals, among whom was Mr. Davies Gilbert, the present
President of the Royal Society, Mr. Glayfield, and Mr. Cottle
the poet. The latter gentleman observes, when speaking of
this period of his life, and of the friends whom he most
esteemed —
" I might add, that during a portion of the time to which
a reference has been made, our circle was now enlivened by
the valuable accession of Mr. Humphry Davy, who, on
quitting Bristol for a permanent residence in London, presented
me with Corrie's edition of Burns' works, accompanied with
the following note : —
" 'Dear Cottle,
"'Will you be pleased to accept of the copy of Burns'
Life and Poems, sent with this; and when you are read
ing with delight the effusions of your brother bard, occa
sionally think of one, who is, with sincere regard and affec
tion, your friend.

" 'March 9t h, 1801.'"
By the same gentleman we are reminded, that in the
younger part of his life, Sir Humphry was himself a poet,
and a large contributor to the Poetical Anthology. — ' Sir
Humphry Davy favoured me,' continues Mr. Cottle, * with
more affection perhaps, than critical feeling, with several
of his own MS. poems, which clearly indicate, that if he had
not been the first philosopher of his age, he would have
ranked among the first of its poets. In one of the poems,
which breathes the true fire of the ode, two stanzas occur,
which are characteristic of the election which he deliberately
2

SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.
made between two rival candidates. Every reader will be
pleased with a perusal of them.' The following are the verses
alluded to. Thus, to the sweetest dreams resign'd,
The fairy fancy ruled my mind,
And shone upon my youth ;
But now, to awful reason given,
I leave her dear ideal heaven,
To hear the voice of truth.
She claims my best, my loftiest song ;
She leads a brighter maid along
Divine Philosophy ;
Who bids the mounting soul assume
Immortal wisdom's eagle plume,
And penetrating eye.
Mr. Davy continued at Bristol to the time above mentioned,
pursuing his investigations with undiminished ardour, and
daily adding to his reputation by the felicity of their results.
His discovery of the respirability of nitrous oxide, was
regarded by his friends as indicative of the most splendid
talents ; and the publication of his " Researches, Chemical and
Philosophical," in which he detailed the processes by which
he arrived at the discovery, introduced him to Count Rumford.
The influence which his new acquaintance possessed in the
scientific world was of important service to him. The pro
fessorship of chemistry in the Royal Institution having just
become vacant, offered a situation in which he would have
not only ample room for the exhibition of his superior abilities,
but the most advantageous opportunity for their further cul
tivation. By the exertions of the Count, and the reputation
he had already gained, he received the appointment to the
vacant chair, and thus found himself master of a philosophical
and chemical apparatus, which could compete in splendour
and extensiveness with any in Europe.
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
It had always been Mr. Davy's intention to finish his
medical education by graduating at Edinburgh; but on re
ceiving the above appointment, he finally resigned all idea
of professional pursuits, and devoted himself, with fixed and
concentrated energy, solely to chemistry. His first experiments
in the Royal Institution had relation to the discoveries of the
celebrated French chemist, M. Seguier, on' the process of
tanning, and to the phenomena of galvanism ; but in 1802, he
commenced a series of lectures, which, both for the talent they
displayed, and their practical utility, were still better adapted
to raise his reputation. Nothing contributes more to the
advancement of science, or its diffusion among a people, than
a demonstration of its applicability to the common uses and
necessities of life. It is the characteristic of chemistry, that
the discoveries which delight the philosopher by their beauty
or splendour, bear directly upon the supply of some daily
want, or the removal of some danger or inconvenience.
Agriculture has derived from its assistance some of the most
important rules which guide the practical farmer ; and the
lectures which Mr. Davy delivered for three successive years,
before the Board of Agriculture, served considerably to
confirm the enlightened views which were beginning to
gain ground respecting the union of these two beneficial
sciences. In 1803, his increasing celebrity obtained him the honour
of being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society ; and two years
after, he was made a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
In 1806, the secretaryship to the Royal Society becoming
vacant, he was chosen to fill that office, and was now the
intimate friend of the most distinguished men of the time
This country has seldom seen a brighter phalanx of philoso
phers than it then possessed. Sir Joseph Banks, Wollaston,
Cavendish, &c. were pursuing in full vigour the investigations
which the scientific spirit of the continent had so laudably
begun ; and it was the high honour of the subject of this
memoir, to be destined to advance farther than any of them in
the importance and originality of his discoveries.
4

SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.
During the same year in which he was elected its secre
tary, he was appointed to deliver before the Royal Society
the Bakerian Lecture, in which he made known the results of
many years' diligent inquiry into the mysteries of electricity
and galvanism. While occupied on this subject, he effected
the splendid discovery of the compound nature of the two fixed
alkalies, potash and soda, which he found were formed of
metallic bases in composition with oxygen. This interesting
fact he communicated in the Bakerian Lecture, which he deli
vered in 1807 ; and, following the same course of experiment
with the different earths, which he had pursued so successfully
with the alkalies, found they were equally susceptible of
decomposition. The high estimation in which Mr. Davy was held for these
and other similar discoveries, may be well understood from
the circumstance, that he received, in 1810, notwithstanding
the war, the prize of the French Institut. About the same
period, he gave a course of lectures before the Dublin Society,
and received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
In 1812 he was knighted, the Prince Regent then, for the
first time, conferring that honour ; and, a few days afterwards,
he married Mrs. Apreece, the widow of S. A. Apreece, Esq.
a lady of considerable fortune, and many personal endow
ments. Two years after this, he was elected a Member of the
French Institut, and Vice-President of the Royal Society.
The following year gave birth to one of his most important
and most brilliant discoveries, because most serviceable to
humanity. The dreadful accidents which had been repeatedly
occurring in the mining districts, from explosions, induced a
number of proprietors of mines to form, in 1815, a Committee,
at Sunderland, for investigating the causes of these destructive
disasters. A resolution was passed, to request the assistance
of Sir Humphry Davy ; and, with his accustomed benevolence
and energy, he immediately set out for the collieries, where he
commenced a most extensive personal investigation of the
circumstances which led to the formation of the explosive
gases. It was, at one time, thought possible that a new mode
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
of ventilation might remove the danger ; but, any improve
ment of this kind being found impracticable, he was led to
conclude, from various experiments, that the object desired
might be effected by a lamp of peculiar structure ; and the
celebrated Safety Lamp, after a short time, gave security to
hundreds of laborious men, who, before its invention, were
every instant in peril of a sudden and frightful death. The
proprietors of the coal-works on the Tyne and Wear rewarded
this noble discovery, by presenting its author with a service
of plate worth £2000.
In 1817 Sir Humphry was elected an Associate of the
Royal Academy ; and, in 1818, went to Italy, where he passed
that and the following year, employing his leisure in a series
of interesting observations on Roman antiquities, and in
examining the condition of the Herculaneum manuscripts, for
the unrolling of which he invented a process, which in some
instances was employed with success. During his absence
on the continent, he was advanced to the Baronetage ; and,
on his return to England, the death of Sir Joseph Banks
leaving the Presidentship of the Royal Society vacant, he
was placed, with the mere nominal opposition of Lord Col
chester, in that honourable situation.
Till 1827 Sir Humphry continued to discharge the duties
of this high scientific office, when increasing ill health obliged
him to resign it, and again seek relief from the mild air of the
continent. His retirement, however, was neither without its
labours nor its honours. He communicated, during his
absence, the valuable results of experiments on various elec
trical combinations, which were undertaken with the view of
discovering some method for the preservation of copper-bound
ships ; and he received, in return for the communication, the
royal medal, — in awarding which, his early and attached friend,
Mr. Gilbert, reverted, in an interesting manner, to his long
acquaintance with the distinguished object of his praise. ' It
is with feelings most gratifying to myself,' said he, ' that I now
approach to the award of a royal medal to Sir Humphry
Davy ; and I esteem it a most fortunate occurrence, that this
6

SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.
award should have taken place during the short period of my
having to discharge the duties attached to the office of Presi
dent; having witnessed the whole progress of Sir Humphry
Davy's advancement in science and in reputation, from his
first attempts in his native town to vary some of Dr. Priestley's
experiments on the extraction of oxygen from marine vege
tables, to the point of eminence which we all know him to
have reached.'
Sir Humphry's general residence was at Rome; but,
having suffered from an alarming paralysis, he was induced
to return to Geneva, which place he reached by slow stages,
in company with Lady Davy. Almost immediately, how
ever, after his arrival, he was seized by a sudden and fatal
attack ; and on Friday, May 29, of the present year (1829,) he
closed his useful and honourable career. The highest respect
which private friendship and public esteem can bestow upon the
dead, attended his remains. The most eminent men of Geneva
volunteered their assistance to his widow, in the necessary
cares of the interment ; and different public bodies, both literary
and civil, were present at his funeral. Nor was the testimony
thus borne to his celebrity unmerited or exaggerated. No
man in Europe had done more for science, and no one had cul
tivated it with a more serious or firmer individual regard to all
the interests of mankind, moral as well as physical. In the
little work, Salmonia, which occupied his hours of sickness, the
sentiments he utters are those of the purest and noblest nature,
and we feel a new and higher admiration for the genius of a
man who thus invested it with the dignity of so deep a moral
feeling. " In my opinion," says he, " profound minds are the
most likely to think lightly of the resources of human reason ;
and it is the pert, superficial thinker who is generally strongest
in every kind of unbelief. The deep philosopher sees changes
of causes and effects, so wonderfully and strangely linked
together, that he is usually the last person to decide upon
the impossibility of any two series of events being indepen
dent of each other ; and in science, so many natural miracles,
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
as it were, have been brought to light— such as, the fall of
stones from meteors in the atmosphere ; the disarming a thun
der cloud by a metallic point; the production of fire from ice by
a metal white as silver ; and referring certain laws of motions
of the sea to the moon — that the physical inquirer is seldom
disposed to assert, confidently, on any abtruse subjects belong
ing to the order of natural things, and still less so on those
relating to the more mysterious relations of moral events and
intellectual natures." — Again, " I envy no quality of the mind
or intellect in others ; not genius, power, wit, or fancy : but
if I could choose what would be most delightful, and I believe
most useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief, to
every other blessing ; for it makes life a thorough discipline of
goodness ; creates new hopes, when all earthly hopes vanish ;
and throws over the decay, the destruction of existence, the
most gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life even in death, and
from corruption and decay calls up beauty and divinity ;
makes an instrument of torture and of shame the ladder of
ascent to Paradise ; and, far above all combinations of earthly
hopes, calls up the most delightful visions of palms and ama
ranths, the gardens of the blest, the security of everlasting
joys, where the sensualist and the sceptic view only gloom,
decay, annihilation, and despair."
Sir Humphry's published works, besides the one above
alluded to, are, — Chemical and Philosophical Researches,
Electro-Chemical Researches, Elements of Chemical Philoso
phy, Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, and several pamphlets
and papers in the different philosophical journals.
8

Jfet/ \_J/ia^z!&nr?t

IMAJR GENL SIR HKNRY TORRBWS , K.C.B. fcc.

FISHEH., SOS 8c C? ICO* DOS'. 1629

SIR HENRY TORRENS,
K. C. B. K. T. S
ADJUTANT GENERAL, ETC. ETC.
Considering the variety of active service on which the
subject of this memoir was employed, and the comparatively
short period of his useful life, we may well apply to him the
apophthegm of the ancient sage : — " Honourable age is not that
which standeth in length of time, nor that which is measured
by number of years. But wisdom is the grey hair unto men,
and an unspotted life is old age."
Henry Torrens was the third son of the Reverend Thomas
Torrens, a beneficed clergyman of the established church of
Ireland. He was born at Londonderry, in the year 1779,
but having the misfortune to lose both his parents at a very
early age, the care of him and of his three brothers devolved
upon Dr. Thomas Torrens, a dignitary of the church, whose
reputation stood very high for classical and mathema
tical knowledge, when fellow and tutor of Trinity College.
Robert, the eldest of these orphans, was brought up to the
law, and is now one of the judges of the Irish Court of Com
mon Pleas. The second son, John, proceeded to the degree
of doctor in divinity, and is at present archdeacon of Dublin.
The youngest is an officer in the army.
Henry was educated at the Military Academy in Dublin,
where, from the hilarity of his temper and the suavity of his
disposition, he obtained from his associates the characteristic
appellation of " Happy Harry."
At the early age of fourteen, November 15, 1793, he com
menced his military career as an Ensign in the fifty-second
regiment of foot; and, in the month of June, 1794, was
further promoted, by being made a Lieutenant in the ninety-
second regiment, from whence, in December 1795, he was
removed with the same rank to the sixty-third, then under
orders for the West Indies. Here our gallant youth fleshed
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
nis maiden sword under the eye of that distinguished veteran
and vigilant commander, Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who was
not long in appreciating his merit. In the reduction of the
French colonies, Lieutenant Torrens displayed the greatest
activity and personal courage ; particularly at the attack of
Morne Fortune, in the island of St. Lucie, May 1, 1796. On
this occasion he was very severely wounded in the right thigh,
notwithstanding which, at the beginning of the following
month, he rejoined his corps at St. Vincent. Here also he
had an immediate call for his services, and after taking a
prominent part in storming three French redoubts, he was
employed for the space of seven months at an outpost in the
woods against the Charibs. On the reduction of those people,
our enterprising young officer was rewarded by the Com
mander-in-chief, with a company in one of the newly-raised
West India regiments.
Of the estimation in which he was held by his comrades
of all ranks, a touching proof appeared in the conduct of the
non-commissioned officers and privates, of the corps that had
been under his orders. On his removal from them, they
mounted him upon their shoulders, and carried him in affec
tionate triumph along the whole line. In 1798, he returned
to England, where he had scarcely landed, before he was
appointed Aid-de-camp to Lieutenant General Whitelock,
then acting as second in command under Earl Moira, at
Portsmouth. His stay at that place, however, was but short,
for in November of the same year, he went to Portugal as Aid-
de-camp to General Cuyler, who commanded a body of
auxiliary troops, sent thither by the British government, to
repel the threatened invasion of that country by the Spaniards.
While at Lisbon, Captain Torrens was removed in the month
of August, 1799, from the West India corps to the twentieth
regiment of foot, then forming part of the force destined for
the liberation of the United Provinces from the yoke of
France. As soon as he was made acquainted with this
appointment, he relinquished all the advantages accruing
from his staff situation in Portugal, to seek honour and
2

SIR HENRY TORRENS.
danger in the embattled field. Throughout the short, but
arduous and sanguinary campaign in Holland, the twentieth
distinguished itself on every occasion. At the outset, when
the combined French and Dutch forces made a desperate
attack upon such of the British troops as had already landed,
the corps which Captain Torrens commanded, repulsed the
assailants, and with the bayonet put them completely to the
rout. The regiment on this occasion was nobly led on by
Colonel Smyth, though at the time his wounded leg streamed
with blood. On the 13th of September, the Duke of York
arrived with reinforcements from England, and within a day
or two the Russian auxiliaries landed at the Helder, thus
making a joint force of thirty-six thousand men. This
accession of strength enabled the allies to commence offensive
operations, though still under many disadvantages, for the
country was intersected, and in several places inundated ; the
wet and stormy season was setting in; and what rendered the
enterprise yet more critical, the defeat of the Austrians on the
Rhine gave the French confidence, in the aid of a consider
able disposable force. The illustrious Commander-in-chief
having resolved upon immediate operations, by combined
movements on four points, ordered a general attack of the
enemy's whole line. This accordingly took place early in the
morning of the 19th, and with the fairest prospect of success.
Unfortunately, however, in the midst of victory a sudden
failure on one point, disconcerted all the operations, and com
pelled the several divisions to resume their former position.
This mischance arose from the want of order in the Russians,
who, after behaving with commendable valour, no sooner
gained possession pf the town of Bergen, which was the
object of attack, than they fell to plundering the houses.
The French commander, Brune, did not fail to take advantage
of this imprudence. He speedily collected all the force from
the vicinage, entered the town, and 'drove out the Russians,
who lost their two commanders, and a great number of men.
On the second of October, however, the troops, in four columns,
as before, advanced again to the attack, which began at half-past
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
six in the morning, and raged with unabated fury through the
whole day. Just as night set in, the enemy made a desperate
effort to recover the ground they had lost, but without success,
and many of them, to avoid the British sabres, plunged into the
sea. The rout now became general, and the victors on the
following day entered the town of Alcmaar in triumph. In
this battle Captain Torrens, though prominently engaged
from the very first where death was busiest, escaped without
any contusion ; but he was not so fortunate in the last conflict,
which decided the fate of the campaign. The Duke of York,
encouraged by the victory he had gained, resolved to follow
it up by pushing forwards, in the hope of reaching the capital,
where he was assured of experiencing a grateful welcome.
With this view, on the 6th, the troops advanced, and took
possession of several villages ; but the Russians, in their
attempt upon Baccum, met with so vigorous a repulse,
that Sir Ralph Abercrombie was obliged to march his column
to their support. The enemy then, with equal celerity,
brought up fresh forces ; and thus the action, contrary to what
had been intended, became general. At about two in the
afternoon, the right and centre of the English and Russian
army began to give way, and to retire upon the two villages
of Egmont, where so determined a stand was made, that the
enemy was kept completely in check for the remainder of the
day. The shades of night now deepened, attended with
heavy torrents of rain; notwithstanding which, the combat
continued with varying success, and unavailing obstinacy:
the gloomy horizon being illumined by a train of running fire
along the hills ; and the awfulness of the elemental strife,
was heightened by the roar of the artillery and the explosion
of shells. At ten o'clock the firing ceased, and the Anglo-
Russian army remained in possession of their barren con
quest. It was towards the close of this conflict, that Captain
Torrens, while leading on his men, received a desperate wound
by a musket-ball, which passing through the right thigh,
entered the left, where it lodged so deeply as to baffle all
surgical effort to trace or extract it.
4

SIR HENRY TORRENS.
Thus terminated an expedition, which, though it failed in
regard to the immediate object, added to the glory of British
valour, and weakened the enemy by the surrender of the Dutch
navy. A remarkable circumstance, which occurred to Captain
Torrens during this campaign, deserves to be mentioned here
as a pleasing instance of scrupulous integrity. While in the
act of writing at a village alehouse, the alarm of attack was
sounded. In a moment he darted forth, mounted his horse,
and hastened to the post of danger ; nor ever once thought of
his pocket-book, which contained several bank-notes of value.
Being called on another route, he had no opportunity of revi
siting the house where he had left his property, till long after
the restoration of peace, and then he called there for refresh
ment, without any recollection of the place, or of his loss. The
landlord, however, had a more tenacious memory, upon which
the features of the gallant Englishman had made too deep an
impression to be obliterated. To him the Dutch host ap
proached with a respectful salutation, and presenting the book,
desired the owner to examine whether any of the contents was
missing. It may well be supposed, that so rare an instance of
honesty did not go without its due commendation and reward.
On the return of the army from the Helder in November,
Captain Torrens was promoted to a Majority in the fencible regi
ment of Surrey Rangers, which corps he commanded for one year
in Nova Scotia. In 1801, he came back to England, and ex
changed into the 86th regiment of foot, then serving in Egypt,
to which country it had come, with Sir David Baird, from
India. Major Torrens lost no time in embarking for the Medi
terranean ; but on his arrival at Alexandria, he found that the
object of the expedition had completely succeeded, with the
melancholy loss of his endeared commander and steady
friend, Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who died in the arms of
Victory . As the expulsion of the French rendered the presence
of a large force no longer necessary in Egypt, the auxiliary
troops from India returned across the desert, and embarking at
Coseir, proceeded to Bombay. Here a new field of military
warfare opened to the enterprising genius of Major Torrens, as
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
it also did at the same point of time to Arthur Wellesley, now
Duke of Wellington. Not long after the arrival of the army
from Egypt, hostilities broke out between the English and the
Mahrattas. In this contest Major Torrens displayed his
talents and courage with such effect, as elicited the admiration
of all with whom he acted, or under whom he served. His
exertions indeed may be said to have almost gone beyond his
strength ; till at last, the effects of a coup de soleil forced him,
reluctantly, to ask leave to return home for the recovery of his
health. The request was granted ; but on the voyage the ship
touched at St. Helena, where the invalid found so much benefit,
that he gave up his original design, and determined to revisit
India. While in this island he formed an attachment to a most
amiable lady, the daughter of Governor Patton. They were
married, and a happier union never was formed.
Major Torrens, on his return to India, served under Lord
Lake, till the reduction of Scindiah, the most formidable of
the Mahratta chiefs. On the 1st of January, 1805, he was
promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel ; and the same
year embarked for Europe. After his landing in England,
he was employed, during the space of fifteen months, as
assistant-adjutant-general for the district of Kent. He was
then appointed major of the 89th foot; and, in 1807, joined
the expedition against the Spanish colonies on the Rio
de la Plata, as military secretary to General Whitelock.
At the disastrous attack upon Buenos Ayres, on the 5th of
July, Lieutenant-Colonel Torrens had a narrow escape from a
ball, which shattered to pieces the writing apparatus that hung
at his side. After his return to England, he was called as a
witness upon the trial of General Whitelock, but his evidence
went no further than to the particular orders which he had
received, and the conversations that passed between him
and the commander-in-chief. During this judicial proceeding,
Lieutenant-Colonel Torrens was appointed assistant-military-
secretary to the Duke of York. He had not, however, been
long in that situation, when Sir Arthur Wellesley, who set the
highest value upon his pre-eminent talents, requested the
6

SIR HENRY TORRENS.
permission of his Royal Highness for his friend to accom
pany him as military-secretary in the expedition to Portugal.
This was granted ; and in that capacity the Colonel was
present at the battles of Rolera and Vimiera; the one fought
on the 17th, and the other on the 21st of August, 1808. So
confident was Junot, Duke of Abrantes, who commanded the
French army, that before the action, he thus harangued his
troops : — " Comrades, there are the English, and behind them
is the sea — be cool and steady. You have only to drive them
into it." Sir Arthur Wellesley was equally laconic, but less
presumptuous : — " My brave countrymen ! drive the French
out of the passes on the road to Lisbon." They did so ; and
the next day Junot offered to capitulate upon conditions. This
produced the extraordinary convention of Cintra, and the
evacuation of Portugal. Lieutenant-Colonel Torrens, for his
share in these two great victories,' received a medal, struck
purposely for their commemoration, and to distinguish those
officers who had been most conspicuous by their services. He
was further honoured by the Portuguese regency with the chi-
valric order of the Tower and Sword : the privilege of bearing
which was confirmed by his own sovereign. His stay in Portugal
after this was but short ; for Sir Arthur Wellesley being super
seded in the command, Colonel Torrens returned with him to
England at the end of the same year. He now resumed his
situation in the office of the Duke of York, and ultimately
became principal secretary. The manner in which he dis
charged the important duties of these appointments is too well
known to need any encomium. In diligence he has seldom been
equalled, and in urbanity he was never surpassed. The period
in which he was employed was one of the most critical in the
history of modern Europe ; yet amidst incessant labour, and
under many trials of patience, Sir Henry steered an even
course ; and when the spirit of party arose to the utmost
height, not a single voice was ever heard to whisper an in
sinuation to his disparagement.
In 1811, he obtained a company in the third regiment of
Guards ; in 1812, he was appointed Aid-de-camp to the Prince
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Regent, with the rank of Colonel ; and in 1814, he was made
Major-General by brevet.
On the new arrangement and extension of the military
order of the Bath, at the beginning of 1815, Sir Henry Torrens
was enrolled in the honourable list of Grand Commanders.
In November of the same year he was appointed Colonel of the
Royal African corps, from which, in September 1818, he was
removed to the second West India regiment ; and in August
1822, he was transferred to the second (or the Queen's Royal)
regiment of Foot.
In March, 1820, Sir Henry Torrens was appointed to
the situation of Adjutant-General, and his health, which
had suffered very much from excessive exertion, and too
close confinement while military-secretary, was speedily
restored. The last important work which he undertook, was
the revision of the army regulations. The experience of the
campaign, and particularly of the new and more rapid mode of
warfare adopted by the Duke of Wellington, rendered it expe
dient to revise the old regulations, which were founded upon
the slow German system, and to embody into them, with great
labour and zeal, the quick movements of the present practice.
This work met with the warm approbation of the Commander-
in-chief, and it has been generally admired for the clear and
masterly method of the arrangements.
The death of this truly excellent man was awfully sudden.
On Friday the 22d of August, 1828, Sir Henry was riding with
his lady and two daughters, from his seat in Hertfordshire, on a
visit to Mr. Blake, at Danesbury. Sir Henry was on horseback,
when Mr. Knight, who rode by his side, perceiving an alteration
in his countenance, dismounted, to prevent his falling. Medical
assistance was instantly procured, but paralysis and apoplexy
had seized him, and in less than three hours he expired, at the
house of Mr. Blake, having never spoken a word from his first
attack. On the following Thursday his remains were consigned
very privately to the grave, in the parish church of Welwyn.

T1L0S PHILLIP WEDDEU,, LORD

I'-'ISIIVR. SON fr C9 LONDON, .¦:'.'J9

THOMAS-PHILIP WEDDELL ROBINSON,
LORD GRANTHAM.
This amiable and highly respected nobleman, who is scarcely
known to have interfered in public affairs, should nevertheless
be hereditarily a statesman, being brother, son, and grandson
of ministers who have successively acted distinguished parts
in the political arena, and great-grandson, maternally, of that
celebrated lawyer, the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. His
Lordship is possessed of great property in Yorkshire, his
paternal ancestors having by intermarriages united the inhe
ritances of many considerable families in that county, to the
original patrimony of the Robinsons. William Robinson was
Lord Mayor of York in the time of Queen Elizabeth, as was
his son William in that of James the First; and William his
grandson was High Sheriff for the county in the reign of
Charles the First. Sir Metcalfe Robinson, eldest son of the
latter, was created a Baronet after the Restoration, and three
times represented the city of York in Parliament. Sir
William, his nephew and heir, was of the Convention Parlia
ment — High Sheriff of the county at the Revolution —
and member for the city of York in eight successive Par
liaments. Sir Tancred, his son, was twice Lord Mayor of
York, and a Rear Admiral ; he left posterity, but the Baronetcy,
on the death of his grandson, Sir Norton Robinson, devolved
on Lord Grantham.
With Thomas, the younger brother of Sir Tancred, the
family, which had • hitherto existed only as independent
country gentlemen of rank and influence in their owrn
neighbourhood, rose to political consideration. He com-:
menced his diplomatic services in 1723, as Secretary of
Embassy to the French Court under Horace Walpole, after
wards Lord Walpole, of Wolterton, and brother of Sir Robert,
then Prime Minister. In 1730 he was himself appointed
Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Vienna, where he
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
resided during eighteen years marked by difficult and import
ant events, and obtained in this period the order of the Bath,
with which he was invested through the medium of the Grand
Duke of Tuscany, husband of the Queen of Hungary, and
afterwards the Emperor Francis the First. After his return to
England, he was, in 1754, appointed a Secretary of State, and
in 1755 one of the Lords Justices for administering the regal
authority during the absence of the King. This participation
in ministerial power was not, however, an enviable station :
Sir Thomas had been appointed through the interest of the
Duke of Newcastle; and the rival talents of Pitt and Fox,
afterwards Lords Chatham and Holland, were united in oppo
sition to his measures. Though personally agreeable to the
King, and eminently qualified for fulfilling the duties of his
office — though conducting the parliamentary business of
Government with judgment and information — he had not
influence enough to resist the opposition thus excited against
him, nor strength enough to support the increasing difficulties
of his situation ; he therefore resigned his seals in November
1755, and was appointed Master of the Wardrobe, which
office he continued to fill till the death of King George the
Second, and was created Baron Grantham soon after the
accession of George the Third.
This nobleman died in 1770, and was succeeded by his son,
Thomas the second Lord Grantham, who was born at Vienna
during the embassy of his father, and in his ministerial career
followed nearly the same course- He was nominated in 1761
Secretary of the Embassy to Augsburg, and in 1771 Ambas
sador to the Court of Madrid ; he returned to England in
1779, and was appointed First Commissioner of the Board of
Trade, and in July 1782, Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, in which capacity he concluded the prelimininaries of
peace in January 1783, and resigned his office in the following
March. He married the Lady Mary Jemima Yorke, second
daughter of Philip second Earl of Hardwicke, by the Lady
Jemima Campbell Marchioness Grey, representative of that
branch of the ancient and noble family of Grey, which through
2

LORD GRANTHAM.
twelve generations had borne the title of Earls of Kent.
This Lady, by her marriage with the Earl of Hardwicke,
gave birth to only two daughters, of whom the elder, Lady
Amabel, succeeded her mother as Baroness Lucas : she
married Lord Polwarth, eldest son of the last Earl of
Marchmont, but has been for many years his widow, with
out any family, and in 1816 was created Countess de Grey,
with remainder to the heirs male of her sister, the Dowager
Lady Grantham.
Lord Grantham survived his marriage but six years, and,
dying in 1786, left his young widow with two infant sons,
Thomas-Philip, the third and present Lord, and the subject of
this memoir, who was born the 8th of December, 1781 ; and
Frederick-John, the present Viscount Goderich, only one year
younger. The two brothers were educated by their virtuous
and sensible mother in a style suitable to the great expectations
to which they were born. The young Lord inherited with the
title the large estates of his father ; a long minority and colla
teral inheritances have contributed greatly to their increase,
while this already wealthy nobleman is presumptive heir to the
extensive possessions of the Countess de Grey ; so great indeed
is the influence he derives from this rich perspective, that on
the decease of the last Earl of Upper Ossory in 1818, Lord
Grantham was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire,
(where not only the beautiful demesne of Wrest Park, the chief
seat of the Countess, but also the principal part of her pro
perty, is situated,) though he himself possesses not an acre of
land in the county.
Thus placed in a station of honourable distinction, enjoying
the command of wealth sufficient to maintain the splendour
and dignity becoming his rank, fortune made no part of
the requisite qualifications for his matrimonial choice : he
married, early in life, Lady Henrietta Frances Cole, sister of the
present Earl of Enniskillen, whose beauty, spirit, and accom
plishments render her the admiration of that distinguished
circle she is so eminently fitted to adorn, and whose conjugal
and maternal virtues form the pride and happiness of that life
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
of domestic peace, which his Lordship prefers to the pursuits
of ambition, or the allurements of gaiety. While his younger
brother was creating for himself reputation and influence in
the political service of his country, Lord Grantham was pur
suing the even tenor of his way ; a steady supporter, in his
place in parliament, of all the just principles of government,
and an independent opposer of whatever militated against the
rights of the subject, or the prerogative of the crown. On
the occasion of the judicial inquiry into the conduct of
the late unfortunate Queen Caroline, his Lordship openly
expressed his dissent from the policy of the Bill of Pains
and Penalties ; though his brother, now Lord Goderich, was
a member of the administration by which it was introduced
and supported. To this noble independence of conduct he
has invariably adhered, without associating his name with
the feuds of party spirit, or becoming involved in the
turbulence of political debate.
It is cause of congratulation to the country, when the
nobility are examples of what is just, manly, and honourable
in their deportment : characters of this stamp are of sterling
value in whatever rank of life they are placed, but in the
highest they become more extensively useful, as the sphere of
their influence is enlarged, and the benefits which they have at
once the power and will of diffusing, are more generally felt
Such a character Lord Grantham has uniformly maintained.
In all the relations of life he is respected and beloved, while
his ample fortune affords him the means of extending to the
arts, to that of painting in particular, in which his Lordship
himself excels, that patronage to which his well-cultivated
taste and liberal disposition alike prompt him. He has three
surviving children by his marriage, a son, (not yet of age) and
two daughters, already introduced into the circles of fashion.
4

I/no /7/w.;-i ¦¦¦¦'.'

$y, he^/^mAJ^umJ, AjrmJ Mt/ X^^H^ ^StourU? fiMMt^ud/ tru, Jt/u J fJfybmn&teh.

THE RIGHT ItEW RE&LNALD BTEBER , JD D.

FISHER, SOW fc C? 10HDOK 1829.

THE RIGHT REVEREND
REGINALD HEBER, D.D.
LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA.
It is congenial to the nature of the human mind, that the
biography of personages who have filled a large space in the
eye of the world should excite deep and lively interest. The
gradual development of talent in every department, which
tends to the exaltation of character and of station, or to the
benefit of contemporary and future generations, is watched
with an instinctive satisfaction, which elevates the heart to a
participation in the triumphs of genius or of valour ; but when
the wisdom of this world is made conducive to the eternal
happiness of millions, when the mild spirit of religion spreads
its graceful influence over the severer attributes of the philo
sopher and the scholar, and when the honours of the present
period point in bright vista to eternal glories hereafter; then
is the mind improved as well as informed; softened and
soothed, as well as enlarged ; then are all the nobler sympa
thies of our nature engaged in their most pleasing offices, and
we give our gratified and willing attention to the tale which
treats at once of humanity in its most exalted state, and
in full prospect of its bright reward. Such are the feelings
with which we enter upon a view of the character of Bishop
Heber, with one only regret, that the limits of this work pre
vent our dwelling, to the full extent of our wishes, on so engag
ing, so edifying a picture.
The subject of this Memoir was the second son of the
Rev. Reginald Heber, of Marton Hall, in Craven, Yorkshire,
where his family had been settled for many generations, and
of Hodnet, in Shropshire. This gentleman, by a former mar
riage, was father of Richard Heber, Esq. well known in the
literary world for his unrivalled collection of rare and valuable
books. By his second wife, Mary, daughter of the Rev. Cuth-
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
bert Allanson, D.D., Rector of Wath, in Yorkshire, and
Chaplain to the House of Commons, he had three children,
Reginald, the late Bishop of Calcutta, the Rev. Cuthbert
Heber, Rector of Marton, who died in early life of an apoplectic
fit, and Mary, wife of the Rev. Charles Cowper Cholmon-
deley, nephew of Lord Delamere.
His son Reginald was born at Malpas, on the 21st of April,
1783. His early childhood gave promise of those christian
graces which so richly adorned his maturer years ; the pic
tures of primitive simplicity so attractively displayed in the
sacred volume, formed the first study in which his young mind
delighted. He read the Bible with avidity, and his love for it
" grew with his growth, and strengthen'd with his strength;" as
his reasoning powers expanded, they were employed on this
favourite subject, and his subsequent reading was chiefly
devoted to the same pursuit. Hence that masterly knowledge
of scripture history, that intimate acquaintance with the lan
guage of holy writ, which characterize his writings. But his
education was sedulously superintended in all those branches
calculated to qualify him for the distinguished station to which
he was afterwards elevated. The rudiments of the classics he
acquired at the grammar school at Whitchurch, in Shropshire,
distant but five miles from his native village, and from thence
he was removed to the tuition of Dr. Bristowe, who took pupils
in the neighbourhood of London. Here his studies were prose
cuted with a success which enabled him at an early age to appear
with credit at Brazen- Nose College, where he was entered in
1800. In the following year he obtained the Chancellor's prize for
Latin verse, by his " Carmen Seculare," a spirited and classical
poem on the commencement of the new Century, and which,
as the production of a youth of eighteen, successfully com
peting against the undergraduates of the whole University,
raised the highest expectations of his future career in aca
demic honours. But this distinction was insignificant com
pared with that which awaited him two years later. The
subject announced for the English prize poem in the year
1803, was "Palestine;" one every way calculated to light up
2

REGINALD HEBER, D.D.
the flame of poetry in the breast of the Bible student. Richly
was his memory stored with images of Palestine, and well had his
more advanced studies prepared him to array them in language
glowing with scripture eloquence, and the full harmony of
verse. The award of honour was his, and thousands assented
to its justice, while in their imaginations he might almost seem
to have snatched a melody from the harp of the sweet singer
of Israel, as he poured forth in the theatre of Oxford, on the
15th of June, 1803, the flow of poetry in the language of sacred
inspiration. In the spirit of Jeremiah, his verse bewailed the
crimes and the ruin of the apostate sons of Israel, and then
reviving to hope, in the sublime strains of the evangelical
prophet he hailed the prospect of a brighter day, when the
King of Salem should himself be the temple of his renovated
city, and his glory the light of it. Nor could the voice of the
patriot be wholly subdued even by the bright images of pro
phecy : the triumph of British valour at Acre was recent,
and many a heart beat with responsive pride as the poet
expressed his own enthusiastic feelings. Never was so much
approbation lavished on the performance of so youthful a poet,
and few young minds would have possessed sufficient ballast of
modesty to preserve, as his did, its due equilibrium. But, one
hearer was present on this gratifying occasion, whose joy none
but a father's heart can conceive, and this joy formed the
brightest reward of his son's assiduous application. With
such diffidence, such true christian humility, he wore his still
increasing honours, (having obtained an additional prize for
an English essay on " The Sense of Honour,") that he quitted
the flattering scene of his triumphs with the simplicity of
his mind uncorrupted, and without having excited one
envious feeling in the breasts of those his superior abilities
had vanquished, but whom his unaffected meekness had effec
tually conciliated. " The name of Reginald Heber," says a
contemporary at the University, (Sir Charles Grey,) "was in
every mouth; his society was courted by young and old, and
he was, beyond all question or comparison, the most dis
tinguished student of his time." 3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
In 1805, he took his degree as Bachelor of Arts, and was
elected a Fellow of All Souls' College, soon after which he
quitted the University, to visit such foreign countries as the
state of the continent at that period left open to English
travellers. He accompanied Mr. John Thornton, of Clapham,
in a tour through Germany, Russia, and the Crimea ; and the
journal of his observations, though withheld by his native
modesty from publication, was inspected by Dr. Edward
Daniel Clarke, and some extracts from it appended by per
mission, in the shape of notes, to the Travels of that author.
It is now about to be published entire, with a detailed memoir
of his life, by bis widow, and will, no doubt, meet with a
reception worthy of his fame ; but another and more important
work to which this journey gave rise, is not, it is to be feared,
destined to illumine the world of learning. The aspects of the
vast plains which form the southern confines of Europe and
Asia, stimulating a mind stored with classical knowledge, sug
gested to him a plan of collecting, arranging, and illustrating
all of ancient and of modern literature which could unfold the
past history, and throw light on the present state, of Scythia —
that region of mystery and fable, whence so often the clouds
of war have overspread the nations of the south. No work
could have been more fitted to Mr. Heber's talents, more cal
culated to delight his contemporaries, instruct posterity, or
reflect glory on himself; and it interested him in proportion to
its value ; but on his return from the countries which created
the design, he entered the service of the church, and finding that
his fascinating pursuit interfered with occupations of eternal
import to himself and others, with the self-denial of a genuine
Christian, he sacrificed his intention, and the prospect of
renown, on the altar of duty.
He married Amelia, daughter of the late Dr., Shipley,
Dean of St. Asaph, and devoted himself to a life of peace
ful retirement, and the exemplary, unostentatious discharge
of the humble but important duties of a parish priest.
Here a large portion of his useful life, from the year 1808 to
1822, was passed in the interchanges of domestic endearments,
4

REGINALD HEBER, D.D.
and in the diligent performance of those sacred offices, which,
when conscientiously administered for the benefit of a large
parish, furnish sufficient occupation for the most active life.
Daily amongst his parishioners, he was their adviser in diffi
culties, their comforter in distress, their guide at all times
through the chequered scenes of this life to the happiness of
a better : and when at length they lost him by his call to a
far distant land, and finally by the hand of death, there
were few among them who had not, in the fulness of their
grief, some instance of his zeal, his charity, his humility, his
compassion, to communicate, which gave him vividly back
to the minds of those who knew him best ; while many of his
deeds of mercy were thus brought to light, which, but for
this deprivation of his presence, would have been buried in
that silence to which his wishes had consigned them. In
the pulpit, too, he was all that their necessities could require.
Resigning the lofty pretensions of literary pre-eminence, he
condescended to the understanding of his unlettered auditory,
while his imaginative mind would draw from the subordinate
incidents of a parable, a miracle, or a history, lessons for
Christian conduct, which addressed themselves directly, and
as it were through their senses, to the heads and hearts of
his congregation.
During these years of happy retirement, Mr. Heber gave
to the world, in 1809, published in octavo, a short poem,
entitled, "Europe: or, Lines on the Present War." The
introductory stanzas, composed amidst the din which
preceded the fatal battle of Jena, and in the Saxon capital,
breathe an enthusiasm of spirit worthy the bard of " Pales
tine ;" and his "Lament over the Grave of Pitt" is a beautiful
tribute, paid by genius to the patriotic merits of that great
statesman. In the same year also, his "Palestine," which
was originally printed for private circulation only, and had
been subsequently inserted in the second volume of "The
Poetical Register," was republished in quarto, with "The
Passage of the Red Sea, a fragment," which, of all his
subsequent poems, approaches the nearest to the standard
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
of his first and best production. In 1812 he published a small
volume of " Original Poems," chiefly hymns for the service
of the church, and " Translations," principally from the Greek
of Pindar. In 1815 his Alma Mater evinced her remem
brance of her absent son, by his election to deliver the
Bampton Lectures, which in the following year he published
under the title of " The Personality and Office of the Christian
Comforter, asserted and explained, in a course of Sermons on
John xvi. 7." After this, with the exception of some critical
essays in the Quarterly Review and Christian Observer, and
an admirable ordination sermon delivered before the Bishop
of Chester, (Dr. Law,) Mr. Heber did not again appear as
an author till 1822, when he wrote the Life of Jeremy Taylor,
Bishop of Down and Connor, for an edition of that prelate's
writings. This work, one of the most classical productions of
our time, and most valuable for the religious knowledge with
which it abounds, and its able exposition of the controverted
points of Church doctrine and discipline, set the seal to his
literary renown, and was soon after published separately in
two small volumes.
In 1822, Mr. Heber was elected preacher at Lincoln's Inn,
an office, never filled but by men of great abilities, and emi--
nently calculated to display to advantage his peculiar talents
and acquirements. Widely different here was the field for
his preaching, from that to which he had been so long confined
at Hodnet: great depth of thought, applied to the ample
funds of knowledge which he drew from habitual study, a
thorough acquaintance with the classics, and, above all, with
every portion of scripture, enabled him to produce before
his learned auditory specimens of pulpit eloquence, which for
soundness of argument and genuine christian piety have rarely
been excelled. His oratory was impaired by a thickness of
delivery ; but the impressiveness of his manner, the beauty
of his style, the sublimity of his conceptions, and the grandeur
of his subjects, amply compensated for this defect, and fixed
the attention of his hearers in delighted and edifying contem
plation. Nor was this situation less eligible in another and
6

REGINALD HEBER, D.D.
essential particular — it required a partial residence in the
metropolis, and hence brought him into renewed association
with many distinguished friends of his youth ; while it opened
a wider field to his literary pursuits, and a larger connexion
amongst the higher ranks of his sacred profession. To the
many to whom his present mode of life introduced him, and
who enjoyed but for a short time the happiness of his
acquaintance, the inexpressible charm of his manner, and the
christian benignity of his disposition, endeared him in a degree
truly astonishing. Such were the flattering auspices under
which he took up his abode in London for a part of the year
1822 ; but a higher calling, and a far different destiny, removed
him from the circle he was so fitted to adorn, to a station of
wider usefulness in that path of duty to which he had
exclusively devoted himself.
Dr. Middleton, the apostolic missionary, and first bishop
of the English Church in India, was suddenly cut off in the
midst of his holy career, and the bishopric of Calcutta was
offered to Mr. Heber. The struggles of this pious man, in
a moment so painful in point of worldly considerations,
were great, and of some continuance. It was not the arduous
labours to which he was called, the happiness of the present,
and brilliant hopes for the future, which he must surrender,
that caused his hesitation— but his mind misgave him; he
saw the importance of the office, and, doubting his own qualifi
cations for it, declined the appointment : but he considered
again — accustomed to recognize the superintending hand of
Providence in the minor events of life, he could not but
acknowledge it in this ; his scruples gradually gave way ; he
withdrew his refusal, and was then satisfied that he had
done right.
He now retired for a few weeks to Hodnet, to settle his
affairs previous to his final departure, and having preached
an affecting farewell sermon to his beloved parishioners there,
he returned to London to receive his consecration. This cere
mony was performed at Lambeth on the 14th of May. On
Thursday, the I2th of June, he preached at St. Paul's Cathe-
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
dral, on the anniversary meeting of the charity children of the
metropolis, and on the following day took his final leave of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, when an excellent
valedictory address was pronounced by Dr. Kaye, then Bishop
of Bristol, now of Lincoln.
On Monday, the 16th of June, Bishop Heber left London,
with his wife, one little daughter, and his attendants, for
Gravesend, where he embarked on board the Company's ship
Grenville, for India. During the voyage, he found ample and
interesting employment in the study of the Hindostanee and
Persian languages. Nor did he, even in this partially vacant
interval, neglect his episcopal functions ; immediately after the
ship had sailed, he proposed the establishment of daily evening
prayer, and was gratified by the readiness with which the
Captain assented. He read prayers and preached to the pas
sengers and crew regularly every Sunday, and once, having
on the previous Sunday discoursed, in the way of preparation,
administered the Lord's supper to twenty-six communicants.
On the 11th of October he landed at Calcutta, and expressed
himself, in his letters to his friends in England, much pleased
with his reception and situation there. He seems, indeed, to
have been blessed with a disposition ready to derive pleasure
from those ameliorating ingredients which are thrown even
into the least enviable lots, and unwilling to repine at the
vexations of life. "The Bishop was the only man, I have
ever known," said Sir Charles Grey, " who was never irri
tated by the annoyances, or imbittered by the disappointments,
of India: to him they came as to us all; but he met and con
quered them with a smile; and when he has known a different
effect produced on others, it was his usual wish that they were
as happy as himself."
With talents so pre-eminent, adorned by an habitual
elegance of manner, with which scarcely one shade of pride,
haughtiness, or vanity, ever mingled ; with a natural kindliness
that made itself felt in every look, gesture, and tone ; while
the presiding influence of religion graced, softened, and
heightened all these admirable qualities: such a character
8

REGINALD HEBER, D.D.
was sure to make friends in every station, and many persons
of the first rank in Calcutta duly estimated his virtues.
Indefatigable in the performance of his various and impor
tant duties, the Bishop found every moment usefully filled,
and complained that he had little time to devote to the com
position of his sermons, and to the prosecution of his
Oriental studies. It would little avail, in so limited a space,
to take even a cursory view of these multitudinous occupa
tions ; but, when the extent, richness, and population of this
vast empire are considered; the wide difference between the
misplaced faith now professed in it, and the pure religion it
was the Bishop's province to cultivate; when the various
interests he had to conciliate are taken into the account ;
the still infant state of the episcopal establishment there;
and the general laxity of religious principle, even amongst
the European settlers; it will be readily acknowledged,
that a sufficient field was presented to Dr. Heber's zeal,
industry, and talent, and ample unremitting occupation for
his time.
It was on the 15th of June, 1824, that the Bishop left
Calcutta, for his long and arduous visitation of the Upper
Provinces. He was now separated from his family, and felt
sorely the loss of "that atmosphere of home," as he beauti
fully calls it, which he had hitherto carried about with him.
For several months he travelled chiefly by water, landing
when any duty was to be performed, or any object of interest
solicited his attention. When his route no longer followed the
course of the river, the equipments and attendants, necessary
for a long journey in the wild tracts of country through which
he had to pass, became very cumbersome and unwieldy ; the
whole number of persons who formed the travelling camp
amounting to one hundred and sixty-five, besides the elephants,
horses, and camels employed for their conveyance, and that
of the provisions they were obliged to carry with them. With
this large retinue, but in as plain and unostentatious a manner
as circumstances permitted, he traversed the breadth of his
diocese, having, in the course of nine months, visited the
9

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
eastern, northern, and western extremities of British India ;
turning neither to the right hand nor to thedeft, for the grati
fication of curiosity ; and steadily, through the course of his
long journey, allowing no objects to interfere with those of his
sacred mission ; ascertaining, as he passed along, the state or
wants of the several christian congregations ; performing daily,
in some new region, the offices of the English church ; ad
ministering the holy sacraments ; strengthening the faith of all
degrees of Christians, by his pious and zealous discourses ; and
smoothing the path of the future labourer in the noble work of
conversion, by the pleasing impressions of British episcopacy,
which the attractions and amenity of his manners left on the
natives. Fully as his mind was occupied by these holy and
august functions, Bishop Heber, fortunately for his countrymen,
found time to commit to paper a journal of his observations
during this long and interesting pilgrimage ; and he carried to
the task, says an eminent critic, " habits and accomplishments
better suited to it than any other individual, "whose personal
observations have as yet been made public. He possessed the
eye of a painter, and the pen of a poet ; a mind richly stored
with the literature of Europe, both ancient and modern ; great
natural shrewdness and sagacity; and a temper as amiable
and candid as ever accompanied and adorned the energies of a
fine genius ; while the character in which he travelled, the
respect claimed by his high rank, which yet was of a kind
which could inspire no feelings of personal jealousy or distrust,
afforded him great opportunities and advantages of observation."
This extensive tour was finished at Bombay, in April, 1825, and
there Mrs. Heber joined him by water from Calcutta ; they
were the guests, while there, of the Honourable Mountstuart
Elphinstone,the Governor, whom the Bishop designated the most
remarkable man in India, for talents, acquirements, undeviating
good-nature, and flow of conversation. On the 15th of August
they took leave of their kind host, and of a numerous society,
whose warmest good-will they had acquired during their
sojourn at Bombay, and embarked on board the Company's
ship Discovery for Ceylon. They reached this island on the
10

REGINALD HEBER, D.D.
25th of August, and the Bishop's tour of inspection occupied
him till the 29th of September, when they again set sail on
their return to Calcutta.
Short was the repose, if such it may be called, amidst his
active duties in the metropolis of India, which the Bishop's
zealous and energetic mind allowed him to enjoy. On the
30th of January, 1826, he again left, and with a heavy heart,
as he himself wrote in his journal, his dear wife and children,
for the visitation of Madras, and the south of India. He
performed the voyage to Madras by sea ; and remained there a
little more than a fortnight, during which time, he says, he
was almost worn out, having preached eleven times, ad
ministered the rite of confirmation; presided at a large meeting
of the District Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and
visited six schools; besides attending to innumerable secular
engagements inseparable from his office. — From thence, on the
13th of March, he continued his journey southwards ; proceed
ing as before, gathering every species and degree of information
for the future benefit of his flock, and scattering, with a liberal
hand, the rich seeds of gospel instruction. On Good Friday,
the 24th of March, he preached at Combaconum, on the Cruci
fixion ; on Easter Sunday, at Tanjore, on the Resurrection ;
and, on the following day, he held a confirmation at the same
place. He arrived at Trichinopoly on the 1st of April. On
Sunday the 2d he again preached and confirmed ; a rife which
he administered once more on Monday morning, April 3d,
1826, in the Fort Church. He returned home to breakfast ;
but, before sitting down, went into a cold bath, as he had done
the two preceding days. His attendant, thinking that he staid
more than the usual time, entered the apartment, and found
the body at the bottom of the water, with the face downwards.
The usual restoratives of bleeding, friction, and inflating the
lungs, were instantly tried, but life was gone ; and, on opening
the head, it was discovered that a vessel had burst on the
brain, in consequence, as the medical men agreed, of the sudden
plunge into the water whilst he was warm and exhausted.
His remains were deposited with every mark of respect and
11

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
unfeigned sorrow, on the north side of the altar of St. John's
Church, at Trichinopoly.
The disastrous intelligence of his decease was communicated
with every caution to his unfortunate widow, by her relative,
Lord Combermere ; and she supported it with that resignation
to the will of an all-merciful Father, which the precepts and
example of her departed husband were so calculated to inspire.
She has by him two daughters : the elder, Amelia, they took
with them to India ; the younger, Harriett, was born there.
Every honour which respect and affection could devise,
was immediately decreed to the revered memory of the Bishop,
by public meetings in the three Presidencies of India. Sub
scriptions were entered into for sepulchral monuments, to be
erected in St. George's Church at Madras, and in the Cathe
dral at Calcutta ; and, at Bombay, it was determined to found
a scholarship for that Presidency, at the College in Calcutta,
to be called Bishop Heber's Scholarship.
But, in his own parish in Shropshire, no words can describe
the grief with which the melancholy tidings were received ;
each inhabitant seemed again to have lost his beloved friend
and director ; and the regard for his memory, where he was so
well known and so justly estimated, will, no doubt, be as
lasting as it is sincere. A monument, in commemoration of
his worth, has recently been erected in the parish church of
Hodnet. 12

HENRY CHARLES SOMERSET, DTJ1CE OF BEAUFORT, H. G.

FIS'HER: SON" &: C? LONDON": 1829.

HENRY-CHARLES SOMERSET,
DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G.
In these times, when extraordinary personal merit is the surest
road to personal distinction ; when a grateful country offers
wealth and honours with a liberal hand, in reward of the
services of her talented and patriotic sons ; it is pleasing to
cast a retrospective glance on those names renowned in ancient
story, which still exist to grace the pyramid of hereditary
nobility, and among whose descendants are to be found the
virtuous and honourable of the present day.
No family of the British Peerage traces a longer line of
illustrious descent than that of Beaufort. Five hundred years
have now elapsed, from the period when John of Gaunt, Duke
of Lancaster, the favourite, and, next to the Black Prince,
most celebrated son of the immortal Edward, obtained parlia
mentary legitimation for his three sons, all bearing the name
of Beaufort, (born before marriage of Catherine, his third wife,
daughter of Sir Payne Roet, and widow of Sir John Swinford,)
and the title of Earl of Somerset for the eldest ; during which
the descendants of this John of Beaufort, Earl of Somerset,
have uninterruptedly borne the titles of Dukes, Marquesses, or
Earls, and have supported honourable parts in all the striking
events of English history. Thomas, Earl of Dorset, and Duke of
Exeter ; and Henry, the well-known Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop
of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor, were the two younger of
these legitimated sons. The Earl of Somerset was father of
three successive Earls, Henry, John, and Edmund. The eldest
died unmarried ; and the second, having been created Duke of
Somerset, was constituted by his cousin, King Henry VI. Cap
tain-General of the whole realm of France and Duchy of Nor
mandy, and left an only daughter, Margaret, wife of Edmund
Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and mother of King Henry VII.,
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
who, in her right, claimed the Crown, as heir of the House of
Lancaster; Edmund, the third son, Earl of Mortaigne and
Marquis of Dorset, who succeeded his brother as Earl of
Somerset, was likewise Regent of Normandy, and was created
Duke of Somerset. He was killed in the battle of St. Alban's,
leaving four sons, Henry, Edmund, John, and Thomas ; the
two eldest of whom were successively Dukes of Somerset, and
all lost their lives, either valiantly supporting in the field the
declining fortunes of the House of Lancaster, or falling by the
hands of the executioner, victims to the spirit of party ven
geance, which, in that period, deluged the scaffolds with the
best blood of the realm. Only to touch on the circumstances
which signalized the lives of this almost princely race, would
but be to recall to the mind of the reader, that eventful era of
English history, when the House of Lancaster alternately
triumphed over the power of France, and succumbed to
domestic faction, foreign arms, and rival rights ; a period so
interesting in its realities, and so strikingly portrayed by the
richest of our poets, that its incidents are familiar to all.
With Edmund the fourth Duke of Somerset, who, having
been taken prisoner in the battle of Tewkesbury, was
beheaded by King Edward VI., expired the legitimate descen
dants of the first Earl of Somerset ; but Henry, the third Duke,
left an illegitimate son, Charles, to whom he gave the name of
Somerset. Children not born in wedlock were then, as now,
ineligible to inherit the honours or patrimony of their fathers,
but their birth was by no means held in the disrepute with
which the chaster morals of the present day justly brand it.
Henry VII. did not disdain to acknowledge kindred with
his cousin's son; he gave him the Order of the Garter;
placed him in a station of honourable attendance upon his
person; took charge of his fortune; promoted his marriage
with the wealthy heiress of the Earl of Huntingdon; and
created him Earl of Worcester. From this Earl, whose effigy
is now to be seen on his monument in Beaufort Chapel, within
that of St. George in Windsor Castle, the present Duke descends,
through a direct male line of noble ancestors, distinguished
2

DUKE OF BEAUFORT.
for rank, wealth, and attachment to the cause of royalty.
He is the eldest son of Henry, the fifth Duke, by Elizabeth,
daughter of the Honourable Admiral Boscawen of the Fal
mouth family ; the venerable Duchess Dowager died in 1828,
having lived to see her posterity flourishing in an extraordi
nary manner ; being herself the mother of twelve children,
seventy-one grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren-
The Duke was born 22d December, 1766, educated at West
minster School, and afterwards at Trinity College, Oxford. In
the summer of 1786, he left the University to make the tour of
France, Switzerland, and Italy, whence he returned at the
close of the year 1787. In March 1788, he was elected to Par
liament for the borough of Monmouth ; at the general election
in 1790, for the city of Bristol ; and in 1796 for the county of
Gloucester, which he continued to represent till his accession
to the family honours by the death of his father, the 11th of
October, 1803. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of the
counties of Monmouth and Brecon, in the room of his father ;
and in 1810, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire.
In 1805 he was elected a Knight of the Garter, and
installed in the same year at the last installation of the Order,
which has been celebrated within the castle of Windsor. In
1812, he obtained the appointment of Constable of St. Briaval's
castle, and Warden of the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire.
In his rank as Duke, he supported the pall at the state funeral
of the late Queen Charlotte, and again at that of King George
the Third. Although his Grace has never taken any prominent
part in the politics of the country, his parliamentary vote
and influence have been steadily given in support of the suc
cessive Tory administrations. But whenever an institution is to
be promoted which offers charity to the needy, or promises per
manence to the government of the country, the Duke of Beau
fort is always its munificent and active Patron. To the
Society for the Enlargement and Building of Churches and
Chapels, he was one of the earliest contributors, and in
an especial manner bestows his bounty on whatever tends to
the diffusion of religious worship and knowledge ; while his
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Duchess, a daughter of the noble House of Stafford, devotes
not only her ample fortune, but her time, to forwarding
the interests of religion and benevolence. Though little
known in public, the Duke bears in private a character of the
highest respectability, and does honour to his illustrious
lineage. As a husband and a father, a landlord and a member
of society, he sets an example which, in his exalted rank, can
not fail of being eminently useful. In the country, he sup
ports a style of hospitality becoming his ancient race ; and
assists in maintaining the old English character in his neigh
bourhood, by his zealous patronage of the sports of the field,
and hearty participation in them. The scene of these domes
tic and social enjoyments is bis splendid mansion of Badmin
ton in Gloucestershire, which has been rendered one of the
noblest structures in England by the princely spirit of his
ancestors ; who, since the destruction of their castle of Rag-
land, in the time of Charles I. have made it their principal
family seat. It is a vast pile of building, presenting in its
principal front a stately elevation in the simplest and most
sohd style of Grecian architecture ; it contains a fine series of
family portraits, some other valuable paintings, and a pro
fusion of admirable carvings in wood, by Grinlin Gibbons.
The park is above nine miles in circumference ; and its scenery,
though neither grand nor romantic, is of a rich and pleasing
character, harmonizing beautifully with the magnificent ap
pearance of the building. The parish church, which stands in
the park, was rebuilt in 1785, by the late Duke. The Beaufort
Arms, in rich Florentine Mosaic, form the pavement of its
chancel; and some fine family monuments, contribute to its
decoration. 4

.f.t6fl*n*v &j. !>ZA

J. &rJ*.

HORATIO 3JET.S0N , VISCOTUTT IEL S OH .

TISTTEH - SOTT & COT.OHTIOTI 3S?,9.

HORATIO,
LORD VISCOUNT NELSON,
DUKE OF BRONTE, K.B., ETC.
The illustrious subject of this Memoir, Horatio, son of the
Rev. Edmund Nelson, and of his wife, Catherine, daughter of
the Rev. Maurice Suckling, D.D., was born at his father's
Rectory-house, at Burnham Thorpe, in Norfolk, the 29th of
September, 1758. He received the first rudiments of his educa
tion at the High School, Norwich ; was afterwards placed under
the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Jones, at North Walsham, and
removed from his care, when little more than twelve years of
age, to commence his naval career under his maternal uncle,
Captain Maurice Suckling, of the navy, then recently appointed
to the command of the Raisonable, of 64 guns. This ship, the
incipient hero joined at Chatham, unfortunately during a
short absence of its captain ; and, through life, he remembered
the painful sensations of isolated desertion which attended the
first few days of his initiation into the service.
Captain Suckling was soon afterwards appointed Comp
troller of the Navy, and his influence afforded to the young
sailor the most favourable opportunities of acquiring a
thorough knowledge of his profession, and subsequently
opened to him the prospect of rapid promotion.. His death,
however, soon after his nephew had passed a most honourable
examination for a lieutenancy, to which he was on the suc
ceeding day appointed, closed this channel of advancement,
but not till Nelson's own superior abilities and excellent qua
lities had secured to him a continuance of favour from those
on whom rested his future hopes. 1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
During his nautical education, and subsequent services, he
became acquainted with every quarter of the globe; ex
perienced, with an originally delicate constitution, the enervat
ing influence of the torrid, and the blighting effects of the frigid
zones; wasted his youthful health in pestilential labours in
Spanish America; was sometimes obliged to recruit in his
native country ; but, almost without cessation, was engaged in
active service, till the peace of 1783 afforded him a short relaxation.
During this period he had attained the rank of Post-captain,
and acquired the esteem of- many distinguished ornaments of
the navy, and, among them, of Prince William Henry, now
Duke of Clarence, to whom he was first introduced, when His
Royal Highness was serving in the American seas, in Admiral
Digby's ship. This illustrious personage, who seems imme
diately to have been duly sensible of the hero's great talents,
always retained for him, while living, the most lively friend
ship, and still reveres his memory.
In 1784, Captain Nelson was appointed to the command of
the Boreas, of 28 guns, cruising off the Leeward Islands.
While on this station, he mamed at Nevis, on the 11th of
March, 1787, Frances, daughter of William Herbert, Esq., and
widow of Dr. Josiah Nisbet, a physician, of that island. He
returned to England in the same year ; brought his wife to his
father's parsonage of Burnham Thorpe; and there, at the
earnest desire of his venerable parent, continued his abode till
the renewal of war called him again into action.
Early in 1793, as Captain of the Agamemnon, of 64 guns,
he sailed for the Mediterranean, and served in those seas for
four years, under the successive commands of Lord Hood,
Admiral Hotham, and Sir John Jervis, the latter of whom
recommended his promotion to the rank of Commodore, which
he obtained in 1796. In the course of his very important
services on this station, which rendered his name famous
throughout Italy, while as yet it was scarcely known in
England, he lost his right eye at the siege of Calvi; formed
his first acquaintance with the King and Queen of Naples,
and with Sir William Hamilton, the British Ambassador to
2

LORD NELSON.
that Court, and his lady; captured, in a partial engagement
with the Toulon fleet, two French ships of the line, the
Ca Ira and Censeur, both of which struck to the Agamemnon ;
and, in short, so often encountered the enemy, that, on a sub
sequent occasion, when a pension was about to be granted to
him, and he was required, as a matter of form, to present a
memorial of his services from the commencement of his navai
career, it stated, that he had been actually engaged 120 times.
At length, off Gibraltar, he fell in with the Spanish fleet,
and, on the 13th of February, 1797, reaching the station off
Cape St. Vincent, communicated the intelligence of their
proximity to Sir John Jervis, who immediately prepared for
battle. By the talent with which, upon his own judgment,
and in neglect of orders, he planned and executed a decisive
movement, Nelson contributed mainly to the brilliant victory
of that memorable day. His share in its glories was speedily
perceived and appreciated, by a discerning public. Congratu
lations were lavishly showered upon him; and his excellent
father acknowledged, with pious gratitude, the joy which the
heroic deeds of his son communicated to his heart. The rank
of Rear-admiral had been awarded to him before the action
was known in England, and the well-earned Order of the
Bath was conferred upon him. His first exploit, after these
new honours, was glorious, though unsuccessful ; in the un
fortunate attack upon Santa Cruz, on the 24th of July, 1797,
he lost his right arm. His return to England was attended
with every possible testimonial of national esteem and admi
ration, and his services were rewarded with a pension of a
thousand pounds a year.
Early in 1798, Sir Horatio Nelson hoisted his flag in the
Vanguard, and, rejoining Earl St. Vincent, was detached into
the Mediterranean with a small force, to watch the great
expedition fitting out under Buonaparte at Toulon. This fleet,
consisting of thirteen ships of the line, seven frigates of forty
guns, twenty-four small vessels of war, and two hundred
transports, having evaded Nelson's little squadron, proceeded
to Egypt; and the British fleet, reinforced by ten ships of the
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
line, after a long and harassing pursuit, had the gratification of
coming up with it on the 1st of August. The French ships were
moored in Aboukir Bay, in front of Alexandria, in a strong
and compact order of battle. The ships of the line were nearly
equal in number on both sides ; but the English vessels were
all seventy-fours, whereas the French had three of eighty
guns, and one three-deckers of one hundred and twenty. The
French had also the advantage of four frigates, while the
English, besides their thirteen ships of the line, had only one
vessel of fifty guns. It was four in the afternoon when
Captain Hood first made signal of discovering the enemy.
Nelson, who for many preceding days had eaten and slept but
little, now ordered his dinner to be served, while preparations
were making for the battle. The action commenced at half
past six in the evening, and finally ceased about three o'clock
the following morning. The several awful and affecting in
cidents of this memorable conflict, including the conflagration
of the French Admiral's superb ship, L'Orient, are too well
known to need narrating. The dawn discovered its results
to the anxious spectators on shore. The French army found
their fleet annihilated, and themselves cut off from their
resources, in a distant country, and without hope of return
but in the remote prospect of peace. Nelson sent orders to
all his ships that public thanks should be returned to Almighty
God for this splendid and decisive victory. Honours and
rewards were showered upon him in profusion; the grand
Turk, the sovereigns of Russia, Sardinia, and Sicily, vied in
the costliness of their tokens of gratitude. The title of
Baron Nelson of the Nile was conferred upon him at home,
and £2000 a year were voted for its support; while, by
the whole population of the three kingdoms, the name of
Nelson was hailed as the bright cynosure of English glory.
On the seventeenth day after the battle, Nelson, leaving
Captain Hood with a small squadron off Alexandria, set
sail for Naples. His presence inspired enthusiasm, and the
King was induced to send a considerable army, under the
command of the Austrian General, Mack, to meet the French,
4

LORD NELSON.
who were threatening his dominions with invasion. Mack
was defeated, and the royal family of Naples obliged to take
refuge in Palermo. Nearly two years Lord Nelson retained
his command in the Mediterranean, and, during this time,
made his chief residence in the Sicilian court. Here he formed
that intimacy with the fascinating Lady Hamilton, which
destroyed the future peace of Lady Nelson ; and here occurred
those unfortunate events, in which, by supinely conniving at
the disregard shewn by the court of Naples to the faith of
treaties, and its overstrained severity in penal executions, he
tarnished the glories of his name. Our limits will not allow
us to dwell on this painful period ; but it had been well for our
hero's fame, if the enervating climate and manners of Italy had
not been thrown in his path of public duty, or if he had pos
sessed fortitude enough to resist their contamination.
From Naples he returned, through Germany, to England ;
his reputation, which had preceded him, rendering his whole
journey a species of triumphal procession. The queen accom
panied him as far as Vienna; and Sir William and Lady
Hamilton arrived with him at Yarmouth, on the 6th of No
vember, 1800. He was received in his native country with
enthusiastic acclamations by all ranks ; but domestic happiness
awaited not his return. His infatuated attachment to Lady Ha
milton had already produced a quarrel with his stepson, Josiah
Nisbet, and it now caused his final separation from his wife.
He was soon after again in employment. As second in
command to Sir Hyde Parker, he sailed to the Baltic, with the
expedition destined to counteract the designs of the northern
confederacy against the maritime supremacy of Great Britain.
The hard-fought battle of the 2d of April 1801, within the har
bour of Copenhagen, was won by the skill and perseverance of
Lord Nelson, to whom the Commander-in-chief committed the
whole charge of the attack; and by whom the negotiations
with which it closed were conducted. For his success on this
glorious day the title of Viscount was conferred upon him.
Sir Hyde Parker was recalled, and Nelson remained some time
longer in the Baltic as Commander-in-chief. But, the sudden
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
death of the Emperor Paul having broken up the confederacy,
after some friendly negotiations he returned to England ; and
to calm the fears which the loud threats of invasion had
excited throughout the country, was appointed to a command
in the Channel, extending along the line of coast, from Orford-
ness to Beachy-Head.
The peace of Amiens relieved him from this employment ;
and he took up his residence, with Sir William and Lady
Hamilton, for a short period, at the villa of Merton, in Surrey,
which he had recently purchased. During this time he suf
fered a severe affliction, in the loss of his venerable father,
who died at Bath, on the 26th of April 1802, and was affec
tionately lamented by his heroic son. Early in 1803, Sir
William Hamilton died in the arms of his lady, and in the
presence of Lord Nelson ; who, a few weeks afterwards, the
war being renewed, departed, to take the command of the
Mediterranean fleet. His station was off Toulon, where, from
May 1803 to March 1805, he watched the French fleet in that
harbour, ardently desirous of bringing it to action. On the
31st of March, the enemy, having previously made an unsuc
cessful attempt at escape, again ventured to put to sea, and,
passing the Straits of Gibraltar, formed a junction with the
Spanish fleet at Cadiz, and proceeded to the West Indies.
Nelson gave chase, and with an anxious heart scoured the seas
in vain pursuit ; till, returning to the Channel in August fol
lowing, he obtained information that Sir Robert Calder, with
fifteen sail of the line, had fallen in with them sixty leagues
west of Cape Finisterre ; and that after an action of four
hours, in which two of their ships were captured, the rest,
having brought out the Spanish squadron from Ferrol, had
succeeded in gaining the harbour of Cadiz. Upon this, Nelson
landed at Portsmouth, and retired for a while to his seat at
Merton. But unable to endure inactivity, when the prize he
had so eagerly sought was still undecided, he again offered
his services, which were willingly accepted. The choice of
his officers was left to him, and he was desired to name the
number of ships he would wish to command.
6

LORD NELSON.
On the 14th of September, his Lordship embarked on board
the Victory in Portsmouth harbour, and on the following day
set sail for the coast of Spain. On the 29th he arrived off
Cadiz, and for three weeks anxiously waited the determination
of the enemy to come out of harbour. On the 21st of October,
at day-break, their fleet was seen in close line of battle, off
Trafalgar: it consisted of thirty-three sail of the line, and
seven frigates ; Nelson's, of twenty-seven sail of the line, and
four frigates : but the superiority of the allies in size and
weight of metal, was still greater than in numbers. Nelson,
however, was confident of success ; but he seems to have
anticipated death almost as surely as victory. He wore his
admiral's frock-coat, bearing on the left breast the stars of four
orders with which he had been invested ; and it was known
there were many expert riflemen on board the French fleet.
He issued his last signal, " England expects every man to
do his duty ;" and amidst the acclamations with which it was
received, Nelson and Collingwood, each heading his line,
advanced to the attack. At ten minutes before twelve, the
enemy opened their fire. It was not returned from the Victory
for near a quarter of an hour, as that time was required to
fix the ship in a situation in which her two broadsides could
take full effect. In taking up her station, the Victory ran on
board the Redoubtable, which receiving her with a broadside,
instantly let down her lower-deck ports for fear of being
boarded through them, and never afterwards fired a great gun.
From this circumstance the English admiral, uncertain whether
or not she had struck, as she carried no flag, twice gave orders
to cease firing upon her ; but a continual discharge of musketry
was kept up from her shrouds, and from this ship, thus twice
spared, the hero received his death-wound. At about a
quarter past one, a ball struck the epaulette on his left
shoulder, penetrated through the lungs, and lodged in the
spinal marrow. He fell into the arms of Captain Hardy,
exclaiming, " They have done for me at last." Yet so perfect
was his presence of mind, that as he was carried down the
ladder, he observed that the tiller-ropes had been shot away,
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
and ordered that new ones should be rove immediately ; then,
that he might not be known by the crew, he covered his face
and his stars with his handkerchief.
He was laid upon the pallet in a midshipman's birth ;
and the first examination of his wound proving but too clearly
the fatal direction the ball had taken, of which he was himself
too sensible to be deceived, he insisted that the surgeon
should leave him, to attend on those to whom his services
might be useful. All that could be done was to fan him with
paper, and to administer lemonade for the alleviation of his
intense thirst. His pain was great ; but the sense of it trifling,
in comparison of his anxiety for the fate of the battle. He
lived to receive from Captain Hardy the intelligence of an
entire and glorious victory ; and that at least fifteen ships had
struck, but not one of the British fleet had lowered its flag.
" Now I am satisfied," said the gallant departing spirit, " I
thank God, I have done my duty." Hardy stood for a moment
in silent distress, then knelt and kissed his forehead. " God
bless you, Hardy," he added in a low voice, and the Captain
left him for ever. Again and again he was heard to say,
"Thank God, I have done my duty." The last guns fired
at the flying enemy were heard a minute or two before he
expired. This sad event took place at a quarter past four, three
hours and a quarter after he had received his wound. It is
needless to add any description of the victory thus dearly
purchased, or of the honours paid to the corpse of the hero
by the country to whose service he had devoted his life. An
Earldom was conferred on his brother, with a parliamentary
grant of £6,000 a year. £.10,000 were voted to each of his
sisters, and £100,000 for the purchase of an estate to be for
ever attached to the title ; this has been expended on a man
sion near Salisbury, now called Trafalgar, surrounded by a
suitable demesne and beneficial property.

MA J* GENP SIR CHARLES WILLTATVI" DOYLE, K.C .H - C.B .

Jj'rsHF.K SOH~»: C?T,ONDON. 182c

MAJOR-GENERAL
SIR CHARLES WILLIAM DOYLE, KT
C.B. K.C.H. &C.&C.&C.
COLONEL OF THE LATE 10th ROYAL VETERAN BATTALION.

Charles Doyle, Esq. of Brambleton, county of Kilkenny,
and Clomoney, county of Carlow, of ancient Irish descent, was
father and grandfather of a numerous family, whose good for
tune it has been, by their talents and courage, to attract much of
the public notice, and to secure an exalted rank in the service
of their country. One of his sons is the present distinguished
General Sir John Doyle, Bart., G.C.B. K.G. ; another was the
late Major-General Welbore-Ellis Doyle, Commander-in-chief
in Ceylon, and Colonel of the 53d Regiment, who died there in
1797, and was father of the present Sir Francis-Hastings Doyle,
Bart., Deputy-Chairman of the Board of Excise, and of Lieu
tenant-Colonel Carlo Doyle, late Military Secretary to the
Governor-General of India. Nicholas, another son, in holy
orders, was father of the Rev. Charles Doyle, and of Colonel
Sir John-Milley Doyle, K.C.B. He also left one daughter,
mother to the present Right Honourable Charles Bushe,
the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. The eldest son of
Mr. Charles Doyle was William Doyle, Esq., a Master in
Chancery, celebrated for his talents and wit ; he married an
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Italian lady, by name Cecilia Salvagni, and died in 1792,
leaving one daughter, Harriet, and three sons, Sir Charles-
William, our present subject, the Rev. John-Welbore Doyle,
an exemplary clergyman, and Sir Bentinck- Cavendish
Doyle, a Captain in the Royal Navy, and a distinguished
officer. Sir Charles-William Doyle was born in Dublin, and edu
cated at Westminster School ; he entered the 14th Regiment
as a Lieutenant, having raised men for that rank. The 14th
was commanded by his uncle, then Lieutenant-Colonel Wel-
bore-Ellis Doyle : he served with it in Holland and in Flan
ders, under the Duke of York, in 1793 and 1794. A few days
previous to the investment of Valenciennes, Lieutenant Doyle
was appointed by General Abercrombie to do the duty of Bri
gade-Major, during the illness of Captain Hope ; and in this
capacity he obtained the General's thanks for his conduct at the
attack and carrying of the heights and batteries of Famars.
At the siege of Valenciennes he received a contusion in the
head, from the splinter of a shell, while on duty as orderly
officer to General Walmoden ; and at the taking of Launoi
was wounded in the hand. Having on this occasion again
received the thanks of his General, he was sent by him to
acquaint the Duke of York with the capture of the town.
In 1794, he joined the 91st regiment, as senior Lieutenant
and Adjutant. At the close of the year, he went as Captain-
Lieutenant and Adjutant with the 108th regiment to Gibral
tar ; where he was nominated aid-de-camp to' the Governor ;
and returned to England at the end of 1795, being appointed
Captain-Lieutenant and Adjutant in the 87th regiment, of
which his uncle, now Sir John Doyle, was the Colonel. The
Captain embarked in 1796 on an expedition to the Texel,
commanded by Sir John, but its object was frustrated by
contrary winds; and in the same year the regiment was
ordered to the West Indies. Arriving at Barbadoes, Captain
Doyle, who was on the staff as Brigade-Major, finding his
regiment destined to assist in the attack upon Porto Rico,
resigned his appointment, accompanied the expedition ; and for
2

SIR CHARLES-WILLIAM DOYLE.
the manner in which he assisted to cover the retreat of the
army, he was thanked by Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and
appointed aid-de-camp to General Morshead, and with that
officer returned to Barbadoes. Here he had an opportunity of
proving his ardour in the service. A French privateer, filled
with men, and carrying two heavy guns, entered the bay, and
captured three vessels. Captain Doyle volunteered to embark
the General's guard ; and, with an officer and thirty men of
Lowenstein's Fusileers, and forty sailors, attacked the priva
teer — drove her off — and retook her prizes. He was ably
assisted in the operation by Lieutenant, now Colonel Morris.
For this service he received the thanks of the Governor of
Barbadoes, and was recommended by the Commander-in-
Chief for the Majority of Lowenstein's.
In 1798 he went to Gibraltar as Brigade-Major, was
recommended by General O'Hara for the Majority of Stuart's
German Regiment, and in 1799 for the Majority of the Loyal
Irish Regiment, by General Fox. In 1800, he embarked as
Brigade-Major to the expedition against Cadiz and Genoa ;
and proceeded to Minorca, Malta, and Marmorice Bay, and
ultimately, in 1801, to Egypt. Brigade-Major Doyle led the
left column in the battle of the 13th of March, and was
wounded in the battle of the 21st. He again joined the army,
and accompanied it to the attack of Rhaimanie ; after which,
he was sent back to Rosetta totally disabled.
For bis conduct during the campaign, he received the thanks
of General Hutchinson, as well as those of His Royal High
ness the Duke of York ; and was recommended by the former
for a Majority, which was given to him in the 61st Regi
ment, upon his return to England in 1804. He was afterwards
appointed to command the light troops in the north of Eng
land, and thence sent to Barham Down, where he commanded
the Kght troops under Sir David Dundas.
The Major now published his Military Catechism for the
use of the Army, by permission of His Royal Highness the
Duke of York : and it became a standard book at the Royal
Military College. Being appointed Assistant-Quarter-Mas-
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
ter- General at Guernsey in 1805, he purchased the Lieu
tenant-Colonelcy of the 87th Regiment ; and in the following
year received the thanks of His Royal Righness the Duke of
York, for the state of discipline in which that corps was found
by the several General Officers who inspected it.
In 1808, Lieutenant-Colonel Doyle, then in command of
the 2nd Battalion, 87th Regiment, was selected by Govern
ment, and sent into Spain upon a special mission. He pro
ceeded to the army of General Blake, and by permission
accepted the rank of Brigadier General. He next visited the
army of General Cuesta, and thence hastened to Madrid ;
taking with him the Duke of Infantado. He arrived imme
diately after King Joseph had quitted it, and just in time to
save the lives of the French servants of the Russian Ambas
sador, whose house was threatened to be torn down by the
mob. The appearance of this British officer on the balcony,
and a few words from him in their native language, changed
at once the temper of the infuriated mob, which dispersed
quietly. We now find him assembling at Madrid some intelligent
officers from each of the armies and provinces — to learn the
really effective state of the armies ; to combine a general plan
of operations ; to establish a provisional government ; to put an
end to the anarchy which prevailed ; and to determine that
Madrid should again be the acknowledged seat of government :
thus to do away the assumed authority of the Seville Junta,
which, though at first essentially useful, was then of the most
serious disadvantage to the general cause. To accomplish this
design, and to check the French, who had made a forward
movement towards Zaragoza, it was necessary the Spanish
armies should make a corresponding move ; but General Cas-
tanos, though he acknowledged the necessity of this, declared
the impossibility of his leaving Madrid, as the Seville Junta
would not give him a dollar, if he did so. Here was the crisis !
General Doyle, with prompt boldness, though without authority,
instantly raised the money necessary. General Castanos had
no longer an excuse, and his army marched. Madrid at once
4

SIR CHARLES-WILLIAM DOYLE.
became the seat of provisional government, established under
the superintendence of that most able and efficient minister
Mr. Stuart, and that distinguished officer Lord William Ben-
tinck. The opinion of the late Lord Castlereagh upon this
occasion, was expressed in gratifying terms by the Under
Secretary of State.*
The General now hastened to the out-posts of Arragon,
and the Spanish Gazette of the 20th November, 1808, shews
how he distinguished himself in the affair between Tofalla and
Olite. General Palafox, to mark his decided approbation of
the General's conduct, promoted him, at the moment, to the
rank of Major-General, and formed a corps, to which he gave
the name of " Doyle's Light Infantry :" in this the celebrated
Mina commenced his military career ; and it distinguished itself
throughout the war, particularly while commanded by the gal
lant Torrijos.
The General now went to Zaragoza, to assist in organiz
ing the army of Arragon, and to prepare the city for a second
siege ; and, even after its partial investment, he continued day
and night actively employed in throwing into it large convoys of
provision and ammunition, with 11,000 stand of arms; " to
" which seasonable supplies, General Palafox, in his report
" to the Spanish government, attributes his prolonged and
" glorious defence."
In November, 1808, the Major-General proceeded, by
order of the British government, upon a special mission into
Catalonia. On his arrival there, he found the army and for
tifications in a miserably neglected state. The cavalry, sta
tioned in the neighbourhood of Tarragona, though composed
of old soldiers, was unprovided with arms, saddles, or other
* Extract of a letter from Mr. Secretary Cooke to Brigadier-General Doyle, dated
Foreign Office,' 15th October, 1808.
" Every credit is given to your zeal, and the boldness of your decision, when
pecuniary resourses were wanting ; and all the information you have collected, will
be of great use to Sir John Moore, as it has been of great use to Government. Be
assured that Lord Castlereagh has looked upon your proceedings with the most
favourable view. (Signed,) " E. Cooke."
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
appointments; these he procured with the utmost despatch,
and pushed forward with the corps, thus rendered efficient,
to join the ill-fated army, which, under General Vives, lost
the battle of Granoblers. By his energy he was enabled to
rally the dispersed troops at the bridge of Molens del Rey ; to
save all the heavy artillery, the magazines of powder, and the
powder-mills of Meuresa, the only ones in Catalonia ; and to
place Lerida in a state to resist a siege. The official report
of the 30th of December, 1808, made to the Spanish govern
ment by the brave General Theodore Reding, who succeeded
to the command of the Catalonian army, states, " that to the
firmness, efficiency, and intrepidity of General Doyle, he is
indebted for these essential services." The General next
embarked on board his Majesty's frigate Volontaire, com
manded by Captain Bullen, who volunteered to destroy all the
batteries along the coast to the eastward of Barcelona. This
service General Doyle superintended, and sent the guns,
ammunition, and stores, thus taken, into Tarragona. Zara-
goza being now in imminent danger, he made another effort
for its relief, but in vain ; it fell. At this time, " the General's
health," says a report from the Central Junta, dated 2d of
October, 1809, " was so impaired, that he descended the Ebro,
in a boat, to Cherta ; and had scarcely reached it, when he was
waited upon by a deputation from Tortosa, praying him to
proceed to that city, and take the command of it, as it was
threatened by the enemy in force. Neither the state of his
health, nor the -situation of military commissioner, nor the
responsibility attending the charge of a city in the worst pos
sible state of defence, could prevent his acceding to this
request. He left his sick-bed, proceeded the same night to
Tortosa, and, without a moment's loss of time, remedied the
immediate evils, organized military companies, and continued
there until the enemy had retired ; and, the Marquis of
Lazon having arrived with his division, replaced him in his
command, and gave him time to look to his health." In com
memoration of this service, the Governor and Junta of Tortosa
presented to Major-General Doyle the arms of their city, and
6

SIR CHARLES-WILLIAM DOYLE.
a shield of distinction ; the grant was, in 1816, confirmed by
King Ferdinand : the arms were added to the General's family
escutcheon, and the shield of honour was to be worn upon his
left arm.
The Col de Balaguer Castle having submitted to the French,
it was essential to retake it. General Doyle ably assisted the
Marquis Campo Vorde in this successful operation ; during
which his horse was shot under him. A strong effort was made
to save Figueras, by* throwing into it a convoy of provisions ;
General Doyle aided in this operation, and immediately after
hastened to Ripoll, the only manufactory of arms in Catalonia,
and thence to the lead-mines of Falest, both totally neglected,
but now re-established, and set to work, by his exertions and
perseverance. He inspected Cardona, found it without the
necessary gunpowder ; thence went to Maurisa, obtained what
was wanting, and sent it to that fortress. General Suchet was
induced to push a small corps to the very gates of the city of
Valencia, and partially invest it, in the hope of profiting by the
distracted state into which it was thrown by a few intriguing
members of the Junta. General Doyle instantly repaired
thither, offered his services to the Captain General to take com
mand of the cavalry, to fall upon the rear of Suchet's corps,
cut off his supplies, &c. &c. and force him to retire. The
chief of the staff was convinced of the utility of this measure,
but it was not adopted. In the evening, General Doyle very
narrowly escaped being made prisoner while reconnoitring.
The necessity of active operations became more evident. He
again urged the move with the cavalry, but in vain ; next day
he hastened to join Villa Campa, but learned that he had
already acted successfully upon the rear of Suchet, and forced
him to retreat.
In the early part of 1810, Tortosa again presented a feeble
barrier to the enemy, who threatened to attack it. The people
having no confidence (though without reason) in their new gover
nor, were in sullen despair, which at last broke out into a state
of insurrection. The Captain-General despatched an aid-de
camp to the General to implore him to go thither : he did so; and
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
immediately calmed their minds, established confidence, pro
visioned the town, and placed it in a state to ensure defence.*
The General was now entreated by the Captain-General of
Valencia to repair to that kingdom, and assist in organizing
the army : this he did, and fortified the castle of Oropesa and
Murviedro (the celebrated Saguntum), which delayed the
attack upon Valencia, as Suchet was obliged to besiege it.
The Captain-General named the principal battery " Doyle's
Battery." The army being collected round Castellon de la Plana for
organization, Suchet resolved to disperse it; and for that
purpose marched from Tortosa. General Doyle consulted
with Commodore Codrington, who most handsomely volun
teered to receive on board his ship 1000 soldiers and 130 offi
cers. The General instantly, with the consent of the Captain-
General, embarked this corps, and sailed for Peniscola, to land
in the rear of Suchet : the moment this officer heard of the
embarkation, he retreated, and had already passed Peniscola a
few hours before the General arrived : the desired effect, how
ever, was produced.
The benefits to be derived from the position of Peniscola
did not escape the General's observation, and to counteract
the evil which would arise from the land communication with
Catalonia being cut off by the investment of Tortosa, he
established there a manufactory of biscuit for the army, and
communication by sea. At one of his visits to this fortress he
found the celebrated French partisan, Colonel Plic, a prisoner,
and sentenced to death as a spy. He had presented himself
at the outworks with a flag of truce, and was permitted to
pass through them and the town to the Governor, without hav
ing a handkerchief bound over his eyes. In vain did General
Doyle remonstrate, and throw the blame upon those by whose
criminal neglect he was allowed so to pass; it was urged,
* Extract of a Letter from Sir Henry Wellesley, dated 23d July, 1810 :
" I cannot sufficiently commend your exertions at Tortosa, and placing it in a
respectable state of defence. You may be assured that I will do you ample justice,
in my despatches to England. (Signed) « Henry Wellesley."
8

SIR CHARLES-WILLIAM DOYLE.
" that the pretence of Colonel Plic was frivolous, his object
could only have been to reconnoitre." General Doyle
soon changed his tone of entreaty into a threat, and saved
Colonel Plic's life.
General Henry O'Donnell was about to open the campaign
of 1810, when General Doyle hastened to his assistance. He was
again implored by the people of Tortosa, now invested, to visit
them, and examine their state of preparation for a siege. He
did so, and had his horse shot under him, and his collar-bone
broken, when entering the city ; notwithstanding which acci
dent, he embarked immediately on board the Cambrian
frigate, Captain Fane, and commenced a series of operations
upon the coast, as a diversion in favour of General O'Donnell;
in the course of which, the castles of Bagur and Palamos were
taken : the former by a bold coup-de-main of the General's,
who attributed its success to the gallantry and exertions of
Captain Fane, Lieutenant Bayntor, and the boats' crews ; and
to Lieutenants Lawrie and Robinson, and the marines. To
commemorate this action, in the Spanish Gazette Extraordinary
of the 24th of September, 1810, announced, that " a medal was
struck by the Spanish government, and presented to each indi
vidual of the small force composing the expedition ; bearing
on one side, the motto Eternal Alliance, and on the other,
Spanish Gratitude to British Intrepidity." The General sailed
immediately to attack Palamos; this expedition also com
pletely succeeded, and he sent off all the prisoners, artillery,
ammunition, and stores, to Tarragona. He again reported, in
the strongest terms, the gallantry and extraordinary exertions
of Captain Fane, and the officers, sailors, and marines of the
Cambrian. The extreme kindness of the General to the pri
soners and wounded was sensibly felt by the French army. At
the close of this campaign the General received a gold
medal with the motto, "To distinguished Valour," and was
appointed a Knight of the Order of Charles the Third.
The Duke of Wellington recommended him to be Colonel
of a Regiment, to be formed of German soldiers from the
French ranks. 9

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Upon the first appearance of General Suchet's army to
invest Tarragona, General Doyle took post at the advanced
work called the Olivo, and volunteered to complete the part
left unfinished by the chief engineer, who was taken suddenly
ill. The French, apprized of its unfinished state, pushed on,
evidently to profit by this neglect ; but the General directed a
sortie, which drove them back, and gave him time to finish it.
He now proposed to the Governor of Tarragona to allow him
to command a sortie, to prevent the enemy quietly establish
ing their batteries : he approved of the idea, but said he had
not force sufficient : the General then proposed to bring from
Valencia a reinforcement of 3000 men, if the Governor would
promise to let him command the sortie: he assented. The
General, through the extraordinary exertions and cordial
co-operation of Commodore Codrington, and his influence with
General Charles O'Donnell, succeeded in taking to Tarragona
the 3000 men. The Governor thought a sortie then not
advisable. General Doyle landed in Tarragona, but sent the
corps to join the army under Campo Verde, to endeavour to
raise the siege.* The evening before the last outwork was
carried by assault, the General, whilst at that post, received a
contusion in the shoulder from a musket-ball, and his aid-de
camp was wounded in the leg. Commodore Codrington took
the General on board his ship that night, and a few days after
wards Tarragona was taken by assault. General Doyle was
presented with two crosses ; one for the defence of Tarragona,
the other for the general actions in Catalonia.
He now proceeded to Cadiz, where the Regency, desirous of
giving a decided proof of the high estimation in which his ser
vices were held, and in compliance with the ardent wishes of
*Extract of a Letter from Sir Henry Wellesley to General Doyle, Cadiz, June 9, 1 811.
" Among the many valuable services which ycu have rendered to the Spanish
cause, I consider none to be of greater importance than your having prevailed on
General O'Donnell to send 3,000 men to Tarragona, and to march with the army of
Valencia, to create a diversion in Arragon ; this service is duly appreciated by the
Spanish Government, and the greatest credit is given to your exertions. — Signed,
H. Wellesley." 10

SIR CHARLES- WILLI AM DOYLE.
the kingdoms of Arragon, Valencia, and Catalonia, raised him
to the rank of Lieutenant-General.
At this period it was deemed essential to form at Cadiz,
during the siege, a Spanish army capable of assisting in the
operations of the Duke of Wellington. General Doyle was
placed at the head of an establishment for the organization,
discipline, and general instruction of the army. The Regency
consented to this appointment in terms very creditable to the
Lieutenant-General.* After a few months, the state of the
General's health required relaxation from duties. He was
ordered to England ; but at the earnest request of Sir Henry
Wellesley, he remained at his post. Sir Henry, in his letter of
the 1st of March, 1812, said, " I think your remaining is of
such importance to the cause in general, that I trust you will
feel the necessity of making one more sacrifice to the many
you have already made in its support, and for the present
relinquish your intention of going to England. — Signed, Henry
Wellesley." The results of this establishment were bene
ficial in the extreme, and the opinions of persons high in
authority, were proud testimonies of it.f In 1813, he became
Colonel by Brevet, and was thus deprived the honour of being
made Prince Regent's aid-de-camp, for which he had been
* Extract of a Letter of His Excellency the Minister of State to Sir Henry
Wellesley, dated Cadiz, 29th October, 1811.
" The Council of Regency approves your proposal, that General Doyle should be
Chief of the said Establishment ; for he possesses qualities the most estimable
that His Highness could desire, since, to his great military knowledge, he adds that
of the most meritorious services in the cause of Spain without interruption, from the
very beginning of our glorious resistance to the dominion of the French. — Signed,
Count Bardaxi, Minister of State."
t The Judge of the Supreme Military Council, called upon by the King to state
officially his opinion, whether this establishment (the war having terminated) should
be kept up, or not, reports : — " The advantages of this establishment are unde
niable, and so states the Inspector General. Its excellent organization, the system
of instruction, as well in the discipline as in the manoeuvre, and the order and
method which have been constantly observed in it, ought to recommend for ever, this
recollection of its opportune establishment, and its important utility, and the zeal of
him who directed and preserved it. If the army should be recruited henceforth by
ballot, I am of opinion, that not only this Institution should be continued, but that
three others should be established and modelled precisely after it. At all events, General
11

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
recommended by Lord Castlereagh and by His Royal High
ness the Duke of York.* Such were the services of this
officer in Spain ; that they obtained for him the thanks of His
Majesty's Ambassadors in that country, the Minister at home,
and of His Royal Highness the Duke of York ;f and, upon
Doyle, who promoted and brought to perfection this establishment, at a moment of
greatest calamity to the nation, is most deserving of praise, and merits that Hi3
Majesty should deign to dispense some especial favour to him, for the efficient zeal
and indefatigable perseverance, by which he produced such well-known advantages
to the many Regiments of Infantry, which he formed in that establishment. — Signed,
Menchaca, Madrid, 12th February, 1815."
* Extract of a Letter from Lord Viscount Castlereagh, dated 20th April, 1812.
Foreign Office, to His Excellency Sir H. Wellesley.
" In reply to your Excellency's private letter of the 23rd ult. recommending the
services rendered in Spain by Lieutenant-Colonel Doyle, to the favourable consider
ation of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, I transmit to you the enclosed
copy of my letter to His Royal Highness the Commander-in-chief, and His Royal
Highness's reply : I am to request, that you will communicate these papers to Lieut.-
Colonel Doyle, together with an assurance of my sincere regret, that circumstances
have occurred to prevent his receiving by the present occasion,* the markt which he
had solicited of His Royal Highness's approbation of his meritorious services in the
Peninsula. (Signed) " Castlereagh."
t Extract of a Letter from Sir Charles Stuart, (now Lord Stuart de Rothsay,)
to Major-General Doyle, dated Paris, 12th of September, 1816 : — " As I have
repeatedly expressed in conversation the sense of the advantage I derived from
your assistance in the commencement of the struggle in Spain, I feel great plea
sure in availing myself of the first moment after your return to England, to offer
a written testimony of your personal exertions in Gallicia, Arragon, and Castille,
and your success in organizing the resistance to the enemy during the period I
was accredited to the Provincial and Central Governments of that country, in the
years 1808 and 1809. (Signed) " Charles Stuart."
Copy of a Letter from Lord Wellesley, announcing his return to England, to
Major-General Doyle, dated Cadiz, 10th November, 1809 : — " I avail myself of this
opportunity to signify to you my entire approbation of the zealous manner in which
you have discharged your duty since my residence in Spain, and to request you to
accept my sincere acknowledgments for the information which you have communicated
to me on various subjects of considerable importance to the public service.
(Signed) " Wellesley."
Extract of a Letter from Sir Henry Wellesley, (now Lord Cowley,) to the Earl of
Bathurst, respecting the services of General Doyle, dated August 5th, 1816: — " His
t No vacancy. * Prince Regent's aid-de-camp.
12

SIR CHARLES-WILLIAM DOYLE.
his return to England, the Prince Regent immediately conferred
upon him the honour of knighthood, and he was appointed
a Companion of the Bath. But the statutes of that order
precluded his being a commander ; as no colonel could be so,
unless he had five badges of distinction, for victories obtained
by His Majesty's arms in the field. Colonel Doyle, however,
while employed with the Spanish armies, had obtained six badges
of distinction, as well as the Legion of Honour, and also the Cres
cent for the campaign in Egypt. In 1819, having been made a
Major-General, he applied to bemade aCommander. The answer
of His Royal Highness the Duke of York, dated 28th September,
1819, marked the sense he entertained of the_ General's ser
vices ; it stated, " I have every disposition to give attention to
your wishes, as well as those of other distinguished candidates,
for the 2nd order of the Bath, as vacancies may occur, and I have
taken a minute of them, with the view to all the attention that
may depend upon myself. — Signed, Frederick."
General Doyle was appointed Colonel of the 10th Royal
Veteran Battalion. His Majesty was graciously pleased to
appoint him a military commander of the Guelph, and also
to allow him to accept and wear the Insignia of Knight of the
Legion of Honour.
In June, 1825, he was appointed to command the south
western district in Ireland. In September, 1828, he was
services in Catalonia, Valencia, and Arragon, were considered to be so meritorious,
that he was promoted by the Spanish Government to the rank of Lieutenant-General,
at the express solicitation of those kingdoms. He was afterwards placed at the
head of the establishment at the Isle of Leon, and the corps, formed under his direc
tion, were among the few which distinguished themselves in the course of the war.
As a military agent, his conduct is deserving of the highest praise ; and I really
feel that I should do him injustice, if I omitted to recommend him to the considera
tion of His Majesty's Government. (Signed) " Henry Wellesley."
Copy of a Letter from Sir Henry Torrens to Brigadier- General Doyle, dated Horse
Guards, 11th September, 1812 :— " Sir, I have had great pleasure in laying before
the Commander-in-Chief the enclosures of your letter to me of the 9th instant ; and I
am directed to acquaint you, that the perusal of such honourable testimonials of your
distinguished conduct, could not fail of being acceptable and gratifying to his Royal
Highness. (Signed) " H. Torrens."
13

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
relieved. His conduct, throughout this service, obtained for
him the approbation of his superior officers. The freedom of
the city of Cork was voted to him in a silver box, for the
judicious and soldierlike manner in which he had disr
charged his duty in the awful period of the Clare election.
The High Sheriff of the county, and the Mayor of the city
of Limerick, together with the resident noblemen, . clergy,
and other gentlemen of that county and city, Protestant
and Catholic, united, on his recall, in expressing their sense
of the general advantage the country had derived from his
zeal, judgment, and impartiality, and in requesting his
acceptance of a service of plate, as a testimonial of their
attachment. . ... * , ...
In June, 1829, the Major-General was selected to be presi-^
dent of a board assembled at the War Office, to . inquire
into, and record, the services of the soldiers in the. King's
Household Cavalry, the Foot-guards, 10th Hussars, &c. &c.
actually serving, and also to examine into the cases of. pen
sioners, from all those, as well as other corps. .
Sir Charles- William Doyle married 21st of May, . 1802,
Sophia, daughter of the late Sir John Coghill, Bart, of Coghill
Hall, by whom he has one daughter, and three sons; the eldest,
a captain in the 24th Regiment, and aid-de-camp to .the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; the second, a captain in the
Royal Irish Fusileers ; and the third, attached to the diploma
tic mission of Mr. Vaughan at Washington.
14

?;,. X-'i&m.

johjt jtrxrus ^ngeustetn", esq.
jTIS"HEH.. BOTT & C? XCOTIDOIT. 1829.

JOHN JULIUS ANGEHSTEIN, ESQ.

At a period of national and political jealousies, if we may
judge from the tone of the periodical press, it is rather a
curious circumstance that one of our Illustrations of a
" National Gallery," should be a Russian-born subject and a
British merchant. It is not for us, in our brief Memoirs, to
philosophize on the influence of climate or education ; but, in
the simply natural point of view, it must be confessed that
it is delightful to contemplate the human plant of the Neva,
flourishing, gathering its strength, spreading its noble branches,
and shedding its abundant fruits, upon the banks of the
Thames. Mr. Angerstein was of respectable parentage, a
native of St. Petersburgh, and came to England in the year
1749, when about fourteen years of age, in the employment of
Andrew Thomson, an eminent Russian merchant, in whose
counting-house he continued for several years. Having, in
the course of his commercial career, become a member of
Lloyd's Coffee House, his abilities and assiduity soon rendered
him a leading actor in that bustling theatre. In the business
of brokerage and underwriting, his name carried the greatest
weight ; and among the peculiarities, which ever and anon
indicate, and help to confer prosperity in that mighty mart of
ingenuity, speculation, and capital, it was one, to call the
Policies of Insurance signed by him, " Julians ;"* a title, of its
kind, in the City, equivalent to a Julian decree in the Roman
* It may be deserving of notice in the annals of trade, that Angerstein and his
partner, Rivaz, effected the largest insurance ever made at Lloyd's on one vessel —
namely, f 656,800, on the Diana frigate, laden with specie from Vera Cruz to
England. Mr. Angerstein was also the chief promoter of the re-establishment of
the Veterinary College, which had fallen into decay; and of the grant of £2000 as a
reward for that admirable invention the Life-boat. 1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
empire. In a word, he may be considered as the Founder of
" Lloyd's," in its widely extended state of mercantile influence
and power; and we believe it is justly attributed to him,
that the Act of Parliament was passed, to prohibit the
change of the Name of any Ship — an apparently slight law, but
one which has produced more beneficial effects in the preven
tion of frauds, the protection of property, and the salvation
of lives, than even its warmest advocates could imagine.
Mr. Angerstein was also the suggester, to Government, of the
plan of State Lotteries, as a source of revenue : these have
had their day; they helped the finance-minister through a
long and desperate struggle ; they, to a certain degree, coun
tenanced gambling ; they induced moral evils which were
legislated against in vain ; and, finally, they have been aban
doned. We are not their approvers ; but we are not sure that
the same dangerous passions and propensities, which were
evaporated through them for the benefit of the revenue, have
not been much more mischievously vented since, for the
profit of worthless persons, in gaming-house palaces, and secret
receptacles of swindling infamy. But, be the truth as it may,
we must attribute this act of Mr. Angerstein's life to public
spirit, as unreservedly as we do that other act of his, the
seizure and prosecution of Williams "the monster," who,
but for his exertions, might apparently (on the old prudent
rule, of every body's business being nobody's business) have
gone on stabbing defenceless females as long as he pleased ; —
for, in those days, there was no organized police in London !
But important and exemplary as was the life of Mr.
Angerstein as a merchant and citizen of the most stirring
metropolis in the world, and notwithstanding his accumula
tion of a magnificent fortune in his professional pursuits, his
claim to a niche in our National Gallery of Portraits rests
more broadly and decidedly on the remarkable effect which his
taste for the fine arts has produced in the establishment of
" The National Gallery" that now adorns, and must in its pro
gress far more gloriously illustrate, the character of England,
improve her native school, and attract the enlightened of every
2

JOHN JULIUS ANGERSTEIN, ESQ.
civilized country, to witness the triumph of the highest refine
ment in a land, whose inferior qualities of vigour, activity,
enterprise, wealth, and talent, form a striking chapter in the
history of mankind. This indeed is all which Great Britain
wants : — the social building is founded deeply in strength, and
the mighty structure is raised in solidity and grandeur ; let it
be but embellished with liberality and genius, and proudly may
it invite the eulogy of the candid, and proudly may it defy the
malignity of the envious.
-Mr. Angerstein retired from commerce in 1811 ; and, after
the enjoyment of nearly twelve years of repose, died at his
seat, Woodlands, Blackheath, on the 22d of January, 1823,
aged eighty-seven. Besides estates in Norfolk, Kent, Lincoln
shire, and Suffolk, he left personal property to the value of
half a million sterling ; which principally devolved upon his
son and daughter by his first wife, the widow of Charles
Crockatt, Esq.* and their families. He was buried at
Greenwich. At what period Mr. Angerstein began to gratify his predi
lection for works of art, on the superb scale to which he latterly
ascended, we are unable to say; but throughout his whole
mature life, he was an admirer, if not a consummate judge, of
Painting. Intimate with Mr. West, Sir Thomas Lawrence,
and the best artists of his time, he first patronized the arts
with that general love of them which encourages, in a strict
sense of speaking, more than it discriminates. But he soon
grafted the rarer quality upon the rich soil of the more
common endowment ; and the Gallery which he collected was
almost a choice of chef-d'ouvres. At his house in Pall Mall
(now The National Gallery) there were, at his death, between
forty and fifty pictures, many of them of the first masters, and
of the highest class of Painting — the ornaments of the Orleans,
Colonna, and Borghese treasures — besides other gems derived
from private repositories famous for their possessions of cele-
* By his second wife, Mrs. Lucas, also a widow, whom he long survived, he had
no issue.

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
brated works. Here Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, the
Caracci, Poussin, Cuyp, Claude, Vandyke, Velasquez, and other
ancient masters, lived in immortal colours ; and the Raising of
Lazarus, by Sebastian del Piombo,* competed in England, with
the Descent from the Cross, and Crucifixion, which exalted the
names of Raphael and Rubens upon the continent of Europe.
Here also, our own Hogarth and Wilkie shone in splendour
untarnished by their proximity to the noblest productions of
former ages, and Reynolds' magic pencil asserted the cause of
British art. On the death of their owner, they were sold, in
conformity to his will — and, happily for the honour of the coun
try, purchased for the English nation.
The Portrait of Mr. Angerstein, painted by his friend Sir
Thomas Lawrence, affords a good idea of the benevolent and
intelligent expression of his countenance ; — of the benevo
lence, which made him the liberal patron of many a charitable
institution — and of the intelligence, which raised him to wealth
and enabled him to indulge in these generous feelings. In
person, also, Mr. Angerstein was manly and dignified ; in
manners easy and simple ; in conversation agreeable and
ingenuous ; and in his general address extremely calm, plea
sant, and prepossessing. Of his philanthropy, independently
of those multiplied examples which his unostentatious gifts to
useful and humane associations furnished, a number of private
instances might be related ; but as they belong to the actions
which look for their reward otherwise than in worldly con
sideration, and as they only escaped from the silence in which
their author endeavoured to conceal them, we will honour his
memory more by permitting the veil to rest upon them, than
by blazoning them upon his escutcheon.
* Finely engraved on a large scale, by J. Vendramini, and one of the greatest
efforts of the burin ever produced in England.

MUTJAMIIJ "WEST, P.R.A.

2IS"BER. SOU" fc C? LONDON, 1829.

THE LATE
BENJAMIN WEST, ESQ.
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
In the productions of genius, which have, in our age, eminently
contributed to elevate Great Britain in the esteem of other
nations, for the possession of a high school of Arts, befitting a
powerful and intellectual country, no individual has shone
with the same constant, long-enduring, and splendid light,
that adorned the career of the late Benjamin West, the
President, for nearly thirty years, of the Royal Academy.
When we look back upon the aggregate of his many and
sublime works, we are almost lost in wonder at their number
and talent ; and fancy fails in an attempt to embody the truth,
— that one mind could conceive, and one hand execute, all these
noble and vast designs, even within the range of a life exceed
ing the threescore and ten assigned as the limit of mortality.
But Mr. West was blessed with an energy of character, which
ever prompted him on to exalted undertakings ; his soul was
in his art ; and, with Apelles, his perseverance enabled him
to say of that in which he took delight,
" Nulla dies sine linea."
It is a glorious fame, to state of any man, that he was the
foremost historical painter of England ; and this can and must
be said of Mr. West. For, to be an historical painter of com
mon distinction, requires a far wider field of study, and
more attainments, than belong to any other department of
art. It is not sufficient that, besides a knowledge of the
human form in all its movements, as actuated by physical or
moral causes, and of the human countenance, in all its
varieties of expression, the artist should be versed in the
mechanism of colours, the ingenuity of grouping, and the
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
science of perspective ; nor even, beyond these qualifications,
that he should well understand, and skilfully represent, the
philosophy of the emotions and passions ; he must also be well
acquainted with landscape painting and its details, together
with the effects produced by natural phenomena ; he must be
instructed in architecture and its various styles, in the costume
and habits of every nation that may become subjects of his
pencil ; and, in fine, his studies must be universal.*
With these few prefatory remarks, it is now our duty to trace
the leading particulars in the life of this distinguished person ;
which are to be gathered from Mr. Gait's biography of him,
and from numerous memoirs, more or less authentic, to be met
with in the publications of the day.
Benjamin West was the youngest of a family of ten
children, and born near Springfield, in Chester county, Penn
sylvania, in 1738. The ancestors of his father, John West,
and of his mother, Sarah Pearson, were of English origin, and
emigrated to America in the reign of William III., so that it is
not supposed any religious or political necessity induced them
to be the associates of William Penn, whom they accompanied
at the end of the seventeenth century, on his second visit to
Pennsylvania. The Wests had, however, early embraced the
Quaker principles, and this was probably the reason of their
abandoning their native land, and seeking a new asylum,
where no previous Establishments viewed difference of opinion
as visionary or encroaching sectarianism. In this new country,
and brought up in these principles, the former by no means
favourable, and the latter altogether adverse to a taste for the
fine arts, the innate bent of our youthful artist's disposition
broke forth, and nature and genius triumphed over every
impediment. At the age of seven, it is recorded of him, he made
a drawing, in red and black ink, of an infant niece, of whose
* It is thus that we often find in the paintings of West, passages which the
landscape painter might be proud to own, or the architect to design. In Telemachus
and Mentor on the island of Calypso, for example, there is a sky worthy of Wilson,
and-a rolling surge of equal grandeur ; and the back-ground of Paul Prophesying, is
not inferior to Salvator Rosa. 2

BENJAMIN WEST, ESQ. P.R.A.
cradle he had the charge, and whose sweet smile in her sleep
excited his imitative powers, though he had never yet seen a
picture nor an engraving ! With this precocious sign of inherent
and decided talent, the boy's mother was so much charmed,
that it may readily be believed her admiration and encourage
ment confirmed him in his pictorial course. At school, whither
he was now sent, pen and ink continued to be his cherished
favourites ; and birds, and flowers, and animals, were rapidly and
industriously added to his juvenile portfolio. But, at length,
a remarkable circumstance befell him, and the painter, who
was in after years to gain the applause of the civilized world,
was strangely indebted to a party of savage Indians for a
stupendous advance in his rude and untaught pursuit. They
showed him how to prepare red and yellow colours, such as
they employed in chequering their bodies, and ornamenting their
belts and weapons ; and a piece of indigo from his fond parent
completed his now resplendent pallet, while the tail of a black
cat, in the absence of camel-hair, furnished brushes to the
young and irrepressible artist. His was an ardour which
nothing could repel ; and having, at the age of sixteen, sur
mounted every difficulty, he obtained the consent of his relatives
and friends, and embraced painting as a profession at Phila
delphia. There, at Lancaster, at New York, and other places,
he practised successfully, both in portrait and history, till
1759, when the same love of art which had influenced his
childhood, led him to embark (which he did at Philadelphia,
on his twenty-first birth-day) for the classic shores of Italy, to
study those masterly performances, without having seen which,
it is hardly possible to form a just conception of what the arts
can achieve. He landed at Leghorn, and proceeded to Rome,
where Mr. Wilcox, the author of Roman Conversations, and
Mr. Robinson (afterwards Lord Grantham,) whose portrait he
painted, greatly befriended him, and promoted his interests,
both by procuring him access to the best models, and by em
ploying the talent they thus auspiciously cultivated. Enthu
siastically revelling in these congenial occupations, it seems
as if the corporeal strength of young West (though originally
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
of a very robust constitution) were unequal to sustain his
mental excitement.* He more than once lost his health,
and had to fly from Rome, and Michael Angelo, and Raphael,
and Poussin — to Leghorn, the sea-coast, and relaxation. But
again he returned to his delightful task, with the devotedness
of a martyr ; and finally, not only fulfilled all he had to do in
the eternal city, but made himself familiar with the chefs
d'ceuvres at Parma, Florence, Venice, Genoa, and the principal
seats of Italy, rich in pictured excellence. Among other
works, he made a finished copy from Corregio; and the
amateur who has contemplated his gallery in later years, could
not miss the effect of this period, and especially of this labour of
his youth, as displayed in the Cupid and Psyche, the Madonna
and Child, Ariadne on the sea-shore, Venus weeping over the
body of Adonis, and other pieces of a similar description.
Had West never visited Italy, he never could have painted
these. After about four years spent in this useful and cheering
manner, Mr. West finally quitted Italian studies, and journeyed
to London by way of Paris, where he stayed long enough to
examine the galleries and museums, and reached the British
capital in August 1763. Bleinheim, Oxford, Stourhead, Font-
hill, Windsor, Hampton Court, and other collections, received
his speedy and eager attention ; and either the attractions of
the mother country in the treasures of art, or other reasons,
led him soon after his arrival to give up his purpose of return
ing to America, and to resolve on settling in Old England.
And it was a fortunate hour to adopt such a determina
tion ; for a new era had risen upon the arts amongst us. The
well-known Association of Artists, in 1760, paved the way for
* His imagination was first fired to undertake the voyage to Europe, by the con
versation of an English lady, who visited America as a governess ; and who dwelt
with enthusiasm on the great ends to which the fine arts were the ministers, when
prosecuted in their highest bearings. To such sentiments West was an ardent
listener, and he hastened to Italy, to make himself master of these envied powers •
and it was a natural consequence, that when so engaged, his health should fail ; for
as he himself declared, he saw nothing but sublime pictures — they were his wonder
by day, and by night the visions which equally haunted and hindered his sleep.
4

BENJAMIN WEST, ESQ P.R.A.
the exhibition in Spring-gardens in 1764, and to this Mr. West
sent two pictures painted at Rome, and a full-length portrait
of General Monckton, painted during the preceding winter
in London, which obtained for him a very prominent share
of public notice and distinction. The artists were incor
porated in 1765, in which year Mr. West also formed a stronger
tie, by marrying, on the 2d of September, a lady to whom he
was engaged before leaving Philadelphia, and who was con
ducted to him across the Atlantic by his approving father.
As a member and one of the directors of the incorporated
body, Mr. W. continued to pursue his profession with incessant
assiduity and great success. He drew much in St. Martin's
Lane, and was a constant annual exhibiter till 1768, when His
Majesty George the Third graciously, patriotically, and wisely
established the Royal Academy, under his own august and
special protection. On this occasion Mr. West was one of the
four artists commanded to attend the King ; the others being
Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Chambers, Mr. Moser, and Mr.
Coates. The next event of importance in Mr. West's history, which
we have to notice, was one which gave a cast to all his future
life. Amongst the earliest of his productions in this country
was the subject of Agrippina landing at Brundusium with
the ashes of Germanicus. The painting of this picture
originated from a conversation which took place at the table
of Drummond, Archbishop of York, where our artist was a
guest. The Archbishop introduced the matter (probably as a
hint) and recited the details in the imposing language of the
historian ; which so interested his auditor, that he immediately
caught the idea, and next morning presented a spirited sketch
of it to his Grace : who was, in turn, so well pleased as to give
an immediate commission for the picture. Not satisfied with
this patronage, the Archbishop (a prelate, by the bye, of the
finest taste and judgment) soon after recommended Mr. West
to the King, and his Majesty condescendingly ordered Regulus
to be painted for the royal collection. In this also the painter
was eminently successful : — it was his first picture exhibited at
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
the Royal Academy, in 1769 ; and it procured for him not only
popular applause, but the countenance and friendship of his
Sovereign, thenceforward, so long as consciousness remained.
This fact, too, is deserving of attention, as it throws some
degree of discredit on Mr. President Jefferson's* attack upon
His Majesty and the Queen, whom he represents as personally
evincing their dislike of native Americans : it might be that
Mr. Jefferson was obnoxious when he appeared at court, but
that their Majesties' feelings were not generally adverse, is
shewn by the favour Mr. West enjoyed for a length of years.
From 1769 to 1801-2 his good fortune in this respect was
uninterrupted, and though some coolness arose out of a visit
which he made to Paris during the peace of Amiens, it was,
at least on the part of our benevolent monarch, speedily for
gotten, and Mr. West was restored to those employments in
the Palace and at Windsor, which had been for a short period
suspended. It was also at this time that Mr. Wyatt was
elected President of the Royal Academy, and caused a brief
interruption of that honour, which Mr. West, otherwise, held
from the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1791) to his own death
in 1820. What the affair was which gave umbrage in a
high quarter, it is perhaps not worth while to explore : Mr.
West's Letter to the King (who continued his friend steadfastly
throughout) respecting it, is a manly and admirable reclama
tion, and produced the desired effect of re-instating him in
favour, though it is, indeed, very probable that it was the latent
cause of his pension and works being so suddenly stopped,
when, some years afterwards, the direction of his Majesty's
affairs devolved upon other personages. In the letter
referred to, he says, after enumerating what he has done for
his royal patron: — "The ingenious artists have received my
professional aid, and my galleries and my purse have been
open to their studies and their distresses. The breath of envy,
nor the whisper of detraction, never defiled my lips, nor the
want of morality my character ; and, through life, a strict
* See his Memoirs and Correspondence recently published.
6

BENJAMIN WEST, ESQ. P.R.A.
adherer to truth, a zealous admirer of your Majesty's virtues
and goodness of heart, the exalted virtues of her Majesty the
Queen, and the high accomplishments of others of your
Majesty's illustrious family, have been the theme of my delight,
and their gracious complacency my greatest pleasure and
consolation for many years 
" With these feelings of high sensibility, with which my
breast has ever been inspired, I feel with great concern the
suspension given by Mr. Wyatt to the work on Bevealed
Religion, my pencil had advanced to adorn Windsor Castle.
If, gracious Sire, this suspension is meant to be permanent,
myself and the fine arts have to lament. But I have this in
store for the grateful feeling of my heart, that in the thirty-five
years during which my pencil has been honoured by your
Majesty's commands, a great body of historical and scriptural
compositions will be found in your Majesty's possession, in the
churches, and in the country." Mr. West farther asserts his
claim to respect ; " similar works not having been attained
before in this country by a subject," and concludes by assur
ing his king, that his patronage had not been bestowed " upon
an ungrateful or lazy man :" to the truth of all which we most
heartily subscribe.
But to return to the course of the writer's progress. From
the year 1764 to the end of his life, he never, we believe,
missed one year in exhibiting his works — the bare list of which
would fill more than this volume could contain.
In 1772, he was appointed Historical Painter to the King.
In 1790, Surveyor of the Royal Pictures.
In 1791, he was unanimously elected President of the Royal
Academy: and in the same year, a Member of the Dilettanti
Society. In 1792, he became a Member of the Society of Anti
quaries, and of the Society of Arts, &c.
In 1801, he was chosen a Governor of the Foundling
Hospital ; and in 1804, a Member of the Royal Institution.
Many other distinctions were also heaped upon his head,
both at home, and by eminent foreign bodies and princes ; and
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
the preferment of knighthood, offered through the Duke of
Gloucester, was respectfully declined by him, though far from
insensible to the value of such honours.
In the discourses which Mr. West delivered as President
of the Royal Society, his leading object was to emancipate
art from the mannerism of imitation, which the constant fol
lowing of masters in particular schools, instead of going also
to the fountain head of Nature, had induced, to the great
deterioration of painting in every country ; but more particu
larly in Italy, where the practice prevailed to the greatest
extent. By his own performances he certainly added exam
ple to" precept, introducing many reforms and daring original
conceptions, rather than pursuing any beaten track. "To
delineate historical events in painting with perspicuity and
dignity, (says an able writer on this subject — Mr. Holt, the
barrister, we believe,) is one of the most impressive powers
which is given to man. Historical painting has been justly
called the epic of the art, as it demands the greatest sublimity
of genius, and the strictest accuracy of judgment, the most
extensive knowledge of nature and her works, as well as of
the best human productions of poetry and science ; and above
all, it requires that rare quality which has been denominated
so well "the philosophy of taste." Such were the aims
of Mr. West, and the encouragement of Archbishop Drum-
mond, and the patronage of his Majesty, happily concurring
with his primary desire, augmented the energies of his mind,
and enabled him to produce so many noble works ; the fame
of which has been spread throughout Europe by the excellent
engravings of Erlum, Green, Woollett, Hall, and other eminent
artists. Nor can we treat of these productions without advert
ing to the remarkable change which has been made by the
celebrated picture of the Death of General Wolfe. At the
period when it was painted, the prevailing taste of the time
was to treat subjects of this kind in what was called the
classic style, or, in other words, that style which assumed the
Greek or Roman costume, and pressed as many mythological
8

BENJAMIN WEST, ESQ. P.R.A.
deities, victories, and allegorical figures into the canvass as it
could conveniently hold. Such accessories, it was maintained,
imparted a dignity to the composition, and raised it above the
mere level of the event it was meant to commemorate. With
this inconsistent doctrine, it was expected the artist would
comply when he received the commission, and the necessity of
conforming to the rule was impressed upon him by nearly all
his contemporaries. Fortunately he had sense and firmness
enough to resist the contagion, and the first sight of his pic
ture when finished abolished the folly for ever. The impres
sion it made was striking and conclusive ; and Sir Joshua
(then Mr.,) Reynolds congratulated his brother artist in the
highest terms, on the important reform he had effected, by
which he had proved the possibility of bending the costume
and fashion of the day to every purpose of pictorial represen
tation. The fine picture of William Penn's Treaty with the
Indians completely confirmed the new practice ; and in justice
to Hayman we ought to add, that he shared in a portion of
this triumph with Mr. West, having treated historical subjects
in some instances in a similar manner.
The powers of Mr. West appear to have grown with
his growth, and strengthened with his strength; his old
age displayed the vigour and imagination of youth, combined
with the skill and experience of years. The British Institu
tion gave three thousand guineas for his ' Christ Healing the
Sick;' and who can forget the prodigious public effect pro
duced by his ' Christ Rejected,' and ' Death on the Pale
Horse.' For the latter, ten thousand pounds were offered,
but when the painter understood it was for the purpose of
exhibition, he refused the price ; and afterwards exhibited it
on his own account, realizing no less than fourteen thousand
pounds by that transaction, besides retaining the property of
his picture. It is a curious fact, and indicates the uncer
tainty of such things, that his beautiful and impressive
gallery in Newman-street, comprehending many of his finest
works, and a series of sketches almost superior to his best
finished productions, never attracted much attention, but lan-
9

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
guished, for the years it was open after his death, in a very
considerable and inexplicable degree of obscurity.
As President of the Royal Academy, and as a private
person, Mr. West was alike worthy of admiration and esteem.
In his high office, his conduct was indeed exemplary. To
rising artists he was uniformly the most sincere, and the
kindest of advisers ; and, of nearly five hundred pictures
which he painted, and as many drawings which he made,
there is not one unworthy of the beginning of his career,
but all are addressed to the highest class of art, in sacred,
historical, and poetical subjects ! and a striking trait in
his character, as president, as painter, and as citizen, must
be confessed in the exalted spirit with which he ever excluded
mercenary motives from his pursuits ; — devoted to the Arts, he
honoured them by the purity of his worship, and West's
memory is untainted with the slightest odium of traffic in print-
selling, or picture-dealing, or any of those trading jobs which,
in the judgment of every liberal mind, bring degradation and
disgrace upon one of the noblest of human professions. We
record this to his immortal fame ; though, at the close of so
long, so laborious, and so distinguished a life, it left his family
without a provision, and hardly enabled them to discharge their
father's just and lawful debts. By the recent sale of his Gallery,
only about £10,000 was realized for this purpose ; notwithstand
ing the prices marked on the catalogue apparently amounted
to more than double that sum. Many of the pictures, however,
were withdrawn; and, among others, the 'Christ Rejected,'
with which his son, Mr. Benjamin West, has gone to America
for its exhibition ; and ' Death on the Pale Horse,' now in the
possession of his other son, Mr. Raphael L. West, which it is
expected will be exhibited both in this, the artist's adopted
country, and in his native land. Of Mr. West's other principal
productions, the largest he ever painted, the figures in the
foreground being eight feet in height, viz. ' St. Paul shaking off
the Viper,' is at Greenwich: his Majesty has the Regulus,
Hannibal swearing Eternal Hate to the Romans, Bayard, Epa-
minondas, &c. &c. ; Lord Grosvenor the first Death of Wolfe,
10

BENJAMIN WEST, ESQ. P.R.A.
and Battle of La Hogue ; Lord Egremont the Nativity, the
Ascension, and others ; and the Raising of Lazarus adorns
Winchester Cathedral.*
In society, and in domestic privacy, Mr. West was calm
and cheerful. Without the least austerity, there was a certain
even gravity about his manners, which inspired respect ; and
his conversation, like his paintings, never admitted of what is
called the Comic ; of which there is no instance throughout his
many works. His appearance, also, was mild and placid ; and
a great simplicity marked all his habits, modes of expression,
and principles. His memory was wonderfully retentive, inso
much that, within the last fifteen years of his life, he not only
accurately recollected the objects of his youthful ardour in
Italy, but absolutely restored several pictures of the old
masters, with surprising fidelity — so vividly and lastingly were
their various styles fixed upon his mind.
In December, 1817, Mr. West lost the partner of all his
cares, anxieties, hopes, disappointments, and triumphs, for more
than half a century ; and, on the 10th of March, 1820, he him
self breathed his last sigh, at the advanced age of eighty- two.
His remains were interred with great pomp and ceremony in
St. Paul's Cathedral ; and he left his family poor! Till within
a very few months of his decease, he painted with his wonted
facility and vigour, and entertained comprehensive plans of
new works which had for years occupied his active mind.
His beloved art, indeed, was with him to the last, and death
alone could terminate his delight and enthusiasm in its cause.
The resistless destroyer could only with life put an end to
all that remained of grand conceptions and incomplete plans ;
* Many of his other Pictures are well bestowed,— one (Pharaoh) purchased
by Mr. Neild at the late sale, was presented by that gentleman to Harrow School,
and it now adorns the Speech-room, where he was a pupil, and is a governor. Some
of those undisposed of by the Mortgagees, are, to use a mercantile phrase, yet in
the market ; and almost every fine collection in the kingdom boasts of its Wests.
It is a trait of devotedness, remarkable enough to deserve record, that even in death
the force of character was displayed : — We have seen in the possession of the late
Lord de Tabley, the model of the President's hand, taken after his decease — it was
a beautiful specimen, and still held the pencil as if instinct with life !
11

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
an end to the thoughts which sprung up so vividly, and
the active motion of the hand which executed them so
promptly; an end to those efforts of art, every one of which
tended to the promotion of virtue, of morality, and of reli
gion ; — and the Arts had to mourn over a mighty loss in
Benjamin West. 12

FRANCIS WR.ANGHAM, M.A.E S.A.

FLSHE"R., SOU, fc CP LONDON, 1820.

THE VENERABLE
FRANCIS WRANGHAM, M. A. F.R.S.
ARCHDEACON OF THE EAST RIDING OF THE COUNTY
OF YORK, ETC.
The subject of this Memoir is descended from a very
respectable family. By a note in the " British Plutarch,"* we
learn, that a Mr. Wraynham or Wrangham, one of his
ancestors, suffered heavily through the instrumentality of
Lord Bacon — " That greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind,"
and the. odious Court of the Star-Chamber. In documents to
be found at the Herald's College, it is also recorded, that in the
county of Durham " before 21 Eliz., John Wrangham pur
chased the manor of Blackburn of Marmaduke Thirkeld, Esq.
and died in 22 Eliz. leaving William his son and heir ; who, in
the following year, left two coheiresses, Jane Emerson and
Joan Wrangham." (Surtee's Durham, ii. 387.) From this it
is evident, that the family was once distinguished ; as, like
wise, from the circumstance, that in an old marriage-contract
mention is made of  Wrangham, Esq. of Wrangham,
a place no longer known to be in existence.
The name of Wrangham also occurs in the first year of the
register of Langton near Malton, in the county of York, where
the family appear to have possessed landed property, as some
fields near that village still bear the appellation.
The father of the Archdeacon was Mr. George Wrangham,
who in the latter part of his life occupied the beautiful farm of
Raisthorpe near Malton, subsequently let for upwards of one
thousand pounds per ann. He, likewise, rented the moiety of
* II. 461. See, also, the State Trials, vii. 102, &c.
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
another farm at Titchwell, near Wells, in Norfolk, very little
inferior in value. For his personal worth, and natural talents,
he was highly respected by those who could appreciate his
value. His only son Francis, whose biography we are now
handing down to posterity, was born June 11, 1769. From
his seventh till his eleventh year, he was under the tuition of
the Rev. Stephen Thirlwell, at West Heslerton, a village near
Malton. It is not unworthy of remark, that Mr. Thirlwell
himself received his own quota of learning at a small Free-
school in Cumberland, and wrought afterward as a bricklayer
at or near Tadcaster. In the course of the ensuing sexennium,
Mr. Wrangham spent two summers under the Rev. John
Robinson (who subsequently became master of the Free Gram
mar-school at York), and passed nearly two years with the
Rev. Joseph Milner at Hull.
In October, 1786, he entered upon his residence at Magda
lene College, Cambridge ; and, during his first year there, sat
as a candidate for an University-scholarship, and gained Sir
William Browne's gold medal for his Greek and Latin epigrams
on the subject, " Ov to fieya £v, to ce tv yutya. '
In October, 1786, on the invitation of Dr. Jowett, Regi
us-Professor of Civil Law, he migrated to Trinity Hall :
and at a subsequent period, he removed to Trinity College.*
On the final examination in January, 1790, for his bachelor's
degree, he became Third Wrangler, and gained not only
Dr. Smith's second Mathematical Prize, but also the Chancel
lor's first Classical Medal ; — the highly gifted person who
obtained the other, being the late much-lamented Mr. Twed-
dell. He afterward took pupils for some time during his resi
dence in college ; on leaving which, he was appointed tutor to
the late Right Hon. Lord Frederick Montagu, only brother of
* " Thebes did his rude unknowing youth engage ;
He chooses Athens in his riper age."
2

FRANCIS WRANGHAM, M.A. F.R.S.
his Grace the Duke of Manchester. He subsequently entered
into holy orders, and served the curacy of Cobham, in Surrey,
during the years 1794 and 1795.
Church-preferment, which in many cases is the result of
family-interest or of purchase, did not flow to Mr. Wrangham
through these channels. Toward the close of 1795, Humphrey
Osbaldeston, Esq. presented him to the vicarage of Hunmanby,
and the perpetual curacy of Mustoii ; and, through the recom
mendation of the same gentleman, he obtained at the same
time the vicarage of Folkton.
In 1799, he married Miss Agnes Creyke, fifth daughter of
Ralph Creyke, Esq. of Marton near Bridlington, and had the
misfortune to lose her on her first confinement. Her daughter
survived the calamity. His present wife was Miss Dorothy
Cayley, second daughter of the Rev. Digby Cayley, and, in
right of her mother, one of the coheiresses ajjd representatives
of the ancient family of Strangeways, descended lineally from
Sir James Strangeways, who, in the reign of Henry VI. mar
ried the elder of the two coheiresses of the Lord Darcy
Meinill. By her, he has had five children. Of these, Philadelphia,
the eldest, married the late Rev. E. W. Barnard, of Branting-
hamthorpe : George Walter, M.A., of Magdalene College,
Cambridge, is now rector of Thorpe Bassett, and Vicar of
Ampleworth, Yorkshire: and Digby Cayley, after taking a
double first-class degree at Brazenose, Oxford, and having for
two years been Private Secretary to the Earls of Dudley and
Aberdeen, as Secretaries for Foreign Affairs, has recently
married Amelia, second daughter of the late Walter Fawkes,
Esq. of Farnley Hall, who in 1806 was elected M.P. for
Yorkshire. In 1808, Mr. Wrangham was appointed Chaplain of Assize
to W. J. Denison, Esq. High Sheriff of Yorkshire, and now
M.P. for the county of Surrey ; and, in compliance with the
requests of the two Grand Juries of that year, printed both
his Discourses. The same office, and the same double mark
of respect, awaited him in 1814, when Sir Francis Linley
8

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Wood, Bart, was High Sheriff for the county ; and he held it
a third time, in 1823, under the appointment of his intimate
friend Walter Fawkes, Esq. No similar instance, it is
believed, of a triple chaplainship ever before occurred.
In 1814, the Archbishop of York appointed him his Exam
ining Chaplain at Bishopsthorpe ; an office, which he has ever
since exclusively filled.
Through a lapse which' devolved to his Grace in 1819,
Mr. Wrangham was enabled to exchange the vicarage of
Folkton for the rectory of Thorpe Basset ; and by the same
high patronage he was, in 1820, appointed Archdeacon of
Cleveland. This archdeaconry he resigned in 1828, upon
being appointed to that of the East Riding of Yorkshire. He
received, likewise, from his Grace, in 1823, the stall of Ample-
forth in the cathedral of York; and a prebend of Chester,
two years afterward, as an option. In right of the latter, he
is now Rector of Dodleston in that county ; where he has
recently caused to be erected a monument to the memory of
the Loid Chancellor Ellesmere, who had discreditably lain for
upward of two centuries under a nameless stone.*
* The Inscription, from the pen of the Archdeacon, is as follows : —
Majorum gloria posteris quasi lumen est.
Subtus jacet
Quicquid mortale fuit
Thomae
Baronis de Ellesmere
et Vicecomitis de Brackley,
viri antiqua virtute ac fide,
per viginti plus annos
regni Anglias
Cancellarii,
scientia, scriptis, facundia
spectatissimi.
Hominibus exemptus est
iv. id. April.
Anno Sacro m.dc.xvii.
JEt. circiter lxvii.
Orimur, morimur.
Sequentur, qui non prascesserint.
4

FRANCIS WRANGHAM, M.A. F.R.S.
Mr. Wrangham is a member of the Roxburghe and Ban-
natyne clubs; and, as honorary adjunct, of several philoso
phical and literary societies.
We now proceed to give a list of his numerous publica
tions. He is said to have published anonymously, in 1792, an
anti-radical parody on part of a comedy of Aristophanes, with
critical notes, entitled " Reform, a Farce," 8vo.
In 1794, ¦ he sent to the press, " The Restoration of the
Jews," a Seaton prize poem, 4to.
In 1795, "The Destruction of Babylon," a poem, 4to.— And
a volume of Poems, 8vo. ; to a few copies of the latter of which
he attached, as a preface, a brief account of his academical
history, beginning; — " Dryden obtained, whatever was the rea
son, no fellowship in the college. Why he was excluded can
not now be known, and it is in vain to guess : had he thought
himself injured, he knew how to complain." (Johnson.) This
Preface distinctly, and effectively, protests against what might
otherwise perhaps have been uncandidly inferred from Mr.
Wrangham's silence — the consciousness of having deserved
exclusion from a fellowship.
In 1798, " Rome is Fallen !" a Visitation Sermon preached
at Scarborough, 4to.
In 1800, " The Holy Land," a Seaton prize poem, 4to.
In 1801, " Practical Sermons, founded on Doddridge's Rise
and Progress of Religion in the Soul." Another set, having
for their basis " Baxter's Saint's Everlasting Rest," appeared
for the first time in 1816; when a selection of his various fugi
tive pieces was published in three vols. 8vo.
In 1802, " Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Deists,
and the Truth of Christianity demonstrated, with Four addi
tional Marks," 8vo.
In 1803, " The Raising of Jairus's Daughter," a poem 8vo.
And " The Advantages of Diffused Knowledge," a Charity-
School Sermon, 4to.
In 1808, " A Dissertation on the best means of Civilizing
the Subjects of the British Empire in India, and of diffusing
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
the Light of the Christian Religion throughout the Eastern
World," 4to. And, in the same year, " The Restoration of
Learning in the East," a poem, 4to. This was published at the
express desire of the three judges, appointed by the University
of Cambridge to award Mr. Buchanan's prizes.
In 1808, " The corrected Edition of Langhorne's Plutarch's
Lives, with many additional notes," 6 vols. 8vo. — And two
Assize Sermons, 4to.
In 1809, " A Sermon preached at Scarborough, at the
Primary Visitation of the Archbishop of York," 4to.
In 1811, " The Sufferings of the Primitive Martyrs," a
Seaton prize poem, 4to.
In 1812, " Joseph made known to his Brethren," a Seaton
prize poem, 4to.
In 1813, " The Death of Saul and Jonathan," a poem, 8vo.
In 1814, Two Assize Sermons, 4to.
In 1816, " The British Plutarch," in six vols. 8vo.
In 1817, " Forty Sonnets from Petrarch," printed (with every
advantage of typography) by Sir S. Egerton Brydges, Bart, at
his private press, Lee Priory, Kent.
In 1820, " Dr. Zouch's Works collected, with a Prefatory
Memoir," in two vols. 8vo. — And a Collection of Archbishop
Markham's Carmina Quadragesimalia, &c. in 4to. and 8vo. for
private circulation.
In 1821, " A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Archdea
conry of Cleveland," 8vo. — And " The Lyrics of Horace, being
a translation of the first four Books of his Odes," 8vo.
In 1822, " A second Charge, delivered to the Clergy of the
Archdeaconry of Cleveland," 8vo.
In 1823, two Assize Sermons, 8vo. — And a third Charge,
delivered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Cleveland, 8vo.
In 1824, " Sertum Cantabrigiense;" or, the Cambridge Gar
land, 8vo.
In 1828, " Bp. Walton's Prolegomena to the Polyglott Bible,
with copious annotations," in two vols. 8vo., under the sanction
of the University of Cambridge; which, with her accustomed
munificence, defrayed the expense of the publication,
6

FRANCIS WRANGHAM, M.A. F.R.S.
" The Pleiad," or Evidences of Christianity, forming the
twenty-sixth volume of Constable's Miscellany.
In 1829, a " Letter to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of the
East Riding of Yorkshire," on the Roman Catholic Claims ; of
which Mr. Wrangham had, for upward of thirty years, been the
firm but temperate advocate.
He has occasionally employed his leisure by printing (for
private circulation, exclusively) " Centuri Mirabilis," and " The
Savings-Bank," 4to. ; " The Doom of the Wicked," a Sermon
founded upon Baxter, and " The Virtuous Woman," a Funeral
Discourse on the Death of the Rt. Hon. Lady Anne Hudson,
8vo. and a few copies of a Catalogue of the English portion of
his voluminous library; which, with characters of the subjects,
authors, or editions, already exceeds six hundred pages, 8vo.
One of his latest brochures has been also of a private nature,
entitled, Psyche, or rhymed Latin versions of Mr. Bayly's ele
gant " Songs on Butterflies." And he has recently printed a
limited impression of exquisite Translations from M. A. Fla-
minio, by his late son-in-law, the Rev. E. W. Barnard.
Numerous Dedications* attest his promptitude in giving
assistance to his literary acquaintance, or the respect shown to
him in many instances by personal strangers. His Charges,
beside vindicating the Clergy from the indifference or inactivity
imputed to them by their enemies, have chiefly been occupied
in asserting the doctrines of the Established Church against
the Socinians, or advocating the uses and value of human
learning. * Among these, may be enumerated (in addition to the publications of the late Mr.
Hornsey, Mr. Cole, and other Scarborough authors, and Visitation and Ordination Ser
mons by Pellew, Wyld, C. Barker, Courteney, Hett, &c.) Mr. Bell's Stream of Time,
Nesbif s Land- Surveying, Ellis's Latin Exercises, Poole's Classical Collector's Vade Me-
cum, Bigland's Yorkshire in " The Beauties of England and Wales," Neville's Leisure
Moments, Brown's York Legends, Green's Poetical Sketches of Scarborough, Rakin's
Translations of one of Bp. Bull's invaluable Tracts, Oxlad's Protestant Examiner, in
answer to Cobbett's virulent " History of the Reformation," Wasse's Notes on the
Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, in three vols. Raleigh Trevelyan's Greek Ode on the
Sorrows of Switzerland, and his Elegy on the Death of the Princess Charlotte, Eastmead's
Historia Rievallensis, Basil Montagu's Private Tutor, and a Volume of Essays, Hett's
Death of Absalom, &c. &c. &c. 7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
In the foregoing enumeration of the Archdeacon's very
various publications in the order of their appearance, we have
purposely abstained from noticing his " Works" in 3 vols. 8vo.
from the press of Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, in 1816. Of
this collection the first and second volumes are almost
wholly occupied by Sermons, which are unquestionably
among the most graceful compositions of their kind in the
English language. The great simplicity of their style assimi
lates them to the plainness and pith of our elder divines ; and
it is no slight praise of any modern writer to say, that he calls
up the memory of a Taylor or a Hooker. But in all his
theological productions we observe, with much satisfaction,
that Mr. Wrangham skilfully divests himself of that ornateness
approaching to pedantry, which too often marks the effusions of
men eminent for a finished university education and for
classical attainments.
The third volume of those to which we have alluded, is of
a very miscellaneous character, comprising Prize Poems,
Translations from Latin into English, and from English into
Latin; and some original compositions, including two very
ingenious Jeux des Mots, which we take leave to copy, as
instances of the happy union of playfulness and learning: —
" dialogue i.

HavTOiwv lOfiaTiov \a\ov tucova, iroifieo-iv fjdv
Tlcuyviov."

" Can Echo speak the tongue of every country ? Echo. Try.
Te virginem si forte poscam erotica ? Epw Tava.
Ma si ti sopra ilfuturo questionero? Ereov sod.
Et puis-je le parler sur des choses passdes ? Essaye.
Die mihi quceso virum, vitiis cui tot bona porta : Buonaparte.
Whom once Sir Sidney drove with shame from Acre. A cur !
T' unlock our India, France would make of Turkey — Her key
Would she then seize Bombay, Madras, Bengal ? All.
And did her chief fly Egypt, when most needed ? He did.
Whom is he like, who thrives but by escaping? Scapin.
Croyez vous aux histoires, qu'en dit Denon ? JVore.
What are the arms, with which he now fights Britons ? High tones.
8

FRANCIS WRANGHAM, M.A. F.R.S.
Ususne in istius minis fait aliquis ? All a quiz !
Quid nobis Herat tanto hicjactator hiatu? " I hate you."
Qu'tl vienne aussitdt qu'il le veut, ce grand homme ! A grand hum !
Nectit at ille moras, pelagusque horrere putatur ! Peut-Ure.
You'd think him then mad, if his forces he march here ? As a March hare.
Where does he wish those forces wafted over ? To Dover.
Granted — what would they be, ere led to London ? All undone.
Can George then thrash by land the Corsican ? He can
But what, if he should chance to meet our navy ? Vce !
Tarifi y af> f %9pa yn ri rai Srakaao' tipv ; A few.
Atqui, ceu Xerxes, nostris fugere actus ab oris — A bore is.
And hence he swears, he'll ne'er again turn flyer. Liar !
How best shall England quell his high pretences? Paret enses.
Et qu'est ce qu'elle montrera, pour calmer cet inquiet ? Eyxta.
Ast unco ductus pcenas dab is, improbe, Gallis. Gallows.
E chi ti vedra morto, " Ben gli sta" gridera. Agreed—Hurral"
"DIALOGUE II.

 Quce nee reticere loquenti,
Nee prior ipsa loqui potuit.

" Again I call ; sweet Maid, come echo me.
Tell me, of what consists the heart of Gaul :
Her mad caprices in her ancient shape ;
Her present taste, for blood and riot eager.
Tell, of what god her sons are now the votaries :
And whose before, so wolfish grown and ravenous :
Wretches, as changeful as the changing ocean !
Au roi, qui les aimoit, ils ont frappi le cou —
Ma sotto i re erano sempre alUgri.
Tig Se roonv avroig tvtirvivo 'YiraTH SpnaKuav ;
AMquid mali molitur in nos consilt :
Cumque ilia miles Batavus conjurat amice.
Where would his Brest fleet in our empire land ?
AUoSi 5' *o y' 7/7tei\' £to(3a\eiv StnvcK&g.
Quisnam ilium a Scotis manet exitus, auspice Moira ?
Spemforsan nullum, Moira ibijam duce, habet!
Etc AyyXmov S'tjkeiv itrojg voti toSi.
How best shall we 'scape this invasion's alarm 1
Then, Englishmen, rush to the field, 'tis your duty :
Be no longer the dupes of an Amiens truce.
(H> doXog, a tpiKia" tb S'ex <ppivog gXuS-tv avrog ;
Furem ego contundam, qui te rapere audet, agelle :
Angliaque externos facile opprimet ipsa latrones. 9

Echo.

Eccomi !
Of gall.
Ape! Tigre !
Apng.Venus. O chiens !
HeXeKKts.
All agree.
Cayenne. Silly! Rot 'em, I say.
Ireland. En Ecosse.
Moipa. Deuce a bit,
To die.
All arm.
Acvti.
Ruse! Otto's.)To a jelly.
4.t her own ease.

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
And dost thou wish the throne restored by Moreau ? Oro.
Then from his height falls dread Napoleon ; Apollyon !
(Scilicet hunc Anglus meat, nunc Hebrceus Abaddon!* A bad one.)
And then the world, now scared, will laugh at him : Affatim.
II reste done a souhaiter, que la France lui de'sobett So be it !
Were we to speak of Mr. Wrangham's poems generally,
we should describe them as elegant and refined, rather than
striking and grand. His taste is almost fastidious ; and hence
the perfect propriety of his epithets and diction, of which no
better example could be cited than his " Raising of Jairus's
Daughter." In private life Mr. Wrangham is a gentleman of very
polished manners; his address most urbane and persuasive;
his person tall and commanding; and his countenance emi
nently dignified and, — if we may (from its mild and benevolent
expression) use the word — apostolical. He might indeed sit
to a painter, to realize a beau-ideal of a dignitary of the
Church of England.
In conclusion, we have to state, that many and various as
the productions of his pen have been, there is not one line
which he need ever wish to blot, the whole being distinguished
by innocent gaiety, by an earnest desire to benefit his fellow-
creatures, and by unaffected piety.
¦¦ Rev. ix. II.

10

THE RIGHT HOS818 \V>t PITT.

FTSHER SOTT fc C9LOJCDOB- 1629.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
WILLIAM PITT.

That we give an outline of the utmost brevity, to accompany
the Portrait of William Pitt, is not a confession detrimental
to the character of these Memoirs, of our " Portrait Gallery."
Nee sibi, sed toti genitum se credere mundo, is the epigraph
prefixed by one of his biographers (J. Gifford) to six good
volumes of a history of his " Political Life" only ; and the late
Bishop of Winchester, in his work, though extended to half the
same length, had proceeded no farther than the year 1793,
(a period at which the prodigious talents and influence of his
subject may almost be said to have commenced,) when death
sealed his biographical labours. What then can be expected
from a publication like ours, that shall do justice to so vast
a theme? Homer's Iliad might be comprehended in a, nut
shell ; but we cannot comprise the history of Europe during the
third part of a century — the most perilous and critical in the
annals of nations — within the poor compass of our allotted
page. The attempt would be preposterous ; and as any Life
of Pitt must embrace this wide field, we shall be content with
an apology for so hopeless a task. Yet, aiming, as we shall
do, at something more than a dry detail of dates and circum
stances in the ensuing numbers of this publication — and
trusting to be able to present our readers with spirited and
characteristic sketches of the eminent individuals before them,
generally accompanied by authentic^ anecdotes and peculiar
illustrations — we are loth to dismiss the present paper without
stating, that though of necessity meagre in this instance, we
are not without expectation of communicating hereafter, under
I

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
some other form, such particulars of the private life of the
" heaven-born Minister," as neither Mr. Gifford, the Bishop
of Winchester, nor any other writer, have given to the world.
What will, now, be by far the most interesting portion of
such a Memoir, must supply a just notion of Mr. Pitt's man
ners, temper, and disposition, which his tutor, (and intimate
from boyhood to death,) Bishop Tomline, says he has always
considered as constituting the most extraordinary part of his
character. But as yet no public light has been thrown on
these points, and we will not weaken our hope of better, by
doing partially what we could at this moment do.
William Pitt was the second son of William first Earl of
Chatham, and of Lady Hester, only daughter of Richard
Grenville, Esq. and Countess Temple. JTe was born at
Hayes, Kent, on the 28th of May, 1759. The infant saw the
light a few months before the accession of that Monarch to
the throne, on the destinies of whose reign he was to produce
so extraordinary an effect! During his childhood he was
delicate, but at the age of fourteen was entered of Pembroke
College, Cambridge, where his classical attainments, and
remarkable discrimination of the meaning of writers and the
sense of words, afforded a happy presage both of his future
ability and eloquence. His university career was, though
pleasant, extremely regular and studious. Leaving College,
he resided at Lincoln's Inn in 1780, having previously kept his
terms, was called to the bar on the 12th of June in that year,
and went the western circuit. At the general election he was
an unsuccessful candidate for the University of Cambridge ;
but in the January following, took his seat for Appleby, on the
interest of Sir James Lowther (Lord Lonsdale).
This was his entry into public life ; and from this we shall
concisely enumerate his acts. — He opposed the minister, Lord
North, and the American war; and several times proposed
measures for the more equal representation of the people in
Parliament. On the death of Lord Rockingham, and the dis
solution of the old Whig party, he became, at the age of twenty-
three, Chancellor of the Exchequer, under the Shelburne
2

WILLIAM PITT.
administration. Cambridge University now elected him to
represent her interests. The famous India Bill having thrown
the country into a ferment, the Coalition ministry fell to pieces,
and Mr. Pitt was appointed Premier. His political measures
were, however, outvoted in the House of Commons, and a dis
solution of Parliament displayed the genius and firmness of the
young statesman, who had seized the helm in tempestuous
times, and who was long after hailed by a kindred genius, as
" the Pilot who (had) weathered the storm !" The supporter
of, and supported by, our revered King, George the Third,
Mr. Pitt resolutely encountered the appalling dangers of the
French revolution, which shook England to its core, and over
whelmed all the rest of Europe. He effected the Union be
tween Great Britain and Ireland ; but he died without witness
ing the triumph of his policy in arming the Continent against
the ambition of Napoleon. Under him our commerce was
encouraged to the utmost; his finance plans were of stupendous
efficacy and magnitude; his resources as a Politician inex
haustible ; his eloquence of the most admirable kind, whether
exhibited in the brilliant choice of language, or the perspicuous
powers of reasoning ; and his whole conduct as a minister, dis
interested and pure. With all his great official appointments,
he left not sufficient to pay his debts, or find a tomb ; but accu
mulated honours have been awarded by his grateful Country,*
to him who, by his integrity and public virtue, justly earned the
title of —
"The Aristides of his age."

* He died on the twenty-third of January, 1806, on the anniversary of which day,
twenty-five years before, he first became a member of the British Senate. On a vote of
the House of Commons, his remains were solemnly interred at the public expense, and
a monument ordered to be erected " to this excellent Statesman, with an inscription
expressive of the public sense of so great and irreparable a loss." Forty thousand
pounds were also voted for the discharge of his debts. The City of London placed a
monument to him in Guildhall; and the Pitt Club has long existed, a living testimony
to his patriotism, and transcendent merits. He flourished in times when party ran very
high, and was consequently adored and reviled, as opinions swayed ; but after his
death, only one sentiment seemed to prevail among political opponents as well as
friends, and he was universally allowed to be an illustrious and a good man.
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Mr. Pitt never married. His whole career was so deeply
immerged in matters of superlative national importance, that
we can hardly bring our minds to contemplate him as an
Individual, who entertained objects or cares for himself. Yet in
private life he was much beloved ; and the tears which watered
his grave evinced that the sorrow felt was poignant. His early
friends and associates were always remembered by him with
affectionate feelings, and many a one found it a fortunate cir
cumstance, that in their youth they had been connected with
the future Minister. He made many a wealthy and noble
family; though all his eminent appointments, and unlimited
command of millions, happily for his glory, conferred neither
riches nor titles on himself — the first Lord of the Treasury, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Lord Warden of the Cinque
Ports, a Lord of Trade and Plantations, a Commissioner for
the Affairs of India, and the holder of a multitude of other
lucrative or honourable offices ! Except in a grand ambition,
he was one of the most disinterested of mankind: and his
public integrity, to which his bitterest political adversaries bore
witness, was not more to be admired than his exemplary con
duct in the social and interesting relations of life — as a son,
brother, and friend.

tfrjCoW.

HIS "MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY GEORGE-WILLIAM- FREDERICK , THE THIRD

FISHER, SOW & C9 LONDON". 1630.

HIS LATE MAJESTY
GEORGE THE THIRD.

To comprehend within a few brief pages the life of a Monarch
who sat upon the throne for nearly sixty years, during which
period a new world was founded, and the old world rent to its
foundations, would defy the utmost ingenuity of the closest
biographer. Happily for us, the attempt is unnecessary ; for
the virtues of our late venerable King, like all
 the actions of the just,
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust ;
and are, indeed, so vividly impressed upon the memory of a
grateful people, that prolix eulogy and minute detail would be
alike superfluous.
George the Second died suddenly at Kensington Palace on
the 25th of October, 1760, and was succeeded by his grandson
George, the third of that name, then in his twenty-second
year, having been born in Norfolk House, St. James's Square, on
the 4th of June (new style) 1738. The best accounts of his early
education, represent him as more diligent and intelligent than
quick ; and his mature years proved that he was the reverse of
deficient in solid understanding : on the contrary, the fruits of his
gentleness and good nature in youth were ripened into the sound
sense and dignity of his lengthened reign. That reign com
menced as auspiciously, as, after all its human vicissitudes,
it ended gloriously. The King was hailed as a true-born
Englishman, and such was his character from first to last : he
was also known to be a friend to literature and the arts — as
bright an endowment as can ever adorn the possessor of a
crown. 1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
On Tuesday, 8th September, 1761, his Majesty was united
to the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh, and the splendid
ceremony of their coronation took place on the 22d. On the
12th of August, 1762, George, his present Majesty, was born
at the royal palace of St. James's ; and the country rejoiced in
the perpetuation of the House of Brunswick. In the same
year His Majesty concluded the war which was raging at his
accession ; and Parliament voted addresses of congratulation
on the return of peace upon advantageous and honourable
terms. But it is not our purpose to describe political events ; and
we gladly turn from ministerial and other changes, to the con
stant encouragement of nobler objects, where the King set the
example of patronizing the most beneficial sciences and the most
refined arts. After the completion of Somerset House, erected
on the site of the old palace, the wings were appropriated to
the existing Royal Society, and to the King's own Institution,
the Royal Academy. Abroad, collections of drawings, models,
manuscripts, Sec. were made ; at home, commissions were given
for paintings and sculpture ; and architecture, in particular,
was ardently promoted, as a relaxation from the fatigues of
royalty. It may seem trifling, in our brilliant and magni
ficent day, to allude to such things ; but if we look at the
absolute stagnation that preceded, we must acknowledge our
national debt to George the Third, for reviving, with his earliest
power, the taste and feeling which enrich and exalt a nation.
From the beginning to the end of his reign the world was con
vulsed by strange revolutions and furious wars ; yet such was
the character of his government, that during this epoch, all the
benevolent and useful pursuits which can employ the energies
of enlightened men, were carried to a rare pitch of perfection
in the kingdom blessed by his rule. Maritime discoveries were
extensively promoted ; every branch of natural philosophy was
cultivated with extraordinary success ; astronomy and agri
culture (the heavens and the earth) were especially objects of
royal encouragement — the former by erecting observatories and
supporting ingenious inquirers, and the latter by even practi-
2

GEORGE III.
cal experiments ; chemistry was advanced to a higher rank
as a science 5 and, above all, morality was diffused over the
nation by the protection and example of its King —
His life a lesson to the land he swayed.
If ever the history of a country illustrated the inestimable
value of personal virtues in a sovereign, the history of England
established that truth. When the principles of the French
revolution, beautiful in theory, but horrible in their excess,
were sapping the mind, as they afterwards desolated the
nations, of Europe, the splendid spectacle of a Monarch pure
in his public, and exemplary in his domestic life, stayed the
contagion in these happy realms, and inspired a whole people
with better resolves. The exceptions which agitated, could not
overturn, the glorious fabric, while in their Monarch, the patriot,
the father, the husband, the man, saw their noblest pattern ; and
rallied round the Constitution of Great Britain. For their
rights as free citizens, and for their hearths, endeared to them
by every social tie in common with the King they loved, they
Stood firmly forward ; and while the storm ravaged all else, the
United Kingdom, taught by him, remained unscathed, un
daunted, and unchanged.
To the accurate observer, it is curious to remark how
apparently slight are the circumstances upon which the most
momentous events often hinge : the appearance, week after
week, of the King at the theatres, accompanied by his affec
tionate Consort, and attended by their fine family, produced an
extraordinary influence upon the public mind, and, it is not
too much to say, had a prodigious effect in counteracting the
dangerous doctrines so industriously propagated during this
awful crisis. And accident, for evil is frequently turned to
good, contributed to this auspicious result. The conduct of
His Majesty when the assassin Hadfield aimed at his sacred
life, the coolness and intrepidity which he displayed, his ten
der regard for the Queen's anxious emotions, and his con
sideration for the safety of the audience, were all so consonant
to the English national feeling — that the exhibition of that night
alone' would have been sufficient to prevent a revolution.
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
It was, however, but a simple and genuine display of that
character which carried His Majesty so admirably through
every difficulty of a public nature, and every relation of indivi
dual privacy. To what is called fear he was insensible, as was
not only evinced on the occasion to which we have just alluded,
but on every other of doubt or peril ; as, when a person was
shot by his side at the review in Hyde Park, and when the
maniac Nicolson endeavoured to stab him at St. James's. The
former mysterious affair did not interrupt the military parade,
and the King remained, as if nothing had happened, two hours
upon the ground in front of the line, while other salutes were
fired : the latter only hastened his departure from Town, that he
might himself be the first to communicate the intelligence to
his wife and family, that by hearing the news, and seeing him
safe at the same time, they might not be alarmed by rumours
gathering strength as they flew.
His Majesty's firmness has been described as obstinacy by
parties opposed to his government and measures ; but those
who enjoyed the opportunity of knowing him well, have ever
indignantly controverted this opinion. And assuredly if he
were obstinate, it must be acknowledged that it was invariably
a conscientious and upright determination. If convinced that
he was right, after maturely weighing any question, nothing on
earth could alter his mind, or divert him from a sense of justice ;
but, on the contrary, he was open to reasoning, and, when
shewn to be in error, no one yielded with a sweeter grace. He
was, in a word, a man of sterling worth and inflexible integrity ;
and as such men do not adopt resolutions lightly, they are not
prone lightly to relinquish them. As a trait of the King's
habit of thinking in this respect, we beg leave to introduce an
anecdote. At a view of the Exhibition of the Royal Academy,
His Majesty approached a portrait of a gentleman who had
recently come over from the opposition side in the House of
Commons, and accepted a lucrative appointment. " Who is
that 1" he inquired of his attendant : the name was mentioned.
" Ah, (rejoined the King,) that is  who has changed his
principles — I hate a man who can change his principles. Do
4

GEORGE III.
not mistake me (he added, after a short pause,) a man may
change his opinions, and be as excellent as ever ; but if he
change his principles once, he will change them again when
ever his interests render it expedient."
It may be recorded as another trait of the same disposition,
that the King was one of the most punctual persons in his
dominions in the discharge of his debts; insomuch that he
actually entertained a horror of any of his trades-people being
unpaid. Of this, many instances are within our recollection ;
but these, and a hundred little stories of his personal manners,
when unrestrained by the etiquette of court, and partaking of
calm rural pleasure, must be passed over in our unequal sketch ;
though there is not one of them but is calculated to raise his
venerated memory still higher, if possible, in the esteem of every
good man.
But we must speak of him in his public capacity, as a
Constitutional King, than whom one so devotedly attached to
the laws of the land never sat upon the English throne. Nor
was his constitutional knowledge less than his constitutional
attachment. We have the assurance of a noble Privy Coun
cillor, long and well acquainted with the concerns of state,
that His Majesty's notes on ministerial despatches, during the
most perplexing and trying times, will, whenever they become
matter of history, astonish the world by their shrewdness and
depth of information. These despatches, it should be borne in
mind, often related to questions of the utmost delicacy, diffi
culty, and importance : they were usually received by the
Monarch about six o'clock in the morning, agreeably to his
early hours, and taken by him alone into his closet for delibera
tion ; by eight o'clock, when he came out to breakfast, they
were re-delivered to the messenger, and carried forthwith to
the minister, with such acute and profound observations and
instructions upon them, as we have now on very high authority
stated. And we have rather dwelt upon this point, because,
from his Majesty's rapid mode of delivery in conversation,
satire contrived to represent him as a person of inferior talent
and intellect ; and ridicule has a wonderful power upon popular
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
opinion, as Peter Pindar and the caricaturists contrived to
prove in the present instance. Against their gibes and jests,
however, we would, in addition to what we have already said,
quote the opinion of no less eminent a judge than Charles
James Fox. When that highly-gifted individual was admitted
to an audience, upon his appointment of minister, he remained
for two hours with the King, conversing on topics of the
deepest interest, both in regard to the home and foreign policy
of the country ; and on issuing from the interview, he expressed
himself in terms of unbounded astonishment at the knowledge
and sagacity of his royal Master, whose attainments, in com
mon with the majority of people, he had been taught so falsely
to underrate. Of this ability he had, not too long after, a rather
painful experience, in the dissolution of his administration.
The King, it is notorious, was as fixedly resolved against
granting the Roman Catholics what they have since attained,
as he was against compromising his prerogative with the
American Colonies. On these subjects he was immoveable — the
obstinacy of his critics ! — and when sorely pressed by his minis
ters (in 1807) respecting the religious scruple, our good Monarch
hardly knew how to act, or what to do. A- strong address was
voted by the House of Commons, obviously repugnant to his
sentiments, and a noble Lord was deputed, ex officio, to deliver
it. He accordingly went up in due form ; but his reception was
so ungracious, that, at the end of his task, he took occasion
humbly to resign his wand into the hands of his Majesty.
The King, we have been informed, though hitherto vexed and
almost irresolute, was roused into decision by this unexpected
incident. He immediately seized the stick with an impatient
gesture, and, taking it to the corner of the room, put it down
with a smart noise. He then returned to the noble Lord, and
said hastily, " Now, my Lord, you have incapacitated yourself
from carrying bapk any answer from me ; as a private person,
I must wish you good-morning. I will take time to consider
the matter." — Next day, we believe, it was intimated to Mr.
Fox and Lord Grenville, that the King was ready to receive
their resignations : it was at this time that Mr. Sheridan
6

GEORGE III.
complained of his colleagues having built a wall to run their
heads against !
We have ventured to relate these few anecdotes, not merely
because they are new to the public, but because we consider
them to be far better than laboured essays for the elucidation
of truth. That they place George the Third in the light of a
patriotic, conscientious, wise, and politic prince, cannot for
a moment be doubted ; and such, in fact, was his real character.
It is hardly possible for a Sovereign, unexperienced in the
ways of life, indulged, flattered, and deceived, to be like less
elevated men ; but he was one of the most virtuous of mankind.
By his act, the independence of judges, and, consequently, the
more pure administration of the laws, was effected ; by his
example, the decency of the stage — a certain indication of the
decency and morality of general feeling — was enforced and
improved. In him every charitable institution found a sup
porter and benefactor, and every establishment for the promo
tion of literature, science, or the fine arts, a patron and friend.
The consequence has been an honour to humanity, and an
increase of prosperity and of glory to his kingdom.
Yet was not our- good King exempt from sufferings. Severe
afflictions clouded several portions of his life, and threw a sad
veil over its close. Happily, perhaps, he was unconscious of
the heavy blows which struck his dearest affections to the
earth, within a very few years of his own descent into the tomb.
He died on the 29th of January, 1820, aged eighty-two, and in
the 60th year of his reign. " He died" — and can we say so 1
Surely we might more literally receive the expression con
cerning him, that the King never dies ; for the virtues of
George the Third never can die in the gratitude and love of his
people. It is much to be wished that a good biographical Memoir of His
Majesty, were written by some one of the very few individuals competent
to do justice to his .private and domestic character, before the remem
brance of those traits, which would render it inestimable to all posterity
as a popular lesson, are lost in the more obvious light of his public life.
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
What a volume it would be for any of the Libraries or Cyclopedias which
are now in the course of publication : and how admirably (if his impor
tant avocations ever afforded him sufficient time) might this desideratum
be supplied by the distinguished writer, from whose pen the affecting
account of the last days of His Royal Highness the Duke of York was
given to a sympathizing public.

%* We are indebted to the Corporation of Liverpool, for permission to copy the
Portrait of our late gracious King, which precedes this Memoir. It is by
Cornelius Henderson, from the whole-length Painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence,
in the Grand Saloon of the Town Hall of that flourishing Town ; and we feel much
gratification in being enabled to give a likeness less familiar than most others,
8

XHF, RIGHT HOTTB."-. SPBFCER RERCEVAL, .

'Otst^tPl^

r'LSUWK.. SON" & C? LONDON. 1830,

THE RIGHT HON.
SPENCER PERCEVAL.

It is a pleasing occupation to sit down to write the life of a
great or a good man, even though the impossibility be felt of
doing justice to his memory, and though, as in the present
instance, there is a gloomy and sorrowful shadow cast over its
termination. But as there is a deeper awe inspired in contem
plating the sun sink to rest amid a panoply of dark and storm-
streaked clouds, than in witnessing him set in all the gorgeous-
ness of a calm evening sky ; so is the interest sadly deepened
when we see the eminent and the virtuous plunged into
the grave by sudden and unusual means, and in the midst of
surrounding horrors.
As the writer of this Memoir was a close eye-witness of, and
an agitated actor in, the scene 'that deprived England of her
distinguished ornament and principal Minister — and as he is
enabled to throw" a new and clear historical light over that
fatal event- — he will hastily pass in review preceding biogra
phical details, and, he trusts, awaken the sympathy of his
readers, by relating the affecting particulars of the appalling
catastrophe. Spencer Perceval, born in Audley Square, November 1,
1762, was the second son of John, Earl of Egmont, by Catherine
Compton, of the noble family of Northampton, from whose
brother, Spencer, the Earl of that title, he derived his name.
The house of Perceval is of high antiquity, and traces its
genealogy, in an unbroken line, to the Norman Conquest ;
when Robert, Lord of Brehewal, (second son of Eudes, sove
reign Duke of Brittany,) followed the fortunes of William, was
established by him in English possessions, and was succeeded
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
by children who, within a few generations, changed the name of
Brehewal into that which their descendants have ever since
borne. Many historical distinctions mark the succeeding links
of the race ; but it is enough to state, that in the last of them,
two peerages, the Earldom of Egmont and the Barony of Arden,
were severally held by Mr. Perceval's half-brother, and brother,
the sons of his father by his wives Catherine, daughter of
the Earl of Salisbury, and of Catherine Compton, already
mentioned. The infancy of Mr. Perceval was spent at Charlton, the seat
of his family in Kent ; whence, after attaining the early rudi
ments of education, he was removed to the school at Harrow.
At the proper age he entered of Trinity College, Cambridge,
where Dr. William Lort Mansell, afterwards Bishop of Bristol,
was his tutor ; and where, by his extraordinary talents and
unwearied application, he attained the highest academical
honours. In 1781, he left the University with the degree of
Master of Arts, and was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn.
Here also ability and industry rendered him conspicuous, so
that when called to the bar in 1786, great hopes were enter
tained of his future professional advancement. Nor were they
disappointed, either in his professional career, or in the more
exalted political sphere in which he was called to move. At
the end of ten years a silk gown rewarded his exertions ; but
his powers of mind, displayed in a pamphlet which he wrote to
prove, that " an impeachment of the House of Commons did
not abate by a dissolution of Parliament," having attracted
the attention of that acute and sagacious judge of men, the
late William Pitt, an intimacy was formed between them, and
Mr. Perceval became a member of the House of Commons, as the
representative of Northampton, in the room of his cousin, who
had succeeded to the Earldom. His opinions were previously
well known, and he only confirmed them by his first speech,
delivered on the 2d of June, 1797, in support of Mr. Pitt's bill
for the better prevention and punishment of all traitorous
attempts to excite sedition and mutiny in his Majesty's service.
It has been remarked as a striking coincidence, that his last
2

SPENCER PERCEVAL.
speech in parliament was addressed to the enforcement of
similar opinions ; for it was in defence of Mr. Ryder's bill for
more effectually preventing the administration of unlawful
oaths. At that period, Mr. Perceval is described, in the character of
a public speaker, as possessing many of the qualities which con
tinued to distinguish him, till more elevated trusts and more re
sponsible situations developed higher energies and nobler facul
ties. He was then graceful in manner, and easy in utterance ; his
voice clear and melodious, his sentiments benevolent, his style
placid, so that he rather won converts than forced conviction ;
but we witnessed, almost with astonishment, towards the close
of his life, when 'the Prince Regent, by the memorable and
illustrious act of retaining his afflicted Father's ministers, had
strengthened his confidence, and confirmed his councils; we
witnessed him then, we repeat with wonder, rise, as was said
of his splendid prototype, like a giant refreshed, and pour forth
his eloquent appeals, as the occasion provoked, in terms of
the keenest and most biting irony, or in language the most
convincing, impassioned, and overwhelming. In reply he
was always a fearful antagonist; but it was only at his
latest hour he afforded so striking an example of the truth,
that the really great mind expands in the encounter with diffi
culties, while the inferior nature falls prostrate before them.
Yet even in his earlier time, Mr. Perceval's parliamentary
talents were so considerable, that within a year or two of his
entering the walls of the House, we find him calling up the
leading members of the Opposition to answer his arguments
and refute his conclusions. It was not, therefore, unexpected,
that, on the formation of the Addington administration, in
1801, he was appointed Solicitor General, and Attorney
General the ensuing year; which office he retained till the
death of Mr. Pitt, when he resigned it, and appeared on the
benches of the Opposition, as a distinguished leader of that
phalanx whose watch-word was " Church and State." In this
position he stood when the famous Roman Catholic bill, (to
which we have alluded in a preceding Memoir,) dissolved the
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Whig ministry; and in the new arrangements which ensued,
(March, 1807,) he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
During the political perplexities of the following years, — the
Walcheren expedition, and the affairs which led to the retire
ment of the Duke of Portland, — Mr. Perceval steered his way
with increasing reputation ; so that when he succeeded the noble
Duke as First Lord of the Treasury, (weakened as the Govern
ment was by the resignations of Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Can
ning,) it was purely by the integrity of his character that he was
enabled to retain the helm. How well he navigated the vessel
of the state, the new era that opened in the Peninsula, the defeat
of all the gigantic measures directed by Buonaparte against our
commerce and maritime supremacy, the issue of the Regency
question, (which reflected a glory over his patriotic course,)
proudly record, without the aid of the biographer's eulogy.
The latest posterity will divide the everlasting fame of this
crisis between the loyal Prince and dutiful son, and his
inflexibly firm and upright Minister.* It will afford to ages
yet to come, a resplendent lesson of true dignity of nature
paying homage to the genuine discharge of conscientious duty,
even though it hurt the inward sentiment of generosity in the
royal breast, and seemed to compel a purpose which it would
have been so much more delightful spontaneously to yield.
We must now, however, approach that melancholy event
which, with the breath of life, extinguished all this fleeting
gleam of honour and of power. Within three months, on
Monday, the 11th of May, 1811, Mr. Perceval fell by the
hand of an assassin, in the lobby of the House of Commons,
into which he was proceeding for the discussion of the Orders
in Council : and, for the reason we have already given, we trust
we may be allowed, without the imputation of presumption, to
relate the particulars of this calamity, with the additional
interest of speaking in the first person. ,
I had ascended the stair which leads to the folding door of
the lobby, and was about to push it open for myself, when,
turning partly round, I saw the Premier (with whom I had the
* February, 1811.
4

SPENCER PERCEVAL.
honour of a very slight personal acquaintance) mounting the
steps immediately behind me. I bowed to him, and was
saluted in return with that benevolent smile which I was so
instantly destined to see effaced for ever ; for, as I held back the
door on the right to allow the precedence of entering, the mortal
bullet was sped by the villain, who had (as was afterwards
proved) long stationed himself on the spot to watch for his
victim, and commit this unholy murder. It is an extraordinary
fact, (and I leave it to be explained on any system of moral
or physical sensation,) that though so near Mr. Perceval at
this moment that I could have touched him, and if the ball
had passed through him it must have struck me, yet I did not
hear the report of the pistol, but only saw a wreath of smoke
mount from the place. In the first confusion, indeed, no one
of the many individuals present precisely knew what had
really happened, and it was the fall of the martyr of assassina
tion only, that developed the nature of the atrocious deed.
On receiving the wound, the unfortunate gentleman fell almost
back towards his left, against the angle formed by the door and
the wall, exclaiming very faintly, " O God!"* or, O my God!"
the last words he ever uttered ; for immediately, as if moved
by an innate impulse to seek for safety in the House, he made
an effort to rush forward, but merely staggered a few paces, and
dropped down on the spot, in the midst of the four pillars, (7, 8,
10, 11,) marked thus + in the accompanying plan of the lobby,
which I drew within twenty-four hours of the catastrophe.
I observed Mr. William Smith the member for Norwich, Lord
Francis Osborne, (I think,) a Mr. Phillips, and several other
persons, hasten to raise him up : there was an effusion of a
little blood on the mouth, and the pale features bore the stamp
of death. The body was carried, as our dotted line indicates,
into the Speaker's-room by the opening on the left.
This was the dreadful work of not more fifteen seconds ;
and, during the same period, (having first run forward to
render any assistance to Mr. Perceval, in which I was anti-
* I am particular in mentioning these circumstances, as they were differently,
and not altogether accurately, represented at the time by various witnesses.
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
cipated by the instant interposition of the parties I have just
mentioned,) my attention was directed to the assassin by a
gentleman (marked 1, whom I since knew to be Mr. Eastaff, of
the Vote-office, at the door of which he stood,) pointing out
Bellingham, and exclaiming, "That is the murderer!" He
had, with apparent calmness, retired from the fatal spot
(marked 16 Bellingham — 17 Mr. Perceval — 18 the Writer of
this,) and was sitting down upon the bench on the hither side of
the fire-place, when I arrested him by the collar.* This was
no act of which to be vain, for he neither offered resistance,
nor seemed for a time to regard what was passing about him.
His breast was stripped open, and a second pistol (loaded),
and other things, were taken from his person, by Mr. Dowling
and others. Of these, the manuscript copy of his Petition of
Grievances in Russia, (whence the fac-simile appended to this
*,Iam again particular, because, in the testimony, at the trial, of a gallant
general, Gascoyne, who' came from a Committee-room above, and through long
passages as well as through the House into the lobby, he spoke of having rushed for
ward and^seized Bellingham, as if no one had preceded him. Now, this was not only
impossible, from the distance at which he was when the crime was committed, but I
remember well, that Sir Charles Long, (the present Lord Farnborough,) Mr. Vincent
Dowling, and Mr. Burgess, the solicitor of May-Fair, were all about the person of
the assassin for (under such circumstances) a considerable time before the General
came up. Mr. Dowling, especially, had collared Bellingham on the opposite side,
nearly simultaneously with myself, and Mr. Burgess snatched the instrument of death
from his hand ; and it was the place of the former which General G. took, while he,
Mr. Dowling, came in front to search the pockets and person of the prisoner. The
individuals I have named are alive, to testify to the correctness of this statement ; and
that it is only now given to the public, is owing to the persuasion, that it might have
produced a very injurious effect, if promulgated at the time. For the plain truth is
if Bellingham's acute counsel had been aware of the circumstances, so as to cross-
examine the evidence, it is not improbable they might have very seriously embar
rassed the jury, notwithstanding the notoriety of the murder ; since it is on the
evidence adduced, alone, that a criminal can be found guilty. — In concluding this
note, I am far from desiring to impute the blame of deliberate falsehood to any one :
the consternation that prevailed might well excuse imperfection of memory, and the
blending of after hearsay with what was actually seen and done. And, besides, all
the chief facts were substantially true ; though, as far as person and manner were
concerned, the way in which they were substantiated on the trial was grossly erro
neous, as must be seen whenever the examinations, previous to committing Bellingham
to prison, are lent to history. 6

SPENCER PERCEVAL.
Memoir is transferred) and the want of redress for which led to
his insane revenge, is in my possession,* identified by the
initials of Joseph Hume, to be produced, if requisite, at a
future period. I also possess a common-looking, but powerful
opera-glass, found upon him, with which he had, on several
preceding nights, made himself acquainted with Mr. Perceval's
personal appearance, from the gallery of the House of
Commons — a circumstance which, in my opinion, contradicts
the supposition that he equally meditated the assassination
of Lord Leveson Gower; though, unquestionably, he bore a
strong resentment to that nobleman, for what he considered
to have been his neglect of him in his northern mercantile
transactions. But to return to my painful narrative. Bel
lingham, with his breast exposed, and now extremely per
turbed, was in a state of great excitation when General
Gascoyne appeared, and recognized him as a man whom he
knew, from having seen him at Liverpool. No words, indeed,
can picture his frightful agitation: large drops of agonizing
sweat ran down his pallid face, (I am not exaggerating in
this description of extreme human emotion, when I declare,
that the former resembled rain-drops on a window, in a heavy
storm, and that the latter was of the cadaverous hue of the
tomb ;) and, from the bottom of his chest to his gorge, rose
and fell a spasmodic action, as if a body as large as the
hand were choking him with every breath. f Never, on earth,
I believe, was seen a more terrible example of over-wrought
suffering : yet, in language he was perfectly cool and
collected. Some one came from the Speaker's room, and
said, " Mr. Perceval is dead ! Villain, how could you destroy
* " No. 10" of documents, &c. marked by the magistrates, Mr. M. A. Taylor
and Alderman Combe, before whom Bellingham was taken into a room up-stairs,
and after hearing witnesses, committed to Newgate. The record of this proceeding,
if as I presume, preserved, and of the examinations before the grand jury which
found the bill, will furnish the most accurate, as well as the most immediate,
account of the murder. In such cases, as the trial at the Old Bailey proved, time
is not favourable to truth.
t The miserable creature struck his chest repeatedly with his palm, as if to
abate this sensation. 7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
so good a man, and make a family of ten or twelve children
orphans?" To which he feelingly replied, "I am sorry for
it." He afterwards justified the sacrifice on the same grounds
which he took at his committal, and on his final trial.
It is not my province to describe the scene of anxiety and
tumult which followed the perpetration of this monstrous
crime. Doors were guarded, messengers were running to and
fro, — all was disorder. But in a few minutes, when the nature
of the calamity was ascertained, the Speaker of the House of
Commons recalled men to their senses, by assuming the chair
of that assembly, and ordering the guilty to be brought before
him. Mr. Taylor, the ancient door-keeper, for once opened it
to all that came, and I, on one side, and, I think, General
Gascoyne on the other, conducted the unresisting prisoner to
the bar. The forms of Parliament, however, refused cognizance
to the transaction, and the house was adjourned, in order that
the county magistrates present might proceed according to
law : in consequence of which the two magistrates I have
named, repaired to the inquest in an apartment above, where
Bellingham hardly spoke, and whence he was, with due pre
cautions, soon after committed to Newgate.
To this, I hope not too minute, history of an event un
paralleled in its effect upon the country, since the assassination
of the Duke of Buckingham by Felton, and still more unparal
leled in moral atrocity, I have little to add. The rapidity with
which the news flew to every part of the metropolis, and thence
throughout the country, could hardly be reconciled with pos
sibility; and the extraordinary agitation which every where
prevailed, looked more like the convulsion of an empire, than
the loss of one man, however exalted and beloved. But his
virtues had made all the world his friends, except the wretch
who shed his blood ; and his death was bewailed with a more
unanimous and sensible sorrow than is usually given to the
fate of those, the brightest and the best, who shine in times of
political struggle, and reach the goal of political ambition.
The annexed drawings will illustrate the foregoing relation
The first is a fac-simile of the concluding prayer of Bellingham's

SPENCER PERCEVAL.
petition— the MS. copy of which, taken from his person, is in
the possession of Sir Francis Freeling, to whom it was pre
sented by Mr. Jerdan.

/

Upon this document it is remarkable to observe, that the
date is 1812 — whether a mistake, or an indication of insanity,
it is difficult to imagine. Our second Engraving is the plan of
the lobby, to which frequent reference has been made. There
were, perhaps, about thirty individuals in it at the time of the
murder. 7, 8, 10, 11, are the pillars which support the ceiling.
1, Mr. Eastaff at the door of the Vote-office. 2 and 3, Mr.
Taylor and Kennedy (it is believed), the door-keepers at the
entrance into the house, and at the farther side of the lobby.
9

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
5,6, 9, 12, and 13, Mr. W. Smith, Lord F. Osborne, Mr. Burrell,
M.P., Mr. Burgess, and Mr. Dowling — we are not precise as to
the exact place, but they were nearly so situated. 15, Mr. Boys
a Solicitor, and several persons from Ramsgate engaged upon a bill
concerning the pier. This Mr. Boys was an important witness,
though not called upon at the trial. The other marks indicate
parties whom circumstances did not bring forward to the know
ledge of the writer. 16, 17, and 18, were Bellingham, Mr.
Perceval, and Mr. Jerdan, at the folding door which gives
admission to the lobby ; and in their relative situations, when
the mortal crime was perpetrated.

The fatal instrument by which so great a change was caused
in the affairs of this kingdom and in the general politics of
Europe, was no more than the figure on the next page ; for it
was laid on paper, and traced by Mr. Jerdan, while in his and
Mr. Dowling's possession. Being produced at the trial, it
became an object of contention, and, we suppose, was finally
delivered to the Treasury, which was at the expense of the
prosecution. 10

SPENCER PERCEVAL.

11

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
In this Memoir we have preferred, as we intend in the future Num
bers of these Sketches, dwelling on what is unpublished and interesting,
rather than following the beaten track of mere dates and well-known
circumstances. We have, therefore, taken no notice of Mr. Perceval's
intimate acquaintance with all the mysteries attached to the conduct of
the late Queen Caroline, nor of many other important matters in which
he was very deeply concerned. We have not even recorded him as the
ardent friend and champion of the Established Church of England, nor
his zealous efforts to ameliorate the condition of the inferior orders
engaged in its service. Nevertheless, the improvement of the stipends of
poor curates, and the building of places of worship, where required by
increasing population, are eminently the results of his advocacy and
exertions. But it would demand a wide scope to enumerate his good actions,
and an abler pen than ever we shall wield, to do justice to his public and
private virtues. Suffice it to say, that the character of " An honest
man, the noblest work of God," could never be more truly applied to
mortal being, than to him. — " The points of character which raise a man
above his fellows, and bring him nearest to the pattern of Christian per
fection — piety, benevolence, and self-control, corresponding to the three
great divisions of duty to God, our neighbour, and ourselves" — were, by
an eminent divine, (the present Bishop of Durham, on preaching a funeral
sermon on the occasion of his death, in the chapel of Lincoln's Inn,)
allotted to the lamented statesman whose loss a sympathizing people
deplored; and to him he justly bore witness, that, " daily engaged in
public business ; perpetually called into public conflict with keen and
powerful opponents ; ever at his post of duty ; shrinking not from per
sonal toil or obloquy ; we yet find his very assailants acknowledging his
candour, his gentleness, his never-failing equanimity under every provo
cation." To this might well have been added his humanity, his private
charity, his exemplary domestic conduct, his pure morality, and his
unaffected religious sincerity. But we have confessed that it is not ours
to fill up this picture ; and we must now leave Mr. Perceval to the
esteem and love of his country.
In the year 1790, he was united to Miss Jane Wilson, the companion of his childhood
at Charlton ; his brother, Lord Arden, having a few years before married her elder sister.
To his widow, and offspring of twelve children, Parliament granted provisions : to the
former an annuity of 2000L per annum for life ; 1000L to the oldest son, to be increased
to 200CU. at the demise of his parent ; and 50.000L to be vested in trust for the other
branches of his numerous family. — The parliamentary discussions on these points, and"
on the public funeral, which was voted by both Houses, were extremely affecting ; and
few periods of English history can bs viewed with more instructive interest, and greater
sympathy, than that which comprehends the patriotic ministry, and the distressing death,
of Spencer Perceval. 12

SPENCER PERCEVAL.

The following character of Mr. Perceval, is from a work entitled
"Portraiture of a Christian Gentleman;'' which we purposed to quote
in our last Number, but were prevented by typographic arrangements.
We now annex it with heartfelt approval, as a fit appendage to our
Memoir : —
As we wander among the shades of these great statesmen, of the
late reign, to find the model of the Christian gentleman, Mr. Perceval
presents himself as next in order. Mr. Pitt was gone ; but the Christian
gentleman on the throne still maintained his own characteristic govern
ment and moral administration ; and Mr. Perceval was a proper agent in
his hands. He was a man of rare abilities, and stood unrivalled in
fervid debate, flowing utterance, and ready reply ; his politics were in
progression with the great destinies of his country, and his liberality kept
pace with the march of the times ; he presented the single instance of a
great statesman formed out of the practised lawyer. In soaring from the
bar to the senate, he left behind him the exuviae of his profession, and
mounted with a sure wing to the highest elevation of a subject. What
ever may have been his intellectual rank in a comparison with the great
man who- preceded him, it is enough to say of him, that he was equal to
his undertakings. He had a business-like acquaintance with all parlia
mentary subjects ; an admirable accuracy of tact ; great promptitude and
felicity in handling intricate matters ; a familiar mode of expounding
great measures, in all their details, relations, and facts ; argumentative
without subtlety, voluble without verbosity, and sprightly without levity :
his reasoning was sound, his diction elegant, his illustrations clear ;
and added to all this, he possessed a manliness of temper, and a digni
fied good-nature which nothing could provoke or disarm. If Mr. Pitt
sustained the mind of his country at a higher pitch ; if he was more
magnanimous ; if he was more a match for a deceptious philosophy, that
had half wasted the civilized world ; if his eloquence was more of that
informed and pregnant kind, that never tires ; more distinguished by its
deep tones, pomp of description, and solemn appeals ; more rich in per
manent ideas ; more beautifully expanded, and standing at a higher alti
tude of moral elevation ; none merited more than Mr. Perceval the praise
of that oratory which compasses its point, and keeps its end perpetually
in view. To be pertinent, masculine, impressive, and clear, is no small
distinction, and that distinction was his. Of no man could it be said,
that he possessed a more absolute control over his own resources, for
13

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
instantaneous and unpremeditated use, than the minister last mentioned ;
but it was his greatest praise, that he reflected in his private life and
social intercourse the characteristics of the Court. He was a man of
unostentatious piety, like the Prince he served, and, like him, a Christian
gentleman of the genuine English church, not resting in a formal profes
sion, or a lifeless orthodoxy, but illustrating the Gospel by his public
adoption of its verities, and his practical submission to its precepts.

Corrigenda : — Memoir of Mr. Perceval.
We are anxious that every memoir we give the public should be authentic and
correct ; and none but those who have essayed biographical writing know how
many difficulties beset even the simplest efforts of this description. Errors are
copied and perpetuated in almost every authority that it is necessary to consult ;
and it is seldom in the power of the biographer to obtain access to better sources of
information — for it is not an unfrequent circumstance, that parties themselves, and
their nearest connexions, fall into blunders both with regard to dates and facts.
All that can be done, therefore, is to use due diligence, and, when mistakes occur, to
amend them, as we do now in reference to our memoir of the late Mr. Perceval, where
we were particularly desirous of accuracy. Our readers will have the goodness,
at page 1, line 6, from the bottom, to insert the word " fifth" before Earl ; and
three lines farther down, for " Brehewal" to read " Breherval." — This lord was
not certainly the second son, but supposed to be a younger son of his noble family,
whose descent from the sovereign dukes of Brittany is only hypothetical.
In page 2, line 2, " Brehewal" again occurs for " Breherval," which does not
appear to have ever been used as a family name ; and it is only known that one
branch of the numerous posterity of Robert, the founder, had assumed the name of
Perceval in the reign of Richard I. which their descendants have borne ever since.
Line 3, for " succeeding links," read " other branches ;'' line 8, dele " of."
Lines 10, 11, Charlton was not lord Egmont's "family seat," but merely a
"temporary residence;" and line 14, not "Dr. Lort Mansell," but "Mr. Ma-
thias," the distinguished author of the Pursuits of Literature, was Mr. Perceval's
tutor. — Strictly speaking also, Mr. Perceval took no " academical honours,"
though by his talents and conduct he attained a high academical reputation.
In page 4, line 10, from the bottom, alter, with a pen, 1811 into 1812 ; and, as
a consequence of this erratum, dele the remark on the date of Bellingham's
signature to his Memorial.
Bottom of page 12, " and on the public funeral." — We do not wish it to be
understood that the funeral was voted at the public expense, though in every
other sense eminently public and national.
We have only to add, that since the publication of our last Number, we have
spoken with lord Farnborough and with Mr. Dowling on the subject, and both, with
the addition of one or two slight particulars which we had forgotten, fully confirm
us in the correctness of our historical statement. 14

3JCw~l',<S*I&iA

ncjGa...

RT FiOWBT-E GKORGE KTilTT-L KT.PHINSTOWE. AB"MJI1AI. LORD KF.rTH. K.fl.

^

7t3TTJ'R. ii:r fc C° LOUDON 1630.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LORD KEITH, K.B.
ETC. ETC. ETC.
Quiet, with a flapping sail, seems at the present day to
brood over the command of the British Navy. There are no
bold and powerful enemies to awake her thunders, no stormy
and dangerous blockades to exhaust her skill, no strange
and desperate deeds to excite her enthusiasm. The mighty
giant is reposing on gathered laurels; and when stirring
in action, it is simply to gather the strength of scientific im
provement, and extend the boundaries of knowledge through
out the peaceful world. Yet the time is not far distant
since in our naval superiority we found the firm anchor of
our hope and safety ; and in these records of the illustrious
and distinguished, there can be none worthier of a place than
the heroes who upheld the honour of England at that tre
mendous period.
Among the foremost of the names which illustrate this
epoch — among the officers of tried courage and consummate
ability, who shone even amid the splendid crowd where a
Nelson, a Jarvis, a Hood, a Howe, a Duncan, a Collingwood,
and a hundred others, shed a glory over their profession and
their country, — Admiral George Keith Elphinstone is
well entitled to take his place.
The subject of our Memoir was born in 1747, of an
ancient and noble family ; his father, Charles (the tenth) Lord
Elphinstone, being descended from the Keiths renowned in
Scottish history, and his mother a daughter of John, Earl of
Wigton. He was educated at Glasgow for the sea ; and, in
February, 1762, commenced his career on that element, under
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
the command of Captain Jarvis, (afterwards Lord St. Vincent)
in the Gosport. The early years of service do not require
minute tracing : our young sailor was employed in several
frigates, went a voyage to China with his brother William,
and, in 1769, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, by
Commodore Sir John Lindsay, on the East Indian station.
In 1772 he took the rank of Commander, with the Scorpion, of
14 guns ; and in March, 1775, received his commission as Post-
Captain. During the ensuing part of the American war, he
served under Lord Howe and Admiral Arbuthnot, and at the
reduction of Charleston, where he commanded a detachment
of seamen on shore, his gallant conduct obtained the especial
notice of General Sir Henry Clinton. About this time he was
elected Knight of the shire for the county of Dumbarton, the
seat of his family's possessions and influence, and returned
home in the Perseus frigate with Admiral Arbuthnot's de
spatches, after the attack on Mud Island, where he was present.
His next appointment was to the Warwick, of 50 guns, in
which he fought a smart action with, and captured the Rotter
dam, a Dutch ship of equal force. Nor was his political life at
this crisis undistinguished, for he was one of the celebrated party
of independent members of parliament who met at the Saint
Alban's Tavern, and entered upon measures to form a united
ministry, by reconciling the jarring opinions of Mr. Pitt,
Mr. Fox, and the Duke of Portland. But the progress of the
war called him again to the American station, where he enjoyed
the honour of carrying midshipman Prince William-Henry, (so
recently Lord High Admiral of England, H. R. H. the Duke of
Clarence,) on a cruise in his ship, the Warwick, and enabling
him to acquire, by a practical experience, a knowledge of that
profession, the details of which, though (to use a nautical
phrase) shelved for so many years, he has shown that he could
never forget, but, on the contrary, was well able to apply,
when at its head, to the benefit of the Navy. The capture
of L'Aigle, a large French frigate, was the only other cir
cumstance deserving of mention, which occurred in Captain
Elphinstone's sea-faring, to the conclusion of peace in 1783.
2

LORD KEITH, K.B.
From 1783 to the breaking out of the French war in 1793,
our gallant tars had no foreign employment; but we find
Captain Elphinstone not idle at home. At the general election
in 1786, he was chosen representative for Stirlingshire ; and,
in the following year, he married Jane, daughter and sole
heiress of William Mercer, Esq. of Aldie, county Perth, and
by her (who died Dec. 12th, 1789) had issue an only child,
Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, on whom the English Barony
of Keith was settled in remainder, who succeeded to the title
of Baroness Keith on her father's death, in 1823, having
married, in 1817, the Comte de Flahault-de-la-Billardrie, by
whom she has several children.*
In 1793 Captain Elphinstone, in the Robust, of 74 guns,
belonged to the Mediterranean Fleet under Lord Hood, which,
co-operating with the Royalist party, obtained possession of
Toulon; and in these operations he commanded a body of
1500 seamen, which occupied the forts, and was ordered to
assume the command of the whole, as Governor of Fort
Malgue. In this capacity, he, with 600 British and Spaniards,
routed General Carteaux, at the head of the republican
advanced guard from Marseilles, consisting of 750 men and ten
pieces of cannon, all of which, including two stands of colours,
ammunition, horses, &c. were taken by the victors. On the
1st of October, Captain Elphinstone, combined with Lord
Mulgrave and Rear- Admiral Gravina, assisted in the defeat
of the French force, on the heights of Pharon ; when, of about
2000 of the flower of their Eastern army, 1500 were placed
hors de combat, with a very slight loss on the part of the
allies. The accumulation of the enemy's numbers, however,
after the capture of Lyons, having rendered Toulon no longer
tenable, that place was evacuated in the most masterly
manner, under the superintendence of Captains Elphinstone,
Hallowell, and Mathews ; and the subject of our Memoir was
complimented by Lord Hood, in his despatch, for his unre-
* In order to dispose of the family records, we may here note, that Lord Keith
married, secondly, in 1808, Hester Maria, the eldest daughter of Henry Thrale,
Esq. of Streatham, by whom, also, he had one daughter.
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
mitting zeal and exertion, and for having seen the last man off,
though there were a multitude of unfortunate Royalists, besides
8000 troops. As was to be expected, rewards at home
attended these valuable services. It was at this period that
Buonaparte rose into notice, though only an obscure officer
of artillery. During the ensuing year, the red and the white flag marked
two separate promotions, and the ribbon of a K.B. was
bestowed upon the Admiral. Nor did distinctions stop here :
in 1795 he was advanced to the rank of Vice-Admiral, and in
the Monarch, 74, commanded the expedition by which the
Cape of Good Hope was reduced, and from a Dutch settlement
became an important British colony. The testimonies to bis
conduct on this occasion by his military coadjutors, Generals
Craig and Clarke, are of the most expressive character, and
speak in the highest terms of his cordial co-operation and
efficient services. Proceeding to the Indian seas, Sir George
Elphinstone captured the entire Dutch fleet, of three line-of-
battle ships and five frigates and sloops, in Saldanha Bay; and
then returned to Europe early in 1797. On the 7th of March
he was raised to the dignity of a Baron of the kingdom of
Ireland, by the title of Baron Keith of Stonehaven Marischal.*
Admiral Lord Keith superintended the naval preparations
at Sheerness for the trial of the mutineers at the Nore ; and
afterwards went to the Mediterranean as second to his old
commander, now Earl St. Vincent ; in consequence of whose
illness the charge of blockading the Spanish fleet, of twenty-
* Among his subsequent promotions, honours, and dignities, were —
Admiral of the Blue, January, 1 801.
The thanks of both Houses of Parliament for his services in Egypt.
Baron of the United Kingdom, December 5, 1801.
The Freedom of the Corporation of London, together with a Sword.
The Order of the Crescent from the Grand Seignior.
The Grand Cross of the Royal Sardinian Order of St. Maurice and Lazar«.
A State Councillor for Scotland.
Admiral of the White, November, 180S.
Commander of the Channel Fleet, 1812.
A Viscount of Great Britain, in May, 1814.
4

LORD KEITH, K.B.
two ships of the line, devolved upon him. While in this
situation, the French fleet, consisting of twenty-four ships and
nine smaller vessels, which had escaped from Brest, appeared
off Cadiz ; and our brave Admiral, notwithstanding the infe
riority of his force, (1 first-rate, 5 other three-deckers, 2 eighties,
and 27 seventy-fours,) and the tempestuous state of the weather,
immediately weighed anchor, stood to sea, and offered battle.
This was declined, and the most persevering efforts to bring
the enemy to action, by pursuing them to Minorca, to Car-
thagena, back to Cadiz, and again to Brest, into which they
got by only five hours' sailing, were continued in vain from
the 4th of May to the 21st of July, 1799. A portion of the
squadron, however, had the good fortune to fall in with and
capture a forty-gun ship, a frigate, and three small armed
vessels, bound from Jaffa to Toulon. During the latter part
of this year and 1800, his Lordship performed many important
services — co-operated with the Austrian army in Italy, block
aded and produced the surrender of Genoa, took Malta, and
threatened Spain.
The next event in his life was of higher interest, for the
command of the fleet destined to wrest Egypt from the French
was entrusted to him, and he conveyed the armament under
Sir Ralph Abercrombie to the bay of Aboukir, in the month of
March, 1801 ; and anchored near the spot where the immortal
battle of the Nile had shed its lustre over the British arms.
The landing of the troops in the face of an enemy elated by
previous success, and posted as it were in an amphitheatre of
fire studded with batteries and cannon, the sand-hills lined to
the water's-edge with musketry and bodies of horse ready to
advance on the invaders, was one of the most judicious, bold,
and glorious measures which signalized this perilous contest.
Amidst shot, shells, and grape, the boats pushed briskly to the
shore, the troops and a battalion of sailors disembarked, the
enemy's position was forced, and the path opened to those
victories which freed the land of Egypt from its cruel and
ruthless invaders. At the peace of 1802, Lord Keith returned
to England, and struck his flag ; but on the recommencement
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
of hostilities in 1803, was appointed commander-in-chief of all
his Majesty's ships in the Channel and North Sea ; having at
one time upwards of a hundred and twenty pennants under his
direction, in this mighty display of force, and unprecedentedly
extensive and complicated command ! How well he acquitted
himself of the charge, which he held till May, 1807, when it
was divided into three separate commands, it is unnecessary to
detail ; suffice it to say, that the safe protection of the British
coast, and the continual alarm and annoyance of the coast of
France, by which the celebrated flotilla destined for our inva
sion was condemned to inactivity and to rot, were the conse
quences of his able and gallant operations. And at last, as if
some grand act were fitting to complete the chain of such a
life as this, it was as Admiral of the Channel fleet that
Lord Keith, by the skilful arrangement of his cruisers, rendered
the escape of Buonaparte by sea impossible, and thus gave a
new and additional security to the peace of the world.
On the 10th of March, 1823, at Tulliallan House, full of
years and honours, his Lordship closed his long and useful
career. For the space of more than half a century he had served
his country with indefatigable zeal, and discharged the most
important' trusts in a manner which reflected equal lustre upon
his judgment and his intrepidity. An able officer, a brave
sailor, an upright politician, and a good man, he has left a
bright example to every class of society ; and when we see it
followed, either in private or public life, it would be a pleasing
idea to entertain, that, in the words of his motto, this
"CAUSE CAUSED IT."

*%ujuw. &Jf.

y^«w^*.

THE RIGHT HONB^ CHARLES JAMES EOX

FIST1EU. SOW S; C? LONDON. 1830

THE RIGHT HONORABLE
CHARLES JAMES FOX.
The most dazzling meteor, that astonishes the world for a
moment, exhales not more quickly away, than passeth from
our admiration the brilliant career and splendour of man. It
is, indeed, more than twenty years since Charles James
Fox was gathered to the generations that had gone before,
and intervening events have been of a character to throw a
shadow over all those that preceded, important as they were ;
but still it is a regret to the biographer, even of such a sketch
as this publication requires, to find that these years, instead of
producing new lights, have only darkened the common oblivion
of time. At a future day, some philosophical historians will take
up the dubious questions which puzzled the most acute and
well-informed contemporaries ; and, though it would be idle to
expect them to know one fact more, or be possessed of greater
discrimination, yet they will make a romance of the circum
stances and the motives, which we live too near the time
to venture upon constructing. Thus situated, between
the period of as much truth as can be obtained even from
actual observation, and the period of theory and classification,
we must present this brief Memoir to our readers, as neither a
dry political history, nor a party view, nor a dogmatic exposi
tion of what we conjecture or believe. In endeavouring to
render it characteristic, we shall do all we can propose.
The second and youngest son of Henry Fox, Lord Holland,
by Lady Georgiana C. Lennox, daughter of the Duke of Rich
mond, Charles James Fox, was born, on the 13th of January,
(O. S.) 1748-9. His immediate forefathers were men not
merely eminently connected with courts and public affairs,
but who had, from the age of Charles the Second, to whom his
grandfather, Sir Stephen Fox, was Treasurer, to that of George
the Third, under whom his father held very high and confi
dential offices, occupied within the space of two lives an
extraordinary length and closeness of intercourse with the
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
leading events of almost a century. Sir Stephen Fox
was above eighty when his son Henry was added to his
family quiver.
This Henry died in 1773, having been much opposed in his
politics to Lord Chatham and the Grenvilles, so that, in the
principles instilled into him by early example, Charles, his
favourite son, might be said to inherit a spirit of opposition to
William Pitt, the renowned son of the Earl of Chatham. This
remarkable coincidence had probably a great effect upon the
conduct and destinies of both these extraordinary individuals
who, though they were such bitter combatants on the grand
public stage through their lives, in their deaths were hardly
divided. Charles Fox was educated at Westminster, Eton, and
Oxford, and had the good fortune in his school-days to secure
the friendship of Lord Fitzwilliam, Lord Carlisle, and several
other powerful individuals, whose regard for him in. later years
was of infinite consequence to his political and personal
career. From his infancy he appears to have been distinguished for
great quickness, sensibility, and talent : as a boy, the foremost
in frolic and mischief; as a youth, the first in dissipation and
revelry. But, withal, so amiable and conciliatory in his manners,
and so full of genius when he chose to exert his energy ; that his
immature only figured his mature years, and he was beloved when
blamed, and admired when pitied. The indulgence of his fond and
partial father — (accused by his opponents of being the possessor
of unaccounted millions, when candour might have acknow
ledged that he had merely realized a considerable fortune by
means quite consistent with the custody of public moneys
at that period, though now prohibited) — and a continental
tour before the age of nineteen, induced habits of thought
lessness and extravagance, which were never overcome in
principle, or redeemed in their effects. Mr. Fox had the
dreadful misfortune to enter into public life so deeply in
debt as not to know the blessing of private independence.
His honorable spirit struggled against this original taint,
2

CHARLES JAMES FOX.
through many mortifications ; but it is to be hoped that not
even the course which his genius brightened will ever tempt
another to enter upon a similar career, under so deplorable a
disadvantage. In 1768, though under the legal age, Mr. Fox took his seat
in Parliament for Midhurst, and during the few remaining
years of his parent's life adhered to the ministerial bench.
His first speech was against the return of Wilkes for Mid
dlesex ; and in 1770, he was appointed one of that nursery
of young statesmen, a Lord of the Admiralty.
In 1772, he was advanced to the Treasury Board ; but,
Lord Holland dying in 1773, on the following year a new
commission was made out, in which he was superseded ; an act
which confirmed the differences, and aggravated the hostility,
between him and the administration. And the uprising ques
tion of North American revolution speedily afforded him
the occasion to turn his potent artillery upon those who had
offended him. In conjunction with Burke, Barre^ Dunning,
and others, his opposition was so forcible, as dreadfully to
embarrass the Ministers ; and, no doubt, tended greatly to
produce the result of this memorable conflict. Of Dunning,
his compatriot in this struggle, he is stated to have said, " that
he was the most profligate Christian, and Christian profligate
that ever lived ;" and also " that he had the strongest head
of any lawyer within his memory." His connexion with
Burke was, in after times, productive of yet more remarkable
opinions and conduct ; which we may as well anticipate in
this place, as wait for their chronological order.
At the breaking out of the French Revolution, Mr. Fox,
who had previously been receding from his aristocratical
position as the advocate of measures agreeable to the high
Whig families, and gradually addressing himself to the popu
lar feelings as inclined to democracy, became the warm and
enthusiastic apologist of that memorable phenomenon. Upon
this, his friend Burke separated from, and renounced him in
the most striking manner ; and, alarm spreading over the coun
try, the advocates for established order against innovation
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
rallied round the eloquence of the latter. If we can credit
the apparently best authenticated statements, the characters
of these two eminent individuals were singularly illustrated
by this quarrel. Burke stood inexorably to his principle.
Fox endeavoured by every gentle and kindly overture to effect
a reconciliation. The reply was constantly, "Will he pro
nounce the renunciation?" namely, subscribe to a paper
drawn up by Burke, containing a formal disavowal of the
French revolutionary doctrines, and a pledge of future par
liamentary conduct. The terms were such as no man could
submit to sign ; and to the most earnest entreaties to modify
them, Burke replied, " My separation from Mr. Fox is a prin
ciple, and not a passion ; I hold it as a sacred duty to con
firm what I have said and written by this sacrifice ; and to
what purpose would be the re-union of a moment ? I can
have no delight with him, nor he with me." Yet, so per
manent was Mr. Fox's regard for his adversary, that he
always spoke highly of his abilities, and during his last ill
ness made a final and fruitless attempt to close this world
in friendship with him. " Mr. Fox (says a writer of the time)
was sensibly affected when he received intelligence of his ill
ness from Lord Fitzwilliam ; and when he afterwards learned
that it must necessarily terminate fatally, he was agitated as
with the expectation of a great calamity. In this state of
mind he wrote to Mrs. Burke, expressing his intention of pass
ing through Beaconsfield ; and to this letter received the fol
lowing answer next day, by express : — " Mrs. Burke's compli
ments to Mr. Fox, and thanks him for his obliging inquiries.
Mrs. Burke communicated his letter to Mr. Burke, and
by his desire has to inform Mr. Fox, that it has cost Mr.
Burke the most heartfelt pain to obey the stern voice of his
duty in rending asunder a long friendship, but that he had
effected this necessary sacrifice ; that his principles remained
the same ; and that in whatever of life yet remained to him
he conceives that he must continue to live for others, and
not for himself. Mr. Burke is convinced that the principles
which he has endeavoured to maintain are necessary to the
4

CHARLES JAMES FOX.
good and dignity of his country, and that these principles can
be enforced only by the general persuasion of his sincerity.
For herself Mrs. Burke has again to express her gratitude to
Mr. Fox, for his anxious inquiries." — In this picture we can
not help confessing the dying and patriotic constancy of
Burke; but we must also turn with great complacency to
the fine human feelings which animated the heart of Fox.
Thus terminated their amity and their dispute, — and Mr. Fox
wept bitterly when he learned the death of this venerated man.*
Of the dissipations of Mr. Fox, as the gay leader of the gay,
we care not to say much in this place. The manners of the
age afford some extenuation for his follies ; and when gallantry
and gaming were the common boast of the fashionable and
exalted, it would be severe justice to dwell with particular
censure on the vices of a man like him — indulged in youth,
flattered and caressed in manhood, of an easy temperament,
and an ardent nature. Suffice it that his errors carried with
them their punishment: he was involved in debt and ruin;
and at a later period had to accept an inalienable annuity of
£3000 per annum, (purchased by his friends, about 1792-3,)
* Though not falling strictly into our text, we trust a few anecdotes illustrating
this sentiment may be repeated here, to the gratification of our readers : — Burke
entertained a passionate abhorrence of Sheridan, and would not, so far from remain
ing in the same room, stay in the same town where he knew he was ; and all Mr. Fox's
friends, except Mr. Sheridan, being aware of his sentiments, used, in their visits at
St. Ann's Hill, to speak of Burke with temper and respect. — On one occasion some
person said Mr. Burke was a sophist, and would be thought nothing of but for his
dazzling eloquence, Mr. Fox immediately replied, " The eloquence of Mr. Burke
rather injures his reputation ; it is a veil over his wisdom. Remove his eloquence,
reduce his language, and withdraw his images, and you will find that he was more
wise than he was eloquent ; you will have your full weight of the metal, though
you should melt down the chasing." One of Burke's pamphlets being produced,
by altering a few words, his encomiast demonstrated the truth of his opinion.
At another time, when Lord Lauderdale called Mr. Burke a splendid madman,
Mr. Fox observed, " It is difficult to say whether he was mad or inspired ; but
whether one or the other, every one must agree that he was a prophet." — " Is he
not the enemy of mankind ?" exclaimed a partisan. " There is the point in dispute,
(rejoined Mr. Fox,) I know that he loves mankind, and has no limits to his
benevolence." — Of Fox, too, Mr. Burke is stated to have declared, six or seven years
after their separation, that " he was a man made to be beloved."
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
which, however smoothed in the giving, must have wrung the
heart of the receiver. The club-houses and the turf were
equally inimical to his prosperity, for with casual gleams of
success he was ultimately reduced to poverty.* The race
course, it is stated, was his principal excitement ; and there
(in conjunction with Lord Foley) very many thousands of
pounds were squandered and lost. Among his amours, one
which made the most noise was his attachment to the cele
brated Perdita, Mrs. Mary Robinson. This unfortunate lady
had at the time a house in Berkeley Square, which commanded
a view of the princely mansion of the minister, Lord Shelburne.
Here Mr. Fox was very constant in his attentions ; and when
asked why he was so frequently absent from Brookes', he
replied, " You know I have pledged myself to the public to
keep a strict eye on Lord Shelburne's motions ; and that is my
sole motive for being so much in Berkeley Square ; and that,
you may tell my friends, is the sole reason they have not seen
me at Brookes'." Notwithstanding this excuse, however, the
affair was soon so notorious, that the witty George Selwyn
observed, " The connexion was perfectly right, since the Man
of the People, and no other person, ought to be the Cecisbeo
of the Woman of the People."f The unhappy Perdita, with
* That Mr. Fox did not touch a card for many years previous to his decease, is
stated to us by a near relative.
t Of the saucy wit that prevailed among these gladiators, the following examples
may be preserved, though perhaps too well remembered to be entirely new : — Before
the treaty with France and Spain arrived in London, Fox was boasting of the
advantageous peace he had ratified, considering the previous preliminaries on which
he had to ground it, and, among other circumstances, said, he had at length pre
vailed on the Court of Versailles to relinquish all pretensions to the gum trade, in
favour of Great Britain. Selwyn immediately exclaimed, "That, friend Charles, I
am not at all surprised at, for having permitted the French to draw your teeth, they
would be d  fools indeed to quarrel with you about your gums." Mr. Fox's own
wit was frequent and inexhausible ; of a thousand instances we select the following
single specimen : — Lord North exulting over the news of the conquest of New York
his opponent replied, " It is a mistake — New York is not conquered, it is only, like
the Ministers, abandoned." It may be remarked, that he always spoke of Lord N orth
as of one of the best-humoured, witty, sociable, and kind-hearted men in private
society, that ever adorned it 6

CHARLES JAMES FOX.
a dilapidated fortune, broken health, and a wounded spirit,
soon after sought refuge on the Continent ; and Mr. Fox formed
an attachment to Mrs. Armstead, whom he married some years
afterwards, previous to visiting France in 1802.
In 1782, political changes led to the appointment of Mr.
Fox to the high charge of Secretary of State ; but the Rock
ingham ministry was quickly dissolved, and the Shelburne
succeeded. This, by another turn, was overpowered, and the
famous coalition between North and Fox took possession of
the helm. But again, the India bill, by a curious fatality, alike
obnoxious to the throne and to the people, caused the fall of
this strong party; and William Pitt, in all the confidence
of youth and ardour of ambition, was placed at the head of
affairs, perplexed by the late frequent fluctuations, and threat
ened by an opposition of prodigious efficacy. Yet it might be
maintained, that the firm establishment of his authority was
wrought out of the very materials which threatened its down
fall. The nation felt, at home and abroad, the evils of that
unsettled policy, which sudden changes of men and consequent
variations in our councils, never fail to produce ; and was the
more disposed to rally round a firm and consistent administra
tion : and the junction of men so long adverse to each other,
and maintaining opinions so diametrically opposite as those of
Lord North and Mr. Fox, as it had never been popular in
place, was not so overwhelming out of it, as might have been
anticipated, from the talents of the leaders, and the influence
they possessed with their friends and adherents.
Outnumbered in parliament, Mr. Pitt appealed to a general
election ; and his adversary enjoyed the triumph of being
returned for Westminster, though at an immense expense to
those who supported him. He was now in the full vigour of
his faculties, at the age of thirty-five, and at the head of a most
formidable phalanx arrayed against the minister; the more
formidable, as the Heir to the Crown, entering with youthful
excitement into that round of pleasures, of which Fox was the
chief-priest, threw his important weight into the fluctuating
balance. The contest was fierce and hardly fought, but the
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
star of Pitt prevailed ; and after a few sessions of incessant
warfare, his opponent, partly worn out with his parliamentary
fatigues and exertions, and partly by the fatigues of a dissi
pated life, retired, in very indifferent health, and sought its
restoration by foreign travel. (1788.) — While in Italy, he was
hastily recalled by the King's first illness, and leaving his
companion, Mrs. Armstead, at Bologna, hurried . back to
England. The political world at this period assumed a some
what different aspect : the high Whigs, having been defeated,
were leaning more than ever they had done before to demo
cracy ; while the moderate members of that party, coalescing
with Pitt and the Tories in power, seemed to incline farther
the other way than they had previously done ; but however
this might be, Fox, as the head of the former, was, more
emphatically than even during the Westminster election, the
Man of the People !
The progress of the French Revolution opened a strange
field for speculation, and Fox, as we have seen, warmly
espoused the theoretical canons of liberty and equality.
In 1793, he published his well-known Letter to his Constituents,
which expounded his opinions, and justified his measures
with regard to this terrible question : it produced a great
sensation, but our memoir is too short for a political treatise
in the way of episode. Suffice it to remark, that opposition,
as well as power, is apt to carry its votaries too far; and no
statesman who has fought boldly in the ranks of the one, or
enjoyed in spite of strenuous resistance the gratification of the
other, could ever look calmly back at the distance of a few
years, without wondering that the heat of conflict should have
provoked him to the acts he had committed. And though, like
all mortal good, the watchful and jealous supervision of our
English government may sometimes degenerate into mischievous
faction, to the injury of the country; it ought never to be for
gotten, that this is only a partial wrong, an exception to the
principle out of which we preserve our freedom and glorious
constitution from the inroads of usurpation and tyranny. 
From these reflections we pass rapidly to the next great
8

CHARLES JAMES FOX.
political change — the Addington administration, by which peace
was made, and which had for a season the countenance of both
the mighty rivals, Pitt and Fox. But this concord could not
last long, and the Premier, on the first appearance of a very
numerous division against him in the House of Commons, gave
in his resignation. In the new arrangements, entrusted to
Mr. Pitt, he found it impracticable to reconcile the views of
Mr. Fox and Lord Grenville with his own, and the new
ministry was formed without them. It was again regretted
by many, and probably not without reason, that the great
abilities of Mr. Fox were thus, as in 1792, embarked against
instead of being for the Government : for as there is no question
of the prodigious effects which his opposition produced on the
events which shook Europe to the centre, so it might have been
predicted, that had his mighty powers been employed upon the
other side, the course of affairs mi^st have run in widely different
channels. — As it was, the war, which he had always condemned,
was renewed ; and he remained in determined hostility to all
the measures of our rulers. " The conquest of France ! ! ! he
exclaimed, oh! calumniated crusaders, how rational and mode
rate were your projects! Oh! much injured Louis XIV. upon
what slight grounds have you been accused of restless and
inordinate ambition ! Oh, tame and feeble Cervantes, with
what a timid pencil and faint colours have you painted the
portrait of a disordered imagination." Yet, in spite of this
burst of eloquence, we have lived to see France twice conquered,
and her capital twice occupied by the victors.
The death of Mr. Pitt, in January 1806, once more opened
the portals- of power to his opponent, and he who had been
erased from the list of privy counsellors, for setting the majesty
of the people above the majesty of the throne, became ipso
facto the prime minister of the King, though Lord Grenville
was apparently associated with him as an equal. This admi
nistration, from an inadvertent expression used in its formation,
obtained very generally the name of " All the Talents;" but
found even under this comprehensive title, that there were other
talents e,mbattled against it, which proved its bed to be not a
9

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
bed of roses. An arduous session, the cares of office, and a
fatal malady, the dropsy, carried Mr. Fox to the grave on the
13th of September, 1806; and he reposed in Westminister
Abbey, side by side with his splendid rival, in less than eight
short months from his being borne to that last resting place.
He was in his 59th year, and was buried, with great public
ceremony, on the 10th of October, the anniversary of his first
election for Westminster.
In a work like this, we are not called upon to hold an
inquisition upon the religious faith of the individuals whose
brief memoirs we pen; and the following is all we deem it
necessary to record, respecting the tenets of Charles Fox. In
a morning conversation, when very near his death, and when
his state was extremely dubious, after having submitted to a
painful and perilous operation, he first expressed his persuasion,
that his disease would terminate fatally. Lord ¦  in order
to cheer and rally him, said he had made a party for Christmas,
in the country, and had taken the liberty to include his name
in the list, without his consent : " but it will be a new scene,"
he added, "and I think you will approve of it." "I shall indeed
be in a new scene by Christmas next, (replied Mr. Fox.) — My
Lord, what do you think of the state of the soul after death 1"
Lord  , taken by surprise by this unexpected turn of the
subject, remained silent, and Mr. Fox added, " That it is
immortal, I am convinced. The existence of the Deity is a
proof that spirit exists ; why not therefore the soul of man 1
and if such an existence as the soul exists, why not for ever 1
I should have believed in the immortality of the soul, though
Christianity had never been; but how it acts as separated from
the body, is beyond my capacity of judgment. This, however,
I shall know by next Christmas."
In the preceding summary we have omitted several insulated
particulars in the life of our celebrated orator, which we may
here recapitulate, in order to render this sketch more complete.
Among these, the impeachments of Mr. Hastings and Lord Mel
ville were conspicuous, and yet more so the passing of the bill for
the abolition of negro slavery ; while his appearance at Maid-
10

CHARLES JAMES FOX.
stone, to speak to the character of Roger O'Connor, when tried
for high treason, created much discussion, and was the ground
of heavy censures and accusations. His duel with Mr. William
Adam was another remarkable incident : in this he was slightly
wounded on the first fire, but behaved with the coolest intre
pidity throughout the whole transaction.
From his school-days to his latest hour, we may say, Mr.
Fox was not only attached to literature, but an elegant,
classical, and accomplished scholar. Neither the vortices of
pleasure nor the labours of business seem to have estranged
him from the intellectual enjoyments which are the charm of
cultivated existence. Many of his speeches have been pub
lished; and his Letter to the Electors of Wesminister went
through thirteen editions in a few months. His Sketch of the
Character of Francis Duke of Bedford (London 1802) was also
very popular ; but his magnum opus was the History of the
early part of the Reign of James the Second, with an intro
ductory chapter, &c. edited by his nephew, Lord Holland,
after his death, in 1808. This quarto, as might be expected,
gave rise to much controversy, and perhaps it may be con
fessed, rather disappointed the exalted hopes, which the im
posing name and prodigious talent of its author had excited.
Mr. Fox had also often expressed his intention of writing a
history of the Revolution of 1688 ; but we believe this design
never was entertained farther than as a favourite project. —
Though the Whig Club, with all its attractions of play and
politics, was the magnet which chiefly drew Mr. Fox within its
sphere ; his tastes led him to be a frequent visitor of the no
less celebrated Literary Club, where Johnson, Burke, Gold
smith, and other luminaries of the age, shone amid their relax
ations from lettered pursuits. Here the congenial mind of the
statesman found and imparted kindred delight ; for his social
qualities were Of the most fascinating description. Among his
own recreations, the perfomrance in private dramas* (then more
the fashion than now) may be enumerated ; and some of his
* In 1774, he played Horatio in the Fair Penitent, and Sir Harry's Servant in
High Life below Stairs, at the seat of his brother Stephen, in Wiltshire,
11

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
poetical pieces, especially lines addressed to Mrs. Crewe,
evince a more than common talent for composition. Bu t it was
during his retirement at St. Ann's Hill, with its beautiful scenery
surrounding him, that he most enjoyed the charms of study.
His correspondence with Gilbert Wakefield, from 1796 to 1801,
showed how deeply he was imbued with Grecian literature ;
nor was he less generally conversant with the stores of modern
genius, in almost every language of the European continent.
Of French, Italian, and we believe Spanish, he was perfectly
master: to the Italian he was particularly devoted, as proof
of which, we have in our possession an original autograph
sonnet, composed by him in that tongue, though we regret that
it has escaped our research to produce it as a fac-simile orna
ment to this Memoir.
In conclusion : Of his character as a man and a politician —
in private and in public — we cannot do better than speak in
the eloquent words of his friend, and an acute discriminator
of men, Sir James Mackintosh, whose intimate acquaintance
with the subject, gives him a right to become the authority of
every biographer.
" Mr. Fox (he says) united, in the most remarkable degree,
the seemingly repugnant characters of the mildest of men, and
the most vehement of orators. In private life he was gentle,
modest, placable, kind, of simple manners, and so averse from
dogmatism, as to be not only unostentatious, but even some
what inactive in conversation. His superiority was never felt
but in the instruction which he imparted, or in the attention
which his generous preference usually directed to the most
obscure members of the company. The simplicity of his
manners was far from excluding that perfect urbanity and
amenity which flowed still more from the mildness of his
nature, than from familiar intercourse with the most polished
society of Europe. The pleasantry, perhaps, of no man of wit
had so unlaboured an appearance. It seemed rather to escape
from his mind, than to be produced by it. He had lived on the
most intimate terms with all his contemporaries distinguished
by wit, politeness, or philosophy, or learning, or the talents of
12

CHARLES JAMES FOX.
public life. In the course of thirty years, he had known almost
every man in Europe, whose intercourse could strengthen, or
enrich, or polish the mind. His own literature was various
and elegant. In classical erudition, which by the custom of
England is called learning, he was inferior to few professed
scholars. Like all men of genius, he delighted to take refuge in
poetry, from the vulgarity and irritation of business. His own
verses were easy and pleasant, and might have claimed no low
place among those which the French call vers de societe. The
poetical character of his mind was displayed by his extraor
dinary partiality for the poetry of the two most poetical
nations, or at least, languages, of the West, those (i. e. the
poetry) of the Greeks, and of the Italians. He disliked
political conversation, and never willingly took any part in
it. To speak of him justly as an orator, would require a
long essay. Every where natural, he carried into public
something of that simple and negligent exterior which belonged
to him in private. When he began to speak, a common
observer might have thought him awkward ; and even a
consummate judge could only have been struck with the
justness of his ideas, and the transparent simplicity of his
manners. But no sooner had he spoken for some time, than
he was changed into another being. He forgot himself, and
every thing around him. He thought only of his subject.
His genius warmed and kindled as he went on. He darted
fire into his audience. Torrents of impetuous and irresistible
eloquence swept along their feelings and conviction. He
certainly possessed above all moderns, that union of reason,
simplicity, and vehemence, which formed the Prince of Orators.
— The quiet dignity of a mind roused only to great objects, but
the absence of petty bustle, the contempt of show, the abhor
rence of intrigue, the plainness and downrightness, and the
thorough good nature, which distinguished Mr. Fox, seem to
render him no unfit representative of the old English character,
which if ever changed, we should be sanguine indeed, to
expect to see succeeded by a better. The simplicity of his
character inspired confidence, the ardour of his eloquence
13

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
aroused enthusiasm, and the gentleness of his manners in
vited friendship. — From these qualities of his public and
private character, it probably arose, that no English states
man ever preserved, during so long a period of adverse
fortune, so many affectionate friends, and so many zealous
adherents  ."
On his funeral, the sentence was finely applied to him by
an admirer, " Hoc mors luctuosum fuit suis, acerbum Patria
grave omnibus bonis." 14

M-IVXuJuy. »Jl

tr.W. 'jarrdcims &do

WILLIAM-CAR R HE REST?' OLID. D.C.L VISCOUNT BERESFORiD

FlSBEIl. SOV 5- ro LOUDON, laao

GENERAL, THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM CARR,
VISCOUNT BERESFORD,
G.C.B. C.H. ETC. ETC.
Conde" di Trancoso, Marshal in the Portuguese Service, &c. Colonel of the 16th Foot,
Governor of Jersey, and Master- General of the Ordnance.
This gallant and distinguished nobleman's military career
commenced in the 6th Foot, in which corps he was appointed
to an Ensigncy in August, 1785 ; and from this period till the
termination of the Peninsular campaigns, we find him seeking
every species of active and important service. In the spring
of 1786, he embarked for Nova Scotia, where he remained four
years, when having, in 1789, been appointed to a Lieutenancy
in the 16th Foot, he returned to England in 1790. The 1st of
January, 1791, he was appointed Captain in an Independent
Company, and, in May, Captain in the 69th Foot.
In the beginning of 1793, Captain Beresford embarked at
Cork for foreign service, and in the spring he and his troops
served on board the Britannia as Marines. He accompanied the
fleet to the Mediterranean, and disembarked with the troops
that took possession of Toulon ; he was generally engaged in
the different attacks that occurred there till the final evacua
tion in December, when he went to Corsica, and was present
at the attack and siege of St. Fiorenza, Bastia, and Calvi.
The 1st of March, 1794, Captain Beresford succeeded to a
Majority in the 69th Regiment ; the 11th of August following,
he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the late 124th ; and in
1795, Lieutenant-Colonel of the 88th. He returned to England
in the latter year, and sailed with Sir Ralph Abercrombie for
the West Indies ; but his regiment put back, and was drafted.
In 1799, Lieutenant-Colonel Beresford sailed for the East
Indies; whence he proceeded by the Red Sea to Egypt, in
command of a brigade of Sir David Baird's army ; and was
afterwards appointed Commandant at Alexandria, where he
remained till the evacuation of Egypt.
In 1800, he received the brevet of Colonel ; and on return
ing home, succeeded in clearing the county of Wicklow of the
then outstanding rebels. 1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
In 1805, Colonel Beresford was ordered to proceed with
and superintend the embarkation of a division of troops, which
finally went to the Cape of Good Hope, under Sir David Baird,
and shared in the conquest of that colony. From the Cape the
Colonel was sent, with the rank of Brigadier- General, in com
mand of a small detachment, to seize Buenos Ayres, in which
he succeeded ; but after some other success in the open field
against the enemy, he was obliged to surrender all, and the
troops with him, after three days' resistance in the town, and
great loss, having only 1200 men against numbers that could
not be well calculated, but in arms visibly not less than from
ten to twelve thousand ; the enemy's loss on the last day was
seven hundred men.
After being a prisoner for six months, Brigadier-General
Beresford, with the assistance of the inhabitants, effected his
escape,* and, in 1807, returned to England.
The 9th of February, 1807, he was appointed Colonel of
the 88th Regiment ; and in the same year was sent in command
of the land part of the expedition against the island of Madeira,
with the temporary rank of Major-General ; which having
* The conditions verbally agreed to on the 12th of August 1807, between Brigadier-
General Beresford and the officer commanding the enemy's troops, Colonel Liniers,
were, that the British troops were to be considered as prisoners of war, but to be
embarked without delay for England or the Cape of Good Hope ; and to be
exchanged for those Spanish prisoners, made on the British possessing themselves
of Buenos Ayres. On the following day, Colonel Liniers despatched a Spanish
officer to Sir Home Popham, with a letter from Brigadier-General Beresford, to
send the British transports back, for the purpose of immediately carrying the treaty
into execution ; and a few days afterwards, Colonel Liniers unequivocally affixed
his name to the capitulation containing the above condition. After the return of the
transports, various delays took place, and at length Colonel Liniers told Brigadier-
General Beresford, that he regretted having to acquaint him, that it was resolved,
in spite of his efforts, not to embark the British troops ; at the same time declaring
his (Colonel Liniers) abhorrence of such a breach of faith. It was finally announced
that the surrender was at discretion, and that the governor of Buenos Ayres had
determined that the British troops should be sent to the interior, and the officers
on their parole to Europe. Brigadier-General Beresford, for obvious reasons, at
first declined himself and officers passing a parole, but being given to understand
that without it their persons were insecure, and it being resolved to separate the
officers from the men, he (with the concurrence of the majority of the seniors,)
yielded to it. Notwithstanding this, on the appearance of a British force in the
river, they were suddenly compelled to march, under an armed escort, several miles
into the interior, and about two months afterwards, orders were given to separate,
and remove them still further ; and which, notwithstanding a remonstrance from
the Brigadier-General, were in part carried into effect. In his communication at
that time to Colonel Liniers, he fully explained that they did not consider themselves
on parole, consequently an escape was fully justifiable, and such of the officers as
eifected it were free to serve without any exchange.
2

VISCOUNT BERESFORD.
succeeded, he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-
Chief there. Those situations he held till August, 1808,
when he was ordered to join the British army in Portugal ;
and on the 25th of April, 1808, obtained the rank of Major-
General in the British army.
Major-General Beresford arrived in Portugal a few days
after the battle of Vimiera, when he was employed as Com
missioner for arranging the difficulties that occurred in the
fulfilment of the terms of the capitulation. He accompanied
Sir John Moore's army into Spain, and was at the battle of
Corunna ; after which he covered the embarkation of the troops,
and returned to England with them.
In February, 1809, Major-General Beresford was ordered
to proceed to Portugal, to take the chief command of the
troops of the Prince Regent of Portugal, with the rank of
Lieutenant-General in the Peninsula. He arrived in that
country on the 1st of March, and was appointed Marshal and
Commander-in-Chief of the Portuguese army. He commanded
12,000 men in the Upper Douro in the attack of the French
in the north of Portugal ; crossed that river in sight of Gene
ral Loison's division, forced him back on Amarante, and
afterwards, combinedly with the army of Lord Wellington,
pursued him to his retreat.
After that period, he was employed in organizing and
disciplining the troops of the kingdom of Portugal, and his
conduct in that service has received the highest praise.
In May, 1811, Marshal Beresford fought the important
battle of Albuera ; his force on that occasion consisted of
about 12,000 Spaniards, 8,000 Portuguese, and only 7,500
British. The enemy* in point of number was certainly inferior
to the Allies, but in cavalry, artillery, and the general charac
ter of the troops, greatly superior. The Marquis of London
derry, in his narrative of the Peninsular war, observes, that
this victory was purchased at a rate dearer than had been
required to ensure any other victory in the Peninsula. Out of
the 7,500 British troops engaged, 4,158 were placed hors de
combat, the Portuguese lost 389, and the Spaniards nearly
2000 ; the loss of the enemy was estimated at 8000, including
three generals killed. * 20,000 French infantry, and 3000 cavalry.
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
During the hottest of the action, Marshal Beresford
exposed himself with a degree of intrepidity which could
hardly fail of spreading an example of heroism around. He
repeatedly dragged the Spanish officers from their ranks, com
pelling them to lead their men forward, and shew them the way ;
and when individually charged by a Polish lancer, he grappled
his adversary by the throat, and threw him from his saddle.*
During the remainder of the war, Marshal Beresford
co-operated with Lord Wellington in the most important
occurrences. On the 12th March, 1814, he entered and took
possession of Bourdeaux, when the Mayor and people of that
town adopted the white cockade, and declared for the House
of Bourbon. Previously, in 1812, Marshal Beresford had received the
rank of Lieutenant-General, and afterwards, in 1825, that of
General in the British army : he has also been rewarded by his
Sovereign, on account of his eminent services, with the Grand
Cross of the Order of the Bath and of the Guelphic Order. In
May, 1814, he was raised to the Peerage by the title of Baron
Beresford of Albuera, and in 1823 he was created a Viscount.
He also has the honour of wearing a cross and seven clasps
for the following battles and sieges — Corunna, Busaco, Al
buera, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive,
Orthes, and Toulouse. From the Portuguese government he has
received the title of Cond6 di Trancoso ; and from that power and
Spain he has also received the following Orders of Knighthood
— Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword, of St. Ferdinand
and of Merit, of St. Hermenegilde, and of St. Fernando.
His Lordship is Colonel of the 16th, Governor of Jersey,
and Master-General of the Ordnance.
Viscount Beresford is brother to Vice- Admiral Sir John
Poo Beresford.
t||t The now highly distinguished subject of our sketch, while an Ensign, serving
in America, being in the woods on a shooting party with Ensign, now General Moly-
neux, a covey of partridges were sprung. Upon their rising, he called out to his
companion, " Why don't you fire 1" and the latter, who had hesitated in consequence of
the situation in which he stood, unfortunately obeyed the call : when a shot from his
piece entered an eye of Beresford, and deprived him of its sight for ever.
* In this mortal strife, we are informed by an eye-witness, that Beresford and the
Lancer grappled with each other, for life or death ; and, in the midst of the struggle, our
countryman perceived that his adversary was attempting to draw a pistol to despatch him.
Being a powerful man, he concentrated his strength into a last effort, and threw the
enemy with great violence off his horse. He was immediately slain by a Spaniard on
the spot. Lord Beresford kept the horse as a trophy.

:JC*m.v. S..A-

THK Kt HON™-* THOMAS GHKBVHJ.E.

fitf-fi^S fac4*C^/£<L-^'

XTSHKK.. SON fc C? LOHTJOTT. IflW.

THE RIGHT HONORABLE
THOMAS GRENVILLE.
England is rich in characters peculiar to herself. In tracing
the career of Charles Fox, we have done enough to shew what
extraordinary effects may be produced by those displays of
mental power which our free constitution elicits from men
of genius, illustrated by an individual who, during thirty
years, divided with a government like that of William Pitt,
the fame or the discredit of modifying measures on which the
destinies of nations hung ; though during that long period he
only enjoyed snatches of authority, and was nearly throughout,
the stern impugner of every royal act and ministerial pro
position. The gentleman whose name is at the head of this
page, unadorned, except by a prefix which shews him to have
enjoyed his King's confidence, and a highly responsible sta
tion, is the representative of another class, which possesses a
less obvious, but not a less powerful influence on the affairs
of England, and of the civilized world. For though Mr.
Thomas Grenville was too closely allied to a family of vast
political importance, not to be forced forward into active
public life in a conspicuous manner ; we would rather, from the
predominating tastes and habits which, we believe, have
shaped his course through life, view in him the model of the
enlightened English Gentleman ; — retiring from praise, with the
noblest attainments — shunning publicity, with all the endow
ments which can make a man a popular idol — delighting in the
repose of literary and intellectual cultivation — and yet, when
called upon by circumstances, exercising the strength attached
to their abilities and station in a way to vindicate their own
birthright, check the aims of unprincipled aspiring, and glori
ously maintain the constitutional liberties of their country.
The movement of this potential body, like the flowing of a
mighty river, is never seen in noise and turbulence ; but, like
the majestic stream, it flows silently and irresistibly on, sweep
ing before it every impediment that art could raise, and every
impurity which time and corruption could generate. In our
happy mixture of ranks, it is in succession followed by an
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
inferior and more numerous order, also possessed of property and
intelligence ; and between the extremes of power, ever liable to
feed itself — and of ignorance, ever apt to be led astray — these
classes, under the blessing of Providence, are the sheet-anchor
and safeguard of Britain's grandeur and prosperity.
But a consequence of that diffidence which is characteristic
of the English Gentleman, is sadly inimical to the labours of
the biographer. He only hears imperfectly of acts which
never transpire sufficiently to raise the unexpected blush of
fame : he sees through the veil of distance, and can only
vouch for such general impressions as casual observations
may bring to his cognizance. It is with sorrow that we
confess ourselves to be in this predicament, when called upon
to illustrate the Portrait of a person so highly admired in
public, and so warmly esteemed in private, as Mr. Thomas
Grenville. But with the exception of the common resources
of book-making, (which we trust to seek but seldom for the
National Gallery,) we have not been able to find access to
better sources of information, and our Memoir therefore must
of necessity be more vague and unsatisfactory to our feelings,
than it was our earnest desire to make it. Such as it is, how
ever, we may say that we have taken care to authenticate the
facts ; and that it consequently corrects the errors which
appear in every preceding account we have seen.
Mr. Thomas Grenville was the second son of the late
Right Honorable George Grenville, a distinguished minister
of George III. soon after his accession (1763, -4, and -5) ; and
consequently he stands between two fraternal peerages — that
of Buckingham, now a dukedom in the person of his eldest
brother's son; and that of Grenville, a barony still enjoyed by
his younger brother William, the present distinguished Lord.
The late Marquis of Buckingham was born in 1752, Lord
Grenville in 1759, and we have to date the birth of their inter
mediate brother in December of the year 1755. Early introduced
upon the arena of political controversy, in the struggles of the
year 1782, to which we have elsewhere alluded, his independent
spirit caused him to differ from the opinions of his family, and
2

RIGHT HON. THOMAS GRENVILLE.
he not only adopted the party of Mr. Fox, but continued to
afford it his constant and valuable support for a number of
years. Of his importance and weight an idea may be formed
when we state, that in the event of the India Bill's having
been passed, he was to have gone to India as Governor-
General, to carry it into execution. So high indeed did he
deservedly stand in the estimation of the Rockingham ministry,
that he had assigned to him the difficult and responsible
appointment of Ambassador to France, to meet the diplomatic
skill of M. de Vergennes, who enjoyed the reputation of being
the most subtle negotiator in Europe. In this arduous charac
ter Mr. Grenville went to Paris, and began the negotiations
for peace with M. de Vergennes and Dr. Franklin, in which
treaty he had advanced considerably, when, upon Mr. Fox's
quitting office, he felt called upon to tender his resignation,
and was succeeded at the French capital by Lord St. Helens.
From the election of 1784, in which his family were trium
phant and his political friends the reverse, Mr. Grenville was
excluded ; the former not having the wish, the latter not the
means, to offer him a seat. In 1790, however, he was returned
for Aldborough, Suffolk, on the Whig interest ; and took a marked
part in the memorable discussions which occupied the House,
and led to the great disruption and new alliance of political
parties. Having in this m61ee reconciled himself to his relations
by the course he took, he was at the next election in 1796
returned for the town of Buckingham, under their influence.
Previous to this, however, in 1794, Mr. Grenville was
named, jointly with Earl Spencer, Minister Extraordinary to
Vienna ; and proceeded on a mission of infinite consequence,
to the Imperial court. Again, in 1799, his eminent diplomatic
abilities were demanded upon another very urgent and great
national occasion. The King of Prussia having seceded from
the confederacy against the French Revolutionists, Mr. Gren
ville was once more appointed our Minister Extraordinary to
that monarch, with the view of inducing him to reunite
with the Allies for the preservation of the continent. He
accordingly sailed in the winter of 1799, during one of the
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
severest storms that had been experienced for more than
half a century, and his voyage was attended with circum
stances of the most imminent suffering and danger. Unable,
on account of the ice, to approach nearer to the shore than
four or five miles, the zealous and intrepid ambassador, after
unwearied efforts, saw his vessel wrecked, a portion of her
crew perish, and every thing lost but his momentous des
patches, — with which he personally struggled to the land, in
the utmost distress and peril, though ultimately saved from
death by extraordinary exertion and perseverance. He stop
ped only to procure a few necessaries, and proceeded with all
haste to Berlin ; but the French government, well informed of
his mission, had anticipated it by despatching the wily Abb6
Sieyes to confirm his Prussian Majesty in his new engagements,
— in which he succeeded, and Prussia remained neutral, in spite
of all the arguments and endeavours of the British minister.
In 1800, on the death of his relative Lord Sidney, Mr.
Grenville was appointed Chief Justice in Eyre, south of Trent,
which place is held for life. Since that period, as well as
before, his parliamentary life has not ¦ been distinguished by
the custom of speaking on many questions. Instead of the con
tinual debater, his course has always been to offer his opinions
only when matters of high importance, or such as implicated
his own connections, were brought forward ; and on these occa
sions, the sterling abilities which he displayed were always sure
to command the marked attention of both sides of the House.
In his private circle, Mr. Grenville has ever been esteemed
as one of the most refined and elegant men of the age to
which he belonged. In polite literature — in all the accom
plishments of high breeding — in worth and dignity — in suavity
and discrimination — there are few who could stand in compari
son with this finished gentleman. Perhaps there are not many
persons living, in the wide sphere of English cultivated mind,
so well read as he is, in the world and in books : thus amiable
and spirituel, at the advanced age of 75, after a long life of
public utility and private virtues, he lives happy in himself, and
honoured by all who know him. 4

J!n SMImitMu* 9%A.

ws:$Ui

IHE H^UCffn1," ROBERT J3A"NKS JEITKITS S ON". EAKL OF LIVERPOOL ,K. & See

FISHER, SOIT k C° LONDON. 103O

THE RIGHT HONORABLE
THE EARL OF LIVERPOOL.
The late Earl of Liverpool presents to us for consideration,
a character which may perhaps be deemed unique, but at all
events one that is most extraordinary ; and as it affords a fine
and remarkable illustration of the truth of the homely maxim,
that " Honesty is the best policy," we trust we may be excused
for offering, in the outset, a few brief thoughts on the pattern
which he has left to English statesmen.
The son of a politician and a courtier — of an individual
known to possess great influence near the throne — and
expressly bred and educated by that father, with the view to
political and courtly life, Robert Banks Jenkinson dis
played throughout his whole career the very opposite qualities
to those which were to be predicated from the relations of his
birth, and his course of study. The strongest innate principle
of his nature appears to have been honesty, an immovable
sense of right and straight-forward integrity ; and it not only
preserved him from all the temptations to swerve into the
crooked paths of intrigue, but absolutely placed him in direct
opposition to every mean or sinister manoeuvre of party.
Instead of being deceitful, hypocritical, Machiavellian, he
was one of the most candid, open, and ingenuous men that ever
lived : the corrupt atmosphere of a court played harmlessly
round his head and heart, without injury to his sound constitu
tion ; the seductions of place only roused his ambition to be
superior to their highest allurements. Brought up as we have
noticed, and in office during a quarter of a century, it was and
is his rare distinction, to have passed through this trying
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
ordeal, in the light of God's noblest work,* trust-worthy, not
time-serving, firm and uncompromising, conscientious and
upright, the friend of his King, but not less the lover of his
country; and, to crown these honors, all based on the one
simple principle of honesty, proving that public virtue has its
public reward, by the enjoyment of the Premiership for many
arduous years, with the perfect confidence of his Sovereign,
and not a whisper of mistrust from among the people.
It may be that we have insisted too much on this point ;
but we cannot help holding it to be one of peculiar importance,
and most gratifying as a national characteristic. We know
not where we could look for such a result from such circum
stances except in England, whose free institutions reveal the
goal of power and fame at the end of the race, not of syco
phancy, insidiousness, and plotting, but of manliness, sincerity,
and patriotism ; and we glory in the country, which, with all
its faults, can produce a Lord Liverpool, and say — The sternest
rules of Sparta, or of Rome, never formed a boast of greater
worth than this British legislator, though reared for political
life in our common school, and under the eye of a parent
basking in royal favour !
The family of Jenkinson is of considerable standing in
Oxfordshire; an ancestor of the present peer having been
knighted in 1618 — a baronetcy conferred in 1661 — and the
honor of representing the county in Parliament very fre
quently attained by various of its branches during the last
two centuries. Charles, the father of our subject, and the first
Earl, was born in "May, 1727, and was descended from the
third son of the second Baronet ; to which title he succeeded on
the death of his cousin, in 1789. But his earlier life had been
marked by the still more eminent advance of his own fortunes.
Having taken the degree of Master of Arts at Oxford, he pro
ceeded to that grand mart of talent, London, with a high
* An honest man's the noblest work of God. — In our Sketch of Mr. Perceval we
applied the same quotation : and it is a happy thing for a country to be able to claim,
within the short period that has elapsed of the present century, not only two, but
many Ministers worthy of the tribute. 2

EARL OF LIVERPOOL.
University reputation. His poetical compositions had acquired
him youthful celebrity, and his solid abilities gave promise of
mature usefulness and success. In 1756, he published a
Discourse on the Establishment of a National and Constitu
tional Force in England ; and in 1758, a Discourse on the
Conduct of the Government of Great Britain in respect to
Neutral Nations, a work so much esteemed as to be translated
into almost every European language.* These pamphlets,
and, we believe, other able productions as a periodical critic,
speedily drew the writer from the comparative obscurity of
literature ; and we find him, in 1761, so advantageously recom
mended to Lord Harcourt, Lord Bute, and His late Majesty, as
to be appointed an Under Secretary of State, with a seat in the
House of Commons. On the subsequent retirement of Lord
Bute, Mr. Jenkinson continued to be one of the stanchest
of the royal party, which obtained the name of " The King's
Friends," — a certain path to distinction, and worthy of the
election of a sagacious mind. It is indeed a curious specula
tion to glance back upon our history, and observe how often
and how much the highest magistrate of the realm has stood in
need of personal friends. Few of his subjects, we imagine,
are aware how frequently a king's will and wishes must be
sacrificed, and not always to the voice of reason ; for if there
are despotic monarchs, there are also, at times, imperious
ministers and (Overbearing factions. But be this as it may,
Mr. Jenkinson adhered to his Master at a difficult period,
when the latter felt the want of those upon whom he could
rely ; and this, together with his official services, raised him to
the Peerage, as Baron Hawkesbury, in 1786, and Earl of Liver
pool ten years after. He died at the age of eighty, in 1808,
bequeathing his coronet to Robert Banks, (his only son by
Miss Watts,f) born in 1770, and left motherless within the
same year.
* His later works were the well-known Collection of Treaties, from Munster
in 1648, to Paris in 1783, 3 vols. 8vo., published in 1785 ; and a Treatise on the
Coins of the Realm, 4to. Oxford, 1805.
t By a second wife, Lady Cope, his Lordship had the present Earl, (who suc
ceeded his half-brother in 1828,) and Lady Verulam.
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Robert Banks seems to have inherited the abilities, as
entirely as the title, of his sire. Without the brilliancy of
genius, his understanding was cultivated, his judgment strong,
and his aptitude for business extraordinary. He passed his
boyish days in a school at Parson's Green, near Fulham, and
when twelve years old was transferred to the Charter-house.
Here he continued till fit to be transplanted, in the usual
course, to Oxford, where he entered of Christ's Church. His
studies were chiefly directed to those acquirements which may, in
the broadest sense, be comprehended under the name of Poli
tical Economy ; not the strange and vague theories which, in
our day, too frequently usurp the substance of science, but
the knowledge of history, of the philosophy of government,
of commercial principles, of internal and external policy, of
national relations, of foreign rights, and of domestic constitution.
How deeply our student was versed in these matters, his whole
parliamentary and ministerial career evinced ; his speeches
were always replete with intelligence, and the most unpreme
ditated of his replies displayed a thorough acquaintance with
the fundamental grounds, as well as the minute details, of legis
lation and policy.
At Oxford it was the happiness of the future Premier to
form an intimate friendship with one who, alas ! adorned that
station but too short a period ; and the mutual love and esteem
thus cemented between him and George Canning, produced
not only a memorable influence upon their own lives, but upon
the momentous public affairs in which they were concerned, the
conduct of Britain, and the fate of Europe. It may readily be
credited, that the steady attachment of Mr. Jenkinson to the
Crown and to Tory opinions had much weight on the more
ardent imagination and temperament of his gifted companion,
which were likely to enlist him on the side of the desirable
rather than the practical ; and that this early impression was
infinitely requited by the attention with which the enlightened
views of Mr. Canning were regarded by his colleagues in later
years, when the most arduous struggle that ever tried a nation's
energies, called for the wisest counsels and the most dauntless
4

EARL OF LIVERPOOL.
resolution. Friends in literary pursuits and academic shades,
friends in the world's warfare, with the inspiring rewards of
honorable ambition in their equal sight, friends in the posses
sion of power ; nothing dissociated these distinguished per
sons,— the evil passions of envy, of disappointment, of selfish
rivalry, were not created for them; and they continued to be
fast friends till death dissolved the admirable bond. But for
this, it is probable that Mr. Canning's political course would
have been very different : but for this, it is certain that Lord
Liverpool's administration never would have been so fortunate
and glorious. But we revert to our narrative.
From Oxford Mr. Jenkinson made an excursion to France,
then shaken by the inchoate revolutionary storm ; and was in
Paris, it is stated, when the Bastille was demolished. It
is also said, that while yet so young an observer, he was not
merely an uninterested witness of events, but, on the contrary,
a correspondent of Mr. Pitt, to whom his information was
very acceptable. On his return home, he was elected for the
borough of Rye, though only in his twentieth year, and con
sequently ineligible to take the oaths; he therefore revisited
the Continent for twelve months, including a mission to the
brothers of Louis XVI. at Coblentz ; and when of age, took
his seat amongst the lawgivers of the land.
On the 27th of February, 1792, he made his maiden speech
on a motion of Mr. Whitbread relative to the claims of the
Russian Empress upon Okzakow; which produced an effect as
auspicious as could be desired to his future prospects as a
parliamentary orator and a ministerial functionary. With the
force and vigour of youth, it combined qualities which rarely
belong to juvenile efforts, and are usually ascribed to the
experience of a riper period. Indeed, such was the general
cast of his speeches ; for it was only two years later, namely,
in 1794, that he delivered his sentiments respecting the
" conquest of France," in that remarkable style which drew
down the vengeance of Charles Fox's cutting satire ; but, in
defiance of the taunts with which he was assailed, he lived to
see what he then contended to be practicable and attainable,
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
accomplished under his own administration, — one of the
proudest triumphs that ever crowned the perseverance of a
steadfast politician. The expedition, so contemned and ridi
culed, was achieved, it is true, at the distance of twenty years ;
but it did come at last, to shew that the cause of justice,
upheld by constancy, must ultimately succeed.
From the epoch alluded to, Mr. Jenkinson (better known
as Lord Hawkesbury, from the date of his father's creation of
Earl in 1796,) took a prominent part in all the vital questions
and measures which were agitated in Parliament and in the
Cabinet. The war with France, the Union with Ireland, the
discussions affecting navigation, commerce, neutral and belli
gerent privileges, Orders in Council, the abolition of the Slave
Trade, Catholic Emancipation, the Regency, Finance — in
short, every subject which called for deliberation and public
decision, evoked the exercise of his great talents; and he
maintained, among the leading men of his time, a station near
the highest. On the accession of the Addington Ministry, in
1801, he was appointed Secretary for the Foreign Department,
and took his seat in the Cabinet ; and, in this capacity, con
cluded the famous Peace of Amiens. In 1803, during his
father's lifetime, he was called to the Upper House by writ, as
a Peer's eldest son ; and held, under Mr. Pitt, the seals of the
Home Secretaryship, till the death of that illustrious man
(1806) put an end to the ministry. It is believed that Lord
Hawkesbury was, in the first instance, honored with His
Majesty's commands to construct a new administration; but
from the diffidence in his own powers, which graced his
whole course, on humbly representing to his Royal Master his
incompetency for this onerous task, his excuse was graciously
received, and the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports was
bestowed upon him, as a proof of the estimation in which his
laborious and faithful services were held.
In the following year, 1807, when the Fox and Grenville
administration was dismissed, Lord Hawkesbury resumed the
Seals as Home Secretary ; and, in 1809, shone as one of the
most ardent advocates for measuring our strength with the
6

EARL OF LIVERPOOL.
enemy on Spanish ground. Indeed, it may be confessed, that
his foreign policy took a more elevated and popular tone than
that which distinguished his domestic views, at least till
within the last twelve years of his life. His advocacy of the
invaded liberties of Switzerland, his denunciation of the murder
of the Duke D'Enghien, and many other striking occasions,
are evidence of the former ;* while the latter were chiefly charac
terized by a decided adherence to things as they stood. We
* Of this (not to interrupt our narrative) we will afford two examples by way
of Note. —
In 1802, when Buonaparte, in order to create a diversion in the public mind,
and, by a false scent, mislead the attention of Europe from the progress of his
ambitious projects upon the Continent, began his system of remonstrances against
the English press, Lord Liverpool firmly and constitutionally repelled the sinister
attempt, and nobly vindicated the public character and liberties of the country.
In his reply, through Mr. Merry, to one of M. Otto's official complaints, he thus
writes — " I am sure you must be aware that His Majesty cannot, and never
will, in consequence of any representation, or any menace from a foreign power,
make any concession which can be in the smallest degree dangerous to the liberty
of the press, as secured by the constitution of this country. This liberty is justly
dear to every British subject. The constitution admits of no previous restraints
upon publications of any description ; but there exist judicatures, wholly inde
pendent upon the executive government, capable of taking cognizance of such
publications as the law deems to be criminal, and which are bound to inflict the
punishment the delinquents may deserve. — — — — Our government neither
has, nor wants, any other protection than what the laws of the country afford ; — and
they never can consent to new-model the laws, or to change the constitution, to
gratify the wishes of any foreign power.''
In a similar tone of virtuous spirit did the noble Secretary treat the base
slander which insinuated that the English Ministry had been a party to plans of
assassination in Paris. His Circular Note to the Ministers of Continental Courts
resident in London, spoke of this as " an accusation already made with equal
falsehood and calumny by the same authority against the members of His Majesty's
Government during the last war ; an accusation incompatible with the honour of
His Majesty, and the known character of the British nation; and so completely
devoid of any shadow of proof, that it may be reasonably presumed to have been
brought forward at the present moment, for no other purpose but that of diverting
the attention of Europe from the contemplation of the sanguinary deed which has
recently been perpetrated, by the direct order of the First Consul, in France, in
violation of the rights of nations, and in contempt of the most simple laws of
humanity and honour." This alluded to the violation of neutral territory, and the
murder of the Due D'Enghien. 7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
do not mean to impute this, however, as an error : if ever the
dread of any change was to be justified on principle, it was
when the fearful consequences of alterations, begun under the
pretence of reform, were deluging the earth with blood, and
apparently consolidating a universal despotism. Impressed
with the apprehension of similar dangers being extended to his
native country, Lord Hawkesbury was generally found at his
post, the foremost and determined opposer of innovations.
The abolition of the Slave Trade, the Catholic Emancipation
bills, Parliamentary Reform, and every question of like nature,
the object of which was to innovate the British system, were met
by him with fixed resistance ; and it was only towards the close
of his high career, that he seemed to partake somewhat more
freely of the enlarged and liberal ideas, which made a shade of
difference, as public men, between him and his great associates,
Pitt and Canning.
When the unfortunate duel between the latter and Lord
Castlereagh broke up the Duke of Portland's party, and Mr.
Perceval was placed at the helm, his Lordship took charge of
the War Department ; and when the act of the assassin laid
that virtuous minister low, he was at last prevailed upon to
become the head of the Government, but not before the Lords
Wellesley, Grey, and Grenville, had been invited, and declined.
At the height of a subject's ambition, Lord Liverpool's ele
vation was altogether as gratifying, both as regarded his pri
vate feelings and his political position, as could possibly attend
the too often uneasy possession of power. He had not sought
it with fever and anxiety, nor reached it by cunning arts, or
trampling on moral ties. For more than twenty years he had
won his way towards it by distinguished parliamentary efforts,
leading in the Commons' House, and strengthening his col
leagues in the House of Peers. For ten of these years he had
fitted himself for the situation, by ably discharging the arduous
duties of the most difficult official appointments. To the
foundation of great original cultivation, he had thus super
added the stores of great practical experience. He enjoyed
the royal confidence, and the confidence of the people: the
8

EARL OF LIVERPOOL.
first knew him to be loyal and true, the last to be honest and
firm. Faction itself was silent, for there was no spot upon his
escutcheon, against which its slanders could be uttered. Such
was his eminent, and, what is rarely combined with eminence,
his happy situation, when on the 8th of June he announced, in
the Upper House, that he had accepted the office of First
Lord of the Treasury ; — an announcement which gave more
unanimous satisfaction, and excited less ill-will, than any of
the same order within the memory of man.
It was an auspicious era, and the affairs of the country
appeared to adopt a new and more prosperous range, as the
field of Europe, bristling with arms, and red with slaughter,
from the Tagus to the Beresina, developed the prodigies of
another total re-organization. Defeat upon defeat humbled
the oppressor of France, and the glorious pacification of 1814
consummated in the most splendid manner the consistent pub
lic life of the Earl of Liverpool. Pitt died almost despairing
of his country — Providence blessed his disciple and successor
with the full fruition of all their hopes and all their toils.
Peace with America followed.
The short but fierce and desperate contest of 1815 only led
to the still more glorious triumph of Waterloo, and the treaty
dictated at Paris : a finale on the stupendous scale of nations,
with millions of actors, but so like the contrivance of a skilful
drama, that distant ages will wonder at the catastrophe, even
beyond the wonder it has excited in our time.
The fight had, however, been too long protracted, and the
mortal struggle too severe, to admit of Peace bringing the
expected balm upon her wing. The dove returned with the
olive branch, the symbol that the calamity was at an end ; but
the intelligent were aware that time must elapse — ere the
troubled waters should subside, society be reconstructed in
tranquillity, and plenty adorn the earth. The labours of the
government were yet to begin : and if we now see, at the end
of fifteen years, how many perils still beset them, we may
frame some notion of the almost appalling situation in which
Lord Liverpool stood at the immediate close of the war. But
9

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
he girded up his loins like a man, and addressed himself boldly
to the task before him.
His attachment to the Established Church was constant,
and the religious portion of the community are deeply indebted
to him, for affording more extended facilities for the worship
of God throughout the land.
On the subject of Free Trade, his Lordship yielded assent
to principles savouring more of innovation, than any other
sanctioned by his authority.
The unfortunate riots at Manchester, and the yet more
unfortunate apparition and trial of Queen Caroline — the dis
cussions of the Corn Laws, the return to Cash Payments, and
all the other important questions which in succession occupied
the attention of the legislature — were illuminated by his saga
city, and whatever he considered to be right, he conscientiously
enforced by his influence and eloquence to the last : the breath
of detraction never impugned his motives ; nor ever did those
who differed most widely from him in opinion, ascribe one
unworthy measure to this pure and honest minister.
On the 16th of February, 1827, he was in his place in the
House of Lords, and moved a provision for their Royal High
nesses the Duke and Duchess of Clarence. On the 17th he
breakfasted alone in his room, and, in the act of opening a let
ter, fell from his chair upon the floor, where he was found by
his servants, helpless, hopeless, and insensible. Apoplexy and
paralysis had struck at the sources of life, and it is almost a
melancholy reflection that they were not instantly dried up.
Medical aid was vain ; and the being of vigorous mind and
energetic soul, was carried, in a state of perfect imbecility, to
linger out the dregs of existence in the seclusion of Combe
Wood. Here his Lordship died on the 4th of December, 1828.
Having traced his public, we shall not need to dwell at any
length upon his private history. In 1795 he married Lady
L.T. Hervey, third daughter of the Earl of Bristol and Bishop of
Derry ; with whom he passed six-and-twenty years of domes
tic felicity. He was left a widower in 1821, and in September
1822 entered a second time into the holy bands of marriage
10

EARL OF LIVERPOOL.
with Miss E. Chester, daughter to a reverend divine, and sister
to Sir Robert Chester; but having had no issue by either wife,
he was succeeded by his half-brother.
The personal appearance of Lord Liverpool was rather
remarkable. He seemed generally absorbed in thought, and,
in walking, usually stooped his head, looking towards the
ground. Of dress he was very careless ; and the simplicity of
garb in which the prime minister of England perambulated
the streets of the metropolis, often provoked a smile from those
who pay more homage to outward show. There was also
a peculiarity in his Lordship's mode of speaking in Parliament.
On commencing, his attitudes were ungraceful, his delivery
hesitating, and his whole manner constrained. But as he
warmed with his subject, bis gesticulation became animated,
his eloquence impetuous, and his style altogether most power
ful and overwhelming. His countenance lighted up with fire,
his large and prominent eye flashed out, and he swept all
before him like a pent-up torrent after it has broken the bounds
that restrained its onward course. Upon these occasions,
many splendid bursts of Demosthenic oratory flowed from the
speaker's lips, and the impression produced was almost irre
sistible. In equally momentous but less animated deliberations, we
are informed that his Lordship's characteristics were also ob
servable. It is not for us to withdraw the curtain from Royal
interviews or Cabinet Councils; but we may venture the repe
tition of a curious anecdote, which we have heard, and believe.
It is stated that Lord Liverpool commonly sat with his arm
on the table, and his hand closed. Opinions being given, or
wishes expressed, if it happened that the Minister took a dif
ferent view of them, his associates supposed they could pretty
exactly ascertain the force of his objection, by the action of
his knuckle upon the board in the warmth of discussion. If
the knock were soft and gentle, he was open to persuasion ; if
rather forte, the arguments to be urged must also be stronger;
but if the point was one of conscience and decided conviction,
and the hand descended in a resolute rap, it was known to be
11

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
utterly in vain to contest that matter more. Either it must be
yielded, or Lord Liverpool resigned.
With this little sketch we conclude ; but we shall probably
take a future, and not a distant opportunity of illustrating the
topic of the intercourse of Ministers with their King; — the
suaviter and the fortiter of which — the firm yet courteous, and
the domineering — constitute very striking incidents in our
political records, and often lead to mighty consequences.
Of our particular subject we now take leave : we have
written upon it with pleasure, for it tells the story of a good
man, and a virtuous politician. In the latter character, Lord
Liverpool literally realised the sense of his family motto, and
put the palma on his brow non sine pulvere — his life was in
dustrious, useful, meritorious, and renowned ; and posterity
will venerate his name : in the former he set a yet brighter
example ; and we end with what we began, holding him up to
imitation in the language of the poet, as
" An honest man, the noblest work of God."
12

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THE nONi^ I.AJJY GEORGTANA AGAR ELXT S
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FISHER, Sptt & CPXOKDCW. V330
THE HONORABLE
LADY GEORGIANA AGAR ELLIS.

It is pleasant to relax from the weight of political and philo
sophical biography — from the strongly marked features of the
statesman, and the deeply-shaded brow of the studious man —
and to indulge in the contemplation of feminine beauty, only
accompanied by the short and simple annals of domestic
felicity. The charming Portrait of Lady Georgiana Agar
Ellis, is a sweet specimen of the painter's and engraver's
art. It is the faithful representation of an Englishwoman
belonging to the highest rank, the second daughter of the Earl
of Carlisle, and the wife of the Honorable G. A. Ellis, M. P.
son and heir of Viscount Clifden. So descended, and so
matched, it may readily be imagined, that the subject of this
brief sketch possesses in a superior degree all those accom
plishments which adorn the foremost of her sex, in a country,
and an order of society, where both the valuable and the
elegant are cultivated with sedulous attention. Virtue, taste,
and refinement belong to her family and station ; and even the
exalted house of Howard has cause to be proud of such an
ornament. Were we emulous of heraldic details, we might swell this
notice with long genealogical accounts of the progenitors
from whom this Lady inherits the honors of birth, and of the
remarkable personages, the predecessors of her Husband,
with whom her marriage has placed her- in relation ; but as
future opportunities will be afforded us of entering, as far as
is necessary, into such records, we shall not lay the burden
upon a form so slight, and face so fair.
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Her Ladyship was married in 1822, and obviously partakes
with Mr. Ellis in his patronage and admiration of the Fine
Arts ; as might indeed have been expected from a child of the
Earl of Carlisle. This congeniality of feeling has led to the
production of several exquisite works, in which the most able
of our native painters have been engaged ; and not only her
Ladyship, but her lovely offspring have called forth the
fascinations of the pallet and pencil. Happy in supplying at
the same time encouragement to the artist, and models of
grace for his imitation ; we shall add nothing to this memoir
(if memoir it can be called) but a sincere wish, that the former
may be increased, and the latter multiplied.
2

LTTJCtALD STEWAKT, FSQ. fc\ U S s, LONDON £ EDINBURGH fcc.&C.

SfLEB.. SDH SCnoHBOH. 1830.

DUGALD STEWART, ESQ.
F.R.S., ETC. ETC.
It is honorable to Scotland, that, in proportion to its popula
tion, it has produced, at least, as large a number of men
distinguished for intellectual and scientific acquirements, as
any country on the face of the globe. Classical and polite
literature flourished in this northern clime, even during what
may be called barbarous ages, tempering their rudeness with
amenities ; and, in later times, while all the various sciences
have been cultivated in an equal degree to the rest of the
civilized world, medicine and chemistry in particular obtained
a high national rank among the studies for which the school of
Edinburgh was justly famed.
It might have been expected that the same masculine
sense, and the same inquisitiveness of mind, which led to
eminence in these branches of human cultivation, would, when
applied to " the noblest study of mankind," lead to important
results, and farther illustrate the spirit and intelligence of the
Scottish people. Accordingly, Dr. Reid arose, and with him
almost a new system of philosophy, emulating the immortality
of a Bacon and a Locke. And even the great " Interpreter
of Nature," as he has been finely styled, was fortunate in a
disciple and follower like Dugald Stewart. To him we are
chiefly indebted for the early and wide diffusion of Reid's
principles, — for their enforcement and improvement, — for their
generalization and acceptation. As a writer, and perhaps
still more as a teacher, did he contribute to this effect ; spread
ing the northern light of inquiry, from the chair of the Professor
of Moral Philosophy, throughout the most distant corners of
Europe, and winning the golden opinions of all sorts of men to
the theory of his illustrious predecessor and master.
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
When Reid's work was published in 1763, Dugald Stewart
was ten years old, having been born in the College of Edinburgh
on the 22d of November, 1753. He was the only son who
survived of the family of Dr. Matthew Stewart, Professor of
Mathematics in the University ; and at the age of seven was
sent to that excellent seminary the High School, where he
attracted notice by his quickness and aptitude for instruction.
When the customary course of education was finished here,
he was entered as a student at the College ; and, under the
immediate inspection of his father, made rapid progress in
learning, and especially in the exact sciences. Dr. Stevenson,
the Professor of Logic, and Dr. Adam Ferguson, who filled the
Moral Philosophy chair, were also his able teachers ; and his
uncommmon proficiency rewarded their labours in the way
most delightful to master and scholar. At the age of eighteen
he lost his mother, and soon after removed to Glasgow, where
Dr. Reid was then developing those principles of metaphysics
which it became the leading object of his pupil's life to incul
cate and expand. The declining health of his father, however,
allowed him to attend only one course of these lectures : he was
recalled to Edinburgh, where he taught the Mathematical class
with so much celebrity, that it grew to a greater prosperity
under the youthful assistant than it had ever previously enjoyed.
As soon as he had completed his twenty-first year, he was
officially recognized in this station ; and, in 1785, on the death
of his parent, he succeeded, as had been settled, to the vacant
chair. At this laborious season of his life, Professor Stewart's
exertions were almost unexampled, and the fertility of his
mind was wonderful. In 1778, when Dr. Adam Ferguson
accompanied the Commissioners to America, he supplied his
place in the Moral Philosophy class ; and with so short a
preparation, that the facility and knowledge he displayed could
not be considered as less than extraordinary. Thus, while
delivering daily an extempore discourse for an hour, on a
subject comparatively new to him, he was also teaching two
classes of Mathematics, and giving, for the first time, a course
2

DUGALD STEWART.
of Lectures on Astronomy — the whole forming, as has been
well observed, (see Annual Obituary, &c. for 1829,) a very
singular instance of intellectual vigour.
In 1780, he began to receive young noblemen and gentlemen
into his house, as pupils under his immediate superintendence,
and numbered among them several persons of high rank, as
well as individuals of future professional and literary eminence.
In the summer of 1783, he was enabled to visit the Continent,
for the first time, as the associate of one of these, the late
Marquis of Lothian ; and on his return, he married Miss
Helen Bannatine, who died in 1787, the .daughter of Mr. Neil
Bannatine, a merchant of Glasgow. In 1790, he married
Miss Cranston, of the noble house of Crailing. — In 1785,
Mr. Stewart entirely exchanged the Mathematical for the
Moral Philosophy class ; in which he acquired his great repu
tation as a moralist and metaphysician. As a public speaker
he was fluent, animated, and impressive ; his manner at once
graceful and dignified ; and his eloquence often so powerful as
to bear along his auditory with irresistible force. He made
them love the dryest science, and from his mouth disquisition
frequently flowed with the sweetness of poetical composition :
abstract truths assumed agreeable forms, and the mysteries
of mind were unfolded in the style of a pleasant companion,
seducing his hearer by the charms of social conversation.
These qualities were consequently productive of the most
advantageous results ; and " no teacher (says a clever writer
in Blackwood's Magazine) ever before so completely succeeded
in awakening in the minds of his admiring pupils, that deep
and ardent love of science, which, in many cases, was never
afterwards effaced."
It appears to have been near upon his fortieth year, when
he first began to arrange Some of his metaphysical papers
with the view to publication, though several of them had been
written in his very youth. — The Essay on Dreaming, in Vo
lume I., of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, was composed
when he was a student in Glasgow, at the age of eighteen.
In 1792, he came before the world as an author, with the
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
volume we have just mentioned ; and briskly followed up his
success by publishing his Outlines of Moral Philosophy, and
Dr. Adam Smith's Essays, with a Biographical Memoir and
Dissertation. His subsequent editions of the Lives and
Writings of Dr. William Robertson, and Dr. Reid ; his Phi
losophical Essays; his Supplement to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, on which he engrafted his General View of the
Progress of Metaphysical, Ethical, and Political Philosophy,
since the Revival of Letters in Europe — and other works of
less importance — widely extended the sphere of his usefulness
and fame.
Previous to the publication of the Philosophical Essays,
in 1810, Professor Stewart had the misfortune to lose his
second and youngest son; and it imparted a melancholy
interest to this work, to know that its author had devoted
himself to it as a relief from the mournful thoughts which
preyed upon him in consequence of that event. To this
epoch of his life also, is to be referred the speculations on
Political Economy, which he embodied in Lectures ; and
which added much to the popularity of this rather novel
branch of science. The death of his son, and the progress of
years, induced Mr. Stewart to relinquish his chair ih the
University, and retire to Kinneil House, a seat belonging to
the Duke of Hamilton, on the banks of the Forth, about
twenty miles from the capital; and it was from this philo
sophical retirement, that all his latest productions are dated.
While occupying, during his active literary career, so marked
a place in the circle of learning, he had been the corre
spondent and friend of a multitude of scholars, at home and
abroad. Those who visited Scotland sought his society;
those whom he met in his own excursions to England and
the Continent, became known to him ; and those whom cir
cumstances forbade from either personal gratification, courted
his intercourse by epistolary communications. At Kinneil
House, the same state of respected intimacy was continued ;
and the retreat of the philosopher was often enlivened by the
introduction of distinguished strangers, and always cheered
4

DUGALD STEWART.
by the attentions of old and honored friends. At the close
of eighteen years so spent, the learned and venerable pro
fessor published his third Volume of the Philosophy, con
taining the Investigation of the Active and Moral Powers
of Man, which he finished only within a few weeks of the
termination of his mortal race. In 1822, he had endured a
stroke of palsy, which nearly deprived him of the powers of
utterance, and enfeebled his frame so much as to make him
altogether dependent for his comforts, on the assistance
which affection was prompt to bestow. But this sad cala
mity, while it broke down the body, neither impaired the
faculties of his mind, nor interrupted the vigorous activity of
his understanding. With his daughter, as an amanuensis,
he partook with cheerfulness of all the gratifications which
it was still permitted him to enjoy; and to the last exhibited
an admirable example of serenity and calm, as he passed
gradually to the grave. The Quiete, et pure, et eleganter
actce cetatis, placida ac lenis senectus, of the mighty Roman
orator and philosopher, was never more applicable, than to
his sunset of life.
On the 11th of June, 1828, he breathed his last, at Ainslie
Place, Edinburgh, and was interred, with solemn ceremony, in
the Canongate churchyard ; the members of the University, and
the civic authorities, uniting to pay this tribute to his remains.
Shortly before, he had received an honorable testimony to his
character as a profound and admired contributor to the literary
glory of his country, by the presentation of one of the two
Gold Medals annually adjudged, by the Royal Society of
Literature, to individuals the most distinguished by productions
of learning or genius. It was acknowledged, in a letter to the
Council of the Society, which showed how highly this proof of
approbation was appreciated, and may well embalm the memory
of the gift as an heirloom to the latest of his posterity.
With regard to an appreciation of Mr. Stewart as one of
the ornaments of the age in which he lived, we cannot perhaps
do better than transcribe the glowing picture, which we have
reason to believe was drawn by the pencil of his surviving
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
son ; and which, though it may be tinged with the colours of
filial love, is not the less congenial to the lines of nature and
of truth. " His writings are before the world, and from them
future generations may be safely left to form an estimate of his
style of composition — of the extent and variety of his learning
and scientific attainments — of the singular cultivation and
refinement of his mind — of the purity and elegance of his
taste — of his warm relish for moral and for natural beauty — of
his enlightened benevolence to all mankind, and of the generous
ardour with which he devoted himself to the improvement of
the human species — of all which, while the English language
endures, his works will continue to preserve the indelible
evidence. But of one part of his fame no memorial will
remain, but in the recollection of those who have witnessed
his exertions. As a public speaker, he was justly entitled to
rank among the very first of his day ; and had an adequate
sphere been afforded for the display of his oratorical powers,
his merit in this line alone would have sufficed to secure him
an eternal reputation. Among those who have attracted the
highest admiration in the senate and at the bar, there are still
many living who will bear testimony to his extraordinary
eloquence. The ease, the grace, and the dignity of his action;
the compass and harmony of his voice, its flexibility and
variety of intonation ; the truth with which its modulation
responded to the impulse of his feelings, and the sympathetic
emotions of his audience ; the clear and perspicuous arrange
ment of his matter ; the swelling and uninterrupted flow of
his periods ; and the rich stores of ornament which he used to
borrow from the literature of Greeoe and of Rome, of France
and of England, and to interweave with his spoken thoughts
with the most apposite application, were perfections, not
possessed in a superior degree by the most celebrated orators
of the age ; nor in any of the greatest speakers of the time
(perhaps) were they to an equal degree united."
Such is the hardly partial sketch of a near relative ; but
common consent has placed Dugald Stewart on quite as
elevated a pinnacle. 6

DUGALD STEWART.
" He reminds us (says another writer and an eminent critic)
of the character given by Cicero of one of his contemporaries,
who expressed ' refined and profound thought in soft transpa
rent diction.' He is another proof that the mild sentiments
have their eloquence, as well as the vehement passions. It will
be difficult to name a work in which so much refined philosophy
is joined with so fine a fancy, as the Introduction to the
Encyclopaedia ; and so much elegant literature, with such a
delicate perception of the distinguishing excellence of great
writers, and with an estimate in general so just of the services
rendered to knowledge by a succession of philosophers. It is
pervaded by a philosophical benevolence, which keeps up the
ardour of his genius, without disturbing the serenity of his
mind. It is felt in his reverence for knowledge, in the gene
rosity of his praise, and in the tenderness of his censure. It
is still more sensible in the general tone with which he relates
the successful progress of the human understanding among
many formidable enemies. Those readers are not to be envied
who limit their admiration to particular parts, or to excellences
merely literary, without being warmed by the glow of that
honest triumph in the advancement of knowledge, and of that
assured faith in the final prevalence of truth and justice, which
breathe through every page, and give the unity and dignity of
a moral purpose to the whole of this classical work."
Such are the opinions ascribed to Mr. Francis Jeffrey.
Other critics have questioned the religious principles of Mr.
Stewart; but although it was not the object of any of his
philosophical works to inculcate any particular creed or mode
of faith, it must be felt that he advanced no doctrine incompa
tible with the most orthodox belief. He was therefore univer
sally esteemed as a public writer.
In more private life he seems to have been equally happy.
Though somewhat reserved in company, he was inclined to
be amused with the sallies of wit and gaiety; and from
a natural excellence of disposition, improved by intercourse
with refined minds, his deportment was always free and
gentlemanlike — not an invariable concomitant of learned
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
weight and philosophical consideration. But Mr. Stewart
had mixed with the world in the best sense of the word,
and his acquaintance with elegant literature was as familiar,
as his range of erudition was immense. He was, therefore,
alike full of instruction and anecdote — a person with whom
none could cope, as the Duke says of Jaques, in his humours,
without reaping both entertainment and information. In his
domestic circle he was all but adored ; and if great acquire
ments, and an innate nobleness of nature, entitle the memory
of a man to lustre, that lustre will be universally accorded to
the memory of Dugald Stewart. 8

j/mJ Jarfi.

RICRARD BRTBLSLEY S RE RID AN" . ESQ.

EISHKR.. 30N Se C LOUDON. lBdO.

THE RIGHT HONORABLE

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN.

It is not a pleasant task* to sit down to write the life of
Sheridan ; and to compress within a few pages, what has
sufficiently employed the pen of a Moore to illustrate by an
ample volume.* The life of Sheridan is full of difficulties :
it is the history of genius, and of common human character ;
of a man blessed with transcendent abilities, too often degraded
into poor expedients ; of the statesman, the orator, the drama
tist, and the wit, yet all sharing the waste made by heedless
infirmity, want of perseverance, idleness of disposition, and the
love of dissipation. These are views which cause us to admire
and to mourn at the same moment ; to glorify the splendid gifts
with which nature endowed this individual, and to feel that
from nature also he inherited imperfections — the imperfec
tions of his kind — to be acknowledged and deplored. But
far be it from us to join the herd who make talent the butt of
their senselessness and envy; who think it just to try the
highest orders of intellect by an immaculate standard, as if the
possessors were gods, not men. We assent to the truth of
that divine maxim, which requires much from those to whom
much is given; but we dissent from the extension of it, which, in
the too general opinion of the world, demands absolute exemp
tion from error in the children of genius. If we look around
us, do we not see this strange principle in universal operation?
The more distinguished the parties, be it in what walk of
eminence soever, the less are they excused the slightest failings,
* Now in iwo volumes ; for not only has the quarto edition been exhausted,
but there is a fourth edition of the work in two volumes octavo.
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
and the more rigidly are they held to the test of perfectness.
Do we justly, or liberally, or generously, palliate a speck in
them on account of their superior brilliancy ? No ; on the
contrary, we observe it the sooner, we denounce it the louder,
and what we should pass by disregarded in ordinary persons,
are proclaimed as unpardonable blots and crimes, where they
are surrounded by the brighter excellencies, which ought not
to be their aggravation, but their apology. And, let our argu
ment not be misunderstood : we do not claim immunity for the
class of beings to whom it applies ; all that we ask is candour,
and an equality in the measure of judgment. If it be the
boast of the best laws, that the low shall enjoy the same
privileges with the exalted, it is surely but a fair equivalent in
morals, that the exalted shall not be dragged down to an
ordeal, before whose fiery touch the humblest must fall, and
innocency itself be scathed.
As our duty, however, is to compose a memoir, and not an
essay, we shall proceed to trace the principal incidents in the
life of R. B. Sheridan. He was born in Dublin, in September
1751. He was the grandson of the well-known Dr. Sheridan,
the friend of Dean Swift, and the son of Mr. Thomas
Sheridan, by the celebrated authoress of Sidney Biddulph,
the Tale of Nourjahad, and the plays of The Discovery and
The Dupe. With his elder brother, Charles Francis, he
was at seven years of age placed under a respectable school
master, with whom he remained for a year, and acquired the
reputation of being a stupid dunce. His parents having
removed to England, he was in 1762 sent to Harrow, where his
scholastic fame stood little higher; for though occasional
gleams of intellect shone forth, and obtained him credit for
the possession of considerable talents, he was rather noticed
as an indolent, careless boy, and generally loved on account
of his frank and engaging manners. This was the type
of his whole future career; in which dilatoriness, stimulus,
exertion, and pleasure, varied the round.
In 1766, his mother died at Blois, whither the, family had
been driven by embarrassed circumstances, and whence
2

R. B. SHERIDAN.
Richard's allowances had, in consequence, been by no means
so regular as to accustom his mind to settled conduct, or certain
prospects. Such a state in early years was but too well calcu
lated to form him for precarious habits in after-life, for chances,
and for a sanguine temperament to rely rather on hopes of
what fortune might do, than on steady efforts to deserve its
favours. When nearly eighteen, he left Harrow for London,
where his father and brother then resided ; and soon after
removed with them to Bath, where, in 1770, we find him in
correspondence with Mr. Halhed at Oxford, his most prominent
school-friend, on the subject of poetical translations and
compositions, which they had agreed to write in union, and to
publish. Of these performances, only a translation of Aris-
taenatus ever saw the light ; and a mythological burletta, in
imitation of Midas, (which, on several points, curiously antici
pates " The Critic,") was begun, but never brought to a conclu
sion. A periodical miscellany was another of their schemes,
but a first number also terminated this literary labour.
A stronger passion for a youth of twenty, than the most
ardent love of literature, at this period sprang up to wean
Sheridan from these pursuits. The exquisitely beautiful Miss
Linley, whose musical fascinations were not inferior to her
personal charms, inspired this passion; and at the age of
sixteen, held him among the throng of her enamoured slaves.
For huh, in the end, the fair syren rejected all his rivals,
including his brother Charles, his friend Halhed, Mr. Long,
(a Wiltshire gentleman, who magnanimously presented his lost
mistress with three thousand pounds,) and other suitors of
superior pretensions, if the stores of fortune can ever be placed
in competition with the visions of young affection. What such
visions are, the elegant love-verses, so often quoted from the
poems composed by Sheridan, in tributes to his "divine
Cecilia," may partially show ; and the triumph of his ardent
muse, in the consummation which crowned his wishes.
In 1772, when this event happened, the lover was, perhaps,
in some degree, indebted for the crisis to the public attentions
with which Captain Mathews, a man of gallantry, though
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
married, chose to persecute Miss Linley. Almost driven from
her profession by his insults, and by an increasing dislike to
it, " which made her shrink more and more from the gaze of
the many, in proportion as she became devoted to the love
of one ;" the lady, now entering her eighteenth, was prevailed
upon to elope with Sheridan, in his twenty-first year; and
after a well-concerted flight and journey, they were married
at a little village not far from Calais, about the latter end of
March. On their return to England, together with Mr. Linley,
who had pursued his truant daughter, found her at Lisle, and
been reconciled to the runaways, Mr. Sheridan discovered that
he had been advertised by Mr. Mathews, in the Bath Chronicle,
as a liar and a scoundrel ; the result of this was, two duels
between these gentlemen, which made a great noise at the time.
They fought with swords, and from the details circulated on
both occasions, there appears to have been less of skill and
coolness than are generally practised ; the affairs resolving
themselves into desperate personal scuffles, in which the wea
pons were broken, and, in the last, Sheridan wounded severely,
and his adversary slightly. On recovering, the former
retired for a while to Waltham Abbey, and Miss Linley (for
the marriage was still kept secret, and the parents continued
resolute in resisting the union) was obliged to fulfil the pro
fessional engagements, into which she had, as a minor, entered
with her father. During Lent, she accordingly sang in the
Oratorios at Covent Garden, and her husband caught some
opportunities of interchanging a few words with her, by dis
guising himself as a hackney-coachman, and driving her home
from the theatre. Yet his condition was no enviable one, and
he was a prey to despondency and fear. She, from whom he
was thus separated, was an object of universal celebrity and
admiration, and every day teemed with reports of her conquests,
and of great alliances proposed for her acceptance. Need we
wonder that under such circumstances the jealousy of Sheridan
should have been excited, and a serious misunderstanding
created between him and his scarcely wife? They were recon
ciled, however ; and, after as many stratagems and scenes as
4

R. B. SHERIDAN,
would have formed a long drama, ultimately overcoming
all obstacles, were married by license on the 13th of April,
1773, a few weeks after Sheridan had entered as a student of
the Middle Temple.
A part of the sum which Mr. Long had settled upon Miss
Linley, and occasional assistance from her father, were now,
besides his own talents, all that the youthful pair had to rely
upon ; and Mr. Sheridan, with an honorable pride and deli
cacy, peremptorily refused to derive any emolument, however
tempting the prize, from the re-appearance of his wife in
public. They sought happiness in retirement, and, in a small
cottage at East Burnham, tasted it more purely and abun
dantly than ever they did in more prosperous and glittering
days. Towards these the first step was a house in Orchard-
street, Portman-square ; and on the 17th of January, 1775,
his first dramatic labour, The Rivals, was brought out at
Covent Garden, and failed, in consequence of the bad acting
of Mr. Lee as Sir Lucius O'Trigger ; but Mr. Clinch having
been substituted in that character, the comedy rose at once
into great popularity. Previous to this public appearance,
however, and during the. whole time that had elapsed from his
leaving Harrow, Sheridan, though he had neither perfected
any distinct design, nor produced any overt proofs of literary
pursuits, had not suffered his talents to sink into torpor from
want of cultivation. The mass of his early papers, examined
by his biographer, exhibits, on the contrary, the workings of an
active, but not of a persevering mind. A hundred schemes
seem to have been begun, and never finished ; essays, partly
written, on subjects of all sorts ; plans of new periodicals
sketched; and every indication is afforded of an intelligent
and clever young man, alive to the surrounding world, and
ready to take his part in discussing every topic of interest
which attracted the attention of the times. And though this
desultory course of study, if study it can be called, may not be
comparable to a more severe system of application, where the
party has a decided object or profession in view ; we are not sure
whether, for such a course as was afterwards run by Mr. Sheridan,
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
it was not the best he could have adopted. In spite of his
defective education, and even of his indifferent orthography,
which, according to Mr. Moore, he was never able com
pletely to correct ; the constant habit of turning his regards
towards passing events, and of cogitating upon novelties in
politics and literature, must have schooled him widely, if not
deeply, for future efforts, and exercised him for those ardent
struggles, which were to uplift his name in the face of his
country, as a senator and an author of unrivalled variety and
seldom rivalled power. That he himself felt the force of this,
is evident from one of his remaining memoranda — speaking of
Lord Chesterfield's promulgated opinions — " His frequent
directions for constant employment, entirely ill-formed : a wise
man is formed more by the action of his own thoughts, than by
continually feeding it. Hurry (he continues) from play to
study ; never be doing nothing. I say, ' Frequently be unem
ployed, sit and think.' There are on every subject but a few
leading and fixed ideas ; their tracks may be traced by your
own genius, as well as by reading : a man of deep thought,
who shall have accustomed himself to support or attack all he
has read, will soon find nothing new : ' thought is exercise, and
the mind, like the body, must not be wearied.' "
The success of The Rivals, and the fascinating accomplish
ments of Mrs. Sheridan, were ready passports into the most
fashionable circles of society ; and the gay and the great were
now the associates and patrons of Sheridan, who, in May, from
his farce of St. Patrick's Day, added a sprig of shamrock to his
comic crown of laurel. Within the same year, on November
21st, The Duenna was brought out with triumphant eclat,
and ran through seventy-five nights of the season. Having
thus established a dramatic reputation of a very high class, it
is not surprising that the ambition of the writer of three
successful pieces within a few months, should point at the
possession of theatrical authority and property, as an eligible
object for the devotion of his abilities, and the acquisition of
fortune. We accordingly find Mr. Sheridan, after some nego
tiation with Mr. Garrick, in June, 1776, the patentee and
6

R. B. SHERIDAN.
manager of Drury Lane Theatre ; the appraised value of which
was £70,000, of which he obtained two fourteenths, Mr. Linley
two fourteenths, and Dr. Ford three fourteenths, being a moiety
of the whole, at the rate of £5000 for each fourteenth share.
Whence he derived the means to complete this purchase,
remains a problem which we cannot solve ; and, indeed, we
must confess, with more diligent inquirers, that the production
of his financial resources, on this and subsequent occasions,
where capital was necessary, involves a more extraordinary
mystery than the production of his finest mental efforts appa
rently without the toil of preparation.
After he had become manager, Mr. Sheridan's first contribu
tion to the theatre was the Trip to Scarborough, in February,
1777 ; an alteration of the comedy of The Relapse, by Sir John
Vanbrugh; and, on the 8th of May, in the same year, he
reached the summit of his dramatic fame, by the production
of the School for Scandal. It is worthy of remark, that the
authorship of this brilliant composition has been questioned ;
but the discovery of the elaborated and multiplied copies of it,
which were found among Mr. Sheridan's papers, must set this
doubt at rest — though it is an extraordinary fact, that, in the
utmost want of money, he never could be prevailed upon to
sell the copy-right of the School for Scandal, as he did of all
his other plays. He had, indeed, once made a bargain respect
ing it with Mr. Ridgway, the bookseller, but never could be
induced to furnish the manuscript ; and when offered a consi
derable sum by Messrs. Longman and Co. for it, to form a
portion of Mrs. Inchbald's British Drama, he certainly refused
the offer ; and this retention, probably, gave rise to the various
surmises which have been hazarded upon the subject of its
originality. The comedy has been translated into most of the
languages of Europe, and has been acted every where with
unanimous applause.
In 1778, our successful and prosperous dramatist was
enabled to become proprietor of a much larger share of Drury
Lane ; to the management of which, his father, having been
reconciled to him after the grievous offence taken at his marriage,
7

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
was appointed by him. On the death of Garrick, in the
following year, Mr. Sheridan followed him to his grave, in
Westminster Abbey, as chief mourner ; and on the same melan
choly occasion, wrote his Monody, which is the longest poem for
which we are indebted to his pen. It was recited on the stage
during a week, but yielded its place in due time to the witty and
laughable farce of The Critic.
But the period now approached when the writer was to
appear in a new character, and upon another scene. Having
been introduced to Charles Fox by Lord John Townshend,
and having also become acquainted with the stirring political
men of the day, such as Burke, Wyndham, and others, he
warmly attached himself to the Whig party, and commenced
his services to them by taking an active share in the Englishman
newspaper, set up to support their cause. On the dissolution
of parliament in the autumn of 1780, he was returned, con
jointly with Mr. Monckton, as one of the representatives for
Stafford ; and from this era forsook the dramatic Muse for the
stormy arena of politics. In less than a month after entering-
within the walls of St. Stephen's, he made his first speech on the
presentation of a petition complaining of his own and colleague's
undue election ; and in March, 1781, was the originator of a
motion for the better regulation of the police of Westminster.
He did not, however, assume any very distinguished part in the
animated debates that occupied the house previous to the
appointment of the Rockingham ministry, with which he rose
to place, being named one of the Under Secretaries of State.
At the~ expiration of the four months of its continuance, he
resigned, in conjunction with Fox and Burke, while others of
the Whig party remained in office with Lord Shelburne. The
famous coalition selected him for the Secretaryship of the Trea
sury, which was also doomed to-be a shortlived enjoyment ; but
on the downfal of that strange anomaly, he had the good for
tune, in 1784, not to be left hors de combat, as one of " Fox's mar
tyrs," at the general election, but again to secure his seat for
Stafford, and thus keep the field open to that ambitious career
for which he was so fully ripe. But it would be foreign to the
8

R. B. SHERIDAN.
purpose of such a sketch as this, to enter into the details of
parliamentary and political movements ; we shall, there
fore, only glance at those prominent points which mark epochs
in the remembrance of Sheridan. Among these, one of the
most striking was the charge relative to the Begum Princess of
Oude, a speech delivered on the 7th of February, 1787, and
with so unparalleled an effect, that it not only extorted the
highest panegyrics from the greatest orators of the age, but
mainly contributed to turn the tide of public opinion into
hostility against Mr. Hastings, then the object of unrelenting
persecution. Burke, Fox, and Pitt united in the eulogy of this
masterpiece of eloquence ; and, on the motion of Sir W. Dolben,
the Commons adjourned, in order that they might have space
for calm reflection, and not be borne away by the feelings which
had been so potently excited by " the wand of the enchanter."
Of this extraordinary oration^ it is much to be lamented there
is no adequate report ; nor of that in which, upon the subse
quent impeachment of Mr. Hastings, Sheridan opened the
seventh charge, and which was nearly as splendid an effort. —
In the first Regency question he was also deeply involved ;
and in the grand differences which arose among politicians on
the breaking out of the French Revolution, he was one with
whom Mr. Burke sundered the ties of public party and private
friendship. Indeed, their courses diverged at this period more
widely than those of others of the Opposition, for Mr. Sheridan
went so far as to join the Friends of Reform, and be one of the
Committee to draw up their Address to the People ; which Mr.
Fox, with all his love of liberty, refused to do or sanction.
But in observing chronological order in this sketch, we
ought to look at its subject about the year 1792, as having
reached the pinnacle of his fortunes, whence they ever after
wards declined, with only the brief gleams of sunshine which
broke through their gathering shades when his friends in 1806
got into power, and in 1811, when his own high favour with
the Prince Regent rendered him so important to the negotia
tions for forming a ministry. Up to this point of- time his star
had ascended : as a dramatic writer he was the first ; as a
9

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
parliamentary orator hardly second to any of the greatest
ornaments of the senate ; and, as far as regarded the realization
of property, he had become the holder of a productive, if not a
lucrative share in a theatre, which offered him pecuniary inde
pendence, had he been as wise in the regulation of his expendi
ture, as he had shown himself able in the acquisition of
a revenue. But Sheridan was neither of the' provident nor the
prudent class. He lived freely and extravagantly, enjoying
the most brilliant society in the gay world ; and within his own
more private circle, with such companions as Tickell and
Richardson, revelled in the utmost buoyancy of spirits and
jovial prodigality. Yet it was upon this dazzling and heedless
scene, that the clouds were about to sweep in gloom and dark
ness. Having lost his father in 1788, a trial far more severe
now awaited him ; for in 1792, his lovely wife was taken from
him at the age of thirty-eight, after a long illness, which
terminated in consumption. The careful hand that had in
some degree restrained his habits of profusion being thus
removed, the pecuniary involvements, which had been gradually
accumulating, became obvious to the light ; and the easy-
tempered man resorting to expedient after expedient, to
postpone the evil crisis, only became more inextricably
enthralled, the prey of the sordid, and the pity (in words) of
the hard-hearted. Yet in the midst of this unequal struggle,
Mr. Sheridan recommended- himself to Miss Ogle, daughter of
the Dean of Winchester ; and in 1795 not only married that
lady, but purchased the estate of Pollsden, in Surrey, at the
price of £20,000, so as to be enabled to make a fitting settle
ment upon her in the event of his decease. This respectable
connexion, no doubt, retarded the utterly ruinous embar
rassment of his affairs, and afforded him longer scope for
both political and literary exertions to retrieve. But he
had been too deeply steeped in pleasures, to turn again to
vigorous and persevering labours : excepting his splendid
displays of patriotism and talents in the House of Commons
on the occasions of the perilous mutiny at the Nore, and the
breaking out of the war in the Peninsula (1808), we have little
10

R. B. SHERIDAN.
to record of his efforts as a statesman ; and, if we except his
alterations of Mr. Thompson's Stranger, and adaptation of
Pizarro to the English stage, we have still less to state of his
productions as an author. These, however, were attended with
great eclat, and almost unprecedented success : the speeches
in Parliament raised the name of Sheridan into universal
popularity, and the dramas filled the treasury at Drury Lane.
In other respects, too, his career was somewhat chequered ; —
in 1804, his never-swerving friend and patron, the Prince of
Wales, (now our gracious King,) seized an opportunity to
appoint him Receiver of the Duchy of Cornwall ; which, how
ever, owing to accidental circumstances, did not immediately
produce the advantages contemplated by the munificent donor.
In two years afterwards, when the party with which he had
acted from his entrance into public life, at length secured the
reins of government, he was once more appointed Treasurer
of the Navy, the same office which he had held so far back as
1789. This, it must be confessed, was rather humiliation than
advancement ; for, considering the proud elevation to which his
genius had lifted him in the mean time, Mr. S. had surely a
right to expect from his coadjutors a place of greater dignity and
responsibility, with a seat in the Cabinet, as the acknowledg
ment and reward of his services. But there were more claim
ants for promotion than there were means to satisfy them, (as
it was humorously said, there were more pigs than teats) ; and
Mr. Fox, in his arrangements, postponed those of "his ancient
ally in many a desperate contest. This conduct was unquestion
ably very galling to Mr. Sheridan, being a decisive balk to his
legitimate ambition ; and it is not surprising, that no cordiality
ever after existed between him and Mr. Fox, though he
accompanied his remains to the grave in the character of
principal mourner.
The death to which we have alluded laid open the repre
sentation of Westminster to competition ; and as this had long
been an object of desire to Mr. Sheridan, he boldly started for
the prize, and won it. But, like most of his other prizes, he
was not enabled to wear it long ; for on the dissolution, in the
11

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
following year, 1807, there was another contest and a different
result, the late member being thrown out, and Sir F. Burdett
and Sir S. Hood elected. In the new Parliament, therefore,
Mr. S. took his seat, in conjunction with Mr. M. A. Taylor, for
the borough of Ilchester.
On the night of the 24th of February, 1809, he was in his
place in the House, when an alarm was given that Drury Lane
Theatre was on fire : this was the climax of his fate, and put
the seal upon his falling fortunes. Yet he bore up against it
manfully ; for he had too often looked difficulties and dangers of
this kind in the face, to be overwhelmed even by the force of
such a calamity. The debate of the night was of no less conse
quence than a question on the Spanish war, brought on by the
leader of the opposition, Mr. Ponsonby ; but so strongly were the
feelings of the members interested, that, in compliment to Mr.
Sheridan, a motion for adjournment was made, upon which he
calmly observed, that private suffering ought not to interrupt
national business ; and with this fine sentiment quitted the
House, to witness the entire destruction of his property. It is
told, as an example of his wit and equanimity of mind oh this
occasion, that some one, remarking upon his calmly taking
refreshment at the adjacent Piazza Coffee-house, while the
flames were raging, he replied, "A man may surely be allowed
to take a glass of wine by his own fire-side." It was, however,
the final wreck of his affairs, for it threw him dependently
into the hands of friends and advisers, — a very hapless state,
for friends and advisers are apt to dictate to their clients what
is extremely disagreeable to their feelings, and hence disputes
and dislikes arise ; — to do for them even with good intentions,
what does not always turn out to be the best course that could
have been taken ; — and, generally, to wound the self-love of
those who are rendered more sensitive, by the haunting and
degrading idea, that they are no longer free agents in their
own concerns. It thus too often happens, that the agency of
friend to the embarrassed is but a thankless office, and repaid
by complaints and crimination, instead of expected gratitude.
Thus it was with the interference of Mr. Whitbread in the
12

R. B. SHERIDAN.
cause of Mr. Sheridan : the former seems to have wanted the
delicate touch which was best adapted to such a case, and by
probing and cauterizing the wound too harshly, with a view to
its cure, he inflicted pains which the soul of the latter could
not endure. Some of their correspondence, under circum
stances of great humiliation on the one side, and an absence
of tenderness on the other, cannot be perused without sorrow
and regret. The thoughtless and the worldling — the straggler
of genius, and the cold, hard calculator in business — are ill
yoked together.
A few words will now bring us to the close of Mr. Sheri
dan's public career. His latest speech in parliament was
uttered in 1812, upon his own motion relative to the overtures
of peace from France ; and in this he advocated Catholic
emancipation, and despaired of Great Britain and Europe, as
having lost the last hopes of liberty, under the subjugation of
Napoleon. On the dissolution of parliament in September,
Mr. S. again tried his chance for the representation of Stafford,
but failed, as he alleged, from the withholding of a small
portion of the funds claimed upon the Drury Lane property,
by which he was exposed to the persecution of the law, let
loose upon him by many failures, and no longer to be met by
the command of his theatrical resources, or held off by the
protection of legislative privileges. Driven to despondency, if
not to despair, by the precarious state of life that ensued, the
unhappy Sheridan, who had enlivened his country by his wit,
and society by his playfulness, sunk into the almost reckless
reveller. Deep anxieties, and oblivious irregularities, divided
the mind of him who had been the gayest of the gay; the
fangs of creditors, attorneys, and bailiffs, were upon his goods
and person ; and the opening grave could not afford him an
asylum from their merciless pursuit. They had cried " havock,
and let slip the dogs of law ;" the defenceless deer was before
the pack, they were upon its haunches in full cry for the first
dabble in its blood, and the poor creature was run down in the
midst of wretchedness and agony. With his very death-bed
in the clutches of officers, and his person menaced with
13

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
removal to perish in a gaol, on the 7th of July, 1816, death
put an end to the sufferings of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, in
the 65th year of his age. To the honour of his Majesty, and
of one or two of his private friends, it ought to be told, that a
portion of this severe distress had arisen from their ignorance of
his real situation ; and that a few days before his decease, when
it had become known to them, the Royal bounty, and the
remembrance of former times, had caused relief and succour to
be sent to the abode of misery. All, however, was too late ;
and a showy funeral in Westminster Abbey dropped the
curtain for ever upon this man of extraordinary gifts and
strange vicissitudes.
In him was exemplified the truth, that want of regularity
is equivalent to vice, and more severely punished in the conse
quences ; and that poverty, in our commercial land, involves a
retribution which even-handed justice hardly allots to crime.
The condemned wrretch in Newgate could not have his latter
days more abandoned and imbittered than were those of this
distinguished individual. The origin of his difficulties might
probably be traced to having undertaken matters, for the suste
nance of which he had not capital ; and to his borrowing the
means on destructive terms. Adding to these burdens, by his
negligence* and profusion when prosperous, instead of lighten
ing or removing them, it is not surprising that he was ruined,
though very remarkable that the total amount of bond fide
claims upon him at his death was little more than £5,000.
But it is time to quit the examination of his character as
connected with pecuniary dealings, and the intercourse of
pounds, shillings, and pence. It is more cheering to con
template him in the private relations of life, where we see him
in many an amiable light. As a son, he was dutiful and
* As an instance of this, we may repeat an anecdote from his bankers. He
went to them one day in much agitation, and earnestly begged that they would
advance him some small sum upon his note, to meet a pressing emergency. The
clerk looked over the book, and the partners intimated their perfect readiness to
oblige their applicant, but added one of them, " We need not go through this form,
Mr. Sheridan, because Mr.  pajd £300 into your account on the 15th." — The
letters intimating this welcome fact to Sheridan had never been opened ! !
14

R. B. SHERIDAN.
affectionate to a father whose behaviour was harsh and unfor
giving. As a husband, though, in the springtide of his course,
the blighting communion of fashion, and the eager chase of
its heartless follies, poisoned, as they must ever do, the most
precious sweets of domestic enjoyments, he was nevertheless
fond and sincerely attached to the last. In every social rela
tion there was a genuine warmth and kindness of feeling
about him, which in a great measure gave him the ascendancy,
or, to speak more correctly, the influence, over those, which
he rarely failed to acquire even upon short and transient
acquaintanceship. This effect was aided, too, by his manner,
which was winning in the extreme ; so that if prejudice against
him existed in the bosom, it was dissipated by the candid and
confiding way in which he threw himself upon your feelings,
and his conquest was secured by the fascinations of his conver
sation ; and those who came to scoff, remained to prize.
In person Mr. Sheridan was strongly built, and muscular ;
and his countenance, though not handsome, was illuminated
with the fine dark and eloquent eyes whioh tell of genius within.
Nor was admiration unworthily bestowed on that genius, which,
it is stated, on one and the same evening delighted the senate by
a speech of almost unrivalled brilliancy, and crowded admirers
at Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres, by the perform
ances of the School for Scandal, and the Duenna. He was
indeed a man of rare endowments, and his chequered life is
not the less interesting to us, on account of the human imper
fections which impart a tone of sorrow and of pity to some of
the chords that raise the paean in his praise, But for these,
a pen of the noblest order has produced so touching an
apology, that we shall borrow its strain, and from the Monody
of a Byron, conclude our tribute to the memory of a
Sheridan. " But should there be to whom the fatal blight
Of failing Wisdom yields a base delight,
Men who exult when minds of heavenly tone
Jar in the music which was born their own ;
Still let them pause — Ah ! little do they know
That what to them seem'd Vice might be but Woe.
15

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
Hard is his fate on whom the public gaze
Is fix'd for ever, to detract or praise ;
Repose denies her requiem to his name,
And Folly loves the martyrdom of Fame.
The secret enemy, whose sleepless eye
Stands sentinel — accuser— judge— and spy,
The foe — the fool — the jealous — and the vain —
The envious, who but breathe in others' pain ;
Behold the host ! delighting to deprave,
Who track the steps of Glory to the grave,
Watch every fault that daring Genius owes
Half to the ardour which its birth bestows,
Distort the truth, accumulate the lie,
And pile the Pyramid of Calumny !
These are his portion ; — but if join'd to these
Gaunt Poverty should league with deep Disease ;
If the high Spirit must forget to soar,
And stoop to strive with Misery at the door,
To soothe Indignity — and face to face
Meet sordid Rage — and wrestle with Disgrace,
To find in Hope but the renew'd caress,
The serpent-fold of further Faithlessness, —
If such may be the ills which men assail,
What marvel if at last the mightiest fail ?
Breasts to whom all the strength of feeling given
Bear hearts electric — charged with fire from Heaven,
Black with the rude collision, inly torn,
By clouds surrounded, and on whirlwinds borne,
Driven o'er the lowering atmosphere that nurst
Thoughts which have turn'd to thunder — scorch — and burst.'
16

JAMES WAMDESFORD BUTLER. MARQUIS OF ORMONDE, K.R

F1SUER., SOW Ec C* LONDON, 183Q

THE MOST NOBLE
JAMES, MARQUIS OF ORMONDE,
ETC. ETC. ETC.
Of ancient and illustrious lineage, we here present the Portrait
of James-Wandesford Butler, the representative of a
race and name famous in history. His Lordship, who was
born in July, 1774, succeeded his brother in the Earldom
of Ormonde and Ossory, and inferior Irish dignities, in August
1820, was created a Baron of the United Kingdom in July
1821, and a Marquis of Ireland on the 5th of October 1825.
His other titles are, Viscount Thurles of Thurles, Baron
Arklow of Arklow, (both in Ireland,) and Baron Ormonde of
Llanthony, in Monmouthshire, his British Peerage. His
Lordship is also Hereditary Chief Butler of Ireland, a Knight
of St. Patrick, Governor and Custos Rotulorum of the County
of Kilkenny, and Colonel of the Kilkenny Militia. In 1807,
he married Grace-Louisa, daughter of the Right Honorable
John Staples, of the county of Tyrone, by the Honorable
Harriet Molesworth, a daughter of Lord Molesworth, by whom
he has a numerous family.
The long line of descent by which we trace this Nobleman's
ancestry from the period of the Conquest, is so richly adorned
in every age and generation, that to illustrate it would
occupy the antiquary and genealogist through as many hun
dreds of pages, as they have been honorably distinguished for
hundreds of years. Such a record is forbidden to our limits ;
and we can only glance at the leading features of individual
memory, without linking them with the historical associations
which would connect the " Chief Butlers" with all that was
interesting in the annals of six centuries. Suffice it to say, that
the Marquis is the chief and head of a family reckoning
as junior branches the Butlers Earls of Carrick, Kilkenny,
and Glengal, and the Lord Baron of Dunboyne, all still
existing peers of Ireland ; besides many who are now extinct.
1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
The first of the family recorded was Harveius Water, or
Walter, of a noble Norman race, who came over to England
with the Conqueror, and mamed Matilda de Valoines ; and by
her was father of Theobald Walter, who accompanied John Earl
of Morton, afterwards King John, to Ireland, and was by him
created Pincerna, or Chief Butler of Ireland, an office of great
dignity, held by grancl serjeantry. The Sovereigns of England, as
Kings and Lords of Ireland, not being crowned, or inaugurated
by any solemnity, the present Marquis was the first of the family
who performed precise services at any coronation, which was
decided by bis present Majesty to be similar to that performed
by the Duke of Norfolk, as great Butler of England, namely,
to present to the King a gold cup full of wine, and to have the cup
for his fee, which was accordingly done at the late coronation.
Before the Court of Claims, the Marquis produced, from the evi
dence chamber of his castle of Kilkenny, proving his descent and
his title to the office, original charters of every Sovereign of
England, from King John to his late Majesty, with but three
exceptions, viz. Edward the Fourth and Fifth, and Richard
the Third. There were five Theobalds in succession, who,
with Edmund, the son of the fifth, were styled in the
records Theobaldus or Edmundus Water Pincerna Hibernice,
in virtue of which office they had charge of the prisage of
wines due to the crown, that is to say, a ton of wine from
before, and another from behind the mast of every ship laden
with wine arriving in any port in Ireland ; and we find the
Pincerna's accounts entered regularly on the ancient Rolls of
the Pipe of Ireland. Out of this prisage the Grand Butler
had a large revenue. In a writ to the Chancellor of Ireland,
on a patent-roll in the Tower of London, of the 1st of
Edw. III. James le Botiller is styled "filius et hares Edmondi
le Botiller de Hibernice ;" and it is there stated that he had, by
his petition to the King in council, shewed, " quod cum prisa
vinorum in Hibernia, unde cognomen suum gerit, et ipse et
antecessores su de tempore quo non extat memoria gerebant
ad ipsum Jacobum pertinebant," &c. and the prisage was
ordered to be restored. This Edmund was, in 1316, created
2

THE MARQUIS OF ORMONDE.
Earl of Carrick, and died in 1321 ; but it is singular, that few
of his immediate descendants bore the title. James le Botiller,
his son and heir, was created Earl of Ormonde by patent,
dated the second year of King Edward the Third, and the
present Marquis is his heir male and representative — an Earl
in the male line for upwards of five centuries' standing.
The name of Le Botiller in after-ages superseded that of
Walter, and became second only to the appellation of Steward,
which rose during the same period in another country into a
royal pre-eminence, and marked the destinies of successive
monarchs. Theobald Butler, who was Lord Justice of Ireland
in 1247, was succeeded by others of the same name, who, by
marriages with the daughters of proud Barons in those days,
such as Valoines, Vavasour, De Monte Marisco or Montmo
rency, De Burgo (ancestor to Clanricarde), Fitz Geffery, Fitz
gerald Earl of Kildare, Bohun Earl of Hereford, D'Arcy,
Beauchamp of Abergavenny, Beaufort Duke of Somerset, (a
descendant of John of Gaunt,) Fitzgerald Earl of Desmond,
and Berkeley ; of whom Bohun, Beauchamp, and Beaufort,
were of the blood-royal of England. They acquired great
estates both in Ireland and England, and were powerful chiefs
in court and camp. Of these, Theobald, the fourth Butler,
sat as a Baron in the Parliament of the former country, accom
panied Edward the First in his Scottish wars ; receiving from
that monarch the whole grant of the prisage of wines in
Ireland, which remained, with brief interruption, a source of
revenue and influence in the family, till so late as 1810-11,
when the vested right was purchased from Walter, Marquis of
Ormonde, by the crown, at the price of £216,000.
James, the first Earl of Ormonde, married Eleanor, daughter
of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, by a Princess of
England, the daughter of King Edward the First, and sister
to King Edward the Second; and thus these nohle Earls
became legitimately related to the blood-royal of the Plantage-
nets of England, and also the royal houses of Castile and
Arragon, and most of the Sovereigns of the continent of
Europe. 3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
By James, the third Earl of Ormonde, who built and resided
at the castle of Gowran, (and was thence sometimes styled
the Earl of Gowran,) the splendid castle of Kilkenny was
purchased, in 1391, from the heirs of Hugh le De Spencer, Earl
of Gloucester; and this has ever since continued to be the prin
cipal abode of the head of the Butlers. His successor, James,
known by the name of the " White Earl," was a person of
learning, and devoted to such literary pursuits as the state of the
times permitted to a nobleman of his rank and public occupa
tions. He induced our chivalrous Fifth Henry to create a king-of-
arms in Ireland, by the title of Ireland King-of-Arms ; but which
was altered by Ed. VI. into the present designation of Ulster:
and he endowed the English Herald's College with lands in per
petuity, to maintain its honours, and contribute to its utility, in
preserving records and archives. His son, James, the fifth Earl,
was a steady adherent to the House of Lancaster, and, in the
wars of the rival roses, was made Earl of Wiltshire, in the
Peerage of England, by King Henry the Sixth. But this was
an era when titles were more readily won than worn ; and the
Earl, having been taken prisoner after the battle of Towton,
was beheaded by the victorious Yorkists at Newcastle, who
thus put an end, with his life, to the transitory Earldom of
Wiltshire. His brother, and heir, being also present in this
battle, was consequently attainted; but Edward IV., with
whom he became an admired favourite, restored him in blood
to the Ormonde honours. He is stated to have been one of the
most accomplished personages of the age — a model of polite
ness and good breeding, a complete master of the European
languages, a gentleman, a scholar, and a statesman. After
filling the office of Ambassador to several great governments,
he travelled in a fit of devotion, not unusual at that period, to
soothe his conscience by a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and died
in the holy city in the year 1478.
He was succeeded by his brother Thomas, who had been
summoned to the English Parliament by the ominous title of
Lord Rochford, and who died in 1515, leaving only two
daughters, Anne and Margaret, co-heiresses to some of his
4

MARQUIS OF ORMONDE.
unsettled estates in England, while those settled in Ireland
passed to his relative, Sir Peirce Butler, of Polestown, in
the county of Kilkenny, descended from the second son of
the third Earl. But Sir Peirce was not in the first instance
allowed to take the family titles, &c, which had thus devolved
upon him ; for the descendants of Lord Rochford ascending
to that eminence which was so fatal to them, the female branch,
(Margaret, married to William Boleyn,) by their influence at
Court, not only transmitted the title of Rochford to her son
Thomas, but he was exalted to the Earldom of Wiltshire and
Ormonde, all in the English peerage. As some equivalent for
this act of injustice, Sir Peirce Butler was created Earl of
Ossory, in 1527-8; and his son James became ninth Earl of
Ormonde, a few years after the execution of the son and
daughter of his rival, the unfortunate Lord Rochford and
Anne Boleyn, had opened the way to that restoration in the
right line. This James being poisoned at a supper at Ely
House, Holborn, was succeeded by Thomas, tenth of Ormonde
and third of Ossory, who conformed to the protestant faith,
and stood high in the good graces of Queen Elizabeth, by
whom he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
He died in 1614, and left an only daughter, Elizabeth : when
his nephew, Sir Walter Butler, of Kilcash, rose to the
peerage, which he has transmitted to his representative of
the present day. His grandson and immediate successor,
James the twelfth Earl, a faithful adherent to the royal
Stuarts, was, in 1642, created Marquis of Ormonde : he was
also a Knight of the Garter, and, on the restoration of the
monarchy, elevated, March, 1661, to the dukedom of Ormonde,
in Ireland, and enrolled among the Peers of England in 1673,
as Baron Butler, of Llanthony, and Earl of Brecknock, — in
1682, the ducal coronet was extended to England. He was,
during seven years, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and dying in
July, 1688, was succeeded by his grandson James, eldest son
of Thomas, Earl of Ossory, by Lady Amelia Nassau, and thus
connected with the House of Orange, that lady being the
grand-daughter of Prince Maurice. This nobleman, however,
5

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
was attainted on the accession of George I, and being obliged
to leave the kingdom, all his honours were forfeited.* He
died abroad, without male issue, in the critical year of his
Master's fortunes, 1745 ; and the titles lay dormant till 1791.
It was then proved, that the title was not affected by the
English act of attainder, and John Butler, of Garryricken,
descended from Richard of Kilcash, established the right to the
Irish dignities of Earl of Ormonde and Viscount Thurles. He
married the heiress of John Earl of Wandesford, which
brought that name into the family ; and was succeeded by
Walter, the late Marquis, so created in 1805, as well as an
English Peer, Baron Butler, of Llanthony. At his death, on
the 10th of August, 1820, the marquisate and English barony
expired ; but his brother James succeeded to the other titles, and
was advanced at subsequent dates, as stated in the beginning of
this Memoir, to the higher dignities which he now enjoys.
Having traced the lineage of this ' ancient and renowned
race, we might dilate on their residence, Kilkenny Castle,
which is now re-building in a style of great splendour and
magnificence, and on the benefits they have conferred on
that place and its vicinity; but these are familiar to every
one acquainted with the beauties, and local as well as general
history of Ireland, — a land which, still requiring, and suscep
tible of improvements, has every reason to look for them to
the present owner of this high estate, as an ornament and
friend to his country.
* They were remarkable for their splendour: he was in style, " The most high
puissant, and noble Prince, James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, Earl of Brecknock',
and Baron of Llanthony, and Moore Park, in England ; Duke, Marquis, and
Earl of Ormonde, Earl of Ossory Land Carrick, Viscount Thurles, Baron of
Arklow in Ireland, Baron of Dingwall, in Scotland, hereditary Lord of the Rega
lities, and Governor of the County Palatine of Tipperary, and of the City, Town
and County of Kilkenny, hereditary Lord Chief Butler of Ireland, Lord High
Constable of England, Lord Warden and Admiral of the Cinque-Ports, and Con
stable of Dover Castle, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Somerset, Lord Lieute
nant and Custos-rotulorum of the County of Norfolk, High Steward of the Cities
of Exeter, Bristol, and Westminster, Chancellor of the Universities of Oxford and
Dublin, Colonel of the first regiment of Foot Guards, and the first regiment of
Horse Guards, Captain-General, and Commander-in-chief of all Her Majgsty's
forces, by Sea and Land, one of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council,
Knight Companion of the most noble Order of the Garter, and Lord Lieutenant-
General, and Governor-General of the Kingdom of Ireland ! ! !

WILLIAM CARE^ D.D. LORD BISHOP OF EXETER.

FtSELEK.. SON Jfc C? LONDON )fl30.

THE RIGHT REVEREND
WILLIAM CAREY, D.D.
BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH.

To the diocese of St. Asaph, his Lordship has been translated
from Exeter, since the Portrait which accompanies this notice
was finished ; and we may justly consider this church.
preferment as an additional testimony to the merit, learn
ing, and piety, which originally raised him to the dignity of
the mitre.
The early history of Dr. Carey offers us nothing upon
which it is necessary for the biographer to dilate ; for we have
neither to record high family connexions, nor extraordinary
circumstances, as the foundations upon which his good fortune
has been established. Diligence and ability, rather than
brilliant powers, were, we are informed, the characteristics of
his progress in education ; and in due season he was entered
of Christ Church, Oxford, where he completed the circle of his
studies, and became a candidate for holy orders. For the
mere dates of this juvenile course, it may be useful to record,
that he became a King's Scholar at Westminster School, in
the year 1784, and was elected thence to Christ Church
in 1789. 1

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
The life of a studious man, seeking in the quiet of aca
demic shades that knowledge which shall fit him for the func
tions of a minister of our divine religion, is so little obtrusive
upon the world, that we shall simply mention that Dr. Carey
was made a Prebendary of York in 1802, and pass to the
period when he was, in 1803, appointed Head Master of
Westminster School; a trust of great importance, and one,
upon the efficient discharge of which, the future welfare of
many a youth depends. In this office he acquitted himself
in so distinguished a manner, as deservedly to acquire great
reputation for himself as a teacher, and a high degree of
prosperity for this national School. While he presided over
it, public opinion paid a just tribute to his talents ; and
both as regarded instruction and discipline, he was esteemed
a skilful and judicious director of the establishment.
In 1808, he had the honour of being named Sub- Almoner
to His Majesty; and Prebendary of Westminster, in 1809.
His only other church preferment was Vicar of Sutton in
the Forest, Yorkshire. Standing thus eminent in character,
the advice and assistance of Dr. Carey was sought by
His Royal Highness the late Duke of York, upon the
formation of that noble charity, the Military Asylum at
Chelsea ; and the Reverend Prebendary of Westminster did
not disappoint the hopes entertained of beneficial arrange
ments by the result of his zealous co-operation. Under his
inspection, the system for educating the children of our gal
lant soldiers was perfected ; and the school may justly be
considered as a model for all other institutions of a similar
kind. This service, together with the tenor of his whole life,
spent in works of usefulness, recommended the learned divine
2

RT. REV. WILLIAM CAREY, D.D.
to the especial favour of the amiable Prince, whose benevolent
and patriotic design he had thus promoted ; and through his
interest, we believe, he was consecrated, in November, 1820,
and succeeded the Honorable George Pelham in the see of
Exeter, where he was installed, on the 4th of January, 1821,
being, according to Mr. Britton's Chronological Table,* the
fifty-eighth bishop of that ancient western church. His con
duct as a diocesan has always been spoken of in terms of
much commendation, by the clergy and people immediately
concerned in the administration of his holy calling ; and as
an encourager of public works, and a watchful observer of
those under his authority, enforcing the due discharge of their
sacred duties, his name is held up among the list of exemplary
Prelates. \ In one particular, it is stated, he did himself credit by
endeavouring, though unfortunately without success, to put
a stop to an anomalous practice, — that of a clergyman uniting
the two civil and religious offices of Mayor and Rector, or
Vicar, of the same parish. But in spite of his remonstrance,
this strange alliance of the judicial and clerical character in
corporate towns still subsists, to the manifest injury of religion,
and not to the advantage of the Church of England.
The splendid Cathedral of Exeter received great im
provements during the time of his continuance in the see;
and he laid out very large sums on the Palace, so as to
leave it in perfect repair for his successor. In general, his
liberal and manly course must be remembered with the utmost
respect, by persons of all ranks and conditions in the diocese.
Indeed, this is shewn by the events which took place on
* Britton's History and Illustrations of Exeter Cathedral, 4to, 1827.
3

NATIONAL PORTRAITS.
his translation, as they appear in the journal of the place :
for on his last visit to the Palace, previous to his final
departure for St. Asaph, the Mayor and Representatives of the
Chamber of the City, waited on him in form, to congratulate
him upon his translation, and to express their regret at the
loss which Exeter would sustain, by being deprived of his
highly valued services.
We have only to add, that during the earlier years of his
life, his Lordship was the intimate associate and friend of
Dean Jackson, in whose literary pursuits he earnestly parti
cipated. Of himself, he has published nothing with which we
are acquainted, except a Sermon preached before the House
of Commons on the Fast-day, 4to, 1809.
4

YALE