took place between the British fleet and the French on the 6th of July, 1775, Barrington, in the Prince of Wales, commanded the van-division. The enemy were much superior to the English, but this discovery was not made till it was too late to remedy it. Barrington, in the Prince of Wales, with the Boyne and Sultan, pressed forward, soon closed with the enemy's fleet, and bravely sustained their attack until joined by other ships. It was not, however, the intention of the French admiral to risk a general engagement, having the conquest of Grenada in view; and his ships being cleaner than those of the English, enabled him to choose his distance. The consequence was, that several of the British ships were very severely handled, whilst others had no share in the action. Barrington was wounded, and had twenty-six men killed, and forty-six wounded in his own ship.

Soon after this engagement, Admiral Barrington, on account of illhealth, returned to England. These two actions had established the admiral's reputation, and he was looked on as one of the first officers in the English navy; on his return, however, we do not find any mark of his sovereign's favour conferred on him, until Sandwich was driven from the admiralty, and Keppel succeeded him; Barrington now made one or two cruises as commander-in-chief. When Lord Howe sailed to the relief of Gibraltar, our admiral was again second in command; and in the slight action which his lordship had with the combined fleets on his return, Barrington behaved with his usual gallantry. This was the last action of the war, and on the close of it he retired to a private life. In 1787 he was promoted to the rank of admiral of the Blue, and soon after made lieutenant-general of marines, a post which he held till the death of Lord Howe; he then succeeded to the generalship. Since the peace of 1783, he lived in an honourable retirement. He died at Bath in 1800.

Sir Ralph Abercromby.

BORN A. D. 1738.-DIED A. D. 1801.

THIS gallant officer was the son of George Abercromby, Esq., of Tullibodie in Clackmannanshire, the representative of a very old Scottish family. He was born in 1738, and at the age of eighteen obtained a cornetcy in the 3d dragoon guards. In 1781 he was appointed colonel of the 103d regiment; and in the year 1787 he reached the rank of major-general.

In the expedition to Holland commanded by the duke of York, he acted with the local rank of lieutenant-general. On his return to England, in 1795, he was made a knight of the Bath, and, in the same year, succeeded Sir Charles Grey as commander-in-chief in the West Indies, where he took from the enemy in rapid succession Grenada, Demerara, St Lucia, St Vincent, and Trinidad. On the breaking-out of the Irish rebellion, Sir Ralph, having in the meantime returned to England, was sent to Ireland as commander-in-chief; but his expressed aversion to the service obtained his recall, and appointment to the chief command in Scotland. In 1799 he again attended the duke of York to Holland, and shared in the dangers of this equally disastrous campaign,

but obtained an increase of military reputation by the skill and presence of mind which he displayed on several critical occasions.

In 1801 he was appointed to the command of the English forces destined to relieve Egypt. On the 16th of March he forwarded the following despatch to the secretary-at-war from the camp before Alexandria:

"Sir, although it was not originally my intention to have commenced the operations of the British army in Egypt on the side of Alexandria, yet circumstances arose which induced me to change my opinion. We were much longer delayed on the coast of Asia Minor than we had at first any reason to apprehend; and we were ultimately obliged to sail from Marmorice in a very imperfect state of preparation. I am fully sensible of the exertions of his majesty's ambassador at the Ottoman Porte, as well as of the quarter-master general, and the other officers who were sent forward to provide for the necessities of the army. Our delays originated from other causes. For a considerable time previous to our sailing the weather was extremely boisterous, and the winds contrary. The moment that it became practicable to sail with so large a fleet, Lord Keith put to sea; we left Marmorice on the 22d of February, and came in sight of Alexandria on the 1st of March.

"On the 2d, the fleet anchored in Aboukir bay. Until the 7th, the sea ran high, and no disembarkation could be effected; on that day every arrangement was completed; and on the 8th, the troops forming the first division, consisting of the reserve under the command of Major-general Moore, the brigade of Guards under the Hon. Majorgeneral Ludlow, and part of the first brigade under the command of Major-general Coote, got into the boats early in the morning: they had, in general, from five to six miles to row, and did not arrive at the point of landing till ten o'clock. The front of disembarkation was narrow, and a hill, which commanded the whole, seemed almost inaccessible. The enemy were fully aware of our intention, were in force, and had every advantage on their side. The troops, however, notwithstanding their being exposed to a very severe cannonade, and under the fire of grape-shot, made good their landing, ascended the hill with an intrepidity scarcely to be paralleled, and forced the enemy to retire, leaving behind him seven pieces of artillery and a number of horses. The troops that ascended the hill were the 23d regiment, and the four flank companies of the 40th, under the command of Colonel Spencer, whose coolness and good conduct Major-general Moore has mentioned to me in the highest terms of approbation. It is impossible to pass over the good order in which the 28th and 42d regiments landed, under the command of Brigadier-general Oakes who was attached to the reserve under Major-general Moore; and the troops in general lost not a moment in remedying any little disorder which became unavoidable in a landing under such circumstances. The disembarkation of the army continued on that and the following day. The troops which landed on the 8th advanced three miles the same day; and on the 12th the whole army moved forward, and came within sight of the enemy, who was formed on an advantageous ridge, with his right to the canal of Alexandria, and his left towards the sea. It was determined to attack them on the morning of the 13th, and, in consequence, the army marched in two lines by the left, with an intention to turn their right flank. The

troops had not been long in motion before the enemy descended from the heights on which they were formed, and attacked the leading brigades of both lines, which were commanded by Major-general Cradock and major-general the earl of Cavan.

"The 90th regiment formed the advanced guard of the front line, and the 92d that of the second; both battalions suffered considerably, and behaved in such a manner as to merit the praise both of courage and discipline. Major-general Cradock immediately formed his brigade to meet the attack made by the enemy; and the troops changed their position with a quickness and precision which did them the greatest honour. The remainder of the army followed so good an example, and were immediately in a situation not only to face, but to repel the enemy. The reserve, under the command of Major-general Moore, which was on the right, on the change of the position of the army, moved on in column, and covered the right flank. The army continued to advance, pushing the enemy with the greatest vigour, and ultimately forcing them to put themselves under the protection of the fortified heights which form the principal defence of Alexandria. It was intended to have attacked them in this their last position; for which purpose the reserve, under the command of Major-general Moore, which had remained in column during the whole of the day, was brought forward; and the second line, under the command of Majorgeneral Hutchinson, marched to the left across a part of the lake Mariotis, with a view to attack the enemy on both flanks; but on reconnoitring their position, and not being prepared to occupy it after it should be carried, prudence required that the troops who had behaved so bravely, and who were still willing to attempt any thing, however arduous, should not be exposed to a certain loss, when the extent of the advantage could not be ascertained. They were therefore withdrawn, and now occupy a position with their right to the sea, and their left to the canal of Alexandria and lake Mariotis, about a league from the town of Alexandria. Our communication with the fleet is at present kept up by means of the lake of Aboukir. We have been fortunate enough to find water sufficient for the supply of the army; and we begin to derive some supplies from the country."

On the 21st of March, General Menou arrived from Cairo, and with the whole disposable French force made a desperate attack upon the British lines. "The action," says General Hutchinson, on whom the command devolved when Sir Ralph fell, "commenced about an hour before day-light, by a false attack on our left, which was under Majorgeneral Cradock's command, where they were soon repulsed. The most vigorous efforts of the enemy were however directed against our right, which they used every possible exertion to turn. The attack on that point was begun with great impetuosity by the French infantry, sustained by a strong body of cavalry, who charged in column. They were received by our troops with equal ardour, and the utmost steadiness and discipline. The contest was unusually obstinate; the enemy were twice repulsed, and their cavalry were repeatedly mixed with our infantry. They at length retired, leaving a prodigious number of dead and wounded on the field. While this was passing on the right, they attempted to penetrate our centre with a column of infantry, who were also repulsed, and obliged to retreat with loss. The French, during

the whole of the action, refused their right. They pushed forward however, a corps of light troops, supported by a body of infantry and cavalry, to keep our left in check, which certainly was, at that time, the weakest part of our line. We have taken about two hundred prisoners (not wounded); but it was impossible to pursue our victory, on account of our inferiority in cavalry, and because the French had lined the opposite hills with cannon, under which they retired. We also have suffered considerably; few more severe actions have ever been fought, considering the number engaged on both sides. We have sustained an irreparable loss in the person of our never-sufficiently-to-belamented commander-in-chief, Sir Ralph Abercromby, who was mortally wounded in the action, and died on the 28th of March. I believe he was wounded early, but he concealed his situation from those about him, and continued in the field, giving his orders with that coolness and perspicuity which had ever marked his character, till long after the action was over, when he fainted through weakness and loss of blood. Were it permitted for a soldier to regret any one who has fallen in the service of his country, I might be excused for lamenting him, more than any other person; but it is some consolation to those who tenderly loved him, that as his life was honourable, so was his death glorious. His memory will be recorded in the annals of his country,-will be sacred to every British soldier, and embalmed in the recollection of a grateful posterity."

Sir Ralph did not die on the field of battle, but was conveyed on board Admiral Keith's ship, where he lingered till the 28th, when he expired. His body was carried to Malta, and there buried under the walls of St Elmo. A monument was erected to his memory in St Paul's by order of the house of commons; and his widow was created Baroness Abercromby.

John, Earl of Clare.

BORN A. D. 1749.-DIED A. D. 1802.

JOHN FITZGIBBON, earl of Clare, was the eldest son of a respectable Irish barrister. His father was of course a staunch Protestant, as none but such were at this period called to the Irish bar; but the family originally was Roman Catholic, and, it is said, the elder Fitzgibbon was at first designed for the Catholic priesthood.

In 1763 the subject of this notice was entered a fellow-commoner of Trinity college, Dublin, where he was contemporary with Flood, and Grattan, and Foster; Grattan and he were constantly pitched against each other in their academical career, as they were destined to be afterwards in a more public and important sphere. Grattan, at first, took the lead; but Fitzgibbon ultimately gained upon his rival, and bore off every contested honour.

Having studied law at the Temple, he was called to the bar while yet a very young man. He undoubtedly commenced his career under very favourable external circumstances; but his professional exertions were prodigious, and to them he was indebted for his rapid and sure ise in public life. In February, 1777, he distinguished himself as

counsel for the university of Dublin against the election of Richard Hely Hutchinson; and on the return of the latter being annulled, Fitzgibbon was chosen university-representative in the Irish house of cominons. From his first entrance into political life,-while yet certainly uninvited and unbought,-Fitzgibbon became a partizan of the court, a supporter of all the measures of the British parliament, and of course an opponent of the popular party. His services were rewarded with the place of attorney-general for Ireland, in which office he conducted himself with great energy, and a boldness amounting to audacity, of which the following is an instance. At a time when a popular ferment produced by various causes strongly prevailed in the metropolis of Ireland, a general meeting of the inhabitants was, at the requisition of several respectable persons, called by the sheriffs. His lordship, then attorneygeneral, and one of the most unpopular men in the kingdom, came to the meeting, accompanied only by one or two friends,-forced his way through the mob, who had some time been in the habits of offering personal insults to those whom they suspected of being adverse to their measures, and getting upon the hustings, interrupted a popular orator in the midst of his harangue: he then told the sheriffs that they had acted illegally in convening the meeting, commanded them to leave the chair, and threatened them with an information ex officio if they presumed to continue it. He then left the astonished assembly amidst the hisses of the mob, and the sheriffs instantly dissolved the meeting.

The most remarkable era of his lordship's political life was the period of the very important and novel question respecting the regency, in 1789. It is well-known that the prevailing party in both houses of the Irish parliament contended for the right of that country to appoint its own regent. This very questionable proposition was resisted by the British cabinet, whose adherents in the Irish parliament insisted that, on legal as well as political grounds, the regent of Great Britain should also exercise that authority with respect to Ireland; on this occasion his lordship took a most decided part in favour of the British side of the question, and exerted his influence and all the energies of his mind on the occasion; and an opportunity soon after offering, on the demise of Lord Lifford, the zeal and fidelity of the subject of this memoir was rewarded, as well as full scope to the exertion of his professional talents given him, by his appointment to the office of lord-high-chancellor of Ireland: he was the first native of the country who ever filled the station. This office being generally accompanied by a peerage, he was, in June, 1789, created Baron Fitzgibbon of Lower Conello in the county of Limerick. His conduct in this very arduous department was such as uniformly reflected the greatest honour on himself, and was equally productive of benefit to his country. His activity and expedition made chancery suits cease to be almost an inheritance; his decisions might have been sometimes blamed as premature; but the paucity of appeals evince that such objections were not very seriously or extensively founded. According to Sir Jonah Barrington, his lordship collected facts with great rapidity and the nicest precision, and decided on them with a prompt asperity;" but "depending too much on the strength of his own judgment, and the acuteness of his own intellect, he hated precedent and despised the highest judicial authorities because they were not his own."