Page images
PDF
EPUB

Mr. Sheridan's zealous interference in support of his patron is, perhaps, the only instance in which he can be charged with political inconsistency. The spirit

of party, and the strong prejudices of the moment, are now consigned to oblivion; and it may be fairly asked, whether he, or any other declared advocate of the rights of the people, acted consistently in opposing the following Resolution, which was proposed by Mr. Pitt, and passed by the British Parliament:- "Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is the right and duty of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons of Great Britain, now assembled, and lawfully, fully, and freely representing all the estates of the people of this realm, to provide the means of supplying the defect of the personal exercise of the Royal authority, arising from his Majesty's indisposition, in such a manner as the exigency of the case may appear to require."-Mr. Sheridan's objection to the Resolution did not arise from any statement contained in it, respecting the full and free representation of the people; but he and his friends argued against the power of both Houses, in any case, to limit the authority of the Regent, and contended, that the immediate nomination of the Heir-apparent ought to take place, as a matter of constitutional right. Those who are sincere admirers of the British Constitution, as derived from the legitimate source of authority, will not readily coincide in the doctrines advanced upon this occasion, by the leading Members of Opposition.

Mr. Sheridan continued a strenuous opponent of the measures of Mr. Pitt's Administration, and, in consequence of Mr. Fox's secession, stood at the head of Opposition. With the single exception of his conduct on the question of the Regency, his Parliamentary life cannot be accused of inconsistency. He professed, in common with most of his friends, an enthusiastic admiration of the French Revolution, and considered the Constitution it had formed, as a glorious fabrick of human wisdom, erected for the perfection of human happiness; but when he saw that Constitution defaced and polluted by the frantic and murderous policy of the successive rulers of France, he readily concurred in reprobating crimes, which were destructive of freedom and social happiness, and directly repugnant to the principles on which the Revolution was originally effected. He ever was the zealous supporter of Parliamentary Reform, and the uniform friend of the Liberty of the Press, and of Civil and Religious Freedom. In financial considerat ns, in our political and commercial relations with Ireland, and more particularly in every important discussion relative to Constitu

tional subjects, he evinced great depth of inquiry, and acuteness of discrimination.

Mr. Sheridan's voice was strong and distinct, and his delivery very easy, clear, and impressive. He wanted the dignity of Mr. Pitt, and the fire of Mr. Fox; but, in the ingenuity of observation, and the felicity of reply, he was not inferior to either of them in their happiest moments. He excelled in raillery, which, at once elegant and severe, was peculiarly suited to the Senate. Though he seemed cautiously to avoid the use of figurative diction and splendid imagery in his speeches, his celebrated oration on the trial of Mr. Hastings is an ample testimony of his ability to introduce them with the most appropriate effect. It cannot be denied, that his propensity to epigrammatic point and humorous allusion frequently exceeded the bounds of propriety, and hurried him to a levity of remark that was at variance with the gravity of the subject in discussion. We laughed indeed for the moment, but soon condemned the speaker for trifling with a great object of national consideration.

Mrs. Sheridan died in June 1792, and he had a son by that lady, Mr. Thomas Sheridan, who possesses considerable abi lities. In 1795, he married Miss Ogle, youngest daughter of the Reverend Doctor Newton Ogle, Dean of Winchester. The issue of his second marriage was also a son, Mr. Charles Sheridan.

His conduct as Manager and principal Proprietor of the first Theatre in the kingdom, and his punctuality in the discharge of the duties contracted by him in that situation, have rarely been the subject of praise. Yet, in justice to his memory, we cannot but observe, that in the legal discussion of the claims of the Proprietors of Drury Lane Theatre, in the Court of Chancery, so far from any imputation being thrown out against his conduct, it was generally the subject of praise; and the Chancellor himself (Lord Eldon) spoke in the handsomest terms of Mr. Sheridan's integrity, though certainly he thought his prudence was in some instances liable to be questioned. Of his extraordinary qualities and powers to please and charm in private life it is almost unnecessary to speak. They were, indeed, unrivalled.

It was, perhaps, in the knowledge of human nature that he surpassed all his contemporaries. His sagacity was particularly exercised in discovering the character and propensities of his acquaintances, or of those with whom he had any business to transact, and he generally succeeded in converting this kind of knowledge to his own advantage.

After a retirement of twenty years from the stage, Mr. Sheridan came forward at

the

the end of the season in 1799. in the humble situation of the Editor of Kotzebue, the celebrated German Dramatist, and appears in that instance to have been more actuated by his interest as a Manager than by the generous feelings of a writer emulous of lasting fame. The speech of Rolla, exhorting the Peruvians to defend their King and country, and their civil and religious institutions, against a ferocious band of lawless invaders, was highly instrumental to the success of the piece, and it is the only passage of the Play to which Mr. Sheridan has an exclusive claim. The appeal to the people in support of their rights and national independence is bold and animating. The striking image of the vulture and the lamb is, however, used with more effect in his speech on the impeachment of Mr. Hastings; but his right to borrow from himself cannot be questioned. The genius of the German dramatist is unquestionably of the first or

der. In conducting a passion through its most intricate mazes, he is, perhaps, unequalled, and he seldom fails to produce emotions of the most agonising kind. But probability, the genuine source of concern and dramatic feeling, is too fréquently violated. An instant's reflection is sufficient to expose the delusion of the scene, and destroy the interest which the skill of the Poet creates. Mr. Sheridan was himself convinced that, with the exception of Rolla's patriotic harangue, Pizarro was more indebted for its popularity to the merits of the original, to the actor, the machinist, the painter, and the composer, than to any alterations he made, or to any judgmeut he evinced in adapting it to the English stage. It is to be lamented, that by this motley exhibition he degraded his reputation as the first dramatic writer of the country, and sunk himself to a level with the Play-wrights of the day, to whom profit was every thing, fame nothing.

DAVID PIKE

Died on the 29th of July last, aged 62 years, at his house in Portland-place.

In his early years he received his education from Alexander Cruden, the pious author of the "Concordance to the Bible," whose favourite, as well as pupil, he had the happiness of being-and it was to this influence upon his mind that much of Mr. Watts's serious turn of thought may be ascribed the advantages of study under such a tutor were also considerably enlarged by the pious example of both his parents, to whose memory he always devoted the reverence of filial love!

His connexion with the late Benjamin Kenton, esq. commenced at a very early period of his life; and in this he had the good fortune to find exemplified in practice, that integrity and goodness of heart which his education had taught him to cherish as the only means of uniting the duties of society with his more important duty to God. Mr. Kenton had an only daughter; it was natural that the respect and esteem for her father which Mr. Watts invariably felt, should awaken a sympathetic affection for ber-and it was equally so, that this affection should meet its due return; but it was not received by Mr. K. with approbation! Whatever may have been his intentions towards Mr. Watts at that time, or whatever may have been his views for his daughter, his resolution was decisive, and his determination was not to be reversed: -the result was of serious consequence to the father as well as to his daughter, for it so severely impaired her health, that, by a gradual decline, she sunk in sorrow

WATTS, Esq.

to the grave; and the conduct of Mr. Watts upon that melancholy occasion, and a more intimate acquaintance with his subsequent character, so endeared him to his patron, that unavailing regret accompanied the rest of Mr.Kenton's days! As Mr. K. advanced in life, his prosperity and public fame as a wine-merchant, accompanied his progress, and when those were well-established he retired from buness, and left the whole of his extensive concern to Mr. Watts's management. During their connexion Mr. W. married Miss Morrison of Durham, by whom he had two sons and one daughter. Both the sons were brought up for the army.

Mr. Kenton died May 25, 1800; by which event, and by the paternal dispositions of his will, Mr. Watts became the master of chief part of his immense fortune; all acquired by personal assiduity and unvarying integrity and he transmitted with these fruits the seeds of an example which were sown in a soil equally sufficient to produce perfection! Soon after this event Mr. Watts retired from business to the late residence of Mr. K. in Gower-street, where he devoted his active mind to the cares of domestic life, and to the extension of his fortune in the promotion of public welfare; in which he may be literally said to have "gone about doing good;" but his private life was yet more endearing, for he possessed the rare quality of consistency, in that his pure charity, joined to his native sweetness of temper, rendered his dwelling the abode of peace; and he possessed that native politeness of heart which rendered him courteous

teous to his most familiar associates. But these domestic comforts were embittered by the severest trials-in the loss of his wife, and not long after, of both his sons successively; while every prospect of future patronage and advancement shone upon their hopes to these dispensations, however, no man better knew how to bow with duteous resignation, or where to seek for the truest consolation !—his eldest son David, who had been a Lieut. in the 14th Light Dragoons, and had exchanged, for promotion, to a regiment in the West Indies, died a few days after his landing at Jamaica of the yellow fever, in the 20th year of his age.His second son, Michael, was Ensign in the Coldstream regiment of Guards, and fell at the battle of Barossa, also in his 20th year! These losses served to concenter his affections upon his surviving daughter and then become his only child-the peculiar fervour of his parental love, was the cherished solace of his heart, and it was sincerely returned with the most filial devotion!-he had the grateful satisfaction, some few years previous to his death, of seeing her united to Jesse Russell, junr. esq. of Ilam-hall near Ashbourne in Derbyshire, and of living to see the happy fruits of this marriage in four promising children. To her he has bequeathed, with the exception of a few legacies to relations, the whole of his ample fortune-acting in this to the last, upon a fixed principle, that as the steward of his talent while he remained here, he should leave that stewardship where it could be safely reposed.-During his last illness he was assiduously attended by his son-in-law and his daughter, and although his deathbed was visited by bodily pain, yet it was rendered a blessed and instructive scene, for it was truly the death of the righteous! There is a considerable difficulty in delineating the just character of a man of retired disposition and inward piety;prominent features are easily pourtrayed; -the motives of action which dwell in the heart require a higher pencil than that of human skill. I believe him to have been truly a Christian in heart and deed-he was a zealous member of the Church of England, not more so in its forms, which he cherished, than in its principles, which he venerated, and as a duty maintained: punctual and devout in all its public ordinances very respectful to its priesthood, and active in promoting Christian knowledge, and propagating the Gospel according to its tenets; to the societies which embraced these great objects, and also to the Institution for diffusion of the Holy Scriptures without note or comment, he was a liberal benefactor-his candid mind judged it not any wise injurious to the one to encourage the efforts of the

other, which embraced nations and people to whom the English Liturgy could be comparatively of no interest; but whereever they could be united with effect, he availed himself of every opportunity of rendering service to the general planwhich may be deemed " a plan of Providence, or at least one of the means encouraged for bringing about some great event of which either our own age, or the following, is to be the witness."

His early education was sufficient for a mind like bis, to point the road of study and superior information; on every subject which appeared to him important, his natural ardour excited a thirst for its investigation: he embraced principles, only when he bad examined them;-he pursued a conduct, only when he learnt the propriety and honour of its motive;-he instructed, only when he had ascertained the truth-cool and dispassionate, he never boldly asserted; charitable, he, never was heard to offend by condemnation; amiable, he was never lifted by prosperity or pride, but may be said to have possessed his soul in peace ;—mens conscia recti.

Thus he became the liberal friend of Literature and learned men-he re-pected their talents, and lamented and secretly relieved the severe 'privations of many whose studies had not always secured them from temporal distress; and whose station or professional habits were such as to depress their merit.

The same disposition led him to pa tronize Christ's Hospital, the Institution of Sunday-schools, and all the methods adopted for the religious instruction of youth: I have not unfrequently heard him lament that the days of impiety and licentiousness had left fatal snares behind them, which the ignorance of the first principles of the Christian religion would help to encrease, an indifference to the great interests of human life, to the peace of society, and to the general practice of religious and domestic duties: impressed with these sentiments, he gave a hearty encouragement to the Institution of the Central National School in Baldwin's Gardens, and also to those parochial and ward schools more immediately attached to his places of business and residence; justly esteeming great part of the work of salvation done, when youth were securely instructed in the blessings of the Gospel; as the only effectual means of preventing crimes, which the mild compassion of his temper led him to cherish, rather than the most appropriate punishment on conviction.

In the periods of his life when he actively pursued his business, and afterwards when his enlarged prosperity enabled him to choose his way, his acts of charity

were

were liberal, and done with love unfeigned: at one time he restored by prudence what his liberality had impaired; but at the other, he acted as if he felt himself to be the trustee of an extensive fortune, rather for the purposes of useful good, than for the self-indulgences of luxury; he possessed the means of both, but for one luxury he had ten charities. The conciliatory manner in which he bestowed his relief, filled many a heart with joy, and many an eye with tears of gratitude; and while this spirit animated his active labours, and associated itself with the extensive means of general good, his name will be blessed by the remembrance of his deeds, in the hearts of numerous individuals, and of as many public Institutions, of which he never suffered himself to be an inactive benefactor.

Throughout a large circle of friends and associates from his earliest years, there is not one that would hesitate for a moment to bear testimony, to his unswerving integrity-to his undeviating loyalty to his King and attachment to the Constitution of his Country, and also to the sincerest respect to its Established Church and to its constituted authorities:-those who knew him in business will subscribe their witness to his correctness in every transaction; those who were admitted to his confidence and his friendship will bear ample record to his urbanity, and to the just value which they placed in his esteem; and those who had occasion to unite with him in his many plans for the public good, and for the amelioration of the condition of the poor, for the promotion of all which he was an active and zealous contributor and adviser, will readily subscribe to the tribute justly accorded to his anxious solicitude for their welfare! Where, if we look round, shall we find a man fit to be placed in the chair which he has left?-where is the man, so possessed of the mind and the power to will and to do? whose soul was so truly the spirit of meekness? and whose bounty was the unostentatious charity of Christian love?

I have offered this feeble tribute to the memory of a valued friend, whose character and conduct it was one of my accustoined satisfactions to observe; I respect ed it, not so much for the kind marks of his friendship which I received, as from its own intrinsic excellence-for I have no fear of contradiction, when I assert it to have been innately good; studious of acquitting himself of all his duties; and as universally esteemed as he was universally known. Of him, I may truly add, that he lived beloved and died lamented. May it be my lot, so to live and so to die! A. H.

Rev. COOPER WILLYAMS (see p. 91.)There are very few persons whose loss will be more felt in society than that of Mr. Willyams. Of him it may be said, with strict attention to truth, that he was an active and useful magistrate; an affectionate husband and father; a kind neighbour; a warm friend; and a pious Christian. The soundness of his understanding, the excellency of his heart, and his peculiarly social disposition, added to various acquirements, and set off by the manners of a gentleman, gained him almost as many friends as he had acquaintance; and among these were many persons as eminent in station as in character; while his total exemption from envy and malice, and all the baser vices of our nature, made it almost impossible that he should have any enemies. the writer of this article be permitted to add, trite as the quotation is, Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit, nulli flebilior quam mihi.-Mr. Willyams married ElizabethRebecca, daughter of the late Snell,

Let

esq. of Whitley-court, co. Gloucester, by whom he has left two sons and two daughters.

July 27. Died, at Surbiton Lodge, near Kingston, Surrey, early in the morning, very suddenly, after an illness of only two hours, in the 66th year of his age, the Rev. George Savage, M. A. Vicar of Kingston cum Richmond, in the county of Surrey, and Rector of St. Mary Aldermary, and St. Thomas the Apostle, in the city of London. On the following Saturday, the 3d of August, his remains were deposited in a vault under Kingston church, amidst the sincere lamentations of a considerable number of friends and parishioners, assembled, on the melancholy occasion, to pay their last respects to departed worth.-After passing through the usual gradations of Eton school with credit and reputation, he was entered at King's college, Cambridge, B. A. 1774, M. A. 1777, and was for some time a distinguished preceptor in the venerable seat of literature where be re-. ceived his education. In 1790, he suc-, ceeded to the vicarage of Kingston, on the presentation of Eton College; and soon after, without any solicitation of his own, was spontaneously preferred by his highly revered friend Dr. Weston, Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, to the rectory of St. Mary Aldermary, with attending circumstances, which reflected mutual honour upon both parties. From attachment to his patron, and the handsome manner in which the living was conferred upon him, he ever regarded St. Mary Aldermary's with partiality and complacency. He for 26 years discharged the office of an exemplary, resident pastor in his pa

fish of Kingston; and from his general benevolence, undissembled piety, and numerous, though secret acts of charity, was universally beloved and respected by all who were acquainted with his character.

As a scholar, bis information was sound and extensive, without the smallest taint of pedantry or affectation.-As a Divine, his belief in the doctrines of our holy religion was firm and unwavering; and his desire to inculcate its saving truths, genuine and earnest, without a shadow of ostentation or vain glory.-His temper was mild and serene-his manners were affable and conciliating; and whilst "his easy presence checked no decent joy," Such a decorum presided over his whole demeanour, as was a powerful restraint upon every rudeness or impropriety of conduct. In short, he was a gentleman and an exemplary Christian.

DEATHS.

1815, ON board his Budgerow, on the Dec. 8. river Ganges, in his 37th year, Capt. G. Waite, Bengal Native Infantry. This officer was on his way to Calcutta to join his regiment at Chunar, when he and his wife were suddenly taken ill, and stopped for medical aid at Bankipore, when Capt. Waite died at two in the morning, and Mrs. Waite six hours after. Their remains were removed to Dinapore, and interred in one grave. 1816. April 26. On his passage from Calcutta. J. S. Holmes, esq.

At St. Martin's, P. P. Despard, esq. Collector of that island.

May 3. At St. Helena, the wife of Major David Kinnaird.

June 20. At Hastings, aged 70, Byne, esq. of Carshalton, Surrey.

H.

June 22. Aged 40, Sir Alexander Macdonald Lockhart, of Lee and Carnwath, baronet, (so created May 24, 1806) who is succeeded in his title and unincumbered estates of 14,000l. per ann. by his eldest son, now Sir Charles Lockhart, a minor of about seventeen years. The death of Sir Alexauder was owing to his being thrown from the box of his carriage, 15 miles from Inverary, to the inn at which place he was conveyed for medical assistance, when it was found that the wheels of the carriage having passed over his chest had given rise to some dangerous symptoms of inward hurt; he however continued some days without apparently increasing danger, received the visit of his brother and eldest sister, was well enough to quit his bed, and even spoke of himself as sufficiently recovered to be able to proceed upon his journey; but shortly after wards he felt weak, lay down upon the bed, and soon expired. He once represented the town of Berwick upon Tweed, GENT. MAG. August, 1816,

was during some years Lieut.-colonel ofthe Royal Lanarkshire Militia, and was chief of the very antient and distinguished family of Lockhart, concerning whom, and the famous Lee penny, belonging to them since the fourteenth century, are several curious particulars in the Gent. Mag. for Dec. 1787, p. 1045. Sir Alexander, who for several years bore the name of Mac donald of Largie, from the estate of that appellation which he inherited in right of his mother, assumed that of Lockhart on succeeding to the estates of that family, which, by virtue of entails excluding fe males, passed, on the death of Charles Count Lockhart, in August 1802, over his sister (wife of Anthony Aufrère, esq. of Hoveton, in Norfolk) to his cousin german Alexander, eldest surviving son (James Macdonald, his elder brother having fallen before Dunkirk in 1793, an ensign in the 37th regt.) of Charles Lockhart, esq. only brother of the late James Count Lockhart (who died at Pisa in February 1790), and who had so distinguished himself in the Seven Years' War in the service of the House of Austria, that he was successively promoted to the ranks of Colonel and Major General, and rewarded with the titles of Baron and Count of the Holy Roman Empire, the order of Maria Teresa, and the key of Chamberlain to the Emperor of Germany.. This General Count L. united in his person the houses of Lee and Carnwath, having succeeded to the Lairdship of Lee on failure of male issue in the posterity of the celebrated Sir William L. a renowned general under Cromwell, (whose niece, Robina Sewster, he mar ried) Governor of Dunkirk, and Ambassador to Louis XIV. both from Cromwell and from King Charles the Second; and being grandson of George Lockhart of Carnwath, who was eldest son of Ambassador Lockhart's next brother, Sir George Lockhart, Lord President of the Court of Session, and who was a very able and distinguished member of the Scotch and British Parliaments, the sole Scotch Jacobite named as a Commissioner for treating of the Union, an intrepid and active advocate for the rights and independence of his native country, an unshaken friend to the house of Stuart, and a much respected character in public and in private life. This eminent senator and patriot left behind him, for publication at a distant pe riod, and chiefly in his own handwriting, a collection of most interesting papers relative to the affairs of the two countries from the accession of Queen Anne in 1702, until 1728, a memorable period, during which he acted a conspicuous part; and as he had much intercourse with the Queen's ministers, he had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with many of the

Segret

« PreviousContinue »