as to be altogether inadequate to furnishing the Library with even the foreign journals, much less to take advantage, at the public sales of several eminent Libraries both here and abroad, of storing the shelves of the public Library with the treasures about to be dispersed. At the suggestion of Mr. Scott, an additional fund was created, by the imposition of a small annual payment from every individual who can claim the use of the Library, as well as another sum to be paid on matriculation; and in order to create a present purse for the purchase of the rarities of the Pinelli and Crevenna sales, a large sum was to be borrowed from such members and friends of the University as felt inclined to forward this object, by the loan of moneys, without interest, to be charged on, and finally repaid out of, the fund thus to be created. There is extant a very elaborate paper drawn up by Lord Stowell at that period, explanatory of the plan, and earnestly recommending its adoption; and he himself contributed to the fund by a loan, and that a time when it may be conjectured he had nothing but his academical income to rely on.*

On the 23d of June 1779, he took the degree of Doctor in Civil Law as a grand compounder; and soon after commenced his career as an advocate in the Civil Law Courts. Here he rose to the highest eminence with a rapidity almost unexampled. In 1787, he was appointed King's Advocate General, shortly after Judge of the Consistory Court of London, Vicar General of the Province of Canterbury, and Master of the Faculties. He was Knighted Sept. 3, 1788, and in 1798 became Judge of the High Court of Admi ralty, and was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council. In 1790 he was chosen M. P. for Downton, and on the 23d of March, 1801, had the distinguished honour of being unanimously elected as the representative in Parliament for the University, of which he was himself one of the chief ornaments; this office he continued to fill, with the greatest possible advantage to his constituents, and we believe satisfaction to himself, until called to the House of Lords in 1821.

Sir William Scott was created a Peer on occasion of the Coronation of King George the Fourth, by patent dated July

17, 1821, at the same time when his brother Lord Eldon was advanced to an Earldom. He retired from the Court of Admiralty in 1828; and from his other judicial appointments about the same time. Fortified by a store of knowledge at once profound and multifarious, combining all the materials that indefatigable research, close and minute observation, and intense study, could provide for the supply of an acute, vigorous, and capacious mind, the judgments of Lord Stowell in the several Courts in which he presided, are universally estimated as models of sound and powerful reasoning, and of the purest classical eloquence. Devoting his brilliant talents and extraordinary acumen to the noblest branch of his profession-the study of international lawand living in times when a general war called all this knowledge into action, his decisions have passed into precedents equal, if not superior, in authority, to those of the venerable fathers of the science, Puffendorf, Grotius, Vattel, &c. There cannot perhaps be a more convincing proof of their value, than that afforded by the testimony of an adversary. Lord Stowell printed, for private distribution, some copies of his several judgments, and sent one to the Admiralty Judge of the United States of America. In acknowledging the present, the American Judge wrote to the following effect-" In the excitement caused by the hostilities then raging between our countries, I frequently impugned your judgments and considered them as severe and partial; but, upon a calm review of your decisions after a lapse of years, and a more mature experience, I am bound to acknowledge my entire conviction both in their accuracy and equity." He added-" I have taken care that they shall form the basis of the maritime law of the United States, and I have no hesitation in saying, that they ought to do so in that of every civilized country in the world."

In his political principles and conduct, Lord Stowell was invariably the uncompromising and firm supporter of the established Constitution of his country in Church and State. As an elegant scholar, thoroughly imbued with every accomplishment which constitutes the literary character, the name of Lord Stowell was, from his college days, associated with the

brightest in that constellation of genius which enlightened and guided the last generation. The friend of Burke and Windham, and the executor of Samuel Johnson, to whose memoirs he has indeed liberally contributed, "Dr. Scott, of the Commons," was received as the equal of those immortal men.

In private life, he was the charm and ornament of every society of which he formed a part; in conversation, passing "from grave to gay, from lively to severe,' with a happy facility, which at once called forth the strongest feelings of admiration and delight. The patron of genius, he drew around him young aspirants to honours, who looked up to him with veneration and esteem. In his retirement, it was delightful to observe how easily this venerable Peer could bend his giant mind from the all-obsorbing consideration of his extensive and laborious legal occupations, to the enjoyment of those rural pleasures which at times had a charm even for his great and expanded intellect. His unbounded charities acquired for him universal regard and esteem. The poor in the neighbourhood of Reading will have reason to regret his loss; for the hand of charity was never closed to the supplication of the destitute and dis

tressed.

Lord Stowell was twice married: first, in April 1782, to Anna-Maria, eldest daughter and coheiress of John Bagnell, esq. with whom be acquired the estate of Early Court. By this lady, who died Sept. 4, 1809, he had issue one daughter and one son. The latter, the Hon. William Scott, formerly M.P. for Gatton, died unmarried only two months before his father (see our Jan, number, p. 99) His sister, who survives, was first married in 1809 to Lt.- Col. Thomas Townsend (eldest son of Gore Townsend, esq. of Honington hall, co. Warwick,) who died in 1820; and she became in 1823 the second wife of Lord Viscounnt Sidmouth.

Lord Stowell's second alliance was with Louisa-Catherine dowager Marchioness of Sligo, the third daughter of the celebrated Admiral Richard Earl Howe, and mother of the present Marquis of Sligo, now Governor of Jamaica. Their first interview is said to have been when her Ladyship appeared before him as a suitor in the Court of Admiralty, like Lady Elizabeth Grey before King Edward the Fourth. The Marchioness died on the 20th of August 1817.

On the 3d Feb. the mortal remains of Lord Stowell were removed from Early Court, and consigned to the family vault in Sonning Church, in a manner corresponding with his elevated rank and station

in society, followed by the distinguished members of his family, and a numerous company of the resident gentry of the neighbourhood.

With the view of saving the legacy duty, Lord Stowell made over the greater part of his property to his son, recently deceased. This rendered it necessary for his Lordship, as his son's legal representative, to administer to his effects, by which he was compelled to pay a larger duty than the property would have incurred had it been left in the usual way. Who can but smile when a lawyer, and he one of the most acute, is thus foiled by his own weapon!

Lord Stowell's will, which is dated April 30, 1830, has been proved by Viscount Sidmouth and W. Chisholm, esq. two of the executors, Lord Eldon, the other, having renounced the probate. The property was sworn under 250,0007. Lady Sidmouth, his only surviving child, takes a life-interest in the whole property, real and personal, subject to the legacies, annuities, and debts. The landed estates afterwards descend to his great-nephew Lord Encombe; and the personals to the children of Mrs. Forster, his Lordship's niece, (being the only daughter of Mr. Henry Scott, the second brother, who died in 1779,) to whom the bequest is not unimportant. Annuities of 100%. are left to each of his servants. To University, and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford, the Society of the Middle Temple, and the College of Doctor's Commons, he has bequeathed 2007. each.

Lord Stowell's extensive estates in Gloucestershire, having been purchased during the period of high prices, have never yet produced a return adequate to the large capital invested in them.

LADY FRANCES WRIGHT-WILSON. Feb. 9. At Chelsea Park, after a few days' illness, aged 70, Lady Frances Elizabeth Wright- Wilson, only surviving sister to the Marquess of Aylesbury.

Her Ladyship was born May 31, 1765, the younger daughter of Thomas first Larl of Aylesbury by Susannah dowager Viscountess Dungarvan, daughter of Henry Hoare, of Stourhead, co. Wilts, esq. and (maternal) aunt to the present Sir Richard Colt Hoare, of Stourhead, Bart. Her Ladyship was married, Sept. 17, 1799, to Sir Henry Wilson, of Crofton hall, co. York, and Chelsea Park near London, who died Dec. 3, 1832, without issue (see Gent. Mag. vol. cm. i. 283.)

Lady Frances Wilson took the name of Wright in 1814, under the following very remarkable circumstances:-A pro

fessional person waited on her ladyship one morning, and informed her that a gentleman named Wright, just deceased, had bequeathed to her the whole of his immense fortune, on condition of her assuming his name. This singular announcement appeared the more so to the lady, as she had no acquaintance with any one bearing the name. But on mentioning this to Mr. Wright's man of business he replied that he was well aware of his late client being totally unknown to her ladyship, he having only seen her at the Opera. So strange an assertion did not dispel the astonishment of Lord Aylesbury's family; and on the lawyer stating that Mr. Wright was not yet interred, but might still be seen by Lady Frances, she with her brother consented to accompany the stranger. On entering the apartment where the deceased lay, her ladyship instantly recognised the features of an elderly gentleman, who for a length of time had been in the habit, every Opera night, of taking his station in the pit directly under Lady Aylesbury's box, and of regarding Lady Frances with a degree of pertinacity which she had found extremely irksome, having frequently complained of it to her companions. The family learned subsequently that Mr. Wright, who was a gentleman of considerable property (with no immediate heir), had come to London a stranger, and being struck with the appearance of a lady at the Opera, had ascertained from some one near that she was the Lady F. Bruce. Each succeeding Tuesday and Saturday nights found him gazing on this object of attraction, and at his death his executors found that the whole of his property had devolved upon this lady, who was only thus known to him by sight.

The account of this remarkable affair, and of the eccentric testator, as published at the time of his death, will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. LXXXIV. i. 308. William Wright, esq. a barrister of the Inner Temple, was a younger son of Sir Martin Wright, a Judge of the King's Bench, who died in 1755. He came into his property unexpectedly on the death of an elder brother, and subsequently lived a perfect recluse, ocupying at his death a small lodging in Pimlico. His principal estate was at Barton Stacey, in Hampshire. His legacies of money were equally extraordinary, leaving to strangers of high rank-40007. to Lord Sidmouth, 40007. to the Countess of Rosslyn, 1000l. to Lord Chancellor Eldon, 1000l. to Mr. Archdeacon Pott, whom he only knew in the pulpit, and 7000l. to the late Lord Colchester, then Speaker of the House of Commons, whom he made his executor.

He also left 3000l. to St. John's college, Cambridge, of which he had been a member.

Lady Frances and her husband took the name of Wright before their own, by royal license, dated Dec. 10, 1814.

Miss Wright Wilson, niece to the late Sir Henry, being the only daughter of his brother Edward, a captain in the army, is now one of the richest heiresses in the kingdom, having succeeded by Lady Frances' will to the Wright property, as well as to that of her father. The house and property at Chelsea-park pass into the possession of Sir Henry's next male heir.

The remains of Lady Frances were deposited in the vault of the Wilson family at Crofton, near Wakefield, on the 25th of February.

RT. HON. SIR JOHN SINCLAIR, Bart.

Dec. 21. At his house in Georgestreet, Edinburgh, in his 82d year, the Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair, of Ulbster, co. Caithness, Bart. a Privy Councillor, LL D. a Fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, &c. &c.

This benevolent man, and voluminous writer, was born at Thurso Castle, in the county of Caithness, in 1754. He was the third but only surviving son of George Sinclair, esq. of Ulbster, heritable Sheriff of Caithness, (descended from the ancient Earls of that county,) by the Hon. Janet Sutherland, younger daughter of William Lord Strathnaver, and sister to William sixteenth Earl of Sutherland. The foundation of his classical acquirements was laid at the High School of Edinburgh; but he subsequently attended the Universities of that place; of Glasgow, from which he received the title of LL.D.; and of Oxford. 1775 he was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates, and was afterwards called to the English bar at Lincoln's Inn, May 9, 1782. In 1780 he was elected member for the county of Caithness, which he also represented in the parliaments of 1790, 1802, and 1807; but, that county having only alternately the choice of a member, he sat intermediately for the borough of Lostwithiel in the Parliament of 1781, and for Petersfield in that of 1796.

In

In 1786 he undertook an extensive tour in the North of Europe, which brought him into acquaintance and correspondence with many distinguished individuals. The same year he was created a baronet of the United Kingdom by patent dated Feb. 14, with remainder, in default of the issue male of his body, to

Abbey of Holyrood. The funeral was private, but was met at the Abbey by the Lord Provost and Magistrates of Edinburgh in their official capacity. The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, also desirous of doing honour to the remains of one of its original members, and most indefatigable and useful supporters, offered the attendance of a deputation, consisting of six senior directors and the office bearers; and this mark of respect, coming from an institution the success of which Sir John had so much at heart, and not being deemed inconsist. ent with the previous arrangements, was cordially accepted.

SIR JAMES COLQUHOUN, BART.
Feb. 3.

After a lingering illness of several months, Sir James Colquhoun, the ninth Baronet, of that ilk, and of Luss.

He was the son and heir of Sir James Colquhoun, Sheriff Depute of Dumbar tonshire, and one of the Principal Clerks of Session, by Mary, daughter and coheiress of James Falconer, esq. of Halkerton.

On the death of Lt.-Col. Smollett, M. P. for Dumbartonshire, who was slain at the Helder in Oct. 1799, Mr. Colqu houn was elected his successor; and he was rechosen at the general election in 1802, but retired by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds in Jan. 1806.

Whilst in Parliament, he succeeded to the title on the decease of his father, April 22, 1805. The circumstances of this dignity are singular, inasmuch as it rests on three different patents. It was originally a Nova Scotia baronetcy conferred in 1625; this patent was resigned in 1704 by the fourth Baronet, in exchange for one conferring a fresh remainder to his son-in-law (from whom the present family, which Sir James represented, descends); but the legality of such a measure being disallowed, the title was assumed under the old patent by the heir male, seated at Tilliquhoun in the same county, where his house still continues; the new house at Luss still using the title also, (though, in fact, the male representation was in the family of Grant, while the estate of Luss had come to a younger brother, as heir of provision and entail,) until, to terminate further disputes, a third patent was conferred in 1786 upon the father of the Baronet now deceased.

After retiring from Parliament, Sir James wholly devoted his time to the pursuits of agriculture, and, residing principally on his estates, set an example to landlords well worthy of imitation.

GENT, MAG, VOL. V.

Sir James Colquhoun married in 1802, Janet, second daughter of the late Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair, Bart. and by that lady, who has now to mourn at once both her husband and father, he had issue three sons and two daughters. The former are: 1. Sir James Colquhoun, who has succeeded to the title; 2. John Colquhoun, esq. who married in 1834 Francis-Sarah fourth daughter of E. Fuller Maitland, esq. of Henley-uponThames; and 3. William. The daughters, are 1. Sarah- Maitland; and 2. Helen, married in 1829 to John Page Read, esq. of Crow Hall, Suffolk.

SIR J. J. S. DOUGLAS, BART. Jan. 24. At Boulogne-sur-Seine, near Paris, Sir John James Scott Douglas, the third Baronet of Springwood Park and Long Newton, co. Roxburgh (1786).

He was the only son of Sir George the second Baronet, by Lady Elizabeth Boyle, elder daughter of John 3d Earl of Glasgow, and sister to the present Earl. He succeeded to the title on the death of his father, June 4, 1821.

He married Aug. 15, 1822, Hannah. Charlotte, only daughter and heiress of Henry Scott, of Belford, co. Roxburgh, esq. in consequence of which union he assumed, by royal sign manual, dated July 10 in the same year, the name and arms of Scott, in addition to those of Douglas. He had issue a danghter, Catharine- Elizabeth-Isabella, born in 1824; and Sir George. Henry Scott-Douglas, born in 1825, who has succeeded to the title; and other younger children.

LIEUT.-GEN. SIR W. INGLIS, K. C.B. Nov. 29. At Ramsgate, aged about 73, Lieut.-General Sir William Inglis, K. C. B. Colonel of the 57th foot, and Governor of Cork.

At the death of this distinguished officer, fifty-seven years, except a few months, bad elapsed from the time when he first entered the 57th foot; in the same regiment he passed through the several ranks to that of its Lieut.-Colonel; and at length he died the Colonel of the 57th

his career being thus identified with the achievements of a regiment who signalised themselves in the Peninsular struggle as the Die-hards,' and from which, during thirty-five years' active service, terminating only with the war, he was rarely absent.

His campaigns commenced in America, having joined the regiment in 1781 at New York; and he remained there till 1791. In 1793 he embarked from England for Flanders with the army under the Duke of York; but, before the 3 K