With a spirit as meek as the gentlest of those

Who in life's sunny valley lie shelter'd and warm,

Yet bold and heroic as ever yet rose

To the top-cliffs of Fortune and breasted her storm;

With an ardour for liberty, fresh, as in youth,

It first kindles the bard and gives life to his lyre,

Yet mellow'd e'en now, by that mildness of truth,

Which tempers, but chills not, the patriot's fire;

With an eloquence-not like those rills from a height,

If the stirrings of Genius, the music of Fame,

And the charms of thy cause have not pow'r to persuade,

Yet, think how to Freedom thou'rt pledg'd by thy Name.

Like the boughs of that laurel, by Delphi's decree,

Set apart for the fane and its service divine,

All the branches that spring from the old RUSSELL tree

Are by Liberty claim'd for the use of her shrine.

Padua, 1819.

1821. Feb. 27, in the prime of life, in consequence of a wound which he received in a duel at Chalk Farm, on the night of the 16th, Mr. JOHN SCOTT. He was the son of a respectable tradesman of Aberdeen, and received his education in the Marischal College, of that town. He was destined to trade, but spurred on by an active genius, he made his way, while yet a lad, to South Britain, and coming to the metropolis, obtained an appointment in the War Office. This situation did not deter him from becoming a political writer on the side of Opposition. For some time, he was connected with the Statesman, an Evening Paper: next, removing from London to Stamford, he became Editor of Drakard's weekly paper published in that town. In his hands, that Journal acquired considerable celebrity. One paper, of Mr. Scott's penning, subjected the proprietor to a prosecution and a heavy punishment: a London Jury, however, refused to convict the Examiner for the republication of the identical writing. Impatient of the obscurity of a country town, Mr. Scott soon returned, to London, and here set up a Sunday Newspaper, called the Champion. A turn in its politics made it unwelcome to the Reformers who had patronized it, and its sale declining, Mr. Scott sold it, and it came at length into the hands of Mr. Thelwall, of political and oratorical fame, who still conducts it, as is said, VOL. XVI.

2 K

T. MOORE.

with considerable success. Mr. Scott now aspired to a literary character, and made two journeys to France, the fruits of which were two volumes, entitled "Paris Visited," in 1815, and “Paris Re-visited." The leaning in these works to the side of the Bourbons and the anti-revolutionary tirades with which they abounded, full as much as the smart and picturesque descriptions of characters and manners with which they were enlivened, gave them a temporary popularity. Thus successful, the author obtained a profitable engagement with the booksellers for a visit to Italy, but this promised work never made its appearance. While abroad, he lost a promising child, and gave vent to his feelings in a poem, entitled "The House of Mourning." On his return, he undertook the editing of Baldwin's "London Magazine," which was set up the beginning of last year. In this department of literary labour, he seems to have found the field best suited to his talents, for the work gained, in the short time that he lived to conduct it, upon the favour of the public. The unfortunate contest in which he fell, grew out of some papers that he wrote in this miscellany, to expose the villainous slanders of Blackwood's "Edinburgh Magazine." Some of the worst of these he charged upon Mr. Lockhart, the sonin-law of Sir Walter Scott. Mr. Lockhart, in consequence of this attack, came

to London and challenged Mr. Scott to a duel. Mr. Scott refused to fight this gentleman without some admission or explanation, which he refused to give. Libellous papers were then put out on both sides; and in one of these issued by Mr. Scott, Mr. Christie, a barrister, a friend of Mr. Lockhart's, conceived himself reflected on, and challenged the writer. This challenge was instantly accepted, and on the evening of the day that it was given the parties met and fought by moon-light, and in the second fire Mr. Scott received a wound, which in ten days terminated fatally. The Coroner's Jury brought in a verdict of Wilful Murder against Mr. Christie, and the two seconds, Mr. Trail (for Christie) and Mr. Patmore (for Scott). Christie and Trail were tried at the Old Bailey, a few days ago, and, after some deliberation on the part of the Jury, acquitted: Patinore has not yet surrendered.-Mr. Scott has left a widow, (the daughter of Mr. Colnaghi, the print-seller in Cockspur Street,) and we believe a young family, for whom a public subscription is now on foot, encouraged by Sir James Mackintosh, Dr. Waugh and other gentlemen.—And thus has ended this affair of honour: one life taken away after ten days and nights of pain, two gentlemen forced into the felons' dock to take their trial for murder, another a fugitive, and a respectable family thrown upon public charity! Alas! for them that call good evil, and evil good.

March 21. Mr. M. BRYAN, author of the Biographical and Critical Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, the latest work of the kind published, and though, as a literary performance, monotonous in language and thought, valuable for reference, and in the main for its correctness of opinion respecting the Artists, who are more numerously introduced than in any other Biography. His regard for painting almost amounted to a passion, which was considered to have been so regulated by sound judgment, as to have rendered him one of the most safe and extensive negociators of the purchase of Pictures. Hence he was employed to purchase for the Earl of Carlisle, &c., the famous Orleans Collection, and to dispose of that part of it which they did not retain. Some of the choicest foreign pictures in England were of his introduction. We understand that the excellence of his moral disposition and conduct equalled his taste and enthusiasm. Examiner.

24, at Chelsea, in the 64th year of his age, ALEXANDER STEPHENS, Esq., during the last thirty years one of the most active of the metropolitan literati.

He was a native of Elgin, in North Britain, and was educated at the University of Aberdeen. He afterwards entered himself of the Middle Temple, and his first production was a Law Journal. He was the author of "The History of the Wars of the French Revolution," in 2 vols. 4to., and we believe also of "Memoirs of John Horne Tooke," 8vo. He contributed largely to The Analytical Review, long since dropped, and to The Monthly Magazine. And he was the Editor of (besides other works) the 2 volumes of Founders of the French Republic, nine of the eleven volumes of Public Characters, the Biographical Indexes to the Houses of Lords and Commons, the Annual Necrology, published 1799, and latterly the Annual Obituary, of which he had just completed the valume for 1820. He sometimes acted as agent for suitors in the House of Lords, and conducted with honour and success the claim to the Roxburgh peerage. His literary and domestic habits precluded him from public life; but he was justly respected for his patriotic spirit and political independence.

26, at Newport, in the Isle of Wight, of pulmonary consumption, in the 26th year of his age, Mr. JAMES TAYLOR CLARKE, youngest son of the late Mr. Abraham Clarke, of Newport. The character of this excellent young man cannot be more accurately described than in the language of the very impressive and useful sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Hughes, at the Unitarian Chapel in Newport, on the day of the funeral of his much-lamented and esteemed young friend. Addressing himself to the bereaved friends of the deceased, he says, "As we sit in pensive circle recounting to each other what those we once loved were, and what their virtues and their talents would have made them, the comfort of your lives, the blessing of your family, a credit to society; and oft as in tearful recollection memory dwells upon the affection which throbbed in his heart, the generous, manly warmth which informed his feelings, the dignity and uprightness of his principles, the ardour of his mind, his thirst for knowledge, his anxiety to improve his every talent,-let the charm of his mild and unassuming virtue, ever averse from wrong, ever strenuous to do right;-let all this carry you on to days in which you will meet them all again, and not only again but infinitely improved. Say not that 'death has made a fearful ruin'-that it has crushed an inestimable jewel;' say rather that he is escaped from the world ere it had scotched him much-that he is re

of Ely.

Lately, at Beaumaris, Anglesea, at the close of his 82nd year, the Rev. HUGH DAVIES, B. A. F. L. S., since 1778 rector of the above parish, afterwards, in 1787, of Aber, of which being unable, through his advanced age, conscientiously to discharge the duties, he voluntarily resigned it in the year 1816. He lately published in 8vo. an ingenious scientific work, entitled "Welsh Botanology."

Lately, in the Poor-house of St. Giles's in the Fields, the Rev. Mr. PLATEL, formerly of Trinity College, Cambridge, bachelor of civil law, and late curate of Lyes, in Hampshire. Being without any engagement during the last three years, he sunk into the most abject distress. His death was ultimately occasioned by a wound in the foot, which had been too long neglected.- Christian Remem

brancer.

Lately, at Bath, in the Abbey Churchyard, aged 65, Mr. WILLIAM MEYLER, bookseller, and joint proprietor and editor of The Bath Herald, of which he had been the principal conductor from its first establishment in 1762.

Lately, Mr. JAMES HAYES, of Great Surrey Street, Blackfriars, who has, by his will, left the following extensive charitable donations, viz.:

£3,000 Bank Stock to Bethlem Hospital.

£10,000, three per Cents. reduced, to Christ's Hospital, to be distributed in annuities of £10 each to blind persons, according to the late Rev. Mr. Hetherington's Deed.

£10,000, ditto, to Christ's Hospital, for the general uses of the charity.

£5,000, ditto, to the London Hospital. £5,000, ditto, to St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics.

£5,000, ditto, to the Deaf and Dumb Charity.

£5,000, ditto, to the School for Indigent Blind.

£5,000, ditto, to the National Society. £4,000, ditto, to be, by his executors, transferred into the name of the Vicar for the time being of the parish of Barking, in Essex, and three other persons to be nominated by the vestry of the said parish, upon trust, to apply the interest of £2,000, part thereof, on the 12th February, in every year, equally between six poor housekeepers of Barking who do not receive support from the parish; and the interest of the remaining £2,000, to apply the same on the 12th of Feb.

poor persons of the said parish, whether housekeepers or not, at the discretion of the trustees; but no one person is to partake of the interest of both funds at the same time.

£1,000, ditto, to the minister, churchwardens and overseers of the parish of Little Ilford, in the county of Essex, upon trust, to pay the dividends and interest thereof, as the same shall become due, unto the poor of the said parish.

£1,000, ditto, to the parish of St. Gabriel, Fenchurch Street, to be applied in the same manner.

£2,000, ditto, to the parish of Christ Church, Surrey, to be applied in the

1821. Jan. 10, (O. S.) at St. Petersburg, from a fever contracted in visiting one of the gaols of that city, Mr. WALTER VENNING, at the house of his brother Mr. John Venning. He was a member of the " Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline," the committee of which have placed on their records a tribute to his memory, of which the following is an extract: "Mr. Venning joined the committee soon after the formation of the Society, and very essentially contributed by his exertions to the success of their labours. He was indefatigable in visiting the gaols of the metropolis, and ever earnest in his endeavours to restore the criminal, but especially the youthful offender, to the paths of religion and virtue. During his late residence in Russia, a period of nearly four years, his time has been unceasingly devoted to the amelioration of the gaols in that country. He presented to the Emperor Alexander a memorial forcibly pointing out the great national benefits that result from the improvement of prison-discipline, and the wisdom and practicability of rendering punishment the instrument of reformation. The justice of these views was acknowledged; and to carry them into execution, an Association was formed at St. Petersburg, under the imperial sanction. This Association has been produc