accused, and against his accusers; an object which, it must be confessed, the unprecedented prolongation of the trial tended greatly to facilitate. When Major Scott was examined before the House of Lords, on the 15th day of the trial, relative to the Begum charge, he stated, among other things, that Mr Hastings' defence had been chiefly drawn up, not by himself, as had till then been generally believed, but by his friends; and that Messrs Halhed, Gilpin, Middleton, and himself, had all assisted on that occasion. His zeal, however, sometimes carried him too far. In a letter published in 1790 he had reflected severely on the conduct of the Managers appointed to conduct the impeachment, still pending, and particularly on Mr Burke, against whom all his efforts were mainly directed. The attack was thought too gross to be passed over, and accordingly, on the motion of General Burgoyne, the letter was declared to be a high breach of the privileges of the House of Commons; in consequence of which, the Major was reprimanded in his place by the Speaker. This, however, he appears to have considered as only the fortune of war, and hence he continued to annoy the Managers in every possible way, sometimes with, and sometimes without the assistance of Ministers. The result is well known; and although Major Scott's exertions could not be supposed to have had much influence in bringing about the acquittal of Mr Hastings, they had not been without their use: he was always at his post; and though often discomfited, and sometimes unmercifully mauled, he constantly returned to the charge, and was thus able to effect more by mere pertinacity of purpose, than men less staunch and resolved, though gifted with far superior talents.

Major Scott, who latterly assumed

the agnomen of Waring, was twice married, and in both instances to actresses. His first marriage was dissolved in 1812, by an accident equally singular and affecting. His lady happening to go to bed unattended, is supposed to have fallen backwards on the well-staircase, at the foot of which, the body was early next morning discovered, entirely deprived of life. He died on the 5th of May 1819.

LORD CHIEF-BARON DUNDAS, the eldest son of the late Lord President Dundas of Arniston, by Miss Grant, youngest daughter of the Honourable William Grant, Lord Prestongrange, was born on the 6th of June 1753. In 1779, he entered as advocate, and at a very early age was appointed Solicitor-General for Scotland, Sir Ilay Campbell being then Lord Advocate. On the promotion of the latter to the Presidency of the Court of Session in 1789, Mr Dundas succeeded to the office of Lord Advocate, while his friend, Mr Blair, the late President, was appointed Solicitor-General. This high office Mr Dundas continued to hold till 1801, when, on the resignation of ChiefBaron Montgomery, he was installed into the office which he held till within a short period of his death.

Few public men, perhaps, have descended into the grave with stronger claims than the late Lord Chief Baron to the respect and affection of all who knew him. His Lordship was not generally thought to be endowed with those brilliant talents which have been conspicuous in many of his family; but, joined to very respectable abilities, he possessed, in an eminent degree, that mildness and moderation of character, which enabled him, in very critical times, to discharge the duties of his high and responsible office, without being exposed to that rancorous political ani

mosity, of which, at that period, public men were so generally the objects. We allude of course to the time when he held the office of Lord Advocate for Scotland, and when, even in this country, the mania of French revolutionary principles had spread so widely among the people, that nothing but extraordinary decision, joined to great forbearance and moderation, could have saved us from the dominion of Jacobin Clubs, and the fury of Septembrisers and Anarchists. Men of all parties seem now agreed, that, though placed in a situation of unprecedented difficul. ty and even hazard, Mr Dundas dis. charged the duties of his office in a manner equally salutary to the public and honourable to himself. Firm and decided in his character, he nevertheless contrived to blend with the discharge of his duty to his country, a spirit of tenderness to those whom he thought misled, and of conciliation to all who differed from him in the opinions at that time agitated; and it has been generally allowed, that his Lordship's conduct on that occasion, aided by the like decided and temperate measures of Mr Elder, then Lord Provost, preserved the city of Edinburgh from the scenes of turbulence and violence which so strongly threatened it.

As a Judge in the Exchequer, the late Chief-Baron was equally distin. guished. In the limited range of public cases which come before the Court, the delinquency of parties arraigned for breaches of the revenue laws is generally so apparent, that there is little room for doubt or he sitation in a Judge's charge to the Jury; but when it appeared that a defendant had acted from no impro. per motive, or when a doubtful law was endeavoured to be interpreted to the prejudice of the fair trader, his Lordship displayed a zeal and

even fervour for the cause of the latter, which evinced that his services as a functionary of the Crown had not weakened his attachment to the rights and liberty of the subject.

But if these qualities rendered his Lordship so respectable in public, it may easily be conceived how much they endeared him in private life. His character, indeed, as a private individual, was most exemplary, and was universally acknowledged and admired. His Lordship died at Edinburgh on the 17th of June 1819, after a long and severe illness, and was succeeded in his office by Sir Samuel Shepherd, late Attorney-General of England. To this distinguished man, we may safely apply the words used by an eminent Judge, in concluding a sketch of the character of one of his brethren :-" He has died, leaving no good man his enemy; and attended with that sincere regret, which only those can hope for, who have occupied the like important stations, and acquitted themselves well."

The remark with which we commenced our notice of Sir Richard Musgrave, applies a fortiori to KOTZEBUE, who is indeed chiefly known as a dramatist and political writer, and who, therefore, ought perhaps to have been classed in the literary depart. ment of these notices. But as he had latterly acquired considerable political consequence from the favour of the Emperor Alexander, and, above all, as he met his fate in consequence of his connection with that sovereign, we have thought proper to insert his name among those of the political characters in the obituary of this year.

Augustus von Kotzebue was born at Weimar, (to the Duke of which his father was counsellor of legation,) on the 30th of May 1761. His mother, early left a widow, devoted her

self to the education of her children, and had the satisfaction to discover in her son, the subject of this notice, early indications of that particular genius which he afterwards displayed. At the age of sixteen, he was sent to the College of Jena, where he made considerable progress in Latin and French, particularly in the latter language: nor is it surprising that he should have done so, for his taste. always seemed to be more congenial with that of the French authors than of his own countrymen.

From Jena he went for some time to Duisburg, where he organized a juvenile company of dramatic amateurs, and obtained permission, from the holy brotherhood of the Minorites, to perform a translation of Sheridan's Rivals in the cloister of their convent. At Duisburg his pen was not idle. He wrote a little drama, called The Ring, and a romance in the style of Werther, which, in his own opinion at the time, was not inferior to the original; for the hero, instead of blowing out his brains, had recourse to the classical expedient of throwing himself from a rock, and was dashed to pieces. In 1779 he returned to Jena, and applied himself with diligence to the study of the law; but his inclination constantly led him away from this dry and repulsive study to pursuits more congenial to the bent of his mind.

In his eighteenth year, he went to Petersburgh, as private secretary to General Baur, one of the most enlightened soldiers of Russia at that period; and soon after wrote a tragedy, called Demetrius, Czar of Moscow, which appears to have added nothing to his reputation. But he was more fortunate in another respect; for having, about this time, married a Russian lady of rank, to whom he was passionately attached,

he was soon after appointed President of the civil government at Revel; on which occasion, civil rank in Russia being measured by military gradations, he was nominated a Lieutenant-Colonel.

Having obtained leave of absence on account of ill health, in 1790, he spent some time at the medicinal springs of Pyrmont, and afterwards went to Weimar, where he penned some bitter reflections on that sim. ple-minded and amiable enthusiast, Zimmerman, for which he never forgave himself. At this period, his wife was, within a month after her delivery of a daughter, seized with a fever, which soon terminated her existence. During her illness, a compliment of a peculiar and delicate kind was paid to him by the students then at Jena, and which is the more remarkable from the contrast which it presents to the deadly animosity afterwards cherished against him by their successors. About eighty of them had repaired to Weimar, in order to witness his play of Misanthropy and Repentance; and it was their custom, on the evenings when they visited the theatre, to sup to gether, and to return home jovially, hallooing and shouting as they passed along the streets. On this occa sion, knowing how much the author was afflicted by the alarming situation of his wife, they avoided the street in which he resided, although their route lay that way, and left the town by another road.

After the death of his lady, Kot zebue bade adieu to Weimar, and hastened to Paris, in the hope of recovering, in the bustle of that gay metropolis, the self-possession of which this domestic misfortune had deprived him.

When he had satisfied his curiosity, without much alleviating his sorrow, he returned to his presidency.

But in 1795 the temper of the Russian government induced him to send in his resignation; and in 1796 he accepted the office of superintendant of the imperial theatre at Vienna; a situation which he soon found at variance with his habits, however congenial to his taste, and which, in consequence, he threw up in disgust. In 1800 he returned to Russia; but had scarcely crossed the frontiers when he was arrested by the special orders of that imperial madman Paul, and conducted to Kurgan, a town in Siberia, where he enlivened the dreariness of exile by the perform ance of some of his plays, in which he induced the inhabitants to take part. On the accession of Alexander, he again left Russia, and travelled through France, Italy, and Germany, and subsequently fixed his abode at Berlin, where he undertook the management of a journal, called the Free Speaker, but which, after editing it several years, he was, in consequence of offending Buonaparte, obliged to abandon, and retire to a small estate which he possessed in Esthonia.

It is said, that he was consulted, and indeed that he assisted, in drawing up the Russian diplomatic papers published in 1811 and 1812. In 1813, the Emperor Alexander appointed him Consul-General at Köningsberg; and, in 1816, named him one of his Counsellors of State. But the Russian climate not agreeing with his health, which was always delicate, he was, in 1817, allowed to travel in Germany, and to retain all his appointments, on condition of sending a regular report to Petersburgh of his observations on the morals, politics, and literature of that country. In this capacity of accredited political reporter to the Russian Government, he excited the jealousy and hatred of the Germans; and being warned,

that the fanaticism against him in the universities was become so great that it was no longer safe for him to remain in Germany, he had applied for his passports to return to Petersburgh, when he was assassinated on the 23d of March 1819, at Manheim, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, by Charles Frederick Sandt, a student of the Universities of Tubingen and Erlangen, and who had been distinguished by his dark and morose fanaticism at the fête of Wartburg, on the anniversary of the battle of Leipsic. The particulars of this remarkable assassination being detailed in the Chronicle, under date the 23d of March, it is only necessary to refer our readers to that department of the present work; adding, however, that they may implicitly rely on the authenticity of the facts there recorded.

Kotzebue, who married a second time, left no less than fourteen children. The eldest is a captain in the Austrian service: Otto de Kotzebue, a lieutenant in the Russian navy, has already distinguished himself by a voyage round the world, undertaken at the expence of Count Romansoff Chancellor of Russia: and Moritz, an officer in the Russian army, has published an interesting relation of the Russian Embassy to Persia, to which he was attached.

If, as an author, Kotzebue does not rank in the first class, either for intellectual power or elegance of style, few have been more celebrated in their own day. He had certainly the art of adapting his sentiments with great success to the popular feelings; which serves to account at once for the mushroom popularity he enjoyed in his lifetime, and for the oblivion into which the greater part of his writings has already irretrievably fallen. His imagination was extravagant rather than bold;

his language inelegant, plethoric, and redundant; his sentimentalism forced, silly, and disgusting; his conception of character seldom natural or just; and the general tendency of his writings unfavourable to virtue. He is, moreover, the uniform panegyrist of absolute power, in favour of which he was little less extravagant and fanatical than the miserable maniac whose poniard terminated his existence; and though we may lament his fate, it is impossible to feel much respect for the character of a renegado, who devoted his powers, such as they were, to the dissemination of principles incompatible with the welfare of his species, and to the service of a power which may one day overrun Germany, and destroy the balance of power in Europe.

FIELD-MARSHAL PRINCE BLUCHER DE WAHLSTADT was born at Rostock, on the 16th of September 1742. His father, a Captain of Horse, in the service of Hesse Cassel, sent him; at the beginning of the Seven Years' War, to Rugen, where, on seeing the Swedish Hussars, a love for a soldier's life was awakened in him; and, contrary to the advice of his relations, he entered the service of Sweden at the age of fourteen, made his first campaign against the Prussians, and was taken prisoner by the same regiment of Hussars, in which he afterwards so greatly distinguish ed himself. Von Belling, then Colorel of this regiment, persuaded him to enter the Prussian service, which was accomplished by exchanging him for a Swedish officer, and Blucher remained with the regiment of Hus. sars, during the remaining campaigns of the Seven Years' War. At the close of the war, displeased at not being promoted, he resigned his commission as Captain of Horse, and de

dicated himself to agricultural pursuits; but under William II. again entered his old regiment with the rank of Major, and served with distinction during the campaign of 1793 and 1794. After the battle of Leystadt, in which his daring and preci. pitate valour was signally conspicu ous, he received the rank of Major. General, with a command in the army of observation in the Lower Rhine. In 1802, he took possession for Prussia of Erfurt and Mulhausen; and in 1805-6 was in active service. After the battle of Jena, he followed, with a great part of the cavalry, Prince Hohenlohe towards Pomerania; but not being able to overtake him, he threw himself with the corps of the Dukes of Weimar and Brunswick into Lubeck, in order, if possible, to draw the French from the Oder. Here he made a desperate and memorable stand; and although the superiority of the French in numbers enabled them to carry the place by storm, he succeeded in retiring to the village of Ratkau, in the Lubeck territory, where he was at last obliged to capitulate, as he himself expressly says, " only through want of ammunition and provisions." Being soon after exchanged for the French Marshal Victor, he was sent by the King of Prussia, with a small corps, on board a ship, destined for Swedish Pomerania, which he afterwards evacuated, in consequence of the peace of Tilsit.

At the conclusion of this fatal pacification, which stripped Prussia of some of her richest provinces, and reduced her to the rank of a fourthrate power, he was employed in the war department, and afterwards as Commander-in-Chief in Pomerania, but deprived of his employment by the influence of Napoleon. The events of 1813, however, again called him into the field, though then in