attractive than it would have been at an earlier period. It is not, however, we are confident, rating her genius too high to say, that at this present time, when the songs of Burns, Scott, Moore, and Byron, enrich the different collections of our national airs, the pathos, harmony, and elegance of many of her compositions have not been surpassed.

Though fond of reading and music, and capable of amusing herself in the closest retirement, she had great relish for society; and at one period of her life mixed very often in a circle of agreeable and cultivated friends, who met together regularly, many of whom are well known in the literary world. By those friends she was respected and admired; and into whatever assembly she entered, the delicacy of her face, with the commanding grace of her person, gave her a peculiar air of distinction, and seldom failed to attract attention. But she never ascribed to her own merit the notice she received in society; feeling herself the wife of a celebrated man, she was fond of imputing the attention she received, to the influence of his character; doing injustice to herself, from a generous pride of owing every thing to him: and she never appeared so much gratified by attention and kindness, as when she supposed it was shewn to her for his sake.

The latter years of her life were mostly spent in retirement, though no infirmity of age, a slight deafness excepted, prevented her from enjoying society. The resources of her books and her

pen

never failed her; many of her songs, and other poems, written at an advanced age, are very beautiful, and some of them are of a more cheerful character than the productions of her younger days. She also wrote many letters to her friends; and her flow of ideas, and facility of diction, made it an amusing and pleasant occupation.

She was an affectionate relation; and, where she was attached and had opportunity, she was a warm, useful, and steady friend. To her contemporary writers, particularly the poets of these days, she was a charitable critic, and a warm and generous admi

rer.

The pleasure she received from them was repaid with no grudging or niggard thanks. To critical severity, as applying to her own works, she was mild, considerate and forgiving."

On the 18th Mr. serjeant Runnington. He was born on the 29th of August, 1751, in Hertfordshire. In 1768 he was placed under the care of an eminent special pleader, who was publishing a digest of the laws of England; in compiling which work he was of material assistance. In 1774 the commenced special pleader in the Temple, and obtained many pupils, who have since risen to eminence. The sister of one of these, sir S. Shepherd, he married, and had by her two children, a son and a daughter; the former of whom died in 1810. In 1778 he was called to the bar by the society of the Middle Temple ; and in 1787 took the degree of serjeant-at-law. In politics he was an active whig. He advised,

and

At Hutton-hall, Yorkshire, Mrs. Johnstone, neice of David Hume, the historian of Great Britain. At Edinburgh, lieutenant-colonel Grant.

At Dublin, lady Harte.

M. Naldi, of the Italian Theatre Royal, having been invited to dine with Mr. Garcia, at Paris, immediately on his arrival with his wife and daughter, proceeded to examine the accelerated process of cooking by a self-acting boiler. By an imprudent and fatal inadvertency M. Naldi, with the tongs, stopped the valve, and the compression increased the heat to such a degree that an explosion ensued; the lid of the boiler came in contact with his forehead, completely severed the skull, and stretched him dead at the feet of his daughter.

Anthony Ver Huell, late minister plenipotentiary from Holland, to the court of Spani.

On the 11th, at Richmond, in the 90th year of his age, Mr. Adam Walker. He was born on the banks of Windermere, in the county of Westmoreland. His father employed a few hands in the woollen manufacture: and having a large family, he took his son from school before the boy could read a chapter in the bible. The mechanical turn of the youth was not however to be smothered by hard labour. He copied corn mills, paper-mills, and fullingmills, the models of which were constructed on a brook near his father's dwelling, to the surprise of passengers. He also borrowed books, and built a house for himself in a bush to read without interruption on Sundays. Thus he went on with such success, that a person, who discovered his ex

traordinary talents, offered him the ushership of Ledsham school, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Here he began his career of teaching when he was no more than fifteen years of age, and had frequently to study over night what he had to impart to his pupils the next morning. After continuing three years in that situation, he was chosen writing-master and accomptant to the free-school at Macclesfield, where he resided four years, and perfected himself in mathematics by his own application. At this place he embark ed in trade, but failing in his business, he resolved to turn hermit in one of the islands on the lake of Windermere, from which romantic scheme he was diverted by the ridicule of his friends. His next enterprize was that of lecturing on astronomy at Manchester, where he met with a very favourable reception, which ena. bled him to establish an extensive seminary. This however he relinquished for the purpose of travelling as a lecturer in natural philosophy; and after passing through most of the great towns in the three kingdoms, he visited Dr. Priestley, by whose recommendation he undertook to lecture in the Haymarket in 1778. The encouragement which he experienced in the metropolis induced him to take a house in Georgestreet, Hanover square, where he read lectures every winter to numerous audiences. He was also engaged by Dr. Barnard, provost of Eton College, to lecture in that seminary: which example was followed by Westminster, Winchester, and other great schools. Among the variety of inventions with which Mr. Walker has

amused

amused himself, may be mentioned various engines for raising water; three methods by which ships may be easily pumped at sea; carriages to go by wind and steam; the patent empyreal air-stove; the patent celestina harpsichord; the Eidouranion, or transparent orrery; the rotatory lights on the island of Scilly; a boat that works against the stream; another that clears the bottom of rivers by the stream or tide; a weather guage which, united to a clock, shows the quantity of rain, the direction and strength of the wind, the heighth of the barometer, the heat and moisture of the air; an easy method of turning a river into a wet dock; a road mill; a machine for watering land; a dibblingplough, &c. &c. The literary performances of Mr. Walker are: "Analysis of Lectures on Experimental Philosophy," 8vo.; "Philosophical Estimate of the Causes, Effects, and Cure of unwholesome Air in Cities," 8vo.; "On the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimnies," 8vo.; "Ideas suggested in an Excursion through Flanders, Germany, Italy and France," 8vo. 1791; Remarks made in a Tour to the Lakes of Westmoreland and Cumberland, in the Summer of 1791, to which is annexed a Sketch of the Police, Religion, Arts, and Agriculture of France, made in an excursion to Paris in 1785," 8vo; 1792; "A system of Familiar Philosophy, in Lectures," 4to. 1799: "A Treatise on Geography and the Use of the Globes," 12mo. Some interesting Memoirs of the family of Hogarth were communicated by Mr. Walker to Mr. Nichols in 1782. He has also inserted many pieces in prose and verse in various Maga

66

zines; and some articles in the Philosophical Transactions, and Young's Annals of Agriculture.

At Rome, on the 23rd, Mr. John Keats, well known for his poetical productions. "He left England for the benefit of his health, having exhibited marks of a consumptive disorder, which appeared to be rapidly increasing. A cold, caught on his journey to Italy, hurried him still faster to the tomb; and though for a short time after his arrival there he seemed to revive, it was only to confirm the fallacy of a hope too often indulged in similar disorders; for he soon languished into an untimely grave. He often talked of approaching death, with the resignation of one who contemplated its certainty without anxiety, and seemed to wish to "steal from the world" into silence and repose. From a contemporary writer we learn, that when a friend was sitting by his bed, and talking of an inscription to his memory, he desired there might be no notice taken of him, "or if any," to be "Here lies the body of one whose name was writ in water!" The temperament and feeling of the poet, which is always "much nearer allied to melancholy than to jollity or mirth," seem to have been the heritage of Keats: the deep susceptibility to external beauty, the intense vividness of mental impressions, and the rich colouring of thought, which are seen in genius, were all his. Though young and his taste leaning towards an extravagance which maturer years would no doubt have corrected, his poetry displays throughout those breathings, thoughts which so peculiarly identify the presence of the poetical