ty, of Inverness,) repeatedly elected him on committees, some of which were not connected with India affairs. He was appointed by act of parliament (37 Geo. III. c. 34. s. 6.) one of the commissioners for the issue of exchequer bills, and in 1818 was elected chairman of these commissioners. He was also included in the commission for the appropriation of the sum of 1,000,000l. sterling, granted by parliament for the erection of new churches.

Amidst the multiplicity of his occupations, his parliamentary constituents and his native country enjoyed a large share of his anxious attention. At the date of his election to a seat in parliament, the Highlands of Scotland were, as regards the means of internal communication, in a state of almost primitive destitution. Adequately to supply these deficiencies in a country so poor, so extensive, so thinly peopled, and abounding with physical obstacles, was an undertaking too gigantic for the efforts of local combination. Such being the undeniable condition of the Highlands, government resolved to undertake various magnificent works, which, now in a state of completion, add greatly to the convenience and welfare of the country. The Caledonian Canal was the first which was commenced. The original conception of this navigation was of very early date; but Mr Grant, though he did not originate it, stood forth at once as its indefatigable promoter: and to his ceaseless importunities to government, and his devoted services as a commissioner, the country, perhaps, mainly owes it that the progress of this noble work was not, in times of national danger and difficulty, delayed, or completely frustrated. After twenty years of anxious labour, Mr Grant had the satisfaction, in one of his latest visits to the Highlands, of super

intending in person the formal opening of this navigation. The Act for cutting the Caledonian Canal was followed by another for the formation of Highland roads and bridges. Mr Grant, it is understood, was among the first projectors of this measure, and, for a period of twenty years, he strenuously exerted himself to advance it. The completion of the plan embraced the formation of fourteen hundred bridges, and above a thousand of the finest roads in Scotland. These works have been accomplished by an expenditure of above a million sterling. Among other measures of local improvement in his native country, in which Mr Grant co-operated, one of the latest efforts of his public life, was the promotion of the act for building and endowing fifty new churches in the extensive parishes of the Highlands. The establishments formed of late years in Edinburgh and in Inverness for the extension of education in the Highlands, which, by means of 150 schools supported by them, have done much to disperse the moral darkness of the remote parts of Scotland, constantly found in him a warm and efficient friend. Mr Grant was also among the first to introduce Sunday-schools into that quarter. Two of these he supported by giving salaries to the teachers at his own private expense, which he continued to do during the last twenty years of his life.

Among many private testimonies to his worth, it may be sufficient to refer to two, being those of political opponents. The late Sir Philip Francis, at the close of a debate on India affairs, in which he had been decidedly opposed to Mr Grant, declared, that no man in England had a higher opinion of his moral character than he had. "Upon the facts in ques tion," Sir Philip added, "there can

not be a more competent witness, nor any human evidence less to be suspected." Another opponent, Mr Scott Waring, declared, that Mr Grant was "incapable of asserting what he did not believe to be true, or of delivering his sentiments on a subject which he did not understand."

Although Mr Grant ever considered the affairs of India as his peculiar province, and as a sufficient occupation for his mind, he allowed himself to have some other public engage ments; but chiefly in connexion with religious or benevolent subjects. He appears to have been for many years a director of the South Sea Company. He was a member of the Society in London for promoting Christian Knowledge, as well as of another society of the same name, connected exclusively with the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. He was elected a vice-president of the British and Foreign Bible Society, upon its institution, in 1804, and was at different subsequent periods chosen vice-president of the Bloomsbury and Northeast London Auxiliary Societies. He was also connected with the Church Missionary Society. To many other associations of a charitable or religious description, he afforded the sanction of his name, and the aid of his contribution.

In the service of the oppressed Africans he joined his friend Mr Wilberforce, in 1807, as a member of the temporary committee of gentlemen then associated with a view to the establishment of the African Institution. To their labours and efficiency he essentially contributed, and was afterwards chosen one of the direct

reader of this memoir. It may not, however, be improper to observe, that as a public speaker, he commanded attention in debate by an erect, majestic, and, in the latter years of his life, venerable figure, by a voice deep and sonorous, an enunciation clear and deliberate, and, above all, by arguments perspicuous and convincing. He accustomed himself to deliver his sentiments with gravity, and appeared to expect the same temper in his auditory. His style in writing corresponded with that of his eloquence. Cautious and deliberate in the examination of his authorities, his references to written or printed documents were generally unanswerable. As a friend, he was ardent and constant. In no part of his conduct was the firmness of his mind more apparent than in the inviolability of his friendships. To the numerous individuals who enjoyed his patronage, he was always accessible, and frank in his communications; and his kindness to them rarely terminated with a single instance. As a philanthropist, and more especially as a Christian, Mr. Grant is entitled to the praise of eminent consistency and zeal. The decision of his character respecting religion enabled him often to surmount such opposition to his benevolent projects as would have overturned the purposes of many other men. But Mr Grant, to the last moment of his life, retained, and illustrated in his conduct, the religious principles and philanthropic views which he had imbibed in India.

The great subjects of Christian benevolence were ever present to his understanding, and near his heart, and appeared to have a powerful influence upon his actions, leading him in the prosecution of his multifarious occupations to travel in paths into which the ordinary details of business

would never have led him. Under some aspect or other they were almost constantly before him, and are believed to have occupied his close attention within a few days, and probably

within a few hours, of his decease; which took place at his house in Rus sell-square, on the 31st of October, 1823.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE. THE Council of this Institution have elected, from the class of Honorary Associates, the ten following individuals, to receive the allowance of 100l. per annum for life, granted by his Majesty. They take the title of Royal Associates:

1. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Esq. -The Friend, Essays-Lay Ser-Translation of WallensteinRemorse, a Tragedy, &c.

mons

2. The Rev. Edward Davies-Celtic Researches-Mythology of the Antients.

3. The Rev. John Jamieson, D.D. F.R.S.E. F.L.A.E.-An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language Hermes Scythicus, and other works.

4. The Rev. T. R. Malthus, M.A. F.R.S.-Essay on Population.

5. Thomas James Mathias, Esq. F.R.S. F.S.A.-Runic Odes-On the Evidence relating to the Poems attributed to Rowley-The Shade of Alexander Pope-and various other works.

6. James Millingen, Esq. F.S.A. Peintures Antiques inédites de Vases Grecs-Peintures de Vases Grecs de

la Collection de Sir John Coghill, Bart.-Recueil de quelques Médailles Grecques inédites-Medallic History of Napoleon.

7. Sir W. Ouseley, Knt. LL.D.— Persian Miscellanies-Oriental Collections-Travels in Persia, &c.—and other works.

8. William Roscoe, Esq.-Life of Lorenzo de Medici-Life of Leo X., &c. &c.

9. The Rev. Henry John Todd, M.A. F.S.A.-The works of Spenser, &c.-Milton's Poetical Works, &c.Some Account of the Life and Writings of John Milton-Illustrations of the Lives and Writings of Gower and Chaucer-Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Bishop Walton, &c.Johnson's Dictionary corrected, &c.

10. Sharon Turner, Esq. F.S.A.History of the Anglo-Saxons, &c.Vindication of the Genuineness of the Ancient British Poems of Aneurin, Taliessin, Llywarchlen, and Merdhin; to which are added, an Essay on the Antiquity of Rhyme in Europe"The Voluspa"-The History o. England during the Middle Ages, &c.-Prolusions.

The General Meeting of this So

ciety was held May 6. The President, the Bishop of St David's, took the chair. The Secretary, the Rev. R. Cattermole, brought forward the Annual Report of the Society's proceedings. It announces the election of the ten Royal Associates. These ten have been presented with His Majesty's annual bounty of 100 guineas each. His Majesty has also placed two medals, of the value of 50 guineas each, at the disposal of the Society, which for the present year have been adjudged to W. Mitford, Esq. for his History of Greece, and to Signor Angelo Maï, for his literary discoveries in the libraries of Milan and the Vatican. The Honorary Associates of the First Class, elected for "their eminence in the pursuit of literature," who remain on the Society's list, after the nomination of those noticed above are as follows: Bernard BartonR. Duppa, Esq. LL.B-Rev. T. D. Fosbroke, M.A. F.S.A.-W. Jacob, Esq. F.R.S.-Rev. S. Lee, M.A. Prof. Arab. Univ. Camb.-Rev. J. Lingard, D.D.-Rev. G. Miller, D.D.-T. Mitchell, Esq. M.A.-J. Montgomery, Esq.-Rev. J. Parsons. B.D. Rev. R. Polwhele, M.A.-Rev. A. Rees, D.D. F.R.S. F.L.S.-P. F. Tytler, Esq. Sec. Litt. Class. R.S.E.

1.-The first paper read before the Society, was communicated by Granville Penn, Esq. entitled, "Account of an unknown Manuscript of 1422; illustrating the last Declaration of Henry V." &c. The Declaration alludes to a project of Henry, made public by the Monarch himself during his last illness. It was his fixed intention, he said, had God spared his life," after having settled the Kingdom of France in peace, to proceed to the Holy Land, and make war upon the infidels, for the recovery of Jerusalem out of their hands." After showing, by arguments resting on Historical Authority, that this reso

lution had been formed long before the occurrence of the circumstance which led to its publicity; and that it was consistent with Henry's character, not to have before revealed it ; Mr Penn proceeds to authenticate the fact, by an account of the discovery and contents of a curious Black Letter MS. in Old French, found at Lisle, in the year 1819; which proves to be a Memoir of an actual" Military Survey of the Coasts and Defences of Egypt and Syria, from Alexandria round to Gallipoli, made by the command of Henry ;" and clearly intended to be made use of in planning and conducting the projected expedition. The author of this Survey was Gilbert de Lannoi, a knight of a noble French family, and the Duke of Burgundy's Ambassador to King Henry.

2. The second and third papers were the first two of a series of four, communicated by Sharon Turner, Esq. " on the mutual resemblances, discoverable in the Languages of Nations, not related to each other by known origin or by any geographical contiguity." Mr Turner pursues his object, with much research, through this First Paper, by a comparison and classification of the terms, both simple and compound, made use of by various ancient and modern nations, to express the numeral One.-3. In his Second Paper, Mr Turner traces the relations that exist among nearly all the known languages of the world, as

exemplified in the instance of words employed to express the numeral Tre.

4. The Fourth Paper read, was entitled "Observations on the Counterfeit Madness of Hamlet, and the motive which induced him to assume the appearance of distraction." By Thomas Bowdler, Esq. The object of the author is, to prove, that the mental aberration of Hamlet is, throughout, assumed, as the only cloak under which he could, at once, conceal the