mon, 1800;" "A Letter to the Bishops of the United Church of England and Ireland; containing a Counter Representation to the Statement laid before their Lordships, in a Letter from the Committee of the Philanthropic Society, relating to their intended Chapel (which he considered as interfering with his parochial rights), 1806;" and "A Refutation of the Charge brought against the Marquis Wellesley, on account of his conduct to the Nabob of Oude. From authentic documents, 1807," Svo. Miss HANNAH BRAND, the younger sister of the Rev. John Brand, was possessed of a considerable share of learning and talents. In conjunction with her elder sister she conducted a very respectable seminary for French education at No. 18, St. Giles's Broad-street, Norwich; and as they both were clever and accomplished, and promised something of refinement beyond the ordinary level of provincial schools, they were for a time very successful; but it is more than probable that this success was interrupted and finally destroyed by the wayward and very eccentric character and conduct of this younger sister. Miss H. Brand now commenced authoress and actress; and exhibited the remarkable phenomenon of representing on the stage the principal character in a tragedy written by herself, which nevertheless was damned. The editor of the "Biographia Dramatica," however, remarks, that as an actress he "remembers her performance of Agmunda in her own Huniades to have been marked by force and discrimination, though with the drawbacks of a provincial pronunciation, and a deportment not greatly to be admired." She died in March 1821. Miss H. Brand was certainly a very extraordinary lady, and endowed with considerable talents; but she was vain, conceited, and pragmatical; a worthy disciple of the Wolstoncraftian school, and consequently a great stickler for the dignity of the sex, and the rights of woman. Having failed as a teacher, as an authoress, and above all as an actress, she offered herself, and was accepted, as a governess in the family of a lady, who had formerly been brought up by her sister and herself. The lady was of an old and considerable family, and heiress to a large property; her husband was the elder son of a Baronet, of no great pretensions on the score of intellect, but a well-meaning, good sort of man. Until the governess came among them, they had lived tranquilly together, with no other or greater interruptions than are found to occur in all families. No sooner had the poetess entered upon her office, than she took it into her head that delicacy was offended by the familiarity and unconcealed affec tion with which her quondam pupil outwardly treated her husband. She endeavoured to persuade the wife that this was highly indecorous, and, unhappily, she but too well succeeded. Her fami liarity was turned into cold civility, her affection changed into a reserved demeanour, and the whole character of her behaviour assumed a new form. The husband was not insensible of the alteration, which at first excited his astonishment and afterwards his indignation. On discovering the cause, he very naturally insisted that the governess should be dismissed. The foolish wife, however, resisted this; and so implicated her own case with that of her counsellor, that she declared one would not go without the other. The husband was firm, and the result was that the indiscreet wife sacrificed three young children and the society of her husband, with whom she had hitherto lived happily, to share with her female friend the disgrace, contempt, and priva→ tions which accompanied their departure. The husband instituted different suits in Doctors' Commons for the establishment of his just rights, in every one of which, the decisions, as might be expected, were in his favour; and in the printed proceedings of the Consistorial Court Miss Brand's conduct was most severely animadverted upon by the presiding Judge. The fugitives at length found it expedient to retire from Great Britain to a remote island in its dependencies, where they lived victims of self-reproach, of the greatest folly, and of the most unjustifiable perverseness. Mr. Tate Wilkinson, in his "Wandering Patentee," a really amusing, though very quaintly written book, has some entertaining anecdotes and eharacteristic traits of this most extraordinary lady. 99 Miss H. Brand was the authoress of the following dramatic pieces, viz. "Adelinda, a Comedy; "The Conflict, an Heroic Comedy; "Huniades, a Tragedy;" and " Agmunda, a Tragedy," never printed. The last was the preceding piece altered, with the omission of the character of Huniades. These were collected and published by subscription in one volume octavo, under the title of "Plays and Poems, 1798;" and her conduct with respect to the printer is thus detailed by Mr. Beloe: On giving the MS. of her Poems to the printer, she desired him to strike off a thousand copies. The MS. contained enough for a tolerable thick volume of royal octavo. The printer himself represents the following dialogue to have taken place: "Have you made any estimate of the expense ?" "No; but I must have a thousand copies." "How many subscribers have you?" "About two hundred; but I know, indeed I have no doubt, of an extensive sale. I must have a thousand copies." Perhaps, Madam, you may not be aware that of your two hundred subscribers all will not send for their copies, and of those who do, some will not send the money; that the expense is immediate, as no long credit can be given; so that after the first advertisements the poems of an unknown author are generally considered as waste paper." "It does not signify, Sir, I must and will have a thousand copies." The result may easily be anticipated; a thousand copies were actually printed, but after a lapse of several years, no less than seven hundred and fifty still groaned upon the shelves of the printer's warehouse*. Miss MARY BRAND, the elder sister, was a woman of considerable attainments; and, after leaving Norwich, conducted, with reputation and success, a seminary for young ladies at Woodbridge. She died at Ipswich, where she had resided a few years previous to her decease, with a limited number of pupils under her care and tuition, on the 12th of July 1826, and her remains were interred in the Churchyard of Sproughton, where, on a head-stone, is the following inscription to her memory, as well as to that of her niece: SACRED To the Memory of Daughter of the Reverend *The above particulars are collected from Beloe's "Sexagenarian ;" Chalmers's "Biographical Dictionary; ""The Censura Literaria ; " "The Biographia Dramatica; ""The Gentleman's Magazine;' "The General History of the County of Norfolk;" and "The Bibliotheca Britannica." In the Biographical Dictionary it is stated, that Mr. Brand's name does not occur among the Cambridge Graduates; this, however, is incorrect. He is there called FITZ-JOHN BRAND. 538 The Rev. RICHARD CANNING *, A. M. THE EDITOR OF THE SECOND EDITION OF 66 Richard Canning, Esq. the father of this learned and highly-respectable divine, was bred to the navy, and in that profession attained the rank of Post Captain. On retiring from active service, he settled at Ipswich, in which town he ended his days in 1726, and was interred in the Church of St. Helen, where, on a mural-tablet, is this inscription to his memory: Underneath are deposited the remains of RICHARD CANNING, ESQ. an active and experienced Commander in the Royal Navy, who having served his country with unexceptionable courage and conduct during the wars of K. William and Q. Anne, retired to this town, A. D. 1712, and through resentment of party, Dom. 1726, died a private Captain, annot. 57. { Also of MARGARET CANNING, relict of the said Richard, who for her piety, benevolence, and conjugal as well as maternal affection, was an example worthy of imitation. She died anno {Dom. 1734, 67. And of ALICE CANNING, mother of the said Richard, who died in a good old age, anno ས Dom. 1716, æt. 88. With them lieth intombed the body of His only son, Richard Canning, the subject of * See "Literary Anecdotes," vol. II. p. 274; VIII. p. 488. |