smiling in triumph, or dimpled with archness and love." It would be injustice to the reader not to borrow from the same pencil a few more touches of portraiture. "This extreme facility of expression was sometimes painful, for I have seen him look absolutely ugly-I have seen him look so hard and cold, that you must hate him, and then, in a moment brighter than the sun, with such playful softness in his look, such affectionate eagerness kindling in his eyes, and dimpling his lips into something more sweet than a smile, that you forgot the man, the Lord Byron, in the picture of beauty presented to you, and gazed with intense curiosity—I had almost said—as if to satisfy yourself, that thus looked the god of poetry, the god of the Vatican, when he conversed with the sons and daughters of man."-" His head," says Mr Moore, "was remarkably small,-so much so as to be rather out of proportion with his face. The forehead, though a little too narrow, was high, and appeared more so from his having his hair (to preserve it, as he said) shaved over the temples; while the glossy, dark-brown curls, clustering over his head, gave the finish to its beauty. When to this is added, that his nose, though handsomely, was rather thickly shaped, that his teeth were white and regular, and his complexion colourless, as good an idea perhaps as it is in the power of mere words to convey may be conceived of his features."-The following passage from Dr Millingen's 'Memoir' may also be acceptable to our readers :-" Before we proceeded to embalm the body," says the young surgeon, 66 we could not refrain from pausing, in silent contemplation, on the lifeless clay of one, who, but a few days before, was the hope of a whole nation, and the admiration of the civilized world. After consecrating a few moments to the feelings such a spectacle naturally inspired, we could not but admire the perfect symmetry of his body. Nothing could surpass the beauty of the forehead; its height was extraordinary, and the protuberances under which the nobler intellectual faculties are supposed to reside, were strongly pronounced. His hair, which curled naturally, was quite grey; the mustachios light coloured. His physiognomy had suffered little alteration; and still preserved the sarcastic, haughty expression which habitually characterized it. The chest was broad, and high vaulted; the waist very small, the pelvis narrow. The only blemish of his body, which might otherwise have vied with that of Apollo himself, was the congenital malconformation of his left foot and leg.”

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During his illness, some fine traits of humanity and feeling for his attendants were exhibited by Byron, and nearly his last words, previous to sinking into the lethargy which ended in death, were, My wife, my child, my sister!—you know all—you must say all.” His utterance then failed him, as it had previously done in reference to the same near connexions. Thus, in his 37th year, prematurely died this extraordinary genius, to the deep affliction of the people whose cause he had espoused, who decreed every possible public testimony of their sorrow. Nor was his death a subject of less regret to many, who looked for a noble recompense, in the maturity of his life, for the faults of its commencement and preceding progress. Many of his errors were evidently the result of a too early release from all discipline and control, and the neglect which family circumstances had thrown around him. In other respects, the vices and failings of Byron, undeniable, it is true, were much magnified by the peculiarity of his genius and character, which attracted an inten

sity of observation to all which concerned him. The disposition of the public at once to admire and condemn, accompanied as it was with an involuntary tendency to confound the character of the poet with some of the most romantic creations of his imagination, however it might annoy him in the first instance, in the sequel too obviously nurtured a degree of personal vanity, which formed one of the greatest weaknesses of his character. Common-place censure produces little effect when coupled with great admiration, and still less is effected by the virulence of party attack, or by direct personal hostility. The morals of Byron, on the score of gallantry, his carelessness of female reputation, and hasty and vindictive spirit of resentment, are altogether indefensible; but it is certain that they were mixed up with great humanity, benevolence and generosity. It was evident, too, from his death and many other circumstances, that, whatever his pride and resentment at being so decisively abandoned, he nurtured the natural feelings of a husband and father deep in his bosom.

The body of Byron was brought to England, and laid in state in London. It was subsequently interred near his own seat of Newstead abbey, where a plain marble slab merely records his name and title, date of death, and age. Besides his own legitimate child and heiress, Byron left another daughter in Italy, to whom he bequeathed £5000 on the condition of her not marrying an Englishman. The successor to his estate and title was his cousin, Captain George Anson Byron, of the royal navy.

Charles Encledon.

BORN A. D. 1764.-DIED A. D. 1826.

THIS celebrated singer was a native of Cornwall. He was the son of a respectable medical gentleman. Displaying an early taste for music, he was, at the age of eight years, placed in the choir of Exeter cathedral, under the care of Jackson, the celebrated composer. Here he remained six or seven years, when a truant disposition induced him, in 1779, to enter on board the Formidable man-of-war, of 98 guns, under the command of Captain Cleland. On the West India station he changed his ship, and served on board the Raisonnable, of 64 guns, then commanded by Lord Hervey, where his vocal powers and sprightliness of character endeared him to the officers and men. In this ship he attracted the notice of Admiral Pigot, commander of the fleet, who frequently sent for Incledon, and sang catches and glees with him and Admiral Hughes. He returned to England in 1783, when Admiral Pigot, Lord Mulgrave, and Lord Hervey, gave him letters of recom mendation to Mr Sheridan and the late Mr Colman; the manager, however, was blind to his merits, and Incledon, determined to try his talents on the stage, joined Collins's company at Southampton, where his first theatrical essay was as Alphonso, in the 'Castle of Andalusia.' Here he continued upwards of a year, when he was engaged at Bath, where he attracted much of the public attention, and obtained the patronage of Rauzzini, who not only took him under his tuition, but introduced him in his concerts.

He was a great favourite at the Noblemen's Catch club, which he assisted in establishing; and Dr Harrington, the eminent physician, was his particular friend.

Having again applied in vain at the London theatres, he accepted an engagement at Vauxhall; but in the ensuing winter, (October, 1790,) made his first appearance at Covent Garden, as Dermot, in the 'Poor Soldier,' with so much success as to obtain a permanent situation, on liberal terms. For many seasons Incledon sang with great éclat at the Lent oratorios; he frequently visited Ireland, where no singer, not even Mrs Billington, was ever more caressed; and subsequently to the termination of his regular engagements at the London theatres, he crossed the Atlantic, and made a vocal tour through great part of the United States, though, as is said, without any solid pecuniary advantage. Of late years somewhat neglected, perhaps, for newer favourites in the metropolis, his engagements were chiefly of a provincial nature. Styling himself The Wandering Melodist,' he was accustomed to give a vocal entertainment of his own, which was generally received with great favour. He was, we believe, in the arrangement of one of these plans at Worcester, when, about the commencement of 1826, he was suddenly seized with a paralytic affection, which, in the course of a few weeks, terminated his life.

Incledon, though a convivial, was by no means an improvident man. Before his second union he settled all his fortune, the result of his professional exertions for many years, on the children of his first marriage, nor was he wanting in industry to create a new fortune. It is true, his farewell-benefits in London were a small tax on his friends, for he was fond of "more last words;" but they must have been saving indeed who begrudged the price of a ticket to so old a favourite as Charles Incledon.

Incledon's voice was of extraordinary power, both in the natural and falsetto. The former, from A to G, a compass of about fourteen notes, was full and open, neither partaking of the reed nor the string, and sent forth without the smallest artifice; and such was its ductility, that when he sung pianissimo it retained its original ductility. His falsetto-which he could use from D to E or F, or about ten notes-was rich, sweet, and brilliant, though we certainly are of opinion that music, like beauty, is when "unadorned adorned the most." He excelled in the pure and energetic English ballad, such as Black-eyed Susan,' and 'the Storm,' the bold and cheering hunting-song, or the love-song of Shield, breathing the chaste simple grace of genuine English melody.'

John Pinkerton.

BORN A. D. 1758.—died a. d. 1826.

MR PINKERTON claimed descent from an ancient family seated at Pinkerton, near Dunbar. His grandfather was a worthy and honest yeoman at Dalserf, who had a numerous family. As presbyterians at that time abounded in the west of England, there was considerable intercourse between them and those of Scotland.

1 Gentleman's Magazine.

James Pinkerton, father of our subject, settled in Somersetshire, where having acquired a moderate property as a dealer in hair, (an article, as wigs were generally worn, then much in request,) he returned to his native country about 1755, and married Mrs Bowie-whose maiden name was Heron-the widow of a respectable merchant at Edinburgh, who brought him an increase of fortune, and three children. James, the eldest, joined the army as a volunteer, and was slain at the battle of Minden, his brother Robert succeeding to an estate in Lanarkshire left by their father.

John Pinkerton, the youngest son, was born in Edinburgh, February 17th, 1758. After acquiring the rudiments of education at a small school kept by an old woman at Grangegate-Side, near that city, where was a house belonging to his mother, he was, in 1764, removed to the grammar school at Lanark, kept by Mr Thomson, who married the sister of the poet of that name.

Inheriting from his father a portion of hypochondriacism, young Pinkerton was always a diffident boy, and he neither entered into competition with his schoolfellows in education, nor joined in their boisterous but healthy amusements. At school he was generally the second or third of his class, but nothing remarkable distinguished this period, except one incident:-Mr Thomson one day ordered the boys to translate a part of Livy into English; when he came to young Pinkerton's version, he read it silently to himself, then, to the great surprise of the boys, walked quickly out of the school, but soon returned with a volume of Hooke's Roman History, in which the same part of Livy was translated. He read both aloud, and gave his decided opinion in favour of his disciple's translation, which not a little flattered boyish vanity, and perhaps sowed in him the first seeds of authorship.

After being six years at school, the last year of which only was dedicated to the Greek, he returned to the house of his family near Edinburgh. His father having some dislike to university education, John was kept in a kind of solitary confinement at home; and this parent, being of a severe and morose disposition, his durance little tended to give much firmness to his nerves. An hour or two passed every day in attending a French teacher: and, in his eagerness to attain this language, he had totally lost his Greek, and nearly his Latin also; but soon after, meeting with Rollin's Ancient History, and observing references to the original authors, he bought the History of Justinus, &c. and soon recovered his Latin, so as to write, when he was about thirteen years of age, tolerable fragments in that language. He afterwards studied mathematics two or three years, under Mr Ewing, an able teacher at Edinburgh, and proceeded as far as the doctrine of infinites.

Intended for the profession of the law, young Pinkerton was articled to Mr William Aytoun, an eminent writer to the signet, with whom he served a clerkship of five years. He did not, however, neglect the cultivation of his mind, and having felt the witchery of verse by reading Beattie's Minstrel, and other poems, he wrote an elegy, called 'Craigmiller Castle,' which he dedicated to Dr Beattie. This production, which was published in 1776, was followed by the composition of oue or two tragedies, but they were never printed.

In 1780, soon after the expiration of his clerkship, his father died; and being often disappointed in procuring uncommon books at Edin

burgh, he visited London, where the size and extent of the booksellers' catalogues are said to have formed his sole motive for wishing to fix his residence. This determination was confirmed by the bankruptcy of some merchants in Glasgow, who held about £1000 of his father's money, all which was lost. He accordingly went to Scotland in the spring of 1781, took up the remaining suns lying in mercantile hands, and, returning to England, settled in the neighbourhood of London, in the winter of that year.

In 1781, Mr Pinkerton published in octavo, Rimes,' as he peculiarly chose to designate some minor poems; and 'Hardyknute, an Heroic Ballad, now first published complete [a Second Part being added]; with the other more approved Scottish Ballads, and some not hitherto made public, in the Tragic Style.' To which were prefixed, Two Dissertations: 1. On the Oral Tradition of Poetry; 2. On the Tragic Ballad;' small 8vo. In 1782, he published Two Dithyrambic Odes: 1. On Enthusiasm ; 2. To Laughter;' 4to.: and Tales in Verse,' also, in the same year.

From his boyish days Mr Pinkerton had been fond of collecting medals, minerals, and other curiosities; and having received from a lady in Scotland a rare coin of Constantine, on his Sarmatian victory, which she had taken as a farthing, he soon laid the foundation of a little collection, and used to read Addison's Dialogues on Medals, with infinite delight. These pursuits led him to see the defects of common books on the subject, and he drew up a manual and tables for his own use, which afterwards grew to the excellent and complete Essay on Medals, the first edition of which was published by Dodsley, in two octavo volumes, 1784. He was materially assisted in its completion by the late Mr Southgate of the British Museum, and Mr Douce. The third and last edition was edited by Mr Harwood.

In 1785, Mr Pinkerton surprised the literary world with a very extraordinary performance entitled, 'Letters of Literature,' under the assumed name of Robert Heron. In this work he depreciated the ancient authors, in a manner which called forth the indignation of the poet Cowper; and criticised the best of the moderns, with an air of assurance that could not have been warranted even by the most confirmed character for taste, learning, and judgment. He had also the vanity to recommend a new system of orthography, more fantastical and absurd, if possible, than that which his countryman, Mr Elphinstone, endeavoured with so much zeal to introduce. Unfortunately too, it happened that the odium of the performance actually alighted on a countryman of his, whose name was in reality Robert Heron, and who was just then coming before the public as an author. However, this book obtained for Mr Pinkerton an introduction to Horace Walpole, through whom he became acquainted with Gibbon the historian, who recommended him to the booksellers as a fit person to translate the English Monkish Historians, a work which, had the proposal met with encouragement, might have tended to a more generally diffused knowledge of the history of the middle ages. On the death of his patron, the earl of Orford, Mr Pinkerton sold a collection of his lordship's remarks, witticisms, and letters, to the proprietors of the Monthly Magazine,' in which miscellany they appeared periodically, under the title of Walpoliana, and when exhausted, the whole were reprinted in two small volumes, with a portrait of the gifted nobleman.