assistance which she administers.' The last sacraments were therefore administered to him, after which he fell into a stupor. On the 4th of May the island was swept by a tremendous storm,nistration,that the effects of a peace with which tore up all the trees about Longwood. The 5th was another day of tempests and about six in the evening of that day Napoleon, having pronounced the words 'tête d'armée!' passed for ever from the dreams of battle. On dissection, it was found that a cancerous ulcer occupied nearly the whole stomach.

as to that issue. He died in the same made under-war-secretary. He held year with Mr. Pitt, aged fifty-seven, office in the coalition; and upon its 1806. Highly gifted as an orator and dissolution, became, and continued to a statesman, Mr. Fox was in private the last, the violent opponent of Mr. life the convivial friend, and the man Pitt. In the impeachment of Hastings of integrity and honour. He had been he sided with Burke; and his elodissipated in youth, and this character quence on that occasion has been connecessarily tinged his maturer years; sidered one of the most able of oratorical but his faults, as Burke observes, were efforts. Notwithstanding his marriage not formed to extinguish the fire of with a woman of fortune, a post of great virtues. 12,000l. a year from the crown, and his share at Drury-lane, Sheridan, being wholly improvident, became at length the tenant of a gaol. He died 1815, aged sixty-five.

As a dramatic author, Sheridan is at the head of that department of comedy which exhibits the vices of fashionable society in its every-day commerce, its deceptions, intrigues, slanders, and detractions; and the School for Scandal' is his masterpiece.

Edmund Burke, son of an attorney in Ireland, entered at the Middle Temple, London. He some time lived by his pen; and his Essay on the Sublime,' introduced him at once to the circle of the learned. Dodsley, at his suggestion, commenced his Annual Register, 1758, which is to this day continued by Messrs. Rivington. In the Rockingham administration he held office; but, as a member of the commons, he constantly attacked Mr. Pitt, especially on the regency question, and was at first a warm admirer of the French revolution. Upon the destruction of the French monarchy, however, he altered his tone, published his Reflections' on the event, separated from his party, and zealously supported Mr. Pitt. His accusation of Mr. Hastings is the only blot in his political cha-ciation. Fox was superior in arguracter: as a private man, he was affable, benevolent, exemplary in all duties religious and moral, and dignified in demeanour. As an author, Burke will ever hold rank among the most accurate critics, for his elegant and philosophical work On the Sublime and Beautiful.' He died 1797, aged sixty-seven.

As an orator, Sheridan was extraordinary for variety and force; and in the anathemas of vengeance, or in bursts of anger, scarcely any English speaker ever equalled him. Pitt's eloquence was more accurate, copious, and better arranged: it was uniformly impressive, while his power in sarcasm was equal to Sheridan's force in angry denun

mentative force: his reasoning faculties were always kept in full action during his speeches; and so closely did he conflict in this way, that he pursued his consequent, link by link, to the very end of the chain of deductions. As a mere speaker, he was inferior to Pitt, Burke, and Sheridan. Burke was Richard Brinsley Sheridan, son of wholly different from the three menThomas Sheridan, a lecturer on elocu- tioned. He often reasoned ill, flew tion, entered as a student of law at desultorily from one subject to another, the Middle Temple. But he chose to and when he wished to accuse or conwrite for the stage; and his Rivals, demn, lost both temper and manners; Duenna, and School for Scandal, gained but his diction was so rich and varied, him high reputation. Having bought, his vivacity and rapidity so extraordiin conjunction with two others, Gar-nary, and his genius so marked, that rick's share in the patent of manage- his hearers thought themselves conment of Drury-lane theatre, the property qualified him for a seat in parliament; and entering the lists against lord North, his oratory was so powerful, that when that lord resigned, he was

vinced, when they were only dazzled. In a word, while Sheridan, by passionate declamation, could rouse the slumbering spirit of his auditors, Burke could urge them forward to scenes of

daring action: and while Fox could convince his hearers by irresistible appeals to their reasoning faculties, Pitt, by his sober, dignified and sensible exhortations, could lead them on to prudent resolves, and thence to generous and noble, but judicious deeds. Those who should desire the best spe cimens which books can afford of senatorial eloquence, would find it worth their while to peruse the speeches of Pitt as given by Mr. Hathaway.

was the great promoter of the war by
which England lost her American co-
lonies; and when it was supposed he
would be impeached for his conduct
in that affair, a coalition took place, to
the astonishment of the people, between
the tories and whigs, which, how-
ever, lasted but a few months, and
closed the premier's political career.
Lord North (who died, aged sixty,
1792, after succeeding to the earldon
of Guilford) was, in private life, a face-
tions and urbane man; and even m
the house, when colonel Barré, who
like himself was afflicted with blind-
ness, had warmly assailed him, he
calmly observed to the speaker, that,
notwithstanding the colonel's hostility,
he was sure there were no two persons
in the world, who would be so glad to
see each other frequently, as they.'

Necker, the French financier, who,
finding every other measure to save
his country unsuccessful, recommended
the assembling of the states-general to
Louis XVI.; a course which brought
on the revolution, and his own banish-
ment to Switzerland. His accom-
plished daughter, Madame de Staël,
and his wife, have been distinguished
as writers on political economy, &c.

Cardinal York, the last of the Stuarts, was brother of the young pretender, prince Charles Edward. Both were the sons of prince James, the first pretender, by Maria, daughter of prince Sobieski. The old pretender died at Rome, 1765; and the young one in 1788. Henry was born at Rome, and elected in due time cardinal of York: he was generally honoured with the empty title of Henry IX: and adopted the liveries and arms of the English monarchs. King George III. behaved to him with great munificence, during the troubles in Italy after the French revolution; and the cardinal is said to have been sensibly affected by his generous conduct. He died, aged eightytwo, 1807. The Theban house of Laius was amongst the most unfortunate of ancient regal families; but that of Stuart was, in modern annals, assuredly beyond comparison unhappy. The first Stuart was Robert II.; and his son, Robert III., died of grief for the captivity of his son by our Henry IV. That son, James I., after spend-cieties, he could not destroy a celeing his youth in imprisonment, was slain by his own people. James II. was killed accidentally by the plug of a cannon; James III. fell in a civil commotion; and James IV. at the battle of Flodden; James V. died of a broken heart, and his daughter Mary, and her grandson Charles I., perished on the scaffold; Charles II passed his youth in exile, and James II. was driven from his kingdom to die in a foreign land!

Frederick Lord North, prime minister from 1770 to 1782, during a period of especial difficulty and danger,

Pope Ganganelli (Clement XIV.)
His election was effected by the Bour-
bons 1764, with the hope that he
would suppress the Jesuits; but on
being called on to do so, he frankly
replied, that as the father of the faith-
ful, and the protector of religious so-

brated order, without reasons which
would justify him before God, and in
the eyes of posterity.' He was, how-
ever, at length forced to comply, 1773;
and the act was indisputably fatal to
papal influence. Ganganelli was simple
in manners, highly disinterested, main-
tained the dignity of his station, and
was least of all popes given to ne-
potism. He received all strangers,
whether catholics or not, at his court,
delighted in easy conversation, and
was studious at all times to promote
the welfare of his people.

Hyder-Aly, son of a petty chief of

of his integrity and wisdom, that his decisions have seldom been reversed.

Pascal Paoli, governor of Corsica during its struggle to throw off the Genoese yoke. He came to England, 1769, on the unsuccessful termination of the contest, Corsica being made over to France by the Genoese; but he again for a time acted as its lieutenant under Louis XVI., at whose death he returned to England. Here the general died, 1807. See page 424. Corsica has ever since belonged to France.

the Mysore, in Hindustan, dethroned hear him unimpressed. But it is as a Cinoas, who held the throne of Serin-judge that his name will go down to gapatam as a vassal of the Great Mon- posterity: and it is no slight evidence gul, and made himself sovereign, thus founding the Mahometan kingdom of the Mysore, 1760. He so greatly extended his dominions 1766, that the Mahrattas and English endeavoured to destroy his power, the latter under Sir Eyre Coote. Hyder Aly's death, however, 1782, produced a more powerful opponent in the person of his son Tippoo Saib, assisted as he was by the French; but when the revolution in France had deprived him of his European allies, lord Cornwallis compelled him to sue for peace, which was granted on ceding part of his territories, and giving up his two sons to the English as hostages. Of a fierce and haughty disposition, Tippoo felt impatient at the humiliations he had endured; and in 1799 a fresh war commenced, which ended in the taking of his capital, Seringapatam, by General Harris, in the defence of which Tippoo lost his life. An immense booty fell into the hands of the English; including the sultan's brary, which was highly valuable for the number of Sanscrit, Persian, and other eastern works.

William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, son of lord Stormont, gradually made his way to eminence in the law. He was chief justice of the king's bench 1756, and as chancellor of the exchequer for a short time, effected a coalition of parties, which led to lord Chatham's administration. In the riots of 1780 the mob burned down his town house, for having voted in favour of the catholics; but he nobly refused all compensation by the state for his serious loss. He was created an earl for his important services; and having resigned his high office, to enjoy the retirement of the country, he died five years afterwards, aged eighty-eight, | 1793. Lord Mansfield's oratory was of the persuasive species; and, combining great argumentative power with a studied elegance of diction, there were few cultivated minds which could

John Philpot Curran, the most popular of Irish advocates, was of humble origin. Obtaining a silk gown, and a seat in the Irish parliament, he became famous for his defence of such as were accused of political offences, during the distracted state of Ireland from 1790 to 1800. He resigned the mastership of the rolls, and died in Eugland, 1817, aged sixty-seven. Curran's wit, eloquence, pathos, and drollery were irresistible; and his splendid and daring style of oratory formed a striking contrast with his personal appearance, which was undignified in the extreme.

Sir Samuel Romilly, solicitor-general under Mr. Fox, distinguished himself by his labours in parliament to soften the English criminal code, which led to a condensation of the acts respecting crime, and some beneficial reforms. He put a period to his valuable life, during a nervous illness, 1818.

Thomas Paine, who left stay-making for politics, and did a great deal of mischief in the midst of the excitement produced by the French revolution, by his works called 'The Rights of Man,' and The Age of Reason.'

The French chose him a member of their convention; but as he voted against the king's death, he was imprisoned, and by the death of Robespierre alone escaped the guillotine. Paine was a highly immoral

and irreligious man, and died deservedly despised in America, 1809.

Ney, one of Napoleon's marshals, commanded the French forces in their retreat before lord Wellington in the peninsula; and having made one in the unfortunate expedition to Moscow, his conduct in the terrible battle of Mojaisk, procured him the rank of prince of Moskwa. Napoleon was in the habit of calling him bravest of the brave!' He was however one of the first of his generals, that, at the period of his fall in 1814, offered submission to the Bourbons, by which he preserved his titles and his pensions; but when Napoleon landed from Elba (though he had promised Louis XVIII. to bring the disturber of Europe to him in an iron cage) he again became one of his most active partisans. At the battle of Waterloo he took the chief command, and led on the troops against the duke of Wellington during the last charge of the British. After that conflict, Ney was tried by the Bourbons for treason, and shot, December 6, 1815.

could derive from it. Entering therefore the family seat at Stoke in Suffolk, he declared he would never quit it until he had cleared its debts; and he commenced a course of life, which his nephew so effectually imitated. Counting his money was his chief amusement: partridge-setting his next: and he and his one man and two maids lived upon partridges. Amongst the few acquaintances he had, were the members of a club held at Stoke, which counted two baronets besides himself, Sir Cordwell Firebrass, and Sir John Barnardiston. The reckoning to these congenial souls was always an object of investigation; and as they were one day settling so ditcult a point, a member called out to a friend, I beseech you step up stairs, and assist the poor!-here are three baronets, worth a million of money, quarrelling about a farthing! When he died, he lay in state, such as it was; on which occasion some of the tenants observed, with more humour than decency, that it was well, Sir Harvey could not see it!'

William Wilberforce, a benevolent To this uncle's property (about member of parliament, whose whole 150,000l.) Mr. Elwes succeeded, life may be read in the progress of the when above forty years of age; and his abolition of the slave-trade, which his own fortune was not much inferior. philanthropic labours effected in 1807, | He had been educated at Westminster, as far as legal enactment could go. So and in early life had been in dissipated, greatly did he endear himself on that but polite society. His manners were account to his constituents, the free- always mild and unassuming, and his holders of Yorkshire, that, in the great temper excellent. In proof of the latter, contest of 1807, they subscribed in a when in a shooting excursion, at sefew days the vast sum of 600,000l. to venty-three, to try the virtues of a pay his election expenses, though only pointer, one of the party lodged two a moiety of that amount was required. pellets in his cheek: the blood ap This excellent man died 1833, aged 73. peared, and the shot certainly gave John Elwes the celebrated miser. him pain; but when the gentleman As, in a philosophical point of view, a came to make his apology, and profess sketch of every variety of character his sorrow,My dear sir,' said Mr. should be interesting to the youthful Elwes, 'I give you joy on your imreader, so may its delineation be bene-provement, I knew you would hit ficial in a moral one. Mr. Elwes succeeded to the property of Sir Harvey Elwes, his uncle, who had amassed a large fortune by dint of economy. Sir Harvey had come to an estate of value, but so encumbered with mortgages, that 1007. per year was as much as he

something by and by. After sitting up a whole night at play, for thousands, with the most fashionable men of the time, in splendid apartments, he would walk out about four in the morning, not towards home but into Smithfield, to meet his own cattle,