Pleas; and by her, who died March 1st,
1794, had issue: Ist. Sampson Eardley,
born Dec. 29, 1770; died unmarried,
May 21, 1824; 2. William, born May
22, 1775, a Colonel in the Army, died
Sept. 17, 1805, unmarried; 3. Maria-
Marow, married Sept. 3, 1794, Gregory
William Twisleton, Lord Say and Sele;
4. Charlotte-Elizabeth, married Sept. 22,
1792, Sir Culling Smith, Bart. of Bed-
well Park, Herts; 5. Selina, married
June 26, 1797, Colonel John Walbank
Childers.
In 1770, on the death of the Marquis
of Granby, Sir Sampson Gideon was
returned Knight of the Shire for Cam-
bridge, and again in 1774. At the
grand contest in 1780, he was the un-
successful candidate against Lord Ro-
bert Manners, brother to the Duke of
Rutland, who died in 1782; and the
present Earl of Hardwicke; but was
elected for Midhurst, co. Sussex. He
was subsequently returned for Coventry
in the parliaments of 1784 and 1790.
In July 1789 he changed his name by
licence, to Eardley, and in the adminis.
tration of Mr. Pitt, for his distinguish-
ed loyalty, patriotism, and other virtues,
on the 16th of November following, was
created a peer of Ireland, by the name
and title of Baron Eardley of Spalding,
in the county of Lincoln.
His two sons having died before him,
unmarried, the titles become extinct,
but his Lordship's very extensive estates
in the counties of Cambridge, Hunting-
don, Northampton, Lincoln, and Kent,
devolve equally to his three daughters,
viz. the Baroness of Say and Sele,
Lady Culling Smith, and the Honour-
able Mrs. Childers.
His Lordship's remains were
moved from Brighton to Crawley,
where they rested one night; from thence
across the country to Belvedere, where
the body lay in state till it was con-
veyed to the family-vault at Erith.
The following anecdote so much re-
sembles the benevolence of his amiable
parent, that we cannot with justice pass
it over.
Some years ago a regiment
was lying in the neighbourhood of Bel-
vedere, his Lordship's seat in Kent.
It having come to his knowledge that
the senior lieutenant, a most deserving
young man, though without fortune,
had not the means to purchase a com-
pany then vacant; without any previous
knowledge of the gentleman, except
what he gained from the commanding
and his brother officers, his Lordship
wrote him a letter of apology for taking
the liberty of enclosing a check for
1500 guineas, which was the purchase-
money of the company.-Gent. Mag.
ELLIS, John, Esq. of the Middle
Temple, Barrister at Law, M. A. F.S. A.
and Deputy Recorder of Huntingdon,
May 24, at Barbadoes, whither he had
been advised to go for the benefit of his
health.
Mr. Ellis was the son of the late Jolm
Ellis, Esq. of Bedford-row, who, by
means the most honourable, acquired
an easy fortune in the Stock Exchange:
and whose original purpose it had been
to educate his son in the same profes-
sion. But the subject of this memoir
early discovering an insatiable thirst
after knowledge, his father judiciously
gave way to this laudable ambition, and
liberally supplied him with the means,
first, of acquiring a critical knowledge
of classical literature, and afterwards
of supporting himself at the University
of Cambridge, where, notwithstanding
the impediments occasioned by ill
health, he took his degrees with great
reputation. Having chosen the profes-
sion of the law, he entered as a student
of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's
Inn; and devoting himself with his ac-
customed ardour to his professional stu
dies, and being in possession of a large
and well-chosen library, he made pro-
gress beyond many of his contempo-
raries; and when called to the bar, he
entered upon his profession with attain-
ments and qualifications of a very su-
perior order. He was likewise un
usually fortunate in his connexions:
and being early introduced into pro-
fessional engagements with the corpo-
ration of Huntingdon, as a proof of
the entire satisfaction of that respectable
body with his abilities and exertions, he
was chosen by them their Deputy Re-
corder. His prospects now assumed a
most promising appearance; and every
succeeding year introduced him into
new connexions and increasing practice,
while the suavity of his manners, and
his high professional honour and inte-
grity, bound all his prior connexions
to him with indissoluble ties. Nor was
it among the least of this gentleman's
merits, that though his abilities and
success excited emulation, they never
moved the envy of his professional
brethren. It has been truly said of
him, that he never had an enemy.
As
Providence had blessed him with af-
fluence, his table and library were
always open to his less fortunate bre-
thren. And such was the height of his
well-earned reputation, and the ame.
nity of his manners, that he might rea-
sonably have looked forward to the
highest honours of his profession. But
the fatigue of business, and the ardour
of his mind, which would not suffer
him to relax his exertions from any
thing he had undertaken, gradually un-
dermined a constitution not originally
strong, and brought on a disease, which,
insidious in its nature, often flattering
in its appearance, but fatal and irre-
sistible in its progress, terminated his
honourable and useful career, at the
early age of thirty-five, leaving not only
a broken hearted parent and mourning
relatives, but also a profession and a
public not insensible to such rising ex-
cellence, to lament his loss. - Gentle-
man's Magazine.
ELMSLEY, the Rev. Peter D. D.
Principal of St. Alban Hall, and
Camden Professor of Ancient History,
in the University of Oxford: at his
lodgings in St. Alban Hall, Oxford;
March 8; in the 52nd year of his age.
Dr. Elmsley, was born in 1773, and
educated first at a school at Hampstead,
and afterwards at Westminster.
extraordinary proficiency in classical
learning, caused him to be placed in
the sixth or highest form at this semi-
nary; but he was precluded by his age
from becoming a member of the founda-
tion. It was, however, generally expect-
ed, that a studentship would have been
conferred upon by the Dean of Christ-
church, and there is reason to believe
that something very like a promise to
this effect was made, which an influence
not easy to be resisted in favour of
another person had weight enough to
frustrate. Mr. Elmsley was equally
unsuccessful in an attempt to obtain a
Fellowship at Merton; and thus left
the University of Oxford with none of
its rewards or emoluments, but with a
reputation for deep and extentive learn-
ing, which no under-graduate had for
many years obtained.
He was in fact
at that early age far beyond what is
commonly meant by instruction, and
fit to bear a part as an equal in all lite-
rary conversation with any whom the
University had to produce. It is pos-
sible, that this unusual inversion of the
relative proportions between the rulers
of a college and their pupils, which,
free as he was from all vain glory and
arrogance, it was not in his nature to
keep out of view, and which indeed
could not be concealed, might produce
some degree of jealousy, and lessen in
some persons that cordiality of regard.
which his virtues deserved, if it did not
even tend to make them extenuate the
praise due to his intellectual powers.
It must be added, by way of excuse as
well as explanation, that Mr. Elmsley,
was rather unguarded in conversation,
and possessed a strong propensity to
seize the ludicrous point of view, which,
though accompanied with perfect good-
nature and benevolence, is not a talent
in great favour with those who think,
not unjustly, that the subordination and
seriousness of a University cannot well
be maintained without somewhat more of
solemnity, even in trifles, than is conso-
nant to the general habits of the world.
However this may be, it is certain that
he quitted Oxford with far less favour-
able impressions than those which came
afterwards to occupy his mind, and to
render that University for the latter
years of his life, the object of his affec-
tionate solicitude, as well as his most
favoured residence.
Mr. Elmsley took orders not long
afterwards; proceeded M. A. in 1797,
and was presented in 1798, by W. J.
H. Blair, Esq. to little Horkesley, a
small chapelry in Essex, which he re
tained to his death, but the whole
emoluments of which, after ceasing to
reside there, he bestowed on his curate.
He never held any other preferment in
the church. By the death of his uncle,
Mr. Peter Elmsley, the well-known
bookseller, he shortly after inherited
an independent fortune, which left him
at liberty to devote his mind to those li-
terary researches which were its re-
source and delight, especially to Greek
philology, which he soon chose as his
favourite province. The events in the
life of a man of letters, thus independent
in fortune, and tranquil in character,
cannot be expected to furnish much in-
formation. Mr. Elmsley resided for
some time at Edinburgh, and became
intimately acquainted with the distin-
guished young men who set on foot
the Edinburgh Review in 1802.
this publication he contributed several
articles in Greek literature; the Cri-
tique on Heyne's Homer in the 4th
number, on Schweighauser's Athenæus
in the 5th, on Bloomfield's Prometheus
in the 35th, and on Porsons's Hecuba,
in the 37th; there may possibly be
others of which we are not immediately
aware. In the Quarterly Review he
wrote an article on Markland's Sup-
plices, and some others, which we can-
not particularize. The only instance
of his taking up the pen for the purpose
of publication, on any but a philo-
logical subject, as far as we know, was
in a Critique of Lord Clarendon's
Religion and Policy, in the 38th num.
ber of the Edinburgh Review. His
more ostensible contributions to classi-
cal literature are well known; an edi-
tion of the Acharnanes in 1809; of the
Edipus Tyrannus in 1811; of the
Heraclide in 1815; of the Medea in
1818; of the Bacchæ in 1821; and
lastly of the Edipus Coloneus in 1823.
These publications established his fame
throughout Europe as a judicious critic,
and consummate master of the Greek
language. Without entering into com-
parisons, which must always be invi-
dious, and for which the present writer
is by no means prepared, it may be said
without hesitation, that he was in the
very first class of scholars whom this
country has produced in this advanced
age of philological researches.
of the uncertainty of conjecture, he was
always diffident of correcting the text
without authority; which is the more
to be remarked, because of one at least
of the dramatists who chiefly occupied
his attention, Sophocles, he entertained
a very low opinion of the existing
manuscripts, which he believed to have
been all transcribed from, or corrected
by, a Codex Archetypus, itself written
about the 7th century, when the purity
of the Athenian idiom had ceased to be
understood. This judgment, however,
was not hastily formed; no man sub-
mitted more patiently to the drudgery of
collation, or was more anxious to avail
himself of all the assistance which the
great European repositories of manu-
scripts afford. It was in a considerable
degree for this purpose that Mr. Elms-
ley visited France and Italy several
times, and spent the entire winter of
1818 in the Laurentian Library at
Florence.
Mr. Elmsley lived a few years, after
his return from Edinburgh, in Gower
Street; but in 1807 took a house at St.
Mary Cray; sacrificing the allurements
of London society for the sake of his
mother and some other relatives, to
whom a country residence was more.
eligible. He continued in the midst of
a polished and hospitable neighbour-
hood, to whom his excellence of dispo.
sition and lively wit rendered him the
object of high esteem and attachment,
and in the enjoyment of a learned lei-
sure, till 1816, when he set out on a
tour to Italy. Familiar in an extraor
dinary degree with modern history, and
all the information subsidiary to it, and
endowed with a minute curiosity as to
all the details of such subjects, he felt a
strong relish for foreign travel. Seldom
with a companion, still more seldom
with a servant, he wandered through
celebrated scenes, adding continually
to his immense stores of accumulated
knowledge, rather, indeed, through the
eye than the ear; for he associated little
with foreigners, notwithstanding his ac-
curate acquaintance with the French
and Italian languages. He returned to
England in 1817, and then took up his
abode at Oxford, which he now deter-
mined to make his permanent residence.
In 1818 he went again to Italy; and
after returning in the spring of 1819,
was easily persuaded to accept a sort
of commission from our government,
jointly with Sir Humphrey Davy, to
superintend the developement of the
papyri found at Herculaneum. It will
be remembered, that more sanguine
hopes were entertained than the experi-
ment realized, that the genius of this
illustrious chemist might overcome the
obstacles which had hitherto prevented
those interesting volumes from being
unrolled. But as it was of high im-
portance that no time should be un-
necessarily wasted in an operation which
must, on any supposition, be tedious,
Mr. Elmsley was relied upon to direct
the choice of manuscripts, as soon as by
partially laying them open, the contents
and character of each should be deter-
mined. The experiment, as is well
known, proved wholly abortive; and
Mr. Elmsley returned to England in
1820; but having imprudently exposed
himself too much to the heat, he was
seized with a severe fever at Turin, from
which, it is probable, the subsequent
failure of his constitution may be dated.
Though for some time nothing occurred
materially to alarm his friends, he was
more frequently indisposed than before,
and from the date of a tour he took in
Germany, during the summer of 1823,
the apparent commencement of an or-
ganic disease of the heart may be traced,
which ultimately deprived the world of
this eminent scholar. After his return
from Italy, he lived almost wholly at
Oxford; he took the degree of Doctor
in Divinity, became Frincipal of Alban
Hall, and Camden Professor of History
in 1823, and was justly expected to
succeed on the next vacancy of a Ca-
nonry of Christ Church.
Though Dr. Elmsley must be chiefly
known to the public as a Greek critic,
it was by no means in this department
of learning that his abilities and acquire-
ments were most extraordinary in the
eyes of his friends; and some of them
have frequently regretted that he should
have confined himself, in what he ineant
for the world, to so narrow a walk as
that of collating manuscripts, and at-
tempting to restore the text of a few
tragedies. He certainly did not over-
value the importance of this very limited
province of philology, which the con-
spicuous success of one great scholar
has rendered perhaps too exclusively
fashionable among those who aim at a
reputation for classical learning; yet,
from whatever cause, he was content to
pass several years in a species of labour
which, to say the least, did not call into
action the full powers of his mind, or
impart to others his immense stores of
general knowledge. He was probably
the best ecclesiastical scholar in Eng-
land; more conversant than any one
with all the history of religious opinion,
except, perhaps, for the present times,
and with all the details, however trifling,
connected with the several churches of
Christendom. Few priests of that of
Rome could better know their own dis-
cipline and ceremonies, which he could
explain with a distinctness and accuracy
altogether surprising, and characteristic
of his retentive memory, and the clear
arrangement of his knowledge. He
was almost equally at home in the civil
institutions and usages of different
countries, and in every species of histo-
rical information, never pretending to
knowledge that he did not possess, but
rarely found deficient in the power of
answering any question. This astonish-
ing comprehensiveness and exactitude
of learning was united to a sound and
clear judgment, and an habitual impar.
tiality. Averse to all that wore the ap-
pearance of passion, or even of as much
zeal as men of less phlegmatic temper-
aments cannot but mingle with their
opinions, he was generally inclined to a
middle course in speculation as well as
practice, and looked with philosophical
tranquillity on the contending factions,
religious or political, whom history dis-
played to him, or whom he witnessed in
his own age. If he spoke with asperity
or marked contempt of any, it was of
hot-headed and bigoted partizans, whose
presumptuous ignorance is so often
united with disingenuous sophistry.
These were frequently the objects of a
vein of pleasantry, wherein he parti-
cularly excelled. For it would hardly
be suspected, by those who have only
heard of Elmsley as an eminently la-
borious philologist, that his liveliness
of imagination, and readiness of wit,
were as remarkable as his learning.
Those who had the good fortune to en-
joy his intimacy, and preserved it by
correspondence, can best bear witness
to these distinguishing qualities. His
letters, especially those written during
his travels, were rich in a diffused vis
comica, a perpetual liveliness, more de-
lightful than the occasional sallies of
professed wits; his prompt memory
suggesting quotations and illustrative
allusions from all ancient and modern
literature. In this quick perception of
the ludicrous, and in his fondness for
comedies and other light reading, as
well as in his erudition and sagacity, be
bore a resemblance to Porson. But
none of the blemishes which alloyed that
great man's character could be imputed
to Mr. Elmsley. His life had been uni-
formly regular; and his conversation,
though entirely free from solemnity,
strictly correct. In all the higher du-
ties of morality no one could be more
unblameable. His kindness towards
his family and friends, his scrupulous
integrity, his disdain of every thing base
and servile, were conspicuous to all who
had opportunities of observing his cha-
racter, though never ostentatiously dis-
played. The last months of his life
called forth other qualities, which sup-
port and dignify the hours of sorrow
and suffering; a steady fortitude, that
uttered no complaint, and betrayed no
infirmity; with a calm and pious re-
signation, in that spirit of Christian phi-
losophy he had always cultivated, to the
pleasure of his Creator.-Gentleman's
Magazine.
FAWKES, Walter, Esq. of Farn-
ley Hall, Yorkshire; at his house in
Baker-street; October 24; aged 56.
Mr. Fawkes was returned a member
for Yorkshire at the general election in
1806, and retired from Parliament at
the dissolution in the spring of 1807.
He served the office of High Sheriff of
the county of York, in 1823.
On the 10th of December 1823, he
had the misfortune to lose his first wife.
He married, secondly, January 4, 1816,
the Hon, Mrs. Butler, daughter of J.
Fernon, Esq. of Clontorp Castle, co.
Dublin, and relict of Hon. P. Butler,
third son of the Earl of Carrick.
He was brother to F. Hawksworth,
Esq. of Barmbro' Grange, and the
Rev. A. Hawksworth, of Leathley Hall,
near Otley, whose deaths have occurred
within the short space of six months.
Mr. Fawkes was a gentleman univer-
sally esteemed for his urbanity, and
most deservedly sustained the character
of an excellent landlord as well as a
kind master. In his public career he
was a firm supporter af the Whig inte-
rest, and a strong advocate for Parlia-
mentary reform.
He was a great ad-
mirer of the fine arts, and had some
plates of local views engraved at his
own expence. He was the author, also,
of two political pamphlets, and of a
Chronology of the History of Modern
Europe," 4to. 1810. Gentleman's
Magazine.
FOUNTAINE, Brigg, Esq. April
20, at Swaffham, Norfolk, in his eighty-
second year.
In domestic life this amiable gentle-
man displayed all the excellences that
could endear a man to his family and
servants. To the widow, the father-
less, the aged, and the infirm, his bounty
was ever distributing sustenance and
comfort; and many are the objects of
his beneficence, who knew not the hand
that relieved them till unrelenting
death deprived them of its aid.
social life he was most hospitable; his
gentlemanly deportment, polished man-
ners, habitual urbanity, and cultivated
mind, secured to him the esteem and
respect of his numerous friends; his
well-stored mind, replete with solid
knowledge and anecdote, qualified him
for the society of the great and the
good; and an excellent memory, by
help of which he could draw largely
and appositely from a rich stock of
classic lore (and having lived through
a long series of eventful years, could
refer to the various periods of their his-
tory) made him a most instructive and
agreeable companion. He was well
versed in the ancient classics, and was
conversant with the French, Italian,
Spanish, and German languages. He
published in 1805 a translation from
the original Spanish of Avellanda's Don
Quixote; which had a very limited
sale, and its distribution extended little
beyond a large circle of acquaintance,
a circumstance attributable only to its
being a too literal translation, not con-
veying to the reader all the spirit of the
original; but when we consider that
the translator had never visited the
country of the author, we may have
some idea of the difficulties of the task,
and award due credit to the perseve-
rance that enabled him to complete the
undertaking. It is a work still con-
sidered valuable for the purity of its
language, and now becoming very
Passionately fond of music, and an
amateur performer, Mr. Fountaine ever
patronized the emulous and obscure
professor, and had the satisfaction of
seeing more than one become eminently
successful and grateful. At Bath,
which he occasionally visited for the
benefit of his health, he gratified his
friends with frequent concerts, engaging
the most distinguished professors to
conduct them. At home he would
muster a domestic orchestra, labour
hard at Picki, Corelli, Haydn, and
other celebrated composers; and occa-
sionally afford to his less criticising
country neighbours a very delightful
For many years he amused himself
with astronomy, having built an ob-
servatory near his mansion (Narford
Hill); and he corresponded with the
late Sir William Herschell and Dr.
Maskelyne, the latter of whom visited
him. He was also one of the race of
old English gentlemen who preserve
the ancient sport of hawking.
His love of literature and music
made him regardless of launching into
public life, particularly of aspiring to a
seat in the senate, although he was per-
suaded at the general election in 1784 to
offer himself as a candidate for King's
Lynn ; he was not returned. He
served the office of sheriff for Norfolk in
1775, and was for many years an active
magistrate, dispensing justice with an
impartial and merciful hand; his friendly
admonitions, proffered in the true spirit
of a mediator, often appeased the dis-
sentions of those who appeared before
him; and before the iron hand of time
had crippled his activity, he was ever on
the alert to shield the oppressed.
His remains were interred in the fa-
mily vault at Narford. He has left one
son, his only surviving child.-Gentle-
man's Magazine.
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