the following spring, 1799, he was appointed to the Bellona, of 74 guns, and joined the fleet under the command of Lord Bridport, off Brest. From this station he was sent to the Mediterranean, where the Bellona was attached to a flying squadron, under the command of Captain Markham, of the Centaur, and assisted in the capture of three frigates and two brigs from Jaffa, bound to Toulon. She returned to England in the autumn. In the course of the same year, Corfu was taken by the Russians and Turks; and the Leander being found there, the Emperor Paul ordered her to be restored to the British navy.

The Bellona continued on the home station until the period of the memorable Baltic expedition, which sailed from Yarmouth Roads, under the command of Sir Hyde Parker, March 12. 1801. The glorious victory off Copenhagen ensued on the 2d of April; but from the intricacy of the navigation, the Bellona grounded before she could enter into action; and by this unfortunate circumstance, Sir Thomas B. Thompson was prevented from taking so distinguished a part in the engagement as, no doubt, he would otherwise have done. But, though not on the spot which had been assigned her, she was highly serviceable; and being stationary, within reach of the enemy's batteries, the loss she sustained was considerable, amounting to 11 killed and 63 wounded. Among the latter number was her commander, who had the misfortune to lose one of his legs.

For his services on this occasion, Sir Thomas, in common with the other officers of the fleet, received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament; his pension was increased to 500l. per annum*; and he was shortly after appointed to the Mary yacht, the command of which he retained for several years.

In November, 1806, Sir Thomas B. Thompson was nominated Comptroller of the Navy, which office he held till February, 1816, when he succeeded the late Sir John Colpoys, as Treasurer of the Royal Hospital at Greenwich; and, about the

* According to the regulation of November 27. 1815, Sir Thomas's pension was augmented to 700l. per annum.

same time, was chosen a Director of the Chest, in the place of Lord Hood, deceased. He had, at the general election in 1807, been returned to Parliament as Representative for the city of Rochester, his seat for which he vacated on receiving his last appointment. He was created K. C. B. January 2. 1815, and G. C. B. September 14. 1822.

Sir Thomas married, February 25. 1799, Anne, eldest daughter of Robert Raikes, of the city of Gloucester, Esq., and by that lady had issue three sons and two daughters: 1. Anne; 2. Thomas Boulden, who died young; 3. Thomas Raikes Trigge, born in 1804, who has succeeded to the Baronetcy, and is a Lieutenant R. N.; 4. Thomas John, who died in 1807; and 5. Mary.

The death of Sir Thomas Boulden Thompson took place on the 3d of March, 1828, at Hartsbourne, Manor-Place, Herts, at the age of 62.

We are indebted to "Marshall's Royal Naval Biography" for the foregoing Memoir.

330

No. XXV.

HENRY NEELE, ESQ.

THE following Memoir has been extracted from a highly interesting Introduction to a work recently published, under the title of "The Literary Remains of the late Henry Neele, Author of the Romance of History,' &c. &c.; consisting of Lectures on English Poetry, Tales, and other Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose and Verse."

Though, like the custom of placing flowers in the cold hands of the dead, praise but wastes its sweetness upon ears which can no longer listen to its melody, still, to give perpetuity to the memory of genius is one of the most grateful offices of humanity; nor does man ever seem more deserving of immortality himself, than when he is thus endeavouring to confer it worthily upon others.

The late Henry Neele was the second son of a highly respectable map and heraldic engraver in the Strand, where he was born January 29th, 1798; and upon his father removing to Kentish Town, was there sent to school, as a daily boarder, and continued at the same seminary until his education was completed. At this academy, though he became an excellent French scholar, yet he acquired "little Latin, and less Greek ;" and, in fact, displayed no very devoted application to, or even talent for, study of any sort, with the exception of poetry, for which he thus early evinced his decided inclination, and produced several specimens of extraordinary beauty for so juvenile a writer. Henry Neele's inattention at school was, however, amply redeemed by his unassisted exertions when he better

knew the value of those attainments which he had neglected; and he subsequently added a general knowledge of German and Italian to the other languages in which he became a proficient. Having made choice of the profession of the law, he was, upon leaving school, articled to a respectable attorney; and, after the usual period of probationary experience, was admitted to practice, and commenced business as a solicitor.

It was during the progress of his clerkship, in January, 1817, that Henry Neele made his first appearance as an author, by publishing a volume of poems, the expenses of which were kindly defrayed by his father, who had the judgment to perceive, and the good taste to appreciate and encourage, the dawning genius of his son. Though this work displayed evident marks of youth and inexperience, yet it was still more decidedly characterised by a depth of thought and feeling, and an elegance and fluency of versification, which gave the surest promises of future excellence. Its contents were principally lyrical, and the ill-fated Collins was, avowedly, his chief model. The publication of this volume introduced the young poet to Dr. Nathan Drake, author of "Literary Hours," &c., who, though acquainted with him "only through the medium of his writings," devoted a chapter of his "Winter Nights" to a critical examination and eulogy of these poems; " of which," says the Doctor," the merit strikes me as being so considerable, as to justify the notice and the praise which I feel gratified in having an opportunity of bestowing upon them." And in a subsequent paragraph, he observes, that," when beheld as the very firstlings of his earliest years, they cannot but be deemed very extraordinary efforts indeed both of taste and genius; and as conferring no slight celebrity on the author, as the name next to be pronounced, perhaps, after those of Chatterton and Kirke White."

The duties and responsibility of active life, however, necessarily withdrew much of his attention from writing; yet, though his professional avocations were ever the objects of his first regard, he still found frequent leisure to devote to composition. In July, 1820, Mr. Neele printed a new edition of

his Odes, &c., with considerable additions; and in March, 1823, published a second volume of Dramatic and Miscellaneous Poetry, which was, by permission, dedicated to Miss Joanna Baillie, and at once established its author's claims to no mean rank amongst the most popular writers of the day. The minor poems, more especially the songs and fragments, were truly beautiful specimens of the grace and sweetness of his genius; and amply merited the very general approval with which they were received.

Ardent and enthusiastic in all his undertakings, Mr. Neele's literary industry was now amply evidenced by his frequent contributions to the "Monthly Magazine" and other periodicals, as well as to the "Forget Me Not," and several of its contemporary Annuals. Having been long engaged in studying the poets of the olden time, particularly the great masters of the drama of the age of Queen Elizabeth, for all of whom, but more especially for Shakspeare, he felt the most enthusiastic veneration, he was well qualified for the composition of a series of "Lectures on English Poetry," from the days of Chaucer down to those of Cowper, which he completed in the winter of 1826; and delivered, first at the Russell, and subsequently at the Western Literary Institution, in the spring of 1827. These lectures were most decidedly successful, and public and private opinion coincided in describing them as "displaying a high tone of poetical feeling in the lecturer, and an intimate acquaintance with the beauties and blemishes of the great subjects of his criticism." Although written with rapidity and apparent carelessness, they were yet copious, discriminative, and eloquent, abounding in well-selected illustration, and inculcating the purest taste.

In the early part of 1827, Mr. Neele published a new edition of all his poems, collected into two volumes; and, in the course of the same year, produced his last and greatest work, the "Romance of English History," which was dedicated, by permission, to his Majesty; and though extending to three volumes, and, from its very nature, requiring much antiquarian research, was completed in little more than six