July 1, 1818.-At Leamington Spa, in the 69th year of his age, SIR THOMAS BERWARD, BART. LL. D. long and justly ce lebrated for his philanthropic labours and writings in furtherance of the public charities and other useful institutions of the kingdom; some of which derived their origin, and most of them energetic assistance and support from him. He was the third son of Sir Francis Bernard, bart. Governor of New Jersey and Massachusets Bay; and was born at Lincoln, on the 27th of April, 1750. Having accompanied his father, when young, to America, he studied at Harvard College, in New England, and took a Master of Arts degree there. On his return to this kingdom he entered himself of Lincoln's-ins, and in 1780 was called to the Bar, and practised many years in the conveyancing line, in which he had a high reputation. In 1796, he proposed, and in concert with the Bishop of Durham, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Morton Pitt, and other benevolent characters, established the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor, which has been the means of diffusing over the country a large mass of useful information, producing every where an evident effect in improving the situation and conduct of the poorer classes. In 1799, on the suggestion of Count Rumford, he set on foot the plan of the Royal Institution; for which the King's Charter was obtained on the 13th of January, 1800, which has been of eminent service in affording a school for useful knowledge to the young people of the metropolis, and in bringing forward to public notice many learned and able men in the capacity of Lecturers; and most of all, in its laboratory being the cradle of the transcendant discoveries of Sir Humphry Davy, which have benefitted and enlightened Europe and the whole world. Wishing to assist in remedying the complaint of a want of Church room in the populous parts of the metropolis, Sir Thomas, ou the 25th May, 1800, purchased a large building, which had been erected for a chapel, in West-street, Seven Dials, and established it, with the consent of the rector, and the Bishop of London, as a Free Chapel for the neighbourhood, with a day-school annexed to it for 420 boys, and a separate school for girls; and two years afterwards, with the assistance of his chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Gurney, now rector of St. Clement's, he added to this establishment the Society called the Chapel Benevolent Society. In 1805, he formed the plan of the British Institution for the promotion of the Fine Arts, since better known by the name of the British Gallery, where splendid exhi bitions of Painting and Sculpture have been anuually brought forward to the public, greatly to the encouragement and improvement of British taste and skill. Being a member of the Literary Society, be conceived the plan, in unison with the present Lord Mountnorris, and other members of that society, of establishing a Clubhouse for Literature, from which all gaming, drinking, and party politics should be excluded. This club-house was opened in 1809, in Albemarle-street, under the name of the Alfred, and many of the Bishops aud Judges became members of it; and as a proof of its high reputation, we may cite the long list of candidates, and strong contention every year to be elected to fill the vacancies which happen. Among his numerous publications, those entitled the Barrington School, the Cottager's Meditatatious, Dialogue between Monsieur Francois and John English, the entire Prefaces and most of the Reports of the Society for bettering the condition of the Poor, and Spurinna, or the Comforts of Old Age, have been the most popular. September 11, 1818.-At his apartments in Somerset House, in his 81st year, JAMES BINDLEY, Esq. Senior Commissioners of the Stamp Duties. He was son of an emiment distiller in Smithfield; and, on ac count of its vicinity to his father's dwelling, was educated at the Charter house, but not on the foundation. From this school he went to Peter-house, Cambridge, where he took the degree of A. B. in 1759; and A. M. in 1762; and diligently pursued the proper studies for the Church, having an inclination to that profession; but his father dying about that time, the following circumstance prevented it.-lu 1763, his elder brother, John Bindley, Esq. was raised from Secretary to be one of the Commissioners of Excise. Wishing himself to sit in Parliament, he resigned his own situation in 1765, on the late Mr. Bindley being appointed one of the Commissioners of the Stamp Duties. Mr. Bindley accordingly received his appointment, Jan. 5, 1765, and continued a faithful servant of the public for upwards of 58 years, constant in his attendance till within two days of his death. Mr. Bindley was the Father of the Society of Antiquaries of London, having been admitted a member of that learned body, June 9, 1779 Mr. Bindley's reading was various and extensive. His memory, which was to an extraordinary degree retentive, he preserved to the last, with a vigour which kept all the acquired information of his life in readiness whenever he wished to resort to it, either to aid his own judgment, or to inform and correct the judgment of others. His acquaintance with books is best evinced by his very valuable library, a collection, it is presumed, the most valua ble, for its extent, of any in the kingdom. No collector of prints and portraits in Europe is supposed to possess portfolios filled with so rare an assemblage in this branch of art; in medals also, his cabinets contain A specimens of the most curious and exquisite productions. a Dec. 13, 1818.-At his house in St. 1 James's square, after au illness of some duration, LORD ELLENBOROUGH. His Lordship was the son of Dr. Law, former- | ly Master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Carlisle. In the year 1768 he was admitted of St. Peter's college, of which society he was for many years a Fellow. He proceeded to the degree of B. A. in 1771, and was third wrangler and senior classical medallist of that year. He also obtained one of the Members' prizes in each of the two following years, as a Middle and a Senior Batchelor. After rising to some eminence at the bar, he was appointed Attorney General in 1801, and the next year, in consequence of the death of Lord Kenyon, he was appointed to the situation of Chief Justice of Eugland. On the 1st April, 1802, he was created a Peer by the title of Lord Ellenborough, in the county of Cumberland. He was also a Governor of the Charter House, and F.S.A. He married in October, 1782, Miss Towry, daughter of G. P. Towry, Esq. by whom he had issue seven children. It would be needless to expatiate on the merits of this eminent nobleman, for his talents and acquirements in the high official situation he so long and so ably filled, are well known. The loss of such a man may be considered a public calamity, for though he had retired from his judicial functions, yet, had his life been spared he might have found ample occasion in the Senate for serving his country. A more upright Judge never adorned our legal Tribunals. Aug. 22 1818. At his seat, Daylesford House, Worcestershire, in his 86th year of his age, the Right Honourable Warren HASTINGS, late Governor General of Bengal, one of His Majesty's Most HonQurable Privy Council, LL. D. and F. R. S. He was educated at Westminster School and at the age of sixteen he was ap pointed a writer in the service of the East India Company, in their establishment of Bengal. At this early age, he had made a considerable proficiency in learning, and was so distinguished for it by his master. In the year 1749 be embarked for the Com-. pany's Settlement in Bengal, where he resided upwards of fourteen years, and in the course of that period he rose through all the gradations of rank in that service until he attained one of the highest and became a Member of the Council at Calcutta. In the various offices he had filled, he discharged their several duties with great ability, zeal, and fidelity. In the year 1764, he embarked on board His Majesty's ship the Medway, to return to England, in company with his particular friend Mr Vansittart, at that time Governor of Bengal. He remained in England a few years only, and lived a retired life on a very small fortune. The Court of Directors wished for a person of ability to succeed to the Government of Madras, and in Mr. Hastings they. found that person; whom they appointed second in Council at that Settlement, in or der to succeed their then Governor, Mr. Dupré; and what rendered this appointment more creditable to Mr. Hastings was, the circumstance of his being recommended to it by some of the very men to whose opinions in politics his own had been generally oposed. He had not been long at Madras, ere a still more important occasion offered itself for the exercise of his great talents. The affairs of Bengal had become much embarrassed, and fallen into alarming distress, and the Court of Directors thought no person so capable of retrieving them as Mr. Hastings: They accordingly sent or ders to India, directing him to proceed immediately to Bengal, to take upon him the government of that settlement at a fixed time, to which they had limited the stay of the present Governor. This was in April 1772. When Mr. Hastings took charge of the government, he found it loaded with a debt at interest of nearly three millious sterling, but in less than two years he completely discharged that debt, and filled the public treasury with a sum, in ready cash, to the same amount. During the same period also he formed such a plau for the management of the revenue department, and for the administration of justice, and the police of the country, as served for a guide and model to his successors, and contributed greatly to the peace and happiness of the Natives, and to the prosperity of the Company, who were lavish in their praises of him. In the year 1774 Parliament changed the whole system of the East India Company's management of their affairs, at home and abroad, and appointed a Supreme Council at Bengal, which was to control all the other settlements in India. To this coun cil the Legislature appointed Mr. Bastings the first Governor General, and conferred the same appointment on him three several times afterwards, between that year and his final departure from Bengal in 1785. When Mr. Hastings returned from his Government in India, instead of being hailed as he had been proclaimed, its Saviour, he was met with accusation as its greatest oppressor; and he was kept on a trial of Impeachment for seven years at the bar of the House of Lords. During this unprecedented trial, every act of his Government of fourteen years' continuance was sifted and “bolted to the bran," but though the greatest talents of the country, though all the powers of eloquence were exerted, yet truth and innocence prevailed, and he was honourably acquitted by the judgment of the House of Lords. One memorable event, which has some allusion, if not a direct reference to his impeachment, is too remarkable to be omitted in this, or any sketch which may be given of Mr. Hastings's extraordinary life. Some years after his trial had ended, and when Parliament was deliberating on the renewal of the Company's charter, Mr. Hastings was examined by the House of Commous on this occasion, and when he was about to retire all the Members spontaneously rose as if by that generous and honourable act, so contrary to their practice, they intended to offer an atonement for the injuries he had formerly suffered in the same place. July ... Died, on his voyage home from Jamaica, of a fever, MATTHEW GREGORY LEWIS, Esq. Author of "Tales of Terror," "The Monk," and several other literary works. He was born in 1775, at which time his father was Deputy Secretary in the War Department, an office held by him many years, till from infirmity he was induced to resign on a pension. The son received his education at Westminster school, after which he went abroad, and studied at one of the German Universities with a view to the perfecting himself in that language for public business. Instead of this, he applied to reading the romance writers and dramatists, by which means he imbibed that taste for the marvellous which appears through all his performances. While abroad he composed "The Monk," a romantic story, foundedon the tale of Barsisa in the Guardian. This piece, which appear ed in 1795, in three volumes, attracted much notice, aud excited considerable disgust on account of its licentiousness. The year following the author was chosen into Parliament for the borough of Hindon, but never figured as a senator; and at the next general election he retired. As a dramatic writer be was eminently successful in his musical drama of the Castle Spectre, which came out at Drury Lane in 1797. His other works are, Village Virtues, a drama, 1796, 4to. The Minster, a tragedy from Schiller, 1797, 8vo. Rolla, a tragedy, 1799, 8vo. The Love of Gain, a poem, 1799, 4 ́o. The East Indian, a comedy, 1800, Svo. Adelmorn, or the Outlaw, a dram3, 1801, 8vo. Alfonzo, a tragedy, 1801, 8vo, Tales of Winter, 1801, 2 vols. 8vo. The Bravo of Venice, a romance, 1804, 8vo. Rugantino, a melo drama, 1805,8vo. Adelgitba, a play, 1806, 8vo. Feudal Tyrants, a romance, 1806, 4 vols. 12mo. Tales of Terror, 3 vols. Romantic Tales, 4 vols. 12mo. Venoni, a drama, 1809, 8vo. Monody on Sir John Moore, 8vo. One o'Clock, or the Knight and Wood Dæmon, a musical romance, 1811, 8vo. Timour the Tartar, a melodrama, 1812, 8vo. Poems, 1812, 12mo. Rich and Poor, á comic Opera, 1812. November 2, 1818.-SIR SAMUEL RoMLLY, by his own hand. He was one of the few men, who, while they have the unbounded confidence of their own party, command the respect of their political adversaries, Though he treated most questions with the candour that is inseparable from a love of truth, and with all the fervour by which zeal in a cause is character❘ised, he never excited the least suspicion of his motives, even when his reason was urged with most force and warmth. His opponents seemed invariably to respect his intentions when they combated his arguments with the greatest vehemence. Sir Samuel's opinion upon any subject made a deep impression, not so much from the ability he displayed, uncommon as it was, as from the high respectability of his character. He was impressed with a deep reverence for our excellent constitution, which will account for the extraordinary zeal with which he resisted every thing which had the appearance of being inconsistent with its prac tice or spirit. He had errors, no doubt; but they were not of the heart. But that he loved his country warmly, is beyond dispute. If he erred, the fault lay in the limitation of human mind; but his motives were unimpeached. His profound judg. ment, various acquirements, his skill in forensic and parliamentary speaking, and his astonishing industry, which enabled him to attend to the weighty business of his profession and to his duties in the Senate, are well known. Sir Samuel commenced his career at the Bar, a young man, liberally educated, with those high principles of honour, and that susceptibility of amiable and generous sentiment, which distinguished his life, but without paternal fortune, and, still more, with both his parents dependent upon his professional success. In this situation, he became acquainted with a young lady, the charms of whose mind and person won his affections. His conduct was worthy of his head and his heart. He declared his sentiments to the object of his affections; but added, that he must “acquire two fortunes" before they could be married: the first for those to whom he owed his first duty-his parents; the second for her. The lady knew how to appreciate his merit and his motives, and their vows were mutually pledged to each other. He entered upon his career of profit and honour with that assiduous energy which forms a chief feature of genuine talent. In a comparatively short period he realized a considerable sum, and with it purchased an annuity for his parents. Having put them in possession of this provision for their lives, he formally declared to them, that his obligations to them were now fulfilled, and he was about to enter into other relations, which must exclusively govern him in their turn. He began a second time with fresh spiritacquired a second fortune"-all within a very few years-settled it upon her ou whom he had bestowed his heart, and mar-ried her. The maiden name of the late Lady Romilly was Garbett. She was the eldest daughter of Francis Garbett, Esq. of Knill court, in the county of Hereford; and was married to Sir Samuel at that place, on the 3d of January, 1798. Sir Samuel Romilly was for several years remarkably subject to nervous irritation (doubtless induced by his almost incessant meutal exertions), which very frequently appeared while engaged in his barristerial avocations. One thus so easily affected must be proportionably susceptible of seri ous or fatal disorder in the brain, the seat of thought, and origin of the greater part of the nervous system, which, goaded by his irreparable domestic calamity, was pushed to that state of chaotic desperation as to induce the dire catastrophe. It is a singular circumstance, that in the Parish Church of St. Bride, Fleet-street, there is a simple undecorated tablet placed against the wall, on which there is an inscription to the memory of an ancestor of Sir Samuel Romilly, who died of a broken heart, seven days after the decease of a beloved wife. The inscription is as follows:Near this place are deposited the remains of Mr. ISAAC ROMILLY. F. R. S. Obiit 18th December 1759, Ætat. 49, whose affable and humane temper of mind, joyned to bis goodness of heart, justly endeared him to all his friends; as did his great ingenuity and labour in forming his extensive and valuable collection of natural curiosities to the esteem of the learned, in the same grave with the remains of MARY, his beloved wife, in the 48th year of her age, POLITICAL PERISCOPE. Panorama Office, Dec. 28, 1818. Critics, who study accuracy and excellence in every thing, examine the works of the best Masters in the Arts, with a jealous eye to their judgment, as well to their skill in execution; to their manner of thinking, as well as to their dexterity of workmanship. They demand a strict conformity to character; and cannot endure the slightest departure from it, whether in a God or a Hero; and whether the performance be antient or modern. They scruple not to censure the famous Antique Statue of Hercules reposing; for, say they, the God of labour could not need repose His province was exertion: to place him in au attitude of rest, is to violate that character which appertains to Hercules, and was the immediate cause of his Apotheosis. What these punctilious judges would have said on a modern statue, of which the error of conception is not redeemed by the merit of execution, it requires but little advance in connoisseurship to determine ;-"Time sitting down," his hour-glass, resting on his knee. and his scythe without action, or movement, Such a statue has long sat for sale, within a hundred miles of Hyde Park corner, though not at the famous Repertorium for gods, in former days. But, it cannot be “Time” who is thus personified: He still keeps moving; He never intermits his courle; He acknowledges no weariness; He desires no rest. He flies as swiftly now, as ever he flew; he delays not a moment; and the pen of the writer, or the eye of the reader, in vain attempts to equal his speed, or to fix him--no; he will not be fixed. fixed on a gentleman of great personal weight, to be their leader; he has had long experience in Parliamentary tactics; knows the comforts of a good place; is master of accounts; and holds up his head bravely; Time has brought us to the conclusion of another year; and now opens the entrance to its successor. As Politicians we have stood in awe of Time; we have dread--but his troops will take a deal of drilling. ed the scenes he would disclose; we have taken notes of the past to assist our conjec tures on the future, and heavily have our hearts heaved as the leaves of the book of knowledge successively opened, and the spectra they contained assumed life and motion. For such distressing images may Time past suffice! We would willingly contrast them by anticipation of happier events: we desire to be prophets of good, and not of evil; and to foresee pleasant days in the now opening year, with a clear sky, gentle breezes, cool grots, verdant meadows, never failing rills, waving ridges of corn, extending to the very horrizon, and lowing berds following in long succession to the forest, or to the fold. While the Cock with lively din It is possible that some slight movement among our public officers may have been thought of; but, our information does not lead us to expect great changes. What may be brought before Parliament, besides the multiplicity of cases to be determined, and regulations to be revived and established, it is not easy to say: still less can any judgment be formed on the business that will be finished in the present session. That much may be prepared, or may take the first step, is credible; but, the important affairs of internal legislation, which now await parliamentary interference, as they are not the conse quences of a day's misconduct, so they will demand more than the consideration of a single session. France has now to experience the wisdom and efficacy of that part of her constitution which provides for the renewal of her Representative body by fifth parts, till the whole be re-elected. Whether that mode of assembling the talents of a nation will associate a greater proportion of wisdom than if the whole body were renewed at once, every five years, will now be fairly tried. Whether it will tend to the conso Is it then consistent with the character of politicians to abandon the mind to anticipation of good only? to drink deeply in undiluted joy No: and the mere possibility that, as the nation is now in a general mourning for a national loss, so the return-lidation of ministerial power, or to the proing season in the next year may find us again in the same sable garb, should temper our delight with that prudent moderation, which never misbecomes mortals subject to mutability. longation of party feelings, or whether the introduction of a number of new faces, year after year, will prove rather troublesome than beneficial, a few revolving sessions will determine. In the mean while, it may serve as a lesson to those who think every change must be an improvement; let the consequences be well understood, before an old establishment be taken down, and its parts dissevered; perhaps, destroyed. We acknowledge, that there are many things within our ken, which combine to give us pleasure. The assembling of a new Parliament, is one of these: we mean not as a trial of power between parties; but as calling to arduous duties men of adequate strength and spirits to meet the difficulties of their situation, to assist in promoting the welfare of their country, by every honourable means, and of calling into action those wonderful resources by which Britons of former days triumphed over obstacles which then were deemed by the inconsiderate, or by the uninformed,-fatal,-ruinous,-in-have been enlarged, by consent; and again superable. There is, at the present moment, a somewhat rather equivocal in the conduct of France involving those bankers who stand pledged to substantiate her engagements in Financial affairs. She has got rid of the Army of Occupation; and had agreed to certain fixed periods for paying off acknowledged incumbrances; these periods enlarged, to meet her convenience, and now What then, do we expect unanimity in report circulates that the parties bound as a Representative Assembly?- Certainly her securities will be indemnified, and the not: neither perhaps do we wish it. We French Treasury will be substituted as sehave known so much good produced by the|curity sufficient. These repeated postponecollision of opinions that we are almost ready to suspect the consequences of staIntes enacted nemine contradicente. The Opposition, it is understood, have already ments augur no good; and if France does not take great care, the proverb of Gallic faiths will be revived: - what may next ensue who can foretell? These vacillations and |