THE ANNUAL BIOGRAPHY AND OBITUARY, OF 1823. PART I MEMOIRS OF CELEBRATED PERSONS, WHO HAVE DIED WITHIN THE YEARS 1822-1823. No. I. THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE VISCOUNT KEITH, BARON KEITH OF BANHEATH, CO. DUMBARTON; AND BARON KEITH OF STONEHAVEN, MARISCHAL IN IRELAND; ADMIRAL OF THE RED; SECRETARY, CHAMBERLAIN, and keeper of the sIGNET TO THE GREAT STEWARD OF SCOTLAND; A COUNSELLOR OF STATE FOR SCOTLAND AND THE DUCHY OF CORNWALL; TREASURER AND COMPTROLLER OF THE HOUSEHOLD TO H. R H. THE DUKE OF CLARENCE; KNIGHT GRAND CROSS QF THE MOST HONORABLE MILITARY ORDER OF THE BATH; KNIGHT OF THE OTTOMAN ORDER OF THE crescent, anD OF THE ROYAL SARDINIAN MILITARY ORDER OF ST. MAURICE AND ST. LAZARUS ; FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, AND A VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL WESTERN INFIRMARY, THE HE ancestor of this nobleman was a German of the name of Elvington, who settled in Scotland during the reign of Robert I., and married Margaret, daughter of Sir Christopher Seton, a lady related to the royal family, and who appears to have been an heiress, or to have obtained crown lands by way of dower, in the fertile shire of Lothian, which her husband called after his own name. From this gentleman, usually considered as the founder of the family, descended Alexander, who in the 33d year of David II. (1362) exchanged his estate of Kinchibar for the lands of Arthberg, in the county of Stirling, which were called Elphinstone, and became the residence of his descendants. Sir Alexander, one of these, was created a Baron in 1509, and the title has descended in regular succession during many generations. Charles, the tenth Lord Elphinstone, married Clementina, only surviving daughter and sole heiress of John the last Earl of Wigtoun, a title now extinct, and niece of George Keith, hereditary Earl Marischal of Scotland, and of Field-Marshal Keith, whose family, with a noble attachment to learning, added to a degree of munificence befitting a sovereign house, founded the college of New Aberdeen, which is still called by their name,* The subject of this memoir was the fifth son by the above marriage, He was born in the year 1746; and received at Glasgow an education suitable to the profession which he had chosen. Not deterred by the melancholy fate of an elder brother, George, who was lost in the Prince George in 1758, he went to sea, in February, 1762, on board the Gosport, commanded by Captain Jervis, late Earl of St. Vincent. He subsequently served in the Juno, Lively, and Emerald frigates, until the year 1767, when he went a voyage to China with his brother, the Hon, W. Elphinstone. In 1769 he proceeded to India, with Commodore Sir John Lindsay, by whom he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Soon after his return to England, whither he had been sent with important despatches, he was appointed to the flag-ship of Sir Peter Dennis, commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean; and in 1772, was advanced to the rank of Commander, in the Scorpion, of 14 guns. His commission as Post-Captain bears * Marshal Keith was one of the favourite Generals of Frederick II. King of Prussia. date March 11. 1775; and his first appointment as such appears to have been to the Marlborough, of 74 guns, stationed at Portsmouth, from which ship he soon after removed into the Pearl, and afterwards into the Perseus frigate, and served in her on the coast of America, under Lord Howe and Admiral Arbuthnot. At this time he was returned as knight of the shire for the county of Dumbarton, in which his family possessed considerable property and influence. At the reduction of Charlestown, Captain Elphinstone commanded a detachment of seamen on shore; and his brave and spirited efforts obtained him honourable mention in the official letter of the commander of the land forces, General Sir Henry Clinton. He was also present at the attack on Mud Island, Nov. 15. 1777. On his return to England, with Admiral Arbuthnot's despatches, our officer was appointed to the Warwick, of 50 guns. In 1780. he was again elected to represent his native county, and was one of the independent members who met at the St. Alban's Tavern, with a view of reconciling Mr. Pitt with Mr. Fox and the Duke of Portland (the latter being at that period in opposition), and by a union of parties forming a "broad-bottomed administration." In the month of January, 1781, he captured, after a smart action, the Rotterdam Dutch ship of war, of 50 guns and 300 men; which had been before ineffectually engaged by the Isis, also a fifty gun ship. During the remainder of the war, Captain Elphinstone was employed on the American station, under Admiral Digby. While there, H. R. H. Prince William Henry (now Duke of Clarence), then a midshipman in the Prince George, being desirous of a more active life than he spent at New York, re quested permission to go to sea, in order that he might obtain practical experience; and added to this reasonable and honourable request, his wish to cruise in the Warwick; the admiral acquiesced, and Captain Elphinstone had the honour of the Prince's company till he was transferred to the care of Sir Samuel Hood. On the 11th Sept. 1782, the Warwick, in company with the Lion, Vestal, and Bonetta, off the Delaware, |