the devotional part of the service he was uniformly chaste, solemn, and fervent. His eccentricities, there is good reason to believe, were often a source of painful reflection to his own mind;t hough to these, it is to be feared, he was indebted for much of his popularity. The singularities of his style and manner, and the expectation of mere amusement, formed the main attractions to Surrey Chapel with vast numbers of those who frequented it; though his stated congregation, no doubt, went for nobler purposes. About thirty years ago, he was a remarkably handsome man, of a tall, commanding stature, with highly expressive features, a keen searching eye, and a singularly fine nose, which was bold and aquiline, but in exact proportion to his face. His voice, too, was very powerful, and, at times, extremely melodious. When he first entered his pulpit, his nervous agitation was often extreme, and every member of his body seemed to shake. He gave out his text indistinctly, and almost inaudibly, and it was only as he proceeded that his tones rose, and he became colloquial or humorous. He had the art of instantly arresting the attention of his hearers; and, as he seemed to address them from the fervour of his own feelings, he often produced a strong effect on theirs. His action, too, though often ludicrously distorted, would, sometimes, when he leaned forward on the sconces of the pulpit, become truly graceful and dignified. Of late years, the majesty of venerable age that invested his appearance, added not a little to the impressive effect of his instructions. His rising to rebuke the tempestuous discord of the Bible Society anniversary, held in Exeter Hall, in May 1831, will not soon be forgotten. The keen yet mild reproof came from his lips with almost the force of prophetic authority; and the strong good sense of the few sentences he uttered went directly home to the minds of the auditory.

Mr. Hill's physical powers had long been in a declining state; but his intellectual energies remained almost to the last moment of his existence. He at length sunk under a gradual decay of nature, and died without a groan. His last sermon

was delivered at Surrey Chapel, on Sunday, the 31st of March; and the last time he spoke in public was Tuesday evening, April the 2d, when he addressed the Sunday school teachers. On the morning of Easter Tuesday he expressed a desire to address the girls belonging to the Sunday School Union, which had been his accustomed practice; but, being very unwell, he was dissuaded from it by his friends, and his assistant, the Rev. George Weight (who has since published Mr. Hill's first and last sermons preached in Surrey Chapel), officiated in his stead. During the morning of that day he found it necessary to lie down in bed, from which he never rose more. On the evening of Thursday, April the 11th, 1833, he breathed his last, at his town residence in Blackfriars Road, being in the eighty-ninth year of his age. His body was interred in a vault immediately under the pulpit of Surrey Chapel, on the 19th of April. The Rev. Mr. Jay of Bath delivered the funeral address.

Mr. Hill's will has been proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, by the oaths of J. B. Wilson, Joseph Green, William James, and Samuel Long, Esqrs., the executors. The personal effects are sworn to be under 18,000l. One third of the property of the rev. gentleman is bequeathed to his late brother, the Rev. Brian Hill, and his descendants. He gives 51. to each of the women resident in the Surrey Chapel Almshouses, founded by him some years since. During his lifetime he had provided amply for all his servants; in addition to which he leaves them nineteen guineas each. The residue of the estate, after payment of these and some other trifling legacies, is bequeathed to the Village Itinerary, or Evangelical Association for the Propagation of the Gospel in the destitute and neglected villages of Britain.

By desire of the venerable departed, his papers and manuscripts have been delivered to his relation and ward, the Rev. Edwin Sidney, M. A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, and Curate of Acle, near Norwich, to be used at his discretion; by whom, as soon as prepared for the press, his Life, &c. will

be published. Among the papers are original letters from Whitfield, Berridge, Ambrose Serle, &c.; with diaries in Mr. Hill's writing of his early preaching, expositions, &c., and other interesting documents. It has also been stated that Mr. Jay has been for some years preparing materials for a memoir of his friend. Portraits of him are of course numerous; but one of the most remarkable is an aged likeness by Mountjoy, a large print of which, mezzotinted by Lupton, was published in Sept. 1826.

273

No. XVII.

GENERAL SIR BANASTRE TARLETON, BART., AND G. C.B.

COLONEL OF THE 8TH LIGHT DRAGOONS, AND GOVERNOR OF BERWICK; AND FORMERLY MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR LIVERPOOL.

SIR BANASTRE TARLETON was descended from an ancient family, seated for many generations at Aigburth in Lancashire, and latterly in the town of Liverpool, and was born August 21st, 1754, the third son of John Tarleton, Esq., Mayor of Liverpool in 1764 (who purchased the estate of Aigburth), by Jane, eldest daughter of Banastre Parker, Esq.

He was intended for the profession of the law, and actually entered his name on the roll of one of the Inns of Court. But he either became soon weary of the toil and drudgery attendant on this line of study, or was actuated by a youthful ambition that pointed at another object. He entered the army in 1775, by purchasing a cornetcy in the King's dragoon guards. In 1776, through the assistance of his commanding officer, Colonel Sloper, he obtained leave to go to America; and, in the month of December, he commanded the advanced guard of the patrole which made Gen. Lee prisoner. During the years 1777 and 1778, he witnessed nearly the whole of the actions in the Jerseys, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, until the return of the King's army to New York; on which occasion, although possessing only the rank of a Captain of infantry in an absent regiment, he commanded the rear-guard of Sir Henry Clinton's army. Immediately after this service he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of provincial cavalry, and soon rose to the command of the British legion. When, at the close of 1779, Sir Henry Clinton carried a considerable part of the

army to the southward, for the siege of Charleston and operations in the Carolinas, he intrusted the command of the cavalry to Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton. He had the misfortune to lose all the cavalry horses on the sea voyage; and with great difficulty supplied their place with horses of every description; until a spirit of enterprise placed a corps of American volunteer cavalry in his power. From that period success attended the movements of the British legion. During the siege of Charleston, the cavalry and light troops of the Americans, who endeavoured to maintain a connection between the country and Charleston, were repeatedly surprised and defeated on the Cooper River. On the surrender of the town, the legion was detached after Colonel Buford, who was overtaken and defeated on the line of North Carolina, after a toilsome and burning march. In the course of the year 1780, various important services were rendered to Lord Cornwallis and the British army by Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton and the British legion at Camden, the Catawba, Blackstocks, and other places, particularised in Lord Cornwallis's general orders. Early in 1781, he experienced an unexpected reverse of fortune, which he ascribed principally to the want of due co-operation on the part of Earl Cornwallis. The British legion, however, speedily resumed its active share in the campaign; and proved its efficiency at the battle of Guildford Court-house, in a charge; on which occasion Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton lost a considerable part of his right hand. The subsequent movements of the legion displayed great energy, decision, and despatch. It effected the junction of the two British armies of Carolina aud Virginia in the latter district. During the course of these services, the subject of this memoir received the brevet of Major and Lieutenant-Colonel in the English army.

In 1787, Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton published "A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America." His complaints, in this publication, of his Legion being cooped up in bad works on the banks of the York River, towards the close of the war,