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prosecution of this valuable and difficult undertaking, Mr. Baker was indeed eminently successful; and all his pupils bore the best testimony to the ability and good effect of his instructions *.

On April 30th 1729 he married Sophia, youngest daughter of the famous Daniel De Foe, by whom he had two sons, David-Erskine, named after his godfather the Earl of Buchan, born January 30th 1730; and Henry, born February 10th 1734; both of whom he survived. On the 29th of January 1740, Mr. Baker was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries; and on the 12th of March following, the same honour was conferred upon him by the Royal Society. In 1744, Sir Godfrey Copley's gold medal was bestowed upon him, for his microscopical experiments on the crystallizations and configurations of saline particles. This medal was presented to him by Sir Hans Sloane, the only surviving trustee of Sir Godfrey Copley's donation, at the recommendation of Martin Folkes, esq. the President, and of the Council of the Royal Society. Having led a very useful and honourable life, he died on the 25th of November 1774, being then in his 77th year. His wife died in 1762; and he left one only grandson William Baker, who was born February 17th 1763, and to whom he bequeathed the bulk of his fortune, which he had principally acquired by his profession of instructing the deaf and dumb. It is much to be regretted that Mr. Baker

brother was the late Mr. Serjeant Forster, who left, by a daughter of the late Sir John Strange, Master of the Rolls, three daughters.

* His pupils were very numerous; among them were—' - The Honourable Lewis Erskine, a son of the Earl of Buchan; Lady Mary and Lady Anne O'Brien, daughters of the Earl of Inchiquin; the Earl of Sussex, and his brother Mr. Yelverton; the Earl of Haddinton; a son of Sir William Heathcote; the Earl of Londonderry; and many others. It is doubted whether any of his pupils be now living.

†The Reverend William Baker, LL. B. at this time (1812) rector of Lyndon and South Luffenham, in the county of Rutland,

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easy," and "Employment for the Microscope." The first of these appeared in 1742, the other in 1762. They have since gone through many editions in two volumes 8vo; they form still the most interesting and useful work published on this subject, and almost all the other works which have since appeared on the microscope are little else than compilations from this work of Mr. Baker's.

"The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce," is under singular obligations to our worthy Naturalist; he was one of the earliest members of it, and in fact contributed in no small degree to its rise and establishment, of which the Society was at that time so fully sensible as to make the voting him a perpetual member, one of its first acts. In his attendance he was almost unfailing; and not only in its first arrangement, but in the general deliberations of the Society, he was ever a most active, intelligent, and useful member*.

* A short account of the Origin of this Society, drawn up by Mr. Baker, and which was readbefore the Society of Antiquaries, is here annexed.

Mr. William Shipley, living at Northampton, being persuaded that a Society to give premiums, in the manner of one in Ireland, would be highly beneficial to this Kingdom, came to London several times in the years 1752 and 1753, and talked about it to Mr. Henry Baker, who was of the same opinion, but doubted the possibility of bringing it into effect. However, in the year 1753, a general recommendation of such a Society was drawn up, printed, and dispersed; and by the indefatigable pains taken by Mr. Shipley to put it into the hands of persons of quality and fortune, a Meeting was appointed to consider how such a scheme might be put into execution. At this first Meeting, which was held at Rathmill's Coffee House, in Henrietta-street, Covent Garden, March 22, 1754, were present, Lord Viscount Folkestone, Lord Romney, Dr. Hales, Mr. Goodchild, Mr. Baker, Mr. Brander, Mr. Crisp, Mr Messiter, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Short, Mr. Shipley. It was then proposed to give premiums for the discovery of Cobalt, and the cultivation of Madder, and for the best Drawings made by boys and girls; and the above two noble Lords, to whose goodness, generosity, and public spirit, the very being of this Society must ever be acknowledged entirely owing, resolved (at another Meeting) to make a beginning with these articles; and, as money would be wanting, each of them paid down ten guineas, and ten guineas for Lord Shaftesbury, but subscribed

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Mr. Baker was a poetical writer in the early part of his life. His "Invocation to Health" got abroad without his knowledge, but was reprinted by himself in his "Original Poems serious and humorous," in two parts, published in 1725 and 1726. Among these poems are some tales as witty and as loose as Prior's. He was the author also of "The Universe, a Poem, intended to restrain the Pride of Man," which has been often reprinted. It has been said of Mr. Baker, that "he was a philosopher in little things." If it was intended by this language to lessen his reputation, it has no propriety*. He was an intelligent, upright, and benevolent man, much respected by those who knew him best. His friends were the friends of science and virtue. was ever ready to promote by his own exertions, and to contribute and assist others, in whatever could tend to the advancement of knowledge, and the benefit of society.

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This tranquil, good man was not happy in his children. His eldest son, David-Erskine Baker, was a young man of genius and learning. Like his

five guineas apiece only in the book, lest a larger sum might discourage others. At the same time some other gentlemen paid two guineas each; but the number being small, the aforesaid noble Lords declared they would make good all deficiencies, and accordingly paid thirty guineas more. But notwithstanding this beginning, the Society was yet unformed, without any head or regulations, till Mr. Baker drew up a plan for the establishment of proper officers for the orderly government of the Society. The plan, after due consideration, being confirmed and printed, and the Society thereby established, they, out of regard to the pains Mr. Baker and Mr. Shipley had taken, elected them both unanimously to be perpetual members of this Society. Mr. Baker all along took the minutes, though Mr. Shipley's name appeared as the nominal secretary of the Society.

If this had reference to his microscopical pursuits, he has repelled it most satisfactorily in the motto from Pliny prefixed to his work, "Natura nusquam magis quam in minimis." Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. XI. cap. 2.

+ Communications by D. E. Baker will be found in the following volumes of Philosophical Transactions; Vol. XLIII. p. 540. Vol. XLIV. p. 529. Vol. XLV. p. 598. Vol. XLVI. p. 467. Vol. XLVIII. p. 564.

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father he was a Philosopher, an Antiquary, and a Poet. Being very partial to mathematical and geometrical studies, he was under the patronage of the Duke of Montagu, then Master of the Ordnance, placed in the Drawing Room in the Tower, to qualify him for the Royal Engineers; but unfortunately marrying the daughter of Mr. Clendon, a reverend empiric *, who had like himself a most violent and infatuated turn for dramatic performance, he repeatedly engaged with strolling companies, and provincial Theatres, in spite of every effort of his father to reclaim him. Many of his occasional poems were published in the periodical collections, and were much admired. He was the author of "The. Companion to the Play-house," in two volumes 12mo, 1764, a work which, though imperfect, had considerable merit, and evinced a very extensive knowledge of dramatic literature. An edition of this work was published in 1780, much improved by the late Isaac Reed, esq. Mr. D. E. Baker died Feb. 16, 1767.

Mr. Baker's other son Henry was brought up to the Law: he too had a turn for Literature. Jointly with his brother he translated from the Italian, and from the French, some Tracts published by the elder Dodsley; and he also, like his father and brother, was a Poet; too much indeed addicted to the Muse.

A friend who knew him well was of opinion that the two following lines of Pope were but too appli cable to him:

"A clerk foredoom'd his father's will to cross, Who penn'd a stanza when he should engross"—

* See Verses to the Rev. Mr. Clendon of Sutton near Maidstone, on his advertizing to cure deafness, and the King's Evil. Gent. Mag. 1754. Vol XXIV. pp. 562. 614.

+Another edition of it, considerably enlarged and improved, which had long been a desideratum, was presented to the publick, as this page was passing through the press, from the assiduous and accurate researches Of my friend Mr. Stephen Jones.

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He died young, August 24th, 1766; and left one son William, who has been already mentioned as the grandfather's heir.

In 1756 he published "Essays Pastoral and Elegiac," in two volumes, 8vo. His profession however was not wholly neglected; he left ready for the press an arranged collection of all the Statutes relating to Bankruptcy, with Cases, Precedents, &c. with the title of "The Clerk to the Commission." This work, it is believed, was published under another title in 1768.

WILLIAM BECKET, esq. a surgeon of considerable eminence, died Nov. 25. 1738. He was the author of Essays "on the Antiquity of Touching for the King's Evil, 1722," 8vo; "On the Venereal Disease in England;" and on other subjects, in the Philosophical Transactions, Nos. 357, 365. 366, 383.

BEAUPRE BELL, son of Beaupré Bell, esq. of Beaupré hail in Upwell and Outwell in Clackclose hundred, Norfolk, where the Beaupré family had settled early in the 14th century, and enjoyed the estate by the name of Beaupré (or de bello prato) till Sir Robert Bell intermarried with them, about the middle of the 16th *. Sir Robert was Speaker of the House of Commons 14 Eliz. and Chief Baron of the Exchequer; and caught his death at the Black Assize at Oxford, 1577. Beaupré Bell, his fourth lineal descendant, married Margaret, daughter of Sir Anthony Oldfield, of Spalding, bart. who died 1720, by whom he had issue his namesake, the subject of this article, and two daughters, of whom the youngest married William Graves, esq. of Fulborn in Cambridgeshire, who thereby inherited the family estate near Spalding, with the site of the Abbey, and has a striking likeness of his brother-inlaw. Mr. Bell, junior, was educated at Westminster school; admitted of Trinity-college, Cambridge, 1723; and soon commenced a genuine and able

* Parkins's and Blomfield's Norfolk, IV. 180. 193.

Antiquary.

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