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No. XXXVIII.

SIR WILLIAM WOLSELEY, BART.

SIR William was the head of an old Staffordshire family; and we have been told by a member of it, that the name was originally written Wolfslay, a fact fully justified and confirmed by the arms exhibited by himself on this occasion.

We easily trace their descent to a Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of Edward IV.; but the pedigree goes back to Robert, a lord of a manor of the same name, in 1281.

The honour of the Baronetcy was conferred on his descendant, Robert, November 28, 1682, who, perhaps, was a lawyer, for he exercised the office of "Clerk of the King's Patents." Sir Charles, his son and successor, represented the county of Stafford during the reign of Charles I., and having married a daughter of the Viscount Say, was, doubtless, on the side of the parliament during the civil wars. His son, William, was created a Lord by Oliver Cromwell, and made Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Brussels, by William III., with whom he appears to have been in great favour.

Sir William, the third Baronet, was unfortunately drowned on his return from Lichfield in his chariot and four, A. D. 1728, while passing a little brook, in consequence of a sudden breach in a neighbouring mill-dam.

Sir William Wolseley, the sixth and late Baronet, was born August 24, 1740, and succeeded his father Sir William, in 1779. On July 2d, 1795; he married Miss Chambers, of Wimbledon, in the county of Surrey, who died in 1811. By this lady he had two children, the youngest of whom, the Reverend Robert Wolseley, ceased to exist in 1815.

The death of this Baronet was both sudden and singular. On August 5th, 1817, being then in perfect health, and residing at his seat called Wolseley-hall in the county of Stafford, he happened to take a walk in his extensive shrubberies. In the course of his usual exercise, however, he fell down and actually expired before he could be carried into his apartments. His only surviving son, now Sir Charles Wolseley, Bart., who married the daughter of the Honourable Thomas Clifford, happened to be resident, at this period, at Lyons in the south of France.

The late Sir William Wolseley attained a very considerable age, for had he lived but three weeks longer, he would have completed his seventy-seventh year.

No. XXXIX.

THE REV. WILLIAM HANBURY, B. A.

RECTOR OF CHURCH-LANGTON, IN THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER.

THIS clergyman, was the son of the late Rev. William Hanbury, M. A., a worthy and orthodox divine, of the Church of England, who is entitled to no common share of praise, in a variety of ways. He not only distinguished himself by a superior method of planting and rearing forest-trees, both deciduous, and ever-greens, but also excited the gratitude of his country, by a celebrated work, on this very interesting, as well as important subject. Nor was he less eminent for his taste, in respect to flowers and esculent plants. In addition to this, he employed a considerable portion of his fortune in establishing a fund, called after him, "the Hanbury Charity," to "instruct the ignorant, assist the curious, adorn the parish *, and benefit Leicestershire, and the neighbouring county of Rutland."

According to Mr. Gough, the celebrated antiquary, the late Mr. Hanbury seems to have brought to the utmost degree of maturity, and stability human affairs are capable of, this singular undertaking, of raising from a plantation of all the various trees, plants, &c. the world produces, a yearly fund of near 10,000l.” for the purpose above specified. †

* Church-Langton in the county of Leicester.

The Rev. William Hanbury, Sen. died Feb. 28, 1778, in his 53d year, and in compliance with his own will, his remains were deposited in a mausoleum, lined with yellow stucco, and built by himself. The coffin is covered with black velvet, and ornamented with silver furniture, which is never to be suffered to tarnish; here also is a bust of himself; a cell is to be built for a poor woman, who is to open the door regularly every day, for which she is to receive 2s. 6d a week.

William, the son of this worthy, and public spirited ecclesiastic, being intended for the church, was sent to the University at a proper age, where he attained the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Having afterwards become Deacon, and Priest in succession, in 1792, we find him succeeding to his father's living, having inducted himself into the rectory of Church-Langton, on his own presentation, being both patron and impropriator of the same. In addition to his parochial duties, he exerted himself also, as a magistrate, in his division of the county; and died, whilst still young, in the month of March, 1817.

THIS

No. XL.

THOMAS SHERIDAN, Esq.

HIS gentleman was the only son of the late Right Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, by his first wife, the accomplished Eliza Linley, who died in 1792. Mr. Thomas Sheridan was educated under the immediate inspection, for he resided in the family, of the celebrated Dr. Parr, and it is not a little remarkable, that this sole surviving member of the Grecian triumvirate* should have been the instructor of his father nearly half a century before, while under-master at Harrow-school. Young Sheridan next repaired to Cambridge, where he was entered a gentleman-commoner. Notwithstanding these initiatory studies, and the example of the elder Mr. Sheridan, who had distinguished himself both by his writings and his eloquence, young Sheridan's destination proved to be the army, by his own particular choice. He accordingly obtained a commission, and Lord Moira, a friend of the family, happening to be then Commander-in-chief in Scotland, appointed him one of his Aides-de-camp. In this capacity he accordingly resided in the splendid mansion† of his patron: and as he was unluckily accustomed to keep bad hours, the noble Earl determined to expose the impropriety of such conduct in the gentlest, but most effectual way possible. Accordingly one evening he sent all the servants to bed, and sat up himself until four or five in the morning, when this, who happened to be the junior officer on his staff, returned in high spirits from a ball. He was not permitted to knock long, for his illustrious commander obeyed the first summons with the utmost promptitude, and

* Mr. Porson, Dr. Burney, and Dr. Parr.

+ The house of the Earl of Wemyss, at Edinburgh.

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