No. XLIX.

ELLIS BENT, Esq.

JUDGE-ADVOCATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

This gentleman, one of the sons of Robert Bent, Esq., was born either in 1784, or 1785. After the usual preliminary education, at an early age, he was sent to the University, where he obtained the degrees of B. A. and M. A. Being destined for the bar, he applied himself with great assiduity to his professional avocations; and by a laborious course of reading, as well as by due attention to practice, qualified himself within the short space of four years after he had become a barrister, for the important office of Judge Advocate.

Having been appointed to exercise his duties in that capscity, within the colony of New South Wales, he repaired thither, and soon formed certain arrangements for the furtherance of justice, within his own department, which greatly contributed to the happiness and prosperity of the infant colony. His singular attention to the duties of his station, is supposed to have shortened his life; for he died in the town of Sidney, at the early age of thirty-two, in the beginning of 1817.

The utility of his plans, which we have already alluded to, has been fully attested by a report of a committee of the House of Commons, to which was referred "the consideration of the state of the Colony of New South Wales," and the excellence of his private character, was demonstrated by the crowd of mournful spectators, who accompanied his remains to the place of interment. On that occasion, his brother, Jeffery Bent, Esq., the judge of the New Court of Equity, performed the melancholy office of chief mourner; while his Excellency the Governor, together with all the officers both civil and military attended, in order to testify their respect.

Mr. Bent has left behind him, a widow and no fewer than five children.

No. L.

MISS HENRIETTA RHODES,

A POETESS, NOVEL WRITER, &c.

THIS lady, born in the county of Salop, in the year 1756, was the daughter of Mr. Rhodes of Cann-Hall in the borough of Bridgnorth. At an early period of life, although never successfully wooed herself, yet she wooed the muses, and in the opinion of her friends, with no small degree of good fortune. Some of her neighbours, however, supposed that her verses did not rise above mediocrity; although all concurred in excepting her ballads, a taste for which she had cultivated by reading of the famous collection *, published by the late Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore. She also edited a work written by her nephew; composed several short and fugitive articles for her friends; and printed a novel with a most romantic name, long after she had left off the style and appellation of a spinster; having for some time back been called Mrs. Rhodes.

This lady interposed at the election of members of parliament, for the place of her nativity, in 1784, with a generous warmth, in support of a friend; and died at her house in East Castle Street, Bridgnorth, February 28, 1817, in the sixty-first year of her age,

List of the Works of the late Miss Rhodes.

1. Various Poetical Compositions, in early life, some of which were afterwards published.

2. Rosalie, or the Castle of Montalabretti, 4 vols. 12mo. 1811.

3. An account of Stonehenge, 8vo. 1814.

4. Poems and Miscellaneous Essays, published by Subscription, 8vo. 1814.

VOL. II.

* Reliques of ancient English Poetry, 3 vols. 12mo. 1765,

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No. XLIV.

SIR WILLIAM INNES, BART.

OF BALVENIE, NORTH BRITAIN.

THE family of Innes is supposed to have been originally of Flemish extraction, and, if we are not greatly misinformed, first settled under Beroaldus Flandrensis in that fertile tract of country situate between the Spey and the Lossie, in the county of Moray. Of this line the (now ducal) house of Innes, of Innes, near Elgin, was always considered as the chief, in consequence both of tradition and records. The large possessions attached to this stem, and also the title of Baronet of Nova Scotia, which was conferred in 1628, soon after the institution of that order, serves to confirm this statement.

Sir James Innes, of Balvenie, having died in 1722, was succeeded by Robert his eldest son, who lived until 1758, when his younger brothers Charles and William, became Baronets in succession.

Sir William Innes, of Balvenie, the last of these, of whom we now treat, appears to have been the patriarch of baronets, as he was born about the year 1718. Being desirous of military fame, he served as a volunteer in the Life Guards, when they attended King George II. at the battle of Dettingen, in 1743. Mr. Innes afterwards obtained a cornetcy of horse, and rose through the successive steps of Lieutenant, Captain of a troop, and Major, until he at length attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2d regiment of Dragoon Guards, when he seems to have retired from the service.

After this he settled at Ipswich, where he succeeded to his family honours, and resided until his death, which occurred

March 13th, 1817. Sir William had then fully completed his 100th year; and the title was generally supposed to be extinct: but a respectable gentleman of Bamffshire, where his ancestors had considerable possessions, lately laid claim to this title; and presented such an uniform and authentic series of documents, that a jury, of which the Right Hon. James Earl of Fife was chancellor, to adopt the language of the Scottish law, "unanimously served him heir to the title."

No. XLV.

RICHARD LOVELL EDGEWORTH, Esq.

OF EDGEWORTH TOWN, IN IRELAND.

THIS gentleman greatly distinguished himself as a man of letters, and was fortunate in possessing a daughter worthy of himself. He died at his seat in the sister island, June 13, 1817, at the age of seventy-four.

[We intend to give a detailed account of Mr. Edgeworth's life and labours, in our next volume, for which materials are now collecting.]

No. XLVI.

THE REV. ROBERT TYRWHITT.

LATE FELLOW OF JESUS-COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

THE Tyrwhitts spring from an ancient and respectable family which has been long settled in the west of England. The subject of the present article is descended from, and actually was representative of them, being uncle of the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, who has been in succession Private Secretary, and Secretary Extraordinary to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Auditor and Lord Warden of the Stannaries, Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall, Vice-Admiral of the same, one of the members of parliament for Plymouth, &c.

The late Mr. Robert Tyrwhitt was the son of a Residentiary of St. Paul's; and his maternal grandfather, Dr. Gibson, was Bishop of London. After receiving a prefatory education, he was sent to Jesus-College, Cambridge, where he soon distinguished himself, not only by his talents and application, but also by a certain seriousness of speech, conduct, and behaviour, that gained him the esteem of all. Ecclesiastical honours and preferment now lay before him, but he refused them all.

"With such connections as his," observes one of his friends," he had every reason to expect high preferment in the church; but his conscience forbad him to make use of such advantages, and he resigned his fellowship, and all his expectations from the church, on the deliberate conviction of his mind, that one God only-who is emphatically stiled in Scripture the Father and the God and Father of our Lord

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