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leave of his most intimate friends, dictated some letters to absent acquaintances, had the sacrament administered to him, and discoursed with the most cheerful composure of his affairs.

The following character of this excellent man has been given by his biographer, Mr Pugh, who resided in his house many years, and had the best means of obtaining information respecting him: "Mr Hanway in his person was of the middle size, of a thin spare habit, but wellshaped; his limbs were fashioned with the nicest symmetry. In the latter years of his life he stooped very much, and when he walked, found it conduce to his ease to let his head incline to one side. When he went first to Russia at the age of thirty, his face was full and comely, and his person altogether such as obtained for him the appellation of the handsome Englishman.' His features were small, but without the insignificance which commonly attends small features. His countenance was interesting, sensible, and calculated to inspire reverence. His blue eyes never had been brilliant; but they expressed the utmost humanity and benevolence; and when he spoke, the animation of his countenance and the tone of his voice were such as seemed to carry conviction with them to the mind of a stranger. His mind was the most active that it is possible to conceive, always on the wing, and never appearing to be weary. To sit still and endeavour to give rest to the thought was a luxury to which he was a perfect stranger: he dreaded nothing so much as inactivity, and that modern disorder which the French-who feel it not so much as ourselves-distinguish by the name of ennui. In his natural disposition he was cheerful but serene. He enjoyed his own joke, and applauded the wit of another; but never descended from a certain dignity which he thought indispensably necessary. His experience furnished him with some anecdote or adventure, suitable to every turn the discourse could take, and he was always willing to communicate it. If the mirth degenerated into boisterous laughter, he took his leave: My companions,' he would say, 'were too merry to be happy, or to let me be happy, so I left them.' He spoke better in public than was to be expected of one who wrote so much, and pointed to his subject."

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Lord Viscount Keppel.

BORN A. D. 1725.—died a. D. 1786.

THIS nobleman was the second son of William, second earl of Albe. marle, and the Lady Anne Lenox, daughter of Charles Lenox, first duke of Richmond. He was born on the 2d of April, 1725, and was sent at a very early age to sea, under Commodore Anson, when that officer was ordered to the South seas. Mr Keppel was, on the capture of the Esmeralda galleon, promoted to the rank of lieutenant; and almost immediately after his return to England, in the month of September, 1744, was made commander of a sloop of war. In the month of December following he was advanced to be captain of the Sapphire frigate. He retained this command two years; and, being constantly employed as a cruiser, his diligence and activity were rewarded with a considerable number of important prizes. In 1746 he became captain

of the Maidstone, of fifty guns, in which vessel he had the misfortune to be wrecked off the coast of France, in consequence of running too near the shore in pursuit of a French privateer. He was next appointed to the Anson, of sixty-four guns; and, after having been employed for some time in the channel, was despatched, in 1749, to the Mediterra. nean, where, about the end of the year 1751, he entered into a treaty of peace with the states of Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis. At an audience which he had obtained of the dey of Algiers, for the purpose of demanding the restoration of some vessels which had been taken by the pirates, his deportment was so spirited, that the dey exclaimed, “I wonder at the English king's insolence, in sending me such a foolish, beardless boy !" "Had my master," replied Keppel, "supposed wisdom to be measured by the length of the beard, he would have sent you a hegoat." This answer so enraged the dey, that he ordered his mutes to attend with the bow-string. Keppel, however, displayed no symptom of alarm, but coolly observed-pointing through a window to the English ships riding at anchor in the bay, as he spoke-"If it be your pleasure to put me to death, there are Englishmen enough in that fleet to make me a glorious funeral pile !" The dey, it is added, felt the truth of this remark, and consented to grant the restitution which Keppel had demanded. In 1754 he hoisted his broad pendant on board the Centurion, as commanding officer of the ships of war sent to North America for the purpose of protecting a fleet of transports, having on board General Braddock with a considerable body of regular troops. That unfortunate general was loud in his praises of Mr Keppel's conduct, and most gratefully acknowledged the assistance he received from him on all occasions when his aid was necessary.

After the defeat of Braddock the commodore returned to Europe, and was appointed to the Swiftsure, from which ship he removed into the Torbay. In the ship last-mentioned he continued five years, always actively employed, but without having any opportunity of particularly distinguishing himself, till the year 1758, when he was appointed commander-in-chief of the expedition sent against the French settlement at Goree on the coast of Africa. On his return from this service, in the ensuing spring, he struck his broad pendant, and continued to serve for some time in the fleet commanded by Sir Edward Hawke. In the month of February he was appointed colonel of the Plymouth division of marines. On the 22d of October, 1762, he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue squadron. In the month of October, 1770, he was appointed to command a squadron ordered to be fitted out with the utmost expedition, in consequence of an apprehended rupture with Spain. The dispute was, however, amicably adjusted, and the armament ordered to be dismantled without having ever put to

sea.

At the commencement of the year 1778, it being foreseen that a rupture with France was become inevitable, Mr Keppel was promoted to be admiral of the blue squadron, and was appointed commander-inchief of the fleet intended, in the actual event of a war, for home or channel service. Having hoisted his flag, in the month of March, on board the Prince George, of ninety guns, from which he afterwards removed it on board the Victory, he sailed from St Helen's on the 8th of June, at the head of a fleet consisting of twenty-one ships of two and

three decks, three frigates, and as many smaller vessels. On the 10th of July they discovered the fleet of the enemy. Several days were spent, according to the practice of French naval tactics at that time, in manœuvring; but at length the whole of their fleet was brought to a general action on the 27th of July. This encounter, when compared with others bearing the same denomination, namely, that of a general action between two powerful fleets, certainly deserved no more dignified appellation than that of an indecisive skirmish. Mr Keppel returned to port, for the purpose of refitting those ships of the fleet which had received any material damage, and sailed from Plymouth on the 23d of August to join the divisions of Sir Robert Harland and Sir Hugh Palliser, which had put to sea on the preceding day. Nothing, however, sufficiently material to merit notice took place during the remainder of the naval campaign, which was finally closed by the return of Mr Keppel on the 28th of October. The dissatisfaction occasioned by the indecisive action in the month of July, though smothered for a considerable time, now began to manifest itself. The friends of Keppel cast the whole blame of the miscarriage on Sir Hugh Palliser, and it could not be expected that the latter, with his party, would endure the obloquy patiently. Invective begot recrimination, and the houses of parliament rang with the clamours of the different parties. Sir Hugh Palliser at length preferred a specific charge against Mr Keppel at the admiralty board, and demanded a court-martial, which, notwithstanding moderate men unanimously conceived it improper and impolitic, should be instituted after so long an interval, and a memorial, signed by several of those who had been, and were then considered among the leading and most distinguished characters in the British navy, was presented to his majesty, beseeching him to stop all further proceedings, was, nevertheless, commanded to be prosecuted in the regular manner. An order was accordingly issued to Sir Thomas Pye, admiral of the white, to hold a court-martial for the trial of Mr Keppel, on the 7th of January: it consequently met on that day on board the Britannia. Palliser charged Keppel with having neglected to arrange his ships in order of battle, so that a general engagement could not have been brought on; with having neglected to tack and double upon the French, with the van and centre divisions of the English fleet, after these had passed the enemy's rear; thus leaving the vice-admiral of the blue exposed to be cut off; with having given an opportunity to the enemy to rally unmolested, and stand after the British fleet,-thus giving the French admiral a pretence to claim the victory; and, lastly, with having, on the morning of the 28th of July, instead of pursuing the enemy, led the British fleet in an opposite direction. After going through the necessary forms of swearing in the members, it adjourned to the governor's house: a particular act of parliament having, for the accommodation of Mr Keppel, who was extremely indisposed, been passed for the purpose of authorizing a measure till then unprecedented. It is not within our limits to give even an abridged detail of the trial, which continued, through several short intervening adjournments, till the 11th of February: suffice it that we briefly state Mr Keppel was acquitted. The admiral, however, ceased to be employed,—a circumstance rather natu rally to be expected than wondered at, considering not only the extraordinary political schism which his case and conduct had created, but

also the very severe animadversions made by his friends on the behaviour of ministers towards him.

The overthrow of the ministry in March, 1782, served to introduce Mr Keppel to his country once more in a public character. He was constituted first commissioner of the admiralty, and sworn in one of the members of the privy council,—an advancement attended immediately afterwards by professional promotion, and his exaltation to the rank of Viscount Keppel, of Elvedon, in the county of Suffolk. His station of first commissioner of the admiralty he quitted for a few weeks, on the 28th of January, 1783, but resumed it again on the 8th of April ensuing; the celebrated coalition then taking place between a select number of his lordship's party, and several of the leading persons of the former ex-ministry, who had, in the preceding year, been ranked among the most violent of his enemies. He retained his high station only till the 30th of December following, when a political convulsion, equal in extent to that which first introduced him into it, caused him finally to quit this public character of first minister of marine. He survived but

a very few years, dying on the 2d of October, 1786, having been long afflicted with the gout and other grievous bodily infirmities, in the sixty-third year of his age.

Sir William Draper.

BORN A. D. 1721.-DIED A. D. 1787.

Ministers

THIS officer, who has been dragged into such unfortunate notoriety by the remorseless invective of Junius, was a native of Bristol, and educated in that city. He took the degree of B. A. at Cambridge, in 1744. In 1749 he entered the army, and spent some years in the East Indies. On his return to England, with the rank of colonel, he was appointed governor of Yarmouth. In 1761 he laid a plan before government for wresting the Philippine islands from Spain. approved of the scheme, and Draper, with the rank of brigadier-general, was intrusted with its execution, in which charge he perfectly succeeded. Manilla was carried by assault, and the captors agreed to accept bills on Madrid for 4,000,000 of dollars, in lieu of plunder. The court of Madrid, however, refused to honour the Manilla drafts, and Draper, then a member of the house of commons, brought the case before the house. His silence, however, was obtained by a red ribbon and the colonelcy of the 16th regiment of foot.

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Meanwhile the marquess of Granby had been attacked by Junius; and Draper, in attempting to shield his lordship, drew down upon himself the invective of the intrepid assailant of all political abuses. Draper had first been loud in his remonstrances on the subject of the Manilla ransom: By what accident did it happen," inquires Junius, “that in the midst of all this bustle, and all these clamours for justice to your injured troops, the name of the Manilla ransom was buried in a profound, and, since that time, an uninterrupted silence? Did the ministers suggest any motive to you strong enough to tempt a man of honour to desert and betray the cause of his fellow-soldiers? Was it that blushing ribbon which is now the perpetual ornament of your person?

Or, was it that regiment which you afterwards—a thing unprecedented among soldiers-sold to Colonel Gisborne ? Or, was it that government the full pay of which you are contented to hold with the half-pay of an Irish colonel ?"

In reply to these questions, Draper said that he had very recently memorialized Lord Shelburne anew on the subject of the Manilla ransom, but that he found ministers disposed to overlook the conduct of the Spanish government in their anxiety to establish a peace. As to the red ribbon and colonelcy, he said: "His majesty was pleased to give me my government for my services at Madras. I had my first regiment in 1757. Upon my return from Manilla, his majesty, by Lord Egremont, informed me that I should have the first vacant red ribbon, as a reward for my services in an enterprise which I had planned and executed. The duke of Bedford and Mr Grenville confirmed those assurances many months before the Spaniards had protested the ransombills. To accommodate Lord Clive, then going upon a most important service to Bengal, I waived my claim to the vacancy which then happened. As there was no other until the duke of Grafton and Lord Rockingham were joint-ministers, I was then honoured with the order; and it is, surely, no small honour to me that in such a succession of ministers, they were all pleased to think that I had deserved it: in my favour they were all united. Upon the reduction of the 79th regiment, which had served so gloriously in the East Indies, his majesty, unsolicited by me, gave me the 16th of foot as an equivalent. My motives for retiring afterwards are foreign to the purpose; let it suffice that his majesty was pleased to approve of them. They are such as no man can think indecent, who knows the shocks that repeated.vicissitudes of heat and cold, of dangerous and sickly climates, will give to the best constitution, in a pretty long course of service. I resigned my regiment to Colonel Gisborne, a very good officer, for his half-pay, £200 Irish annuities; so that, according to Junius, I have been bribed to say nothing more of the Manilla ransom, and to sacrifice those brave men, by the strange avarice of accepting £380 per annum, and giving up £800 !"

Some more correspondence followed with his veiled antagonist, in which he came off, on the whole, with less dishonour than might at first have been anticipated. In 1779 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Minorca; and on the surrender of that place, in 1782, he exhibited a series of charges against his superior in command, General Murray. He failed in establishing several of them, and was ordered to make an apology.

He died at Bath in 1787.

John Shebbeare.

BORN A. d. 1709.—died a. d. 1788.

THIS once celebrated political writer was born at Bideford in Devonshire, in the year 1709. His father, an attorney and corn-factor, had four children, of whom the subject of this notice was the eldest. John was educated at a school in Bristol, where he gave indications of that

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