the garrison were extreme; but the loss of men was less than might have been expected. For the first ten weeks of this unexampled bombardment, the whole number of killed and wounded was only about three hundred. The damage done to the works was trifling. The houses in the town, about five hundred in number, were mostly destroyed. Such of the inhabitants as were not buried in the ruins of their houses, or torn to pieces by the shells, fled to the remote parts of the rock; but destruction followed them to places which had always been deemed secure. No scene could be more deplorable. Mothers and children clasped in each other's arms, were so completely torn to pieces, that it seemed more like an annihilation, than a dispersion of their shattered fragments. Ladies of the greatest sensibility and most delicate constitutions deemed themselves happy to be admitted to a few hours of repose in the casement amidst the noise of a crowded soldiery, and the groans of the wounded. At the first onset General Elliott retorted on the besiegers a shower of fire; but foreseeing the difficulty of procuring supplies, he soon retrenched, and received with comparative unconcern, the fury and violence of his adversaries. By the latter end of November, the besiegers had brought their works to that state of perfection which they intended. The care and ingenuity employed upon them were extraordinary. The best engineers of France and Spain had united their abilities, and both kingdoms were filled with sanguine expectations of speedy success. In this conjuncture, when all Europe was in suspense concerning the fate of the garrison, and when, from the prodigious efforts made for its reduction, many believed that it could not hold out much longer, a sally was projected and executed, which in about two hours destroyed those works, which had required so much time, skill, and labour to accomplish. A body of two thousand chosen men, under the command of Brigadier-general Ross, marched out about two o'clock in the morning of the twenty-seventh November, 1781, and at the same instant made a general attack on the whole exterior front of the lines of the besiegers. The Spaniards gave way on every side, and abandoned their works. The pioneers and artillery-men spread their fire with such rapidity, that in a little time every thing combustible was in flames. The mortars and cannon were spiked, and their beds, platforms, and carriages destroyed. The magazines blew up one after another. The loss of the detachment, which accomplished all this destruction, was inconsiderable. This unexpected event disconcerted the besiegers; but they soon recovered from their alarm, and with a perseverance almost peculiar to their nation, determined to go on with the siege." "? 1 The court of Spain maddened by this defeat, resolved to put forth its utmost strength and resources in a new attack on this important stronghold. The duke de Crillon, who had recently effected the reduction of Minorca, was now "appointed to conduct the siege of Gibraltar, and it was resolved to employ the whole strength of the Spanish monarchy in seconding his operations. No means were neglected, nor expense spared, that promised to forward the views of the besiegers. From the failure of all plans hitherto adopted for effecting the reduction of Gibraltar, it was resolved to adopt new ones. Among the various projects for this purpose, one which had been formed by the chevalier 'Miller's History of the Reign of George III. d'Arcon was deemed the most worthy of trial. This was to construct such floating batteries as could neither be sunk nor fired. With this view, their bottoms were made of the thickest timber, and their sides of wood and cork long soaked in water, with a large layer of wet sand be tween. "To prevent the effects of red hot balls, a number of pipes were contrived to carry water through every part of them, and pumps were provided to keep these constantly supplied with water. The people on board were to be sheltered from the fall of bombs by a cover of rope netting, which was made sloping, and overlaid with wet hides. "These floating batteries, ten in number, were made out of the hulls of large vessels, cut down for the purpose, and carried from twentyeight to ten guns each, and were seconded by eighty large boats mounted with guns of heavy metal, and also by a multitude of frigates, ships of force, and some hundreds of small craft. "General Elliott, the intrepid defender of Gibraltar, was not ignorant that inventions of a peculiar kind were prepared against him, but knew nothing of their construction. He nevertheless provided for every circumstance of danger that could be foreseen or imagined. The thirteenth of September was fixed upon by the besiegers for making a grand attack, when the new invented machines, with all the united powers of gunpowder and artillery in the highest state of improvement, were to be called into action. The combined fleets of France and Spain in the bay of Gibraltar amounted to forty-eight sail of the line. Their batteries were covered with one hundred and fifty-four pieces of heavy brass cannon. The numbers employed by land and sea against the fortress were estimated at one hundred thousand men. With this force, and by the fire of three hundred cannon, mortars, and howitzers, from the adjacent isthmus, it was intended to attack every part of the British works at one and the same instant. The surrounding hills were covered with people assembled to behold the spectacle. The cannonade and bombardment were tremendous. The showers of shot and shells from the land batteries and the ships of the besiegers, and from the various works of the garrison, exhibited a most dreadful scene. Four hundred pieces of the heaviest artillery were playing at the same moment. The whole peninsula seemed to be overwhelmed in the torrents of fire which were incessantly poured upon it. The Spanish floating batteries for some time answered the expectations of their framers. The heaviest shells often rebounded from their tops, while thirty-two pound shot made no visible impression upon their hulls. For some hours the at tack and defence were so equally supported, as scarcely to admit of any appearance of superiority on either side. The construction of the battering ships were so well-calculated for withstanding the combined force of fire and artillery, that they seemed for some time to bid defiance to the powers of the heaviest ordnance. In the afternoon the effects of hot shot became visible. At first there was only an appearance of smoke, but in the course of the night, after the fire of the garrison had continued about fifteen hours, two of the floating batteries were in flames, and several more were visibly beginning to kindle. The endeavours of the besiegers were now exclusively directed to bring off the men from the burning vessels; but in this they were interrupted. Captain Curtis, who lay ready with twelve gun boats, advanced and fired upon them with such order and expedition, as to throw them into confusion before they had finished their business. They fled with their boats, and aban doned to their fate great numbers of their people. The opening of daylight disclosed a most dreadful spectacle. Many were seen in the midst of the flames crying out for help, while others were floating upon pieces of timber, exposed to equal danger from the opposite element. The generous humanity of the victors equalled their valour, and was the more honourable, as the exertions of it exposed them to no less danger than those of active hostility. In endeavouring to save the lives of his enemies, Captain Curtis nearly lost his own. While for the most benevolent purpose he was alongside of the floating batteries, one of them blew up, and some heavy pieces of timber fell into his boat and pierced through its bottom. By similar perilous exertions, near four hundred men were saved from inevitable destruction. The exercise of humanity to an enemy under such circumstances of immediate action and impending danger, conferred more true honour than could be acquired by the most splendid series of victories. It in some measure obscured the impression made to the disadvantage of human nature, by the madness of mankind in destroying each other by wasteful wars. The floating batteries were all consumed. The violence of their explosion was such, as to burst open doors and windows at a great distance. Soon after the destruction of the floating batteries, Lord Howe, with thirty-five ships of the line, brought to the brave garrison an ample supply of every thing wanted, either for their support or their defence." General Elliott now received the thanks of both houses of parliament, for his eminent services, together with a pension of £1,500 per annum, and the insignia of the Bath. He retained his command until 1787, when he was raised to the peerage, by the title of Baron Heathfield and Gibraltar. On the 6th of July, 1790, while preparing to set out from Aix-la-Chapelle, for the scene of his former exploits, he was attacked by a paralytic stroke, which proved fatal. His remains were brought to England, and interred at Heathfield, in Sussex. A monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey, at the public expense; and the corporation of London decorated the walls of the common-council chamber, with a fine picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, of the siege of Gibraltar, in which the figure of its heroic defender occupies the most conspicuous place. By his wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Drake of Devonshire, Lord Heathfield had one son, on whose death, in 1813, the title became extinct. Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke. BORN A. D. 1720.-DIED A. D. 1790. THIS accomplished nobleman was the eldest son of Philip, earl of Hardwicke, lord-high-chancellor, and was born 20th December, 1720 At the school of Dr Newcombe, at Hackney, he received the first rudiments of his education; and from that seminary, on 26th May, 1737, was removed to Bennet college, Cambridge, under the tuition of the Miller's History of the Reign of George III. Rev. Dr Salter. In the year following he was appointed one of the tellers of the exchequer, in the room of Sir Charles Turner, Bart. deceased. In 1740 he left college, and soon after married Lady Jemima Campbell, only daughter of John, Viscount Glenorchy, by Lady Amabel Grey, eldest daughter of Henry, Duke of Kent, who succeeded, on her father's decease, to the title of Marchioness Grey and Baroness Lucas of Crudwell. By this marriage he became possessed of a large part of the duke's estate. He early engaged as a legislator. In 1741 he was chosen member for Ryegate, in Surrey; and, in 1747, one of the representatives for the county of Cambridge, as he was also in 1754 and 1761. At the installation of the duke of Newcastle, as chancellor of the university of Cambridge, in 1749, he had the degree of LL. D. conferred upon him. In 1764 he succeeded his father in his title and estate; and, after a fierce contention for the office of lord-high-steward of the university, he obtained that honour against Lord Sandwich. The infirm state of his lordship's health, combined with his attachment to literary pursuits, prevented him from taking any very active part in the politics of the day. He had the honour, however, of a seat in the cabinet during the existence of that short-lived administration, of which Lord Rockingham was the head, but without any salary or official situation, which, though repeatedly offered to him, he never would accept. He died on the 16th of May, 1790. His lordship throughout life was devoted to literary pursuits, and was the author or editor of several works, besides the assistance which he rendered on various occasions to authors who have acknowledged their obligations to him. Whilst a member of the university of Cambridge, he engaged with several friends in a work similar to the celebrated Travels of Anacharsis in Greece.' It was entitled 'Athenian Letters; or the Epistolary Correspondence of an Agent of the King of Persia residing at Athens during the Peloponnesian War,' and consisted of letters supposed to have been written by contemporaries of Socrates, Pericles, and Plato. A few copies were printed in 1741 by Bottenham, and in 1782 a hundred copies were reprinted; but still the work remained unknown to the public at large. At length a correct and authentic edition was published in 1798, in two volumes 4to. friends who assisted in this publication were, the Hon. Charles Yorke, afterwards lord-high-chancellor, Dr Rooke, master of Christ's college, Cambridge, Dr Green, afterwards bishop of Lincoln, Daniel Wray, Esq. the Rev. Mr Heaton of Bennet college, Dr Heberden, Henry Coventry, Esq. the Rev. Mr Laney, Mrs Catherine Talbot, Dr Birch, and Dr Salter. The Though a good classical scholar, yet the object to which Lord Hardwicke, from his early youth, particularly directed his attention, was modern history. He printed a small private impression of the correspondence of Sir Dudley Carlton, ambassador to the States-general during the reign of James I., and prefixed to it an historical preface, containing an account of the many important negotiations that were carried on during that interesting period. A second impression of fifty copies only was printed in 1775. The last publication of Lord Hardwicke was entitled, Miscellaneous State Papers from 1501 to 1726,' in two volumes, 4to. containing a number of select papers, such “ as mark most strongly the characters of celebrated princes and their ministers, and illustrate some memorable era, or remarkable series of events." This is a valuable collection, well worthy the attention of the historian. Colonel Barre. BORN A. D. 1726.-DIED A.D. 1792. ISAAC BARRE was born in Ireland about the year 1726. He enter ed the army at an early age, and was present at the death of Wolfe, before Quebec. He was introduced into parliament by the earl of Shelburne; and distinguished himself by his opposition to the American war. He died in 1792; for many years before his death he was afflicted with entire blindness. A contemporary says of him: "He has held up the highest tone of opposition, and has frequently made the minister uneasy on his seat; filling at the same time the whole treasury-bench with terror and dismay. Colonel Barré's oratory is manly, nervous, and convincing, and such as may be supposed to have actuated the breast, and have fallen from the mouth of a Grecian or Roman general, when the legislator, archon, or consul, were able to carry into execution those plans and operations of war which they proposed or supported in the senate or their popular assemblies. He is generally well-informed, particularly in the way of his profession, and never fails to deliver his sentiments in open, bold terms, seemingly without any predilection for his friends or his opponents, from the former of whom he frequently differs. His matter is not various, but generally selected and well-chosen. He never speaks on any subject of which he is not well-informed; and usually deals in truths too clear to be controverted, and too severe to be palliated or defended. The minister of war, as well as the minister of the finances,' frequently feels the weight of those truths, and the energy of expression with which they are accompanied and enforced; and that in a manner too pungent and mortifying to be ever forgotten, or perhaps forgiven. He is well-acquainted with the whole detail of the military establishment, with the arrangements dependent on it, and with the proper ordering of the troops, whether directed to operations of war, or in times of domestic tranquillity. In short, as he is one of the most pointed forcible speakers in the house-though perhaps far from being the greatest orator, if we were to hazard a conjecture on mere appearance we are inclined to think that administration would esteem him the most valuable acquisition they could at present obtain; and that he is the individual in the house of commons, on the side of oppositionMessrs Burke, Dunning, or Fox, not excepted-in the present state of things, whose defection would deserve most to be regretted. On the other hand, Colonel Barre, though a man of letters, does not possess the extensive fund of knowledge for which some of his partizans are so eminently distinguished. The early part of his days was passed in camps, and learning the rudiments of his profession, not in courts or His oratory has few of those graces which recommend even senates. |