Lord George Murray.

BORN A. D. 1705.-DIED A. D. 1760.

LORD GEORGE MURRAY was the fourth son of the duke of Athol. He entered the army at an early age, and served in the Flanders campaigns. In 1727 he married Lady Jane Murray, by whom he had several children, the eldest of whom eventually became third duke of Athol.

Lord George's name figures largely in the forty-five.' He joined Charles Stuart at Perth, with a number of men whom he had raised on the estates of his brother, the duke, and was immediately named lieutenant-general of the insurgent forces. The success at Preston was in a great measure owing to his personal intrepidity. "Lord George," says the Chevalier Johnstone, "at the head of the first line, did not give the enemy time to recover from their panic. He advanced with such rapidity that General Cope had hardly time to form his troops in order of battle when the Highlanders rushed upon them sword in hand. They had frequently been enjoined to aim at the noses of the horses with their swords, without minding the riders; as the natural movement of a horse, wounded in the face, is to wheel round: and a few horses wounded in that manner are sufficient to throw a whole squadron into disorder, without the possibility of their being afterwards rallied. They followed this advice most implicitly, and the English cavalry was instantly thrown into confusion."

He is said to have been one of those who most strenuously recommended the retrograde movement from Derby. In the retreat he commanded the rear-guard, and contrived to keep the English forces effectually in check. Being delayed by the breaking down of some baggage-waggons, the enemy came upon him. His force consisted of about two or three hundred men, and he applied to the prince for a reinforcement, with permission to turn the duke of Cumberland's flank. The permission was refused, and orders were sent him to pursue his retreat; but, after requesting the messenger to say nothing of the orders he had brought, he determined to give the enemy check with what force he had. He therefore drew up his troops in order for battle, and the English came up just as the sun was setting. After making his hasty arrangements, which were not completed till it was quite dark, he made a powerful charge upon the English, lighted on by the moon which broke at intervals through the dark clouds. The English cavalry was forced back with a severe loss, while the Highlanders lost but twelve.

"The

At the battle of Falkirk, Lord George, according to Home, marched at the head of the Macdonalds of Keppoch, with his drawn sword in his hand, and his target on his arm. He let the English dragoons, come within ten or twelve paces of him, and then gave orders to fire. cavalry closing their ranks, which were opened by this discharge," says Johnstone, "put spurs to their horses, and rushed upon the Highlanders at a hard trot, breaking their ranks, and throwing down every thing before them. A most extraordinary combat followed. The High

landers, stretched on the ground, thrust their dirks into the bellies of the horses some seized the riders by their clothes, dragged them down, and stabbed them with their dirks; several of them again used pistols, but few of them had sufficient space to handle their swords." This battle was fought not far from the illustrious field of Bannockburn. Local recollections were favourable to both causes. It was at Falkirk that the arms of England, after a bloody conflict, had compelled Wallace to retreat; while it was at Bannockburn, nigh to which the Highland forces lay on Plean moor, that Bruce had given them an overthrow so decided that it almost annihilated the English forces. This victory was in a great measure achieved by the personal intrepidity of Murray, although the prince himself commanded.

On arriving at Inverness, Lord George received information of sundry cruelties practised by the English troops on the vassals of Athol. "As all the male vassals of the duke of Athol were with us," says Johnstone, "the duke of Cumberland sent a detachment of his troops into their country, who committed the most savage cruelties ; burning the houses, turning out the women and children in the midst of winter, to perish on the mountains with cold and hunger; after subjecting them to every species of brutal and infamous treatment. These proceedings being known at Inverness, Lord George set off instantly, with the clan of Athol, to take vengeance for these outrages, and he conducted his march so well, passing through bye-ways across the mountains, that the enemy had no information of his approach. ing planned his march so as to arrive at Athol in the beginning of the night, the detachment separated, dividing itself into small parties, every gentleman taking the shortest road to his own house, and in this way all the English were surprised in their sleep. Those who found their wives and daughters violated by the brutality of these monsters, and their families dying from the inclemency of the season, made no prisoners. They received, while they slept, the punishment which their inhumanity merited. All were put to the sword or made prisoners, except two or three hundred men who shut themselves up in the castle of Athol."

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At the battle of Culloden, Lord George commanded the right wing. The English artillery was rapidly thinning his ranks, when he gave orders to charge. The onset was fierce and furious beyond description. Though three ranks poured a fire of musketry upon them,— though the cannon swept the whole surface of the field with grapeshot, though the bayonets fronted them with a hedge of steel,-on they went like a whirlwind, and the first line of the English army reeled and gave way before them, though not till many a brave chief had fallen. But their opponents were so numerous, that before the Highlanders could reach the second line of their enemy, they were entirely destroyed. Lord George displayed all his former heroism on this occasion. Though severely wounded, and dismounted, he refused to quit the field, and would have perished had not some of his party removed him by force.

In two days after this battle, Lord George was again at the head of 5000 men, and earnestly besought the prince to remain in Scotland. "We might have set the English at nought for years," says he to a correspondent; "and as to provisions, had I been allowed to have

any direction, we would not have wanted as long as there were cattle in the Highlands, or meal in the Lowlands."

After the prince's escape, Lord George withdrew to the continent, and, having spent some years in France and Italy, died in Holland, on the 8th of July, 1760.

His character is thus sketched by Johnstone:-" Lord George Murray, who had the charge of all the details of our army, and who had the sole direction of it, possessed a natural genius for military operations; and was a man of surprising talents, which, had they been cultivated by the study of military tactics, would unquestionably have rendered him one of the greatest generals of his age. He was tall and robust, and brave in the highest degree; conducting the Highlanders in the most heroic manner, and always the first to rush, sword in hand, into the midst of the enemy. He used to say, when we advanced to the charge, 'I do not ask you, my lads, to go before, but merely to follow me.' He slept little, was continually occupied with all manner of details: and was, altogether, most indefatigable, combining and directing alone all our operations:-in a word, he was the only person capable of conducting our army. He was vigilant, active, and diligent; his plans were always judiciously formed, and he carried them promptly and vigorously into execution. However, with an infinity of good qualities, he was not without his defects :-proud, haughty, blunt, and imperious; he wished to have the exclusive ordering of every thing, and, feeling his superiority, he would listen to no advice. Still, it must be owned, that he had no coadjutor capable of advising him, and his having so completely the confidence of his soldiers enabled him to perform wonders."

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Admiral Boscawen.

BORN A. D. 1711.-DIED A. D. 1761.

THE right honourable Edward Boscawen, second son of Hugh, Lord Falmouth, was born in 1711, and entered the navy at a very youthful age, and was promoted to the rank of captain on the 12th of March, 1737.

In 1739 he commanded the Shoreham of twenty guns, at the taking of Porto-Bello by Vernon. At the siege of Carthagena, he gallantly stormed a battery of fifteen twenty-four pounders, that greatly annoyed the besieging army. He was appointed to the command of the Prince Frederick of seventy guns, on the death of Lord Aubrey Beauclerk in the attack on Bocca-Chica.

He was returned to parliament for Truro in Cornwall, in 1741, and represented that borough till his death. In 1744, while in command of the Dreadnought, he captured the Medea, a French frigate of twentysix guns. Towards the close of the same year, he was appointed to the Royal Sovereign, a first rate, stationed at the Nore; but soon afterwards was ordered to cruise at the entrance of the channel in the Namur, in which vessel he took part in the encounter with De Jonquiere. His bravery was rewarded on the 15th of July following, by his advancement to the rank of a flag-officer, as rear-admiral of the

blue, and by the singular appointment of commander-in-chief of all his majesty's forces, by sea and land, employed in the East Indies. The naval force under his orders consisted of six ships of the line; and the troops, of three battalions of infantry, with a due proportion of artillery. The squadron sailed from St Helen's on the 4th of November, 1747; and after landing the troops for refreshment at the Cape of Good Hope, made the island of Mauritius, which was the first object of attack, on the 23d of June in the following year. The situation of the enemy was, however, found so strong and impregnable, and the natural security of the place had been so formidably increased by the erection of numerous batteries, that it was thought prudent to desist from an attempt, which, even should it prove successful, might be expected to be destructive of any further operations. The fleet accordingly proceeded to Fort St David, where it arrived on the 29th of July. The siege of Pondicherry was immediately resolved on; and Admiral Boscawen, having left the command of the squadron to Captain Lisle of the Vigilant, with proper instructions, went on shore and assumed the command of the army. Notwithstanding every exertion in the commencement and prosecution of the siege, the strength of the French garrison-which amounted to nearly 2000 Europeans, while Boscawen's whole force did not reach 2700 men-delayed the approaches of the assailants till the rainy season set in, which necessarily compelled an abandonment of the whole design. The intelligence of the peace concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle reached the East Indies very soon after this disappointment, but the arrangements called for by the treaty itself, rendered the continuance of Mr Boscawen in that quarter of the world some time longer necessary. Having, fortunately for himself, been on shore when the violent storm took place on the 13th of April, 1749, he in all probability escaped destruction with his flag-ship, which foundered off Fort St David, when fifty of her people only were saved out of six hundred. Fort St George having been delivered up to the admiral, according to the stipulations in the treaty of peace, he sailed from Fort St David, on the 19th of August, 1749, and arrived at Portsmouth on the 14th of April following.

In his absence, he had been appointed rear-admiral of the white; and in June, 1751, he was named one of the lords-commissioners of the admiralty. In 1755 he was made vice-admiral of the blue; and while cruising off Newfoundland, captured two French ships of sixty-four guns each. In 1758 he was appointed admiral of the blue, and commander-in-chief of the expedition to Cape Breton. On his return to England, after the reduction of Louisbourg and St John, he received the thanks of the house of commons, and was nominated a privy-councillor. In some French memoirs, Admiral Boscawen is represented as having given himself wholly up to the advice of one of his captains in the siege of Louisbourg. This, however, is a misrepresentation. Boscawen needed no such aid; and he was one of the least likely of all men to accept of it without need. In 1759, while commanding in the Mediterranean, he came up with a French fleet off Cape Lagos, and took three of their largest ships. He was made general of marines in 1760; and died of a bilious-fever in the beginning of 1761, leaving one son, who succeeded to the family titles and estate on the death of Viscount Falmouth, the admiral's elder brother.

Horace Walpole styles Boscawen the most obstinate of an obstinate family; but Pitt said of him: "When I apply to other officers, respecting any expedition I may chance to project, they always raise difficulties, Boscawen always finds expedients." His valour obtained him the soubriquet of Old Dreadnought among the sailors.

Dodington, Lord Melcombe.

BORN A. D. 1691.-DIED A. d. 1762.

George Bubb, the son, according to some writers, of a Dorsetshire apothecary, but according to others, of an Irish gentleman who married a lady of fortune of the name of Dodington, whose estates lay in Somersetshire,' was born in 1691. He appears to have been educated at Oxford.

In 1715 he entered parliament as member for Winchelsea; and was soon after appointed envoy-extraordinary at the court of Spain, in which capacity he signed the treaty of Madrid. In 1720 he came into possession of a fine estate in Dorsetshire by the death of his maternal uncle, George Dodington of Eastbury. On this accession of property, he assumed the name and arms of Dodington. His fortune being now almost princely, he expended upwards of £140,000 in rearing a magnificent seat on his newly acquired estate. Here he often entertained the principal authors of the day, and had his reward in the complimentary strains of Thomson, Pitt, Young, Lyttleton, and others, who vied with each other in celebrating the beauties of Eastbury, and the taste and hospitality of its owner. In 1721 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Somerset; and, in 1724, having previously given in his adherence to Walpole's party, be was made a lord of the treasury. In 1727 Thomson dedicated the first edition of his 'Summer' to him; but this dedication was afterwards withdrawn, at least it never was reprinted.

Dodington's great ambition was to obtain a peerage. With this view he first prostrated himself at the feet of the minister, on whom he even lavished the adulation of his muse, in an epistle2 remarkable only for its servility and sycophancy, and for its being afterwards employed by the thrifty poet to compliment a very different character, Lord Bute, by the mere substitution of his name in place of the minister's. Finding that he was not likely to obtain the object of his wishes from Walpole, he threw himself fairly into the ranks of the opposition, and, on the downfall of Walpole's ministry, was placed in office as treasurer of the navy. He did not, however, long remain faithful to his party; the peerage seemed still as far distant from him as ever.

He now became a close attendant at Leicester-house, and devoted himself entirely to the heir-apparent, whose favour he cultivated by lending him money, and submitting to what Walpole terms his childish horse-play. According to that authority, he carried his servility so far as on one occasion to allow himself to be rolled up in a blanket, and trundled down stairs for the amusement of his royal patron! Eventu ally he found that there was but little prospect of "doing any good,"

'See British Critic for February, 1809.

'Printed in Dodsley's Collection.