Tunbridge, and held that situation till 1811, when he retired in favour of his son. He had, in the meantime, been presented to the chapelry of Shipbourne, in Kent; and, at the same period, held his own livings of the rectory of Rumwell and Ramsden Crays, in Essex. Dr. Knox was considered a very eminent preacher, but it is in his capacity of author that he is chiefly known. Many of his works have been translated into the different European languages, and have received great praise from Dr. Johnson, and other eminent literary characters. The principal of them are, Essays, Moral and Literary, three volumes, octavo; Liberal Education, two volumes, octavo; Winter Evenings, three volumes, octavo; Christian Philosophy; and a pamphlet on the National Importance of Classical Education. The well-known works, Elegant Extracts, and Elegant Epistles, are his selections. He is also said to have published, anonymously, several polítical tracts at the commencement of the French revolution; and, besides other sermons, he printed his famous one, delivered at Brighton, upon The Unlawfulness of Offensive War. He died, highly respected, at Tunbridge, on the 6th of September, 1821, leaving two sons. His literary reputation is deservedly great; he was not only well skilled in his own language, but wrote Latin, both in prose and verse, with the most classical purity.

NARES, (ROBERT, Archdeacon of Carlisle,) son of Dr. Nares, the composer, was born at York, in June, 1753, and educated at Westminster School, and Christchurch, Oxford. After having taken the degrees of B. A. and M. A., he became tutor to the sons and brother of Sir W. W. Wynne; in 1782, was presented, by his college, to the living of Easton Mauduit, in Northamptonshire; and shortly afterwards, he obtained that of Dodington, in the same county. In 1787, he was appointed chaplain to the Duke of York; and, in the following year, assistant-preacher at Lincoln's Inn. In 1795, he was elected a fellow of the Society of Arts; during the same year, he became assistant-librarian, and shortly afterwards manuscript librarian, at the British Museum. In the latter capacity, prior

to his resignation, which occurred in 1807, he prepared the third volume of the catalogue of the Harleian manuscripts, which was published by the record commissioners. In 1798, he was presented to the rectory of Sharnford, in Leicestershire, which he resigned in the following year, on being collated to the fifth stall of the canons residentiary of Lichfield Cathedral. In 1800, he obtained the archdeaconry of Carlisle ; in 1804, became a fellow of the Royal Society; and, in the next year, was presented to the living of St. Mary, Reading, which he exchanged, in 1818, for that of Allhallows, London. In 1823, he was elected a vice-president of the Royal Society of Literature, in the establishment of which he had been greatly instrumental. He died on the 23rd of March, 1829. He was the author of various periodical essays; numerous contributions to The Gentleman's Magazine; a number of occasional sermons; some communications to the Royal Society of Literature; Elements of Orthoëpy; Remarks on the favourite Ballet of Cupid and Psyche, with some account of the Pantomime of the Ancients; The Principles of Government deduced from Reason; A Glossary, or Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions to Manners, &c., which have been thought to require Illustration in the Works of English Authors, particularly Shakspeare and his Cotemporaries, &c. &c. He also edited The British Critic, up to the forty-second volume; Dr. Purday's Lectures on the Church Catechism; The Sermons of Dean Vincent, &c. In addition to these and other literary labours, he wrote a preface to, and assisted in the completion of, Brydge's History of Northamptonshire; and, in conjunction with Tooke and Beloe, revised and enlarged the General Biographical Dictionary. He is described, by a writer in The Gentleman's Magazine, as a profound scholar, a laborious and judicious critic, and an elegant writer; whose intimacy was courted as earnestly for the instruction it supplied, as for the taste and vivacity of manners by which it was embellished; and the merit of whose varied talents was excelled by that unassuming modesty, which uniformly marked and adorned his character.

MAURICE, (THOMAS) was born about the year 1755, and received the early part of his education at Christ's Hospital, but principally under the instruction of Dr. Parr, and at St. John's College, Oxford. Here he gained great reputation by a translation of the Edipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, and by several miscellaneous poems, which were published about 1778. After taking his degree of B. A., he was ordained curate of Woodford, Essex, and subsequently purchased the chaplaincy of the ninety-seventh regiment, the half-pay of which he received till the day of his death. In 1799, he was presented, by Earl Spencer, to the vicarage of Wormleighton, Warwickshire, and appointed assistant-librarian at the British Museum. In 1804, the lord-chancellor gave him the living of Cudham, in Kent; and he died on the 30th of March, 1824. Mr. Maurice published a variety of miscellaneous works, but is principally known to the literary world by his History of Hindostan, and Indian Antiquities. These evince an accurate acquaintance with the oriental history and languages, and display the learning and research of the author in a manner very creditable to his abilities. His other compositions consist of tragedies, poems, and dissertations on the antiquities of Egypt, Babylon, &c.

MERRY, (ROBERT,) the founder of what is known as The Della Cruscan School of Poetry, was born in London, in April, 1755. His father was governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and is said to have been the first Englishman who returned home over land from the East Indies. The subject of our memoir was educated at Harrow, and Christ College, Cambridge; on leaving which, he became a student of Lincoln's Inn, but, instead of going to the bar, purchased a commission in the dragoons, on the death of his father, and was, for some time, adjutant. On quitting the service, he went abroad; and, during a stay on the continent of nearly eight years, passed the chief part of his time at Florence, where he studied the Italian language, engaged in poetical composition, and was elected a member of the Academy of Della Crusca. The name

of the academy was that by which, on his return to England, he distinguished his contributions to the various periodical journals of the day, and which produced so many imitators, and were for a time so popular, that he was considered the founder of a new school in poetry. The Della Cruscan School, however, was short-lived, and was ridiculed, by Gifford, in his Baviad and Mæviad, with a severity which the indifference of posterity seems likely to justify, as there is not one of Mr. Merry's poems which is now generally read. He died on the 24th of December, 1798, at Baltimore, in America, whither he had retired, in 1796, with his wife, formerly Miss Brunton, an actress, (sister to the Countess of Craven) to whom he was married in 1791. Besides his poems, he was the author of some dramatic pieces, none of which had any great success. He is said to have been an accomplished gentleman, but to have become gloomy and morose in the latter part of his life, and to have attached himself to low company.

PERRY, (JAMES,) the son of a builder, in Aberdeen, was born there on the 30th of October, 1756, and educated at the high school and college of his native city. He at first studied for the Scottish bar, but, in consequence of his father failing in business, he proceeded to England, and became clerk to a manufacturer in Manchester, where he displayed great talent in moral and philosophical discussion, as a member of a society established for that purpose. In 1777, he removed to London, and, being engaged as reporter to the London Evening Post, he raised the sale of that paper many thousands aday, during the trials of Admirals Keppel and Palliser, by sending up, daily, from Portsmouth, eight columns of proceedings, taken by himself in court. In 1782, he projected, and afterwards edited, for a short time, The European Magazine; and he subsequently became sole editor and proprietor of The Morning Chronicle, which he conducted in such a manner, that Pitt and Lord Shelburne, in order to make use of his influence, offered him a seat in parliament. This he, however, refused; and, continuing firm to his Whig principles, was twice prosecuted by government: first, for printing the Resolutions of the

Derby Meeting; and, secondly, for copying a paragraph from the Examiner, respecting George the Fourth, then Prince of Wales. In both cases he obtained acquittals; acting, in the latter, as his own counsel. He died much respected, and in the possession of a handsome fortune, at Brighton, on the 4th of December, 1821.

EGERTON, (SCROOPE, Earl of Bridgewater,) youngest son of the Bishop of Durham, was born on the 11th of November, 1756. He took the honorary degree of M.A., at All Souls' College, Oxford, in which year he was appointed, by his father, a prebendary of Durham. In 1780, the Duke of Bridgewater presented him to the rectory of Middle, and, in 1797, to that of Whitechurch, both in the county of Salop. He was raised to the rank of an earl's son in 1808, and succeeded to the titles of his brother in 1823. He died at Paris, in the month of April, 1829. His productions consist of an edition of the Hyppolitus of Euripides, with notes, various readings, and a Latin version; a Life of Lord-chancellor Egerton; A Letter to the Parisians, upon Inland Navigation; and Anecdotes of his own family. His singularities are said to have formed a general topic of conversation at Paris; his house was nearly filled with dogs and cats; and out of fifteen of the former animals, two were admitted to his table; and half a dozen, dressed up like himself, were frequently seen alone in his carriage, drawn by four horses, and attended by two footmen. When too debilitated to partake of field sports, he kept in his garden a large stock of rabbits, pigeons, and partridges, with their wings cut, which he would occasionally, with the aid of his servants, walk out to shoot. With all these eccentricities, however, he had no ordinary share of learning and ability, and shewed his zeal for letters and science by his posthumous munificence. He bequeathed his manuscripts and autographs to the British Museum, with the interest of £7,000 to the librarian who should take care of them; also £5,000 towards augmenting the collection of that institution, and £8,000 to the president of the Royal Society, with a request that a portion of it might be given to some person or persons who should write, print, and

publish one thousand copies of a work, entitled, On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation.

CHARNOCK, (JOHN,) was born on the 28th of November, 1756, and was educated at Winchester School, and Merton College, Oxford, where he obtained a silver medal for elocution, but does not appear to have taken any degree. He served, for some time, both in the army and navy; and, after publishing several miscellaneous works of merit, died in the King's Bench, in May, 1807.

His life was much embittered by pecuniary distress, which is said to have chiefly arisen from the expenses he had incurred in preparing his History of Marine Architecture, in three quarto volumes, and from the confined sale of that useful and extensive work. He also wrote a pamphlet, entitled The Rights of a Free People; Biographia Navalis, six volumes, octavo; an able Supplement to Campbell's Lives of the Admirals; A Letter on Finance; and A Life of Lord Nelson, in which are inserted several original letters of that great commander.

PINKERTON, (JOHN,) the son of a dealer in hair, was born in Edinburgh, on the 13th of February, 1758; and, after having received an ordinary education, was articled to a writer of the signet, with whom he remained five years. In 1781, he settled in London, where he published a variety of works, and, in 1806, removed to Paris, and died there on the 10th of March, 1826. His chief publications are, An Essay on Medals; Letters on Literature; Walpoliana; The Treasury of Wit; Dissertation on the Origin and Progress of the Scythians, or Goths, being an introduction to the Ancient and Modern History of Europe; The Medallic History of England; An Inquiry into the History of Scotland, preceding the Reign of Malcolm the Third; Icnographia Scotica; Modern Geography, digested on a new plan; General Collection of Voyages and Travels; New Modern Atlas; and Petralogy, or a Treatise on Rocks. He was also the author of several poems of merit, and committed a literary forgery, by the publication of some Ancient Scottish Poems, from the (pretended)

think the author has too often mistaken common-place for simplicity, to render it of much value to his reputation, as a whole. It is as the author of The Pleasures of Memory, that he will be chiefly known to posterity, though, at the same time, some of his minor poems are among the most pure and exquisite fragments of verse, which the poets of this age have produced. In society, few men are said to be more agreeable in manners and conversation than the venerable subject of our memoir; and his benevolence is said to be on a par with his taste and accomplishments. Lord Byron must have thought highly of his poetry, if he were sincere in saying, "We are all wrong, excepting Rogers, Crabbe, and Campbell."

WILLIAMS, (HELEN MARIA,) is said to have been born in London, about the year 1762, though so early a date seems inconsistent with that affixed to two publications, entitled Memoirs and Letters, &c., and Anecdotes in a Convent, of which Watt, in his Bibliotheca Britannica, makes her the author in 1770 and 1771. In what situation of life her parents were, does not appear; but they resided at Berwick some time after the birth of Helen, who again came to the metropolis in 1782. Of her education no account has been given; she developed, at an early age, a taste for poetry, and, in the year just mentioned, published a tale in verse, entitled, Edwin and Elfrida, under the patronage of Dr. Kippis. The success with which it was met, encouraged her to continue her literary labours; and, in 1783, she produced an Ode to Peace; in 1784, Peru, a poem; in 1786, two volumes of Miscellaneous Poems; and, in 1788, a poem on the Slave Trade. These acquired her some fame, and considerable profit; and, proceeding to France, in the lastmentioned year, she formed some literary and political connexions, which induced her to take up her residence in Paris, in 1790. In the same year, she published a novel, in two volumes, called Julia; and, shortly afterwards, her Letters written from France, to which a second and third volume were added in 1792. This work was written in support of the French revolution, and of the doctrines of the Girondists; and the authoress was, in consequence, on

their fall, under Robespierre, imprisoned in the Temple, at Paris, and, for some time, was in danger of her life. After her liberation, she published, in succession, A Sketch of the Politics of France; a translation of Paul and Virginia; Tour in Switzerland; Sketches of the State of Manners and Opinions in the French Republic; and a translation of the Political and Confidential Correspondence of Louis the Sixteenth, with observations. About the time of the truce of Amiens, she is said to have been consulted by the English government; and, on the breaking out of the subsequent war, she was seized, together with her papers, by the French police, and underwent an examination. In 1814, she translated the first volume of the Personal Narrative of the Travels of Humboldt, which she completed, in six volumes, in 1821. Her other performances are, A Narrative of Events in France, 1815; On the Persecution of the Protestants of the South of France, 1816; Letters on the Events which have passed in France, from the Landing of Napoleon, on the 1st of March, 1815, till the Restoration of Louis the Eighteenth, 1819; and a sketch, entitled The Leper of the City of Aoste, from the French. In these works, she avowed sentiments entirely different from her former ones, advocating the cause of the Bourbons, and condemning the revolution. She died at Paris, where she is said to have lived with an adulterer, of the name of Stone, in December, 1827. Her letters, and some of her poems, have been translated into the French language, and appear to have acquired more celebrity in that country than in her own.

RADCLIFFE, (ANN,) the daughter of a gentleman in trade, named Ward, was born in London, on the 9th of July, 1764. In her twenty-third year she married, at Bath, where her parents then resided, William Radcliffe, Esq., who subsequently became the proprietor and editor of The English Chronicle. Not long afterwards she published her romance of The Castles of Athlin and Dumblaine; which was succeeded by The Romance of the Forest; The Sicilian Romance; and, in 1793, by her celebrated production of The Mysteries of Udolpho, for which