BIOGRAPHICAL PARTICULARS OF CELEBRATED PERSONS LATELY DECEASED. W. PLUMER, ESQ. Lately, William Plumer, esq. of Blakemere, representative for the county of Herts, born May 24, 1736. Mr. Plumer had been twice married. His widow, now surviving, was Miss Jane Hamilton, one of the daughters of the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Hamilton, and niece to the late Earl of Abercorn, and leaving no issue. At the general election in 1763 he first entered the House of Commons, for Lewes in Sussex; and at the general election in 1768, he succeeded to the representation of the county of Hertford, in which he continued till 1806, a period of thirtyeight years. And as a proof in what high estimation his services were held by independent freeholders of the county, he was presented by them, a few years afterwards, with a silver vase of superior workmanship. After having served as member for the county in which he lived for eight successive parliaments, and executing this honourable trust with activity and zeal, his advanced age induced him to resign a charge which he did not feel equal to support with his accustomed energy. Since that period he has sat in Parliament for the borough of Higham Ferrers; still maintaining his perfect independence of all sinister views, and acting up to the free and genuine principles which ever governed his public conduct. His private and social qualities are best recognized in the esteem and affectionate respect borne him by all who were admitted to his intimacy, who could not fail to experience the soundness of his understanding, and admire the elegance of his well cultivated mind. He passed the maturity of his life in the society of the first men of the age; a circumstance from which Mr. Plumer derived all the advantages which such an intercourse was calculated to produce, as was apparent in his conversation and the tone of his thoughts. Too quick in his apprehension and words to be distinguished as a parliamentary speaker; too independent to listen for a moment to the intrigues of ministerial or court influence; and too thoughtful and patriotic not to act consistently with those who had only their country's good at heart, he was steady to his vote during the whole of the most brilliant period of British eloquence, and formed one of that constellation, of which Charles Fox was the leading star; and though not splendid, or sufficiently confident in his own talent, which was sufficiently manifest in all business of committees, where his services were preeminent, he was in heart of the first magnitude. His unwearied attention to the local interests of the county, so long en trusted to his care, as one of its representatives-his readiness of access to all who approached him-let these and other virtues bear testimony. In the softer and more amiable virtues of private and domestic life, he was the affectionate husband, the kind and liberal landlord, the indulgent master, and the firm and sincere friend; hospitable without parade, generous without ostentation. Though death at the age of 86 cannot be called sudden, yet, in the instance of this venerable patriot, it was peculiarly awful. For many months he had enjoyed a state of health rarely witnessed at this period of life, never exceeded at any. At six o'clock in the evening he had retired from the drawing-room in perfect health and spirits; at seven it pleased God to visit him with the fatal blow under which he sunk, and he was carried to the bed he never left again alive. For the few days he survived, his mental faculties remained perfect; he was sensible of every thing about him but bis own danger. The mind of Plumer was the last part of him that became extinct : and when at last he ceased to breathe, it was so imperceptibly, that it was some time before his attendants perceived that the lamp of life was extinguished. Truly then it may be said, that he enjoyed life till the latest hour of his existence; and that he died, as he had always expressed a wish to die, without protracted suffering. Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus Tam cari capitis?" Few retrospects of the same extent (26 years) could be taken with so calm and self-approving an eye as his conduct in every relation of society might justify him in doing. In William Plumer we have lost one of the few which yet remained to us of a class gradually becoming extinct—the true old English gentleman; and he has not left behind him a more complete representative of this valuable character. This worthy man was at his own request buried in the quietest manner, and borne by his own labourers, on the 24th of January, 1822, in Eastwick Church. E. JERNINGHAM, ESQ. In Bolton-row, Edward Jerringham, Esq. Mr. Jerningham was the youngest son of the late Sir William Jerningham, Baronet, and brother of the present Sir George Jerningham, who lays claim, through a maternal ancestor, to the peerago of Stafford. He married in 1804, Emily, danghter of N. Middleton, Esq. by whom he has left four children. The family from which he descended is of high antiquity, being probably one of the few now remaining among the English gentry 1822. E. Jerningham, Esq.-C. J. Rich, Esq.-Mr. P. Finnerty. 329 prior in date to the Norman conquest; and it is also distinguished by a steady and conscientious adherence to the Roman Catholic communion. Attached to the faith of his ancestors, Mr. Jerningham had for several years filled the office of Secretary to the British Catholic Board, and had discharged its delicate and important functions with a degree of zeal and ability, to which it will be difficult to find a parallel. Far, however, from cherishing, toward the members of a different communion, any sentiments but those of the purest benevolence, his conduct was a model of genuine liberality, of unaffected kindness, or to use ajuster expression, of true Christian charity to all mankind. The same suavity of manners, the same frankness of disposition, the same warmth of heart, was shewn to Protestant and Catholic, Whig and Tory, rich and poor, foreigner and native. In 1802, Mr. Jerningham was called to the bar. From the studies preparatory to his profession, he came well to know, and highly to appreciate the true excellences of the British Constitution; nor did he value them the less, because a mistaken policy had precluded from many of their benefits the religious community to which he belonged; but he looked for ward with confidence to a time when juster views should prevail on the legislature to adopt a more salutary and equitable system. Yet he was not a party man. The history of his own family afforded mournful proof, that true freedom had not more to dread from the cullus instantis tyranni, than from the civium ardor prava jubentium. To the former cause was owing the death of his ancestor, Edward, Duke of Buckingham, in the reign of Henry Vill.; and to the latter, that of Viscount Stafford, who perished, through the perjuries of Titus Oates, in the time of Charles II. Personal experience and observation confirmed to Mr. Jerningham the lessons of history. In his carly years he was sent to the Continent for education, and there beeame an eye-witness of the horrors which attended the subversion of the altar and the throne: he was afterwards but too well acquainted with the sufferings of the loyal French nobility; and, finally, he was present in Paris when the exiled monarch was restored to his crown and his people. The result of political study and reflection was not to make Mr. Jerningham either a ministerialist or a partisan of opposition, but to render him a devoted subject of his King, and a sincere friend of his country. He-retained the high and chivalrous feelings of loyalty which characterised the ancient English gentleman, without being insensible to any of the real refinemeats of modern politics, or undervaluing the sub VOL. VI. NO. XIX. stantial safeguards of civil liberty. But it was in private life, it was in the quietness and sanctity of the domestic scene, that this excellent man acquired the most irresistible claims to affection, and, alas! to regret. Careless of his personal ease and comfort, he was indefatigably active in promoting those of others. No one looked in vain to him for attention, or advice, or assistance, or relief. In him the poor, the distressed, the afflicted found a consoler and a benefactor.-For the interests of his friends he laboured more assiduously than for his own. But to attempt to describe his exemplary conduct in the dearer relations of life, would only be to torture feelings which are agonised by his loss. Suffice it therefore to say, that with a pure and amiable mind, ever intent upon its duties, ever alive to the good of others, there was only one thing which he habitually forgot-and that was SELF. CLAUDIUS JOHN RICH, ESQ. At Shiraz, in Persia, aged 35, Oct. 5, 1821, Claudius John Rich, Esq. (Author of the "Memoirs of Ancient Babylon") late resident of the East India Company at Bagdad; to which station he was raised before the age of 17, in consequence of his great literary attainments and distinguished merits. He was at Shiraz on his way to Bombay, when he was carried off by that fatal disease the Cholera Morbus, the ravages of which, in that city, swept off, in the short space of five days, sixteen thousand persons. His untimely death will be the subject of most painful regret to many of his friends who remember his truly amiable character, together with his intense application and his ardent genius, by means of which he was enabled to make an almost unexampled proficiency in the Hebrew, Greek, Persic, Arabic, and Turkish, as well as in several of the European languages. Independently of his extraordinary acquirements, thus prematurely lost to the world, his death will excite auditional regret in the mind of the Christian, from his having engaged in the most decided manner, to promote the circulation of the Scriptures through Persia, and other parts of the East; an ample acknowledgement of his valuable services is contained in the records of the British and Foreign Bible Society. MR. P. FINNERTY. In Westminster, Mr. Peter Finnerty, a writer and reporter in the respectable employment of .he Morning Chronicle, the motley circumstances of whose history procured him many friends and enemies. He was first brought before the public in that infamous publication The Satirist; and, judging of him by his antagonists, we may fairly conclude he was 2 U an honourable man. On another occasion Mr. F. suffered for too freely writing on the administration of Ireland. The treatment which Mr. F. experienced called for general sympathy. Mr. Finnerty was the son of a tradesman of Loughrea, in Galway. At an early age he was cast upon his fortunes in Dublin; and, having been brought up as a printer, in 1798, he succeeded Mr. Arthur O'Connor as the printer of the celebrated paper "The Press." After a series of troubles he removed to London, and entered into an engagement on the Press as parliamentary reporter. Having become acquainted with Sir Home Popham, when the expedition to Walcheren took place, he sailed with Captain Bartholomew from Woolwich, for the purpose of writing the history of that expedition. A strange exercise of power, however, prevented him from carrying that object into effect, and, after a delay of some weeks, he returned to England; and, on being tried for a libel, was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment at Lincoln. MR. JAMES BAsire. At Chigwell Wells, May 13, aged 52, Mr. J. Basire, engraver to the Royal and Antiquarian Societies. His grandfather, Mr. I. Basire, and his father, Mr. J. Basire, were of the same profession. The latter was particularly eminent; and a good portrait and memoir of him are given in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes. The ingenuity and integrity of the elder James were inherited by the late Mr. Basire, who was his eldest son by his second wife (still living, at a great age), and was born Nov. 12, 1769. Of the late Mr. Basire's works, it may be sufficient to notice his splendid engravings for the Society of Antiquaries, particularly the English Cathedrals, after the drawings of Mr. John Carter, F. S. A. For several years he was principally entrusted with the engravings of the numerous plates illustrative of the various Parliamentary Records and Reports. His unaffected diffidence was not his least merit, and he was deservedly a great favourite with all who knew his talents, particularly with that eminent antiquary the late Richard Gough, esq. who bequeathed to him a legacy of 500. He married May 1, 1795, Mary Cox, by whom he had several children; of whom the eldest, a third James Basire, is his father's successor in business, and has given several proof of superior excellence in the arts of drawing and engraving. Il health had compelled him of late years to leave much of the laborious part of his business to his son, and to retire into the country. THOMAS MARSHALL, ESQ. Died at Dharra, Aug. 26, Thomas Marshall, esq. late of Bedlington, Northumberland, a Surgeon on the Bombay Establishment, and Statistical Reporter, a situation for which he was selected by the present Governor of Bombay, solely in consideration of his rare talents, qualifications, and acquirements. His natural abilities were of the first order; his perception unusually clear and quick; his memory most retentive, and his judgment unerring. His classical and scientific education, his constant habit of general reading, and his keenness of observation, were calculated to improve to the utmost the excellent faculties bestowed on him by nature. These comprehensive mental powers were exercised with a corresponding degree of diligence and method, and he executed every thing he undertook with admirable ease and rapidity. Several of his Statistic Reports are no less remarkable for the utility and interest of the information they contain, than for the elegance with which they are written.* As a companion, no person could be more engaging: his conversation was replete with wit and instruction, and his manner was animated, cheerful, and social. His acts of benevolence were of a nature to do him the highest honour. Had his health been good, the world would have benefited by his talents and researches ; but unfortunately his body was frail, although his mind was strong. Two months before his death, he wrote to an intimate medical friend, describing the particulars of his case (which indicated beyond all doubt the fatal result) with as much precision and steadiness as if they related to another, and not to himself. The same fortitude was displayed to the last hour, in which he was perfectly sensible and collected, and the transition to another world was imperceptible to those who attended him. The extent of the loss to the public service and to society, in the death of such a man, may easily be conceived. DR. ST. CLARE. On Saturday the 12th ult. at his house in Preston, in the 70th year of his age, William St. Clare, M. D. one of his Majesty's Deputy Lieutenants for Lancashire, and Lieutenant-Colonel in the Amounderness Local Militia, for many years a physician of the most extensive practice throughout a large district of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Dr. St. Clare was born These Reports form a part of the 3d volume, now in the press, of the Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society. 1822. Countess Grey-S. Kemble-J. Ireland— Visc. Bulkeley. at Nottingham, and received his professional education chiefly in the University of Edinburgh; his prepossessing exterior, his suavity of manners, and his politeness of general address, procured him a favourable introduction to a numerous acquaintance; the cheerfulness of disposition, the energy and nervousness of his language, and the propriety of his deportment in every relation of life, soon added esteem and regard; whilst his acknowledged talents, indefatigable zeal, and almost unbounded experience, obtained him as large a measure of confidence, as perhaps ever reposed in any member of his profession. In the town of Preston, in which he had resided near forty years, and where he was ever foremost in every plan of public utility or benevolence, the loss of such a man as Dr. St. Clare will not be easily supplied; but how extensively soever that loss may be felt and lamented, a satisfaction no less extensive may be derived from a reflection upon the course of his useful and well-spent life; and he who has carried with him to the grave the affection of his fellow townsmen, has borne also their respect and esteem. THE COUNTESS GREY. At her house, Hertford-street, May-fair, in the 78th year of her age, the Dowager Countess Grey. Her Ladyship was only daughter of George Grey, of Southwick, in the County of Durham, Esq. and widow of General the Right Hon. Charles first Earl Grey, K. B. Few persons, at her advanced age, have left the world so deeply and so generally regretted. In the various characters of daughter, wife, mother, and friend, an exemplary attention to every duty, a total renunciation of self, and an ardent anxiety for the happiness and prosperity of others, marked her course, and rendered her an object of universal love and admiration. She was pious without parade, benevolent without ostentation, and most kind, and gentle, and conciliating in her whole deportment. Her friends have lost an amiable and cheerful companion, her dependents a tender and indulgent mistress-her children a mother indeed. After a long and painful illness, which was borne with a patience not often equalled, she resigned her quiet spirit in the most peaceful manner, into the hands of HIM, whom she had loved in truth, and served with sincerity. S. KEMBLE, ESQ. At the Grove near Durham, died George Stephen Kemble, esq. after a short illness, aged 65. The name which he bore was no ordinary one, and it buoyed him up when his merit as an actor would have availed him but little. His professional 331 character is too well known to require observation. The last time he appeared on the stage was for the benefit of a part of his family, on the 20th of last month, when he performed Sir Christopher Curry, in Inkle and Yarico. He was then apparently in his usual state of health, but in a few days afterwards he was attacked by inflammation in the bowels, which disorder terminated his mortal existence on Wednesday afternoon, about four o'clock. In private life he was a social, lively companion. J. IRELAND, ESQ. At his residence, Hampton Lodge, near Hereford, John Ireland, esq. many years a deputy lieutenant and magistrate for the county and city of Hereford: he was originally bred to the law, and possessed in an eminent degree the acumen, integrity, and talent necessary to the able and honourable exercise of the legal profession: his understanding was naturally strong, and it was improved and refined by education; his charities were unostentatiously efficient and diffusive: whilst in all the duties of domestic life, he was assiduous, affectionate, and exemplary. By marriage with the heiress of the Leman family, of Northaw, (whom he survived nearly two years) he acquired interest in large estates in Middlesex, Essex, Hertford, Cambridge, and Huntingdonshires. He was the last surviving brother of the Rev. Dr. Ireland, prebendary of Wells, rector of Bourton, Gloucestershire, and of Christ Church, and St. Ewen's, Bristol; and of the Rev. William Ireland, the highly respected vicar of Frome.-After a short but severe illness, during which he expressed and displayed the utmost resignation to the will of Providence, he expired in the 75th year of his age. VISCOUNT BULKELEY. This truly respected nobleman departed this life on the 10th ult. at his seat, Englefield Green, Berkshire. His Lordship, previous to his sudden attack, had complained in the morning of a sore throat, but nothing serious was apprehended, as he intended going to London on that day to join a select party of his friends at his residence in Stanhope-street, May Fair. His Lordship's titles were, Viscount Bulkeley, of Cashel, in the county of Tipperary, Lord Bulkeley, Baron Beaumaris, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Carmarthen, Chamberlain and Chancellor of North Wales, and Hereditary Constable of Beaumaris Castle. He was born December 10, 1752, and married in 1777, Elizabeth Harriet, only daughter and sole heir of Sir George Warren. PROVINCIAL OCCURRENCES IN THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND, ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY. BEDFORDSHIRE. An Horticultural Society has been recently established at Biggleswade, which already consists of more than 120 members. The soil of Biggleswade and its vicinity being almost unequalled for the purposes of gardening, presents advantages for the formation of such a society, and to the lovers of Horticulture, likely to stimulate the exertions of its members.-It is remarkable that the population of Biggleswade has increased nearly to the extent of one-third within ten years, the number of inhabitants being in 1811, according to the returns made to Parliament, 1884-and in 1821 no less than 2778. Married. The Rev. E. O. Smith, of Hulcote, to Miss 1. Willis-T. S. Seawall, esq. o Miss E. H. Seawall, of Eaton Ferd-At Riseley, Mr. J. Gregory to Miss Scurman-A Turvey, the Rev. J. Marshall to Miss M. C. Richmond. Died.] The Hon. S. H. Ongley, of Sandy Place At Apsley, the Rev. G. P. Kerr-Near Olney, Mis. Atkins. BERKSHIRE. Married.] At Bray, Mr. G. Wetton to Miss A. M. Norman-At Newbury, Mr. J. Lewis to Miss J. Weedon-At Sunning, Mr. King to Miss H. Pottinger-At Bramley, Mr. G. Cannons to Miss A. Butler-At Eeading, Mr. Harris to Mrs. Taylor Died.] At Sherfield Court, Mis. Tubb, 88-At Reading, Miss M. Frewen-Mr. R. Baker-At Cowarth House, S. Homfray, esq.-At Newbury, R. Wells, esq.-Mr. R. Dibley-Mr. A. Doe-Mr. W. Buckridge of Newbury-At Donnin tou, Mr. W. Chowles-At Swallowfield, S. Athawes, esq. 88 -At Windsor, Mrs. Hunter. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. Amongst the honorary rewards lately distributed by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, was the large gold medal, for the preservation of turnips, and a purse of thirty guineas for the cultivation of the white poppy for opium.These were received by Messrs. Cowley and Staines, of Winslow, Bucks, and were the first presented by his Royal Highness on that day. It appears that the cultivation of the white poppy is now perfected, and opium of the greatest purity, and equal, if not superior in its medici. nal properties to the best Turkey opium, has been obtained to the amount of G0lbs. during the last season. Married. At Lower Heyford, Mr. Brice to Miss M. Koduis-The Rev. C. Drage, to Miss E. Brooke, of Monks Risborough. Died.] At North Crawley, Mr. W. Fisher, 83At Great Brickhill, the Rev. H. Davies-At Aylesbury, Miss E. Churchill-Mr. J. Forster-At Chalfont St. Peter's, W. Gaskell, esq. CAMBRIDGESHIRE. At the last April meeting of the Conservators of the Bedford Level, two vacancies at the board were declared by the death of Mr. Skecls, and the resignation of Capt. Wells; Sir Henry Bunbury, Bart., George Pryme, Esq., and Charles Jenyns, Esq., second son of the Rev. G. Jenyns, of Bottisham Hall, were nominated as candidates. The electors are proprietors of 100 acres of Corporation land. The election takes place on the 29th instant. By a bye-law of the Corporation, no person can be a candidate at the election unless nominated at the April meeting. Married.] At Cambridge, Mr. S. Gee to Miss E. Wright-Mr. II. Raven to Miss S. A. Wagstaff. Died] At Sutton, Mr. T. Bradshaw, 72-The Rev. P. E. Edwards, curate of Holm-At Ely, Mr. Simson-At Cambridge, Miss H. Hopkins. CHESHIRE. A few of the Cambrians resident in Chester have mutually agreed to form themselves into a society, to be denominated the "Chester Cymmrodorion Society," for the purpose of stimulating and assisting each other in the research and preservation of the knowledge of the origin, antiquity, history, customs, language, and literature of the Cymry. And also, to retain a correct, familiar, and facile utterance of their native tongue. Married.] Mr. J. Blake, of Barton, to Miss R. Vernon-At Chester, Mr. J. Myers to Miss Edwards -At Davenham. Mr. T. Goulbourne to Miss E. Caldwel-At Holt, Mr. G. Jones to Miss HoltAt Tarporley, R. Wade, eso, to Miss Jampsen, of Utkinton Hall-At Great Budworth, Mr. W. Jones to Miss A. Bradshaw-At Neston, near Parkgate, E. II. Penny, esq. to Miss M. S. Wilson-Mr. R. Capper, of Bunbury, to Miss S. Smith. Died.] At Middlewich, Mr. Taylor-At Ter rance, Mr. N. Dash, 9-At Wharton Lodge, Mrs. Shallcross-At Macclesfield, Mr. J. Norbury-Mr. J. Barber-At Chester, Mr. E. Jones-Mrs. Waring-Miss Kenrick-T. Townsend, esq. 84-42 Congleton, Mr. C. Johnson-At Stockport, Mr. M. Walters-At Green Bank, Sutton, Mis. Rowbottom -At Winsford, Miss E. Evans. CORNWALL. In consequence of the frequent occurrence of nightly broils in the streets of Truro, and the depredations committed on the property of the inhabitants, it has been determined to raise a sub. scription for the purpose of procuring an Act of Parliament for establishing a nightly watch. Married.) At St. Columb, Mr. P. Nothy, to Miss Coat!:-At Pelyut, Mr. T. Pinch to Miss J. May-At Bodmin, Mr. R. Telluin to Miss M. Vercoe--At Sheviock. Lieut. R. Vallack, to Miss M. A. Hockin-At Bodmin, Captain Wayford, R. N. to Miss M. Glubb. Died.] Mr. J. Hill, of Boquio, in Wendron-At Illogan, the Rev. Q. Booth-At Falmouth, Mr. W. Brush-At Truro, Mrs. Donington-Mis. Mardon -At Pelyut, Mrs. Roza-At Penzance, Miss E. Willams-At Treviles, near Tregony, the Rev. R. Peter, 79-At Lavethan, General Morshead-At Lansallos, Mr. W. Stevens, 78. CUMBERLAND. Messrs. Whidby and Rennie are expected from Liverpool, to inspect the harbour of Whitehaven, previous to the adoption of a plan for its enlargement and improvement. The Earl of Lonsdale, anxious not to have the funds frittered away upon objects of minor importance until the barbour be made safe and commodious, has determined to make trial of Morton's Patent Slip, at his Lordship's own expense. The trustees have entered into a farther contract for quarrying and dressing 4000 cubic yards of stone, suitable for building and repairing piers. Married. At Carlisle, Mr. G. Pour to Miss M. Gralian Mr. E. Corran to Miss J. M⋅Kenzie -Mr. J. Robinson to Miss A. Fisher-Mr. J. Graham to Miss M. Crosthwaite-Mr. J. M'Elroy to |