BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR.

WILLIAM HUSKISSON was descended from a gentleman's family of moderate fortune, which had been long settled in Staffordshire. His ancestors, for several generations, had resided upon their own property, pursuing no profession, and belonged to that class of small landed proprietors, or country gentlemen, then so numerous, but which is now become nearly extinct.

His father, William, was the second son of William Huskisson, Esquire, of Oxley, near Wolverhampton. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Rotton, Esquire, of an ancient Staffordshire family. On his marriage with this lady, Mr. Huskisson hired the residence called Birch Moreton Court-then belonging to the Earl of Belmont-with an extensive farm attached to it, in the county of Worcester, where the subject of this Memoir was born, on the 11th of March 1770.

Mr. and Mrs. Huskisson had three other sons,

• Richard, who died in the West-Indies, and of whom further mention will be made hereafter-Samuel, a major-general in the

the two younger of whom are still living. Upon the death of his wife, which occurred soon after her giving birth to the youngest of these boys, in the year 1774, Mr. Huskisson, having lost his elder brother about the same time, quitted Worcestershire, and returned to his father's house; where, having succeeded to the property, he continued to reside till his own death, in 1790.

These minute particulars respecting the birth and family of the late Mr. Huskisson have been considered necessary, because attempts have been made to represent him as an illegitimate child ;-a stigma on the memory of his parents, which he indignantly refuted in a speech made from the hustings, at his first election for Liverpool, where placards had been circulated by some of his opponents, warning the electors not to waste their votes on a candidate who was ineligible, as being "an illegitimate alien." "Gentlemen," said Mr. Huskisson, "I scorn to disprove, however indignantly I repel, that part of this false accusation which applies to my parents."

The long and intimate friendship which subsist ed uninterruptedly for so many years between Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Canning, and the striking coincidences in the lives and fortunes of these two great men, may recall to the recollection of many,

King's Army, who served many years with distinction in the EastIndies and Charles, who resides upon his own property in Worcestershire.

that a similar charge of illegitimacy was propagated by falsehood and malignity, in order to cast a slur upon the birth of the latter. To such base and contemptible expedients will some natures descend, to wound the feelings, or to excite a prejudice against those whose well-earned fame and popularity they are unable to overturn, by assailing either their public or private character.

We may pass briefly and rapidly over the preliminary part of Mr. Huskisson's education. It is sufficient to say that, on his mother's deathbeing then about five years old-he was placed at an infant school at Brewood, in Staffordshire, more, as may well be understood, for the purpose of being taken care of, than for that of instruction; that he was afterwards removed to Albrighton, and lastly to Appleby, in Leicestershire, where, young as he was, he gave evident promise of those talents by which, in after-life, he acquired for himself such a splendid reputation. It is singular that even then he evinced the peculiar aptitude for figures and calculation, which subsequently enabled him in Parliament to give to the most intricate numerical details a clearness unequalled in the financial expositions of other statesmen, and which (as it has been said) rendered his statements so intelligible, as to make even those of his auditors least conversant with such subjects, believe, at least, that they understood his plans, and comprehended his reasoning.

But whatever might have been the early genius exhibited by Mr. Huskisson, or however promising his talents and abilities at that period, the successful cultivation and development of them were, probably, owing in a great measure to the watchful care which was afterwards bestowed upon his education by his maternal great uncle, Dr. Gem.

As this gentleman is so intimately connected with the early life of Mr. Huskisson, and exercised such an important influence on his future destiny, a succinct account of him cannot be deemed altogether devoid of interest, or irrelevant to the objects of the present Memoir.

Dr. Gem was a physician of considerable eminence in his day, and well known and highly esteemed, not more for his professional skill, than for his other numerous scientific and literary attainments. When the Duke of Bedford was appointed Ambassador to France, at the peace of 1763, Dr. Gem accompanied him as physician to the Embassy. The brilliant society of men of letters, in which he constantly mixed, and the facilities which Paris then presented for the pursuit of different branches of science, proved so congenial to his nature, that he determined to fix his residence in that capital and its vicinity; still, however, paying frequent visits to his friends in England, and to a small patrimonial estate which he possessed in Worcestershire. Towards his niece, Mrs. Huskisson, he always entertained a particular

affection, and after her death continued to take great interest in her children. Their father having contracted a second marriage, Dr. Gem became anxious that the two elder of his nephews should be entrusted to his care. After some hesitation, his wishes were complied with, and they were permitted to accompany their great uncle on his return to Paris in 1783.

When this arrangement took place, Mr. Huskisson was in the fourteenth year of his age, and of a disposition calculated to derive the greatest advantages from the guidance and superintendance of a mind like that of Dr. Gem, who presided over his education with unremitting care, and scrutinizing attention. Those who recollect having seen them together, during the visit which the Doctor annually made with his young charges to England, describe him as exacting from the boys a strict and diligent application to their studies, and as indefatigable in his efforts to foster and expand the indications of genius with which their minds were endowed by nature.

He lived to reap the satisfaction of knowing, that these efforts had not been unavailing, and that he had not laboured on an unthankful soil. Whether he was at any time disposed to direct the studies of his elder nephew towards the pursuit of his own profession is uncertain and unimportant; but it is perfectly ascertained, that such an idea, if it were ever cherished, met with