180 OBITUARY.-Generals Vyse, Bridges, and Burne. and Berwick of 74. He was advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral, Dec. 4, 1813. GENERAL RICHARD VYSE. May 30, At Lichfield, in the house of bis sister, Mrs. Madan (the relict of the Bp. of Peterborough), in his 80th year, Richard Vyse, Esq. a General in the Army, Colonel of the 3d Dragoon Guards, and Comptroller of the Household of the Duke of Cumberland. He was son of the Rev. William Vyse, M. A. Canon Residentiary of Lichfield, Archdeacon of Salop, and Rector of St. Philip's, Birmingham, by Catharine, dau. of the Right Rev. Richard Smalbroke, Bishop of Lichfield. (See the epitaph of his parents in Lichfield Cathedral, printed in vol. LXXXI. ii. 255.) The late Rev. William Vyse, D. C. L. also Canon Residentiary of Lichfield, Archdeacon of Coventry, and Rector of Lambeth (of whom see a short memoir in vol. LXXXVI. i. 275), was his elder brother. He was appointed Cornet 5th drag. Feb. 13, 1763; Lieutenant, Aug. 15, 1766; Adjutant, March 18, 1767; Captain, Nov. 28, 1771; and Major, 18h Light Drag. Nov. 7, 1777. On the 20th of April, 1780, Major Vyse married Anne, only surviving child of Sir George Howard, K. B. by his first wife Lucy, sister and coheiress of William Wentworth, fourth Earl of Strafford. This lady was first cousin of Alexander-Ken. neth, eleventh and present Baron Howard of Effingham. Major Vyse was promoted to be a Colonel in the Army, Jan. 7, 1781; of the 1st Drag. Guards, May 28, 1784; Colonel in the Army, Nov. 18, 1791; Major-General, Oct. 3, 1794; Colonel 29th Drag. March 23, 1797; Lieut. Geveral, Jan. 1, 1801; Colonel 3d Drag Guards, April 2, 1804. As Colonel he commanded a brigade in Flanders, under the Duke of York. At the General Election of 1806, Lieut. General Vyse was elected to Parliament as one of the representatives of Beverley. He had previously become one of the twelve Capital Burgesses of the borough, as provided by its charter. He sat only for the one-session Parliament, and at the General Election in 1807, made room for his son Richard-William-Howard-Howard Vyse, Esq. who has since represented [Aug. tenancy in the Royal Artillery; and in December following, was removed in the same rank to the corps of Royal Engineers. In December, 1777, he proceeded accord. ing to orders to the West India Islande, and was there employed on many services during the war, and did not return to Eng. land until 1785. The 23d of March, 1786, he was ap pointed first Lieutenant and Captain Lieutenant, and Captain the 25th Sept. 1793. In May, 1795, he was sent as Commanding Royal Engineer on the first expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, and remained in that country until the year 1801. In the latter end of 1802, he was appointed Commanding Royal Engineer in Ceylon, and there continued eight years. In March 1805, he had the rank of Lientenant-Colonel; the 4th of June, 1813, that of Colonel; the 21st of July following was appointed Colonel in the Royal Engineers; and the 12th August, 1819, received the rank of Major-General. LIEUT. GEN. ROBERT BURNE. Lately. At Berkeley Cottage, Stanmore, Lieut.-Gen. Robert Burne. He entered the army in 1773, by purchasing an ensigncy in the 36th regiment, and in January 1777, obtained a Lieutenancy also by purchase. In 1783, the 36th regiment volunteered its services for the East Indies, and this officer embarked with it, and landed at Madras in July of that year. In 1784 he succeeded to the Captain Lieutenancy, and on the 7th of May of the same year, was appointed Captain of a Company; and upon the Army taking the field against the late Tippoo Sultaun, he was Captain of Grenadiers. He was in the battles of Sattimungulum and Showere, with a detachment of the army commanded by General Floyd, and was afterwards at the storming of Bangalore, Pettah, the fort of Bangalore, the Hill fort of Nundydroog, at the battle of Seringa patam, the attack of the post at Carrigatt Hill, and at the storming of the End Gaw redoubt (part of the lines hefore Seringapatam) under the late Marquess Cornwallis, and in 1793 he was at the siege and capture of Pondicherry. March 1, 1794, he was appointed Major by brevet, and in 1796 purchased a Majority in the regiment. Jan. 1, 1798, he was appointed Lieut.-Col. by brevet, and in the same year the 36th was drafted into the 76th regiment, and the non-commissioned officers, drummers, &c. under the command of this officer, sailed from Madras, aud landed in England in 1799. An order was issued by the Governor in Council, and Commander-in Chief of Madras, on the 36th regiment quitting India; where 1825,] OBITUARY.-Rev. Abraham Rees, D. D. where it had served upwards of fifteen years, highly complimentary to Lieut. Burne and his brave companions. In 1799 he was promoted to the Lieu tenant-Colonelcy of the regiment, and soon after its arrival in England, it was completed with volunteers from the militia, and in 1800 embarked with the troops destined, as was supposed, for the attack upon Belleisle, and after being encamped upon the island of Howas some weeks, he re-embarked with the regiment, and landed in the Island of Minorca, from which island he in 1801, from severe illness, was ordered to England for the recovery of his health (being the first time he was ever absent from the regiment), and upon the conclusion of the peace, the island being restored to the Spaniards, he was ordered to remain in England until the arrival of the regiment at home, when, in the latter part of 1802, he again took the command of it, on its arrival in Ireland. In 1805 he embarked with the regiment for Germany, and upon the termination of the service in that country in 1806, returned to England. In the latter part of the same year, he embarked with the regiment on the expedition to South America, under the late Major-General Crawfurd; and in June 1807, landed in that country, and was with the advance of the army at the operations in the suburbs of Buenos Ayres on the 2d, 3d, 4th, and the attack on the town of Buenos Ayres on the 5th of July. The regiment returned home in 1807, and on the 25th of April 1808, this officer was appointed Colonel by brevet. In July of the same year he embarked with the army destined for the Peninsula, commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, landed in Portugal and was present at the battles of Roleia and Vimiera, where he greatly distinguished himself. He was shortly afterwards honoured by his Majesty with the government of Carlisle. After these services, this officer proceeded in command of the regiment with that party destined to join the late Sir John Moore at Salamanca in Spain, and was present at the battle of Corunna, and then re-embarked with the army for England in 1809. For his services at Roleia, Vimiera, and Corunna, he received the honorary distinction of a medal and clasp. In 1810 he embarked with the expedition to the Scheldt, commanded the regiment at the siege and capture of Flushing in the island of Walcheren, was afterwards appointed Colonel on the Staff at that place, where he continued until the evacuation of the island. In 1811 he was appointed a Brigadier on the Staff in Portugal, and in that country subsequently a Major-General, and landed there prior to 181 the retreat of the French army from Santarem, and was present at the battle of Fuentes D'Onor in Spain, and the other operations in which the 6th division of the army was engaged, until recalled to be employed elsewhere. Upon his return to England, he was appointed on the Home Staff, and was ordered to take the command of the camp near Lichfield. Upon the breaking up of that encampment, he was ordered to the command of the Nottingham district, where he remained on the Staff until Sept. 24, 1814. Major-General Burne commanded the 36th regiment from the year 1793, until his appointment upon the Staff in 1811, and greater unanimity (so essential to discipline) never prevailed in any corps, as some proof of which, the officers who served under him in South America, on their return from that country, voted and presented him with a sword and belt of the value of one hundred and twenty guineas. REV. ABRAHAM REES, D. D. June 9. In Artillery-place, Finsburysquare, in his 82d year, the celebrated Abraham Rees, D.D. F. R. S. F. L. S. &c. The following memoir aud character of him are chiefly taken from his funeral Sermon, by the Rev. Thos. Aspland, and an Address delivered over the body by Dr. Thomas Rees. He was the son of the Rev. Lewis Rees, a Dissenting Minister, who contributed during an almost unexampled length of active life to promote the cause of Nonconformity in North and South Wales. His great-grandfather was a Welsh clergyman. By his mother's side he was collaterally descended from the celebrated Penry, who died a martyr to Nonconformity in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. See the article Penry, drawn up by Dr. Rees, in the Cyclopædia. Having received respectable grammar learning in his native country, with a view to the ministry, to which his father had devoted him from the birth, he was placed in the Hoxton Academy for Dissenting Ministers conducted by Dr. Jennings, the learned author of a work on Jewish Antiquities, and Mr. (afterwards Dr. Samuel Morton) Savage. Here he made such proficiency, especially in the mathematics, that, a vacancy occurring in that department of tuition, he was appointed by the. Trustees of the Institution to occupy it, before his regular term of study was completed. In this arduous situation he gave so much satisfaction, that he was soon after chosen to the more responsible office of resident Tutor, which he continued to hold for 23 years, to the credit of the Academy and the great advantage of the Dissenting 182 OBITUARY. Rev. Abraham Rees, D. D. senting cause. On his resignation the For some time Dr. Rees officiated only During a period of some years he was engaged with his friend, the late eloquent Hugh Worthington, in delivering winter evening lectures at Salters' Hall, by means of which his usefulness and reputation as a preacher were much extended. For a short time he was Tutor of Hebrew and of the Mathematics in the New College at Hackney, which was set on foot with great liberality and high expec tations, but by the operation of many adverse causes soon declined and fell, to the mortification of its patrons and the lasting regret of the liberal Dissenters. These public engagements Dr. Rees was fulfilling with a fidelity that will long be remembered with respect, at the same time that he was employed in literary undertakings of a magnitude sufficient to have absorbed the whole time and attention of a man of less vigour of mind, less constancy of purpose, or less systematic perseverance. It was in 1781 that the first numbers of Chambers's Encyclopedia, edited by Dr. Rees, first appeared; and that edition was completed in four volumes folio, in 1786. He was about that time elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; and at different periods his eminent attainments received similar tokens of respect from other public bodies. The University of Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of D.D. from the spontaneous recommendation of Dr. Robertson the historian, at that time principal. He was chosen a Fellow of the [Aug. Linnean Society soon after its institution. More recently he was made an honorary and was besides an honorary member of Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, some foreign literary and scientific institutions. published several single sermons, some of of Knowledge, a Sermon preached before The first volume of the quarto Cycloin forty-five volumes. This was a truly pedia appeared in 1802; it was completed gigantic task for any individual, even with the able assistance derived from distinguished contributors. He had the gratification, however, to see it completed, and to enjoy the well-earned reputation which its able execution secured for him. his mental treasures at his immediate dis- had engaged his chief study from his 1825.] OBITUARY.-Rev. Abraham Rees, D. D. with eminent success. In the branches of literature more immediately connected with his profession as a Christian moralist and divine-in biblical and theological learning, in metaphysics and ethics-his attainments were extensive and profound: whilst on the other subjects of general literature he was well and deeply read. He was not a man to rest satisfied with superficial attainments whilst the means of completer knowledge were within his reach. It was never his object to study and learn in order to board up knowledge as an useless treasure. He looked to utility in all that he aimed to acquire. He coveted no mental attainments but such as be could render subservient to the practical benefit of himself or of others. And the employments to which he devoted himself afforded him abundant opportunities for bringing forth all that he had accumulated for the instruction and the improvement of the world. Dr. Rees was a Protestant Dissenter on deliberate and rational conviction. He was ever the firm and zealous advocate of religious liberty, which he considered to be intimately allied in this country with the cause of Nonconformity. As a member, and for many years the father, of the General Body of London Dissenting Ministers, he was amongst the foremost supporters of every liberal measure, and the steady and inflexible assertor of their religious privileges. The freedom be claimed for himself he willingly conceded to all others. He lived on terms of cordial intimacy with religious professors of various communions; and could number among his most valued friends Churchmen of high rank and distinguished eminence. He was an active member of all the principal charitable trusts in his own religious denomination. He was a manager of the Presbyterian Fund for about sixty years, and during nearly fifty years of that period, discharged the duties of Secretary to that important institution with essential benefit to the various objects contemplated by its benevolent founders and supporters. Dr. Daniel Williams's Trust reaped also, for a long series of years, great advantage from his talents for business, which he devoted to the direction of its concerns with zeal and assiduity. There are many other Dissenting trusts, which it is unnecessary now to name, having the disposal of funds for charitable purposes, in which he acted a leading and influential part. In all these situations, it was with him a point of conscience to be always at his post. Dr. Rees was the principal distributor, under his Majesty's Government, of the annual Parliamentary Bounty to indigent Dissenting Ministers; “ and if,” says Mr. Aspland, "I were called upon to point 183 out the most prominent excellence in his character, I should name his conscientious discharge of this delicate trust, in the administration of which he preserved on the one hand his independence, and on the other bis affability and kindness." To his native country, Wales, he was a great benefactor. From funds of which he shared in the distribution, and from large sums annually placed at his own disposal by opulent individuals, who made him the channel of their unostentatious beneficence, he contributed a considerable proportion to relieve the pressing exigencies of Welsh ministers (without respect to their peculiar theological sentiments), whom he thought to be deserving of encouragement in their works of piety in their respective churches. When these worthy men were removed by the hand of death, he extended his almost paternal care to their bereaved families; and thus caused the heart of many a mourning widow to sing for joy. There never was an individual who effected so much good in this way. In his occasional intercourse, as one of the representatives of the body of Dissenting Ministers, with his Majesty's Court and Government, Dr. Rees was courteous, dignified, firm, and upright. He was honoured twice with being deputed by the Dissenting Ministers of the three denominations of Protestants, to present their address of congratulation to King George III. and to King George IV. a fact which perhaps never before happened to the same man. In the former case, Lord Halifax, the Lord in Waiting, expressed a regret that Dr. Rees did not belong to the right Church, for then his loyalty might have been personally rewarded. He did not possess all the qualifications that the multitude most esteem in a Preacher; his were sterling merits: sound and strong sense, a clearly-defined subject, well-digested thoughts, scriptural language, manly confidence in the affections of his auditory, and marked but sober earnestness. He practised no arts in the pulpit on the contrary, he expressed his abhorrence of affectation, trick, and meditated extravagance in a Christian Minis ter. His discourses derived, in the public delivery of them, the greatest advantage from his fine and commanding person; from a countenance unusually expressive, beaming with intelligence, and glowing with holy earnestness and ardour; and from a voice of great power, well adapted to didactic address or pathetic expostulation. His theology he was wont to describe as the moderate scheme, lying be tween the extremes of opinion that prevail in the present day. Owning no human authority in religion, he yet avowed that he 184 OBITUARY.-Rev. Henry Kett, B.D. he subscribed for the most part to the The character of Dr. Rees's mind was As a companion he was unrivalled. None that ever partook will forget his cheerful, cordial hospitality. "I do not represent bim," continues Mr. Aspland, "much as I revered him living, sincerely as I mourn him dead, and lasting as will be my remembrance of his talents and his virtue,-I do not represent him as a perfect man. He had doubtless his infirmities, but they were mere infirmities-and they were as few as I ever saw (for here I must speak my own opinion) in a man of the same natural robustness of mind, the same resolution, the same zeal, and the same anxiety for the great purposes to which his life and heart and soul and strength were devoted. The bodily weaknesses that were the consequences of extreme age, were no part of himself, and cannot be brought into the estimate of his character. His heart was always right. His Christian principles never forsook him. They had been the guide of his youth, and the distinction of his mature life, and they were the stay of his old age!" His body was interred on the 18th of June in Bunhill Fields. A Life of Dr. Rees, including some Account of his father Lewis, is preparing for the press, by Dr. Thomas Rees. REV. HENRY KETT, B. D. June 30. Suddenly, at Stanwell, the seat of Sir J. Gibbons, Bart, the Rev. Henry Kett, late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and of Charlton, co. Gloucester. The reverend gentleman had preached at Stanwell, on the preceding Sunday, and on the morning when the fatal accident occurred bad, as usual, breakfasted with the family party in excellent spirits. About noon, the weather being hot, he proceeded to take a cold bath, when it is supposed that venturing out of his depth he was seized with cramp and sank to rise no more. His clothes were found on the bank where he had undressed for bathing. He was born at Norwich in 1761, and received his education at the Grammarschool in that city, under the Rev. Mr. Lemon. In 1777, at the age of sixteen, he was admitted a Commoner of Trinity (Aug. College, Oxford, and was chosen scholar the following year. Mr. Kett took the degree of A. M. Nov. 26, 1783, soon after which be was elected Fellow, and appointed one of the College numbered the present Duke of Beaufort, tutors. Among some of his first pupils be and his next brother Lord Charles Somerset, and in the discharge of the important duties of his office, for a very long space of years, united the character of friend with that of tutor. studies, uor did he give them up on taking He early commenced his theological orders. He was appointed Bampton Lecturer in 1790, and the University had no reason to be sorry for their choice. These Lectures were published the following and a second edition, "with corrections year, dedicated to the Bishop of St. Asaph, and additions," appeared in 1792. It was not only in defence of the doctrines of Christianity that Mr. Kett distinguished himself; he was equally solicitous to show that their precepts influenced bis practice. About the period of his being Bampton Lecturer, be exerted himself, in conjunction with other friends, in rescuing Dr. John Uri, a native of Hungary, one of the best Oriental scholars in Europe, from indigence and distress. This gentleman had been sent for from the University of Leyden to Oxford, and had faculties in taking a catalogue of the been employed during the vigour of his brary; but growing infirm and old, with Oriental Manuscripts in the Bodleian Liout relations or friends in his own country, he was discharged by the delegates of the press. By the benevolent interference, Secretary of the Asylum, Mr. Smith, Mashowever, of Mr. Kett, of Mr. Agutter, now ter of Pembroke College, and Dr. Parr, a handsome subscription was raised for his support; and the venerable scholar was placed in a situation of comfort in Oxford, life. where he passed the remaining part of his Monro, formerly of Magdalen College, In 1787 Mr. Kett engaged with Mr. and Dr. Horne, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, in a periodical publication, under the title of Olla Podrida, to which several Their essays were re-published in a colother distinguished scholars contributed. lected form, and are replete with humour, good sense, and acute observation. In 1793 he published a small collection of "Juvenile Poems," stating "most of the verses in this collection have appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine." However pear, the author was afterwards very demeritorious these trifles of his muse apsirous to suppress them, and so sedulous value of this little volume above the usual to effect that intention as to increase the proportion of modern publications. When the |