379 OBITUARY.—Earl of Marr.-Ld. Langford.-Professor Dobree, [Oct. EARL OF Mark. Lately. Suddenly, at his house in Shadwick-place, Edinburgh, in his 85th year, John-Francis Erskine, Earl of Marr. He was the eldest son of Sir James Erskine, who died Feb. 27, 1785, (second son of James Erskine of the Grange) by Frances, only daughter of John eleventh Earl of Marr, who died June 20, 1776; was born in 1741. By Act of Parliament, which received the Royal Assent June 17, 1824, he was restored to the ancient and illus trious peerage of his ancestors. On the 17th of March 1770, he married Frances, only daughter of Charles Floyd, Esq. Go vernor of Madras, and by her, who died Dec. 20, 1798, had issue John-Thomas, who succeeds to the title; and seven other children, four of whom are daughters. LORD LANGFORD. Sept. 13. At his seat, Cooper's-hill, Surrey, aged 63, Clotworthy Rowley, Baron Langford of Somerbill, co. Meath, brother to Thomas Marquess of Headfort. He was the third son of Thomas Earl of Bective, by the Hou. Jane Rowley, daughter of Elizabeth Viscountess Langford. He married in 1794 his first cousin, Frances Rowley, niece and heiress of Bercules Viscount Langford and Baron Somerbill, in right of whom he assumed the name and arms of Rowley, and by whom he had issue one son, who succeeds him, and two daughters. In 1800 he was created Baron Rowley. LADY CONSTABLE. Lately. At Brighton, Lady Mary-Macdonald Constable, widow of the late Sir Thomas-Hugh Constable, Bart. of Tixal, co. Stafford, of Barton Constable and Wyeliffe, Yorkshire. She was the second daughter of John Chichester of Arling ton, co. Devon, Esq. by his second wife, Mary Macdonald, of Trindish, North Britain, and was married, June 17, 1791, to Sir Thomas-Hugh Clifford, first Baronet, who in 1821 took the name of Coustable only by royal sign manual. She had issue Sir Thomas-Aston Constable, present Baronet who succeeded his father, Feb. 25, 1823, and two daughters." PROFESSOR DOBREE. Sept. 24. At Trinity College, Cambridge, the Rev. Peter-Paul Dobree, Fellow of that College, and Professor of the Greek language in that University. He was bora in Guernsey in 1782, and was sent at an early age to Reading School, under the care and direction of Dr. Valpy, who sent him to Trinity College, Cambridge. There are Fellowships in Oxford for natives of Guernsey and Jersey; but Mr. Dobree had property which disqualified him for them. At Cambridge he distinguished himself by a depth and accuracy of clas sical learning, which raised him to the highest eminence. Without making an assertion, which has been too confidently hazarded of other literary characters, that he was the best Greek scholar in England, it may be said, without presumption, that he was exceeded by none in extent of knowledge, in sagacity of criticism, in la borious research, and in exquisite taste in the beauties of the Greek and Latin lapguages. He was intimately acquainted with Porson, who set the highest value on his talents; and at the death of that great man he was considered as his natural successor. But he was at that time out of the Kingdom, and the diffidence of his disposition would not permit him to become an active competitor for any honour. On the promotion of the late Professor to the Deanery of Peterborough, he was una. nimously elected to the Professorship. He was preparing public lectures on the Greek language, in which the rich stores of his learning and genius would have been imparted to the Students of the Uni versity had his health been preserved. He has sufficiently established his character by his notes to Porson's Aristophanica, published at the expense of Trinity College in 1820. At the request of the same liberal Society, he edited and corrected in 1822, the Lexicon of Photius. He was the author of several valuable articles in the Classical Journal. He had likewise collected materials for a new edition of Demosthenes, which would have made a copious accession to the fund of Greek literature. He was no less distinguished for the qualities of the heart than for those of the head. His liberality and his be neficence were displayed on every occasion in full proportion to his ability. His conversation was lively, interesting, and instructive. Although he was said by some to be occasionally fastidious in his criticisms, he was admired by the best and most candid scholars at home and abroad; among the latter of whom may be men tioned, Schwaghauser, Schleusner, and Hermann in Germany, and Boissonade, Gail, and Hase in France. DR. JOHN MEYER. [At p. 190, Dr. Meyer's death was briefly mentioned, but a more particular account is justly due to the memory of an accomplished scholar and most skilful physician.] Dr. John Meyer was born at Lindau, an imperial city of Germany, on the lake of Constance, on the 27th of December 1749. He was the eldest son of Mr. Dawiel Meyer, the principal in the firm of Meyer, Hey, and Co. Baukers, at Vienna. He was early in life destined for the medical 1825.] **OBITUARY.-Dr. Meyer-Mr. Serjeant Lens. medical profession, and in order to pursue the requisite course of studies went to the University of Strasburgh, where he remained under the instruction of the ablest professors of that time, and after the usual examinations, was admitted to the highest degree in medicine. His advancement in professional knowledge was, during this period, not more conspicuous than his proficiency in classical studies, which he continued to cultivate through the whole course of his life. From Strasburgh he went to Vienna, where there was a wider field for practical knowledge, and was introduced to the hospitals of that city under the auspices of the late Baron Joseph Quarin, who had long been a physician of great experience and reputation; and such was his opinion of Dr. Meyer that he soon engaged his assistance in his private practice. After passing some time at Vienna, and visiting other medical schools on the Continent, Dr. Meyer arrived in London, and attended the medical lectures and hospitals, particularly Guy's, under Dr. William Saunders, then physician to that hospital. But these pursuits being interrupted by the illness of his father, Dr. Meyer returned to Vienna. He afterwards spent two or three years at Paris, revisiting England in 1780, in which year be married an amiable lady, now his relict. He then travelled through Italy, and again prosecuted, his studies at Vienna until 1784, when he finally determined to settle in London, and after the usual forms became a Licentiate of the College of Physicians. He now commenced that practice which he carried on with the highest reputation and success, until within a few days of his decease, when he resolved to retire from public life. As a step to this, he had engaged a house, for three months, on the Marine Parade at Brighton, and after taking a kind leave of many of his Patients, left his house in Broad-street Buildings, apparently in good health, but had scarcely arrived at his new habitation, when an internal inflammation, beyond the reach of cure, terminated a long and useful life, on the 30th of July last. He had nearly reached the seventy-sixth year of his age. He became soon sensible of his approaching departure, and took an affecting leave of his relatives and friends with calmness and composure. Such was his happiness in domestic life, that during the space of forty years he had slept from home but once. On his arrival at Brighton, he fondly indulged the hopes of long continued relaxation and retirement. - But what are the hopes of man? Dr. Meyer was not only eminent for skill in his profession, but had a lasting 373 taste for general reading; for the theory and practice of music; but particularly for the study of the Greek and Roman classics. Not a day passed, even during the periods of his greatest practice, in which he did not contrive to spend an hour among his favourite ancients, and his library was amply stored with the best editions. His correspondence with eminent scholars abroad made him well acquainted with the advancing state of classical criticism, particularly among his countrymen; and, without pedantry or obtrusion, he could in literary circles, prove that true taste and sound criticism had been constantly the objects of his ambition. These accomplishments, added to great urbanity of manners, much experience of human life and character, and a social disposition, gave a relish and variety to his conversation, which those who enjoyed it will not readily forget; nor cease to regret that they were deprived of it at a time when there was reason to hope that they might have enjoyed his company, undisturbed by professional avocations. But a yet higher praise may be bestowed on the kindness and liberality of his conduct as a physician. In the whole progress of his practice, he dispensed his skill with the most disinterested zeal, not only to the poor, but to a class above them, where remuneration might reasonably have been expected. Nor was this all; in many striking instances, known to the present writer, his purse was as ready as his advice, but in these cases there was such a total want of ostentation, that few, unless the parties thus delicately relieved, were privy to this admirable feature in his character. Still it is too well known, and, we trust, too gratefully remembered, not to be admitted into the preseut feeble tribute to his memory. R. S. MR. SERJEAnt Lens. Aug. 6. At Ryde in the Isle of Wight, aged 69, John Lens, Esq. M. A. his Ma jesty's Ancient Serjeant-at-Law. This gentleman received his College education at St. John's, Cambridge, where he proceeded B. A. 1779, M. A. 1782. By the Charter of Downing College, Cambridge, dated 1800, he was named one of the Fellows; which produced him a salary of 100l. a year. He had been esteemed as an elegant scholar and a perfect gentleman before he left his College, where he had attained the honour of being Chief Wrangler. About the year 1776 he commenced his professional career in the metropolis, and in November 1807 was appointed Counsel to the University of Cambridge, on the resignation of the Hon. Spencer Perceval. On the 15th of June 1820, he had the misfortune to lose his 374 OBITUARY.-Mr. Serjeant Lens.-Colonel Campbell. He wife, who died in Montague-place, Russell-square. (See vol. xc. i. 573.) He arose by due degrees into high estimation as a learned and eloquent Pleader, not with any of that theatrical vehemence and affected sensibility which are too often found among the candidates for legal celebrity, but by the gradual developement of great intellectual powers, combined with a thorough knowledge of law and of mankind; and, however ardent in support of a cause, he always maintained that impressive amenity of manners which cha. racterised the gentleman as well as the powerful advocate. It is well understood that be might have obtained high honours in his profession, but he was above all ostentation, and declined whatever offers of that nature were presented to him, as well on the ground of political consistency as of his connections in private life. had, a year or two ago, been visited by a severe malady, which required chirurgical assistance, and he was attended by the most eminent Medical Professors of the day. He bore the operation that was deemed necessary with the patience and fortitude which might be expected from a calm, firm, and resolute mind, and he rewarded the Gentlemen who attended him with a grateful and even princely liberality. The effect of the disease, and the nature of the operation, though it removed the immediate cause, gave, however, a shock to his constitution, from which he never recovered, and induced him to resign all professional pursuits. His person was an expression of his internal nature. was Gentlemanly in his appearance and manners, and placid in his countenance, In justice to his memory it may be fairly He said, that the Bar never lost a more estimable member, or Society a more valuable ornament. The following character of this lamented Gentleman is extracted from a Poem entitled The Bar," which may fairly be classed among the best poetical effusions of the present time: Lo! learned LENS-as contrasts always please, Like a calm summer lake reposed at ease, Till warm collision, like a mighty wind, Uplifts the depth and volume of his mind; Then, as if roused from slumber, o'er bis ground, [sound; He roars not with a torrent's thundering Nor like a shallow stream" runs dimpling on," [gone, 'Till in faint murmurs all its strength be But gently swelling from its copious source, [Oct. Or if, perchance, the truant stream should stray, It warms and fertilizes on its way, And strews with many a leaf and classic flower All that was wild and barren waste before. But greater, nobler qualities than these, Are his, who never fawns, or stops to please, Who with stern independence for his shield, To hollow-soul'd ambition scorns to yield, For power or place, or paltry selfish ends, Ne'er sells his conscience, nor deserts his friends, But stands (nor sigh's for proffer'd honours past) Unshaken and consistent to the last. Rare virtues these! above all price or praise, [days; And seldom found in these degenerate Yet these for one the muse may proudly [LENS's name. And with their splendid rays emblazon claim, "The learning and mild yet dignified deportment of this profound lawyer, and true English gentleman (for some are ill. natured enough to assert that the two characters are not always combined) seem to have conciliated all parties. It is said, that he has more than once had the offer of a high official appointment, which, on the ground of its inconsistency with his political sentiments and connexions, he declined; a circumstance that did equal honour to both parties." The Author of this Poem, after having adverted to some Gentlemen of the Bar of rather an irritable character, and their squabbles, says, "It is remarkable that Serjeant Lens can always contrive to keep out of such broils-much to his credit." Serjeant Lens was so deservedly distinguished in his professsion, and highly esteemed in private life, that we sincerely hope that some of his legal brethren, who are able to appreciate his attainments and render justice to his personal merits, will endeavour to pay a due tribute to his memory. COLONEL CAMPBELL. Lately. Colonel Campbell of Glenlyon. He was graudson of the Laird of Glenlyon; who commanded the military at the massacre of Glenco, and who lived in the Laird of Glenco's house, where he and his men were hospitably received as friends, and entertained a fortnight before the execution of his orders. He was playing at cards with the family when the first shot was fired, and the murderous scene commenced. Colonel Campbell entertained the belief, then universal in the Highlands, that punishment of the cruelty, oppression, 1825.] OBITUARY.-Lieut.-col, Downman.—Lieut. H. Warde. 375 oppression, or misconduct of an individual, descended as a curse on his children to the third and fourth generation. In 1771 he was ordered to superintend the execution of the sentence of a court mar tial on a soldier condemned to be shot. A reprieve was sent, but the whole ceremony of the execution was to proceed until the criminal was upon his knees, with a cap over his eyes, prepared to receive the volley. It was then he was to be informed of his pardon. No person was to be told previously, and Col. Campbell was directed not to inform even the firing party, who were warned that the signal to fire would be the waving of a white handkerchief by the commanding officer. When all was prepared, and the clergyman had left the prisoner on his knees in momentary expectation of his fate, and the firing party were looking with intense attention for the signal, Colonel Compbell put his hand in his pocket for the reprieve, and in pulling out the packet the white handkerchief accompanied it, and catching the eyes of the party, they fired, and the unfortunate prisoner was shot dead. The paper dropped through Colonel Campbell's fingers, and clapping his hand to bis forehead, he exclaimed, "The curse of God and of Glenco is here; I am an unfortunate ruined man." He desired the soldiers to be sent back to the barracks, instantly quitted the parade and soon afterwards retired from the service. LIEUT. COL. DOWNMAN. This officer entered the Royal Artillery in June 1757; in 1758 he was with the army, at that time commanded by the Duke of Marlborough, at the destruction of the French shipping and stores at St. Maloes; he was at the demolition of the works and batteries of Cherburg, and afterwards at the unlucky affair at St. Cas, commanding the only two six pounders that were on shore. He sailed for the West Indies the same year with the army under the old Gen. Hopson; was with the troop that made a landing on Martinique, and was very actively employed in the reduction of Guadaloupe, where he remained till the peace of 1763, except attending the troops that captured Dominique; he came to England at the end of the year 1763. He went to New York in June 1764, remained there till November of the same year, when he was ordered with a small detachment of artillery to Pensa cola, in the gulf of Mexico, to take possession of that miserable place; he had the misfortune to remain in this province till the end of the year 1777, at which time he was ordered to St. Augustine, in the gulf of Florida, where he remained. till Jan. 1772. He then sailed to New York, remained there till August, and arrived in England in November of the same year. After some service in Scotland be was ordered to New York; be joined the army under Gen. Howe; was constantly at the head of Elk till the entrance of the army into Philadelphia, and principally engaged in taking the Delaware frigate, and the destruction and taking of Mud Island in the Delaware. He was the only English officer with the troops under Count Donop at the unfortunate attack on the Works at Red Bank, on the Jersey shore; about this time he was taken extremely ill, and was obliged to go to New York in the hospital ship. He remained at New York till November 1778, when he was ordered to sail with the army under Gen. Grant for the West Indies. He was much employed in the reduction of St. Lucie, where he remained till it was restored to France, except visiting the other islands. He sailed from Grenada and arrived in England the end of the year 1784. Lieut. col. Downman, which rank he received 1st of March 1794, was also Captain in the invalid battalion of the Royal Artillery. LIEUTENANT HENRY WARDI. June 4, aged 33, of a fever on his passage home from Jamaica, Lieutenant Henry Warde, fourth son of General Warde, of Woodland Castle, co. Glamorgan, and great nephew of the first Marquess of Cornwallis. The life of this gallant and excellent young man was distinguished by various arduous services, which had impaired his health, and undermined his constitution. He served as Midshipman on board the Barfleur, the Centaur, and the Hibernia; as Lieutenant on board the Ajax, the Acorn, the Volage (of which ship he long had the command), the Seringa patam and the Dartmouth. He was in the brunt of Admiral Sir Robert Calder's action in the Barfleur under Sir George Martin; and in the engagement with the Russian 74, captured by Sir Samuel Hood in the same ship; and again at the taking of the four French frigates when Sir Samuel Hood lost his arm; as well as in the attack of Copenhagen, where he acted as Aid-de-camp to Sir Samuel on shore, while superintending the shipment of the naval stores there taken. His conduct uniformly endeared him to the two great Admirals abovementioned; and the latter declared that he loved him as his own son." Nor was he less endeared to the officers and men of the ships in which he served, whether by his undaunted bravery, or his mild and amiable manners. There are treasured anecdotes in his family (but they would carry this memoir beyond its pro per 376 OBITUARY.-H. Woodthorpe, Esq.-J. G. Everett, Esq. per limits) evincing the firmness of his mind and the strength of his correct principle; anecdotes which relate to casual occurrences in early life, or to the motives of his general conduct; or, finally, to his perfect resignation and composure in the arrangement of all his earthly concerns when he felt his disease rapidly increasing and death unavoidably at hand! Then was the resolute sailor, the man of high honour, and the sincere Christian nobly exemplified by a steady sense of all his duties, and by a real unostentatious feeling of religion, untainted by enthusiasm. His country has lost a fine seaman, his profession a most valuable ornament, and private society a most lively and beloved member. Among his Captains, in addition to Sir G. Martin and Sir S. Hood, he might have enumerated as friends, Capt. Webley Parry, Capt. Sir R. Laurie, Capt. G. Henderson, Capt. J. Drury, Capt. J. Reynolds, Capt. Warren, the Hon. J. A. Maude, with several others, having been under their command, respectively, off Ferrol and in the Channel; off Rochfort and in the Baltic; at Madeira and in the Mediterranean; in the East Indies; and, finally, in the West Indies. The climate of Batavia had affected him severely, and he was hardly fit for naval duty when he went out First Lieutenant of the Dartmouth; and was appointed to the command of her boats and cutters in the West Indies, which led to an engagement with a piratical schooner armed with six pounders, swivels, and small arms, in which this lamented youth was highly distinguished by his gallant and judicious conduct, and reported to the Admiralty in the strongest terms of approbation by the Hon. Capt. Maude; having, in co-operation with some American force, destroyed the establishment of Pirates in Cuba. The schooner was taken; and a depôt of plunder under canvas on shore was destroyed, nine pirates killed, five wounded, and nineteen made prisoners, many escaping into the woods. other place the crew of a fourteen-oared barge was also dispersed, and the barge destroyed. In an HENRY WOODthorpe, Esq. Sept. 4. In bis 70th year, Henry Woodthorpe, Esq. Town Clerk of the City of London, to which highly respectable office he was elected by the Court of Common Council in 1801, on the death of William Rix, Esquire. Mr. Woodthorpe was one of the numerous instances of men of eminence who received their education at the Royal Seminary of Christ's Hospital; whence, after being solidly grounded in those departments of learning best calculated for the useful pursuits of life, he was trans [Oet. planted at a proper age into the Town Clerk's Office. Here for more than thirty years he was initiated in the various important duties of the office; at first as an apprentice and Junior Clerk to Sir James Hodges, and subsequently as the Senior Assistant to Mr. Rix. Mr. Woodthorpe was very greatly esteemed by the several Members of the Corporation, of which in 1818 he received a most unequivocal proof, when, on account of his deafness and bodily infirmities, his son was regularly appointed to officiate for him in the capacity of Deputy Town Clerk; and it was no small consolation to the declining years of an affectionate parent to perceive that the Deputy had so prudently conducted himself as to give the fairest hopes of his succeeding as Principal in the office; a substantially realized by the unanimous fond expectation which has since been voice of the Court of Common Council. JOHN GALE EVERETT, ESQ. Aug. 14. At Biddesdon House, Wilts, the seat of his nephew James-Hague Ererett, Esq. in his 83d year, after an illness of a few days, John Gale Everett, Esq. Everett, Esq. formerly M. P. for Ludgerof Heytesbury, brother of the late Thos. shal. In his death his friends and his country lose the services of a man not more distinguished by length of years than by an eminent decision of character through life; from his earliest days extensively engaged in commerce as a clothmanufacturer. He was always seen to move throughout his extensive engagements in an uniform energetic activity, punctuality, and integrity; aud thronghout his course he forgot not to make the accumulation of wealth subservient to its proper use in an extended beneficence. His liberality to his numerous connexions and dependants, ex ended and persevering as they were, were still understood to be generally judiciously discriminating. His private and public charities, the former often secret and undivulged, were prompt and ready wherever he considered the case to have the proper claim on his attention and bounty. In his political principles, as far as they were called forth, he united uniform loyalty to his sovereign, with an attachment to the rational and legitimate liberty of the British Constitution; to which, as established in Church and State, he was a firm adherent; and when the French revolutionary frenzy menaced this envied island with invasion, he was early enlisted in the preparatory defence, by accepting the command of a volunteer company, which he conducted throughout his house was eminently distinguished as with alacrity and spirit. In social life the abode of cheerful hospitality; and |