Jonas Hanway.

BORN A. D. 1712.-DIED A. D. 1786.

JONAS HANWAY was born at Portsmouth, on the 12th of August, 1712. His father, Mr Thomas Hanway, was for some years storekeeper in the dockyard at Portsmouth. He was deprived of his life by an accident, and left his widow with four children. Young Jonas was put to school by his mother in London, where he learned writing and accounts, and made some proficiency in Latin. At the age of seventeen he went over to Lisbon, where he arrived in June, 1729, and was bound apprentice to a merchant in that city.

His early life was marked with that discreet attention to business, and love of neatness and regularity, which distinguished his future character. On the expiration of his apprenticeship, he entered into business at Lisbon as a merchant or factor; but did not remain there long before he returned to London. In February, 1748, he accepted a partnership in the house of Mr Dingley, a merchant at Petersburgh; and embarking on the river Thames in the April following, he arrived at Petersburgh the 10th of June. There he first became acquainted with the Caspian trade, then in its infancy, and formed an ardent desire to see Persia, a country so renowned for extraordinary events in ancient and modern times. This he was enabled to do in consequence of his being appointed agent to the British factory at Petersburgh, by whom he was sent to Persia, with the view of opening a trade through Russia into Persia. The limits of this memoir will not permit us to give an account of his adventures in Persia, of which a copious relation is given in his travels, published by himself. From Persia he returned to Russia, and passed through Germany and Holland, and arrived in England in October, 1750, after an absence of nearly eight years. The rest of his life, with the exception of two short intervals, was passed in England, as a private gentleman, employing his time, and the very moderate fortune of which he was possessed, in a continued course of benevolent actions, pursued with extraordinary and unremitting assiduity.

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In 1753, he published, in four volumes 4to, An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea, with a Journal of Travels from England through Russia into Persia, and back through Russia, Germany, and Holland. To which are added, the Revolutions of Persia during the present century, with the particular history of the great Usurper, Nadir Kouli.' This work was extremely well-received by the public, and passed through four editions.

Mr Hanway was the original proposer of the Marine society, and by the most judicious and unceasing attention to its interest, and the management of its finances, deserved the title of its guardian. In 1757, he published a Journey from Portsmouth to Kingston,' in which he animadverted on what he considered the pernicious custom of teadrinking amongst the lower classes of the people. This publication involved him in a short controversy with Dr Johnson. In 1758, he became governor of the Foundling hospital, and was very active and

useful in the formation of that institution. He was also extremely solicitous to promote schemes for the preservation of infant parish poor; and it was by his exertions, and at his expense, that the act 7° Geo. III. c. 39. was procured. In 1762, he published Eight Letters to the duke of Newcastle' on the custom of giving vails to servants. By his efforts, and that of others, this practice was at length generally discontinued.

Mr Hanway was a great promoter of the Magdalen hospital; he also set on foot the Maritime school; and engaged in various other benevolent designs. Indeed, the many useful and public-spirited plans in which he engaged for the welfare of his fellow-creatures, had now rendered his character most respectably popular. His disinterestedness, and the sincerity of his intentions, were conspicuous to all. His name appeared to every proposal for the benefit of mankind, and brought with it more than his own benefaction, for people were assured by the appearance of his name, that their bounty would be at least faithfully and carefully expended.

Five citizens of London waited on Lord Bute, the then minister, in a body, and in their own names, and the names of their fellow-citizens, requested that some notice might be taken of him. In obedience to this request, on the 17th of July, 1762, he was appointed, by patent, one of the commissioners for victualling the navy. With the increase of income, which this appointment produced, he thought he might extend his acquaintance, and took a house in Red Lion square, the principal rooms of which he furnished, and decorated with paintings and emblematical devices in a style peculiar to himself. "I found," he was used to say, when speaking of these ornaments, "that my countrymen and women were not au fait in the art of conversation, and that instead of recurring to their cards, when the discourse began to flag, the minutes between the time of assembling, and the placing the cardtables, are spent in an irksome suspense; for conversation has no charms when the mind is not engaged in it. To relieve this vacuum in social intercourse, and prevent cards from engrossing the whole of my visitors' minds, I have presented them with objects the most attractive that I could imagine, and such as cannot easily be examined without exciting amusing and instructive discourse-and when that fails, there are the cards."

Mr Hanway continued till towards the close of his life to employ his time in official business, and in supporting and promoting the charitable institutions which he had founded or interested himself in ; but in the summer of 1786, his health declined so visibly, that he thought it necessary to take relaxation. He had long felt the approach of a disorder in the bladder which terminated in strangury, which, on the 5th of September, 1786, put a period to a life spent almost entirely in the service of his fellow-creatures.

It may be truly said of this good man, that nothing in his life became him better than his dying. During the progress of a tedious, an i sometimes painful illness, he never once expressed the least impatience ; but saw the approach of his dissolution without regret. When he grew so weak as to be confined to his bed, he requested his physicians to speak frankly and without reserve of his disorder; and when convinced he could not recover, he sent and paid all his tradesmen, took

leave of his most intimate friends, dictated some letters to absent acquaintances, had the sacrament administered to him, and discoursed with the most cheerful composure of his affairs.

The following character of this excellent man has been given by his biographer, Mr Pugh, who resided in his house many years, and had the best means of obtaining information respecting him: "Mr Hanway in his person was of the middle size, of a thin spare habit, but wellshaped; his limbs were fashioned with the nicest symmetry. In the latter years of his life he stooped very much, and when he walked, found it conduce to his ease to let his head incline to one side. When he went first to Russia at the age of thirty, his face was full and comely, and his person altogether such as obtained for him the appellation of the handsome Englishman.' His features were small, but without the insignificance which commonly attends small features. His countenance was interesting, sensible, and calculated to inspire reverence. His blue eyes never had been brilliant; but they expressed the utmost humanity and benevolence; and when he spoke, the animation of his countenance and the tone of his voice were such as seemed to carry conviction with them to the mind of a stranger. His mind was the most active that it is possible to conceive, always on the wing, and never appearing to be weary. To sit still and endeavour to give rest to the thought was a luxury to which he was a perfect stranger: he dreaded nothing so much as inactivity, and that modern disorder which the French-who feel it not so much as ourselves-distinguish by the name of ennui. In his natural disposition he was cheerful but serene. He enjoyed his own joke, and applauded the wit of another; but never descended from a certain dignity which he thought indispensably necessary. His experience furnished him with some anecdote or adventure, suitable to every turn the discourse could take, and he was always willing to communicate it. If the mirth degenerated into boisterous laughter, he took his leave: My companions,' he would say, were too merry to be happy, or to let me be happy, so I left them.' He spoke better in public than was to be expected of one who wrote so much, and pointed to his subject."

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Lord Viscount Keppel.

BORN A. D. 1725.-died A. D. 1786.

THIS nobleman was the second son of William, second earl of Albemarle, and the Lady Anne Lenox, daughter of Charles Lenox, first duke of Richmond. He was born on the 2d of April, 1725, and was sent at a very early age to sea, under Commodore Anson, when that officer was ordered to the South seas. Mr Keppel was, on the capture of the Esmeralda galleon, promoted to the rank of lieutenant; and almost immediately after his return to England, in the month of September, 1744, was made commander of a sloop of war. In the month of December following he was advanced to be captain of the Sapphire frigate. He retained this command two years; and, being constantly employed as a cruiser, his diligence and activity were rewarded with a considerable number of important prizes. In 1746 he became captain

of the Maidstone, of fifty guns, in which vessel he had the misfortune to be wrecked off the coast of France, in consequence of running too near the shore in pursuit of a French privateer. He was next appointed to the Anson, of sixty-four guns; and, after having been employed for some time in the channel, was despatched, in 1749, to the Mediterranean, where, about the end of the year 1751, he entered into a treaty of peace with the states of Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis. At an audience which he had obtained of the dey of Algiers, for the purpose of demanding the restoration of some vessels which had been taken by the pirates, his deportment was so spirited, that the dey exclaimed, "I wonder at the English king's insolence, in sending me such a foolish, beardless boy!" "Had my master," replied Keppel, "supposed wisdom to be measured by the length of the beard, he would have sent you a hegoat." This answer so enraged the dey, that he ordered his mutes to attend with the bow-string. Keppel, however, displayed no symptom of alarm, but coolly observed-pointing through a window to the English ships riding at anchor in the bay, as he spoke "If it be your pleasure to put me to death, there are Englishmen enough in that fleet to make me a glorious funeral pile!" The dey, it is added, felt the truth of this remark, and consented to grant the restitution which Keppel had demanded. In 1754 he hoisted his broad pendant on board the Centurion, as commanding officer of the ships of war sent to North America for the purpose of protecting a fleet of transports, having on board General Braddock with a considerable body of regular troops, That unfortunate general was loud in his praises of Mr Keppel's conduct, and most gratefully acknowledged the assistance he received from him on all occasions when his aid was necessary.

After the defeat of Braddock the commodore returned to Europe, and was appointed to the Swiftsure, from which ship he removed into the Torbay. In the ship last-mentioned he continued five years, always actively employed, but without having any opportunity of particularly distinguishing himself, till the year 1758, when he was appointed commander-in-chief of the expedition sent against the French settlement at Goree on the coast of Africa. On his return from this service, in the ensuing spring, he struck his broad pendant, and continued to serve for some time in the fleet commanded by Sir Edward Hawke. In the month of February he was appointed colonel of the Plymouth division of marines. On the 22d of October, 1762, he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue squadron. In the month of October, 1770, he was appointed to command a squadron ordered to be fitted out with the utmost expedition, in consequence of an apprehended rupture with Spain. The dispute was, however, amicably adjusted, and the armament ordered to be dismantled without having ever put to

sea.

At the commencement of the year 1778, it being foreseen that a rupture with France was become inevitable, Mr Keppel was promoted to be admiral of the blue squadron, and was appointed commander-inchief of the fleet intended, in the actual event of a war, for home or channel service. Having hoisted his flag, in the month of March, on board the Prince George, of ninety guns, from which he afterwards removed it on board the Victory, he sailed from St Helen's on the 8th of June, at the head of a fleet consisting of twenty-one ships of two and

three decks, three frigates, and as many smaller vessels. On the 10th of July they discovered the fleet of the enemy. Several days were spent, according to the practice of French naval tactics at that time, in manoeuvring; but at length the whole of their fleet was brought to a general action on the 27th of July. This encounter, when compared with others bearing the same denomination, namely, that of a general action between two powerful fleets, certainly deserved no more dignified appellation than that of an indecisive skirmish. Mr Keppel returned to port, for the purpose of refitting those ships of the fleet which had received any material damage, and sailed from Plymouth on the 23d of August to join the divisions of Sir Robert Harland and Sir Hugh Palliser, which had put to sea on the preceding day. Nothing, however, sufficiently material to merit notice took place during the remainder of the naval campaign, which was finally closed by the return of Mr Keppel on the 28th of October. The dissatisfaction occasioned by the indecisive action in the month of July, though smothered for a considerable time, now began to manifest itself. The friends of Keppel cast the whole blame of the miscarriage on Sir Hugh Palliser, and it could not be expected that the latter, with his party, would endure the obloquy patiently. Invective begot recrimination, and the houses of parliament rang with the clamours of the different parties. Sir Hugh Palliser at length preferred a specific charge against Mr Keppel at the admiralty board, and demanded a court-martial, which, notwithstanding moderate men unanimously conceived it improper and impolitic, should be instituted after so long an interval, and a memorial, signed by several of those who had been, and were then considered among the leading and most distinguished characters in the British navy, was presented to his majesty, beseeching him to stop all further proceedings, was, nevertheless, commanded to be prosecuted in the regular manner. An order was accordingly issued to Sir Thomas Pye, admiral of the white, to hold a court-martial for the trial of Mr Keppel, on the 7th of January: it consequently met on that day on board the Britannia. Palliser charged Keppel with having neglected to arrange his ships in order of battle, so that a general engagement could not have been brought on; with having neglected to tack and double upon the French, with the van and centre divisions of the English fleet, after these had passed the enemy's rear; thus leaving the vice-admiral of the blue exposed to be cut off; with having given an opportunity to the enemy to rally unmolested, and stand after the British fleet,—thus giving the French admiral a pretence to claim the victory; and, lastly, with having, on the morning of the 28th of July, instead of pursuing the enemy, led the British fleet in an opposite direction. After going through the necessary forms of swearing in the members, it adjourned to the governor's house a particular act of parliament having, for the accommodation of Mr Keppel, who was extremely indisposed, been passed for the purpose of authorizing a measure till then unprecedented. It is not within our limits to give even an abridged detail of the trial, which continued, through several short intervening adjournments, till the 11th of February: suffice it that we briefly state Mr Keppel was acquitted. The admiral, however, ceased to be employed,- -a circumstance rather naturally to be expected than wondered at, considering not only the extraordinary political schism which his case and conduct had created, but