compliment that a nautical man could do to his memory, by hoisting the colours of his yacht half way up the ensign staff!

2. LORD HENRY PETTY, M. A. LATE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, &c. &c.

MEN are not only best acquainted with the arts to which they are bred, but they attain equal skill and facility in practice, by a previous application to the theory. This is eminently conspicous in the learned professions, for no one pretends to be a regular lawyer, physician, or divine, without initiation, due admission, and induction. It is not a little remarkable, however, that most persons consider themselves ipso facto statesmen, without either toil or study; and so modest is the bulk of mankind in this point of view, that scarcely any one who has figured away as a member of parliament or a city orator, but thinks himself admirably calculated to direct the affairs of a nation.

Three men in our own age have been educated, however, in direct opposition to the general opinion to which we have just alluded, and it is not a little remarkable that they were all the younger sons of noblemen, and have all become ministers. It is a well known fact that Henry Fox, Lord Holland, actually brought up his favourite son Charles for the very situation which he afterwards attained, al

though he would doubtless have wished him to have embraced a different party, as well as pursued different measures. The next instance is that of the late Mr. Pitt, whose opinions and practice, towards the middle and latter end of his career, were also in express opposition to the principles which had been instilled and acted upon by his illustrious father. The last is the subject of this memoir, who, like the other two, was regularly bred a statesman, and employed from his early youth to consider, converse, and debate on public affairs: in fine, he has been a man of business from his childhood.

Lord Henry Petty is the son of the late William Petty, Marquis of Lansdowne, by his second wife, Lady Louisa Fitzpatrick, sister to the Earl of Upper Ossory. He was born in July, 1780, and being a great favourite, as is often the case with a younger child, extraordinary pains were intended to be bestowed on the cultivation of his mind. His father was accustomed frequently to agitate the question which has been so often mooted relative to a public or private education; and we have more than once heard it mentioned, to the credit of the discernment and candour of the present Marquis, that it was he who fixed the wavering resolves of paternal solicitude, by declaring openly in favour of the former.

Lord Henry was accordingly sent to Westminster school; and as Berkley-square was at too great à distance to return every night, and repair every morning thither, he lodged and boarded in Dean's

yard, and submitted in all things to the usual discipline of the institution. Mr. Debary, M. A. of Cambridge, a young divine, and son of a respectable clergyman, acted at that time, we believe, in the situation of an usher there, and to his particular care this pupil was committed. They afterwards repaired together to the university of Edinburgh, on which occasion they resided within, or at least frequently visited at, the mansion of the respectable Professor Dugald Stuart, and experienced all the kind attentions of Mrs. S. who is a woman of family, being nearly related to a noble house in North Britain, and has, if we are not mistaken, sacrificed at the altar of the Muses. Here they found a good table, and excellent company. Whether Lord Ashburton, Lord Fitzharris, and Lord Henry Petty, look back on their evening entertainments as the

66 NOCTES, CENÆQUE DEORUM,"

we cannot pretend to say, but certain it is that the Scotch marmalade and Scotch philosophy were neither of them at that moment despicable, while the Speculative Society, of which they were members, rejoiced at such an acquisition.*

On their way home, the tutor and the pupil vi

* "The Speculative Society was instituted for improvement in public speaking, and in science in general, without having peculiar reference to any of its branches. The members meet weekly during the sitting of the college, in a hall built by themselves, A. D. 1769, on a spot of ground, on the south side of the college area, granted them for the special purpose by the town-council of 1808-1809.

.I

sited Cambridge, and as the former was a member of Trinity College, it was natural for him to be partial to that society. This circumstance, we believe, trifling as it may appear, decided in some respects the future destiny of Lord Henry, for he was sent to this university instead of Oxford, to which he may be considered as possessing certain family claims.

How he conducted himself at Trinity, where he received the degree of M. A., and how much

Edinburgh, at the recommendation of the principal of the university.

"The gentlemen discourse in rotation upon any literary subject they incline; and these performances undergo a very free criticism. The rest of the entertainment consists of a debate upon a subject previously appointed, which is opened by one of the members in rotation, and discussed by the society at large.

"Far from a promiscuous admission into this society, it is restricted to a very limited number; and such has been its reputation, that the number of candidates for supplying vacancies has afforded the society an opportunity to select those who are distinguished for capacity, industry, and decorum. It consists of gentlemen who follow respectively all the liberal professions, but the greatest number belongs to the law; and it has already furnished several professors to the universities of St Andrew's and Edinburgh." Arnot's Hist. of Edinburgh, p. 430–431.

* As Henry VIII. possessed himself some talents for learning, he was an encourager of them in others. He founded Trinity College in Cambridge, and gave it ample endowments.

"The countenance given to letters by this king and his ministers," adds Hume, "contributed to render learning fashionable in England. Erasmus speaks with great satisfaction of the general regard paid by the nobility and gentry to men of knowledge."

he became endeared to his contemporaries, it is is almost unnecessary to mention; indeed, the manner in which he was elected to represent that great and learned body in parliament, will be the best answer to any question that may be urged on that subject.

After returning from college, Lord Henry was sent abroad by his father, and he was confided on this occasion to the care of Mr. Dumont, for whom the Marquis had obtained a place in a public office, during the period that his friend, the late Colonel de Barré, held the clerkship of the Pells. It was in company with this gentleman, who is said to be well acquainted with foreign languages and foreign affairs, that he visited France, which enjoyed a short interval of peace, after the struggles and the wars arising out of a tempestuous revolution; and Switzerland then about to experience all the horrors of a foreign bondage.

On his revisiting England, and just at the period when he had attained the twenty-second year of his age, Lord Henry was returned a member of the new parliament convoked in 1806, being nominated rather than elected for the borough of Calne. During the first twelve months he was silent, but on the 13th of February, 1804, he made his maiden speech on the "Irish bank restriction bill," and he was much complimented on this occasion by Mr. Foster, formerly Speaker of the House of Commons of Ireland, and then Chancellor of the Exchequer of that country.