ried, June 16, 1810, Fanny, only daughter of W. Grenfell, esq. He was universally respected in the neighbourhood of Plymouth.

WILLIAM BECKFORD, Esq. May 2. At Bath, aged 84, William Beckford, esq. the author of Vathek, and formerly proprietor of Fonthill,

This very extraordinary man was indebted for his ample fortune to the property which his ancestors had acquired in the West Indies. His great-grandfather, Peter Beckford, esq. was Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-inChief of the island of Jamaica, from the reign of Charles II. to that of Anne; and his grandfather of the same name was Speaker of the House of Assembly in the same island. His father was Alderman William Beckford, who was twice Lord Mayor of London, and representative in Parliament for the metropolis in the stormy times of Wilkes, Chatham, and the American discontents, and who is celebrated for having bearded King George III. on his throne, by replying extemporaneously to his Majesty's answer to an address. Shortly after this memorable exploit Mr. Beckford died (June 21st, 1770), and the City voted a statue to his memory in Guildhall, and ordered that the speech he had delivered to the King should be engraved on the pedestal.

The Lord Mayor enjoyed the friendship of Mr. Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham, and that great man became the sponsor of his only son: the Earl of Effingham, who had married Elizabeth sister of the Lord Mayor, standing as proxy on the occasion. The following letter was written by the father to Mr. Pitt, announcing the completion of this arrange

ment:

Fonthill, "My dear Sir, Jan. 7, 1760. "Your very obliging and much esteemed favour was duly received. I consider it the greatest honour to have such He was made a a sponsor to my child.

* See in the Chatham Correspondence, 1839, vol. iii. p. 462, a letter of the Earl ot Chatham expressing his enthusiastic approbation of Beckford's conduct, fol. lowed by the Lord Mayor's reply.

+ The editors of the Chatham Correspondence have committed two errors in their notes to this letter. They call Peter Beckford, esq. the "eldest brother" of William, the Lord Mayor, instead of his father; and they term the Alderman's mansion at Fonthill" Gothic."

GENT. MAG. VOL. XXII.

Christian last night, and Lord Effingham was your proxy. No endeavours of mine shall be wanting (if it please God to spare his life) to instil into his tender mind principles of religion, honour, and love of country. It is true these are oldfashioned principles, but they are such as you approve of, and practise.

"Nothing would give me more plea. sure than to take your opinion on my present works [at Fonthill], and to regulate my future operations by your advice and judgment; but I cannot flatter myself so much as to think it possible to enjoy that comfort, until you have first procured for your country a safe, honourable, and lasting peace. I My dear Sir,

am,

"Your ever faithful and

affectionate humble servant, W. BECKFORD."

In 1773 the Earl of Chatham thus mentions his godson, in a letter to his son William, then at Cambridge

"Little Beckford was really disappointed at not being in time to see you,~ a good mark for my young vivid friend. He is just as much compounded of the elements of air and fire as he was. due proportion of terrestrial solidity will, I trust, come and make him perfect."

A

At a page of the Chatham Correspondence shortly following that from which this extract is made, will be seen a letter dated Fonthill, Dec. 11, 1773, addressed to the Earl of Chatham by the Rev. John Lettice, Mr. Beckford's tutor, and who afterwards superintended the education of his daughter the Duchess of Hamilton. It speaks of Mr. Beckford's attention having been directed to mathematics, to the study of Locke, to arithmetic, and to literature; it gives Mr. Lettice's senti ments on these several topics, but contains nothing very striking or characteris. tic of the pupil, except the following passage:

"I assure myself it will give your Lordship pleasure to be informed that, about a month ago, that splendid heap of oriental drawings, &c. which filled a large table at Burton,* has been sacrificed at the shrine of good taste. Mr. Beckford had firmness enough to burn them with his own hand. I hope that, as his judg ment grows maturer, it will give me an opportunity of acquainting your lordship with other sacrifices to the same power."

Mr. Beckford inherited from his father the estate of Fonthill, and a very large West Indian property,—in all, it is said,

*Burton Pynsent, the seat of Lord Chatham, in Somersetshire, 2 E

to more than 100,000l. per annum. At the age of eighteen he published Biographical Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters, a work satirizing some English artists under feigned names. In 1780 he made

a tour to the continent, which formed the subject of a series or letters, picturesque and poetical, published long after under the title of "Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal." The high-bred ease. voluptuousness, and classic taste of some of these descriptions and personal adventures, have a striking and unique effect. This work, which was published in 1834, is fully reviewed in our vol. II. pp. 115, 234. At the general election of 1784, Mr. Beckford was returned to Parlia ment for the city of Wells, aud in 1790 for Hindon. He resigned his seat by accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds on the last day of 1794.

In 1784 first appeared his far-celebrated romance of "Vathek, an Arabian Tale;" but it was a translation, not made by himself, and surreptitiously obtained. The original was first printed at Lausanne,* in the year 1787. It was written in French, and so admirable was it for style and idiom, that it was considered by The many as the work of a Frenchman.

English version was made by Dr. S. Henley, Rector of Rendlesham, who added ail the notes (see our vol. II. p. 115). Byron praised Vathek for its correctness of costume, beauty of description, and power of imagination. "As an Eastern tale," he said, "even Rasselas must bow before it his Happy Valley will not bear a comparison with the Hall of Eblis." It is difficult to institute a comparison between scenes so very dissimilar-almost as different as the garden of Eden from Pandemonium; but Vathek seems to have powerfully impressed the youthful fancy of Byron. It contains some minute Eastern painting and characters (a Giaour being of the number), uniting energy and fire with voluptuousness, such as Byron loved to draw. The Caliph Vathek, who had "sullied himself with a thousand crimes," like the Corsair, is a magnificent Childe Harold, and may have suggested the cha racter.

The outline or plot of Vathek possesses all the wildness of Arabian fiction. The hero is the grandson of Haroun al Raschid (Aaron the Just), whose dominions stretched from Africa to India. He is fearless, proud, inquisitive, a gourmand, fond of theological controversy, cruel and

* Whilst at Lausanne, Mr. Beckford purchased the whole library of the historian Gibbon.

magnificent in his power as a caliph; in short, an eastern Henry VIII. He dabbles, moreover, in the occult sciences, and interprets the stars and planetary influences from the top of his high tower. In these mysterious arts the caliph is assisted by his mother, Carathis. a Greek, a woman of superior genius. Their am. bition and guilt render them a prey to a Giaour-a supernatural personage, who plays an important part in the drama, and hurries the Caliph to destruction.

Mr. Beckford afterwards went to Portugal, and purchasing an estate at Cintra -that “glorious Eden" of the southhe built himselt a palace for a residence. There thou, too, Vathek! England's wealthiest son,

Once formed thy paradise, as not aware When wanton Wealth her mightiest deeds

hath done,

[shun. Meek Peace voluptuous lures was ever wont to Here didst thou dwell, here schemes of pleasure plan, [brow: Beneath yon mountain's ever-beauteous But now, as if a thing unblest by man, Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as thou! Here giant weeds a passage scarce allow To halls deserted, portals gaping wide; Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom, how Vain are the pleasaunces on earth supplied; Swept into wrecks anon by Time's ungentle tide. Childe Harold, Canto 1.

Mr. Beckford has left a literary menorial of his residence in Portugal in his "Recollections of an Excursion to the Monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha," published in 1835, (and reviewed in our vol. IV. p. 273.) The excursion was made in June 1794, at the desire of the Prince Regent of Portugal. The mo nastery of Alcobaça was the grandest ecclesiastical edifice in that country, with paintings, antique tombs, and fountains; the noblest architecture, in the finest situa. tion, and inhabited by monks who lived like princes. The whole of these sketches are interesting, and present a gorgeous picture of ecclesiastical pomp and wealth. That magnificent monastery was plundered and given to the flames by the French troops under Massena in 1811.

After leaving Cintra, Mr. Beckford took up his abode on his paternal estate in England, and for twenty years employed himself in rearing the magnificent but unsubstantial Gothic structure known as Fonthill Abbey, and in embellishing the surrounding grounds. The latter were laid out in the most exquisite style of landscape-gardening, aided by the natural inequality and beauty of the ground, and enriched by a lake and fine sylvan scenery. His buildings commenced, about the close of 1795, by resuming the erection of a

tower on the summit of the highest hill upon the estate, the foundation of which had been already laid by the Alderman, in imitation of Alfred's Tower, at Stourhead. In the following year he gave instructions to Mr. James Wyatt to prepare a design for an ornamental building on the spot which became the site of the future Abbey; it was to have the appearance of a convent, partly in ruins and partly perfect, but to contain a few rooms which might afford shelter for a day either of sunshine or of shower. From

this germ arose, with continual alterations of plan, the far-famed Abbey of Fonthill. For many years, however, no intention of converting the Convent into a permanent residence was entertained; nor, indeed, did the impatience of Mr. Beckford admit of the necessarily slow progress of a work of such dimensions, when con. structed of solid materials. Timber and cement were therefore the principal articles in its composition; and every expe. dient was used to complete the building within a given time, regardless of the consequences that might almost have been expected to ensue. At one period every cart and wagon in the district was pressed into the service, though all the agricultu ral labour of the country stood still. At another, even the royal works of St. George's chapel, Windsor, were aban. doned, that 460 men might be employed night and day on Fonthill Abbey. These men were made to relieve each other by regular watches; and, during the longest and darkest nights of winter, the astonished traveller might see the tower rising under their hands, the trowel and torch being associated for that purpose. Mr. Beckford was fond of watching the work thus expedited, the busy levy of masons, the high and giddy dancing of the lights, and the strange effects produced upon the architecture and woods below, from one of the eminences in the walks, and wasting the coldest hours of December darkness in feasting his sense with this display of almost superhuman power. One immediate result of this injudicious haste was the destruction of the great tower, which was carried up to the extreme height of 300 feet (and furnished with pinnacles and weather vanes) without time being allowed to complete its fastenings to the base on which it was erected a smart gust of wind acting suddenly upon a large flag attached to a scaf. fold-pole at its summit, carried it off its base altogether. The fall was tremendous and sublime, and the only regret expressed by Mr. Beckford was, that he had not witnessed the catastrophe. He instantly gave orders for the erection of a new tower.

:

The

This also, at first, was only of timber, covered with cement, but was afterwards cased with stone, with the view of extending its chance of durability. stone, however, was never properly clamped to the timber work. This tower was 276 feet high; it was frequently crowded with visitors during the memo. rable sale in 1822, and was by many deemed insecure this anticipation was fulfilled by its fall, on the afternoon of the 21st Dec. 1825.

:

Mr. Beckford removed, in 1807, to the Abbey from the handsome mansion erected by his father, which was then, with the exception of one wing, pulled down, and its materials carried to the new works. The reason assigned for its deser tion was the lowness of its situation, and liability to fogs. From that date to 1822 he was chiefly engaged in adding to the ornaments and the treasures of his new palace. It is stated that his total expenditure on the place, during the period of sixteen years, was estimated by himself at 273,000l. At length, in the latter year, the public were suddenly surprised by an announcement from Mr. Christie that Fonthill, so long locked up from the eyes of strangers, was about to be thrown open in preparation for a sale.

The Abbey was first opened for visitors on the 1st of July: catalogues were issued at one guinea each, and not less than 7200 were sold. The owner was gratified by his house and collections becoming the topic of general conversation. The sale did not, however, then take place, as the entire domain, and the Abbey, with all its splendid contents (some choice books, pictures, and curiosities excepted), were sold, by private contract, to John Far quhar, esq. for 330.0001. The collection was dispersed by Mr. Phillips, in the fol lowing year, and occupied a sale of thirtyseven days. (For further particulars we must refer to the works on Fonthill, by Britton, Rutter, Storer, &c., and to the latest, entitled, "Historical Notices of Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire," by Mr. Nichols, 4to. 1836.)

Mr. Beckford's relinquishment of Fonthill was occasioned by the depreciation of his property in the West Indies, and the loss of two large estates there, which were successfully claimed in Chancery by other owners after they had been in his family for more than sixty years. The proceeds of the sale of Fonthill were invested partly in annuities and partly in land near Bath, where he united two houses in the Royal Crescent by a flying gallery extended over a road, and erected on Lansdown an elegant and lofty tower, which became the repository of the articles reserved or

bought in at Fonthill, and in fact the foundation of a fresh museum. He also formed large pleasure grounds on Lansdown, and clothed its late exposed declivities with extensive woods, shrubberies, and gardens.

Subsequently, he frequently parted with pictures, but never with a book from his splendid collection. The last picture he sold was just before his death, the beautiful portrait of Bellini, which was purchased for the National Gallery for 6001.

It may well be questioned whether any individual ever united greater knowledge and taste in all the sister arts, then Mr. Beckford. Born with mental powers superior to the generality of mankind, these powers were early developed by the fostering care of the first professors in the kingdom. Mozart was his music-master: be played on the piano, and sung with taste. Sir W. Chambers instructed him in architecture, and an eminent painter of the day taught him the rudiments of drawing. His early sketches from nature of Italian scenery for correctness and delicacy would not have been unworthy a profe sional artist. He designed almost every building and piece of furniture that he possessed. His general taste in all branches of art was correct, and his judgment of pictures was that of a dealer rather than a connoisseur. His own collection, which he was perpetually changing, bad embraced specimens of almost every painter of eminence of all ages and nations; but he was not insensible to the genius of many of our modern artists, of whom his treatment was most liberal. Of late years he had added to his collection many of the works of Roberts, Cope, Lance, and others. Among the productions of modern sculpture, he especially admired Mr. Baily's Eve. He had a very fine eye for engravings, of which he possessed a superb collection. His house was one vast library, and many of the modern books are full of curious remarks in his own writing. He was not a deep scholar, but might be called a singularly accomplished man, and it is said that he could converse in the different dialects of Italy. His conversation was replete with anecdotes of the great people and distinguished characters that have flourished in the last century- Vol. taire, Mirabeau, Neckar, Madame de Stäel, Egalité, Madame Beauharnois (afterwards Empress Josephine), Gainsborough, West, Reynolds, and others of note, with whom he was in habits of intimacy. In his dress and habits he was plain and simple, and he appeared totally devoid of personal ostentation, however

extravagant in many of his pursuits. He was, considering his great age, wonderfully active; he took daily exercise on foot and on borseback until within a few days of his death: few men, for the long period of eighty-four years, have enjoyed such uninterrupted health, or maintained to so late a period of life such vigorous energy and intellectual power. His death was induced by a violent attack of influenza, and overtook him while he was, with undiminished zeal, intent on adding to his curious library by purchases at M. Nodier's sale at Paris. In all things the zeal and enthusiasm of his youth seemed quite unchanged by age.

On the 5th May, 1783, Mr. Beckford married Lady Margaret Gordon, sole surviving daughter of Charles fourth Earl of Aboyne. She died May 23, 1786, leaving issue two daughters-Margaret Maria Elizabeth, who, in May, 1811, married Lieutenant-General (then Colonel) James Orde, and who died in 1818, leaving two daughters: and Susanna Euphemia, who on the 26th of April, 1810, married Alexander Duke of Hamilton, Brandon, and Chatelherault, by whom his Grace bas one son and one daughter-viz., William Alexan. der Anthony Archibald, Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale (who recently married the Princess Mary of Baden), and Susan Catharine Harriet, who, in November, 1832, married the Earl of Lincoln, son and heir of the Duke of Newcastle.

By a patent dated Aug. 11, 1791, Mr. Beckford's arms were placed within a bordure or, charged with a tressure flory gules, as a memorial of his lineal descent from the blood royal of Scotland; and by a second grant dated March 20, 1810, the single was changed into a double tressure, in consideration of the "extraordinary accumulation of descents from royal and illustrious families" concentrated in his person (see Gentleman's Magazine, 1822, XCII. ii. 202.) He received also a crest of augmentation, viz. that of the house of Hamilton (to commemorate his descent from a cobeir of the Earls of Abercorn), Out of a coronet or, an oak-tree fructed proper, the stem penetrated by a frame saw, inscribed THROUGH, differenced by a shield pendant charged with the cost of Latimer, Gules, a cross flory or, in allusion to his descent from William the first Lord Latimer. He adopted the motto "De Dieu tout," which was that of the Mervyns, the old possessors of Fonthill, instead of LIBERTAS ET NATALE SOLUM, the motto used by his father.

Among his other decorations of Fonthill, Mr. Beckford was profuse in bis

armorial insignia. The whole are described and blazoned at length in our Magazine for 1822 by the late G. F. Beltz, esq., Lancaster Herald.

Mr. Beckford's mortal remains were deposited in the mausoleum placed for the purpose in the Abbey Cemetery, Lyncombe Vale, on Saturday the 11th of May. At about half-past eleven o'clock the procession set out in the following order: -Mutes; coach and four, containing the Rev. the Rector of Walcot, and the Rev. T. Lathbury; two coaches and pairs containing the Marquess of Huntly's domestics, &c.; plume; the body, in a hearse and six; coach and six with the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton, the Marquess of Douglas, and Lady Lincoln; two coaches and four with the Marquess of Huntly, Earl of Dunmore, the Hon. C. Murray, the Hon. Keith Stewart Mackenzie, G. W. Blathwayt, esq., R. S. White, esq. and James Heaviside, esq. who were the pall-bearers. Three other mourning coaches followed, and the procession was closed by the private carriages of the deceased, the Duchess of Hamilton, the Duke of Hamilton, G. W. Blathwayt, esq. Admiral Lysaght, General Andrews, the Rev. S. H. Widdrington, Dr. Whitter, Dr. Brodie, and J. Worthington, esq.

It is stated that the mausoleum cost 7001. It is of polished granite, and stands on a small circular plot of ground immediately in front of the chapel of the Cemetery. It was constructed a long time before Mr. Beckford's decease. A dome is to be erected over it, and it is to be inscribed with the following inscriptions :On one side will appear William Beckford, esq. late of Fonthill, Wilts; Died 2d May, 1844, aged 84." with this quotation from Vathek-"Enjoying humbly the most precious gift of heaven to man-Hope." On the other side there will be the same obituary, with the following lines from "a prayer" written by the deceased

"Eternal Power! Grant me through obvious clouds one transient gleam

Of thy bright essence on my dying hour."

At each end of the sarcophagus, the arms of the deceased will be placed on sculptured shields.

Mr. Beckford, it is believed, bas left behind him several manuscripts, which be intended for posthumous publication. Among which is one called "Liber Veritatis," consisting of remarks on the pedigrees and history of the noble families in England.

ALEXANDER JOHNSTON, ESQ. M.P.

May 9. At Rothsay, aged 54, Alexander Johnston, esq. of Shield Hall, Lanarkshire, M.P. for the Kilmarnock district of burghs.

Mr. Johnston was a merchant and manufacturer of Glasgow; and President of the Anti-Corn Law Association of Glasgow and of the West of Scotland. He was in other respects, as may be inferred, an extreme liberal.

He was first returned to Parliament at the last general election in 1841, when he polled 490 for the Kilmarnock, &c. burghs, and John C. Colquhoun, esq. the Conservative candidate, 479.

Mr. Johnston married in 1815. During the last twelve months his health was frequently in a precarious state, but im. proved so much since the beginning of the present year that he was able to resume his duties in Parliament in March last, and to continue his attendance in the House of Commons till the commencement of the Easter holidays. He visited Rothsay, in the hope of recovery at that salubrious spot.

WILLIAM ADAIR, ESQ.

May 7. At his seat, Colehouse, Devonshire, at a very advanced age, William Adair, esq. of Flixton Hall, Norfolk, Ballymenagh, co. Antrim, and St. James's Square, Westminster.

This gentleman was descended from a family which has been seated for many generations at Ballymenagh, co. Antrim. He married the daughter of Robert Shatto, esq. of Benwell, Northumber. land, and had issue Sir Robert Shafto Adair, who was created a Baronet in 1838, and who, by Elizabeth- Maria, daughter of the Rev. James Strode, has a son and heir, Robert Alexander Shafto Adair, esq who married, in 1838, Theo-dosia, daughter of General the Hon. Robert Meade.

His younger son, Alexander Adair, esq. of Heatherton Park, Somerset, married, in 1828, Harriet Eliza, daughter of George Atkinson, esq. of Lee, in Kent, and has issue.

THOMAS CAMPBELL, ESQ.

June 15. At Boulogne, aged 67, Thomas Campbell, esq. LL.D. the Poet.

Mr. Campbell, the tenth and youngest child of his parents, was born at Glasgow on the 27th of July 1777. His father was a retired merchant, of old Highland family, and an intelligent and cultivated man. The son of his age (tor Thomas was born when he was sixty-seven) seems to have been early "laid out" for honours. An excellent education was given to him