people have still been shy, and none of them have given any support; which if it does not alter, it is ridiculous to continue; it must immediately be resolved."

On the 1st of August, 1766, the administration of Lord Rockingham was declared to be at an end. A summary of its services, shortly after drawn up by Mr Burke, and published under the title of A Short Account of a Short Administration,' thus concludes: "The removal of that administration from power is not to them premature, since they were in office long enough to accomplish many plans of public utility, and by their perseverance and resolution rendered the way smooth and easy to their successors; having left their king and their country in a much better situation than they found them. By the temper they manifest, they seem to have no other wish than that their successors may do the public as real and as faithful service as they have done."

During North's administration the marquess of Rockingham was regarded as the head of the opposition in the house of lords; but he did not take any violent part in the struggles of party.

In March, 1782, when the efforts of Fox had finally succeeded in overturning Lord North's administration, the marquess of Rockingham again took office as premier. Much was anticipated from his political integrity and liberal sentiments; but the hopes of the nation were disappointed by his sudden death on the 1st of July, which broke up the administration.

Sir Hyde Parker.

BORN A. D. 1711.-DIED A. D. 1782.

THIS gallant officer entered the navy about the year 1744. In 1748 he was appointed to the Lively frigate, whence he was promoted to the Squirrel. In 1760 he was sent, in the Norfolk, to the East Indies. In 1762 he had the good fortune, while cruising in the Argo, to capture the Santissima Trinidada, a Spanish frigate, with a cargo worth nearly £600,000. In 1778 he was made rear, and subsequently vice-admiral of the blue. While in charge of a convoy, on the 5th of August, 1779, he fell in with a Dutch squadron off the Dogger bank. "I was happy to find," he observes, in his despatches, "that I had the wind of them; as the great number of their large frigates might otherwise have endangered my convoy. Having separated the men-of-war from the merchant-ships, and made a signal to the last to keep their wind, I bore away with a general signal to chase. The enemy formed their line, consisting of eight two-decked ships, on the starboard tack :—ours, including the Dolphin, consisting of seven. Not a gun was fired on either side, until within the distance of half musket-shot. The Fortitude then being abreast of the Dutch admiral, the action began, and continued, with an unceasing fire, for three hours and forty minutes. By this time our ships were unmanageable. I made an effort to form the line, in order to renew the action, but found it impracticable. The Bienfaisant had lost her main-top-mast, and the Buffalo her fore-yard; the rest of the ships were not less shattered in their masts, rigging, and sails. The enemy appeared to be in as bad a condition. Both squadrons lay to,

a considerable time, near to each other, when the Dutch, with their convoy, bore away for the Texel. We were not in a condition to follow them." "It was well known," remarks Charnock, in his observations on this action, "that several British line-of-battle, or at least of two decks, were then lying at the Nore, in the Downs, at Harwich, and other places contiguous to the scene of encounter, which, it is said, might have joined the admiral previous to the action; thereby insuring the destruction, or capture, of the whole Dutch force, if administration had acted with proper energy, and given timely orders for the different commanders to have effected such a junction. This circumstance, violently insisted upon by one party, and as peremptorily denied by the other, created no small degree of controversy. Certain it is, the admiral considered himself neglected and ill-treated."

In 1782, by the decease of his brother, the Rev. Sir Peter Parker, he became a baronet. The same year he sailed in the Juno for the East India station, of which he had been appointed to the chief command; but the vessel perished or blew up at sea, as no tidings were ever received of her, or any of the crew, after leaving the Cape.

Dunning, Lord Ashburton.

BORN A. D. 1731.-DIED A. D. 1783.

JOHN DUNNING was born at Ashburton in Devonshire, on the 18th of October, 1731. Being destined by his father (an attorney) for the profession of the law, he received a liberal education. It was the original intention of his father to settle him in his own neighbourhood, where they could assist each other in their different departments; but young Dunning felt the force of his abilities before that event took place, and wrote to his father, if he would allow him but one hundred pounds per year for some time, he was in hopes of pushing his fortune with much more success in London than the country. The father at first was much averse to this experiment; he at last consented, and the event justified the grounds of his son's application. He was three years at the bar before he received one hundred guineas; but the fourth year he received nearly one thousand pounds.

Among his earliest friends were Mr Kenyon, afterwards Lord Kenyon, and the celebrated Horne Tooke. His argument against general warrants in the case of Wilkes, first brought him into general notice, and he was soon after elected recorder of Bristol. In 1768 he was appointed solicitor-general, and through the influence of Lord Shelburne, returned as member of parliament for Calne. In the debate of the 9th January, 1770, on the address of thanks, Mr Dunning spoke and voted with the minority; and he supported "the address, remonstrance, and petition" of the city of London to the king on the conduct of ministers, in a speech which is reported to have been one of the finest pieces of argument and eloquence ever heard in the house.1 For having thus, while solicitor-general to his majesty, defended in parliament, on the soundest principles of law and of the constitution, the right of the sub

Roscoe,

ject to petition and remonstrate, the city presented to him the freedom of their corporation in a gold box. He supported Grenville's bill for regulating the proceedings of the house in cases of controverted elections; and in the debate on Sergeant Glynn's motion argued against Lord Mansfield's doctrine as to libels. In the debate which took place on the 25th of March, 1771, upon the motion for committing the lordmayor and Alderman Oliver to the Tower for their conduct towards the sergeant-at-arms of the house, Mr Dunning argued keenly against the motion, and took an opportunity of referring to the imperfect state of the representation. In all the debates on American affairs, Mr Dunning was the strenuous opposer of coercive measures on the part of the mother country; and in the debate of the 2d of February, 1775, he maintained that the agitation in America was not to be characterised as a rebellion, but was "created by the wisdom of those who are anxious to establish despotism, and whose views are manifestly directed to reduce America to the most abject state of servility, as a prelude to the realizing the same wicked system in the mother country." In speaking of the conduct of government towards America, which he condemned throughout, he observed, "We are now come to that fatal dilemma,-Resist, and we will cut your throats; submit, and we will tax you :-such is the reward of obedience." In 1778 Mr Dunning supported Sir George Saville's Roman Catholic relief bill. In 1780 he moved in a committee of the house, in a speech which may be regarded as the greatest of his parliamentary efforts, "that it is the opinion of this committee that it is necessary to declare that the influence of the crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished." In the session of 1780-81, the legality of the various associations and societies which had been formed for political purposes, was questioned in parliament, and was maintained with much vigour and eloquence by Mr Dunning. On the accession of the Rockingham administration, Lord Shelburne solicited and obtained a peerage for his friend Mr Dunning, who took his seat accordingly in the upper house with the title of LORD ASHBURTON. In 1780 his lordship married Elizabeth, daughter of John Baring, Esq. of Larkbear; but his health was already in a declining state; and in the month of August, 1783, he departed this life.

Sir Nathaniel Wraxall thus sketches the personal appearance of Lord Ashburton :-" Never perhaps did nature inclose a more illuminated mind in a body of meaner and more abject appearance. It is difficult to do justice to the peculiar species of ugliness which characterised his person and figure, though he did not labour under any absolute deform ity of shape or limb; a degree of infirmity, and almost of debility or decay in his organs, augmented the effect of his other bodily misfortunes; even his voice was so husky and choked with phlegm, that it refused utterance to the sentiments which were dictated by his superior intelligence." Of his style of speaking, Sir William Jones says that "it consisted of all the turns, oppositions, and figures, which the old rhetoricians taught, and which Cicero frequently practised. Many at the bar and on the bench thought this a vitiated style; but though dissatisfied as critics, yet, to the confusion of all criticism, they were transported as hearers. That faculty, however, in which no mortal ever surpassed him, and which all found irresistible, was his wit."

Wraxall has given a different opinion on this point, asserting that “Dunning neither delighted nor entertained his hearers; but he subdued them by his powers of argumentative ratiocination which have rarely been exceeded."

Though when in the meridian of his fame, this celebrated lawyer was as little chargeable with the mauvaise honte as most of his profession, vet he originally laboured under that degree of diffidence which is often attendant on great abilities. Soon after being called to the bar, he had to speak in an important case before the house of commons. It being his first appearance before so formidable an auditory, he prepared himself with considerable care. But in the hour of trial his presence of mind failed him. He opened in a low tremulous voice, and scarcely had finished his first sentence when, looking to the brief which he held in his hand to refresh his memory, apprehension spread such a mist before his eyes, that he conceived it to be not his brief, but a sheet of white paper which he had caught up in the hurry of leaving his chambers; hoping he might be deceived, he turned it over and over, rubbed his eyes, and looked again; but all in vain! he still saw nothing but the roll of white paper, and under this impression was obliged to retire from the bar half dead with fear and apprehension. To many a young man this would be a final defeat, and considered as a good excuse both by himself and friends to look to some other profession; but Dunning well knew the state of the case; that it was not ignorance, but the dread of not appearing answerable to his own wishes, which custom and experience would soon remedy; he therefore progressively returned to the charge, and ultimately crowded as much fame and honourable advancement into the compass of a life not long, as the most ambitious mind could reasonably expect. In the full flush of his fame he sometimes fell into the contrary extreme of diffidence; and while cross-examining a witness, would indulge in remarks much below his learning, taste, and station. But he did not always escape unhurt in these sallies. One of the poets of that day rallied him on this unmanly practice. He got another rub from his friend Counsellor Lee-better known by the name of honest Jack Lee-on this account. He was telling Lee that he had that morning purchased some manors in Devonshire. "I wish," said the other, "you could bring them (manners) to Westminster-hall." His acquaintance with Lee began early. Lee was a good, sound, constitutional lawyer; had a manner of hitting his point well, and speaking with a bluntness that appeared very much the natural effect of self-conviction. Dunning-in the language of Lord Mansfield-rather noted his understanding' by this intimacy, and Lee derived consequence and practice from it.

Eeorge, Viscount Sackville.

BORN A. D. 1716.-DIED A. D. 1785.

THIS nobleman, of somewhat unfortunate reputation in his day, was the third son of Lionel, first duke of Dorset, by Elizabeth, daughter of General Colyear. He was born on the 26th of January, 1716, and named after his godfather, George I. The early part of his education

was received at Westminster school; on the appointment of his father to the viceroyalty of Ireland, he was sent to the university of Dublin, where he acquired some literary honours.

In 1737 he entered the army, and in 1740 was appointed lieutenantcolonel of General Philip Bragge's regiment of foot, the 28th. He was present at the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy, and signalized himself in both engagements. He accompanied the duke of Cumberland in his Scottish campaign, and afterwards served abroad with his royal highness in the campaigns of 1747 and 1748. On the 1st of November, 1749, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the twelfth regiment of dragoons; and, in the following January, obtained the command of the king's horse-carbineers in Ireland, of which kingdom he was appointed secretary in 1751. He became a major-general in 1755; colonel of the second regiment of dragoon-guards, and lieutenant-general of the ordnance in 1757, and soon afterwards lieutenant-general of his majesty's forces, and one of the members of the privy-council. For some time he commanded a division of the army encamped near Chatham. While there, on being solicited to permit Whitfield to address the soldiers, he replied: "Tell the gentleman from me, that he may preach any thing he pleases to them, that is not against the articles of war."

In the beginning of June, 1758, another expedition against the court of France was determined on, and the command intrusted to the duke of Marlborough and Lord George Sackville. The armament landed at St Maloe's, and did some damage to the enemy. On the death of the duke in Germany next year, Lord George succeeded him in the command of the British forces, and was placed at the head of the cavalry in the battle of Minden. During the action, the enemy having been thrown into disorder by the allied infantry, Prince Ferdinand, the commander-in-chief, sent orders for Lord George to advance; but either his instructions were not sufficiently precise, or Lord George misunderstood them; and the critical moment was allowed to pass away without the cavalry coming in for their share in the action. In the general orders issued by the commander-in-chief, the following day, Lord George was deeply censured by implication in the following passage:-" His serene highness further orders it to be declared to lieutenant-general, the marquess of Granby, that he is persuaded, that if he had had the good fortune to have had him at the head of the cavalry of the right wing, his presence would have greatly contributed to have made the decision of that day more complete and more brilliant. In short, his serene highness orders, that those of his suite whose behaviour he most admired be named, as the duke of Richmond, Colonel Fitzroy, Captain Ligonier, Colonel Watson, Captain Wilson, aid-de-camp to Major-general Waldegrave, Adjutants General Erstoff, Bulow, Durendole, the Count Tobe and Malerti; his highness having much reason to be satis fied with their conduct. And his serene highness desires and orders the generals of the army, that upon all occasions when orders are brought to them by his aids-de-camp, that they may be obeyed punctually and without delay."

Lord George immediately returned to England; but within three days after his arrival, was ignominiously dismissed from all his employHis request, however, to be tried by a court-martial was

ments.