ings. The same may be said of the District Committees of the Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and for the Propagation of the Gospel. Having been very anxious for the establishment of a Savings Bank at Northampton, and having succeeded in that object, he was invariably regular in his personal attendance -according to the rota. But his solicitude for the county of Northampton (of which he may be considered THE FATHER) stopped not here. It was one of the last acts of his truly useful life, to promote the erection of a Lunatic Asylum; and even so lately as the 24th of July last, although a period of between four and five years of ill-health, aggravated by the infirmities of age and severe domestic afflictions, had compelled him to withdraw as much as possible from active life, he took the chair at the County Hall to assist in the establishment of a Deaf and Dumb Institution at Edgbaston, and was heard, as far as his then enfeebled voice could be heard, to plead with all his wonted clearness of reasoning, precision of language, and warmth of feeling, the cause of the helpless and afflicted. Nor in London was he less backward in giving his personal patronage to the similar establishments of charitable benevolence.

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Meanwhile, the Royal Institution in Albemarle-street-of which the late Earl of Winchelsea had been the previous President-fixed upon his Lordship to succeed to that office-one of pure honour, and decided literary and scientific distinction. Lord Spencer obeyed the voice of the committee deputed to tender the situation and entered upon the duties of his office with alacrity and the most complete success. There had been a good deal of confusion and misunderstanding in the complicated affairs of the Institution: but his habits of business, and just perception of conflicting interests, soon restored harmony and comparative prosperity. His portrait now adorns the walls, at the request and expense of the Committee.

It should also be noticed that Earl Spencer was for more than forty years a Trustee of the British Museum, having been elected to that honourable office in 1793: though there is one record of his administration therein which certainly does not redound to his credit,—that, in the name of his brother Trustees, he repelled the offer of Mr. Gough's valuable collection, afterwards given to the Bodleian, merely because, in the narrow confines of Montague House, there was not room to store a box of copper plates! (see his letter in Nichols's Literary Illustrations, vol. V. p. 573).

This leads us to speak of the Earl the collector of the finest private libra in Europe. The history is developed by Dr. Dibdin, in the highly ornamented pages of the Edes Althorpiana; and some of its most important contents are described in the Bibliotheca Spenceriana (yet an imperfect work). His Lordship placed his early printed books (including all the Editiones Primaria) together with the works printed by the Aldine Family, in his London residence: the great bulk of his library being deposited at Althorp-his ancestral residence-in a suite of rooms, on the ground floor, very little short of two hundred and fifty feet in length. It is impossible to contemplate such a library-the achievement of one individual -without emotions of the deepest admiration. It is not that the books are, uniformly, in as beautiful condition without, as they are intrinsically attractive within; but that, in their acquisition, the noble owner never once descended to any mean or unworthy act. It was, from beginning to end-and for a period little short of forty years-one unvaried course of liberal feeling, and of downright hearty enjoyment in the objects before him. And how is our pleasure heightened on a present view of this matchless collection, when we learn that the whole will now be preserved at Althorp. ESTO PERPETUA !

On the establishment of the Roxburgh Club in 1812, Earl Spencer became its President, and he presented to the members in 1816 a reprint of Chure hyard's Translation of Ovid de Tristibus, and in 1825 another of La Rotta de Scocesi.

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We now come to a contemplation of the more beautiful or moral points of the picture before us: and these are replete with objects that induce the most heartfelt delight. It not only pleased a gracious Providence that the deceased should come early into the possession of his title and great property; but that, in his capacity of husband, father, master of a family, and of a large roll of tenants, he should have been in comparatively long and prosperous enjoyment. anecdote, connected with this tenantry, deserves to be recorded. Some fifteen years ago, all his tenants, unknown to their noble landlord, subscribed for a large and beautiful silver vase-of which the late classical Theid was the designer -to present to him. On a given day they were all assembled at Althorp to carry this object into effect, and were afterwards fêted with a sumptuous entertainment in the picture gallery, which is 120 feet in length. THE DAY defied description. Among the tenants was one who had enjoyed his property, as

tenant at will, through a line of ancestry up to Henry the Eighth-in the time of Sir John Spencer, the founder of the family. The Countess Spencer died in 1831, after a union of half a century: a union, of which the length was the least remarkable-from the uninterrupted flow of the most perfect concord, and undiminished attachment and devotion on both sides. As in life, so in death, this happy and exemplary couple were undivided. It followed that, gifted with high and sparkling powers of conversation-based on an extraordinary range of miscellaneous reading, especially in the history and biography of England and France-the late Countess Spencer, at the head of her hospitable table, was the delight of her guests, and the mistress of an establishment which seemed at once to command the admiration and provoke the rivalry of many an unsuccessful competitor.

At this table in former times sat Johnson, Burke, Fox, Gibbon, Reynolds, Garrick, Reynell, Jones, and Windham, and of later years we could exhibit a long catalogue of talent and high moral worth-in philosophy, literature, and the fine artsbut we would not wantonly incur the odium of inevitable omissions.

In his stature, Earl Spencer was tall, and athletic if not robust. His demeanour was particularly his own-calm, gentle, dignified, but not unbending. Rank is adventitious; but with Earl Spencer gentility as well as title seemed to be hereditary. No coarse language was ever endured, none in fact was ever introduced, at his table. His attention as well to the comfort of the humblest guest, as to the topic of general discussion, was at all times remarkable_and those who remember the joyous, and yet thoroughly intellectual and instructive, days and nights of Althorp, before death had invaded its symposia, will attest the truth of this remark. What freedom of speech, of action, of pleasurable enjoyment! What "Attic nights "-what days of diversified and gratifying pursuits! The echoing horn-the gun's reportwithout an almost interminable vista of books-a gallery of historical pictures scarcely to be surpassed-billiards, music, drawing within. Few men pursued his pleasures, or amusements, with a keener relish than the late Earl. When at Harrow, he won the silver arrow in the year 1771. In early life, he was among the most brilliant skaiters upon the Serpentine; generally eliciting the attention of a crowd of admirers. Hunting was also eagerly pursued by him; and, in later life, with undiminished gratification and untiring zeal, shooting and

sailing. His constitution was naturally strong, and unimpaired by the slightest infusion of intemperance.

Such is the man-such the noblemanwho has been "gathered to his fathers." It is by such examples that the Aristocracy of this country can, in every buffeting and tempestuous extremity, best maintain its character and its influence.

Earl Spencer married, on the 6th of March, 1781, the Hon. Lavinia Bingham, eldest daughter of Charles Lord (afterwards Earl of) Lucan, and sister to the present Earl. Her ladyship died on the 8th of June 1831, having had issue five sons and three daughters: 1. the Right Hon. John-Charles now Earl Spencer, late Chancellor of the Exchequer and M.P. for Northamptonshire : he married in 1814 Esther only daughter and heiress of Richard Acklom, esq. and niece to the late Earl of Bandon; she died in 1818, leaving no issue; 2. the Rt. Hon. Sarah Lady Lyttelton, married in 1813 to the present Lord Lyttelton, and has five children; 3. the Hon. Richard, who died an infant; 4. the Hon. Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer, K.C.H. Capt. RN. who died Nov. 4, 1830, and of whom a memoir will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. CI. pt. i. p. 82; 5. Lady Harriet, who died in infancy; 6. Lady Georgiana Charlotte, married in 1814 to Lord George Quin, brother to the present Marquis of Headfort, and died in 1823, leaving three children; 7.the Hon. Frederick Spencer, Capt. R. N. and C.B. now M. P. for Midhurst, and previously for Worcestershire; he married in 1830, his second cousin Elizabeth-Georgiana, second daughter of William Stephen Poyntz, esq. M.P. for Ashburton, and sister to the Marchioness of Exeter, and the dowager Lady Clinton; and 8., the Hon. and Rev. George Spencer, late Rector of Brington in Northamptonshire, but now in holy orders of the church of Rome.

The funeral of Earl Spencer took place at Brington* on the 19th of November. In compliance with the directions left by the deceased, it was a walking one, and was remarkable only for the immense concourse of persons assembled to witness it. Among the principal mourners were the present Earl and his two brothers, his brother-in-law Lord Lyttelton, the Hon. Mr. Lyttelton, Lord G. Quin, and Hon. Mr. S. Lyttelton, The

*Two beautiful plates in Mr. Baker's History of Northamptonshire, contributed to the work by Earl Spencer, present views of the fine monuments of the family in Brington church.

cortege proceeded at an extremely slow pace; and the lengthened and melancholy train, as it wound along the avenues of the noble park, had a very imposing appearance. It reached the churchyard about one o'clock, where it was joined by the Honourable Mrs. Fred. Spencer, Lady Lyttelton, the Honourable Miss Lyttelton, and Miss Quin.

The portraits of Lord Spencer are of course numerous; the following are some of the most important:

1. At the age of 17, in a fancy dress, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., engraved by T. H. Robinson in the Supplement to Bibliotheca Spenceriana (published as the second volume of the Edes Althorpianæ).

2. In the robes of the Garter, by Copley, R.A. engraved by B. Holl, in Fisher's National Portrait Gallery.

3. By Sir M. A. Shee, R. A. exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1804.

4. Reading, by Hoppner, R. A. engraved in Cadell's Contemporary Portraits.

5. In his library chair, by Phillips, R. A., engraved by W. Finden in the first volume of the Edes Althorpianæ.

SIR GILBERT BLANE, BART. M.D. June 27. In Sackville-street, in his 85th year, Sir Gilbert Blane, of Blanefield, co. Ayr, and Culverlands, co. Berks, Bart. M.D. Physician in ordinary to the King, Fellow of the College of Physicians and of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, Member of the Imperial Society of Sciences at St. Petersburg, &c. &c.

Sir Gilbert Blane was the fourth son of a family of opulent Scotish merchants, one of whom, Thomas, was some time settled in London, and William, junior to Sir Gilbert, purchased the estate of Winkfield Park, Berks.

Sir Gilbert was born at Blanefield, co. Ayr, Aug. 29 (O.S.) 1749. He commenced life as a Navy surgeon, and was present at the engagement between the English and French fleets in the West Indies, on the 12th of April 1782, of which he wrote an account-we believe his first published work. He shortly after published a valuable work entitled "Observations on the diseases incident to Seamen." He rose gradually in his profession, until he attained the rank of Physician to the Fleet, and was honoured with the acquaintance and friendship of his present Majesty. In 1788 he was selected to deliver the Croonian Lecture, on muscular motion, before the Royal Society, which lecture was published in 1790. We also find in their Transactions, vol. 80, an account by him of the Nardus Indica, or spikenard; in which paper he

attempted to collect what was known by the ancients respecting this odoriferous herb. His ideas respecting medical education, and certain topics connected with it, he gave to the world in 1819, under the title of "Medical Logic," and the work has run through more than edition. In 1822 he published "Select Dissertations on several subjects of Medical Science," most of which, we believe, had before appeared as separate papers_in some of the medical periodicals. For some time he had retired from public life, when we find him once more coming forward in 1831, and addressing his

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Warning to the British Public against the alarming approach of the Indian Cholera." These, with some pamphlets on subjects of ephemeral interest, and contributions to Medical Periodicals, constitute, we believe, the whole of his literary labours.

Sir Gilbert Blane was for some time Physician to St. Thomas's Hospital; and having been appointed successively Physician to the Household, and one of the Physicians in ordinary to his late Majesty, was created a Baronet by patent dated Dec. 26, 1812.

In Nov. 1829, with the sanction of the Lords of the Admiralty, he founded a prize medal for the best journal kept by the surgeons of His Majesty's navy. The medal is awarded every second year, the Commissioners selecting four journals,-Sir Gilbert during his life, and thenceforth the President of the College of Physicians, and the President of the College of Surgeons, deciding which of such four is best entitled to this hono

rary distinction. This judicious insti

tution is calculated to excite considerable emulation in the medical departments of the Navy; and by bringing the journals from time to time before the notice of the Board, ensure to the most deserving the promotion which in this most important branch of the public service, is, or ought to be, only given to merit.

He married July 11, 1786, Elizabeth, only daughter of Abraham Gardner, merchant (by Mary Newman, who married secondly William Gaskarth, esq. brother to Julia Countess of Suffolk), and by that lady, who died on the 9th of July 1832, he had six sons and three daughters. His eldest son GilbertGardner Blane, esq. died in February 1833, aged 45. His second son, Lieut. George Rodney Blane, of the Bengal engineers, died on the 18th of May 1821. His successor in the title, the present Sir Hugh Seymour Blane, served with distinction at Waterloo, as an officer of the 3d guards. He is married, and has issue. Sir Gilbert has left one other son, Charles

Collins. His daughter Louisa was accidentally drowned in a piece of water on her uncle's estate at Winkfield Park, Aug. 24, 1813, aged 19. The others died in infancy.

COL. SIR M. M'CREAGH.

Aug. 31. At Leeds, aged 48, Colonel Sir Michael M'Creagh, C. B., K.C.T.S. Inspecting Field Officer of the Northern Recruiting District.

This distinguished officer entered the army in 1802, when in his 16th year, as an Ensign in the 39th foot, with which he served in several of the West India islands. In 1803 he purchased a Lieutency in the same corps, and having returned with it to England, he exchanged into the 37th, and returned to service in the same clime. In 1804 he purchased a company in the 7th West India regiment, which he commanded at New Providence, and the fine discipline which he established, gave early promise of his future military fame.

In 1807 he was appointed to the Royals, the regiment_commanded by his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, who distinguished Capt. M'Creagh with particular regard; and shortly after, he was one of the officers selected to discipline the Portuguese army. Having been promoted to the brevet rank of Major, he proceeded to join Lord Beresford at Abrantes, and was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the 7th Portuguese infantry. His active and energetic exertions soon brought that corps to equal in discipline the best of the British army, and its conduct at Busaco, and in the retreat to the lines of Lisbon, was such as reflected the highest credit on its commander. He was then directed to take under his charge the 5th battalion of Caçadores.

At the battles of Santarem, Badajos, Albuera, Alfuentes, Salamanca, Burgos, Vittoria, Toulouse, St. Sebastian, Nivelle, the Nive, and other actions of the Peninsular war, he commanded regiments as Colonel, and received on most of those occasions the thanks in orders, of the Commander-in-chief of the army. At St. Sebastian he particularly distinguished himself in leading on to the breach in a most gallant style the covering parties and 3d Portuguese regiment: surmounting the enemy's defences, carrying three barricades, and leading the column into the town, to the foot of the citadel. After the battle of the Nive, he was sent to England to recruit his health; and afterwards rejoining the army at Bordeaux, was appointed a BrigadierGeneral in the Portuguese service, and shortly after Major-General, and took

the command of the Tras-Montes division. For his services in the Peninsular War he received a medal with three clasps; was on the 20th of May, 1816, permitted to accept the order of the Tower and Sword, and on the 28th of Dec. 1821, the higher rank of Commander in the same order.

In 1811 he obtained his LieutenantColonelcy in the British army; and on the breaking out of the revolution in Portugal at the end of the war, Sir Michael resigned his command in that country and returned to England, after an absence of upwards of five years, passed in scenes of incessant warfare and great personal danger, and on services which required not only consummate military skill, but also great general ability.

In 1823 he was appointed to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the 13th foot, which, with the permission of the Duke of York, he made a light infantry regiment, and in command of which he embarked, the same year, for India. He had not been long in that country before the Burmese war broke out; when he was appointed a Brigadier-General, and ordered to take the command of the 1st, or Bengal, division of the army. He obtained for his services in this new field of duty, the thanks of both Houses of Parliament; but the effects of a coup-de-soleil so fatally affected his constitution, that he was obliged to relinquish his command and return to England.

In the brevet of 1825 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel; and in 1832 was appointed Inspecting Field Officer of the Northern Recruiting District, which situation he retained until the time of his death.

Sir Michael M'Creagh was universally beloved by his fellow-soldiers; his acquirements were great as well as his talents; he was acquainted with almost every European language, was a good classical scholar, and also a poet. He has left a widow, and one infant child.

LIEUT.-COL. F. K. LEIGHTON. Nov. 19. At Shrewsbury, in his 63d year, Francis Knyvett Leighton, Esq. Mayor of Shrewsbury, and formerly Lieut.-Colonel in the Shrewsbury Volunteers.

He was the only son and heir of the late Rev. Francis Leighton, formerly of Ford and Shrewsbury, by his first wife Clare, sister and coheiress to John Boynton Adams, of Camblesforth, co. York, Esq. and was fourth in descent from Sir Edward Leighton, the first Baronet, of Wattlesborough in Shropshire.

He was born at Reading, where his pa

rents were temporarily residing, July 25, 1772, and there baptised. When of sufficient age, he was sent to Shrewsbury school, and was afterwards removed to Rugby school, at which places, combined with the instructions he received from a parent so highly gifted as was the late Rev. Francis Leighton, (see Gent. Mag. 1813, pt. ii. p. 396) he acquired an extensive and familiar acquaintance with the Greek and Latin classics, to which he afterwards added some of the modern languages. At the age of seventeen he entered the British army as an Ensign in the 46th regiment, of which his relative, Lieut.-Gen. Sir Baldwin Leighton, Bart. was Lieut.-Colonel; and in the year 1791 accompanied it to Gibraltar, and thence, at the close of 1793, to the West Indies, where he served in the island of Martinique, and for a short time afterwards in that of St. Vincent, at the commencement of the Charib war, having in the mean time been promoted to a Lieutenancy.

In 1796 he joined the 61st regiment, then stationed in the island of St. Lucia, as Captain, and continued there in active service until that island was evacuated by us; when he returned to England, and was appointed Aid-de-Camp to Sir Hew Dalrymple, Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey. In this station he remained for about a year and half, when, his regiment being ordered to the Cape of Good Hope, he was put upon the recruiting service; but was soon after appointed Aid-de-Camp to Sir Charles Grey, General of the Eastern District. This appointment was of short duration, owing to Sir Charles Grey's removal, on which Lieut.Colonel (then Captain) Leighton placed himself at the Military College at High Wycombe, whence in 1800 he was directed to join the army under Sir Ralph Abercrombie in the Mediterranean, as assistant-Quartermaster-general, to serve in the Field Department only; in which capacity, and in that of Aid-de-Camp to Colonel Anstruther, Quartermaster-general to the army in Egypt, he served during the whole of the Egyptian campaign, and was present in the three memorable battles which took place: viz. the landing in Egypt, March 8; the taking of Aboukir, March 13; and that of Alexandria, where the immortal Abercromby received his death wound, March 21, 1801. At the close of the campaign he again joined the 61st regiment, which had sailed from the Cape of Good Hope, and formed part of the expedition under Sir David Baird in the Red Sea and across the Desert; and continued serving with it until the British forces finally evacuated

Egypt, whence they proceeded to Malta. Here he received intelligence of the dangerous illness of his mother, and of the proclamation of peace consequent on the signature of the treaty of Amiens; which, combined with some other circumstances, induced him to retire from the regular service and return home. His mother had not the satisfaction of again beholding her only and dearly beloved child, having departed this life previous to his arrival in England; where he was early apprized that his promotion to the Majority of his regiment (the 61st) must have met him on his passage. On learning this, no time was lost in petitioning the Commander-in-Chief for permission to withdraw his resignation; but although he was so highly beloved in the regiment that every officer in it, even including the next in succession (Capt. Barlow), who afterwards had the promotion, most cheerfully signed the Memorial presented to the Duke of York for that purpose, the request was not complied with.

In a letter of Col. (afterwards MajorGen.) Anstruther to Sir Hew Dalrymple, dated, Camp near Alexandria, 20th Aug. 1801, the following testimony was given to Lieut.-Col. Leighton's character and military talents: "I have employed him more than any other of the young men who have been sent out to me, or whom I selected from the army: on no occasion has he ever failed me he has executed every thing entrusted to him with a de. gree of sagacity, attention, and activity, which cannot be too highly praised; and he gives the promise of becoming in his time a most valuable officer in the higher ranks of the service. Add to this, that his activity is without bustle, his spirit without noise, his merit, in short, without parade or presumption. Such is my friend Leighton; and I thank you most sincerely for introducing me to his acquaintance."

After the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, when the British shores were threatened with invasion, Capt. Leighton was Lieut.-Colonel in the Shrewsbury Volunteers; since which he has also served as Major and as Lieutenant-Colonel in the Regular and Local Militia, and finally closed his military career as Captain in the South Shropshire Yeomanry, from which he retired in 1830.

In a civil capacity he had, in 1811, the superintendence of the conduct and correspondence of Lucien Buonaparte and his family, who, in December, 1810, had arrived in this country; and the firm and judicious yet gentlemanly manner in which this delicate and (as then considered) important duty was executed,