17. Mr. LEMAN to the Rev. SAMUEL PARR, LL. D. * "MY DEAR SIR, Crescent, Bath, Feb. 13, 1820. "I have the great satisfaction of being able to contradict the cruel report of the death of my beloved friend the Bishop of Cloyne; for at the very time the account of his loss appeared in the public papers, I received a letter from him on the morning of the 9th instant, and, as you are equally interested with myself in his welfare, I send you his own account of his situa tion at that time.

The gout (he says) has been more tedious, as well as more severe this winter than I ever experienced. It is now ten weeks since I have ventured to cross the threshold, once excepted, when I drove out in the carriage, and was so much shaken that it did me more harm than good; and these constant attacks of pain depriving me of sleep and exercise, and coming upon me when I was beginning to recover a little my loss of appetite, and of flesh, has been very hard upon me. I literally do not think that I could have stood it if my niece had not been with me; and women, I have always agreed with you, are so careful and tender, and such excellent nurses, and so anxious to amuse one, as well as capable of doing it, that one of them is worth a host of male creatures.'

"Such, my dear Sir, is the private and confidential account I have received from my dearest friend; and, although it still leaves me greatly uneasy about him, yet I hope that the change of air, and a milder climate, may thereby restore him to his former health. As soon as he can travel with comfort to himself, I shall press upon him his coming down to this place, where I know that he will have every comfort and attention which I can give him.

"It is with great pain that I read the unpleasant account you give of yourself; and the influenza which has been laying waste all around me, has fallen upon me also with a very heavy hand; for I have been almost confined for nearly three weeks; I hope, however, I shall get over it, and nothing would give me greater pleasure then to have the satisfaction of seeing you quite well at Bath. I scarce know what I write, but I remain very faithfully your very obedient humble servant, THOMAS LEMAN."

18. "MY DEAR SIR,

Crescent, Bath, July 18, 1820. "The loss of my dearest friend has so overpowered me that I can scarce see to write to you. By a letter I have this moment received from his excellent niece, I find he has appointed me his sole executor in England, which will oblige me to be in town This and the two following letters are extracted from the Memoirs of Dr. Parr by Dr. John Johnstone, p. 486. They are particularly inte resting as exhibiting Mr. Leman's affectionate attachment to his old friend Bishop Bennet, to whom he was sole executor.

He

the beginning of next week. This painful office, which millions would not have tempted me to accept, he pressed upon me so urgently when I last saw him, that I could not refuse him. is to be buried in Plumstead Church, somewhere near London. Should you like to attend the funeral, you have nothing to do but to send word to Montagu-square. I trust to your friendship to mention his death in the public papers. Alas! I am incapable of doing any thing but to lament the irreparable loss I have sustained. Yours most truly, THOMAS LEMAN."

19. "MY DEAR SIR,

Crescent, Bath, Dec. 1, 1820. Being now able to read your letter, I can return you specific answers to all your queries. The monument, or tablet, is di rected in his will; and in a private paper, left me as his executor, he adds, I hope the Master and Fellows of Emanuelcollege will let my monument be (after the design, and with the inscription affixed to my will,) placed at the north end of the cloisters.' As to any alterations that you may think necessary, I leave them entirely to your pure taste and sound critical judgment; and I add only, that I shall readily pay any expense relative to the having it written by your schoolmaster. I never saw Mr. Shout, nor do I know any thing of him; but I suppose, of course, that he will rigidly follow any orders you are so good as to give him.

"You cannot conceive what a weight you have taken off my mind by employing an amanuensis; for since I received the stone from Rosetta, and the brick from Babel, I have never been so completely puzzled. Your writing certainly is more mysterious than the former, and more inexplicable than the - latter.

"Sir William Scott has written to me to inquire if I had found among my friend's papers some letters relating to the late Dr. Goldsmith, and which had passed between him and Burke, and Johnson and Marley, and were supposed to be in the Bishop's possession. There are none such in England, and I do not recollect ever having heard of such having been in his possession. Can you, who lived in such intimacy with the Bishop, recollect any thing about them?

"I do hope, and even entreat you to pay some attention to your health, and not to neglect the trifling complaint in your leg; for your life is of consequence to the world, and more particularly to your friends. I remain with great respect, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully, THOMAS LEMAN."

455

a

REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, F. S. A.

.

The Rev. James Douglas, author of the Nænia Britannica, was originally of the military profesion. In January 1780 he married Margaret, daughter of John Oldershaw, Esq. of Rochester (who had previously been an eminent surgeon at Leicester); and in the same year he was elected F. S. A. being then styled of Stratton-street, Piccadilly, and entered into holy orders. For some time he was a member of Peter-house, Cambridge. He afterwards settled in Sussex, where, after serving several Curacies, and having for some years been a Chaplain in Ordinary to the Prince of Wales, he was in 1799 presented by the King to the Rectory of Middleton. In 180.. he was presented by Lord Henniker to the Vicarage of Kenton in Suffolk.

His first publication was in the line of his original profession, "Essay on Tactics, from the French of Guibert, 1781," 2 vols. 8vo.

In 1782 he published, but without his name, one volume of "Travelling Anecdotes, through various Parts of Europe," and promised a second. This work was a mixture of description and anecdote, and was written somewhat in the manner of Sterne. It attracted considerable notice *; and a second edition, with the author's name, appeared in 1785. In the Preface to this, he made an apology for declining to give the promised second volume of these Anecdotes, hinting very properly that more serious avocations are better suited to his present engagements in the solemn duties of the Church +."

In 1785 he contributed to the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, "Two Dissertations on the brass instruments called Celts, and other arms of.

* See the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VIII. p. 685. There is a critique upon it, with extracts, in the Monthly Review, vol. LXVII. pp. 93-100. † Ibid. vol. LXXIV. p. 235.

the Antients, found in this Island *." The dedication to Lieut.-General Melville, F. R. S. F. A. S. &c. is dated from Chiddingfold in Sussex.

The same friend having addressed to him some observations on an ancient sword +, supposed to be Roman, Mr. Douglas returned him a reply; and both letters were read before the Society of Antiquaries, Jan. 27, 1785, and are printed in the Archæologia, vol. VII. pp. 374-378. On the same day also was read to the Society, and will be found in the pages following those named, a letter addressed to Mr. Douglas by the Rev. Mr. Mutlow, containing an "Account of some Antiquities found in Gloucestershire."

About the same time he sketched the well-known whole-length portrait of Captain Grose, whom he caught napping; it was cordially inscribed to those Members of the Antiquarian Society who adjourn to the Somerset, by one of their devoted brethren."

Also in 1785 he published in 4to, "A Dissertation on the Antiquity of the Earth;" read at the Royal Society, 12th of May that year §. This was

* The first of these had been read before the Society of Antiquaries, June 17, 1784, but not printed in the Archæologia, the Council fearing that so doing might "invade on Mr. Douglas's materials for the work he was then writing on the sepulchres of the ancients found in this island." His plan, however, being somewhat altered, and having perceived himself obliged to discard such observations as did not immediately relate to his subject, communicated his papers on Celts to Mr. Nichols; and they formed the Thirty-third Number of the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, but are bound in the first volume.This pamphlet has two masterly aquatint engravings by the author. To these in a review in the Gentleman's Magazine due commendation was given, whilst the Critic (Mr. Gough) found many holes to pick in the dissertation. See vol. LVI. of that work, p. 150. Mr. Douglas wrote a letter in reply, which will be found, ibid. p. 245.

+ Engraved in the Nænia Britannica, plate xxvI.

This plate is particularly noticed with the Captain's other portraits, in the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. III. p. 659.

Noticed by the Monthly Reviewer, vol. LXXV. p. 457 —

an early essay on those diluvian remains, the study of which has been recently renewed with such increased ardour.

In 1786 appeared in folio, the first number of Mr. Douglas's greatest undertaking, intituled, "Nænia Britannica; or, a Sepulchral History of Great Britain, from the earliest period to its general conversion to Christianity. Including a complete series of the British, Roman, and Saxon Sepulchral Rites and Ceremonies, with the contents of several hundred Burial-places, opened under a careful inspection of the Author; tending to illustrate the early part of, and to fix on a more unquestionable criterion for the study of antiquity. To which are added, Observations on the Celtic, British, Roman, and Danish barrows discovered in Britain." In this work every circumstance relative to the tombs is particularly described, and the tombs themselves, with all their contents, are represented on aquatinta plates, executed by Mr. Douglas, and admirably adapted for conveying an accurate idea of the decayed relics*.

In the Forty-second Number of the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, which was published in 1787, was another article by Mr. Douglas. This was "On the Urbs Rutupia of Ptolemy, and the Lundenwic of the Saxons t."

Mr. Douglas's excellent specimens of amateur engravings were thus applauded: "The plates in aquatinta, which we find to be the author's own performance, are neatly executed, and are good representations of the originals, particularly those of the coins, which we cannot help commending as engravings, although they are totally foreign to the main subject of his book."

* See the criticism of the Monthly Reviewer quoted in the Literary Anecdotes," vol. IX. p. 8.

† Mr. Douglas maintained that Rutupia was not Richborough, but Canterbury; that "the Lunden-wic, where Mellitus was Bishop, was London; the Londen-wic, cited from the Textus Roffensis, concerning commerce in that place, was Canterbury; and the Lunden-wic, so called in Ethelbert's grant, Reculver."