1829.] OBITUARY.-Lord Colchester. Legislature, should be left out of the Bill; and supported his motion by a speech of great ability, which made such impression on the Committee that a majority of 4 decided against the clause, and the Bill in consequence was abandoned. It is sufficiently remarkable that during Lord Colchester's last illness, the long contested Roman Catholic Question was successful; thus his Lordship escaped from witnessing personally the majorities by which that Bill was carried through the House of Lords, yet lived long enough to breathe his sincere desire, That experience may prove his own apprehensions to have been fallacious. The forms of the House of Commons having been accommodated to the variegated business of nearly three centuries now on record, cannot but be convenient and plastic for all purposes; in no place does so much regularity spring out of seeming hurry and disorder. Yet the increasing number of private bills (200 or 300 in a Session), had given occasion for complaints of injuries sustained from the haste or inattention of members; thereupon the Speaker, watchful of the protection of private rights in Private Bills, and of the reputation of the House of Commons, recommended for the sanction of the House in the year 1811, the plan of an office for entry of notices, called the "Private Bill Office," where the progress of every private bill is open to all enquirers, and, the monopoly of practice in soliciting such bills being thus abolished, complaint was no longer heard. Another inconvenience personal to members, had gradually arisen from the same overwhelming quantity of private business. In former times the Votes of a day, seldom or never exceeding a printed sheet, were distributed so reguJarly as to have obtained considerable sale as a newspaper; but the increasing quantity of matter, and the prolonged sitting of the House had by degrees so delayed the delivery of the Votes, that before Mr. Abbot came to the chair, they were usually two or three days in arrear, and sometimes a whole week. Speaker Abbot saw this with dissatisfaction, and after due consideration of the interests and habits which had grown up in consequence of this dilatory publi eation, he resolved to attempt a Reformation suitable to the change of bours, and the load of public and private business. For this purpose the marginal notes of the old fashioned Votes were assumed as a basis upon which to add GENT. MAG. May, 1899. Mr. 465 whatever necessity or perspicuity demanded; inserting also matters of information formerly reserved for the journals, and giving a short narrative of some proceedings which even the journals, (which are now printed weekly instead of annually) do not furnish. A further convenience resulted from the early distribution of the Votes; the business of the current day was thenceforth displayed on every Member's breakfast table; and this sort of information has now become so copious and particular, that the sitting of every Seleet Committee, public and private, and all the material Notices given in the Private Bill Office, appear in the Votes, to whatever hour in the preceding night the sitting of the House is protracted. This Reform and Improvement of the Votes was the last labour of Speaker Abbot. A serious attack of the same disease (erysipelas) which twelve years afterwards proved fatal to him, compelled him to quit his office in 1817; And all Members who knew him in the Chair feel the value of this Legacy to the House,—while younger members can scarcely believe that business could proceed with regularity and comfort in the comparative obscurity of earlier years. Upon the retirement of Mr. Abbot, the House of Commons addressed the King to bestow upon him some mark of his Royal favour; and he was created a Peer by the title of Baron Colchester, and a pension of 4000 a year to himself, and £3000 to his next successor in the title, was voted by Parliament. He shortly afterwards went abroad for recovery of his health, and after a residence of three years chiefly in France and Italy, he returned to England, and divided his time between a London residence and his seat at Kidbrooke, near East Grinstead, where he solaced such of his hours as were vacant from the duties of an active magistrate, in observing the progress of his plantations of timber trees, in which he greatly delighted. Lord Colchester carried into the House of Lords the same species of improvement which he had effected in the House of Commons, and their Lordships will Owe to his short appearance among them, the daily publication and distribution of their proceedings. They are also indebted to him for the establishment of a Library, on the same plan as that at the House of Commons. In the year 1827, his Lordship made a considerable journey to the Northern Highlands of Scotland, which possessed peculiar claims to his notice, Soon after he became Speaker, Lord Sid 466 OBITUARY.Lord Colchester.-Viscount Barrington. [May mouth's administration, especially Mr. Vansittart (then Secretary of the Treasury, now Lord Bexley) became attentive to the improvement of the Highlands, Roads were surveyed and planned to a great extent, and a Canal of unusual magnitude; and lest the course of improvement should depend too much upon the permanence of any administration, the Speaker of the House of Commons was named first in the Parliamentary Commission,-with strict propriety, as soperintending a large expenditure of money granted from time to time by Parliament for these purposes. Roads to the extent of 900 miles, besides many large bridges, have thus been completed at the joint expense of the puble and of the Highland counties, about £500,000 having been judiciously and frugally expended in this manner under the care of the late Speaker, whose vigilance never slept when Highland business was brought before him. His visit to the Roads, the Caledonian Canal, and the new Churches, placed him in pleasing contact with a population sensible of the benefits bestowed upon them, and eager to shew him every token of heart felt respect; nor did be fail at his return to exert himself in refreshing the attention of the other Commissioners by statements of the vast improvements under their fostering care, which he had personally witnessed in the Highlands, The brilliant victories of our army and navy during the war, were often the theme of the Speaker's official speeches, about thirty of which, concluding with that addressed to the Duke of Welling ton, may be quoted as models of just eulogy, appropriate to the person and the exploit, with a degree of classic terseness and chastity of ornament suitable to the dignity of that House, which had directed the national thanks to be thus communicated. The only works of Lord Colchester, hitherto printed are The Practice of the Chester Circuit, published in 1793, with a Preface, recommending those alterations in the Welsh Judicature which now appear likely to be carried into effect, and a pamphlet containing six of bis Speeches on the Roman Catholte Qestion, with Preliminary Observations on the State of that Question as it stood in November last, when that pamphlet was published, Lord Colchester married, Dec. 29, 1798, Flaxbeth, eldest daughter of Sir Philip Gibbs, Bart; and bas left two ne; Charles (ter in 1799) a Post Caps tam in the royal way, How Lord Colches ter; and Philip Henry (bera after his father's return from Ireland in 1807 a young barrister of great promise. His Lordship's remains were interred privately in Westminster Abbey by the side of those of his mother. VISCOUNT BARRINGTON. March 5. At Rome, aged 68, the Right Hon. and Rev. George Barrington, fifth Viscount Barrington of Ardga co. Down, and Baron Barrington of Ne castle, co. Dublin; M.A. Prebendary Durham, and Rector of Sedgfield a that bishopric. His Lordship was born July 16, 176, the third son of Major-Gen. the Ho John Barrington, the second of the in distinguished sons of the first Viscount, and his mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Florentius Vassal, esq. Mr. George Barrington was educatel at Westminster, where he was admitted a King's Scholar in 1774, and when he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford in 1778. He obtained the degree M.A. Jan. 14, 1785. Having taken by orders, he was in 1726 presented by uncle Bishop Barrington, who then bel the see of Salisbury, to the Prebend of North Grantham in that Cathedral, and as such presented himself to the Ver rage of Grantham in Lincolnshire. He resigned that living in 1791, on teist presented by his uncle, then translated to Durham, to the Rectory of Sedgfield He also resigned the Prebend in 1802; having been preferred to a prebendal stall at Durbam in 1796. Mr. Barrington succeeded to the Vis county on the death of his brother Ri chard in January 1814. Feb. 12, 1788, Elizabeth, second daugh ter of Robert Adair, esq. by Lady Caro line Keppel, eldest daughter of William Anne, second Earl of Albemarle, K. (by Lady Anne Lennox, daughter of Charles first Duke of Lennox, K.G.) By this Lady, who survives him, he ba issue ten sons and five daughters; the Right Hon. William-Keppel, born is 1793, now Viscount Barrington, who married in 1823 the Hon. Jane-Eliz Ravensworth, and has several children; beth Liddell, fourth daughter of Lord 2, the Hon. Gerge, Capt. R.N. who married in 1827 Lady Caroline Gre He married son; 3. the Hon. Samuel Shute Perceval third daughter of Earl Grey, and has a who was a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards, and was slain at Quatre Bras June 16, 1815; 4. John-Robert, dies at the age of seven in 1804; 5. the Hon. Augustus, DC. L. Feilor of All Souls college, Oxford; & the Hon. Ca 1829.] OBITUARY.-Lord Crewe.-Lord Rokeby. roline Elizabeth; 7. Hon. Russell; 8. the Hon. Francis; 9. the Hon. Charlotte Belasyse 10. the Hon. Lowther-John, B.A. of Oriel college, Oxford; 11. Francis Daines, who died in infancy: 12. the Hon. Henry-Frederick Francis Adair, born in 1808, now the youngest surviving son, and a Commoner of Christ Church, Oxford; 13. the Hon. Georgiana Christiana; 14. the Hon. ElizabethFrancis, born in 1811; and 15. the Hon. Arthur, who died in 1826, aged 12. LORD CREWE. April 28. At his bouse in Grosvenorstreet, aged 86, the Right Hon. John Crewe, Lord Crewe, of Crewe in Cheshire. His Lordship was descended from the ancient family of Crewe, which was seated at the place of that name in Cheshire in a very early period of our history. The estate was alienated from the family by a heiress in the reign of Edward the Third, but was recovered by purchase by Sir Ranulph Crewe, who was Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Sir Ranulph's grandson John had an only daughter and heiress, who married John Offley, of Madeley in Staffordshire, esq. (of the family of Thomas, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1556), whose son John, on succeeding to his grandfather's estates, took the name of Crewe, and was grandfather to the subject of this memoir. He Lord Crewe was the elder son of John Crewe, esq. Knight in Parliament for Cheshire from 1734 to his death in 1752, by Anne, daughter of Richard Shuttleworth, of Gospworth in Lancashire, esq. He was baptized at St. George's Hanover-square in 1742; and educated under Dr. Hinchcliffe, who afterwards married one of his sisters, and became Bishop of Peterborough. served Sheriff for Cheshire in 1764; and entered Parliament on a vacancy for the town of Stafford in 1765. At the general election in 1768 he was returned for the County of Cheshire, as he was on the five following occasions. He was a constant partizan of the Whigs, and a member of the Whig Club; and when they came into power with Mr. Fox, was created a Peer, Feb. 25, 1806. During the whole of his Parliamentary career (a period of more than 60 years), he was steady and consistent in his support of the popular side, and his latter days were cheered by the signal triumph of bis principles in favour of the Catholics, To his relations he was generous and affectionate; and no landlord ever took more sincere pleasure in hearing, or 467 rather knowing, that his tenants were prosperous. To his servants he was kind and indulgent, yet exempt from the weakness of favouritism so common to old age. Accordingly, his household had none of the abuses incidental to old governments, but was well regulated to the last; for he exacted from his domestics the same politeness and attention to bis friends and visiters, of which he in his own person never failed to show them a distinguished example. His establishment and way of living was a model of perfection, all was good, hospitable, and handsome, but without ostentation; and the sight of the venerable and courteous old Baron in his noble mansion (precisely as his ancestor had constructed and decorated it), was one of the pleasantest that a friend or neighbour could behold. For, among other merits, he had the singular advantage of a total and entire exemption from all ill-humours; and the sun not only "never went down upon his wrath," but never witnessed it for two minutes together. Lord Crewe married in 1776, Frances Anne, only daughter of Fulke Greville, esq. British Minister at Munich, and great-grandson of the fifth Lord Brooke, ancestor to the present Earl of Warwick. By that Lady, on whom some lines by Mr. Fox have been preserved, and who died Dec. 23, 1818, (see a brief notice of her in our vol. LXXXVIII. ii. 646,) his Lordship had two sons and two daugh. ters; 1. the Right Hon. John, now Lord Crewe, a Lieutenant-General in the army; he married in 1807, Henrietta-Maria-Anna, only child of George Walker, esq. who assumed the name of Hungerford, and by her, who died in 1820, has one son and two daughters; 2. and 3. Richard and Frances, who died young; and 4. the Hon. Emma, married in 1809 to Foster Cunliffe, esq. eldest son of Sir Foster Cunliffe, Bart. LORD ROKEBY. May 10. At Thoralby, near Leyburn, Yorkshire, aged 74, the Right Hon. Morris Robinson, third Lord Rokeby of Armagh, and fifth Baronet of Rokeby in Yorkshire. His Lordship was the eldest son of Morris Robinson, esq. by Jane, daughter of John Greenland, of Lovelace in Kent, esq. He was returned to the House of Commons for Boroughbridge, at the General Election in 1796, but only sat during that Parliament, which terminated the same year. He succeeded his uncle Matthew in his titles Nov. 30, 1800. Having never married, they bave now devolved on his younger brother Mat 468 OBITUARY.-Sir B. W. Bridges, & Sir Edw. Hales, Barts. [May, thew, who took the name of Montagu in 1776, by desire of his aunt Elizabeth, widow of Edward Montagu, of Allerthorpe, esq. a grandson of the first Earl of Sandwich. The present Lord Rokeby was born in 1762, married in 1785 E'izabeth daughter and heiress of Francis Charleton, esq. and has a numerous family, one of whom was married in 1811 to the Right Hon. Henry Goulburn, the present Chancellor of the Exchequer. SIR B. W. BRIDGES, BART. April 21. In Albemarle-street, aged 61, Sir Brook William Bridges, fourth Baronet of Goodnestone in Kent, a commander in the Royal Navy. He was born June 22, 1767, the second, but eldest surviving, of the seven sons of Sir Brook the third Baronet, by Fanny, daughter of Edmund Fowler, of Graces in Essex, Esq. He succeeded his father in September 1791; and assumed the baptismal name of Brook before that of William by licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was twice married, first Aug. 14, 1800, to Eleanor, eldest daughter of John Foote, of Lombard-street, esq. by whom he had issue three sons and one daughter: 1. Sir Brook-William Bridges, born in 1801, M.A. of Oriel college, Oxford, who has succeeded to the Baronetcy; 2. BrookGeorge, B.A. of Oriel college; 3. BrookJohn, who died an infant; and 4. Eleanor, married in April 1829 to the Rev. Western Plumptre, B.A. of University college, Oxford, and Rector of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. The first Lady Bridges having deceased Jan. 29, 1806, Sir Brook married secondly, Dec. 15, 1809, Dorothy-Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Henry Hawley, of Leybourne Grange in Kent, Bart. and sister to the present Baronet of that name. This Lady also died before him, May 17, 1816. SIB EDWARD HALES, BART. March 15. At Hales Place, near Canterbury, in his 72d year, Sir Edward Hales, the sixth Baronet of Woodchurch in Kent. The ancient Roman Catholic family of Hales, of which we believe the deceased Baronet to have been the last male representative, was descended from Nicholas Hales, living in the reign of Edward the Third, whose son Robert was the Prior of St. John's, Clerkenwell, and Lord High Treasurer of England, beheaded by Wat Tyler's mob in 1381. Fifth in descent from Nicholas was John Hales, Baron of the Exchequer, whose son Sir James, a Judge of the Common Pleas, was the only one on the bench who re fused to sign the will of Edward the Sixth, which disinherited the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. Third in descent from the Baron of the Exchequer was Sir Edward, who was advanced to a Bas ronetcy June 29, 1611, in the first year of the institution of that diguity. Sir Edward, his descendant in the seventh degree, was the only son of Sir Edward the fifth Baronet by Barbara, daughter and sole heiress of John Webb, esq. a younger son of Sir John Webb, of Odstock, Bart. He succeeded bis father in the title in August 1802; and, having married in 1789 Lucy, second daughter of Henry Darell, of Colehill, esq. has left no issue. Of his three sis ters, the eldest died a nun in 1811; and the others both married officers in the French service. THOMAS HARRISON, ESQ. March 29. At his residence in the Castle-field, Chester, aged 85, Thomas Harrison, esq. a well-known and long distinguished architect. Mr. Harrison was born at Richmond, in Yorkshire, in the year 1744, and, having shown a taste for drawing, went to Rome under the patronage of Lord He remained Dundas, about 1769. there several years engaged in the study of architecture, and made some designs for the embellishment of the square of Santa Maria del Popolo; in conse quence of which he had the honour of receiving from the hands of Pope Gauga, nelli, a gold and silver medal, and was also made a member of the Academy of St. Luke, by an especial order for that purpose. Of this transaction, the following par ticulars (being an extract of a letter from Rome, dated June 23, 1773, and afterwards printed) are not only illustrative of Mr. Harison's merits, but also show a great condescension in his Holi-, ness, and likewise his love of justice. towards an English artist : "Mr. Thomas Harrison, an English student in architecture, having con tested for a premium that was to be given by the Academy of St. Luke, and thinking injustice had been done him in the distribution of the premiums, ap-, plied to the Pope, requesting permission that when the drawings that had ob tained the premiums were exhibited in the capitol, his likewise might be placed there, in order that the public might decide on the merits of the respective performances. The Pope, who is ever ready to acts of justice, gave the neces-. sary orders, and the consequence was, 1829.] OBITUARY, Thomas Harrison, Esq. that the public were of one voice in favour of Mr. Harrison, which the Pope being informed of, was graciously pleased to admit him to an audience, and, on seeing his drawing, presented him with two medals, one of gold, the other of silver; and being convinced of the injustice the Academy had done him, was pleased by the following rescript to direct the said Academy to elect him a member thereof: The public having joined in an universal approbation of the drawing of Thomas Harrison, the English architect, exhibited in the capitol on the occasion of the late contest, and his Holiness being desirous of giving Mr. Harrison a testimony of his approbation, orders the Prince of St. Luke's Academy to elect the said Thos. Harrison an Academic of merit in the said Academy,'-which commands of the Pope were immediately complied with, to the universal satisfaction of every impartial and disinterested judge." Upon leaving Rome, Mr. Harrison travelled through part of Italy and France, and returned to England in 1776, where he was soon afterwards engaged in build ing a bridge over the Lune, at Lancaster, consisting of five arches, being the first level bridge constructed in this country. Having settled at Lancaster, he designed and executed the extensive improvements and alterations to the Castle at that place; and afterwards gained a premium, and was appointed architect for rebuilding the Gaol and County, Courts at Chester. This building, which is in the Grecian style of architecture, is noticed in the following manner by M. Dupin, in his account of England: "The Sessions House and the panop tic prison of Chester, are united in the same building, which, most assuredly, is the bandsomest of this kind that is to be seen in Europe. The interior arrangements are well contrived, and bespeak much regard for humanity; the architecture is equally simple and majestic." The Armoury and the Exchequer buildings, which form the wings of the superb county hall, at Chester as also the chaste and unexampled propylea, or, gateway, before it, were built after designs furnished by Mr. Harrison; and the new bridge across the Dee, now in progress, which is to be formed of one arch of 200 feet span, is also from his design. This extraordinary piece of architecture, when completed, will have no parallel in Europe, the largest arch. known to exist being 25 feet span below its dimensions. In short, it is to his fertile genius Chester is indebted for all 469 those splendid improvements in the im mediate vicinage of its Castle. In the report of the deputation from the City of London, appointed to visit the principal gaols in England, for the purpose of improving those of the Metropolis, the gaol of the Castle of Chester is distinguished as "in every respect, one of the best constructed gaols in the kingdom." The deputation consisted of four Aldermen, accompanied by the Town Clerk, and Mr. Dance, the City Architect; their report has since been published by an order of the Court of Aldermen, and presented to the different Counties, &c. the gaols of which they visited. The following encomium by the cele brated Richard Cumberland, (Observer, vol. iv. p. 12.) written 40 or 50 years ago, is a flattering testimonial of the high repute in which Mr. Harrison was then held, and which we think may be appositely quoted upon the present occasion : "I reserve the mention of her (Eng land's) architects, as a separate class, that I may for once break in upon the general rule, by indulging myself in a prediction (upon which I am willing to stake all my credit with the reader), that when the modest genius of a Harrison shall be brought into fuller display, Eng land will have to boast of a native archi tect which the brightest age of Greece would glory to acknowledge." England is indebted to Mr. Harrison, for the possession of those valuable an tiquities now known by the name of the Elgin marbles. When the Earl of Elgin was appointed ambassador to the Porte, in 1799, Mr. Harrison, who was at that time in Scotland, designing a house for his Lordship, strongly recommended to him to endeavour to procure casts of all the remaining sculpture, &c. in Athens, but had not the least idea of the marbles, themselves being removed. Since Mr. Harrison has resided in the neighbourhood of Chester, he has been engaged in several works of importance. Amongst others, a Greek Doric column, at Shrewsbury, in honour of Lord Hill, and one for the Marquis of Anglesey, erected near his Lordship's residence,, on the Straits of the Menai. Also the Triumphal Arch at Holyhead, built to, commemorate the King's landing there; as well as the Jubilee Tower upon Moel, Famma, to commemorate the 50th year of the reign of George III. To which, may be added the Athenæum, and St., Nicholas's Tower, in Liverpool; and the Theatre, and Exchange Buildings in Manchester. Mr. Harrison was likewise consulted in the formation of the |