63 



him as President, on the 1st June, 1825, and 

 printed at the request of that association. 



I come next to living Authors, who received 

 their birth in this town ; and among these our 

 former Representative in Parliament, WILLIAM 

 WILBERFORCE, Esq., is first entitled to notice* 

 He was born in the High-Street, in a house 

 where Messrs. Smith, Brothers, and Co. lately 

 carried on their business as bankers. He was 

 the son of Robert Wilberforce, Esq., a Hull mer- 

 chant; and grandson of William Wilberforce, 

 Esq., who twice served the office of mayor of 

 this town : he was educated, not, as has been 

 stated, at the Grammar School here, but at the 

 Free School, at Pocklington. At a very early 

 period of life, he acquired popularity as a British 

 Senator,* and afterwards became known as an 



* At a public dinner given to George Sdhonswar, Esq., M.P., to cele- 

 brate his election as a member for this borough, " Mr. Wilberforce and 

 " the entire abolition of Slavery" was proposed as a toast, when Richard 

 Bethell, Esq., M.P., one of the representatives of the County of York, 

 rose, and pronounced an animated declamation against slavery, which he 

 introduced with the following eloquent and just tribute to the exalted 

 character, the exemplary talents, and the Christian virtues of Mr. Wil- 

 berforce : " Gentlemen ; had it not been for the call made by the gentle- 

 " man who fills the chair on the present occasion, in a manner so creditable 

 " to himself, and I am sure so satisfactory to you, I should have felt 

 " it a great presumption for me to rise in the place where Mr. Wilber- 

 " force was born, to acknowledge the honour you have done him. Gen- 

 " tlemen, I possess what perhaps I may call the fortunate privilege 

 " attached to age, to have known Mr. Wilberforce for a considerable 

 " period of time, and to have walked by his side at the contested election 

 " for the County of York, when he was worthily elected as one of the 

 "representatives. Mr. Wilberforce is a man who unites with the most 



