1827.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Emirient "Persons. 



221 



resignation, but in May, 1811, the voice of 

 the country having been expressed in favour 

 of his return, he was restored to a station, 

 which until his death, he continued to fill 

 with the highest honour and ability. Twice, 

 for bis long and valuable services rendered 

 to the army, did his Royiil Highness receive 

 the unanimous thanksof the House of Com- 

 mons : first, at the conclusion of a general 

 peace in 1814; secondly, in 1815, after 

 the memorable battle of Waterloo. The 

 arm)' was indebted also to his Royal High- 

 ness for the establishment near Chelsea, for 

 the orphans of soldiers, and also for the mili- 

 tary school at Sam! hurst. One of the latest 

 objects of his attention was the advance- 

 ment of the old lieutenants in the army, 

 who were unable to purchase promotion, to 

 the rank of captiiin. 



The most conspicuous political act in his 

 Royal Higbriess's life was the speech which, 

 on the 25th of April, 1825, he delivered in the 

 House of Peers on presenting a petition from 

 the Dean and Chapter of St. George's Wind- 

 sor, against any further concessions to the 

 Roman Catholics. For the boldness with 

 which he stood forward on that occasion, in 

 maintaining the supremacy of the Protestant 

 faith, he was most enthusijistically eulogised 

 by one party, and as furiously assailed by the 

 other. 



The Duke had laboured under the' de- 

 cription of dropsy termed ascites, the dis- 

 ease which terminated his existence, since 

 the month of July last, and for which he 

 underwent an operation on the 3d of Sep- 

 tember. During his illness he preserved a 

 serenity and even cheerfulness of temper, 

 and continued to the last in the sedulous, 

 discharge of his official duties. 



Until the morning of his departure, he was 

 not aware of the actual a pproach of death ; 

 he then faintly said, " now I know that I 

 am dying! " He expired at twenty minutes 

 past nine o'clock on the evening of Friday, 

 the ,5th of January. The affectionate atten- 

 tions which his Royal Highness experienced 

 during his last illness, from his Majesty and 

 from other branches of the Royal Family, 

 were alike honourable to the survivors and to 

 the deceased. 



The requisite measures were immediately 

 taken for embalming the body, <fec., prepa- 

 ratory to its lying in state at St. James's 

 Palace. Orders were also issued for a court, 

 general, military, and naval mourning. 

 From the time of his death till the day of his 

 funeral the principal shops, not only in the 

 metropolis, but in the provinces, remained 

 partially closed, and, on that day, all busi- 

 ness was suspended. 



The body lay in state on Thursday and 

 Friday, the 18th and 19th of January; but, 

 from the shortness of the time allowed, and 

 the immense assemblage of the populace, 

 only a comparatively small number of per- 

 sons could be admitted. On the state coffin, 

 which resembled that of the late Duke of 

 Kent, was a plate, bearing the following 



inscription, issued from the College of 

 Arms : 



"Depositum, 

 Illustrissimi Principis 



FREDERICI, 

 De Brunswick Lunenburg, 

 Ducis Ehoraci ct Albania;, 



Comitis Ultonise, 

 Nobilissimi Ordinis Periscelidis, 



et 

 Honoratissimi Ordinis Militaris de Balneb 



Equitis, 

 Fratris Augustissimi et Potentissimi Monarchae, 



GEORGK QUARTI, 

 Dei Gratia Britanniarum Regis, 



Fidei Dcfensoris, 

 Regis Hanoverse, &c. 

 Obiit quinto die Januarii, 



Anno Domini MDCCCXXVIL 



Stalls suse LXIV- 



On the morning of the 20th, as the clock 

 struck eight, the funeral procession began 

 to move from St. James's Palace, on its des- 

 tination for St. George's Chapel, Windsor, 

 where it arrived at nine o'clock at night. 

 The first portion of the procession was en- 

 tirely military ; but, regarding it as a spec- 

 tacle, the general impression on the public 

 mind was, that due honour was not paid to 

 the illustrious departed. At Windsor, the 

 body was received by the dignitaries of the 

 church. Whilst the service w^as performing, 

 his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, 

 as chief mourner, was seated at the head of 

 the coffin ; Earl Harcourt, who bore the 

 baton of his late Royal Highness, stood at 

 the foot ; the Lord Chamberlain was in the 

 same position, and the Duke of Wellington 

 who supported the pall first on the left hand, 

 retained his place with the other five dukes, 

 who were pall bearers, on the sides of the 

 coffin. At the conclusion of the service, the 

 coffin was lowered into the vault by ma- 

 chinery, and moved at once into the niche 

 prepared for its final reception. At that 

 moment, Garter King at Arms proclaimed 

 the style and titles of the departed, and thus 

 the ceremony closed. 



DR. ABRAHAM ROBERTSON. 

 Abraham Robertson, D.D., F.R.S. Savi- 

 lian professor of astronomy, and Radcliffe 

 observer at Oxford, was a native of Scot- 

 land. He was educated at Westminster and 

 Christ Church. As a mathematician he ob- 

 tained a very high reputation. He publisbec 

 "Sectionum Conicarum, lib. vii. 4to. 1793 ' 

 " A Geometrical Treatise on Conic Sec- 

 tions,'* 8vo., 1802 and "A Reply to a 

 Critical and Monthly Reviewer, in which is 

 inserted Euler-s Demonstration of the Bino- 

 mial Theorem," Svo., 1808. Dr. Robert- 

 son was also a contributor to the Philoso- 

 phical Transactions. He died at Oxford, on 

 the 4th of December. 



LORD DORMER. 

 John Evelyn Perpont Dormer, Lord Dor- 

 mer, of Wenge, in the county of Bucks, a 

 captain in the army, was born in the year 

 177|. He succeeded his brother Charles, 

 the late lord, in 1819. In 1795, he married 



