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Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



439 



in which he was accustomed to reside during 

 part of the year, is delightfully situated, in 

 the neighbourhood of, and between Lyming- 

 ton and Southampton, on the shore of the 

 west channel, or Solerit Sea, nearly opposite 

 Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight. The beau- 

 ties of the place have been illustrated by the 

 pencil, and also by the pen, of the picturesque 

 Gilpio. 



While in the militia, Mr. Mitford pub- 

 lished a " Treatise on the Military Force, 

 and particularly of the Militia of the King- 

 dom ;" and, in 1791, while the public mind 

 was agitated with a grand national question, 

 relative to the means of supplying the country 

 with bread, he published another tract, en- 

 titled " Considerations on the Opinion stated 

 by the Lords of the Committee of Corn, in a 

 Representation to the King upon the Corn 

 Laws, that Great Britain is unable to pro- 

 duce Corn sufficient for its own Consump- 

 tion," <fec. It was Mr. Mitford's opinion, 

 that it was not only possible, but easy, for our 

 Island to supply a sufficient quantity of 

 wheat for the use of its inhabitants. 



It was in the year 1784 that the first 

 volume of Mr. Mitford's "History of Greece," 

 in 4to. came before the public. The favour- 

 able manner in which it was received by the 

 ablest and soundest critics, encouraged the 

 author to proceed. The second volume was 

 published in 1790 ; the third in 1797; but the 

 work was not completed till th* year 1810. 

 As a whole, this production displays great 

 research, and is executed with much judg- 

 ment. 



Mr. Mitford was twice elected M.P. for 

 the borough of Beeralston, in Devonshire ; 

 thirdly, for New Romney, in Kent. He 

 first became a member of the Legislature in 

 1796; but he does not appear to have spoken 

 in the House until 1798, when he delivered 

 his opinion on a proposition, brought forward 

 by Mr. Secretary Dundas, afterwards Lord 

 Melville, for increasing the number of field- 

 officers in the militia, <fec. He opposed the 

 measure in its different stages; contending 

 that the militia should be governed by the 

 militia laws, and not by those of the regular 

 army ; and strongly recommending a salutary 

 jealousy, relative to u standing army in this 

 country. On a subsequent occasion he again 

 advocated the cause of the militia, and stre- 

 nuously opposed certain innovations which 

 were then contemplated. 



By his lady, Mr. Mitford had a family of 

 six or seven ; of whom his third son, Henry, 

 after attaining the rank of a captain in the 

 Royal Navy, perished in the service of his 

 country. Mr. Mitford died in the month of 

 February. 



THE BISHOP OP ROCHESTER. 

 Dr. Walker King, Bishop of Rochester, 

 was educated at Corpus Christi College, Ox- 

 ford, where he took his degree of A. M. in 

 1766, and B.D. and D.D. in 1788. He was 

 several years preacher to the Hon. Society of 

 Gray's Inn, and private Secretary to the 



Duke of Portland, through whose interest he 

 was, in the year 1808, promoted to the See 

 of Rochester. He held, also, the office of 

 provincial chaplain to the Archbishop of Can- 

 terbury, a Canonry of Wells, and a Prebend of 

 Peterborough. 



Dr. King was the only surviving executor 

 of Mr. Burke. It was always understood, 

 that the late Dr. French Lawrence, Burke's 

 steady friend, and coadjutor in drawing up 

 the historical part of Dodsley's Annual Regis- 

 ter, was to publish the life of the departed 

 statesman. At Dr. Lawrence's death, how- 

 ever, his task not having been accomplished, 

 all the requisite MSS. and documents were 

 consigned to Dr. King. That prelate edited 

 the latter volumes of Mr, Burke's works; 

 and it was his intention to close his editorial 

 labour by a life of their author. The life, 

 indeed, has been repeatedly announced as 

 nearly ready for publication. 



The only works, we believe, that the 

 Bishop ever published of his own, were two 

 sermons. His Grace was a member of the 

 Society of Antiquaries. He died at Wells, 

 on the 21st of February. 



WILLIAM KITCHINER, ESQ. M.D. 



All who knew Dr. Kitchiner the whim- 

 sical, the eccentric, the kind-hearted Dr. 

 Kitchiner will join with us in the exclama- 

 tion " we could have better spared a better 

 man!" The worthy Dr. had three grand 

 hobbies ; respecting either or each of which 

 his modes of management and riding would 

 afford ample materiel for a highly amusing 

 volume. Necessarily, however, oar notice 

 must be concise. 



William Kitchiner was the son of 



Kitchiner, Esq., an eminent coal-merchant, 

 resident in the Strand, and subsequently one 

 of the magistrates for the County of Middle- 

 sex. With the year of his birth we are un- 

 acquainted. He represented himself at eight- 

 and- forty; but we have seen his age vari- 

 ously stated at fifty-one and fifty-four ; and, 

 judging from appearances, he certainly could 

 not have been far from his grand climacteric. 

 He was educated at Eton. His father had a 

 strong penchant for music 4 , a similar taste, 

 if not inherited, was acquired, at a very 

 early age, b> the subject of this sketch ; and, 

 if we mistake nol, it was at one time in 

 contemplation to cultivate his scientific talent, 

 by placing him under one of the leading pro- 

 fessors of the day. From choice, or acci- 

 dental circumstance, however, he adopted 

 the medical profession. He took his degree 

 of M.D. ; but whether he ever practised as a 

 physician we know not. Fortunately for 

 him, his father is understood to have left him 

 an unencumbered property, to the amount of 

 sixty or seventy thousand pounds; and, as 

 Dr. Kitchiner's establishment and habits of 

 life living in a comparatively small house, 

 and keeping only a coachman, footman, and 

 two or three maid servants were not of a 

 nature to indicate the expenditure of his full 

 income; and, as he must have made con- 



