/ 18143] 
, they. should for a series of years have ¢n- 
_Joyed and diffused a degree of felicity seldom 
attained by the human'race. Superiorly 
gifted in mind, Mfs, Rickman smiliagly 
" struggled against the frowns of fortune, and 
struggled with success, so far as her noblest 
_ aims were answered. By her exertions. the 
business on which they entered became an 
object of high importance, and its minutest 
" details were conducted by herself with that 
_.presision, regularity, and comprehensiveness 
_ of mind, which with equal ease embraced the 
“most momentous and ‘the minor transactions 
of life. A large family of children (seven 
of whom, one girl and six boys, are doomed 
“with their surviving parent, for ever to mourn 
her loss) were brought into life, and their 
education superintended by her; and, young 
as many of them still are, the lessons which, 
by precept and example, she l:as instilled 
into their minds, will doubtless be cherished 
and’ revered® by them to the last periods of 
,existence. .No arrogance or assuniption of 
superiority ever marked the beautifal tenor 
of her way; indeed her virtues were more 
discoverable in their effects, than by any 
“pompous or affected display of them. 1: was 
not however in the shade of domestic life 
, alone that her merits were exercised and put 
to the test: her grasp of niind, and vigour of 
exertion, were no less forcibly tried by the 
: ‘political ‘and troublesome circumstances of the 
“and revolutionary fervor She had to con-* 
- 
times, where her husband’s liberty and safety 
tend, on the occasions referred to, witha host 
“of legal”charactérs, whom she astonished by 
_ the’ foréé’and pertinency of her remarks, and 
‘compelied into “admiration of the sypetiority 
of her genius, and the activity of her exer- 
tions.” “Her husbatid is in all protyability in- 
debted to her for his escape from ‘the cruelty 
of persecutions, as base as they were unjust, 
"Gnd Tie’ ever ‘ceased to expreys his sense of 
*" what he owes in these and a variety of other 
'“Gnstanceés, to this exalted wotnan. 
\ 
ve 
ef 
ac: 
y! 
lt was in 
fact the case with her ‘a3/it is with him; no 
_ circumstance, other than the death of a re- 
Tative or friend, had powet seriously to hurt 
cher mind ; but rhere she was vulnerable ; and 
” the death of a little girl, her youngest child, 
about three years since, afiected her deeply, 
“Yand perhaps in a degree laid the foundation 
of the lingering iliness which has terminated 
80 fatally for her family, and so unfortu- 
‘mately for the circle whom she honored with 
her friendship. © In short, whether we regard 
her as a"daughter, a wife, a mother, or a 
friend, we’ shall find her to have excelled 
“in the performance of the dutiés attached to 
_ @ach character ; we shall find the foree of her 
* affection’ to have been”alone equalled by the 
is 
Montuty Mae, No. 113, 
, ‘Account of the late, Dr. Maskelyne. 
481 
powers of her mind, and that she was fitted 
not only to adorn, but to amend and im- 
prove, any station or rank in life in which 
Providence might have placedher. 
The Rey. Dr. Fobn Vardill, whose death we 
Noticed in p. 183, of our No. for March, was 
educated in King’s College, New York, of 
which he was elected principal, and appointed 
Regius Professor of Divinity. When America 
claimed independence, he resigned his bright 
prospect there, and embraced the cause of the 
mother country; where he distinguished 
himself by many publications woehy. an 
acute and liberal politician. .He was a sare 
example of splendid talents, devotéd to the 
purest philanthropy ; and of profound schos 
lastic Knowledge, blended with the most en- 
dearing social virtues, ..Dyring the last ten 
years, severe sickness withdrew him from 
those public circles; of which his wit, clo- 
quence, and urbanity, had rendered J:im the 
ornament ;but his memory will be treasured 
while those who knew bimexist. ¢_ * 
\ [ Further. particulars of Dr, Maskelyne, whose 
death is mentioned at page 182 of ow Number 
for March,j-—Dr. M. was originally fellow 
of Trinity college, Cambridge, where he pro- 
ceeded B.A. 1754; M.A. 1757; B.D. 1768; 
D.D.1777. He was presented in Jan. 1775, 
by his nephew Lord Clive, to the rectory of 
Shrawarden, in Salop; and in 1782 by the 
master and fellows of his college, to the living 
of North'Runcton, in Nerfolk. Having at 
an early period of life given proofs of his 
abilities as a mathematician and astronomers 
Dr. M. went to Barbadoes, under the ape 
pointment of the, Board of Longitude, for the 
purpose of trying Mr. Harrison’s marine 
time-keeper, for which the inventor claimed 
the premium offered by ‘parliament. His 
first publication was a quarto pamphlet, with 
a view to the improvement of practical na- 
vigation, entitled, ‘* The. British Mariner’s 
Guide,” published in 1763. His reputation 
was by this time so completely established, 
and his talents ‘were so highly appreciated, _ 
that, on the death of Dr, Nathaniel Bliss, in” 
“1765, he was appointed to the situation of ~ 
Astronomer Royal to his Majesty. In1767 -~ 
he published, by order of the commissioners 
of longitude, an account of. Mr. John Harrie 
son’s watch, In 1774, the president and 
council of the Royal Society, brought eut in 
a folio volume, at’the public expence, -his 
tables for computing the apparent Places of 
the Fixed Stars, and ‘reducing Observations of 
the Planets. In 1776, he produced the first 
volume, in folio, of his Astronomical .Obser- 
vations, made at the Royal Observatory, at 
Greenwich, from the, year 1765. The con- 
tinuation of this important work has since 
been given to the world in the same form, in 
obedience to his Majesty’s command, In- 
1792, Dr. M, presented the public with the 
invaluable tables of Logarithms; by the late 
indefatigable Michael Taylor, who. sunk 
under bis task and died, when only fiye, pages 
3 me ewe 
