1821.] 



Memoirs of Alexander Stephens, Esq. 



Many of them were preseive<l in a 

 vonnerful manner, and taken outwith- 

 out the least hurt. Forty children were 

 killed. In some houses large compa- 

 nies were assembled, and in one, a 

 newly married couple from a distance, 

 had met a numerous party of their 

 friends. One person who was writing 

 in a small room, was driven through a 

 window above the door, into the stair- 

 case, and fell to the bottom without 

 receiving much hurt. Many were pre- 

 served by the frilling of the beams or 

 rafters in a particular direction, which 

 protected them, and they remained for 

 many hours, some for a whole day and 

 night. One remarkable fact of this 

 kind happened, when the city of Delft 

 was destroyed by an explosion of gun- 

 powder in 1654, when a child, a year 

 old, was found two days after, playing 

 and sucking an apple, and sitting under 

 a beam with just space left for its body. 

 Two others at a little distance were 

 found in their cradles qui;e safe. At 

 that time almost tlie whole of Delft 

 was destroyed. 



Leyden is a large city, equal to if not 

 greater than Rotterdam, the second city 

 in Holland, in size, but not so populous. 

 Upwards of 200 houses wereovei'tlirown 

 on this occasion, besides churches and 



237 



public buildings: the Stadt or town- 

 house, was among the latter. 



One hundred and fifty-one dead bo- 

 dies were taken from the ruins, besides 

 many that died after, and upwards of 

 two thousand weie wounded more or 

 less dangerously. It is somewhat re- 

 markable that none of the students of 

 the university were either killed or 

 wounded, though they all lodge in dif- 

 ferent parts or the city or wherever 

 they please. Contributions were im- 

 mediafelv began, and large sums raised. 

 The King of Holland gave .^0,000 gil- 

 ders, and the Queen 10,000 ; a very 

 large sum was collected in London. 



Leyden suffered dreadfully by the 

 former sie?je in l.'^JS, and by the plague 

 in 1624- and 1635, in which year 15,000 

 of the inhabitants were carried off 

 within six months. In 1415 a convent 

 was burnt, and most of the nuns pe- 

 rished in the flames. An explosion of 

 gun-powder, in 14S1, destroyed the 

 council-chamber when full of people, 

 and killed most of the magistrates. 



The misforluues of this city have 

 beeoine proverbial, and its very name 

 has given rise to a pun, " Leyden is 

 Lijden ;" Leyden, the name of the city, 

 and Lijden, (to sutler) have the same 

 pronunciation in the Dutch language. 



MEMOIRS OF EMINENT AND REMARKABLE PERSONS 

 RECENTLY DECEASED. 



ALEXANDER STEPHENS, ESQ. 



rjT^HlS gentleman, who during- the last 

 i thirty years has been one of the most 

 active of the metropolitan literati, expired 

 at his villa, at Chelsea, on the 2-lth ult. iu 

 the 64th year of his age. 



Though he wrote for the press as much 

 B8 any man of his time, yet he had a con- 

 stant aversion to obtrude his name on the 

 world. It wari affi.'ted to the two quartos 

 which recorded the History of the Wars 

 oftlieFrcjicli lievolution ; but the gross 

 injustice with which that elegantly-written 

 and accurately correct work was treated 

 by the IVIonthly Review, and some others 

 of the periodical critical works, determined 

 , biru for the future to reserve his name. 



The pages of the Analytical Review 

 abounded in articles which proved his 

 learning and ability ; and the elaborated 

 biographies in the Monthly Magazine, the 

 Reviews of French Literature, &c. attested 

 hiH unremitting industry. He edited tlic 

 two volumes of Founders of the French Re- 

 public, nine of the eleven volumes of Public 

 Cliaratttiss and the biographical Indexes 

 to ih« HouHes of Lords and Cunuuons ; also 



the Annual Necrology, published 1799, and 

 latterly the Annual Obituary, of which he 

 had just completed the volume for 1820. 

 Iu facility of bio^-raphical writing, and in 

 extent of information on the lives and actions 

 of the contemporary generation, he was 

 equalled by no WTiter df his age. His in- 

 dustry and integrity are proved by naming 

 the various works which proceeded front 

 his pen, and though every variety of charac- 

 ter passed in review before him, he never 

 wrote an ill-natured paragraph, or aided 

 in propagating calumny. And iu like man- 

 ner, while he respected private feelings, he 

 respected public principles, and never wrote 

 a line which compromised the cause of civil 

 liberty. His habitual sense of honour, and 

 his independent spirit, never permitted him 

 to abuse the press, by rendering it subser- 

 vient to feelings of private resentment, or 

 to the corrupt purposes of the administra- 

 tion for the time-being. He thus always 

 performed the duties of a good neighbour 

 and a good citizen. 



He was a native of Elgin, and was edu- 

 cated in the uuivcrsify of Aberdeen. He 

 afterwards entered himself of the Middle 

 Temple, 



