278 



Sir Thomat Constable^^ Karl St. Vinceiit 



which it had, on former occasions, held 

 forth to government; and, on the surrender 

 of the French army in Efiiypt, Lord Keith 

 was created a peer of Great Britain, re- 

 ceived the thanks of both Houses of Parha- 

 ment, and was presented by the city of 

 Loudon with a sword, of the vahie of one 

 hundred guineas. On the renewal of hos- 

 tilities with France, in 1803, Lord Keith 

 was appointed to the command on the 

 Downs station, where he continued several 

 years. He subsequently commanded the 

 Channel fleet ; and, on the 14lh of May, 

 1814, was created a viscount of Great 

 Britain. In these various employments he 

 is understood to have accumulated im- 

 mense wealth, which descends to a daugh- 

 ter married to a French general, once high 

 in favour with Napoleon. 



At Ghent, Sir Tliomas Constable, hart, of 

 Tixall, Staffordshire, and of Burton-Con- 

 stable and Wyrlitf, Yorkshire. Sir Thomas 

 was the eldest son of the late Hon. Thomas 

 Clifford, youngest son of Hugh, third Lord 

 Clifford, of Chudleigh, in the county of 

 Devon, and of the Hon. Barbara Aston, 

 youngest daughter of James, fifth Lord 

 Aston, Baron of Forfar, Scotland. He 

 was born in London in 1762, and both his 

 parents were Roman Catholics. At this 

 period, the penal laws against the Catho- 

 lics were in full force; so that, far from 

 being able to have any colleges in Eng- 

 land, the Catholics could scarcely keep up 

 a few obscure schools. Sir T. Constable 

 was therefore sent, when he grew up, to 

 an academy that had lately been instituted 

 at Liege, in the Low-Countries, which was 

 then an independent state, under its 

 prince-bishop. Having gone through the 

 usual course of studies, paiticularly the 

 classical part, in this academy, with great 

 applause, he was removed to the ancient 

 and famous college of Navarre, in I'aiis, 

 which, since the French revolution, has 

 been appropriated to the celebrated 

 Polytechnic school. He visited Switzer- 

 land, and traversed many parts of it on 

 fool ; and was accustomed to say, that 

 this was the only way of seeing that sini;u- 

 lar coimtry to advantage. It was during 

 these excursions that he made acquain- 

 tance with the late Mr. Whitbread, who 

 was then travelling with the Rev. Mr. 

 Coxe. Sir T. Constable and Mr. Whit- 

 bread always retained a mutual regard 

 and esteem for each other, with an occa- 

 sional correspondence, till the untimely 

 death of that lamented statesman. On 

 his return from his travels, Sir Thomas 

 conceived an ardent passion for the study 

 of botanv, which became his favourite pur- 

 suit. Of the extensive and accinate 

 knowledge which Sir T. C. acquired in 

 this pleasing branch of science, lie has left 

 a great proof in the Flora Ti.vulliana, which 

 is appended to the Histurical and Topugra- 

 phical Descriplion of the Parish of TixaV, 



[April 1, 



which he composed in conjunction with his 

 brother Mr. Arthur Clifford, and of which 

 he furnished almost all the materials. This 

 amusing and instructive work, one of the 

 most pleasing pieces of topographical his- 

 tory in our language, was published at 

 Paris, with several elegant engravings, in 

 the year 1818. At a later period of hin 

 life. Sir T. Constable imbibed a taste for 

 the sttidy of history, antiquities, topogra- 

 phy, heraldry, and genealogy, in all of 

 wliioh he was deeply conversant. At one 

 time he had conceived the plan of a His- 

 tory nf the Normans, and had made consi- 

 derable progress in if. At the same time 

 he frequently amused his leisure hours 

 with lighter pursuits; he translated into 

 English verse the fables of Lafontaine, and 

 he had contrived to hit off, with remarka- 

 ble felicity, the almost inin)ital>le ruiiteti 

 and indescribable arch simplicity of that 

 original author. In the latter years of his 

 life, Sir T. Constable undertook, and com- 

 pleted, an entirely new Metrical Version 

 of the Psalms. He produced also a work 

 in French, entitled, L'Etangile Mediti. 

 From this religious work, he extracted 

 forty meditations on the Divinity and Pas- 

 sion of Christ, for the forty days of Lent, 

 which he translated into English, and pub- 

 lii-hed at his own expense. 



Near Brainlree, Essex, 89, the Earl of 

 St. I'incerU: — by his age, the father of the 

 English navy ; and, by his actions, one out 

 of half-a-dozcn great commanders who 

 have rendered Britain undisputed mis- 

 tress of the sea. At a very early age he 

 had the advantage, in his pupilage of the 

 example of Anson, Hawke, iiC. On the 

 breaking-out of the seven-years' war, he 

 was, HI 17.5d, made lieutenant, in wliicli 

 capacity he was noticed by Sir Charles 

 Saunders, who, in 1759, took bim with him 

 in the expedition to Quebec, as his first 

 lieutenant. During the American war, 

 although it was contrary to his principles, 

 he performed the duties assigned him 

 with his usual energy, and on one occasion 

 captured a French seventy-four in single 

 combat with his own sixty-four. He was, 

 besides, in most of the actions of that con- 

 test, and was ranked by the public as a 

 naval officer of the first class. On the 

 counnencement of the war with France, in 

 1793, he was sent to the West Indies, and 

 the conjoint forces reduced the island of 

 IMartinique. Jervis returned in bad 

 health, but soon sailed again, and block- 

 aded Cadiz, where he was not long willi- 

 oiit finding an opportunity to signalize 

 himself. The British admiral having only 

 fifteen sail of the line, the Spanish admiral 

 put to sea with twenty-seven, one of 

 which was a ship of four decks, and six 

 tliree-deckers. On the 14th of February, 

 1797, the fleets were in sight off (^apc St. 

 Yinccnt, when Sir John Jervis, by a mas- 

 terly manoeuvre, separated one part of 



their 



