142 
esteem from one who renders it with 
warmth to the disinterested friend of 
mankind, and assurances of my very 
high consideration and respect. 
(Signed) TT. JEFFERSON. 
THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK. 
I find a general sketch of his charac- 
ter in a French writer, M. de Segur, 
which, though not copious, seems, on 
the whole, to be given with accuracy. 
In the military world the Duke held 
a distinguished rank ; his character for 
judgment, firmness, and intrepidity, 
was well known. In the seven years’ 
war he nobly overcame a host of dan- 
gers and difficulties under which 
weaker spirits would have sunk, In 
the war of Bavaria he acquired a still 
greater reputation, by defending the 
difficult post of Troppau against all 
the forces of the emperor. ‘The duke 
has this additional merit, that his vir- 
tues in civil life entitle him to a due de- 
gree of consideration. In manners, 
he is familiar and agreeable, easy and 
gentle, and he merits also the praise of 
science in a considerable degree. His 
philosophy, which is on a level with the 
attainments of the age, is the genuine 
offspring of a well-instructed mind. 
In politics he is refined, but frank, de- 
cent in his pleasures, and select in his 
choice of them, beneficent without 
prodigality, and frugal without avarice. 
In the course of a few years, with but 
a moderate revenue, he has liquidated 
a debt of forty millions, with which his 
country was encumbered. His ties of 
relationship with the King of England 
had no influence on his politics; and, 
like Prince Henry, he was for moderate 
measures with France. Ambition was 
doubtless his ruling passion, and what 
interested his feelings in the most 
direct manner ; this excited his atten- 
tion and stimulated his efforts, so far 
as to appear twice at the head of 
armies against the French. It is cer- 
tain, however, that if Frederick-Wil- 
liam had listened to his counsels, the 
affair of the Stadtholderate would have 
been adjusted by negociation, and the 
Prussian dominions would have es- 
caped many scenes of wide extended 
ruin and desolation which subsequently 
took place, under the triumph of 
French arms. 
Of M. de Segur, as an author, it has 
been justly remarked, that he seldom 
praises, and he avows his determina- 
tion to address his readers in the lan- 
guage of truth. 
Stephensiana, No. XJ. 
[Sept- bs 
MORTALITY OF TROOPS. 
The mean annual loss in 100,000 
English troops, during the last six 
years of the war, presents the following 
results :— 
Deaths ----- eee 7159 
Discharged -+-+-- 2087 
Deserters ++---- 2642 
COBHAM HALL. 
William Quartermere, Lord of 
Cobham, for services done to Henry 
IL. was called knight of the four seas ; 
and, having left Normandy, was ac- 
companied with certain lords in Kent, 
among which was Cobham, afterwards 
called Quartermere’s fee. His de- 
scendant, William Lord Cobham, 
erected that stately monument of stone 
in the chancel of Cobham church, to 
the memory of his parents. He was 
accused falsely of participating in 
Wyatt’s rebellion; and, in 1559, en- 
tertained Queen Elizabeth at Cobham, 
‘“‘ with sumptuous fare and delights of 
rare inventions, at a banquetting- 
house in the park, with a gallery com- 
posed of devices and knotted flowers.” 
{n 1582, after acting as ambassador 
to the Low Countries, and to Austria, - 
he ‘‘made a garden to his house at 
Cobham-hall, wherein he introduced a 
variety of strange flowers, and trees 
from all parts of Europe.” 
The manor of Gravesend, with 
Cobham-hall, the park and estates of 
Henry Lord Cobham, and George his 
brother, having been forfeited for trea- 
son, were by act of parliament restored 
to the crown, 3d of James I. ; and, in 
1613, King James regranted those to 
his own kinsman, Lodowic Stewart, 
son to Esme, Duke of Lenox in 
Scotland. 
The manor of Gravesend, with 
Cobham-hall, and the rest of the 
estates of Charles, Duke of Richmond, 
in the county of Kent, were, about the 
year 1695, after the death of Lord 
O‘Brien, sold to pay debts and other 
purposes, at which time : 
The manor of Gravesend was valued at 
2671. 13s. 2d. per annum, besides waifs, 
strays, deodands and wrecks. 
The chalk-pits, 601. 
The fair and lands within the manor, 
2021. 10s. 6d. 
Sir Joseph Williamson, knight, one 
of the secretaries of state, died in 1707 
without issue, having previously pur- 
chased the manor of Gravesend and 
Cobham-hall, and the estates belonging 
thereto; and, by his will bequeathed 
two thirds of the same to Edward Lord 
Cornbury ; 
