1822,] Sir Hildebrand Oakes—Mr. James Dicksoi—Mr, John Fry. 
meals ; and the queen as one of the mildest 
and mast amiable of women, who, so far, 
as is generally supposed, from governing 
her husband, stood in the greatest fear of 
him, On one occasion, when she rallied 
him for playing a wrong card at piquet, he 
broke the table, and would have assailed 
her person had not the count placed himself 
between them. After the murder of his 
friend Danton, his life became insecure, 
and he was obliged to secrete himself 1ill 
after the fall of Robespierre. Under 
Napoleon he never would, as a republican, 
accept of any office, but subsisted by 
writing for the booksellers, and teaching 
English. His necessities during many 
years were therefore excessive. On the 
second restoration of the Bourbons he 
came to England and obtained possession 
of some of his mothex’s property, and laid 
claim to 17,0001. per annum, held by his 
half brother R. Knight, esq. near Stratford. 
He was the author of many speeches read 
in the Convention, of innumerable articies 
in the popular journals, of a¥trauslation, 
with greatadditions, of Mr.Cobbett’s Muiire 
@ Anglvis, and of Galignani’s Guide to Paris. 
Having had severe attacks of scrofula, his 
face was much disfigured, and hence the 
most accomplished mind, and most bene- 
volent heart, was undervalued by persons 
to whom he was little known, owing to the 
unsightliness of his countenance. 
Lieut.-Gen. Sir Hildebrand Oakes, bart. 
This veteran officer entered the army as 
ensign in 1767 ; served actively in America 
during the whole of the war, and returned 
to England in 1784. In 1791 he obtained 
@ majority in the 66th foot; in 1792 he 
sailed to the West Indies, where he re- 
mained two years; in 1794 he bore a part 
in the campaign of Corsica, was made a 
lientenant-colonel in 1795, and the follow- 
Ing year went to Portugal. He was raised 
to the rank of colonel in 1798, and in the 
same year was at the capture of Minorca. 
He was present at all the actions in Egypt, 
and was wounded in that of the 21st of 
March : his name was included in the vote 
of thanks from parliament. In the course 
of the war which followed tie rupture of 
the treaty of Amiens, he was employed in 
the Mediterranean; in 1808 he received 
the command of the garrison of Malta, and 
in 1810 he was appointed to be civil and 
military commissioner at Malta, an office 
which he resigned in 1813, in consequence 
of ill health. In September of that year he 
was created a baronet, and in 1814 ap- 
pointed lieutenant-general of the ordnance, 
He was also a member of the consolidated 
board of general officers, and one of the 
commissioners of the royal military col- 
lege, and royal military csylum. He had 
been present at three sieges, seven battles, 
thirteen inferior actions, and seventeen im- 
portant services; so that his honours and 
375 
rewards may be said tohaye been honestly 
and arduously earned. 
Mr. James Dickson, of Covent Garden, 
fellow of the Linnzan Society, and vice- 
president of the Horticultural Society of 
London, (whose death we noticed ina for- 
met number,) was born of humhle parents, 
and came early in life from Scotland, his 
native country, to London. For some time 
he worked as a gardener in the grounds of 
anurseryman at Hammersmith, where he 
was occasionally seen by Sir Joseph Banks, 
who took notice \of him as an intelligent 
young man. ‘Quitting this situation, he 
lived for some years as gardener in several 
considerable families; after which he esta- 
blished himself in London as a seedsman ; 
and afterwards followed that business with 
unremitting diligence and success. Hav- 
ing an ardent passion for botany, which he 
had always cultivated according to the 
best of his means and opportunities, he lost 
no time in presenting himself to Sir Joseph 
Banks, who received him with great kind- 
ness, encouraged him in his pursuits, and 
vave him access to his valuable library. 
Such leisure hours as Mr. Dickson could 
command from his business, he devoted to 
an assiduons attendance in this library, and 
to the perusal of scientific books obtained 
from thence. In process of time he 
acquired great knowledge, and became 
eminent among the English botanists, and 
was now known in Europe among the pro- 
ficients in that science as one of its most 
successful cultivators, and the author of 
some distinguished works. Atan advanced 
period of life he was still active in business, 
and continued to pursue his botanical stu+ 
dies with unabated ardour and assiduity. 
Mr. Dickson was a fellow of the Linnzanr 
Society, of which he was one of the original 
founders, and also fellow and vice-presi- 
dent of the Horticultural Society.. Several 
communications from him appear in difs 
ferent volumes of the Linnzan Transac- 
tions ; but he is principally known among 
botanists by a work entitled, “ Fascien! 
Quatuor Plantarum © Cryptogamicarnm 
Britannia,” Lond, 1785-93 ; in which he 
described upwards of four hundred plants 
not before noticed. He had the merit of 
having directed the attention of the bota+ 
nists of this country to one of the most ab- 
struse and difficult parts of that science, to 
the advancement of which he himself very 
greatly contributed. Such an instance of 
successfal industry, united with a taste for 
intellectual pursuits, deserves to be fe- 
corded; not only on account of its relation 
to the subject of this narrative, but be- 
cause it iMustrates in a very striking and 
pleasing manner the advantages of educa-_ 
tion in the lower classes of life. 
[Lately, at Bristol, Mr. Jukn Fry. He 
was born at Bristol in April, 1792. In 
consequence of the unexpected Soeecst 
is 
