560 
of Barcelona; but his Jife was thus pre-. 
served: By the laws of Spain, when an 
individual is condemned to death, he pre- 
pares for the execution of the sentence by 
three days’ prayers, and confessions, in a 
chapel w here he is confined, and from which 
he is led to the place of execution; but if, 
by any extraordinary circumstance, ‘the pri- 
soner remains in the chapel of expiation 
beyond the term fixed, he is pardoned. 
Bessieres had this happiness: he atfter- 
wards solicited the clemency of the king, 
and upon.a report made to Ferdinand by 
M. Bardoxi, the then minister of the 
interior, was pardoned ; but his name was 
erased from the army-lists, and he was 
ordered to quit the~ Spanish territory. 
Bessieres tock refuge on the frontiers, 
where he led a miserable existence. It 
was here he resided in 1820, when the 
events which took place gave him an op- 
-portunity of raising and disciplining a num- 
ber of trocps, and with them repaired to 
the environs of Madrid, in the province of 
Cuenca. He assum:d the rank of Field- 
marshal, and wore the uniform, and in this 
quality commanded the troops under his 
orders. Towards the end ofthe campaign, 
Bessieres had established his head-quarters 
at Huete, a small town, 20 miles from 
Madrid. It was here that he struggled 
against the constitutionalists with great 
intrepidity. He was excessively rigid in his 
mode of life ; slept but seldom, and trusted 
no. one—having been several times on the 
point of being betrayed to the constitu- 
tionalists. ‘The removal of the govern- 
ment to Seville, then to Cadiz, and the 
arrival of the French troops, put a stop to 
or deranged all the projects of Bessieres ; 
but he held out his position at Huete till 
the entty of the French into Madrid. ‘The 
king, on his return, received Bessieres and 
confirmed his former rank. Since that time 
he constanly resided at Madrid, and always 
appeared at court, where, however, he was 
little noticed, undoubtedly on account of 
his origin, and became very discontented 
with the state of things, and at seeing men 
preferred before him, but still always ap- 
pearing devoted to Ferdinand ; and accom- 
panied his majesty in 1824, to the waters 
of Sacedon. Perhaps Bessieres had secret 
motives in making this voyage. The king 
traversed a part of the province of Cuenga, 
the theatre of Bessieres’ efforts in the royal- 
ist cause, and the populace spoke of him 
with enthusiasm. All this assiduity on the 
part of Bessieres towards the king, and his 
conduct at the head of the royalist party, 
apparently 1 merited in his eyes greater favour 
than he enjoyed. But Ferdinand did not 
even bestow on him the cross of St. Ferdi- 
nand; and there is little doubt but discon- 
tent and ambition were the cause of the 
revolt of this inveterate royalist, for which 
he suffered. 
‘MR, ‘THOMAS RAVENHILL 
as originally an engraver, and engraved 
A\SH4 Me 
en . 
in Holborn, facing Blop 
Supplementary Obituary. 
several of the plates to Grose’s Antiquities, 
besides various other topographical prints 
for the magazines. He worked for Hooper, 
the publisher of Grose, then keeping a shop 
square, 
where Bullock’s auction-room now stands ; 
beneath whose roof resided Captain Grose 
himself, for the convenience of publishing 
his work. Ravenhill at that time had con- 
siderable employment: but the great im- 
provement in the style of Sopograe 
engraving deprived him oes Sia thghhe 
has latterly lived by taking sketches oth 
tiquities in various counties for the sf a 
of illustration, particularly | those places men- 
tioned by Lysons in his Environs of London. 
About seven years af o he printed a small 
tract, entitled “ A List of ‘Topographical 
Sketches, accurately taken on the spot, years 
back; by'T. Ravenhill, chiefly in London, and 
the counties of Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, 8 and 
Essex. Many of these having never been 
engraved, they will be found useful for the 
illustration of Lysons, and’ other authors 
who have noticed the antiquities in and 
round London.” This tract contamed a 
list of about 350 subjects, with ‘a brief ad- 
dress on the advantages of preserving our 
national antiquities. He frequently was 
employed to make copies of a great pro- 
portion of them: and certainly has been the 
means of preserving views of many pub- 
lie buildings, now destroyed, of which no 
other resemblance remains. In the richly 
illustrated copy.of Lysons’ Environs, be- 
longing to J. Morice, Esq., are two views 
of every church mentioned in that interest- 
ing work, besides many others of antiquities, 
&e., from the pencil of the late Mr. Rayen- 
hill. He was one of the last survivors of 
the old topographical engravers, whose 
work now would not be deemed worthy of 
insertion in a magazine. He was ‘a small 
man, upwards of seventy; lively, with a 
great flow of spirits, and felt a strong’ in- 
terest in every thing connected with the 
illustration of Pennant’s London, or Lysons’ 
Environs. Just before his death he’ spoke 
with great enthusiasm of his copy ‘Of ‘the 
latter work, illustrated with a great'n 
of additional prints and original dra 
From the account on the inquest, it peice 
appear he was destitute of effects?” but the 
original sketches for his drawings,’ no ¢ir- 
cumstances would have induced him’ to 
part with: and although copies of- thiede 
have been repeatedly made, ‘they would 
still possess a value to: the ¢ollector: Bis 
appearance bespoke poverty, but from his 
conversation nothing of the kind would’ Be 
surmised ; indeed, he seemed very indiffer- 
ent about the sale of* his’ Srantieslaald 
could scareely be induced to’ exhibit* any 
specimens, although they would frequently 
have produced him numerous orders,” “He 
thought his list and a sketch was’snfficient’; 
Lut of course, illustrators wished to see 
ihe, style of | executi 25 Well asthe 
Sub ESE ne TED ty. , 
le 
~~ ANnAN 
ee 
