1825.] 
by all who knew him, and whose death was 
an irreparable loss to the members of his 
communion. The venerable lady, whose 
decease we now commemorate, had been 
declining in health for the last twelve 
months, and breathed her last without a 
struggle. 
Mrs. FRANKLIN. 
It is with the strongest feelings of regret 
that we present our readers with a detail of 
the melancholy demise of this truly amiable 
and accomplished lady ; yet, painful as the 
task is, we trust that by those to whom her 
superior abilities have afforded so many hours 
of instruction and delight, the particulars of 
her premature death, as well as some account 
of her life, will be réceived with no small 
degree of interest. 
Mrs. Franklin, better known as an author 
by the name of Eleanor Ann Porden, was 
born in the year 1795; she was the youngest 
daughter of the late Mr. Porden, anarchitect 
of considerable talents, which are displayed 
in the building of Eton Hall, (Lord Gresvye- 
nor’s), the. King’s Stables, Brighton, &c. He 
was well known in the literary world, and 
highly esteemed by many of its most dis- 
tinguished characters. 
Miss Porden’s education, which was 
private, and under the immediate direction 
of her father, was of a superior, and rather 
uncommon description ; and, notwithstand- 
ing her talents as a writer were of such 
an high and comprehensive order, they 
have not as yet been duly appreviated, 
beyond the bounds of a favoured and select 
circle. 
At avery early age, Miss Porden disco- 
vered agenius for poetry ; but the work of this 
much lamented lady which was first known 
to the public was called “ The Veils, or 
the Triumph of Constancy,” a poem in six 
vantos, highly estimated for its union of 
poetical grace and scientific intelligence ; 
it was published in 1815. The success 
of the fair writer, upon this occasion, 
however, does not appear to have 
urged her into any precipitate display of 
further efforts, as it was not till three years 
afterwards that she again appeared before 
the public, as the author of “‘ The Arctic 
Expedition,’ an interesting poetic tribute 
to the gallant adventurers who were en- 
gaged in one of the most perilous enter- 
prizes by which the present age has been 
distinguished. This poem, it is said, led 
to her union with Captain Franklin. 
Another effusion of Miss Porden’s mnse 
was “an Ode on the Coronation of his 
most Gracious Majesty George the Fourth, 
in July 1821.” The circulation of this; 
we believe, was rather private ; but her 
grand work, ‘* Coeur de Lion, or the Third 
Crusade,”’ in sixteen cantos, two vols. 8vo. 
and one of the greatest efforts of a female 
penin the annals of English literature, was 
published in June 1822. 
But what rendered this lady more wor- 
thy of esteem, as well as an example 
fit for the imitation of young people, and 
many who were her seniors, though inferior 
Obituary of the Month. 
285 
in their attainments, washer exemption from 
vanity ; for notwithstanding the encomiums 
and gratifying attentions which she was 
in the habit of receiving, and the con- 
viction of her own superiority, which 
her great natural judgment must have 
pointed out, yet her manners were, at all 
times, perfectly easy and unassuming; and 
though able to converse on subjects far 
beyond what is expected of ladies in gene- 
ral, to young people, and those not her 
equals in information, she ever adapted her 
conversation, so as to avoid ever making 
them feel their inferiority, and was particu- 
larly animated and pleasant to every one. 
In the month of August 1823, Miss 
Porden gave her hand to Captain Frank- 
lin, to whom she had been some time 
engaged, and who had then recently re 
turned from the land expedition employed 
to assist in exploring the Polar Re- 
gions. Happy, but brief was their union. 
In the circumstances of Mrs. Franklin’s 
death there was something unusually dis- 
tressing. Constitutionally delicate, it has 
been generally, though erroneously, under- 
stood, that the fatal event was occasioned 
by grief at her husband’s departure, acting 
upon a previously debilitated frame. This, 
however, was not the case. : 
Mrs. Franklin, whose mind _ eagerly 
sought every kind of useful information, 
entered with great energy into the enter- 
prizing spirit of her husband; and, not- 
withstanding her devoted attachment to 
him, and the severe trials and dangers at- 
tendant on the expedition, she earnestly 
wished him to repeat the attempt, hoping 
that he might accomplish the object so 
much desired.* With this delightful antici- 
pation she looked forward to welcome his 
return ; but, alas ! a pulmonary complaint, 
from which she had suffered nearly two 
years, reached its crisis about the time that 
Captain Franklin received his orders to 
proceed on the expedition, and she was 
given over by her physicians five days pre- 
vious to his quitting home. 
Mrs. Franklin, who had not till then 
been considered in danger, expired on the 
evening of the 22d of February last, exactly 
one week after she had bidden her beloved 
husband an eternal farewell; leaving a 
daughter, eight months old, unconscious 
of the loss of so truly valuable a mother. 
bios b JOHN 
* Captain Franklin, Lieutenant Back, Dr. Rich- 
ardson and Mr. Kendall, with eight other persons, 
composing the overland expedition to the Arctic 
Regions, embarked at Liverpool on the 16th of 
February, on board the Columbia packet, for New 
York. From New York they are to proceed to 
Upper Canada, and thence to Fort Chepewyan, on 
their way to the Polar Sea, by Mackenzie River. 
On reaching its northern extremity, Captain Frank- 
lin and Lieutenant Back, with part of the expedi- 
tion, proceed to the westward, in the hope of reach- 
ing Behring’s Straits ; while Dr. Richardson and Mr. 
Kendall, with the other party, proceed to the east- 
ward, tracing the coast of America, if possible, to 
the Copper-Mine River, 
