206 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



[Feb. 



Tlie fearful fidelity with which this full 

 and impressive description is transferred to 

 canvas, requires to be seen to be duly ap- 

 preciated. A visitor, by whom it was 

 examined last summer, exclaimed " It is 

 Spenser's conception realized!" — An in- 

 teresting object near Guy's Cliff, and in 

 view of the house, is a monumental pillar, 

 erected by Mr. Greatheed upon Blacklow 

 Hill, the spot where the unfortunate Piers 

 Gaveston, favourite of Edward II., after 

 having been successively a prisoner in the 

 castles of Deddington and Warwick, was 

 beheaded by a Welch executioner. The 

 hiscription commemorative of the event 

 was composed by the celebrated Dr. Parr 

 who was a well-known visitor at Guy's 

 Cliff. 



As recently as the year 1819, Mr. 

 Greatheed derived a large accession of for- 

 tune from the unexpected death of Mr. Col- 

 year, son of Lord Milsington, who died at 

 Rome, in consequence of wounds received 



in an encounter with Italian Banditti.-'' 

 Mr. Greatheed was, in his political prin- 

 ciples, the early, ardent, and consistent 

 friend of civil and religious freedom ; but, 

 although repeatedly solicited to represent 

 his county town in ParUament, he inva- 

 riably declined the honour, preferring the 

 pleasures of a private life to the anxieties 

 and temptations of a public one. — His last 

 illness was only of a few days' duration. 

 He died at Guy's Cliff, on the IGth of 

 January, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. 

 By a luimerous circle of friends and de- 

 pendents his loss is deeply felt ; and, by his 

 death, some of the most distinguished per- 

 sons in the county are in mourning. 



* Thomas Charles Colyear, the present Earl of 

 Portmore, Viscount Milsington, &c. married in 

 17!)3 Mary Elizabeth Bertie, only child of Brown- 

 low, fifth Dxike of Ancaster ; by whom he had a son, 

 Brownlow Charles, who, on the death of his uncle 

 the Duke, in liil)9, came to his vast personal pro- 

 perty. This was the fortune to which Mr. Great- 

 heed succeeded on the death of Mr. Colyear, as 

 above stated. 



POLITICAL OCCURRENCES, &c. 



The anticipations which had been enter- 

 tained of a deficit in the quarter's revenue 

 have been more than realized — according 

 to the official document which has been 

 published, its actual amount is ^£1,100,000. 



The total number of failures of country 

 banks up to Christmas was sixty-one, of 

 which five had recommenced business, and 

 ten have appeared in the gazette as bank- 

 rupts. There have failed in London six 

 banking-houses, of which some have re- 

 opened. So great a number v.ithin so short 

 a period (for the crisis has not lasted more 

 than three weeks) has not occurred before 

 since the first introduction of banking. 



The silk throwsters of Hertfordshire 

 have begim to discharge their hands, and 

 there cannot be any doubt that the example 

 will be followed by those concerned in the 

 manufacture, if the present system is per- 

 severed in. The protecting duty of thirty 

 per cent., which will take place on the 1st 

 of July, is inadequate for its object, and 

 will only operate to encourage smuggling ; 

 there are at present persons in France who 

 undertake to deliver the article in England 

 free from the duty, taking upon themselves 

 the whole risk, for a premium of 10, or 

 even 7i per cent. : the apprehension that it 

 will be impossible in these circumstances 

 for our manufactiuers to compete with 

 foreigners, has induced numbers, as soon as 

 their warp was completed, to desist from 

 working. This dismissal of hands must ne- 

 cessarily become general in all the branches 

 connected with the manufacture. 



The first message of Mr. Adams to Con- 

 gress appears in the American papers ; it is 

 of considerable length: he announces his hav- 

 ing accepted the invitation of the new demo- 



cracies to send ministers on the part of the 

 United States to Panama, who will share 

 in the proceedings of the Republican Con- 

 gress. The finances of the Republic are in 

 the most Hourishing state ; the expense of 

 their government is little more than a mil- 

 lion and a half sterling, including the civil, 

 military, and naval dejjartments ; the whole 

 debt is about 18 millions. The sum set 

 apart for the redemption of the debt, 

 amounts to t3 of the whole, and to f of 

 the ordinary expense of the government. 



Advices have been received from Cal- 

 cutta to the end of August. Sir Alexander 

 Campbell's head-quarters were still at 

 Prome. The mortality among the troops 

 continued unabated ; the rainy season and 

 the partial inundation of the country had 

 greatly increased the epidemic. The troops 

 had also sustained considerable loss, from 

 the incessant attacks made upon them by 

 the Burmese ; these attacks had increased 

 in boldness, scarcely a day passing without 

 some skirmish : the enemy always mak€ 

 their approaches under cover of the woods 

 and jungles, annoying the troops without 

 giving them an opportunity of chastising 

 their dastardy assailants. 



By his Majesty's ship Lively, arrived at 

 Plymouth, from Vera Cruz, the impor- 

 tant intelligence has been received of the 

 surrender of the castle St. Juan de UUoa 

 to the Mexicans : this event took place on 

 the 17th of November. 



The French papers contain the answer of 

 the Emperor of Austria to the represen- 

 tations of the diet of Hungary. The de- 

 termined language and bold resolutions of 

 the Hungarian States have produced their 

 effect at Vienna, and the Austrian cou>>- 



