546 



Biographical Memohs of Eminent Persons. 



[May, 



On the 4th of March, in the present 

 year, his Majesty was seized with nervous, 

 or, according to some accounts, apoplectic 

 attacks. On the 6th he received extreme 

 unction ; on the 9th his malady returned 

 with augmented violence ; and, at six in 

 the evening of the 10th he expired. Antici- 

 pating this event, a royal decree had been 

 published on the 7th, placing the govern- 

 ment in the hands of the King's daughter, 

 tlie Infanta, Donna Isabella Maria (bom 

 July 4, 1801), assisted by a council : and 

 directing that, in case of his Majesty's de- 

 cease, the edict should remain in force, till 

 the legitimate heir and successor to the 

 throne should give his orders on the sub- 

 ject. At the time of the King's death, his 

 son, Don Miguel, was at Vienna. It is 

 believed, that in consideration of the delicate 

 circumstances in which the ki.-gdom and 

 royal family of Portugal are placed, by the 

 demise of the crown, and by the complex 

 entanglements of Don Pedro, the existing 

 regency will be supported by the indueiice 

 of the British and French governments. 

 To overawe, if requisite, the faction of the 

 Queen and the Monks, a strong squadron 

 of English men-of-war has been gradually 

 assembling in the Tagus. 



ADMIRAL WILSOX. 



March 6.— At his seat, Redgrave-hall, 

 Suffolk, having just completed his 70th 

 year, George Wilson, Esq. Admiral of the 

 Red. He was a nephew of the late Row- 

 land Holt, Esq., M.P. for the county of 

 Suffolk, and of Thomas Holt, Esq., at 

 whose decease he succeeded to the estate. 

 Admiral Wilson was brought up in the 

 Royal Navy by the famous Caiitain Sir 

 John Jarvis, K.u. (afterwards Earl St. 

 Vincent) in the Foudroyant of seventy guns, 

 for seven years. He was made a posV 

 captain 1st of February 1780; a rear-ad- 

 miral 14th February 1799 ; a vice-admiral 

 23d April 1804; "and an admiral 23th 

 October 1809. He was generally beloved 

 in the Navy, and by all who knew him. 

 His lady survives him, with four sons and 

 two daughters, all young. 



MR, PISKERTO.V. 



March 10. — John Pinkerton, Esq., well 

 known as the author of " Modern Geo- 

 graphy," and many other works, appears to 

 have been a descendant of an ancient Scotch 

 family. Nicol de Pinkerton paid homage 

 to Edward I. for his lands (probably the 

 village still called Pinkerton, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Dunbar). The most nume- 

 rous branches of the family are in the west 

 of Scotland, particularly about Dalseif and 

 Rutherglen, in Clydesdale : the name fre- 

 quently appears in tiie list of magistrates 

 of the latter town. In a pamphlet pub- 

 lished in 1651, this item occurs :— " To 

 Robert Pinkerton, falconer to the king, 

 J8d. per diem, and ;f'13 13s. 9d. per an- 



num, for his living." There was also a Cap- 

 tain Pinkerton, who conducted part of the 

 unfortunate expeitition to Darien. The 

 grandfather of John, the subject of this 

 sketch, was Walter, a yeoman of Dalserf, 

 who had a numerous family. James, one 

 of his sons, settled in Somersetshire, where 

 lie acquired considerable property as a 

 dealer in hair ; an article which, as wigs 

 were then much worn, v.as greatly in re- 

 quest. About the year 1755, he returned 

 to Scotland, and married Mrs. Bowie, 

 (whose maiden name was Heron), the wi- 

 dow of a merchant in Edinburgh. By this 

 man'iage liis fortune was increased. 



John Pinkerton, his son, was born at 

 Edinburgh, on the 17th of February 1758. 

 Having been some time at a day-school, 

 kept by an old woman, he was sent, when 

 between six and seven years old, to the 

 grammar-school of Lanark, kept by Mr. 

 Thomson, who had married the sister of 

 Thomson, the poet. Though always a shy 

 boy, he was generally the second or third of 

 his class. After a stay of six years at La- 

 nark, the last year of whica only was dedi- 

 cated to the Greek, he returned home, 

 where he received instructions from a 

 French teacher, and made considerable pro- 

 gress in the mathematics. Intended for 

 the law, he was placed in the office of Mr. 

 Aytoun, a writer to the signet at Edin- 

 burgh, with whom he served a clerkship of 

 five years. 



After he had passed his twelfth year, 

 young Pinkerton became enamoured of the 

 Muse ; and as he often visited Craigmillar 

 Castle, once the residence of the unfortu- 

 nate Mary, he, about 1776, published an 

 elegy called " Craigmillar Castle," dedicated 

 to Dr. Beattie, who had favoured him with 

 his criticism and advice. Delighted with 

 the pathetic old Scotch ballads, he, about 

 the same time, wrote the second part of 

 " Hardyknute," and some other pieces of 

 similar diaracter. He also wrote two tra- 

 gedies which have not been published. 



In 1780, soon after the expiration of his 

 clerkship, his father died ; and having expe- 

 rienced much difficulty in procuring scarce 

 books at Edinburgh, he removed to London, 

 where, with some intervals, he continued 

 to reside till 1804. In 1782, he published 

 a volume of poems, entitled " Rh>-mes," 

 too much after the manner of the Spense- 

 rian and Italian school of allegory and 

 affected refinement. His next publications 

 were, " Tales in Verse," and " Dithyram- 

 bic Odes on Enthusiasm and Laughter." 



Attached to the study of medals, he had 

 drawn up a manual and tables for liis own 

 use, which afterwards grew to a complete 

 and useful essay on the subject, in two vo- 

 lumes octavo, published by Dodsley, in 

 1784. In the succeeding year he published, 

 under the fictitious name of Robert Heron, 

 his " Letters of Literature," in which, 

 with little power, but much dogmatism and 

 ill-nature, he attempted to depreciate the 



