CHRONICLE. 



477 



John Cust, by whom he had a son, 

 1771, a daughter, 1772. She died 

 1779 ; and he took to his second 

 •wife, 1782, the relict of Owen 

 Meyrick, esq. of Dyffrynales, co. 

 Denbigh. 



At his house in Ely-place, Dub- 

 lin, sir Alexander Schomberg, knt. 

 the eldest captain in the royal navy, 

 his commission being dated in 1757. 

 During this extensive period he had 

 the honour of commanding his ma- 

 jesty's yacht the Dorset, stationed 

 in the port of Dublin. He was an 

 experienced and gallant officer, dis- 

 played great bravery at the relief of 

 Quebec, and had a thorough know- 

 ledge of naval tactics. His remains 

 were interred in St. Peter's church- 

 yard, Dublin, attended by his two 

 sons, the rev. George Schomberg, 

 and captain Alexander Schomberg, 

 of the royal navy, as the chief 

 mourners ; admirals lord Lecale, 

 Hawkins, Whitshed, sir Chichester 

 Fortescue, captains Lambert Braba- 

 zon, and Edward O'Brien, were 

 pall-bearers. 



At his house in Great Georgo- 

 street, Westminster, general sir 

 William Fawcett, K. B. colonel of 

 the 3d regiment of dragoon guards, 

 and governor of Chelsea college. 

 He was of a very ancient and re- 

 spectable family ; and born at Ship- 

 den hall, near Halifax, in York- 

 shire, which, for many centuries, 

 had been in the possession of his 

 ancestors, and is now the property 

 and residence of their lineal descen- 

 dant. His father dying when he 

 ■was very young, his education was 

 superintended by an uncle, a very 

 worthy clergyman. He was brought 

 up at a free-school in Lancashire, 

 where he was well grounded in 

 classical learning, and became also 

 a remarkable proficient in msitheraa- 



tics. He has very frequently been 

 heard to declare, that, from his 

 earliest youth, he always -felt the 

 strongest predilection for the army, 

 which his mother and nearest rela- 

 tions constantly endeavoured to dis- 

 suade him from ; but, finding all 

 their arguments inefTectual, they 

 either bought, or he had an ensign- 

 cy given him, iu general Oglethorpe's 

 regiment, then in Georgia ; but the 

 war being then going on in Flan- 

 ders, he gave up his ensigncy, and 

 went there as a volunteer, furnished 

 with letters from the late marquis of 

 Rockingham and Mr. Lascelles (af- 

 terwards lord Harewood), to the 

 commander and several others of the 

 officers. This step was at the time 

 far from unusual for young men of 

 spirit, of the first rank and fortune, 

 to take. He entered as a volun- 

 teer, but messed with the officers, 

 and was very soon presented with a 

 pair of colours. Some time after 

 he married a lady of good fortune 

 and family, and, at the pressing 

 entreaties of her friends, he most 

 reluctantly resigned his commission ; 

 which he had no sooner done, than 

 he felt himself miserable, and his 

 new relations finding that his pro- 

 pensity to a military life was invin- 

 cible, agreed to his purchasing an 

 ensigncy in the third regiment of 

 guards. Having now obtained the 

 object of his most anxious wishes, 

 he determined to lose no opportu- 

 nity of qualifying himself for the 

 highest situations in his favourite 

 profession. With this view he paid 

 the most unremitting attention to 

 his duty, and every hour he could 

 command was given up to the study 

 , of the French and German lan- 

 guages, in which ^ by the assistance 

 of his classical learning) he soon 

 became such a proficient as not only 



to 



