584 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



by all who enjoyed his friendship, 

 as one not only possessed of the 

 best abilities, and great knowledge 

 of the world, but of the most bene- 

 volent qualities of the heart; with 

 such polite accomplishments and 

 amiable manners, as are the true 

 characteristics of the well-bred and 

 finished gentleman. 



Mr. Andrew Oswald. He was 

 the fifth son of the late Andrew 

 Oswald, of Glenhead, in Stirling- 

 shire ; he was bred to the honour- 

 able and lucrative profession of a 

 ■writer to the signet, in Edinburgh, 

 and his talents were such, that he 

 might, in a few years have been 

 eminent, had not his attention been 

 taken up with the politics of the 

 day, which ran very high a few 

 years ago, in Scotland ; and as he, 

 from principle, espoused the cause 

 of the oppressed and persecuted, 

 had a more general and correct 

 knowledge of public affairs, tiian 

 many of his contemporaries; and 

 was more capable of expressing 

 himself clearly and distinctly, on 

 public men and measures, which 

 often confounded, and frequently 

 against their will, convinced his 

 opponents of their error ; his supe- 

 rior abilities often created him ene* 

 mies, for those who have an interest 

 in supporting a corrupt system, 

 very seldom like to acknowledge 

 that they are defeated in argument. 

 When the whig ministers came into 

 power, lord Lauderdale was ap- 

 pointed as governor to India. Mr. 

 Oswald had then a communication 

 with his lordship, respecting an 

 appointment under him, in that 

 settlement; but another arrange- 

 ment took place in ihe ministry, 

 and lord Lauderdale was sent am- 

 bassador to France, which com- 

 pletely frustrated Mr. Oswald's 



expectations. Soon after that dis* 

 appointment, he returned to Stir- 

 ling, where he followed the profes- 

 sion of writer; but his mind being 

 rather unhinged, from his hopes of 

 going to India being defeated, he 

 soon left and went to Glasgow, 

 where he staid but a short time, 

 and then returned to Edinburgh. 

 In this unsettled state, and being 

 fond of society, and frequently of 

 convivial company, perhaps, as a 

 consequence of some irregularities, 

 by which he contracted a consump- 

 tive habit, which rapidly increased; 

 and by the advice of his friends in 

 Edinburgh, he took a journey by 

 sea to London, in the hope that the 

 change of air and climate, might 

 restore him to health, and to his 

 friends again; but the disorder had 

 taken too deep root to be removed ; 

 it baffled the skill of men eminent 

 in the healing art. For four months 

 (the time he had been in London) 

 he was gradually declining, until he 

 was reduced at last to a mere ske- 

 leton. He kept his bed only about 

 nine days, and died the 9th of No- 

 vember, 1809, aged 33 years. Mr. 

 Oswald was well known and much 

 esteemed, in a very respectable cir- 

 cle of private friends and acquain- 

 tance; he was zealously attached to 

 the genuine principles of freedom, 

 and warmly and judiciously defend- 

 ed them in numerous letters and 

 essays, in the periodical journals 

 and in pamphlets under various 

 signatures. The last of his produc- 

 tions, was a series of letters ad- 

 dressed to the duke of York, in 

 the Sunday Review, under the sig- 

 nature of "Ignotus," written under 

 great debility of body ; the last was 

 finished on his death-bed, and was 

 a posthumous publication. He 

 possessed a strong memory, had 



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