606 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



cated transaction. The public are 

 indebted to the doctor for a com- 

 plete edition of the works of Mr. 

 Burke, which will for ever remain 

 a monument of the vast talents and 

 varied acquisitions of that extraor- 

 dinary man. Dr. Laurence pos- 

 sessed extensive knowledge; and 

 his abilities, if not shining, were 

 solid. In parliament he had no 

 pretensions to the fame of oratory, 

 but his speeches were characterized 

 by good sense. His death was oc- 

 casioned by a decline, in about the 

 60th year of his age. The follow- 

 ing culogium was pronounced by 

 Mr. Whitbread in the debate on the 

 Orders in Council, on the 6th of 

 March : " Now Dr. Laurence is 

 dead, I am sure there is no one in 

 this house but will do justice to his 

 memory. Now that party animo- 

 sity is silent, let justice, let grati- 

 tude, let a sense of our dignity, as 

 a house, awaken, and let us ac- 

 knowledge with one common voice, 

 that we have lost a man whose like 

 we shall not soon see again. Would 

 to heaven that his skirt only had 

 fallen amongst us, I should then 

 not have feared, under its influ- 

 ence and inspiration, to have op- 

 posed myself to the learned advo- 

 cates whom I see ranged against 

 me.'' 



In Grosvenorsquare, the Duchess 

 of Bolton, 75. She was the j'oung- 

 est sister of the late earl of Lons- 

 dale, and was married to lord 

 Harry Powlett, then captain in the 

 British navy, but whose exploits, 

 while in that service, did not en- 

 title him to rank with our naval he- 

 roes. Lord Harry was at the siege 

 of Carthagena, in South America, 

 in 1743, where Smollett has con- 

 signed his memory to posterity, 

 though not in the most brilliant or 



flattering colours. He is the Cap- 

 tain WhiflBe of Roderic Rjindom. 

 By the death of his elder brother he 

 succeeded early in the present reign 

 to the dukedom of Bolton, which 

 became extinct some years ago, in 

 his person. He left only two daugh- 

 ters, the eldest of whom, lady 

 Catharine Powlett, married the 

 present earl of Darlington. The 

 duchess of Bolton, her mother, 

 survived her,and hasleftthe greater 

 part of her fortune, which was 

 considerable, to the honourable 

 Frederic Vane, lord Darlington's 

 second son. 



In the sixty -sixth year of her age, 

 Anna Seward, a lady distinguished 

 for her talents in various works of 

 literature. She was the daughter 

 of the late Rev. Thomas S. rector 

 of Eyam, Derbyshire, prebendary 

 of Salisbury, and canon residen- 

 tiary of Litchfield. From this pa- 

 rent she received an excellent edu- 

 cation. She early discovered symp- 

 toms of a rhyming propensity, and 

 becoming acquainted with the late 

 lady Miller, of Bath Easton, was 

 a frequent, and sometimes a suc- 

 cessful candidate for the myrtle 

 wreath of the poetic institution of 

 that villa. Her first regular publi- 

 cation was a beautiful elegy on 

 captain Cook, which together with 

 an Ode to the Sun, a Bath Easton 

 prize poem, was published in a 

 quarto pamphlet in 1780. The 

 following year she produced a mo- 

 nody on her gallant and amiable 

 friend, major Andre ; and it is 

 said that Dr. Darwin, speaking of 

 this poem, and that on captain 

 Cook, used to style her the in- 

 ventress of epic elegy. Her sub- 

 sequent productions have been, a 

 poem to the Memory of Lady Mil- 

 ler; Louisa, a poetical novel; an 



Ode 



