770 ANN UAL REGISTER, 1809. 



case. Tliis indiEFerence is really a 

 step backward into baibarism. Ex- 

 pressions of kindness and endear- 

 ment nourish kind and endearing 

 sentiments. Without such oyertex- 

 pressions or recognizances, social 

 sentiments are apt to languish. 



General Melville, while in pri- 

 vate life, was the friend of '* the 

 widow, of the orphan, and of 

 those who have no helper;" in 

 public he was a ready and a liberal 

 contributor to the support of the 

 most valuable charitable establish- 

 ments. The Scotch Corporation, 

 or hospital, in London, by its 

 management, as well as by its 

 constitution, perhaps the least sus- 

 ceptible of abuse, of the multitude 

 of similar benevolent institutions, 

 ■will long remember the services, 

 and long regret the loss of its 

 venerable recruiting general. The 

 patron of unassuming merit, the 

 cncourager of ingenuousyouth, his 

 stores of knowledge were ever open 

 to the candid inquirer. A genuine 

 and ardent lover of truth, in every 

 pursuit in which mankind can be 

 interested, and from whatever 

 quarter it proceeded, truth was ever 

 by him mos Icordially received. 

 By the uniform tenor of his con- 

 duct, general Melville evinced 

 himself to be, in the strictest sense 

 of the terms, the true friend and 

 lover of his country. 



General iVIelville was a fellow 

 of the Royal and Antiquarian So- 

 cieties of London and Edinburgh, 

 by the university of which last city, 

 his alma mater, he was honoured 

 with the degree of Doctor of Laws. 

 He was also an honorary member 

 of the Board of Agriculture, and an 

 active member of the Society in 

 London for the Encouragement of 

 Arts^ Manufactures, and Com- 



merce. Although he never had a 

 regiment, a home-government, or 

 any other military emolument 

 vvliatever, since he quitted the 

 \^'est Indies, he was appointed a 

 full general on the 12th of Octo- 

 ber, 1798; and at his decease 

 was, with one exception, the 

 oldest general in the Britsh 

 army. 



Dying a bachelor, general Mel- 

 ville is succeeded in name and es- 

 tate by his cousin, John Whyte 

 Melville, of Bennochy, in the coun- 

 ty of Fife, esq. 



General Melville had nearly 

 completed his eighty-sixth year, 

 having been born at Monimail, 

 in that county, of which parish 

 his father was minister, on the 

 12th of October, 1723; his mo- 

 ther was a daughter of Robert 

 Whyte, of Bennochy, esq. advo- 

 cate, and a sister of the late ce- 

 lebrated Dr. Robert Whyte 

 (W^hytt) his majesty's physician 

 in Scotland, and professor of 

 medicine in the university of Edin- 

 burgh. 



Major Stanhope. 



The honourable Charles Bankcs 

 Stanhope, who was slain in the 

 field of battle, near Corunna, in 

 the 24th year of his age, was 

 the second son of earl Stan- 

 hope. At an early period, for 

 reasons not necessary to be here 

 assigned, he and his brother, the 

 honourable James Hamilton Stan- 

 hope, now a heutenant in the 

 first regiment of foot-guards, 

 quitted the house of lord | Stan- 

 hope, and placed themselves 

 under the protection of Mr. 

 Pitt, by whoni they were ever 



after 



