CHARACTERS. 



773 



From the time of his entering 

 the army, his sister, lady Hester 

 Stanhope, was his constant and 

 dearest companion, and every mo- 

 ment he could spare from superior 

 duties, he fondly dedicated to her 

 society, whose greatest happiness 

 consisted in witnessing the hopes 

 Mr. Pitt entertained of his profes- 

 sional success, the approbation 

 which he bestowed on his conduct, 

 and the affection with which he re- 

 garded him. 



It would be a vain and painful 

 office to indulge our imagination in 

 contemplating the career of glory 

 which, if fate had spared him, he 

 might have ran — but he doubtless 

 would have fulfilled the high ex- 

 pectations which might not unrea- 

 sonably be entertained of the 

 adopted son of such a statesman as 

 Mr. Pitt, and the el'eve of such an 

 officer as sir John Moore. 



Major Stanhope's regiment were 

 best able to form an estimate of 

 his merits, and they strongly tes- 

 tified their regard for his memory, 

 and their sorrow for his loss, by 

 the marked, because unusual com- 

 pliment, of a general mourning for 

 him and his brave companion, ma- 

 jor Napier, who is since happily 

 restored to life and liberty, to dis- 

 pel the agonizing fears of an amia- 

 ble and affectionate family, and 

 who can bear witness to the worth 

 of his lamented friend in the fatal 

 but victorious field. 



"I decus i nostrum; melloribus utere 

 fatis." 



Extracts from Memoirs of William 

 Paley, D.D. By George Wilson 

 Meadley. 



Young Paley, as he grew up, 

 was educated under his father's 



eye. At school he soon surpassed 

 his early class-fellows, by the ex- 

 ercise of greater abilities, united to 

 a more studious disposition, than 

 usually belongs to boys of that age ; 

 and, by successive promotions from 

 one class to another, at length ob- 

 tained pre-eminence over all. The 

 son of the second master, indeed, 

 was for awhile his competitor; 

 during which, as the masters in the 

 upper and lower school, at stated 

 times, exchanged departments, he 

 found himself or his rival invariably 

 raised to the head of the class, as 

 they went up with their lessons to 

 the father of the one or the other 

 respectively; a circumstance which 

 he often mentioned, as a striking 

 ii.stance of the absurd partiality of 

 parents for their children. He 

 did not, at this period, distinguish 

 himself by any sort of composi- 

 tions, even as school-exercise, but 

 was considered a very fair, though 

 by no means an accomplished, 

 classical scholar. He was even 

 then more attentive to things thin 

 to words, and ardent in the pursuit 

 of knowledge of every kind. He 

 was curious in making inquiries 

 about mechanism, whenever he had 

 an opportunity of conversing with 

 any workmen, or others capable 

 of affording him satisfactory in- 

 formation. In his mind he was 

 uncommonly active ; in his body 

 quite the reverse. He was a bad 

 horseman, and incapable of those 

 exertions which required adroit- 

 ness in the use of his hands or feet. 

 He never engaged in the ordinary 

 sports of school -boys; but was 

 fond of angling, an amusement in 

 which he did not then excel tiiough 

 his attachment to it seems to have 

 continued through life. He was 

 much esteemed by his school-fel- 

 lows. 



