372 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



not possess; his active, well-inform- 

 ed, and enterprising mind, amply 

 stored with ancient and modern li- 

 terature, wasever exertedfor their 

 and the public good. The mint of 

 Madras, and the public docks at 

 Coringa, are monuments not less 

 of his ingenuity than of his indefa- 

 tigable and unceasing labours. 

 Public and private charity ever 

 met a most liberal support from 

 his hands.In mechanics, chemistry, 

 and mineralogy, he had few supe- 

 riors; in other polite and useful 

 attainments his comprehensive 

 mind had acquired very consider- 

 able knowledge ; Political econo- 

 my had ever been with him a most 

 favoured study, and few men were 

 better acquainted with that inte- 

 resting subject. Hospitable, with- 

 out ostentation, his table was ever 

 the resort of the best informed and 

 most worthy members of society, 

 andfew everleftit without gaining 

 some useful knowledge from his 

 conversation ; his address was po- 

 lite, agreeable, and engaging. 



Caleb Whitefoord, esq. of Ar- 

 gyle-street. He was born at Edin- 

 burgh in the year 1734-, and was 

 the only son of colonel Charles 

 Whitefoord, third son of sir 

 Adam Whitefoord, bart. in the 

 shire of Ayr, in North Britain. 

 He was placed, at an early age, 

 under the tuition of Mr. Mundeil, 

 then a distinguished teacher in the 

 capital of Scotland, at whose se- 

 minary he soon eclipsed all his 

 school-fellows, by his rapid pro- 

 gress in the Latin tongue, and 

 other branches of education, which 

 he completed at the university of 

 Edinburgh, the alma mater of so 

 many eminent Iitera»-y characters. 

 This uncommon proficiency in 

 classical knowledge, induced his 

 father to breed him up for the 



church ; but to the clerical pro- 

 fession he entertained such strong 

 objections, that the colonel was 

 obliged to relinquish his inten- 

 tions, and to send him to London, 

 where he was placed in the count- 

 ing-house of his friend, Mr. Archi- 

 bald Stewart, an eminent wine- 

 merchant inYork-buildings, where 

 young Caleb remained about four 

 years, and then went over to 

 France, and staid there near two 

 years more, until he became of 

 age. 



While he remained in Mr. 

 Stewart's counting-house, his fa- 

 ther had died at Galway, in Ire- 

 land, colonel of the 5th regiment 

 of foot, bequeathing the principal 

 part of his fortune to him and his 

 daughter, Mrs. Smith. With this 

 patrimony, on the expiration of 

 his minority, he commenced busi- 

 ness in Craven-street, in the 

 Strand, in partnership with Mr, 

 Thomas Brown, a gentleman uni., 

 versally esteemed for his amiable 

 qualities and convivial disposition. 

 Mr. W, early in life evinced a 

 lively wit, combined with a certain 

 peculiarity of humour, which ren- 

 dered his company and conversa- 

 tion desirable to the most celebrat- 

 ed beaux esprits of his time. Nor 

 was it only in conversation that 

 his talents were conspicuous. Hi:% 

 essays were equally ad mi red for no- 

 velty of idea, correctness of style, 

 and sprightliness of satire ; and to 

 those we are in some measure in- 

 debted for the emancipation of our 

 diurnal prints from that dulness 

 which, till then, universally per- 

 vaded them. Mr. Whitefoord hav- 

 ing conceivedagreatfriendshipfor 

 Mr. Henry Woodfall, sent his pro- 

 ductions to the Public Advertiser, 

 which soon became the pohtical 

 arena where all the combatants en- 



