384 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



weakness of his health, combined 

 with his great aversion to all spe- 

 culative enterprise, deprived his 

 country at large of that learning, 

 judgment, and eloquence, joined 

 togreatpoliticalknowledge, wliich 

 would have done honour to her 

 parliamentary representation. As 

 a scholar, he was highly capable 

 of relishing the beauties and sub- 

 limities of those works which are 

 the great standards of classical 

 composition: his grammatical ac- 

 quaintance with the Greek and 

 Latin languages was correct, and 

 his taste perhaps almost too fas- 

 tidiously refined. The Holy Scrip- 

 tures formed a favourite branch 

 of his studies, which his experi- 

 ence and skill in the Hebrew 

 language rendered more delight- 

 ful to him. With the principal 

 modern language he was well 

 acquainted, and was particularly 

 attached to the German. He 

 conversedin French with great flu- 

 ency and propriety. The unex- 

 ampled care and attention which 

 he personally bestowed upon the 

 education of his son, proved that 

 he was fully aware of the binding 

 and serious duties imposed upon 

 a parent. 



After a lingering and painful 

 illness, at St. Valen, near Bray, 

 Joseph Cooper Walker, esq. mem- 

 ber of many literary and philoso- 

 phical societies. The loss of this 

 accomplished scholar will be long 

 and deepy deplored by all true vo- 

 taries of science and the fine arts ; 

 but, those only who have had the 

 happiness to be included in the cir- 

 cle of his friends, can justly lament 

 the qualities which dignified, and 

 the numerous graces which adorn- 

 ed his character. Few, perhaps, 

 have united, in a higher degree, 

 the accomplishments of thegentle- 

 man, with the attainments of the 



scholar. His polished manners, his 

 refined sentiments, his easy flow 

 of wit, his classical taste, and his 

 profound erudition, rendered his 

 conversation as fascinating as it 

 was instructive; the rare qualities 

 of his heart procured for him the 

 most devoted attachment of rela- 

 tives and friends, the affectionate 

 regard of all who knew him. A 

 frame of peculiar delicacy inca- 

 pacitated IVIr. W. for the exercise 

 of an active profession, and early 

 withdrew his mind from the busy 

 bustle of the world to the more 

 congenial occupations of literary 

 retirement. The intervals of ex- 

 emption from pain and sickness, 

 which are usually passed in lan« 

 guor or in pleasure, were by him 

 devoted to the cultivation of those 

 favourite departments of literature 

 to which he was guided, not less 

 by natural taste, than by early 

 association. To seek for that 

 best of blessings — health, which 

 his own climate denied him, Mr. 

 W. was induced to travel: the 

 ardent mind of this young enthu- 

 siast in the cause of letters, who 

 had drunk deep from the classic 

 fountains of antiquity, and had 

 imbibed the most profound admi- 

 ration for the heroes and the sages 

 of old, regretted not his constitu- 

 tional debility, but seized the 

 occasion which invited him to that 

 sacred theatre, on which the 

 greatest characters had figured, 

 and the noblest works had been 

 achieved. He visited Italy; he em- 

 braced with enthusiasm that nurse 

 of arts and of arras ; he trod with 

 devotion her classic ground, con- 

 secrated by the ashes of heroes, 

 and immortalized by the effusions 

 of poets ; he studied her language; 

 he observed her customs and her 

 manners;headmiredtheinimitable 

 remains of ancient art, and mourn- 



