CHARACTERS. 



549 



idestroyed for ever. No addition 

 to his income or his consequence 

 -could now soothe his feelings ; 

 for though his circumstances were 

 comparatively affluent, and he 

 had the unprecedented honour of 

 being chosen, on account of his 

 literary talents, a director of the 

 East IndiaCompany, in April, 1773: 

 he died, exhausted by chagrin and 

 disappointment, on the 16th of the 

 November following. He was 

 buried in the church of Bromley, 

 in Kent, where, on an elegant 

 marble, is the subsequent inscrip- 

 tion, part of which, as the reader 

 will immediately perceive, is taken 

 from the last number of the Ad- 

 venturer. 



To the Memory of 



John Hawkesworth, LL. D. 



Who died the 16th of November, 



1 773, aged 58 years. 



That he lived ornamental and usefUl 



To society in an eminent degree, 



Was among the boasted felicities 



Of the present age ; 



Thathe laboured for thebenefit of society, 



Let his own pathetic admonitions 



Record and realize. 



"The hour is hasting, in which 

 whatever praise or censure I have 

 acquired, will be remembered with 



■ equal indifference. Time, who is 

 impatient to date my last paper, 

 will shortly moulder the hand 

 which is now writing it in the 

 dust, and still the breast that now 

 throbs at the reflection. But let 

 not this be read as something 

 that relates only to another ; for a 

 few years only can divide the eye 

 that is now reading, from the 

 hand that has written." 



Dr. Hawkesworth was, if not a 

 man of deep learning, sufficiently 

 acquainted with the classical and 

 modern languages to maintain the 

 character of an elegant scholar. 

 His writings, with the exception 



of his last ill-fated work, have a 

 tendency uniformly conducive to 

 the interests of virtue and reli- 

 gion ; and we may add, that the 

 errors of that unfortunate produc- 

 tion must be attributed rather to 

 a defect of judgment, than to a 

 dereliction of principle. 



His imagination was fertile and 

 brilliant, his diction pure, elegant, 

 and unaffected ; he possessed a 

 sensibility which too often wound- 

 ed himself, but which rendered 

 him peculiarly susceptible of the 

 emotions of pity, of friendship, 

 and of love. He was in a high 

 degree charitable, humane, and 

 benevolent ; his manners were 

 polished and aifable, and his con- 

 versation has been described as 

 uncommonly fascinating ; as com- 

 bining instruction and entertain- 

 ment with a flow of words, which, 

 tiiough unstudied, was yet con- 

 cisely and appropriately eloquent. 

 His passions were strong, and 

 his command over them was not 

 such as to prevent their occasional 

 interference with his health and 

 peace of mind ; but to the heart- 

 withering sensations of long-che- 

 rished resentment, of revenge or 

 hatred, his breast was a perfect 

 stranger. He died, it is said, 

 tranquil and resigned, and, we 

 trust, deriving hope and comfort 

 from a firm belief in that religion 

 which his best writings had been 

 employed to defend. 



The following little poem, com- 

 posed but a month before his 

 death, and dictated to Mrs. H. be- 

 fore he rose in the morning, will 

 prove how vividly he felt, at that 

 period, the consolations arising 

 from dependence on the mercy of 

 his God. 



