ANNA1LS 



OF 



PHILOSOPHY. 



FEBRUARY, 1818, 



Article I. 



Biographical Account of Lord Stanhope. 



CHARLES STANHOPE, third Earl Stanhope, was born in 

 the year 1753. His grandfather, the first Earl Stanhope, was 

 eminently distinguished both for his military and his political 

 talents ; his father, the second Earl, although less known in a 

 public capacity, was likewise a man of ability, and particularly 

 directed his attention to the study of the mathematics, in which 

 he made considerable proficiency. The two first Earls Stanhope 

 were both of them warmly attached to the Whig party, and on 

 all occasions, both as members of the legislature and of the com- 

 munity at large, uniformly supported what is generally termed 

 the liberal side of all political questions. The subject of our 

 memoir was sent very young to Eton College, but at the age of 

 ten was removed from it, in order to accompany his father's 

 family to Geneva, who took up their residence for some time in 

 that city, in consequence of the delicate health of the eldest son, 

 who died shortly after, and thus left Charles to assume the title 

 of Viscount Mahon, and to support the hereditary dignity of 

 the family. They continued at Geneva for ten years, so that the 

 late Earl passed in that city the period of life which is the most 

 important for the formation of the character, and for the acquisi- 

 tion of those habits which must tend, in a great degree, to de- 

 termine the future pursuits of the individual. His education was 

 conducted under the inspection of M. le Sage, a man of consi- 

 derable ingenuity, who is known as the author of a theory of 

 gravity, as well as of various tracts on different topics connected 

 with mineralogy, chemistry, and the other departments of natural 

 Vol. XI. N° II. F 



