DALLASBALL AWAY 



Ramgur. He had previously acquired considerable 

 celebrity by a sprightly and ingenious poem, de- 

 scriptive of the adventures of an Indian voyage, 

 and of the first impressions of a youthful mind on 

 finding itself surrounded by objects so remote from 

 European associations. This work was afterwards 

 published at Calcutta, under the title of " The In- 

 dia Guide," and was dedicated to the celebrated 

 Anstie, whose popular poem, " The Bath Guide," 

 had suggested to the author the idea of a similar 

 undertaking. In the circles of Calcutta it excited 

 a peculiar interest, as well from the circumstance 

 of its being the first publication which ever issued 

 from the press of India, as from the vivid pictures 

 it presented of social life and manners in the east. 

 From the post to which he was originally ap- 

 pointed, Mr Dallas was soon promoted, at the ex- 

 press desire of Mr Hastings, to the more important 

 charge of superintendent of the collections at 

 Raageshay. A selection so honourable to its ob- 

 ject was amply justified by the ability and discre- 

 tion with which he performed the duties attaching 

 to an arduous and highly responsible situation. 

 After holding this office for six years, and serving 

 in other departments in India, he returned to Eng- 

 land, for the benefit of his health, and published, 

 in 1J89, a pamphlet in vindication of Mr Hastings's 

 character and services. His accurate knowledge 

 of the political state of India eminently qualified 

 him for the task he had undertaken ; and, in this 

 eloquent and instructive treatise, he traced with 

 effect the splendid series of actions by which Mr 

 Hastings had consolidated in Asia the supremacy 

 of the British fortunes. Between this period and 

 the date of his next production, Mr Dallas took a 

 leading part in the debates at the India House, ex- 

 hibiting on every question that came before the 

 court of proprietors a masterly acquaintance with 

 the principles of trade, and an extent of general 

 information which gave him ever afterwards a 

 decided influence ; n that assembly. In 1793 he 

 published " Thoughts upon our present Situation, 

 with Remarks upon the Policy of a War with 

 France." The success of this work, which made 

 a marked impression upon the public, and speedily 

 went through several editions, was commensurate 

 with the spirit of its execution. He also wrote, 

 while on a visit to a relative in the north of Ire- 

 land, several treatises addressed to the inhabitants 

 of that part of the kingdom, in which the signs of 

 political convulsion were at the time unhappily ap- 

 parent. In the same year appeared the first of his 

 " Letters to Lord Moira, on the Political and Com- 

 mercial State of Ireland," which, at the particular 

 request of Mr Pitt, having been brought out by 

 numbers in the " Anti-Jacobin," were afterwards 

 embodied in a separate work. 



In 1798, by patent, bearing date the 31st ol 

 July, he was raised to the dignity of a baronet of 

 Great Britain. He sent to the press, in 1799, 

 " Considerations on the Impolicy of treating for 

 Peace with the present Regicide Government oi 

 France," and soon after came into parliament as 

 representative of the borough of Newport, in the 

 Isle of Wight. His parliamentary career, though 

 not of long duration, was distinguished by several 

 brilliant demonstrations of ability. Had his health 

 permitted him to continue his legislative functions 

 he would doubtless have attained the highest hon- 

 ours of the senate, being gifted by nature with 

 great powers of elocution. While in parliament, 

 he published " A Letter to Sir William Pulteney, 



Bart., Member for Shrewsbury, on the Subject of 

 the Trade between India and Europe." After 

 the appearance of this publication, he resigned his 

 seat in parliament, and passed some years in De- 

 vonshire, for the benefit ofthe climate. But, 

 though comparatively retired from public life, he 

 was a sagacious observer of political events, and 

 availed himself of several opportunities which af- 

 forded scope for the exercise of his literary talents. 

 His knowledge of the British interests in the East 

 was shown in a defence, which he published in 

 1808, of the wars undertaken by the marquis Wel- 

 lesley in the Deccan and Hindostan. Shortly be- 

 fore the discussions which took place, in 1813, on 

 the renewal of the East India Company's charter, 

 Sir George published a very interesting tract on 

 the religious conversion of the Hindoos. It ap- 

 peared anonymously, under the title of *' A Letter 

 from a Field Officer at Madras." The last, and 

 not the least interesting of his published works, 

 was his Biographical Memoir of his son-in-law, Sir 

 Peter Parker, Bart., captain of his Majesty's fri- 

 gate Menelaus. 



Sir George married, on the llth of June, 1788, 

 the Hon. Catharine Blackwood, youngest daugh- 

 ter of Sir John Blackwood, Bart., and the Baroness 

 Dufierin and Claneboye. He died at Brighton on 

 the 14th Jan. 1833. 



D ALL AW AY, JAMES, Vicar of Letherhead, 

 Surrey, and of Slynfold, Sussex; was born at Bris- 

 tol, Feb. 20, 1763; and having passed his youth at 

 the grammar school of Cirencester, became a scholar 

 on the foundation of Trinity college, Oxford. Here 

 he made himself known by his English poetry, 

 some of which was characterized by great sweetness 

 and facility of versification ; but the same talent, 

 when mingled with the dangerous tinge of satire, 

 was destined to become fatal to his early prospects. 

 When his time had arrived to be elected fellow, 

 his name was passed over, without any reason as- 

 signed ; but the cause was generally supposed to 

 have been some satirical verses upon an influential 

 member of the society. With his future prospects 

 thus blighted, he left the university, having taken 

 his degree of M.A. Dec. 3, 1784; and went to 

 serve a curacy in the neighbourhood of Stroud. At 

 a subsequent period he resided in Gloucester ; and 

 about the years 1785 to 1796 he was employed as 

 the editor of Bigland's Collections for Gloucester- 

 shire. 



Mr Dallaway's first publication was " Letters 

 of the late Dr Rundle, Bishop of Derry, to Mrs 

 Sandys, with introductory Memoirs," 2 vols. 8vo. 

 1789. In the same year he was elected a fellow 

 of the society of antiquaries ; and in 1792 he pub- 

 lished in 4to. " Enquiries into the Origin and Pro- 

 gress of Heraldry in England, with Observations 

 on Armorial Ensigns." This was dedicated to 

 Charles duke of Norfolk, E. M. a circumstance 

 which introduced him to the notice of his grace, 

 who wus ever after his warm and constant patron. 

 Through the duke's introduction he was appointed 

 chaplain and physician to the British embassy at, 

 the Porte. He had previously taken the degree of 

 Med. B. at Oxford, Dec. 10, 1794. After his re- 

 tiun he published, under the auspices of the mar- 

 quis of Bute, " Constantinople, Ancient and Mo- 

 dern, with Excursions to the Shores and Islands of 

 the Archipelago, and to the Troad, 1797," 4to. lu 

 1802 he communicated to the society of antiquaries 

 an Account of the Walls of Constantinople; which 

 is printed, with four plates, in the " Archaeologia," 

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