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tained. He was well known also as a very extensive and judicious 

 collector of books, prints, drawings and paintings, and was endeared 

 to a large circle of private friends, amongst the most cultivated classes 

 of society in this country, by his refined yet simple manners, his 

 happy temper, and his many social and domestic virtues. 



Sir Abraham Hume, who had attained at the time of his death 

 the venerable age of ninety years, was the father of the Royal So- 

 ciety ; he was a man of cultivated taste and very extensive ac- 

 quirements, and throughout his life a liberal patron and encourager 

 of the fine arts. 



Lord Farnborough was the son-in-law of Sir Abraham Hume, 

 whom he greatly resembled in his tastes and accomplishments ; for 

 more than thirty years of his life he held various public situations 

 in the successive administrations of this country, but quitted his 

 official employments on his elevation to the peerage in 1 826 : 

 from that period he devoted himself almost entirely to the improve- 

 ment and decoration of his beautiful residence at Bromley Hill ; to 

 the proposal and promotion of plans for the architectural improve- 

 ment of the metropolis ; to the selection of pictures for the National 

 Gallery, which he greatly enriched by his bequests ; and to the va- 

 rious duties imposed upon him by his official connexion with the 

 British Museum, and many other public institutions. 



The Earl of Eldon, though possessing few relations with science 

 or literature, presents too remarkable an example of the openings 

 afforded by the institutions of this country to men of great and com- 

 manding talents for the attainment of the highest rank and wealth, 

 to be passed over without notice in this obituary of our deceased 

 Fellows. Lord Eldon was matriculated as a member of University 

 College, Oxford, under the tuition of his brother, afterwards Lord 

 Stowell, in 1766; and an academical prize which he gained in the 

 following year, for an " Essay on the Advantages of Foreign Tra,- 

 vel," gave the first evidence of his possession of those great powers 

 of minute analysis and careful research, which made him afterwards 

 so celebrated. His early marriage terminated somewhat prematurely 

 his academical prospects, and forced him to adopt the profession of 

 the law, after narrowly escaping other occupations of a much more 

 humble character. He was compelled to struggle for several years of 

 his life with poverty and discouragement, when a fortunate opportunity 

 enabled him to give proof of his extraordinary attainments, and ra- 

 pidly conducted him to the command of wealth and professional emi- 

 nence. After filling with great distinction the offices of Solicitor and 

 Attorney-General, he became Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas and 

 a peer in 1799, and finally Lord Chancellor of England in 1801, a 

 situation which he continued to hold, with a short interruption, for 

 nearly a quarter of a century. Of his political character and con- 

 duct it becomes not me to speak ; but his profound knowledge of 

 the laws of England, his unrivalled acuteness and sagacity, and his 

 perfect impartiality and love of justice, have received the concur- 

 rent acknowledgment and admiration of men of all parties. 



The Rev. Thomas Catton, Senior Fellow of St. John's College, 



