Account of the late Rev. Percival Stockdalel 
1811 .] 
love of rural scenes. This passion he In¬ 
dulged to the utmost in his holiday-visits to 
his father ] who had changed his abode from 
Branxton to Tillraouth. His first verses 
were very humble, suitable to his age (ihir- 
teeii) and the subject] they described the 
beauties of a favourite cat. Their author, 
from his earliest infancy to his latest hour, 
Was fond of the dumb creation j he has been 
their benefactor as far as his own little juris¬ 
diction extended, and their eloquent and ar¬ 
dent advocate to the world at large. As an 
instance of this Christian spirit, we need only 
mention his humane jiamphiet, written p:i 
that most cruel and unmanly practice of bull¬ 
baiting. In the year 1754<, being in his 
eighteenth year, he left school to reside with 
his father at Cornhlll, near the Tweed. 
There, a translation whicli he made of an ode 
of Cornelius Callus, into English verse, in¬ 
troduced him to the acquaintance^.and friend¬ 
ship of Lord Deleval, and his brother Sir 
Francis Blake Delaval; he also cultivated the 
esteem of the classical Sir Francis Blake, 
and his no less accomplished son ] and de¬ 
rived from their society every advantage of a 
learned and elegant conversation. In the 
summer of 1755, he was recalled to the 
Tweed by the melancholy intelligence of the 
death of his father. His mother was then at 
Berwick] and thither, almost frantic wil]h 
grief, he hastened to join her. He found her 
in a situation approaching indigence ; but her 
friends obtaining for her a small pension, and 
uniting, though sparingly, to provide an in¬ 
come oa .which her son might prosecute his 
studies for the church, he applied with re¬ 
doubled vigour. But the bread of dependence 
is eveV bitter j and preparations for a war 
with Frapee appearing about this time, caused 
a sad rebellion jn the grave resolves of young 
Percival, His spirit shrunk Irom being an 
object of charity j and a second lieutenancy 
in the 2Jd, or Royal Welsh Fusileers being 
offered to him, he accepted it with transport. 
The young soldier now paid a visit to Lon¬ 
don, and at the Theatres Mr. Stockdale 
found himself on enchanted ground. Gar¬ 
rick was then in his meridian, and in his 
Alemoirs he thus apostrophises that wonder- 
derful man: Let me begin with the high- 
priest of the oracle of Avon. Can I ever for¬ 
get thy powers of infinite diversity, and of 
imperious controul over the human heart? 
No ! Thy i.mage is, I hope, eternally im¬ 
pressed in my mind, both by private friend- 
snip and by public glory ! Can I forget thy 
attitudes and thy voice, formed and inspired 
by t!ie soul of Shakespeare and the Graces] 
in the most impassioned scenes, not too ve¬ 
hement ; in the tender.est, not too languid; 
alike uninfiated with tlie bombast, and un¬ 
corrupted with the affectation, which went 
before, and which havecome after you j ever 
preserving, with the pertection of judgment, 
she spirit, and the f^ow, which were dictated 
495 
by. nature and the occasion, t now see the 
lightning of thine eye, attempered to the 
moment, and transfixing its object: I mark 
the forcible silence of thy pause, arresting 
the fancy with its mute, expression of 
‘ strange, unutterable things,’ in an uncon¬ 
fined and emphatical eloquence, too unbound¬ 
ed, and too powerful, for the pressure cf 
■words. Can I forget thee, thou versatile^ 
magical, and delightful, Proteus; equally 
great, and equally darting the emanations.of 
transcendant and flexible genius, in opposite 
and seemingly incompatible characters t in 
Aj'cher and in Scrub, in Ranger and in Brute, 
hi Richard and in Hamlet, in Drugget and 
in Lear 1” In the spring of 1756, Stockdale 
left London, and joined Admiral Byng’s fleet 
at Portsmouth, then ready to sail for the Me¬ 
diterranean. He embarked in his majesty’s 
ship, Revenge, Captain Frederick Cornwall, 
and in the beginning of May, the fleet aii- 
cbored in the Bay of Gibraltar. Mr Stock- 
dale was sent, with part of his regiment, on¬ 
board the Revenge, in the memorable ex¬ 
pedition commanded by Admirals Byng and 
West, to the relief of the besieged garrison 
of St. Philip, in the island of Minorca. He 
returned to England in the October of 1756, 
In 1757, Mr. Stockdale was encamped, 
under the command of Lord George Sack- 
ville, on Chatham Lines. His written ac». 
count of that nobleman’s conduct at the bat¬ 
tle of Minden, is one of the most striking 
parts of his “ Memoirs,” and seems to place 
the affair in a very clear and convincing; 
light. These foreign and domestic cam¬ 
paigns brought Mr. Stockdale into terms of 
intiuMte acquaint-ance with some of the most 
conspicuous military characters of the day- 
But his regiment lieing under orders fee 
India, he determined to quit this brilliant si¬ 
tuation, and in the month of November, 
1757, he bade adieu to the array. At Mi¬ 
chaelmas, in 1759, be was ordained deacon, 
by Dr. Trevor, then bishop of Durham. Imme¬ 
diately after his ordination he went to Loa- 
don, v;here he was to be one of the Mr, 
Sharp’s substitutes in the curacy of Duke’s- 
place, ruear Aldgate. Finding himself again 
in the metropolis, the emporium of taste, 
science, and elegant pursuits, he did not de¬ 
cline to re-enjoy the cWirrns of the society it 
presented] and again he associated with Gar¬ 
rick, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Browne, Goldsmith, 
Hawkesworth, Lord Lyttleton, and others'. 
Being without any church employment, in 
1767 he embarked for Italy. He resided two 
years in the town of Villa-Franca, and there 
read and wrote very assiduously. He re¬ 
turned to England, and to London, in 1769. 
About this period he translated Tasso’i 
Aminta; it was published by Davies, and 
Drs. Johnson and Hawkesworth gave tlie 
translator their warm approbation. Among 
other engagemsnes, he succeeded Guthrie in 
the rnauagsmenc of the Critical Review;” 
and 
