464° Notices ‘of Sir Fames Sander[on and Sir ‘fF. Riggs Maller. 
feventy refpe&table houfe-keepers enrolled 
their names for that purpofe.. They had 
thought of choofing Mr. Sanderfon as their 
captain, but that gentleman panting after 
courtly, honours, propofed, that. application 
fhould be made to procure the king’s commif- 
fion ; this, by no means, according with the 
plan of the affociation, the fcheme dropped. 
Difappointed in his ambitious projects, by this 
plan, he, on the refignation of lord North, 
commenced patriot, and inlifted under the 
banner of the Whigs, attending the meetings 
of the focieties famous for their exertion in 
the caufe of parliamentary reform, and once 
or twice was in the chair at a meeting of a 
fociety held for that purpofe, called the 
Quintuple Alliance. He alfo attended Mr. 
Price’s meeting at Hackney; and when the 
fociety for celebrating the anniverfary of the 
revolution met, on the 4th November, 1782, 
Sanderfon had ‘the ‘honovr to prefide. Ho- 
nours now came thick upon him; when 
Woolridge was removed from being alder- 
man, in 1739, he was elected in his room, 
ferved the office of fheriff with Brook Wat- 
fon, and, we believe, this year received the 
honour of knighthood, and rofe to the pre- 
torian chair in the ever memorable year in 
which war was declared againft France. But 
city honours alone would not iatisfy the 
boundlefs ambition of our hero. He ftood 
candidate for the borough of Hastings, and 
began to fhine in that capacity. He firt 
fhewed his zeal in difperfing a debating fo- 
ciety, and this very eflenfial fervice was re- 
warded by .Mr. Pitt, by feiecéting him. to 
move the addrefs to the king, on the opening 
of the feffion of parliament.. Nothing but 
moft egregious vanity could have tempted 
him to accept fuch a nomination. His fpeech 
was (fays the reporter), remarkable for bad 
grammar and bold affertion. His oratory 
.. made every one laugh, who was not onthe 
treafury bench,and decorum only obliged them 
to keep their countenances. He afflerted, that 
he was pofleffed of information which con- 
vinced him that feditious praétices prevailed 
in feveral parts of the kingdom; but very 
prudently, did not offer evidence to fubftan- 
tiate his charge... This, we believe, was Sir 
James’s firft and lat fpeech of any moment in 
that houfe. He did not go unrewarded for 
thefe exertions, for, in 1794, he~was created a 
baronet of Great Britain. Sir James had fome 
time before engaged im a banking-houfe, 
which feverely felt the great ftagnation oc- 
cafioned by the war, and was further reward- 
ed by a very warm exertion. of government 
in-his behalf. Sir James having loft his firft 
wife, married fome time fince, Mifs Skinner, 
daughter of ‘the werthy alderman of that 
name; a match, which from the diferente 
on the politics of the two aldermen, and the 
difference in the ages of the two lovers, was 
thought rather a fingular one. 
In London, Sir John Riggs Miller, bart. 
This fingular_ charaéter was a native of Ire- 
county of Cork. After he had finifhed hig 
education, he repaired to Englend, and pro- 
eured a commiffion in the army, being firfta 
cornet, and afterwards a lieutenant, in Eljiot’s 
light horfe; with which regiment he ferved 
in Germany, during the feven years war. 
After the peace, Sir John relinqwifhed the 
profeffion of arms, and, like many of his 
countrymen, fought to make his fortune in 
a fofter path; he accordingly fucceeded in his 
purfuits, and obtained an opulent fpoufe, 
whofe fame Kas keen long celebrated in the 
world, for who has not heard of Lady Millers 
and her Bath Eafton Villa ? Her ladyfhip was 
equally celebrated for writing miferable tra- | 
vels, and her rage for receiving bad poetry: 
the latter, however, has fometimes redeem- 
ed its chara€ter, by conveying to the world 
the elegant effufions of a Seward and others. 
On the death of his lady, Sir John quitted his 
pleafant and harmlefs retreat in Somerfet- 
fhire, and coming to London, embarked in a 
new career. He procured a feat in the houfe 
ef commons, we believe under the aufpices 
of Mr. Pitt, but foon became diftinguifhed by 
the name of the armed neutrality. He ‘was, 
however, moft confpicuous for his attempt to 
reform the qweights and meafures of the king- 
dom, and, as the French national: aflembly 
were, at the fame time, engaged ina fimilar 
plan, which they a€tually carried into ex- 
ecution, Sir John was drawn into a literary 
intercourfe with the celebrated Talleyrand, 
ci-devant bifhop of Autun, and now fecretary 
of ftate for foreign affairs. This corre- 
fpondence, and the fpeeches Sir John made in 
the houfe of commons, on this fubjeét, he 
has given to the world in a pamphlet. How- 
ever, the diffolution of parliament in 1790, 
put an end to his parliamentary efforts, and 
to all his profpeéts of reforming our weights 
and meafures, which ftill remain in fatw gue, 
Being now freed from the cares of the nation, 
he again embarked in matrimony, with Lady 
Davenport, widow of the late, but well- 
known lawyer, Sir Thomas Davenport, with 
whom he gained another addition to his for+ 
tune, and paffed the remainder of his life in 
one of the firft circles of fafhion. For many 
years pat, his great amufement has been a 
conftant inquiring after, and as-conftant cireu- 
lation, of the news of the day; fo that his 
life would have afforded, to the pen of an in- 
genious dramatift, a great, improvement to 
the character of Quidnunc inthe Upholtterer. 
Wherever news was to be had, Sir John was 
prefent; among the grave readers at Hook- 
ham’s; the fiery politicans at .Stockdale’s ; 
the facetious difputants of the Weftminfter 
Library, or even the fapient money-hunting- 
herd of Lloyd’s coffec-houfe, if news was te 
be had, Sir John was thereto glean it, and, 
to do him juftice, was equally alert imre- 
tailing it again to his friends. In this inno- 
cent method he paffed his latter days, until 
he was arrefted by fudden death. ae 7 
[ For Sir Fofeph Mawby, fee bead Surry; and 
fand, and born to a {mall patrimony in the for eminent Iriflinen, fee bead Ireland. ] 
CoRRECT 
