456 Incidents, Marriages, and Deaths in and near Londom 
Mr. Purney, principal trumpeter at Covent- 
garden Theatre; his-death is attributed to 
the circumftance of having overheated or 
overftrained himfelf in the praétice of the 
difficult inftrument which he profeffed. 
W. Coney, efq. of Winchefter-place, Pen- 
tonville. . 
In his 51ft year, Mr. T. Pearce, an emi- 
nent brewer of Mitbank-ftreet, Weftminfter. 
Mr. J. Sewell, bookfeller, of ornhill. He 
fucceeded Mr. Rrdeherton in the fame houfe 
where he (Mr. Sewell) died, and was fup- 
pofed to be the oldeft bookfeller in this me- 
tropolis. He poffetfed a confiderable know- 
edge of mechanics and fhip-building, under- 
ftood the nature and properties of timber, and 
was the founder and moft zealous promoter of 
a Society for the improvement of naval ar- 
chiteéture. He was aifo the occafiun of a 
moft beneficiat improvement being made 
fome years ago in Cornhill, the erection of a 
tank orrefervoir, kept under the coach-pave- 
ment of the ftreet, and always full of water, 
the idea of which he himfelf hed conceived. 
Mr. M. W. Staples, late a banker, of 
Cornhill 
At Grove-hill, Camberwell, Surrey, in 
th: prime of life, Mrs. Elliot, wife of Dr. 
Elliot, and eldeft daughter of Dr. Lettfom. 
At Briftel Hotwell:, the Rev. Henry 
Hunter, D. D. Paftor of the Scots’ Church, 
London-wall, and Secretary to the Society 
for Propagating Chriftian Knowledge in the 
Highlands of Scotiand. He was born at Cul- 
rofs, a royal borough in Perthfhire, in 1741. 
His anceftors were plain, decent tradefpeople, 
zealous Whigs and Prefbyterians of the old 
ftamp, and confiderably above mediocrity in 
point of underfanding. His father filled the 
office of chief magiftrate in his borough in that 
difficult and trying year, 1745, when he a@- 
ed with much prudence, moderation, and 
fteadinefs. Dr. Hunter difcovered an early 
tafte for clatfical learning and the belles-let- 
tres, which he had the good fortune to im- 
prove greatly at the Univerfity of Edinburgh. 
Having gone through the ufual routine of 
academical fiudy, with the friendfhip and 
eftcem of his fellow-ftudents, and the repu- 
tation of diligence and ability among the 
Profefiors, he joit no time in preparing him- 
feif for admiffion into the miniftry. In May 
1764, he was licenfed to preach, by the Pref- 
bytery of Dunfermline; and in January 1766, 
was ordained at South Leith, where he con- 
- tinued to exercife his cierical office till Au- 
guft 1771, when he received an invitation to 
undertake the paitoral charge of the Scotuih 
Church at London-wali. There the Do&or 
continued to his death, greatly beloved and 
admired. Dr. Hunter wasa man of confider- 
able, Jearning and ingenuity, an elegant 
preacher, and a writerof no ordinary nto 
In his religious fentiments he adhered to the 
Calviniftic fyftem, as fet forth in the Confef- 
Sion of the Church of Scotland, framed by the 
Affembly of Divines, at Weftmintter, in16465 
but he. was no bigot, neither had he any of 
[Dec. fy 
that aufterity of manner which too frequently 
diftinguifhes the Calvinifts. On the son- 
trary, he was a lively, pleafant companion, 
fond of a joke, and entered readily into ra- 
tional amufements, His writings are pretty 
numerous 3 but the work by which he wil 
be the beft and longeft known, is a Courfe of 
Sermons, in fix volumes, intitled ‘* Sacred 
Biography.” He alfo tranflated feveral works 
of eminence from the French; as the ** Phy-~ 
fiognomicat Eflays of Lavater,” with capital 
plates by Holloway ; St. Pierre’s “* Studies 
of Nature ;” Scnnini’s © Travels in Egypt ;** 
Saurin’s ** Sermons 5” &c. &c. 
Mr. Steele, proprietor of the lavender- 
water-warehoufe in Catherine -ftreet, Strand. 
He was found murdered on Hounflow-heath, 
Wednefday, November to. It appears thar 
the deceafed went to Belfant on the Friday 
preceding, where he had a plantation of lae 
vender, intending to return on the following 
day, as it had been previoufly agreed that his 
wife’s birth-day fhould be celebrated by their. 
refpeGive relations on the fucceeding Sun- 
day. Not having returned at the appointed 
time, the family concluded that he had been 
unexpectedly detained by fome particular bu- 
finefs ; and this confideration prevented any 
alarm for his fafety, till Monday morning, 
when they fent a meflenger to’Belfont, to 
enquire the reafon of his delay. The infor- 
mation there received was, that he had fee 
out at feven o’clock on Saturday evening, 
and, being unable to procure any kind of car- 
riage, had refolved to proceed to town on 
foot. This circumftance naturally induced a 
fufpicion that fome fatal accident had befal- 
len him, and his brother-in-law determined, 
with fome other friends, to fet out in fearch. 
For feveral hours they continued in vain ex- 
ploring different parts of the heath. At 
length they difcovered, at a fhort giftance 
from the road, a piece of blue cloth ; on lay- 
ing hold of eee they found it to be the fkirt 
of a great coat becuae in the turf, and which, 
on examination, proved to be the fame that 
Mr. Steele had taken with him from home. 
Proceeding a little further, they faw, near a 
buth, a foldier’s hat, and, examining the bufh 
with care, they perceived’ a quantity of — 
blood. This appearance led them reafonably 
to conclude that murder had been committed 
near the fpot; and, on examiming the buthes 
minutely, they found their fufpicions unhap- 
pily realifed. They beheld beneath, the 
fhocking fpeCtacle of their murdered relative, 
nearly covered with the turf. Upon infpec- 
tion, they difcovered that the deceafed had 
received feveral wounds in the top’and on the 
back part of the head, and that a part of his 
forehead had bcen entirely cut away. Round 
his neck they found tied a ftrong piece of 
belt, by which it is fuppofed that he had 
been fitangled. The wounds on the head 
appeared to them as if inflifted with a bayo- 
net, Mr. Bullock, furgeon at the “Barracks, 
and Mrs. Bullock, his wife; had obferved in — 
th¢ afternoon, aman and woman fitting down 
. oR 
