1803.] 
pieafantnefs of his manners, the fteadinefs of 
his friendfhips, the reftlefs efficiency of his 
beneficence, endeared him to thofe-vf every 
order in the commiunity that were in any way 
included within the {phere of his intercourfe, 
So powerfully did’ his means co-operate with 
his inclination to co good, that no man could 
obtain accefs to him, without, at the fame 
time, experiencing advantage. From his fa- 
mily, his relations, his friends, and‘his ac- 
. Quaintance, his kindnefs extended :tfelf to 
his neighbourhood, his country, and his fpe- 
cies. Uniformly difinterefted, he proffered 
kis heart, his table, his influence and his’ 
purfe, tothe friend and the ftranger, to the 
oppreffed and the neceflitous, On one re- 
markable occafion, the impreffion of his cha- 
raéter on the minds of the people was ftrik- 
ingly difcovered. In the melancholy year of 
z80x, when the artificial diftrefs, which vi- 
fited moft parts of this ifland, preffed with 
More urgent weight on its diftant provinces, 
the ftarving peafantry of Pembrokefhire, ex- 
afperated by the circumftance of a veffel, 
Jaden with corn, being on the point of failing’ 
from their coafts to a diftant market, affem- 
bled in a tumultuous body for the purpofe of 
feizing on the thip, and of dividing its freight 
among their families. On the firft intelli- 
gence of the riot, Mr. Foley, who com- 
manded a corps of Fencibles, repaired inftantly 
to the place of the meditated attack, and, 
leaving his men at a diftance, approached, 
under the protection of confcious uprightnefs, 
a multitude, impatient from diftrefs, and irri- 
tated with a particular injury and affront. 
The effie& was completely anfwerable to his 
with. His name was announced; his f{peech 
was received with filent refpe€t; his argu- 
ments were admitted; and a mob, under the 
ftinging incitement of hunger and revenge, 
acknowledged the controu! of their benefac- 
tor, and quietly retired to their homes. 
‘* Ac veluti populo in magno cum fzpe coorta 
eft . 
Seditio, fevitque animis ignobile vulgus ; 
Jamque faces et faxa volant, furor arma mi- 
niftrat ; 
Tum pietate gravem, ac meritis, fi forte vi- 
rum quem 
Confpexere, filent, arretifque auribus aftant : 
Alle regit diétis animos et pe€tora mulcet.” 
From his eftablifhment in a country where 
he was thus refpefted, he was removed, to- 
wards the end of the laft\ year, by nomina- 
tion from Lord Pelham, to a place in the ma- 
Riftracy of the capital. Of this appointment, 
which he honoured by his acceptance, he dif- 
charged the duties with fo much ability, fo 
much reétitude and juft feeling, that he com- 
manded the regard of all who were engaged 
or interefted in the tranfaétions of his tri- 
bunal. During his: laft illnefs, which con- 
_tinued for three weeks, not only his brother- 
Magiftrates difcovered the moft earneft con- 
gern for his recovery, but the vety runners of 
Wis office, have, more than once, been feen to 
2 : 
Lr. Foley-—Mr. Ritfan. | 875 
ts 
make their inquiries at his door, with the tear 
ftanding in their eyes. Thata man, fo formed 
to conciliate affection, fhould be lamented, 
(when he falls in the vigour of his life}. 
by all who were acquainted with him, cannot 
reafonably be the fubject of wonder. But 
the energy of his virtues extended the mis- 
fortune of his death beyond the circle of his - 
acquaintance; and, while the day which ter- 
minated (ia his 46th year) his ufeful courfe, 
muft long be remembered, with anguifh, by © 
his widow, his orphans, and his friends, there 
is reafon to think it will be recollected, not 
Without concern, by the puRLic ITSELF. 
At Hoxton, near London, Sofeph Ritfor, 
efq. of Gray’s-inn.—-He was born, O@. 2, 
¥752, at Stockton-upon-Tees, in the county 
of Durham, and was bred to the profeffion of 
the law..—He_ was greatly diftinguifhed for 
the acutenefs of his Judgment, and the pro- 
foundnefs of his refearches, in the characters 
of a confulting barrifter and a conveyancer, 
But his literary enquiries were by no means 
confined within the limits of his profeffion ; 
and he was, perhaps, the moft fuccefsful of 
thofe perfons by whom the inveftigation of 
old Englifh literature and antiquities was cul- 
tivated in the latter part of the eighteenth 
century.—-His memory was fo tenacious, that 
nothing he ever ftored there was obliterated ¢ 
the moft aftonifhing labours and indefatigable 
enquiries were to him amufement; and his 
penetration and judgment were fo exact, 
that it is difficult, in his voluminous publica- 
tions, to detect a fingle error of fact or of in- 
ference.—It is to be regretted that his ftyle, © 
and the mode in which he communicated his 
difcoveries to the public, were by no means 
“‘fuch as to adorn his difcoveries.—The lan- 
guage of his writings is harfh, rugged, and 
barren 5 and his publications are further dif- 
figured by the affe@ed fingularity of their or- 
thography.——But this, though it hindered 
them-from obtaining that general fuccefs ta 
which by their effential merits they were en- 
titled, does not prevent them from being, to 
the learned and the ftudious, invaluable repoe 
. fitories of the f{cience of which they treat, 
—-Mr. Ritfon was fully fenfible of the fupes 
riority ke poffeffed in thofe points of learning 
which had engaged his attention, and was 
not accuftomed to exprefs himifelf on thefe 
fubjects with any degree of diffidence and re 
ferve.—Confcious of his own genetal exe 
emption from error, he had no forbearance for 
the errors and mifapprehenfions of others, 
—The ftyle in which he attacked Malone, 
Warton, and ocher contemporary critics, was 
remarked for a greater degree of rudenefs, 
bitternefs, and infult, than is perhaps to be 
found in any other controverfalift.—He fet 
fomewhat too high a value on his own fa- 
vourite purfuits, and defended his dogmas in 
avery magifterial tone.—It was a favourite 
maxim of his that literary forgery was a 
Crime, not lefg deferving the gallows, than 
the forgery which deprived a man of his pro- 
perty; and he exprefied himielf_refpecting 
thofe 
