606 
dean of the cathedral of York, and re€tor of 
Blatherwick, and of Eafton, near Stamford. 
_At the St. James’s’;coffee-houfe, in, St., 
James’s-ftreet, Mr. Puget, the banker, of 
the firm of Puget and Bainbridge, amid a di- 
ré&tor of the bank: He was on Sunday.in the 
park on horfeback, and; as he returned home, 
ftopped at the above coffee- houfe, where he 
took fome’refrefhment; on his taking the 
bridle in his hand:to. moynt his horfe, he was 
feized with an apopleétic fit, and fell baci- 
“wards: medical affiftance was initantly’ pro- 
cured ; but he expired the next morning. 
He was a gentleman of the moft refpectable 
chara@ter, ih both public and private life. 
At his houfe, Brompton-row, Knightfbridge, 
in his 73th . year, Arthur Murphy, E/7. the 
well known dramatic writer, and the tran- 
flator of Tacitus.—This venerable ornament 
ef Britith literature was, born in Irelaiid, and 
defcended from a very refpectable family in that 
country. He was fent very-early in life to the 
Colleze of St. Omer’s, where he remained 'till 
his eighteenth year, and was at the head of the 
Latin'clafs when he quitted the -fchool. He 
was indeed an éxcellent: Latin fcholar, and 
very well acquainted with the Greek lan- 
guage, when he returned to his native country, 
Soon after His return to Ireland he: was fent 
into’this country, and placed urtder the prote¢- 
tion’ of a near-relation, a perfon high in the 
mercantile world: . .lt was:intended by this re- 
lation that Mr. Murphy fliould engage in com- 
mercial purfuits,, but literatute and the ftage 
foon’ créw his. attention; and wholly abforbed 
his mind, He had a brothér who went to the 
Weft Indies very foon after Mr, ie ed canie 
to England, and ‘the latter, became fecurity to’ 
the ambuyit of five htindred pounds for the 
former, who unfortunately fell a victim to the 
elimate, juft as h¢ had the profpect of acquir- 
ing a confiderable fortune. The fucceis of 
Bir. Marphy’s firft tragedy, The Orphan of 
China, enabted’ him to get rid of the pecuniary 
obligation above-mentioned, .and he paid: the 
money “immediately from the. profits of the 
play, with no other gegret on the occafion than 
wKat arofe from the; lofs of an excellent brother. 
Mr. Murphy was tempted ta venture upon the 
theatrical boards; and made,feveral attempts to 
acquire reputation as an a€tor ; but though he 
always difplayed judgment, he wanted thofe 
fplendid powers which are effential to the 2¢- 
guifition of fame, and fortine in that arduaus 
waik of life. He was, however, wholly unde- 
ferving of the brutal attack on his talents asan 
ator, which Churchill diré&ted againft him, 
chiefly from motives of party prejudice: Mr. 
Murphy anfwered the fcurrilities of that ener- 
etic, but coarfe and furious bard, in a very 
“Bumourousy Ode addreffed to the Naiads: of 
Fleet Ditch, and in a very fpirited. poem, en- 
titled Fapoftulariony in which he-modeftly, 
but firmly; vindicated his literary .charafter 
againft all the 2fzults of his various opponents. 
Mr. Murphy; however, withdrew from the 
ftage, and employed himfelf in the ftudy of the 
law ; he made two-attempts to become a Mem- 
ber of the T.: ple, and ot Giay’s-inn. but was 
rejected on the uliberal plea that he had beea 
Deaths it and near London. 
[July te, 
upon the ftage. He found more elevated fen-, 
timents in the members of Lincoln’s inn, and 
from thence obtainéd admiffion to the bar. 
The dramatic mufe, however, fo much engaged | 
his attention, that the law was always a fe- * 
condary confideration. In the courfe of his” 
life he fent twenty pieces tothe ftage, moft of 
which were fuece(ctul, and: feyeral of which? 
will certainly retaid an eftablifhed*tank among” 
what are called=-Stock-pieces of the theatre. 
It fhould:have been obferved that he firft: ftagt- 
ed into'the literary world with a feries of effays’ 
in the manner of. the Speétator,, entitled The 
Gray’s-inn Fournal, which dilplayed great ob= 
fervation and knowledge of life’ fer fo young an 
author, as, according to his own’ account, he 
vias but twenty-one when, as he ufed to fay, 
“« he had the impudenge’ to write a periodical 
paper during the time that Johnfon‘was pub- 
lifhing his Rambler.’? At gne period of his 
life Mr. Murphy came forward as a political 
writer, though without putting his name to hig’ 
produétions.. The works of this kind which’ 
were well known to have been the iflue of his’ 
pen,. were The Teft and The Auditor, by 
which he powerfully fupported the operations: 
of Government at that time ;° and confeqtently 
expofed- himfelf to’all the virulence of partys 
defamation. . He has fhewn his. tafte and ele- 
gance as'a fcholar, by a Latin verfion of The 
‘Temple of Fame, and of Gray’s celebrated 
elegy, as well as other adfnired Englith poems;: 
and a matterly tranflatien of the works of Ta- 
citus, Mr. Murphy had many difputes with 
contemporary wits; but though he never 
quietly received a blow, he was never the firft. 
to give one. Mr. Jeffe Foote, wlio prolonged 
his life by relieving him, fome'years ago, from 
an illnefs of the moft alarrhing kind, whom he 
Has appointed his eztcvtor, and to whom he 
has entrufted-all his manufcripts, fums up his 
chara&ter in the following words: He lived in 
the clofeft friendfhip with the moft polifhed 
authors and gréatelt lawyers of his time; his 
knowledge of the claffics was profound ; his 
tranflations-of the Roman hiftérians enlarged 
his fame; his dramatic produ¢tions were in- 
ferior to none of the time in which he flourifh 
ed. . The per of the poet was particularly 
adorned by the refined tafte of the critic. He 
was the author of The Grecian Daughter, All 
in the Wrong, The Way to.Keep Him, The 
Orphan of China, The Citizen, and many ' 
other efteemed dramatic productions,» Thé 
moderation of his ambition, and the modefty of 
his nature, inclined his genius to court the re- 
finement of his ftudy in preference to tlie pur- 
fuits of an a€tive life. Asa man of high talents 
and a warm heart, he lived honoured ; and, as 
avery devout Chriftiany he was long refigned . 
to the will of bis Creator, In the wordshe 
was ofterrheard torepeat from Popes 
“ Half taught by reafon, half by mere decay, 
To welcome death, and calmly pals away” ' 
At his lodgings in Surry-street, Strand, 
in the prime of life, the Rev. Robert Waugh, 
A... formerly cf Trimity College, Cam- 
bridge, and vicar of Bishop Middleham, in 
the county of Durham. This respectabfe 
clergyman, adopting at anearly age the con~ 
Aa stitutiona 
