490 
ters; where old age gradually and not 
uneasily, advanced upon him; and where, 
reposing on the affection, and supported 
by the increasing assiduity, of an amiable 
and exemplary wife, he lingered cheer- 
fully on the verge of eternity, prepared, 
if ever man was, to obey, with equal 
cheerfulness, the summons to pass it. 
About three years ago, the conveni- 
euce of being near town, indueed him to 
take a house at Hammersmith, where he 
eontinued tll his death, which took place 
on the Sth of Qctober, 1809, in the 88th 
year of hisage. Though he may be said 
to have possessed uninterrupted health, 
yet a few weeks previous to his dissolu- 
tion, one of his legs swelled, and put on 
an appearance that excited apprehen- 
gion ; but this was totally removed, and 
he continued well and happy during his 
remaining days, on the very last of which 
no unusual symptoms were observed to 
reate alarm. He went to bed rather 
earlier than usual; but woke in the night, 
and endeavouring to sit up found him- 
self too feeble, on which Mrs. Elphin- 
ston called in her sister, and shortly after, 
he breathed his last, without a struggle 
era pang. Ife was buried at Kensing- 
ton, The same unwearied and_ never- 
failing attention which Mrs, E!phinston 
had bestowed upon him for nearly a quar- 
ter of a century, continued after life, 
He had many years ago rather hinted, 
than expressed, a wish to her, that his 
remains might be deposited there; the 
recollection was followed by a ready 
compliance, .and he was attended thither 
by a number of friends, who loved and 
revered him. 
Mr, Elphinston’s works were nume- 
_rous: a critical investigation of them 
would lead to great length; most of them 
possess sterling merit, which, however, has 
been veiled by the orthographical cloth- 
ing he perseveringly gave to all he wrote. 
He was a great scholar, and an excellent 
critic. Asa poet, his versification was 
sometimes flowing and smooth; at 
others, unharmonious, and sacrificed not 
eniy to sense, but too often to rhyme, 
in which he allowed no licence. As a 
prose writer, he had early habituated his 
pen to an inverted arrangement, which 
he carried into almost every subject he 
touched upon; but he was seldom ob- 
scure, and at times wrote with a simph- 
city, which showed that he had the choice 
of style, as is apparent in the extracts 
inserted above, as well as throughout his 
eerrespondence, which is, unfortunately, 
_Atemoirs of James Elphiiuston, -¢sg. 
simple, his rectitude undeviating.” 
[ Dec. 1, 
published in his own analogical ortho- 
graphy. . 
But, after all, it is asa manand a 
Christian that he excelled ; as ason, a 
brother, a husband, a father to many, 
though he never had children of lis own ; 
as a friend, an enlichtened patriot, and 
a loyal subject. His “ manners were 
In 
religion he embraced the state establish- 
ment to its full extent: his piety, though 
exemplary, was devoid of show; the sins 
cerity of it was self-evident: but, though 
unobtrusive, it became impatient on the 
least attempt at profaneness; and an 
eath he could not endure. On such oc- 
casions, he sever failed boldly to correct 
the vice, whencesoever it proceeded. 
Mr. Elphinston was middie-sized, and 
slender in his person; he hada peculiar 
countenance, which, perhaps, would 
have been considered an ordinary one, 
but forthe spirit and intellectual emana- 
tion which it possessed. He had singu- 
larities, some of which were undoubtedly 
foibles. He nevercomplied with fashion 
in the alteration of his clothes. In a 
letter to a friend, in 4782, he says— 
“ Time has no more changed my heart 
than my dress:” and he might have 
said it again on the 8th of October, 1809, 
The colour of his suwét. of clothes was in- 
variably, except when in mourning, what 
is_called a drab; his coat was made in 
the fashion that reigned when he re- 
turned from France m the beginning of 
the last century, with flaps and buttons 
to the pockets and sleeves, and without 
a cape; he always wore a powdered 
bag-wig with a high toupee, and walked 
with a cocked hat, and an amber-headed 
cane; bis shoe-buckles had seldom been 
changed, and were always of the same 
size; and he never wore boots. It must 
be observed, however, that he lately, more 
than once, offered to make any charge 
Mrs. Elphinston might deem proper ; 
but in ber eyes his virtues and worth had 
so sanctified his appearance, that she 
would have thought the alteration a sa- 
crilege. _ Mr. Elpbinston’s principal foi- 
bles originated, some in virtuettself, and . 
others in the system he had early Jaid 
down for preserving the purity of the 
English tongue. As an instance of the 
former, when any ladies were in com- 
pany, whose sleeves were at a distance 
from their elbows, or whose bosoms were 
at all exposed, he would fidget froma 
place to place, look askance with a slight — 
convulsion of his left eye, and never a 
ae 
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