1809.] 
the plan, nor the method of an his- 
torlan. 
© Qurmaterials (he says) are different, 
andmy plan adopts only what his excludes; 
great events, yreat personages, great cha- 
racters, vood or bad, areall that he brings 
upon his stage | 
“¢ T calk of graves, of worms and epitaphs 
And that small portion of the barren earth 
That serves as paste and covering to our 
bones! si 
Mine are subjects rejected by the his- 
torian to the end of each reign, ameng 
the prodigies that distinguish it; yet is 
this detail not uninteresting. It is a 
picture of private mixed with public hfe, 
a subject in which my countrymen have 
been anticipated by their neighbours.” 
The engravings which accompany it 
are not only numerous aud accurate, but - 
splendid: principally from the hands of 
the Basires,. 
In 1794, Mr. Gough published an ac- 
count of the beautiful missal presented to 
Henry VI. by the Duchess of Bedford, 
which Mr. Edwards, of Pall-mall, pur- 
chased at the Duchess of £ Portland’s sale, 
and still possesses. Mr. Gough assisted 
Mr. Nichols also in the greater part of 
his copious, well-directed, and accurate 
History of Leicestershire: the remaining 
portion of which is still ae by the 
literary world. Tn 14803, ‘Mr. Gough 
published the “ History and Antiquities 
of Pleshy, in the County of Essex ;” 
London, 1803, 4to. which, though con- 
fined to the history of a single spot, 
forms collectively a mass of informaticn 
whose value cannot m Justice be lowly 
appreciated. 
[lis last work which bears the date of 
the same year, was that ‘on the wes 
of the Seleucide :” illustrated by a bean- 
tiful set of plates which he had purchased 
at Mr. Deane’s sale. 
Yo the list of works which have either 
his name or his initials attached, it may 
be added, that his assistance to his 
friends engaged in literary pursuits, was 
more extensive than will probably be 
ever known, 
ile gave considerable help to Dr. 
Kippis, i 1 the second edition of the Bio- 
eraphia Britannica: and prepared the 
Lives of Sir Jobn Vastolt, and the Farrars 
of Little Gidding, for the sixth volume, 
which has never ‘appeared. Mr. Ellis, 
in the History of Shoreditch, ncknowe 
ledges great assistance, both from his pen 
and library; as wel! as Mr. Malcolm in 
the History ef London. The prefaces to 
numerous other works, acknowledge the 
extensive patronage which, during th¢ 
Memoirs of the late Earl of Fife. 
263 
whole of his literary career, he was not 
only so able, but so ream to bestow on 
the study of our national antiquities. 
Born to an hereditary fortune, he was 
in all respects pre- eminently qualified for 
the labeurs of an antiquary; the pain of 
whose researches can bat rarely meet an 
adequate remuneration, And his mag= 
nifcent work upon S¢pulchral Monu- 
ments, must long ago have convinced the 
worid, that he possessed not only in hin 
self the most indet ativable perseverance, 
but an ardour which no ag hc coukd 
possibly deter. 
Subsequent to 1805, his health, in 
consequence of numerous fits of epilepsy, 
began gradually to decline; and he died 
February 90, 1809 ; 
by the poor of a neighbourhood for 
extensive charity, as by the friends of 
learning for his talents. 
The richest portion of his: Libary; 
which was always open to the studious, 
rumour asserts, has been dann eats to 
the University of Oxford. 
—a a 
Some account of the late nicur non. 
JAMES DUFF, PARL of FIER, VISCOUNT 
MACDUEFY, BARON BRACO Of KILBRYDE, 
in the KINGDOM Of TRELAND, and Ba~ 
RON FIFE, ia the KINGDOM Of GREAT 
| BRITALN.. 
Virtuteyet operamBy virtue and industry. 
CERTAIN degree of envy is said 
to attend the fortunes and the titles 
of the great and opulent. Those who do 
Hot possess these advantages, either he- 
reditary or acquired, are supposed by 
some to contemplate them with symp- 
toms of jealousy, and to hate or to un= 
dervalue what they themselves afe ut- 
terly unable to obtain, It is easy, how- 
ever to disarm, this species OF jen lousy af 
halfits mabguity at least, by acting a 
ioble part 1 society, anc exhibiting as 
great a preeminence in public spirit, * as 
in family honours and private wealth. 
These reflections are naturally pro- 
duced by contemplating the character of 
aman who has tended not a little, at 
once to embellish and to improve his na- 
tive country, and whose private fortune 
was increased, and his influence aug 
mented by an attention to agriculture 
and planting, 
James, Marl of Fife, was born in the 
town of Bamff, in 1729, He was the 
second son of Williasi, ae of Fite, by 
his second wife, Jane, danelter of Str 
James Grant, of Grant,’ Bart. aoe 
an elder brother, who was educated ¢ 
Westminster, be was intended from hie 
cradle 
lamented as much - 
