It might be doing injustice to the memory of Sir John, were we to withhold an eulogium, evidently penned by the hand of friendship, and perhaps of gratitude.

"He was a gentleman, of most kind and courteous manners, steady and constant in his friendship, zeal, fidelity, and affection. With the best qualities of the heart, we may add, that he had a very cultivated understanding, and a sound judgment.

"The clearest head, with the sincerest heart!

"He was among the best letter-writers of his time, and in the performance of that duty, always did honour to the sentiments of his Royal master; and rendered even a refusal of a request, palatable to the parties."

Sir John McMahon was in the sixty-third or sixty-fourth year of his age, at the time of his decease.

J

No. XXI.

BENJAMIN TRAVERS, Esq.

THIS HIS gentleman, born in 1752, was destined for trade from his early youth. Accordingly, after attaining some previous knowledge in a counting-house, he soon became a very distinguished merchant, in the city of London; but it appears that the bent and direction of his mind and pursuits were unfitted both to his character and condition. He possessed a bold, speculative, and ardent mind; he was fond of books as well as of philosophy; and he was utterly incapable of following that cold, calculating, and unvarying career, by means of which the sons of commerce almost invariably attain wealth and consequence. In this predicament there is but little wonder if he should fail in obtaining the object of his wishes; although eminent for his virtues and his patriotism, as well as for his talents and his eloquence.

"His reverse of fortune," we are told, "he bore with firmness and fortitude, though at the same time touched with deep concern for those who had unhappily suffered with him. His character, indeed, had in it no small portion of sympathetic and benevolent feeling, which rendered him a pattern of conjugal and parental affection; and which, united with his natural ardour and enthusiasm, formed him to be the sincere and zealous friend. Of the justice of this remark there are living witnesses, who attribute the origin of their worldly prosperity and comfort to his unsolicited and disinterested exertions.

"Among the subjects which engaged his inquisitive mind, religion always occupied a primary place, and on this subject he strictly and truly thought for himself; and his reflections led him to entertain the most reverential, and at the same

time the most encouraging views of the Divine Being, which were highly consolatory to him in the time of affliction, and on which he reposed with a cheerful and steady confidence both for this life and for the next.

"Few characters have been more strongly marked than those of this excellent man. Ardour of mind, combined with warmth of feeling, independence of thought which disdained to yield to authority, decision in forming resolutions, followed by equal promptitude in action, were his most prominent and conspicuous features; and these must have forced themselves on the observation of all who knew him.

*." But he possessed other qualities which, as is the case with most men, could be remarked only by his intimates and friends. Among these, one of the most striking was an insatiable thirst after knowledge, which the labours and anxieties of a busy commercial life were unable to extinguish, and which he indulged, for a few years before his decease, with an eagerness and interest, by no means common at the period of life to which he had then advanced.”

Mr. Travers died at Tunbridge Wells, in the spring of 1817, aged sixty-five.

No. XXII.

JOHN PADDEY, Esq.

THIS HIS gentleman deserves mention on account of his lineage. He was born in 1738, and died at Kensington, near London. His mother, Lady Anne Paddey, was daughter of Charles Duke of Cleves and Southampton, a son of Charles II. The deceased was, accordingly, the last surviving descendant in the third degree from King Charles, by the Lady Barbara Villiers, daughter of Viscount Grandison, who was slain fighting for King Charles I., against the Parliamentary army, in 1642.

It ought to be remembered also, that his grandfather was brother to the celebrated George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, who was made cupbearer to James I. on account of his fine person. That sovereign, perceiving his education had been neglected, actually condescended to become his schoolmaster; he then appointed him a gentleman of His Majesty's bedchamber and Knight of the Garter, a dukedom next awaited his ambition; and he had the disposal of all places both in church and state.

In the next reign, he became also the favourite of Charles I. and thus enjoyed the rare good fortune of enjoying the unlimited confidence of two succeeding monarchs. He was stabbed by Felton, August 23, 1628, at the time when he was about to embark at Portsmouth, in a second expedition against France.

Mr. Paddey lived in great obscurity, at Kensington in the county of Middlesex, where he died in 1817.

No. XXIII.

RIGHT HON. FRANCIS NORTH, EARL OF GUILFORD.

LORD NORTH AND GUILFORD, HEREDITARY HIGH STEWARD OF THE BOROUGH OF Banbury, PATENT COMPTROLLER AND SEARCHER OF THE CUSTOMS, AND LL. D.

From

ROGER NORTH, who flourished during the reign of Edward IV., appears to be the common ancestor of this family. him descended Edward, created a peer by Mary, on Feb. 17, 1554. But for wealth, and consequence, we are to look to Sir Francis North, Knight, a very able lawyer, who became first Solicitor, then Attorney-General, next Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and was finally nominated Keeper of the Great Seal, during the reigns of Charles II. and James II. with the title of Lord Guilford. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge; and while presiding in the Court of Chancery, is said to have been rather too favourable to the interests of the crown, for a great, upright, and independent judge. Happily for his memory, two events occurred, to shelter his reputation, and enhance his merits; for he was suc ceeded on the bench, by the infamous Jefferies, while his life was written, and his conduct displayed in the most favourable colours, by a near relation.

.

This nobleman, who was the author of a philosophical Essay on Music; is known to have exhibited considerable skill on the Bass-Viol, an instrument now become obsolete. According to tradition, he employed a musician to lull him to sleep; and if we are to believe his enemies, he was accustomed "to ride on a Rhinoceros." This accusation is seriously termed