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This honourable testimony of his worth occurred at a period when disease indicated a speedy dissolution.

Mr. Graham was rather under the middle size; but he was particularly neat in his dress and person, agreeable in his manners, insinuating in his address, and greatly beloved by a wide circle of respectable friends. One amiable part of his character ought not to be overlooked. He was the constant friend to merit of every description. From the first moment he was enabled to act as a patron, he looked around him for worthy and deserving objects, destitute of protection, and to these he constantly extended a helping hand. For the young midshipman, anxious to exhibit himself on the quarterdeck of a king's ship, he was ever eager to find a captain who might treat him with paternal attention. He even assisted him in passing his examination; and on his promotion as a lieutenant, he generally found employment for him. Nor was this all; for he usually administered to the wants of the young officer, and supplied him with money for the purposes of equipment. The small sums advanced in this way, nearly all of which are lost to his family, must have swelled to a very considerable amount, in the course of thirty or forty years. Nor was it to subaltern officers alone he extended his friendship. Several captains obtained ships by his recommendation; and there is a flag-officer existing at this present moment, whose brows have been entwined with the victorious laurel, that is solely indebted for his rise to the friendship and discrimination of the subject of this memoir.

It has been already observed, that Mr. Graham displayed pre-eminent talents in the higher branches of mathematics. On the introduction of the new time-pieces on board ship, for the purpose of adjusting the reckoning, he entered into a scientific contest with a famed astronomer-royal; and when it is stated, that he was acknowledged by many to have attained the mastery, both in figures and in argument, it must be allowed that his merits were of a transcendent kind.

Mr. Graham excelled also in mechanics, a talent which he always dedicated to naval purposes. We have seen some fine

models of cutters, brigs, and ships of the line, formed out of box by his own hand, that would have done credit to the most experienced artist.

It is not a little remarkable, that the affairs of Drury-Lane, which have proved so fatal to many persons, finally produced that malady which occasioned the death of the subject of this memoir. Having a great personal regard for Mr. Sheridan, he gratuitously dedicated his time to the adjustment of accounts, complexed, confused, and intricate in the extreme; and has been often known to sit up whole nights in forming plans and estimates. At one period, indeed, all the arrangements of the theatre were submitted to his sole care and management. These multiplied avocations, in addition to his duties as a magistrate, at length superinduced a long train of nervous disorders; and he was for a considerable time confined to his bed. So little conscious was he, however, of his dissolution, which occurred on December 24. 1818, in the 66th year of his age, that, deeming himself in a convalescent state, he actually sent to Bath for a Merlin's chair, for the purpose of enjoying exercise in the open air.

So scrupulous was he in the discharge of his duties, that he overlooked every personal consideration arising out of labour and fatigue; and so skilful was he deemed, that he was consulted by the Treasury, on all great and critical occasions. During the mutiny at the Nore, his services proved eminently acceptable; he repaired, on that occasion, in character of a magistrate to Sheerness, and being well acquainted with the habits and manners of the sailors, contributed not a little to the termination of a revolt, that at one period threatened destruction to the naval superiority of Great Britain.

His conduct and talents were now deemed of so meritorious a description, that he was soon after selected for the office of chief magistrate of the police of the metropolis, which, as is usual on such occasions, was to be accompanied by the honour of knighthood. This appointment was actually held by him, during three or four days; and had it been conferred at an earlier period of life, would have been executed with due vigour

and promptitude, tempered by becoming mildness and discretion; but, in consequence of his increasing infirmities, he deemed it proper to resign.

Mr. Graham displayed through life a singular inattention to pecuniary interests; for he had it more than once in his power to have realised a large fortune.

He has left behind him a prudent and respectable widow, who has lately succeeded, by the death of a relation, to a great fortune, with three children. His eldest son, who distinguished himself on several occasions during the late war, has been for many years a post-captain in the royal navy. His second, the Reverend Henry Graham, a very amiable and discreet young man, was educated at Oxford, where he has obtained the degree of M. A. Of his daughters, one, eminent for her beauty and accomplishments, was carried off in the prime of life. Another, since dead, married captain the Baron de Spangler, of the Dutch navy; a third, who, while yet a child, exhibited a fine taste for poetry, is the wife of a professional gentleman.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES AND

NEGLECTED BIOGRAPHY;

WITH

ORIGINAL LETTERS, PAPERS, &c.

No. I.

RIGHT HON. AND MOST REV. HIS GRACE

WILLIAM BERESFORD, ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM,

BARON OF DECIES, IN THE COUNTY Of waterford; primate OF CONNAUGHT; BISHOP OF ARDOCH; AND A PRIVY COUNSELLOR OF IRELAND.

MR. BERESFORD, third son of Marcus Beresford, earl of Tyrone, and brother of the first Marquis of Waterford, was born, April 16. 1743. After receiving After receiving an excellent education at the University of Dublin, he applied himself to the study of divinity. No sooner did age permit the imposition of priest's orders, than ecclesiastical preferments poured fast in upon this favoured son of the church. At the age of thirtyseven, we find him consecrated Bishop of Dromore. He was translated to the bishopric of Ossory in 1782; and obtained the archbishopric of Tuam in 1794.

His Grace, by his birth as well as by his alliances, ensured the countenance of government on all occasions, for these were accompanied and adorned by a good character. In 1763, he had married the sister of the late Lord Chancellor of Ireland, John Earl of Clare, by whom he had issue, no fewer than ten sons and six daughters. He was created a peer of the kingdom of Ireland in 1812, by the style and title of Baron Decies, in the county of Waterford,

His Grace died at his palace of Tuam, in the county of Galway, Sept. 7. 1819, in his seventy-seventh year.

The archbishop is succeeded in his honours and estates by his eldest surviving son, the Hon. John Horsley Beresford, now Lord Decies. This latter nobleman, who is also in holy orders, assumed his additional surname of Horsley, on his marriage with Charlotte, only daughter and heiress of Robert Horsley, Esq. of Bolam-House, in the county of Northumberland.

No. II.

SAMUEL LYSONS, Esq. F.R.S. F.A.S.

AND KEEPER OF THE RECORDS IN THE TOWER OF LONDON.

MR. LYSONS, the son of a respectable provincial clergyman, was a native of Gloucestershire, having been born at Rodmarton, near Cirencester, May 7. 1763. He was educated at Bath; and, being destined for the law, was placed for some time in an attorney's office in that gay city. In 1784 he came to London, entered himself a student of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple; and acted for some time as a special pleader under the Bar.

But although Mr. Lysons received a "call" in 1798, yet his ruling passion was directed towards studies of a far different kind; for he delighted in researches into the history and antiquities of England, and became a constant attendant at the Royal and Antiquary Societies for many years.

This, in conjunction with a good character, and a high reputation, procured an introduction to the King at Kew, by Sir Joseph Banks; and, on the death of Mr. Astle, he was nominated Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London. His laborious literary career was closed after a short illness, on the 10th of April, 1819.

Many unfinished works have been left behind him, which near and respectable relative intends to complete. He

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