He entered with assiduity into the bu-
siness of many of the societies formed in
Bath with a view to the public benefit;
and particularly into the business of the
Bath and West of England Society,
established for the encouragement of
agriculture and the arts; which society
marked its sense of his services and
merits by electing him into the number
of its vice-presidents. The objects of
that society he was peculiarly able to
advance in that department which re-
spected the growth and management of
wool, so important a part of the hus-
bandry and manufactures of this portion
of the kingdom, in consequence of
having been in early life extensively
engaged in its practical details. Many
of the observations of his intelligent
mind on this subject he communicated
to the public in various treatises. He
travelled in other countries in search of
knowledge. He visited America and
the most interesting parts of the con-
tinent; and the works in which he com-
municated the result of what he ob-
served, especially that on America, con-
tain much valuable information. He
sometimes aspired to a higher species of
literature. Mr. Wansey was elected,
many years ago, a Fellow of the Society
of Antiquaries; and the transactions of
that learned body contain two or three
curious communications from his pen.
Much of his time, in the latter years of
his life, was devoted to the collection
and arrangement of materials for the
History and Topography of the Hun-
dred of Warminster, subsidiary to the
magnificent work on the county of
Wilts, of which Sir Richard Colt Hoare
is the founder and principal director.
New Monthly Magazine.

WELLWOOD, the Rev. Sir Henry
Moncrieffe, Bart. D. D. F. R. S. E.,
and senior minister of St. Cuthbert's,
Edinburgh; August 9; at Burntfield
Links; aged 75.

inhabitants, and nearly all the presby-
terian clergy of Edinburgh; and an
eloquent sermon, which has since been
published, was preached by Dr. Thomp..
son, the minister of St. George's. The
following passages are extracted from it:
"He stood forth from among his co-
temporaries, confessedly pre-eminent in
strength of personal and of social cha-
racter. There was a magnanimity in
his modes of thinking and of acting,
which was as evident to the eye of ob-
servation as were the lineaments of his
face and the dignity of his gait. His
great and primary distinction was a
clear, profound, and powerful under-
standing which spurned from it all
trifles, and advanced to the decision it
was to give with unhesitating prompti-
tude and determined firmness.

"His mental superiority was not
allied to the excursions of imagination,
or to the elegancies and refinements of
mere taste. To these he made no pre-
tensions, though he was neither indiffer-
ent to their charms, nor destitute of
relish for their finest and most classical
displays. He chiefly delighted, how-
ever, and he chiefly excelled, in putting
forth his master intellect on things of
real importance to mankind. Those
who knew him best, can best give wit-
ness how faithfully and habitually he
embodied his knowledge, and his prin-
ciples, and his hopes as a Christian, into
his life and deportment, his daily walk
and conversation; how tenderly he
cared for the fatherless and the widow
that were so often committed to his
charge; -how active and assiduous he
was in helping forward deserving youth,
in giving counsel and aid to the many
who had recourse to him in their diffi-
culties, and in doing good to all his
brethren with unaffected kindness, as he
had opportunity;- - how patient and
resigned, amidst the severest bereave-
ments (and of these he experienced not
a few), with which Providence can visit
the children of mortality;-how fervent
in his devotions and prayers; - how
diligent in his study of the sacred vo-
lume, from which he drew all his reli-
gious opinions ;-how correct and dig-
nified in the whole of his personal
demeanour ; - how engaging in the
lighter play, as well as in the graver
exercise, of his social affections and
how ready, amidst all the attainments
he had made, and all the honour he had
received from men, to acknowledge the
inadequacy of his services, and the sin-

fulness and imperfection that mingled
in all his doings, and still to betake
himself to the blood of sprinkling and
the finished work of the Messiah, as
all his refuge and as all his hope.'

Sir Henry lost his eldest son, William
Wellwood Moncrieffe, LL. D., who was
advocate for the admiralty at Malta,
September 5th 1813. His second son
James, who, we presume, has succeeded
to the baronetcy (which is one of the
first conferred in Scotland in 1626), was
married in 1808 to Miss Robinson,
daughter of a captain R. N. - Gentle-
man's Magazine.

-

WILLIAMS, Róbert, Esq., Rear
Admiral of the Blue; March 1; in
Queen Square, Bath.

This officer entered the naval service
under the auspices of Lord Mulgrave,
in 1777, as a Midshipman on board the
Ardent, a 64-gun ship stationed in the
Bay of Biscay to intercept the trade be-
longing to our revolted colonies, and cut
off any succours that might be sent
thither from France. From that ship
he removed into the America, 64, which,
commanded by Lord Longford, formed
part of Admiral Keppel's fleet in the
action with M. d'Orvilliers, July 27,
1778. Subsequently to that event, Mr.
Williams joined the London, a second-
rate,bearing the flag of Lord Greavs, un-
der whom he proceeded to North Ame-
rica, and continued to serve till Aug.
1781, when he was promoted to the rank
of Lieutenant, in the Royal Oak, of 74
guns. In this ship, Mr. Williams, who
had previously shared in the action be-
tween Vice Admiral Arbuthnot and the
Chev. de Ternay, bore a part in the
battles with Count de Grasse, Sept. 5.
1781, and April 9 and 12, 1782.

His next appointment was to the
Argo, 44, Capt. Butchert, which vessel,
being on her return from Tortola to
Antigua, was compelled, after a warm
action of five hours, during which period
it blew so fresh that she could not open
her lower deck ports, to surrender to
the French frigates la Nymphe and
l'Amphitride, each mounting 46 guns.
She was, however, recaptured about 36
hours after, by the Invincible, 74; and
Admiral Pigot, the commander-in-chief
on that station, was so well pleased with
the gallantry displayed by her officers,
that, immediately after they had passed
the usual ordeal of a Court Martial,
and obtained an honourable asquittal,
he offered to reappoint the whole of
them to her. This proposal being ac-

We

cepted by Mr. Williams, he became
first lieutenant of the Argo, and con-
tinued in the same ship till the peace of
1783, when she returned to England,
and was put out of commission.
subsequently find him in the Myrmidon,
of 20 guns, whose captain, the present
Admiral Drury, was ordered to escort
a beautiful yatcht sent from England
as a present to the Crown Prince of
Denmark; which circumstance afforded
Lieutenant Williams an opportunity of
visiting the capital of that kingdom.

At the period of the Spanish arma-
ment, in 1790, the deceased obtained
an appointment to the Elephant, 74,
commanded by Sir Charles Thompson,
Bart.;
and on the breaking out of the
war with revolutionary France, he ac-
companied the same officer in the Ven-
geance, another third-rate, to the West
Indies; from whence he returned after
the failure of an attack made upon
Martinique by the forces under Rear
Admiral Gardner and Major General
Bruce, in June, 1793.

This

Towards the latter end of the same
year, Captain Thompson hoisted a broad
pendant as second in command of the
squadron sent under Sir John Jervis to
attack the French settlements in the
West Indies. On the arrival of the
armament in Fort Royal Bay, Lieut.
Williams was selected to command a
division of the gun and guard-boats to
be employed in the approaching siege
of Martinique. While on that service
and under the orders of Lieutenant
Bowen, of the Boyne, he distinguished
himself by his gallantry in boarding the
Bienvenu, a French frigate, lying in
the Carenage close to Fort Louis.
enterprise was undertaken for the pur-
pose of rescuing a number of English
prisoners said to be confined on board
her, and, consequently, exposed to the
fire of the British batteries on Point
Carriere. The attack was made at noon,
March 17, 1794, in the presence, and
to the astonishment of the whole fleet
and army; the instant the boats ap-
peared at the entrance of the Carenage,
the enemy prepared to give them a warm
reception. The walls of Fort Louis
were covered in an instant with troops,
who kept up an incessant fire of mus-
quetry on the assailants; at the same
time the frigate endeavoured to keep
them off, by plying both her great guns
and small arms; but at length, intimid-
ated by the boldness of the attempt, her
crew fled from their quarters, the greater

part retreating to the shore. The
British now boarded the frigate, and
turned her guns upon the Fort, but
were prevented bringing her out of the
harbour in consequence of the wind
blowing directly in, her sails being un-
bent, and the impracticability of sending
men aloft to bring them to the yards,
exposed, as she was, to the enemy's fire.
Lieutenant Bowen, therefore, after as-
certaining that the English prisoners
were in another vessel further up, from
whence it was impossible to release
them, contented himself with bringing
off the French captain, a lieutenant, and
about 20 men, whom Lieutenant Wil-
liams had discovered on the lower deck,
and forced into his boat through the
bow part of the frigate, by which he
had entered. Being distributed among
the other boats, they were conveyed in
triumph to Sir John Jervis, who, in his
official letter to the Admiralty, declared
that "The success of this gallant action
determined the General and himself to
attempt the fort and town of Fort Royal
by assault."
Throughout the siege,
the gun boats, which by the French
were called "Les petits diables," were
of infinite service, and gained the officers
commanding them immortal credit, by
the steady and well-directed fire they
constantly kept up, both day and night;
and though continually exposed to a
heavy discharge both of round and grape,
their loss did not exceed four men killed
and wounded.

After the conquest of Martinique,
Lieut. Williams removed with his pa-
tron, who had by this time become a
Rear-Admiral, into the Vanguard, 74.
He subsequently commanded the flat-
boats employed in landing the second
batallion of light infantry (under Lt.-
Col. Blundell), at Ana de Chocque in
the island of St. Lucia; a service which
he performed without any loss, although
exposed to a very heavy fire from the
enemy's batteries. On the reduction
of that colony, he returned to Marti-
nique in the Vanguard, and during the
absence of the fleet at Guadaloupe, was
sent in a sloop to inspect the different
posts and fortifications along the coast.
We next find our officer serving with
a brigade of seamen landed under the
orders of Captains Robertson and Saw-
yer to co-operate with the army in an
attempt to recover Guadaloupe from
the hands of the Republicans; and re-

ceiving a severe wound whilst employed
in the erection of a masked battery on
the heights near Fort Fleur d'Epée, he
soon after left the Vanguard and re-
turned to England in the Minotaur,
another ship of the same force.

On his arrival he was appointed first
Lieutenant of the Prince George, a se-
cond rate, which bore the flag of Rear-
Admiral Parker at the battle of St.
Vincent. Lieut. Williams, for his con-
duct on this memorable occasion, was
immediately promoted to the rank of
Commander, and appointed to the Dol-
phin, a 44-gun ship armed en flute, but
previous to his joining her he acted for
some time as Flag-captain to Rear-Ad-
miral Parker, in the Blenheim 98, and
served pro tempore in the Kingfisher
sloop of war. From the Dolphin he
was posted into the San Yridro, a
Spanish 74, which he conducted to
England in Sept. 1797.
His post
commission, however, was not
firmed by the Admiralty till Nov. 10
that year, when he received an appoint-
ment to the Formidable of 98 guns,
the command of which he retained till
Jan. 1798.

con-

From this period we find no mention
of Capt. Williams till May 1802, when
he obtained the command of the Dryad
frigate stationed off Portland for the
suppression of smuggling. In Feb.
1803, he was removed into the Russel
74, and soon after ordered to escort the
outward bound trade to the East Indies,
from whence he was obliged to return
home through ill health in 1805. His
subsequent appointments were to the
Ruby 64, Dictator of the same force,
and Gloucester 74. In these ships he
served on the Baltic station during five
successive seasons, and was principally
employed in affording protection to the
different convoys passing through the
Great Belt, a service of the most har-
assing nature, owing to the difficulty
of the navigation, and the annoyance
of the enemy, whose gun-boats were
ever on the alert. Returning to Eng-
land each winter, he was occasionally
sent to Leith with French prisoners;
and on one occasion attached to the
fleet blockading the Scheldt, under Ad-
miral William Young.

In 1814, the Gloucester convoyed a
fleet to the Leeward Islands, and thence
escorted the 90th regiment to Quebec.
She returned to England with the trade

from Barbadoes in September of that
year, and was soon after paid off at
Sheerness.

--

Capt. Williams was advanced to the
rank of Rear-Admiral April 9, 1823.
He had latterly resided in Bath, where
his wife died early in 1825. - Mar-
shall's Royal Naval Biography.
WILLIAMS, Mr. Edward, at Flem-
stone, Glamorganshire. Although purely
self-taught, never having been a single
day at any school, his literary acquire-
ments were extensive. He attained
knowledge on the various subjects of
his pursuit with astonishing facility,
and his memory was so strongly reten
tive, that he became a living chronicle
in the annals of British History. His
favourite pursuits were poetry and an-
tiquities. He published about the year
1795, two volumes of English lyric
and pastoral poems, which passed the
ordeal of criticism with credit. He
contributed largely to various other pub-
lications relating to Wales; -publish-
ed a volume of Welsh Psalms (his own
composition), for Unitarian worship,

-

beside other smaller pieces in Welsh and
English. He also wrote the elaborate
preface to the Myvyrian Archaiology, of
which he was one of the Editors; but by
far the greater part of his works are in
manuscript. The strong powers of his
imagination were refined by a chaste and
correct judgment, and continued in con-
siderable force to old age. His moral
virtues were of an equally superior
order;-
;-a devoted friend, and incul-
cator of truth, peace, and social be-
nevolence. He was by trade a common
mason, but he soon acquired an excel-
lent knowledge of marble masonry and
sculpture ; - his devotedness to litera-
ture, however, proved detrimental to his
other avocations. He was sickly from
infancy, and subject to many disorders;
-was troubled much with asthmatic
and spasmodic affections, which pre-
vented his lying in bed for the last
twenty-six years of his life. He attri-
buted his protracted age to his exem-
plary temperance, pedestrian habits, and
early rising. New Monthly Magazine.

-

-