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OBITUARY.

GREGORY THE GREEK PATRIARCH.-The pious and venerable Patriarch of Constantinople, who, on Easter-day last, fell a victim to the infatuation and revenge of the populace, in the 80th year of his age, was a native of Peloponnesus. He was first consecrated to the Archiepiscopal See of Smyrna, where he left honourable testimonials of his piety and Christian virtues. Translated to the Patriarchal throne of Constantinople, he occupied it at three distinct periods, for under the Mussulman despotism was introduced and perpetuated the anticanonical custom of frequently changing the head of the Greek clergy. During his first Patriarchate he had the happiness to save the Greek Christians from the fury of the Divan, who had it in contemplation to make that people responsible for the French expedition into Egypt. He succeeded in preserving his countrymen from the hatred of the Turks, but he was not the better treated for his interposition; -the Turkish Government banished him to Mount Athos. Recalled to his See some years after, he was again exposed to great danger in consequence of the war with Russia: and on the appearance of an English fleet off Constantinople, was exiled anew to Mount Athos, and once more ascended the throne, on which he terminated his career. This prelate invariably manifested the most rigid observance of his sacred duties; and in private life was plain, affable, virtuous, and of an exemplary life. To him the merit is ascribed of establishing a patriarchate press. He has left a numerous collection of pastoral letters and sermons, which evince his piety and distinguished talents. He translated and printed in modern Greek, with annotations, the Epistles of the Apostles. He lived like a father among his diocesans, and the sort of death he died adds greatly to their sorrow and veneration for his memory. This Prelate had not taken the least share in the insurrection of the Greeks; he had even pronounced an anathema against the authors of the rebellion; an anathema dictated, indeed, by the Mussulmen's sabres, but granted, to prevent the effusion of blood, and the massacre of the Greek Christians. When the Rev. Mr. Connor, agent of the Church Missionary Society, was at Constantinople in 1819, he was introduced to this venerable Patriarch as an English Clergyman. "He received me (says Mr. C.) very kindly; and after conversing some time on literary topics, particularly on the affinity of various languages, about which he was very inquisitive, I made him acquainted with the existence and state of the Bible Society. He approved of it. On my mentioning that I had in Para, copies of the Scriptures in 12 languages, he seemed surprised, and intimated a wish to see some of them. The same day I sent him copies of some of the translations which I possessed. He was highly gratified, and expressed his thanks in writing. I was glad to hear the other day, that he had already sent the copies which I gave him, to some of his distant friends, of high rank in the church, as a valuable present." His subsequent exertions for the diffusion of the Scriptures amongst the churches of which he was the head, must be well known to every friend of the Bible Society, and Missionary exertions. "Lamented Gregory"-wrote Mr. Connor on learning his melancholy fate, whilst in quarantine at Ancona, in his way homeward from Turkey-"my heart ached as I listened to the account of his death. He 66 was indeed a true friend of the Bible Society. I had frequently "the privilege of visiting him; and the first question which he gene

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rally asked me was, 'What news from the Bible Society? How does "it go on? I sat some time with him, the day before my departure "from Constantinople; and as I bade him farewell, he expressed his "hope to see me again ere long." They cannot, however, meet again on earth; may they hereafter meet in heaven!

MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY.-In justice to so patriotic and benevolent a character, removed from an extended sphere of usefulness, when Ireland stands, alas, but in too much need of such friends, amongst the rich and noble of her neglected and deserted land, we cannot but add the following pleasing particulars of the late Marquis of Londonderry, to the brief notice of some of the excellencies of his character inserted in a former number of our work.-During the last years of the life of this excellent man, his contribution to the poor every Sunday was £3., while that of the other different members of his family amounted to nearly as much; and those sums were not merely contributed when they attended their place of worship, but, was any member of the family prevented, by indisposition or the severity of the weather, from attending divine service (and nothing but serious indisposition, or the very worst of weather, ever prevented this), the poor were not thereby losers,-their contribution was regularly sent to the Minister or Churchwardens, with a note explaining the cause of their absence; in addition to whch, his Lordship paid an annual subscription of 30 guineas to the committee for managing the funds of the poor of the parish of Newtownards, and similar subscriptions to each of the other parishes in which he had estates. He frequently desired the Clergyman of the former to apply to him at any time when the funds might not be sufficient to relieve the actual necessities of the poor, and that he would make up the deficiencies; and by those subscriptions the Committee were enabled to relieve the wants of the poor in a manner quite unprecedented in Ireland. And if to this we add the relief afforded at the mansion of this noble family, and also by private donations from the different members of it to the neighbouring poor, we may form a slight estimate how much the loss will be felt by those unfortunate members of society. The last act of this Nobleman is of a nature which particularly deserves to be recorded: it will be recollected, that his Lordship was privately interred in the family vault, none but his domestics attending: the reason he gave for this direction was, that the money which would be expended on a public funeral would be much better laid out on the poor; and he accordingly desired that the sum of £100, which he conceived his funeral might cost, should be distributed among the poor of the parish of Newtownards, where his principal estate lay; which sum was accordingly so approriated, together with an additional som of £100. to the poor of the other parishes (in the county) in which he had estates, in proportion to their extent; the latter sum being given by the present Marquis, that the poor on the whole of his father's estate might be put on the same footing. It was the usual practice of his Lordship to settle all the disputes and differences of his numerous tenantry, thereby preventing their having recourse to law, and often ruining both parties; with this view he always encouraged any tenant, who considered himself aggrieved by another, to apply in the first instance to him, and having called the other before him, he heard their stories, and then endeavoured to reconcile them. If, however, he failed in this, he then summoned the witnesses on both sides, examined all

parties with the most persevering patience, careless whether it required one, two, three, or more days, and having summed up the whole, he then pronounced his decision, giving at the same time such powerful and substantial reasons for it, as, though they might fail of satisfying the person against whom the decision was made, yet generally carried conviction, even to him, that it was founded in equity; and it seldom happened that any appeal was made from this decision to a Court of Law; and wherever it did so happen, his Lordship's decision was always confirmed. And to this alone we must attribute a singular fact,—that for upwards of half a century not a single attorney found it his interest to settle on his Lordship's extentive estate in the county of Down; comprising a large district of country, (together with the populous towns of Newtownards, containing between three and four thousand inhabitants, and Comber, containing from one to two thousand) and a most numerous, wealthy, and respectable yeomanry, such as in other districts have often given bread to half a dozen. Lord Londonderry was born Sept. 27, 1739He was twice married, first to Lady S. F. Seymour (daughter of the Marquis of Hertford, by whom he had Robert Viscount Castlereagh, now Marquis of Londonderry,) and in 1775 to Lady Frances Pratt, (eldest daughter of the Earl of Camden,) by whom he had no less than 11 children.

FATHER PLOWDEN.-The Rev. Chas. Plowden, D. D., was a descendant from the celebrated lawyer of that name, in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Dr. Plowden was born at Plowden Hall, in Shropshire, and educated at the school of St. Ignatius at St. Omers, where he completed his studies, took his degrees, and entered into orders in the Catholic Church. He was afterwards tutor, and eventually principal of the Jesuits' College at Stonyhurst, in Lancashire; and it was on his return from a journey to Rome, on the business of that institution, that he was suddenly taken ill and died, at Jagers, on the frontiers of France. He was a most active man in propagating the tenets of his faith, and promoting the interests of his order. On his return from college, he was taken as tutor into the distinguished Catholic family of the Welds, of Lulworth Castle, in Dorsetshire, and promoted his views with such success as to induce three sons, and as many daughters, of the family, to retire from the world, and embrace the monastic life. A great part of their wealth was devoted to the use of the Jesuit brotherhood at Stonyhurst. Dr. Plowden was a bigoted Catholic, as well as a subtle Jesuit, and opposed with all his might the taking of the oath denying the temporal authority of the Pope, introduced into one of the emancipating bills of 1790; and now taken by most of Roman Catholics: on this occasion, he published "Letters to Charles Butler, Esq., W. Cruise, H. Clifford, and W. Throckmorton," 8vo., 1796. He also procured a synod to be held, in which the deviations of Dr. Geddes, Dr. Berrington, and some others of the Catholic clergy, from what was considered the faith of the church, was severely censured. In connection with these proceedings, he printed "Remarks on the Writings of Joseph Berrington, addressed to the Catholic Clergy," and was also the author of "Considerations on the Modern Opinions of the Fallibility of the Pope," of whose pretensions he was a most staunch supporter, and of some Letters in the Bristol Journal, and other Newspapers, on the Catholic question, and the suppression and revival of his order.

The writer of this brief notice conversed with him a year or two before his death, when he was particularly anxious to induce him to make a favourable representation to certain members of the Legislature inimical to them, of the views and conduct of the Jesuits.

REAR-ADMIRAL BURNEY.-November 17. Suddenly, in a fit of apoplexy, at his house in James-street, Buckingham Gate, in the 72d year of his age, Rear-Admiral Burney, F. R. S., eldest son of the celebrated historian of music, and brother to the late Dr. Charles Burney, one of the first scholars of his age, and to Madame D'Arblay, better known as Miss Burney, still as a novelist in high repute. Admiral Burney entered the navy at a very early age, and accompanied Captain Cook in his two last voyages of circumnavigation; in the first as a midshipman, in the second as a lieutenant. As an officer he was remarkable, even in times when severity of discipline was more in vogue in the navy, than it now is, for his great humanity and kindness to those under his command. The same disposition uniformly characterized him in private life, in which he was also distinguished for the simplicity and kindness of his manners-the cheerfulness of his disposition-genuine humour in conversation, and a hospitality, real in its nature, though antiquated in the mode of its exhibition. How highly he was esteemed for his social qualities and moral virtue by Dr. Johnson, is evident from the following extract of a letter to Mrs. Thrale, on Captain Burney's promotion to the rank of Post-Captain, and appointment to the command of the Bristol, a ship of 50 guns, in 1781:-"I am willing to hear that there is happiness in the world, and delight to think on the pleasure diffused among the Burneys. I question if any ship upon the ocean goes "out attended with more good wishes, than that which carries thefate "of Burney. I love all that breed whom I can be said to know; and one or two whom I hardly know, I love upon credit, and love "them because they love each other." Such affectionate esteem this gallant officer continued to enjoy to the last day of his life, from a wide circle of friends, by whom his virtues will long be remembered, and his death be sincerely deplored. Nor has the public sustained a trifling loss in his removal. He was one of the best and most scientific geographers which England has yet produced, as was fully proved by his laborious, accurate, and voluminous history of Voyages of Discovery, his account of the Eastern Navigations, of the Russians, and other works.

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THOMAS BATEMAN, M. D.-The following particulars of this eminent physician were originally inserted in the Christian Observer, and have since, by permission of the conductors of that excellent work, been reprinted for general circulation, by Mr. Butterworth. By that gentleman, a copy of the memoir has been handed to us, and we gladly give a place in our journal to a narrative which cannot be too widely known, especially amongst those who are apt to value learning to the detriment of that wisdom which is from above. To the brief notice of his death, inserted in the Fifth Number of our work, we only add, by way of introduction, that, besides the works of which he was there stated to have been the author, he conducted the medical department of Dr. Rees's Encyclopedia, and was joint editor of the Edinburgh Medical Journal. His zeal and ability in superintending a Public Dispensary, and the House of Recovery or Fever Hospital,

in London, were highly beneficial to those institutions, and to the public.

The late Dr. Bateman settled in London soon after his graduation at Edinburgh in the year 1801; and his professional merits being very considerable, he was speedily elected physician to two public institutions—a large Dispensary, and the House of Recovery for Fever. He continued to distinguish himself, as he had done in Edinburgh, by his zeal and industry in the pursuit of science and literature; though he contrived to mix with his severer studies a large portion of the dissipations of gay society, and carried with him, into both these opposite pursuits, an energy of mind and of feeling which rendered him more than ordinarily susceptible of the enjoyments which either of them can afford. He always retained a high "sense of honour," as it is called, and was strictly careful to avoid, in all his conduct, every thing that the world esteems discreditable. He lived, however, to see and to feel, what at that time he had no conception of, how meagre a system of morality is that which the world is satisfied with, compared with the comprehensive morality of the Gospel-that Christian holiness, without which "no man shall see the Lord." His habits of life thus concurring with the natural corruption of the human heart, and estranging him more and more from God, he soon became confirmed in his leaning to the wretched doctrine of materialism, which he had been already tempted to adopt during the pursuit of his anatomical and physiological studies at Edinburgh. This lamentable tendency was strongly increased by the society, which he now fell into, of some men of considerable talent, who had already espoused all the principles of that unphilosophical, as well as unchristian system; and, though never able fully to embrace those opinions himself, he was yet sufficiently influenced by them to become sceptical respecting the truth of Divine Revelation, and was therefore of course a stranger to the hopes, as well as negligent of the duties, of Christianity.

In the summer of 1815, his health began to decline, and in the following year a complaint in his eyes came on, which threatened loss of sight, and precluded him from all his accustomed sources of occupation and amusement. Under these circumstances, the writer of this memoir became his constant companion and attendant; and for four years had the misery of witnessing his total estrangement from God and religion. His health continuing to decline, he left London in July 1819, with an intention of trying the effect of a sulphureous water at Middleton, in the county of Durham, on his debilitated constitution. He was taken ill on the road, and with difficulty reached a village near Beverley, in Yorkshire; where he was obliged to remain during the following winter; and finding, at length, that his health required the sacrifice, he finally determined not to attempt returning to London. He had for some time been subject to attacks of the most alarming nervous languor, during which he was thought by all around him, as well as by himself, to be dying; and these now returned upon him continually, especially after using the least bodily exertion. During the winter he was considerably better; but on the return of warm weather, early in the spring of 1820, he had a severe attack of languor after a short ride. His dread of these attacks was so great, and they were brought on so frequently by the smallest fatigue, that he gradually relinquished all exertion, as he even believed that the exhaustion which would be produced by VOL. IV. No. 8.

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