Mr. John Home.

and debate, for conducting the business of popular assemblies. Having finished his studies, Mr. Home was admitted into the church of Scotland, as a mini ter, and presented to the living of Athelstonford, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Here he cultivated the acquaintance of the literati of the metropolis of the North; and in the year 1754, made one of the Select Society, an institution intended partly for philosophical improvement, and partly for the improvement of the members in public speaking, and projected by Mr. Allan Ramsay, the painter. This society attracted so much of the public notice, that in the following year the number of members exceeded a hundred, including all the individuals in Edinburgh and the neighbourhood who were most distinguished by genius or by literary attainments. In the list of Mr. Home's associates in the Select Society, besides Mr. Ramsay, we find the names Dr. Robertson, Mr. David Hume, Dr. Adam Smith, Mr. Wedderburn, (afterwards Lord Chancellor,) Lord Kames, and Sir Gilbert Elliot. The Society subsisted in vigour six or seven years; and to the friendships he cultivated here, Mr. Home, probably, owed the powerful support which he experienced when he was soon after assailed by religious fanaticism In the year 1757, Mr. Home published the Tragedy of Doug las, which kindled a flame among the Scottish clergy. The extraordinary merits of this performance, which is now become to Scotchmen a subject of national pride, were not sufficient to atone for so bold a departure from the austerity expected in a Presbyterian divine, and the offence was not a little exasperated by the conduct of some of Mr. Home's brethren, who partly from curiosity and partly from a friendly wish to share in the censure bestowed on the author, were led to witness the first representation of the piece on the Edinburgh stage. Ecclesiastical proceedings were instituted against him; and notwithstanding the able and animated exertions, and the persuasive eloquence of his friends, and particularly Dr. Robertson, in the assembly of the church of Scotland, he was stripped of his benefice and excommunicated. This bitter persecution of the author of a tragedy, which is as unexceptionable in its tendency as it is beautiful in its fable and com

Mrs. Sarah Potter.

position, which contains "no line when dying he could wish to blot,” powerfully, attracted the public sympathy. Patrick Lord Flibank, a lively and accomplished nobleman, henceforwards adopted Mir. Home, as an intimate companion: and his present Majesty, then Prince of Wales, bestowed on him a pension, which he enjoyed to the end of life.- The tragedy of Douglas has been extolled by the poet Gray, as a work that "rethieved the true language of the stage, lost for three hundred years;" yet it was refused by Mr. Garrick, when offered for the English stage, on account of its simplicity of fable, incident and poetry: exquisite simplicity! on which has been founded its best claim to longevity. When however, after having long passed its ordeal at the theatre of Edinburgh, it was brought upon the London stage, the public reversed the judgment of the English Roscius, and it has ever since been a favourite and popular performance. The moral taste of an English audience which had approved the tragedies of a Divine of their own country, Dr. Young, could not be offended with the more elegant dramatic production of a Presbyterian minister.Mr. Home lived from the time of his publishing Douglas to his death in studious retirement; and his admirers will naturally lament that in that long interval he brought forth nothing for the public entertainment or instruction.

Died on the 11th of September, 1808, in the 28th year of her age, Mrs. SARAH POTTER, wife of Mr Joseph Potter, of Cuckfield, to whom she had been married about one year and four months. She had had one child, which died when it was little more than two months old. Previous to her lying. in, she caught a severe cold, which at last terminated in a consumption that defied all the power of medicine. Mrs. Potter had been a member of the Unitarian General Baptist Church at Ditchling, eleven years, and was much esteemed for her seriousness and piety. From the time that she was first taken ill to her death, was a whole year; du ing which she set an admirable example of Christian patience. For a long time she entertained hopes of recovery, but at length she became sensible of her situation. When she mentioned to her friends that she was in pain, she would say, "I hope I don't murmer." A fort

Gertrude Brand, Baroness Dacre. night before her death, she told the writer of this article, that she had no hopes of living; and added, "I believe God is good, and he knows what is best." He paid his tribute of funeral respect to her in a sermon which he delivered at her interment on Monday the 19th, at Ditchling Meeting house. The text, which was chosen by herself, was Isaiah xlv. 22. "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else." The congregation was numerous and serious; and as the dece sed was well known, many persons were much affected. Though dead she yet speaketh.

A. B.

September 12, at her seat at Lee, in Kent, GERTRUDE BRAND, BARONESS DACRE, relict of Thomas' Brand, Esq. of the Hoo, in Hertfordshire, who died in February, 1794. Her Ladyship was the daughter of Sir S. Fludyer, a wealthy and eminent citizen, who died January 18, 1768. Early in life (1773,) she had married Trevor Charles Roper, Esq. who on the death of his uncle, Lord Dacre, 1786) inherited his title. Her affection for her second husband was most extraordinary; and her sorrow for his loss almost overwhelmed her mind. For a considerable period after that event she wholly se cluded herself, and when she appeared again abroad, she wore the hat and the walking cane of her deceased husband. A habit of the colour of his cloaths, and formed after the fashion of them about the waistcoat, wa assumed by her la dyship immediately after her mourning weeds. The boots, spurs, and gloves of Lord Dacre, were placed every morning in the hall, by the servant who had attended him in his life time. A portrait of his lordship hung in the dining parlour, and a plate, with a knife and fork, was placed at table as if for him.

His monument which is of marble, and very beautifully executed, tands beside that of Sir S. Fludyer's, in Lee church-yard, and was cleaned with care every Saturday, and strewed round with sea sand. Thither her ladyship came every evening at about nine o'clock, and knelt about ten minutes; nothing could deter her from these orisions; and although she was twice robbed, yet would she not permit any of her servants to attend her even at a distance. On neither of these occasions did she seem

Right Rev. James Yorke, L. L. D. anxious to punish the plunderer, but when a villain wantonly mutilated the monument of her husband, she prose cuted him with very great severity. The period of the year in which Lord Dacre expired, was always held sacred by her, and because the meadows were then being mowed, and his Lord hip, the day previous to his death, had sat at the window to observe the hay-makers, the meadows were every year afterwards mowed on the same day; the chair in which his lordship sat was placed by the side of the window, and as she placed herself beside it, she seemed to converse with the spirit of her departed spouse. In all this there was no derange. ment of intellect: in most things a strong masculine perception and extensive prudence were the characteristics of her ladyship. She was benevolent to the poor, but economically so; and though not sparing of her beneficence, she knew the great secret of doing much good at a small expense. She walked about the village of Lee in all weathers, frequently entered the cottage of the sick, chatted with the aged, and encouraged the industrious. The respect and affection for her memory, which was shewn at her funeral on Tuesday the 20th of September, was very great: the churchyard and the lanes leading thereto, were crowded by numbers of all ranks, and the poor bewailed their loss with tears and lamentations. Her ladyship's age was no more than 54, but her appear ance and her masculine artire, made her to be thought full ten years older. She was rather short and bulky in her person. Her features were small and pleas. ing, but being embrowned by her man. ner of living, possessed a forbidden harshness to a casual observer. Condescension, cheerfulness, and benevolence, were indeed soon perceived by those who conversed with her, and she seem ed to take an interest in the affairs of others, that endeared her to many. She is succeeded by her eldest son the Hon. Thomas Brand, M. P. for Hertfordshire, who will go up to the House of Peers, under the title of Baron Dacre. Both his private character and public conduct are pledges for his political purity.

September, at his seat, Forthampton Court, Gloucestershire, in his 78th year, the Hon. and Right Rev. JAMES YORKE, L. L. D. Lord Bishop of

Right Rev. James Yorke, L. L. D. Ely, Governor of Addenbrook's Hospital, and Visitor of Jesus, St. John's, and Peter's Colleges, Cambridge. He was the son of the first Lord Chancellor, Philip Yorke, sometinies called the great Lord Hardwicke, a man of Dover, who from the lowest beginnings, raised himself by his talents and fortune, to the highest post in his profession, accumuJated an immense fortune and spread the roots of his family among those of the highest trees in this realm; and brother to the Right Hon Charles Yorke, who accepted the Seals, it is said reluctantly, on the resignation of Lord Camden in 1770, but died suddenly three days after he had become Lord Chancel lor, and while the patent for his peerage was making out, under the title of Baron Morden. The Bishop was of course uncle to the present Earl of Hardwicke, and the Hon. Charles Yorke, M. P. for the County of Cambridge.

Dr. Yorke married the daughter of Dr. Maddox, bishop of Worcester, who was another instance of a man ris ing by his talents from very low beginnings. Maddox had been brought up as a pastry-cook, and from raising pastry was raised to be a head of the church. But he had too much good sense to be ashamed of his origin; and a pleasant anecdote is told of his recommending one day at his table, some pastry to his guests, though," said he, with a significant look, "they are not of my own making."

To his family interests, rather than to his talents or learning, Dr. Yorke owed his promotion in the church. He never we believe appeared before the public as an author, or in the House of Lords as a speaker. He was successively appointed to the deanéty of Lincoln, and the bishoprics of St. David's, Gloucester and Ely, which last he held twentyseven years. He succeeded Dr. Moss in the see of St. David's, in 1774; on the death of Dr. Warburton, in 1779, he was translated to Gloucester; and he was removed to Ely in 1781, on the death of Dr. Keene.

One action alone will secure lasting reputation to Bishop Yorke. In 1789, the mastership of Jesus College, Cambridge, which is in the gift of the Bishop of Ely, became vacant by Dr Beadon's becoming Bishop of Gloucester. Bishop Yorke immediately offered it to Archdeacon Paley, to whom he seems to have

Mrs. Catherine Allibe.

been unknown, without any solicitation, and in consideration solely of his merits. This honourable patronage induced Paley to dedicate his "Evidences" to the Bishop. "The circumstances," says the dedicator, "under which this offer was made, demand a public acknowledg ment. I had never seen your lordship; I possessed no connexion which could possibly recommend me to your favour; was known to you only by my endea vours, in common with many others, to discharge my duty as a tutor in the University; and by some very imperfect, but certainly well intended, and as you thought, useful publications since." Notwithstanding Paley's sense of his lordship's conduct, whose notice he declares to be "the most flattering distinction of his life," he declined, for what reasons does not appear, the mastership of Jesus College. The year before, Mr. Frend, of that college, had endeavoured to procure the abolition of the subscription to the articles required of candidates for the degree of Batchelor of Arts. Dr. Beadon, then master, had taken upon him to displace Mr. Frend from his office of tutor. Mr. Frend appealed to the Bishop of Ely, the visitor of the college; and the Bishop thought proper to confirm the master's sentence. Possibly Paley might think if he became the head of the college, he must enter into this dispute; and he had been the tutor of Mr. Frend, and was known to be not very dissimilar to him in religious sentiments. It would have been to the Bishop's honour if he had acted as liberally towards the pupil as the tutor. But his conduct towards Mr. Frend was as dishonourable as that to Dr. Paley was honourable, he having confirmed first the removal of that gentleman from his tutorship, and next his banishment from his college.

His lord hip has left behind him a widow and numerous relatives and descendants. He is succeeded in the see of Ely, by Dr. Thomas Dampier, bishop of Rochester.

Sunday, October 9, died at Chatham, Mrs. CATHERINE ALLIBONE. She had attained somewhat beyond that period when the human strength is at best "but labour and sorrow." For some years she painfully suffered from an asthmatic complaint and ultimately fell a vic tim to its force.--The grand distinguishing. feature in her character, was a tender sus