St. Vincent. The Minotaur afterwards joined Nelson off Toulon, and bore a distinguished part in the battle of the Nile; and during his subsequent services in the Mediterranean, Lieut. Schomberg on all occasions displayed zeal and activity, particularly in a gallant and successful attack upon two Spanish corvettes, off Barcelona.

He next accompanied Lord Keith to Egypt, as Flag Lieutenant of the Fourdroyant, and was sent by the Admiral to Grand Cairo, to keep up a communication with the Turkish army, and continued in that arduous service until the termination of hostilities, notwithstanding he bad been promoted to the Termagant sloop of war; after which he joined the Charon 44, and assisted in conveying the French troops from Alexandria to Malta.

He was employed in various negociations up to 1803, and in August of that year was made Post into the Madras 54, lying at Malta; where he remained until that ship was dismantled in 1807, and then returned to England.

His next appointment was to the Hibernia 120, as flag Captain to Sir W. Sidney Smith, and he removed with the Admiral into his former ship, the Fourdroyant, for the purpose of conveying the Royal Family of Portugal to Rio Janeiro. In 1810 he was appointed to the Astrea 36, in which he proceeded to the East India station, and in company with the Phoebe, Galatea, and Racehorse, captured, after a hard-fought and gallant action, on the 20th May 1811, la Renommee frigate of 44 guns, one of a squadron that had committed great depredations in the Indian seas. He subsequently recovered the settlement of Tamatan, in Madagascar, and captured another French frigate lying in the port.

In April 1813 he succeeded to the command of the Nisus 38, and proceeded from the Cape station to South America, whence he conveyed a valuable fleet, and was paid off in March 1814. At the enlargement of the Order of the Bath, in Jan. 1815, he was nominated a C.B.; and on the 30th Aug. following, received permission to accept the insignia of a Commander of the Tower and Sword. In 1820 he was appointed to the Rochford 80, destined for the flag of Sir Graham Moore. In 1824 he returned with that officer from the Mediterranean, his time of service being expired. In Feb. 1833 he was appointed Lieut.-Governor of Dominica, where his wise and impartial administration appears to have given complete satisfaction to the inhabitants. He was interred in St. Paul's Chapel, on the 2d of January, with military honours, Sir G. Cockburn and Sir L. Smith, the senior naval and

military commanders present, acting as chief mourners.

CAPT. W. KEMPTHORNE, R.N. Lately. At Exeter, William Kempthorne, esq. a Post Captain R.N.

This officer was a native of Penrhyn ; his father and maternal grandfather were both commanders in the Falmouth packetservice; and the name of the latter was Goodridge. He entered the navy in 1795, and served the whole of his time as Midshipman under the active and chivalrous command of Sir Edward Pellew, the late Viscount Exmouth. At the age of sixteen, he was carried prisoner into Rochelle, whence, however, after six weeks' captivity, he had the good fortune to escape, in company with Mr. Henry Gilbert, another Cornish youth, and in a few days more was again on board the Indefatigable. He attained the rank of Lieutenant

in 1800.

Having proceeded with Sir Edward Pellew in the Culloden 74 to the East Indies, Mr. Kempthorne was there appointed First Lieutenant of the Cornwallis frigate, in 1805; and in 1807 obtained the command of the Diana brig, in which he captured the Topaze piratical schooner, in May of that year (on which occasion he was severely wounded), and a Dutch national brig of six guns in August

1808.

Towards the close of that year he was employed, with a brig and cruizer under his orders, in blockading Canton; and in Sept. 1809 he captured the Dutch national brig Zephyr of 14 long-sixes. Whilst employed in the Eastern seas, he made several important hydrographical discoveries; one of which, an extensive and dangerous patch of coral to the south of the Natuma islands, he named after his little vessel the Diana; which was at length worn out, and laid up at the island of Rodrigues, in May 1810.

He was made Commander April 3, 1811, appointed to the Harlequin sloop, Nov. 11 following; and to the Beelze bub bomb, July 2, 1816, then under orders for Algiers. During the bombardment of that town he commanded the division of bombs; and after its surrender was appointed to act as Captain of the Queen Charlotte 108, bearing the flag of his early patron. He was promoted to Post rank on the 16th Sept. following; and continued to command the Queen Charlotte until she was put out of commission.

[A more particular memoir of Capt. Kempthorne will be found in Marshall's Royal Naval Biography, Supplement, part iv. pp. 111-116.]

MRS. COOK.

May 13. At Clapham, in her 94th year, Elizabeth, widow of Capt. James Cook, R.N. the celebrated circumnavigator.

This venerable lady, remarkable alike from the eminence of her husband, and for the length of time she had survived him, as well as estimable for her private virtues, was married in the year 1762. She was a Miss Batts, of Barking in Essex; and Cook was then a Master in the Navy, thirty-four years of age. To the last she was generally accustomed to speak of him as "Mr. Cook," which was the style by which he had been chiefly known to her during his residence at home, as he was not appointed to the rank of Commander until 1771, nor to that of Post Captain till 1776. His death at Owhyhee took place on the 14th of Feb. 1779, having then been absent from England for more than two years and a half. Mrs. Cook had, after his departure, received from the Royal Society, the Copley gold medal, which had been voted to him for a paper explaining the means he had employed for preserving his crew in his previous voyages, and this, with many other interesting memorials, she treasured with faithful care.

When the tidings of Captain Cook's death were communicated to King George the Third, his Majesty immediately directed pensions to be settled on the widow and three surviving sons. But Mrs. Cook had the grievous misfortune to lose them all within a few years after. Nathaniel, the second, who had embraced the naval profession from hereditary emulation of his father's name, not without affectionate apprehensions on the part of his mother, was lost in 1780, at the age of sixteen, with Commodore Walsingham, in the Thunderer, which foundered at sea.

Hugh, who was considerably the youngest, died in 1793, at the age of seventeen, whilst a student in Christ's College, Cambridge. His mother had purchased the advowson of a living, with a view to his preferment; but he died unacquainted with a circumstance which might, if prematurely announced, have damped his personal exertions. James, the eldest, at the age of thirty-one, was drowned with his boat's crew, while Commander of the Spitfire sloop of war, off the Isle of Wight, in 1794. A daughter had previously died of dropsy, when about twelve years of age. The memory of these lamentable bereavements was never effaced from her mind, and there were some melancholy anniversaries which to the end of her days she devoted to seclusion and pious observance.

Mrs. Cook selected Clapham as her place of residence, many years since, on account of its convenience for her eldest son when coming to town by the Portsmouth coach. There her latter days were spent in intercourse with her friends, and in the conscientious discharge of those duties which her benevolent and kindly feelings dictated to her. Her amiable conduct in all social relations, her pious acquiescence and resignation under extraordinary family trials and deprivations, and her consistent sensible demeanour throughout a long life, secured her universal esteem and respect.

The body of Mrs. Cook was buried on the 22d May, in a vault in the church of St. Andrew the Great, in Cambridge, near those of her children, to whose memory there is already a monument. Mrs. Cook has munificently left 10007. three per cents. to that parish, under the following conditions:-The monument is to be maintained in perfect repair out of the interest, the Minister for the time being to receive 21. per ann. for his trouble in attending to the execution of this trust; and the remainder is to be equally divided, every year on St. Thomas's Day, between five poor aged women belonging to and residing in the parish of Great St. Andrew's, who do not receive parochial relief. The appointment is to be made each year by the Minister, Churchwardens, and Overseers. She has also bequeathed 7501. to the poor of Clapham ; and has left many handsome legacies to her friends; to her three servants, besides legacies, she has bestowed all the furniture in their respective rooms. She has bequeathed the Copley gold medal, before mentioned, and the medal struck in honour of her husband by order of George III. (of which there never were but five), to the British Museum. The Schools for the Indigent Blind and the Royal Maternity Charity, are benefited to the amount of nearly 1,000l. consols, besides various other public and private charities. Her will has been proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury by her relation, J. L. Bennett, esq. of Merton, and J. D. Blake, esq. the executors, and her property sworn under 60,0007.

EDWARD ROBERTS, ESQ.

May 14. At Ealing, Middlesex, in his 88th year, Edward Roberts, esq. late Clerk of the Pells in his Majesty's Receipt of Exchequer.

Mr. Roberts was one of the most marked men of his time, and had associated with nearly all the celebrated political characters of the age, from the days of

his god-father Sir Edward Walpole, and his early friend Colonel Barré, down to the leading Members of Lord Liverpool's administration. He possessed a masculine understanding, with a particular quickness and acuteness of observation, e During a long and active career in th public service (upwards of sixty-one years) he was remarkable for those qualities which eminently pointed him out for offices of great trust and responsibility.

His personal character may be summed up in one word he was a finished gentle man of the old school-in the best and highest sense of the term. On a first interview something bordering on austerity might be perceptible in his manner, but this common attribute of official men almost instantly vanished, and the natural amenity of his disposition displayed itself in the most attractive colours. His countenance was prepossessing in the extreme; his eye, though keen and piercing, clearly demonstrated a benevolent as well as ardent mind. He delivered his opinions on all subjects with the utmost energy and decision, and with an emphasis peculiar to himself. Few men could rival him in the variety and correctness of his information, or in the extent of his memory, at a very advanced period of life. Such was the accuracy and minuteness of his research, that it was difficult to call in question any historical fact, or even date, which he advanced. The same degree of exactness pervaded the arrangements of bis private life, and nothing could exceed the beauty and elegance of his handwriting, but the vigour and perspicuity of his epistolary style.

It is to be hoped that a detailed memoir of this venerable man will be given to the public by the same admirable pen, which some years ago illustrated, in one of the most beautiful biographical sketches extant, the virtues and talents of his distinguished son, Barré Charles Roberts, Student of Christ Church, Oxford. (4to. 1814.) In the mean time this feeble tribute to the memory of Mr. Roberts is offered by one who felt himself both honoured and gratified by his friendship.

[We may add that at the time of his decease, Mr. Roberts was the senior member of the Company of Apothecaries of London, of which he served the office of Master some years since, and in which society he was regarded with the highest respect.]

MRS. O. SERRES.

Nov. 21. Within the rules of the King's Bench, in her 63d year, Mrs. Olivia Serres, the self-styled Princess Olive of Cumberland.

This extraordinary and aspiring impostor was born at Warwick, April 3, 1772, and baptized at St. Nicolas church in that town, on the 15th of the same month, being the daughter of Mr. Robert Wilmot, a house-painter, and Anna-Maria his wife. She was educated under the protection of her uncle, the Rev. James Wilmot, D.D. Fellow of Trinity college, Oxford, and Rector of Barton on the Heath in Warwickshire, and whilst living with him, shortly after quitting school, she appeared as a witness upon a very extraordinary trial for a burglary in her uncle's house, for which two men were convicted and executed. Her story was very marvellous, and her condnct, as she represented it, highly heroic.

At an early age she was married to Mr. John Thomas Serres, who had the appointment of Marine Painter to the King and Duke of Clarence, and was a son of Count Dominick Serres, one of the early members of the Royal Academy. After a few years they separated, and Mrs. Serres had to support herself and children by her own efforts. In 1806 she was herself appointed Landscape Painter to the Prince of Wales. We believe she at one time made her appearance on the stage, and she is said to have performed Polly iu the Beggar's Opera. Mr. Serres died on the 28th of December 1825; and a memoir of him will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xcvi. i. 280.

Always possessing a busy and romantic imagination, Olivia at an early age essayed her powers in original composition; but we believe she did not venture before the public until the year 1805, when she printed a novel called "St. Julian." In the following year, she put forth her poetical miscellanies, under the title of "Flights of Fancy." She also published theCastle of Avala," an opera; and "Letters of Advice to her Daughters."

In 1813 she embarked in the first of her

attempts to gull the British public, by proclaiming her late uncle before mentioned to have been the long-sought author of Junius. His pretensions were advanced in an octavo volume, entitled, "The Life of the Rev. James Wilmot, D.D." (see the Monthly Review, N. S. LXXII, 94, and Gent. Mag. LXXXIII, ii. 413.) The claim was completely negatived by letters from Dr. Butler of Shrewsbury and Mr. G. Woodfall, which appear in the Gentleman's Magazine for August 1813 (ibid. p. 99.) Mrs. Serres replied in Nov. p. 413, and Mr. Woodfall honoured her with one more rejoinder in Dec. p. 545. The lady was indulged with further attention in the next volume,

pt. i, pp. 213, 344, 535, pt. ii, 24, but the falsity of her pretensions was already apparent to every intelligent person who paid attention to the subject.

Her next extraordinary freak was assuming the character of a theologian, by publishing in 1814, "St. Athanasius' Creed Explained, for the advantage of youth. By Olivia Wilmot Serres, niece," &c. &c. It will be observed she had already began to traffic in assumed names; for that of Wilmot was not given her in baptism.

About the year 1817 she first discovered that she was not the daughter of Robert Wilmot, but of Henry Duke of Cumberland, brother to King George the Third. At first she was satisfied to be accounted illegitimate; but she shortly professed herself to be his legitimate daughter; first her mother was Mrs. Payne, sister to Dr. Wilmot, and afterwards she became the Doctor's daughter. On these pretensions she proceeded to forward her claims to the Prince Regent and Royal family, and the officers of Government.

She employed herself in fabricating several absurd and contradictory documents; the most weighty of which was a will of George the Third, bequeathing her 15,000; some of these were printed, for the amusement of the readers of the Gentleman's Magazine, in the number for July 1822. In the following June Sir Gerard Noel was induced to move for an investigation of her claims in the House of Commons, and was seconded by Mr. Hume; but Sir Robert Peel, in a clear and convincing speech, completely set the matter at rest, and enlightened the few who had been deceived by her extravagant assumptions. He pointed out that her documents were framed in the most injudicious and inconsiderate manner, many of the signatures being such as could never have been made by the parties to whom they were assigned. (see Gent. Mag. vol. xc, i. 637). He concluded by humorously observing that, "if these claims were given up, there were others which could yet be pressed. The lady had two strings to her bow. He held in his hand a manifesto of the Princess Olivia, addressed to the high powers of the Kingdom of Poland, and stating that she was descended from Stanislaus Augustus!"

From this time, however, the Princess Olive was constrained to relinquish her carriage and footmen in the Royal liveries, which some simple tradesmen had permitted her to display, and her latter years were spent in obscurity and poverty within the rules of the King's Bench.

MRS. HEMANS.

May 16. At Dublin, Mrs. F. D. Hemans, the most able of our female poets. For the following memoir of her history and writings we are indebted to the Athe

поит.

Felicia Dorothea Brown was born at Liverpool, in the house now occupied by Mr. Molyneux, in Duke Street. Her father was a native of Ireland, her mother a German lady-a Miss Wagner-but descended from, or connected with, some Venetian family, a circumstance which Mrs. Hemans would playfully mention, as accounting for the strong tinge of romance and poetry which pervaded her character from her earliest childhood. When she was very young, her family removed from Liverpool to the neighbourhood of St. Asaph, in North Wales. She married at an early age-and her married life, after the birth of five sons, was clouded by separation from her husband. On the death of her mother, with whom she had resided, she broke up her establishment in Wales, and removed to Wavertree, in the neighbourhood of Liverpool-from whence, after a residence of about three years, she again removed to Dublin, her last resting-place.

From childhood, her thirst for knowledge was extreme, and her reading great and varied. Those who, while admitting the high-toned beauty of her poetry, accused it of monotony of style and subject, (they could not deny to it the praise of originality, seeing that it founded a school of imitators in England, and a yet larger in America,) little knew to what historical research she had applied herself-how far and wide she had sought for food with which to fill her eager mind. It is true that she only used a part of the mass of information which she had collected,for she never wrote on calculation, but from the strong impulse of the moment, and it was her nature intimately to take home to herself and appropriate only what was high-hearted, imaginative, and refined. Her knowledge of classic literature, however, may be distinctly traced in her Sceptic,' her Modern Greece,' and many other lyrics. Her study and admiration of the works of ancient Greek and Roman art, were strengthened into an abiding love of the beautiful, which breathes both in the sentiment and structure of every line she wrote (for there are few of our poets more faultlessly musical in their versification); and when, subsequently, she opened for herself the treasuries of German and Spanish legend and literature, how thoroughly she had imbued herself with their spirit may be seen in