sessing little interest but such as appertained to their own characters, were ever more instrumental in advancing the deserving than Sir Henry Blackwood. Nothing could damp his zeal in the cause of those whom he befriended; personal inconvenience, trouble, and labour, were then to him all pleasant; and he never rested till he had put them, if possible, in the path of promotion, letting them feel, by example as well as precept, that there was then but one sure way to gain it, "to do their duty." The same virtues which shone so brightly in his profession, adorned and endeared his character in private life. High-spirited, and sensitively alive to the minutest point of honour, his good name he guarded without art or effort; always dignified in his self-respect, but never overbearing; incapable of harbouring resentment, even to those who might have injured him, and of such a forgiving disposition, that in those cases he never felt at ease till amity was restored, and all offence forgotten. Good-nature was indeed with him a virtue; and, of a cheerful and sanguine temper, he delighted to look to the future in the sunshine of hope, nor ever gave way long to despondency, even under his severest trials. There was no selfishness in his nature; and, far above jealousy and envy, he was proud to see rising in the service all who had illustrated it by their renown. Though never rich, he was most generous-too generous, indeed, ever to become rich; but, while not neglectful of the interests of his family, he seemed to believe - nor will the belief be vain that virtue and honour are beyond all other the best means of advancement in life, and that the sons of a man who had well served his country, may hope, by emulating their father's example, one day to gain their father's rank, and perhaps even to achieve some portion of their father's fame. His manners were as delightful as his character was estimable, simple and unpretending, but elegant and graceful, such as bespoke and became his birth; and their charm was increased by a fine countenance, full of animation, and, a person singularly handsome, and, though not above the middle size, indicating that strength and activity to which,

under Providence, he more than once owed his life. Tenderly alive to the feelings and duties of all life's relations, he sought his own happiness in that of those he loved; a good son, a good husband, a good father, and a good friend. Though unostentatious in his religious duties, it is not to be thought that he who habitually felt "in the midst of life we are in death" had not a soul solemnly alive to religion. In that he but resembled all the rest of his country's greatest heroes. Nor can we fear that we shall be blamed by any, even by those who were nearest and dearest to him, for mentioning here, that, after his death, a manuscript was found, containing extracts from the Bible,-especially suitable for the devotional exercises of one whose lot had lain among perpetual dangers, and prayers, "accompanied with heart-confessions," to the very last affectingly proving to one sad survivor how humbly and penitentially that heart was disposed towards the God whose goodness guards them "that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters.”

From "Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine," No. CCX.

152

THE RIGHT HON.

No. IX.

LORD DOVER.

GEORGE JAMES WELBORE AGAR ELLIS, BARON DOVER, OF DOVER, IN THE COUNTY OF KENT; A PRIVY COUNCILLOR; A TRUSTEE OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY; A COMMISSIONER OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS; PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE; A DIRECTOR OF THE BRITISH GALLERY; M. A., F. R. S., AND F. S. A.

IF length of days were to be commensurate with personal merit, the life of Lord Dover would have been one of no ordinary duration. Amiable and exemplary in all his private relations, an upright, zealous, and intrepid supporter of his political opinions, he will long be regretted by his family and his friends. His elegant accomplishments as a man of society, and his various and extensive attainments as a man of letters, were such, that it would be difficult to find, in the whole range of English gentry and nobility, a personage who will be so severely missed. He possessed in his family, and fortune, and character, every motive which can make existence desirable; but he had discharged his various duties, both domestic and social, so conscientiously and honourably, that, short as his life has been, it has been long enough to establish a reputation which there are few men, past or present, who having lived to the greatest age, would not be proud to enjoy.

The name of Ellis was remarkably distinguished among those whom the political changes of the Revolution of 1688 brought into action; for of six sons of the Rev. John Ellis, who died November 3d, 1681, the eldest was John, a secretary to the Revenue Commissioners under James II., and afterwards Comptroller of the Mint and Under Secretary of

State to William III.; the second was Sir William Ellis, who, following the fortunes of the exiled Stuarts, was Treasurer and Secretary of State to the Prince, yet died a protestant at Rome; the third was Philip, a Jesuit of much influence at the court of James, and, finally, Romish Bishop of Segni, in Italy; the fourth, Welbore, was Protestant Bishop of Meath, and the direct founder of the present noble house; and the fifth and sixth were in the professions of medicine and the law.

The John Ellis to whom these six sous were born traced his ancestry to the Conquest; from the date of which event they had been settled at Kiddall Hall, in the county of York: he was rector of Waddesdon, Suffolk; and married to Susanna, the daughter of William Welbore, Esq., of Cambridge. Welbore, their fourth son, having received the most liberal education, and taken the degree of D.D., was, after various church preferments, ordained Bishop of Kildare, in 1705, and in 1731 translated to the see of Meath, where he died about two years afterwards. He was a member of the Privy Council; and left by his lady, Diana, daughter of Sir John Briscoe, of Amberley Castle, Sussex, and granddaughter of Nicholas Earl of Banbury, two surviving children; namely, a son, Welbore, and a daughter, Anne. Welbore rose to high consideration in the state, and filled many offices of great trust and responsibility. In 1749, he was a Lord of the Admiralty; in 1755, Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; in 1763, Secretary at War; in 1765 and 1770, again Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; and in 1782, Secretary of State. Having discharged the duties of these important stations in a manner which signally entitled him to honourable reward, he was, in 1791, created a peer, as Lord Mendip, of Mendip, in the county of Somerset, with remainder, he having no issue, to the issue male of his sister Anne, by her marriage with Henry Agar, Esq.

The family of Agar are of French extraction, and belonged to the Comté Venaissin, whence they fled to avoid the religious persecutions which wasted the country, and drove its best citizens into banishment. They had also settled in the shire of

York; but, by intermarrying into Ireland, they became landed proprietors there; and James Agar, of Gowran Castle, in the county of Kilkenny, sat for many years in the Irish Parliament, as the representative of the respective boroughs of Leighlin and Gowran. By his second wife, Mary, the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Wemyss, of Danesfort, and who lived to the extraordinary age of 106, he had several children, of whom Henry, the eldest, married, as already mentioned, in 1733, Anne Ellis, daughter to the Bishop of Meath, and sister to the first Lord Mendip.

Of this marriage were born, James, the first Baron and Viscount Clifden, and Charles (third son), Archbishop of Dublin, and founder of the Irish Earldom of Normanton, besides other male and female issue. James, created Lord Clifden in 1776, and Viscount in 1781; was a Privy Councillor in Ireland, one of his Majesty's Commissioners of the Customs, and Postmaster-General in that kingdom; and who, previously to his elevation to the peerage, had long represented the county of Kilkenny in Parliament. He married, in March, 1760, Lucia, eldest daughter of John Martin, Esq., and widow of the Hon. H. B. Walsingham, second son of the Earl of Shannon. By that lady he had, besides other offspring, Henry Welbore, the present Peer, who succeeded him on the 1st of January, 1789.

Previously to the death of his father, Lord Clifden for several years represented the county of Kilkenny in the Irish Parliament, and, subsequently to that event, till 1802, when on the death of his uncle, Lord Mendip,-on which event he assumed the name of Ellis,-he took his place in the English Parliament for the borough of Heytesbury. He is thus, it has been observed, perhaps the only nobleman now alive who has sat consecutively in four different houses of Parliament, the Irish Houses of Commons and Lords, and the

* In sketching the noble genealogy and alliances of this family, we should state, that George, eldest son of James Agar, a younger brother of Henry, was created Lord Callan; and Ellis, one of his sisters, Countess of Brandon; but neither of them left issue to perpetuate these titles.