fessional pursuits made him an early riser; and thus, between both, he was obliged to devote but few hours to actual repose. He constantly boasted that he required only three hours of the mental oblivion afforded by sleep.

He had a considerable fund of playful humour, and a slight pomposity of manner, which considerably enhanced it. Many excellent anecdotes are related of him and his friend Dr. Spray, between whom there existed a considerable degree of intimacy, but very little resemblance of character. The only hours that gave birth to the least professional jealousies were those when the protracted banquet had elevated the spirits of each at the expense of his reasoning senses; and then it is said that Sir John used to taunt his companion with being indebted to his song, "Faithless Emma," for his subsequent success. "You were not known, Spray," Sir John used to say, "until my Faithless Emma' had you noticed." To which the latter used to reply, "No; but you are indebted to me for the success of your 'Faithless Emma: it never would have been heard of, had I not sung it. You knew you were not able to sing it yourself." These two friends having been once on a visit at the house of a mutual friend, their hours of rest were so sadly at variance with those of the family that, after a few nights, they were left in possession of the supper room, while all the other inmates retired to their beds. Sir John and his companion had their usual altercation; and, in the morning, Dr. Spray was found lying outside the house, asleep upon a plot of grass, which was immediately before the room where they sat. The recollection of the Doctor relative to the event which placed him in that situation not being very clear, Sir John took advantage of it, and explained the mystery by declaring that Spray grew so insolent, during his argument, that at last he was obliged to throw him out of the window; which, considering the corpulency of the Doctor, and the limited strength of Sir John, made his boasting of the achievement doubly ludicrous.

In 1822, he published two numbers of Psalms, the poetical parts having been composed by his son-in-law, Mr. Dalton;

and, in a few years after, he collected his Cathedral Anthems, and published them in London, in two volumes, at two guineas per volume. His oratorio, "The Thanksgiving," has often been performed at the Dublin cathedrals; and at the Grand Musical Festival held in this city, in the autumn of 1831, a selection from it formed one of the principal sacred performances. He did not retire from the social circle of his friends until he had not strength to enjoy it longer, and the last winter was the first and only season in which he had to submit to the privation. A few months since, he retired to the country mansion of his son-in-law, the Marquis of Headfort; and on Saturday, the 14th of September, 1833, the spirit of this distinguished composer and highly esteemed gentleman left this world.

Sir John Stevenson had four children. His eldest son, John Andrew, entered the army, and went to Canada with the 100th (the late 99th) regiment; and, having settled in that country, died about a year ago. Joseph is still living, and in the church. Olivia married Mr. Dalton, a gentleman of considerable literary talents, who died at an early age: Mrs. Dalton subsequently married the present Marquis of Headfort. Anne, his second daughter, married Mr. Lambert, of Beau Park, in the county of Meath, and died about ten years ago.

There are but too few instances in Ireland of a similar self-elevation: alliances with rank and fortune have been made by many others, but seldom through the same honourable course as that which distinguished the career of Sir John Stevenson. His talents and social qualities admitted him to, and made him the favoured object of, the aristocratic circles; but the brilliancy of such society did not dazzle so as to induce him to withdraw from the socialities of more humble life, and he mingled in the gaieties of both with the ease and polish which distinguish the one, and the affability and humour that belong to the other. He had all the simplicity which usually accompanies the most gifted minds. Anecdotes are said to be the best illustrations of character; and the

number which are related of him display his artless disposition, and the slight inclination to eccentricity by which it was distinguished. Having, upon some occasion, invited some friends to dine with him in Mount Street, and the street door being freshly painted in the morning, he desired the servants not to make use of that entrance during the day; and, in order to secure their obedience, he locked the door and hid the key. The domestics accordingly obeyed; and no visitors having knocked, the door remained fastened until the hour of dinner. Sir John entered the drawing-room at the proper hour, and immediately after a loud knock at the door proclaimed that his guests were not unmindful of his invitation. The servant hurried to the hall to answer the summons; but finding the door resisted all his efforts, and the key absent, he ran to his master to inform him of the dilemma. Sir John recollected having locked the door; but here his memory stopped short, and refused to point out where he put the key. The arrival of another carriage, and the repetition of the astounding summons, put a stop to further deliberation, and left him no alternative but to throw up the window, and give his phalanx of guests the word of command to face about and march to the rear, where they found an entrance, and soon heard an explanation from their facetious host, which formed not the least amusing part of the adventure.

As his compositions have not been published collectively, it is not easy to ascertain their number or to classify them. They were intended to be performed in such various and dissimilar situations, in churches and theatres, in saloons and festive halls, that it is most probable they will never be found incorporated in one publication, but will be separately collected under different classifications.

From "The Irish Monthly Magazine.”

VOL. XVIII.

258

No. XVI.

THE REV. ROWLAND HILL, M. A.

THE following brief Memoir of this eccentric, but able, benevolent, and celebrated man, has been principally derived (although with some alterations and omissions, and with a few additions) from the "Imperial Magazine."

Rowland Hill was a descendant of a family of great respectability in the county of Salop-the Hills of Hawkstone. Its antiquity can be traced back as far as the reign of King Edward I. (A. D. 1272), at which period the Hills became distinguished among the gentry of the north. From the marriage of Humphry Hill with a daughter of John Bridde, Esq., maternally descended from the ancient Earls of Chester, sprang several branches, which were dispersed into different parts of the kingdom. One of the younger sons of this prolific marriage was father to Sir Rowland Hill, the first Protestant Lord Mayor of London,-an office which he filled twice; first in the reign of Henry VIII., by whom he was knighted, and afterwards in the short reign of Edward VI.

During the reign of William III. (1700), the Right Hon. Richard Hill was deputed to the embassy at Brussels, and appointed Paymaster to the army in Flanders. He was afterwards sent on several embassies by Queen Anne; was made a Lord of the Treasury, one of the Council of Prince George of Denmark, and a member of the Privy Council of her Majesty. Surviving his royal mistress, he became a personal favourite with George I., who conferred the dignity of Baronet on his nephew and heir at law, Rowland Hill, the father of the venerable and benevolent minister of Surrey Chapel.

The Rev. Rowland Hill, the subject of this memoir, was

the third of five brothers, Richard, John, Rowland, Brian, and Robert. The eldest of them, who succeeded his father in the title and estates, is still well remembered as Sir Richard Hill, Bart., of Hawkstone*, who, in six successive parliaments, represented the county of Salop; and, dying without issue, was succeeded in the family honours by his brother, the late Sir John Hill, the father of the present Lord Hill; an officer, who has gained for himself and his country unfading honours in the late Peninsular war, and is now raised to the dignified rank of Commander-in-Chief of the British army. Brian and Robert were both ministers of the Established Church.

Having thus briefly adverted to the lineage of the family, we now pass on to trace the history of the late highly respected minister of Surrey Chapel. He was born at Hawkstone, the family mansion, a few miles from Shrewsbury, on the 23d of August, 1744. The rudiments of his education were acquired at the grammar school of that town, whence, at a proper age, he was removed to Eton, where he continued about four years; after which he went to Cambridge, to perfect his studies, and entered a student of St. John's College, at which time he was just turned eighteen years of age. He graduated B. A. 1769, as seventh junior optime; M. A. 1771. We have it from under his own hand, that it was at Cambridge he commenced an acquaintance with the late Mr. Simpson, afterwards of Macclesfield, author of the "Plea for Religion and the Sacred Writings." Being of the same college," says Mr. Hill, "our custom was to read with each other the Greek Testament, and other evangelical publications; these meetings we always concluded with prayer. The University, then, was almost in total darkness. No wonder, therefore, if, for such exercises, and for some other strong symptoms of a methodistical bias, we were speedily

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* Sir Richard Hill was a man of distinguished piety, benevolence, and eccentricity, and was the author of a tract, "Pietas Oxoniensis," in defence of the young men who were expelled from the university of Oxford in 1766, for praying, and expounding the Scriptures. This has given rise to an erroneous notion that Rowland Hill was one of the number.