me. I was glad to see that Freemantle had got his old ship again. If you are employed, I think the Mediterranean would suit you better than the Black Rocks, North Seas, or West Indies; and I shall be truly happy to have you near me, and to have frequent opportunities of personally assuring you how much I am, my dear Foley, your faithful and affectionate friend. NELSON and BRONTE." In October, 1807, Captain Foley was appointed a Colonel of Royal Marines; and, on the 28th of April following, he was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral. In the spring of 1811, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the Downs, which office he held during the remainder of the war. He was advanced to the rank of Vice-Admiral in 1812; nominated a Knight Companion of the Bath, January 2d, 1815; and a Grand Cross, May 6th, 1820. On the 1st of May, 1830, Sir Thomas Foley was appointed Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth; in the execution of the duties of which important station, and when he had nearly completed the three years to which the command is limited, his death took place at the Admiralty House, in the High Street, on the 3d of January, 1833. His state of health had precluded him, for some time, from entering much into the gaieties of life; but he was esteemed for the most unbounded generosity and hospitality by numerous old officers and companions in arms, and was considered a most entertaining and delightful companion by all who were admitted to his society. The remains of Sir Thomas were publicly interred, with great pomp, in the Garrison Chapel, on the 16th of January, the naval and military authorities, &c. attending. The coffin was constructed of British oak, from part of a transom knee of the Elephant. As soon as the ceremony was over, the flag on board the Victory was immediately struck, and a pendant hoisted, thus making her a private ship. The last preceding public funeral at Portsmouth was that of Admiral Sir George Campbell, the only other Port-Admiral that has died there within memory, during his three years of holding the command. Sir Thomas Foley married, July 31st, 1802, Lady Lucy Anne Fitzgerald, fifth daughter of James First Duke of Leinster, by Lady Emilia Lennox, daughter of Charles II., Duke of Richmond, K.G. By this lady, who survives him, he had no issue. Principally from "Marshall's Royal Naval Biography." VOL. XVIII. Ꮓ Ν 338 No. XXII. EDMUND KEAN, ESQ. All must die; Kings, Princes, must obey Take their last station. Inspired orators Must shun the multitude, whose mind they made, And cleave to silence and oblivion : The Player must desert his mimic scene, To die indeed; and Poets, fond of hope, With their fine sense of life, must humble too; HAYNES'S Conscience: or, The Bridal Night. WHAT-what is life!" Out, out, brief candle!" There was a time when the startling announcement that Garrick was dead "eclipsed the gaiety of nations." Again the death note was heard: "Kemble is dead!"-and, oh! how the sound appalled us! On-on - on, hurries Time, and Mrs. Siddons dies! Dramatic Genius, gazing at Kean, retires to her little citadel, as though bent on holding out against the fatal siege; when, lo! "there is a cry of death!" the colours are struck in the last stronghold! — the fortress is taken; - Kean is dead! -- Edmund Kean was born November 4th, 1787, in Castle Court, Leicester Square. His parentage is, even to this day, involved in some degree of mystery. He himself at one time affected to be impressed with the idea that he was a natural son of the old Duke of Norfolk, and used to tell, with great glee and good humour, of his having visited Arundel Castle for the purpose of viewing the library and 66 picture-gallery, on his arrival in which latter place he was struck with the extraordinary skill and fidelity of a portrait of the late duke; and upon observing to the exhibitor of the pictures that "it was a most admirable likeness," the exhibitor replied, with a smile, " It is more like you, sir!!” There seems no reason, however, for doubting that Mr. Kean's father was a brother of Moses Kean, the ventriloquist and mimic.* His Christian name, like that of his celebrated son, was Edmund; and he was placed as an apprentice with a surveyor, with whom he learned the profession of an architect, during which period he became a debater at Coachmakers' Hall. He afterwards, for a short time, was with an architect in Long Acre; but by his association with his brother, and temptation to indulge in habit of intemperance, he in a great measure became indifferent to the pursuit of his profession, and consequently very re duced in the means of supporting himself, so much so as to take upon him the task of a copying clerk in an attorney's office. He met his death in a melancholy way, for walking along the parapet of a house where he lodged, at the west end of the town, although apprised of the danger by an opposite neighbour, he persevered, and by a fall into the street was killed on the spot. Mr. Kean's mother, it is said and believed, was the daughter of George Saville Carey, an actor, dramatist, lyrist, and lecturer of considerable repute in his day.t So little attention was paid to young Kean in his infancy, * Moses Kean had been a tailor. bushy hair, and a wooden leg. He was a stout-built man, with black He always dressed in a dashing manner, in a scarlet coat, white satin waistcoat, black satin small-clothes, and a Scot's liquiddye blue silk stocking. He had also a long-quartered shoe, with a large buckle covering his foot; a cocked hat, and ruffled shirt; and never went without a switch or a cane in his hand. He was a very extraordinary mimic, particularly in imitation of C. J. Fox, which he gave occasionally at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket. + George Saville Carey was the son of Henry Carey, a ballad composer of considerable merit, and the presumed author of "God save the King." He committed suicide in 1743; but, though he could find no consolation for his ownd istress, he was more successful for others, since he projected the fund for decayed musicians. that he contracted a weakness, or deformity of the limbs, which was suffered to increase to such a degree from his attempts to imitate his youthful companions in pantomimic tricks, that it was at last found necessary to use bracing-irons to restore them to any thing like their natural shape and proportions. The theatrical avocations of his mother rendered him a constant frequenter, not only of the theatre, but of the stage, where he may be said to have almost lived behind the scenes; to have eternally "smelt the lamp;" to "have breathed, and moved, and had his being" on the boards, or at the " wing," or sported like a gay creature of the elements" amongst "the flies." Thus early, thoroughly, and practically initiated into the profession, we find him, when scarcely four years of age, a candidate for "histrionic honours" and popular applause. 66 When the opera of Cymon was produced by Michael Kelly, Kean was selected to represent the Cupid recumbent at the feet of Sylvia and Cymon, in the enchanted car. The veteran vocalist thus records the circumstance in his "Reminiscences :". "Before the piece was brought out, I had a number of children brought to me, that I might choose a Cupid. One struck me with a fine pair of black eyes, who seemed by his looks and little gestures most anxious to be chosen as the little God of Love. I chose him, and little did I then imagine that my little Cupid would eventually become a great actor: - the then little urchin was neither more nor less than Edmund Kean.” The next mention we find made of his dramatic doings is still more memorable, as connected with, and productive of, the failure of an experiment made by John Philip Kemble, to introduce urchin-imps sporting round the witches' cauldron in Macbeth. Kean was one of the urchins selected for this service; and the attempt, preposterous as it was, might have been persisted in, had not Kean, who seems to have entertained a shrewd suspicion of the mummery of the whole affair, contrived to trip up the heels of some of his fellow |