edition of "Camden's Britannia." For twenty summers he had amused himself with taking notes in various parts of England, and at last of Scotland, at first with no higher view than private information, or perhaps of communicating them to the public in some such form as Dr. Stukeley's Itinerary, or that of the local antiquities of particular towns or districts; but the mistakes and conciseness of preceding editors at last encouraged him to a new edition of the Britannia; the translation and enlarge. ment of which occupied seven years, and Mr. Gough was nine more attending it through the press. It appeared in three volumes folio, 1789: and has been since republished by Mr. Stockdale in four volumes. About the same time the design was formed for Camden, while on a visit at Poole, Mr. Gough heard of the difficulties under which Mr. Hutchins laboured in respect to his History of Dorsetshire. He set on foot a subscription, and was the meaus of bringing into light one of the most valuable of our county histories. Mr Hutchins was then combating the infirmities of age and gout, and Mr. Gough superintended the work through the press, whence it issued in two volumes folio, 1774. Its author, however, did not live to see it completed, dying June 21, 1773. But his daughter was enabled to proceed to Bombay, and form a happy connexion with a gentleman to whom she had been long engaged, Major Bellasis, who in grateful return to the memory of his father-in-law, in 1795, at his own expence, set on foot a new edition, to which Mr.Gough cheerfully contributed his assistance. The two first volumes are already in the possession of the world: the greater part of the third was destroyed, we believe, at Mr. Nichols's fire. Except Thomas's re-publication of Dugdale's Warwickshire, and two or three others of a paltry kind, this is the only instance of a county history attaining a second edition. In 1774 he entered into a matrimonial connection with a lady whose maiden name was Hall; and retired principally to Enfield, the property at which his father purchased in 1723. Here he added to the family mansion an extensive library, which contains at the present moment the richest museum of topography in the kingdom. In 1777, he published "A Dissertation on the Coins of King Canute." In the snowy season of 1778, Mr. Gough, accompanied by the late Captain Grose, made an excursion into Norfolk, where, having already purchased the collections of Mr. Thomas Martin, with the assistance of the captain's pencil, he made preparations for an improved "History of Thetford," which appeared the following year in quarto. Having also purchased Vertue's plates of the medals, coins, and great seals, executed by the celebrated Simon, and first published in 1752, he gave a new and enlarged edition of them in 1780, 4to. The same year he not only assisted Mr. Nichols in his "Collection of ancient Royal and Noble Wills," but wrote the preface; and soon after superintended the printing of Dr. Nash's "Collections for a History of Worcestershire," in two volumes, folio, 1781. About this time, too, Mr. Nichols published his “Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica," the design of which was both suggested and forwarded by Mr. Gough; and several essays bear his name, particularly the "Memoirs of Mr. Edward Rowe Mores; the Reliquia Galeana; the History of the Society of Antiquaries of Spalding; the Life of Sir John Hawkwood; a Genealogical View of the Family of Cromwell; and the "History of Croyland-Abbey." In 1785 Mr. Gough published "A comparative View of the ancient Monuments of India, particularly those on the Island of Salset, near Bombay;" in which, with considerable industry, he threw together the narratives of travellers of different nations. The next year appeared the first volume of his grand work, (collecting the materials for which had occupied a large portion of his life) entitled, "Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain." The se cond volume, in distinct parts, appeared in 1796 and 1799. In the introduction to the first volume, he enters on a large field of enquiry; the mode of interment, and construction of monuments, from the earliest ages to that which is now practised in Europe: somewhat of this ground he again goes over in the introduction to the second; and throughout the work produces ample reason for inveighing against the ravages of conquerors; the devastation of false zeal and fanaticism; the depredations of ignorance, interest, and false taste; the defacements of the white-washer's brush, and a variety of other circumstances, which, besides the ever-wasting hand of time, have all contributed to destroy the sepulchral monuments of our ancestors. he professes to have neither the object, In this work the. In 1794, Mr. Gough published an account of the beautiful missal presented to Henry VI. by the Duchess of Bedford, which Mr. Edwards, of Pall-mall, purchased at the Duchess of Portland's sale, and still possesses. Mr. Gough assisted Mr. Nichols also in the greater part of his copious, well-directed, and accurate History of Leicestershire: the remaining portion of which is still expected by the literary world. In 1803, Mr. Gough published the "History and Antiquities of Pleshy, in the County of Essex," London, 1803, 4to. which, though confined to the history of a single spot, forms collectively a mass of information whose value cannot in justice be lowly appreciated. His last work which bears the date of the same year, was that on the "Coins of the Seleucida:" illustrated by a beautiful set of plates which he had purchased at Mr. Duane's sale. To the list of works which have either his name or his initials attached, it may be added, that his assistance to his friends engaged in literary pursuits, was more extensive than will probably be ever known. He gave considerable help to Dr. Kippis, in the second edition of the Biographia Britannica: and prepared the Lives of Sir John Fastolf, and the Farrars of Little Gidding, for the sixth volume, which has never appeared. Mr. Ellis, in the History of Shoreditch, acknowledges great assistance, both from his pen and library; as well as Mr. Malcolm in the History of London. The prefaces to numerous other works, acknowledge the extensive patronage which, during the whole of his literary career, he was not only so able, but so ready to bestow on the study of our national antiquities. Born to an hereditary fortune, he was in all respects pre-eminently qualified for the labours of an antiquary; the pain of whose researches can but rarely meet an adequate remuneration. And bis magnificent work upon Sepulchral Monuinents, must long ago have convinced the world, that he possessed not only in himself the most indefatigable perseverance, but an ardour which no expence could possibly deter. Subsequent to 1805, his health, in consequence of numerous fits of epilepsy, began gradually to decline; and he died February 20, 1809; lamented as much by the poor of his neighbourhood for extensive charity, as by the friends of learning for his talents. The richest portion of his library, which was always open to the studious, rumour asserts, has been bequeathed to the University of Oxford. Some ACCOUNT of the late RIGHT HON. BRITAIN. Virtute et opera-By virtue and industry. A These reflections are naturally pro-. James, Earl of Fife, was born in the town of Bamff, in 1729. Ile was the second son of William, Earl of Fife, by his second wife, Jane, daughter of Sir James Grant, of Grant, Bart. Having an elder brother, who was educated at Westmin-ter, he was intended from his cradle cradle for the profession of the law, and his first instructor was the celebrated William Guthrie, whose picture is still in existence at Duff House, and who, after marrying in the family, repaired to London, and became one of the most la borious, if not one of the most able, writers of his day. a protecting shade along the dreary waste. His Lordship's ambition, nearly at the same time, pointed at another object: this was a seat in Parliament. He accordingly became a candidate for the county of Moray, and sat for some years as its representative. In 1760, he also married Lady Dorothea Sinclair, sole heiress of Alexander, ninth Earl of Caithness, with whom he obtained a very considerable fortune: but the nuptials did not take place under happy auspices, and, on the whole, this union proved unfortunate, perhaps, to both parties. In 1763, he succeeded his father, both in honours and estate, and being now in possession of Duff house, a noble mansion, erected by the late Mr. Adam, architect, at Leith, and still unfinished, he immediately proceeded to complete and to furnish it. Meanwhile Mr. Duff, the subject of the present memoir, repaired to the University of Edinburgh, for the two-fold purpose of completing his education, and studying the civil law, which is unhappily the basis of the jurisprudence of Scotland, the whole having been entirely formed on the French model, in consequence of which it is but little favourable either to personal security, or public happiness. But the death of Lord Braco, in England, who had turned out exceedingly wild, altered the views of his younger brother, so that he immediately returned home, and became, what in England is termed, a country gentleman.He found his father in possession of a very large fortune, which he had aug-in altering, or rather rebuilding it. Inmented by the purchase of considerable properties in the counties of Aberdeen, Moray, and Bamff. A rigorous and, perhaps, salutary economy, proverbial for two or three generations in the family, had enabled him to achieve this; and he had good sense enough, instead of leaving pitiful annuities to his younger children, to bequeath them separate and independent estates. During the life of his father Mr. Duff, now become Lord Braco, conceived the outline of a noble plan for the improvement of his patrimonial fortune, which he filled up and completed, after the lapse of more than half a century. His model and mentor, on this occasion, was the late Farl of Findlater, a nobleman who possessed a great and enlightened mind, and whose name and deeds will be long remembered in that portion of Scotland, which at this day reaps so many advantages from his beneficent projects. In conformity to his judgment, which had been ripened by travel and experience, his Lordship began to plant, and in the course of a few years, the sides and tops of hills, nearly inaccessible, and hitherto unproductive, began to assume a new and a more advantageous aspect. The sterile soil now appeared verdant, and the uniform dull and barren extent of heath obtained a warmer and a more civilized tint, from the fir, the pineaster, the larch, the elm, the ash, and the oak, whose united masses for the first time cast Soon after this he purchased Fife house, at Whitehall, and having a taste for building, expended a very large sum deed, no Nobleman in Great Britain possessed, perhaps, so many seats, for, in addition to the town and country house already mentioned, he had many others, some of which shall be here enumerated. Of Delgaty castle, where he occasionally resided, all the floors were formed from wood out of his own plantations.At Rothemay house, Mary Queen of Scots appears to have slept: it is situate in a picturesque country, but sequestered from all the world. Innes house, with the adjoining lands, he purchased from his cousin, Sir James Innes Ker, the 20th in lineal descent from Bercaldus, whose blood has mingled with that of the Scottish monarchs. Balvenny castle is situate on the banks of the Devron, while Marr lodge is in the centre of Aberdeenshire. Here are grouse, ptarmigan, and game of all sorts; here, too, herds of wild deer scour along the mountain's brow, dart precipitately into the dells and valleys, and at times approach within gun-shot of the house. During the political ebullition that succeeded the French Revolution, in this country, the Earl of Fife, we believe, was an Alarmist, and like many others of that description, in order to demonstrate his confidence in the existing government, accepted of an English peerage from it. Accordingly, in 1793, he was created Baron Fife, of the kingdom of Great Britain. This circumstance, however flattering it might prove in one point of view, was was yet hostile to his political influence in another, as it introduced Sir William Grant, master of the rolls, to the county of Bamff, and it was found impossible ever after to remove him, although many successive but ineffectual efforts were made for that purpose. At length, towards the conclusion of the late war, the Earl of Fife openly declared his enmity to Mr. Pitt, and the ministers of that day; and as he was known to be an old courtier, well acquainted with the springs that actuate the conduct of public men, many were led to suppose that he began to anticipate their downfall. Accordingly, on the 2d of February, 1801, he rose in his place, in the house of Peers, and spoke as follows: "It is but seldom I trouble your lordships, but I could not feel myself at ease, were I not to fulfil my duty, in laying my sentiments before you. I rather incline to wish, that the threatened motion for an enquiry into the conduct of ministers, were not now made; but if it should be brought forward, I will most decidedly vote for it. “I have no desire either to give offence to his Majesty's ministers, or to pay court to those who oppose them. Nothing can be more improper at present, than to debate whether the war is just, or unjust; necessary, or unnecessary: but I most positively declare one thing, and that is, that no war was ever worse conducted. My lords, I have read the history of this country with attention; I have seen, and been intimate with all the different parties, from the death of Mr. Pelham, to the present hour. "In this horrid contest, our blood and treasure have been spent in the extravagant folly of secret expeditions; grievous and heavy taxes have been laid on the people, and wasted in expensive embassies, and subsidizing proud, treacherous, and useless foreign princes, who would have acted much better for themselves, had you saved your money, and taken no concern with them. I do not condole with you on your present unfortunate situation, in having no friends. "I only wish you had been in that situation at the beginning of the contest. The noble lord who presides at the head of the Admiralty, (Earl Spencer,) in his speech, has with much ability done justice to the navy: I most sincerely wish that our ill-spent money had been laid out on our fleets. "All those, my lords, who ever heard me speak, or ever read a letter from me on the subject, will do me the justice to say, that my sentiments have all along been the same; and that this has hung upon my mind from the day, the first battalion of the guards marched from the parade, for Holland. "I lament the present scarcity; but great as our demerits are, it comes not from the Almighty, but from the effects of this ill-conducted war; which I am ready to prove, whenever this question is brought forward. What have we gained by our boasted conquests? If a proper regulation for commerce was made, I wish they were all sold, and the money arising, laid out to pay the national debt, and to relieve the nation of those oppressive taxes which bear hard on rich and poor; on their income, their indus try, and what is worse, their liberty; and until some of those are repealed, this nation cannot be called free!" From this moment, his lordship regularly sided with the minority, until a change of ministers took place. When Mr. Addington, now Lord Sidmouth, came in, he supported him, and also voted with the Fox and Grenville administration. By this time, however, his eye-sight began to be affected, and being unable to attend the house of Peers, on account of this, or other infirmities, with his usual assiduity, he gave his proxy to Lord Grenville. Although not fond of having great dinners, on the retreat of that nobleman and his friends, he entertained them in a magnificent manner, in his noble suite of apartments at Whitehall. The Earl of Fife, died in London, in the 80th year of his age. In point of person, he was tall, genteel, and had been handsome in the earlier part of his life. Although a great economist, he was yet fond of magnificence, which he indulged in respect to houses, servants,carriages, and horses. But it is as a planter, that this nobleman bids fair to obtain the respect of the present age, and the gratitude of posterity. By a recurrence to the annual volumes of the " Society, for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce," from which he received two, if not three gold medals, it will be seen, that his labours in this point of view have far surpassed those of any of his contemporaries. He was a frequent contributor to the work in question, and in vol. xxi. will be found an account of 100 acres, and 85,500 trees, planted by him in Duff Ilouse Park, which comprehends part of two counties, and five parishes. Notwithstanding the accidental destruction of a large plantation, by a neighbour's burning furze, yet he continued his improvements, and soon encreased his woods to 673 acres, in his own neighbourhood,containing 4,000,000 of trees. A long life, chiefly directed to this great object, enabled him a little before his death, to have completed the planting of about 14,000 acres in all, and so profitable, did this become, even during his own time, that the thinnings alone, sold in one year, for 1000l. sterling. In respect to the modern improvement of praning, he was always very sparing of it, and although the scene of his labours was in a northern portion of the island, yet the oak itself, which has hitherto been accounted a delicate plant, flourishes there, even in the immediate vicinity of the sea. Of late years, his lordship has only planted at the rate of one hundred acres per Annum, but he has always made it an invariable rule, to cut down firs, arches, and all other trees which interfered with the more valuable species of close-grained timber. In December, 1807, a silver fir, which had been set by his lordship in 1756, was blown down; the following were the dimen sions: Length of the trunk, from the surface of the ground until divided into five limbs : Girth at surface of the ground Feet Inch 7 O 9 8 7 national objects, while the profits accruing to his heirs, will at the same time be incalculable. As an agriculturist on a great scale,, the earl of Fife, stands also in a respectable point of view He erected no less than five bridges, and planned and formed several roads. He dug a canal, from 60 to 68 feet wide, between a lake and the sea, the extent of which was 2,200 yards, while the bank amounted to 3000 By laying out the sum of 1150. he also im proved a tract of land, worth only 251. per annum, so as to produce 205l. yearly. Nor ought it to be omitted, that at a great expence, and seemingly in direct opposition to nature, the subject of this memoir has, in some measure, created a harbour on the borders of the Moray frith. This port, chris.ened by him "Macduff's town," was originally an insignificant little village, containing a few miserable huts; but in consequence of his patronage, a pier was erected for the protection of shipping, and by granting certain privileges to the inhabitants, the place has increased greatly in point of extent and importance. It was from it he shipped the earth and stone, that formed the beautiful terrace to Fife house on the side of the Thames, as if determined always to reside on Scotch ground. After living to a patriarchal age, the Earl was carried off by a second attack of the stone, and subsequently to his death a very large lump was extracted. He had no faith in medical men, or medicine, would never submit to any opera6 tion, and seemed determined from the first to resist physic and physicians of all kinds. the limbs set off The five limbs were all of the same His will has not given great satisfaction to his heirs, as it was calculated for the benefit not of the present, but some future generation. Mr. Thellusson appears to have been his model on this occasion, and he steered as near that great landmark, as the late act of Parliament would permit. Indeed, in this point of view, he was enabled to do more in Scotland than he could effect in England, as the laws here, abhor every thing that savours of perpetuity. His body was carried down to Bamffshire, and intombed in a mausoleum, which he himself had erected. Extracts |