derable farm of some hundred acres under his own management, and his occasional hours he is dedicating to the compilation of a History of his own Life. He has along with him, those who in his retirement have proved his best solace, three daughters, who are said to be nearly as beautiful as their mother, and whose manners and understandings are reported by those who have seen them, to be equal to all that might be expected.

Major T. living in the wilds of Yorkshire, among other country amusements, has been the founder of many coursing establishments. His greyhound, the famous Snowball, is well known to the whole kingdom, as his breed has been sought after in every part of it. His daughters are said to be the best womenriders in England.

The last of his literary works* was the Life of Mr.

Amongst his dramatic productions are to be reckoned a farce, produced under the management of Mr. Sheridan at Drury Lane, called "Deat Indeed," respecting which the audience fully justified the title, by not hearing above half of it. To that succeeded, at the same theatre, a farce called "The Fool," first produced for the benefit of Mrs. Wells, and afterwards repeated for many nights. The fame which Mrs. Wells had acquired in her performance of Becky Cadwallader, suggested the idea of the latter production, and she realized all the expectations that had been formed upon this occasion.

His next was entitled "Bonds without Judgment," performed for many successive nights at Covent Garden. His last farce received the appellation of "The Westminster Boy ;" and being brought out for the benefit of Mrs. Wells, proved so in reality: not a Westminster boy being absent who could procure money to purchase admittance. For them, the very name was sufficient; and concluding there must be something hostile in it, they be

gan,

Elwes. If wide-spread circulation be any test of merit, it certainly had this to boast. It was originally published in numbers in the World, which it raised in sale about one thousand papers. It was thence copied into all the different provincial ones, and afterwards, with some revisions, collected and published in a volume. It is now passing through an eleventh edition. The late Horace Walpole used to say of it, "that it was the best collection of genuine anecdote he knew."

No man has more of the manners of a gentleman, or more of the ease and elegance of fashionable life, than Major Topham; though fond of retirement, he communicates himself through a large circle of acquaintance, and is of a temper so easy and companionable, that those who see him once, know him, and those who know him have a pleasing acquaintance, and, if services are required, a warm and zealous friend. His knowledge of life and manners, enlivens his conversation with a perpetual novelty, while his love of humour and ridicule, always restrained within the bounds of benevolence and good-nature, add to the pleasures of the social table, and animate the jocundity of the festive board. The major is what

gan, by signal, their operations against it, as Mr. Holman commenced the prologue. The fact we understand to be, that the name was merely taken to introduce Mrs. Wells, who was a beautiful figure in boy's cloaths, in the dress of a Westminster boy. But this, among a thousand others in Stage History, will remain to prove how the fate of many pieces have been determined on ideas totally mistaken.

Cicero was of old, a dexterous and incessant punster; this condensation of intellect and wit, as it approximates him more to the level of the society with which he is generally found, (for all cannot be wits and humorists) is so far excusable; but in a gentleman of the higher pretensions of literature, nothing shall escape our censure which conveys the suspicion of superficial genius, where the vein is known to be rich and exuberant.

EARL OF BALCARRAS.

THE family of Lindsay, like the greater part of the Scottish nobility, boasts of a remote origin and an illustrious descent.* Those conversant with the annals of the sister kingdom are enabled to trace its influence in the court, as well as its prowess in the camp, of the Caledonian monarchs, and the mottot to the arms, together with the crest which surmounts them, alike denote the warlike habits of this race.

The intermarriages with other houses have also been, in general, such as were befitting powerful chieftains; and, accordingly, the Earls of Loudon, Roxburgh, and Aberdeen, in Scotland, and Guildford and Hardwicke in England, may be enumerated

The Lindsays were originally English, or rather Saxon, and, like several other distinguished personages, are supposed to have retired into Scotland immediately after the Norman Conquest. ASTRA, CASTA, NUMEN, LUMEN. + A tent.

among

among those with whom they have successively formed matrimonial alliances.

Alexander Lindsay, Lord Balcarras, was born in Fifeshire, the most pleasant and fertile spot in North Britain, and while yet a youth succeeded to the titles and estates of his father, who died in 1767, leaving a very numerous progeny behind him. His family may be said to appertain to the professional nobility, for not only the present peer, but four of his brothers also, have been trained to arms, two of whom have attained the rank of general officers. He himself received a commission in a marching regiment while a boy, and repaired to America with the rank of cap

tain.

After having witnessed some important operations in other parts, we find his lordship employed under General Burgoyne in the northern campaign of 1777, during which he served in the brigade commanded by Brigadier-general Fraser. The war by this time had assumed a very equivocal aspect; and the talents of Washington, the unexpected resistance exhibited on part of the natives, together with the frequent representations, and faithful but sinistrous prophecies of a numerous and formidable opposition at home, rendered the result precarious.

the

It was at length determined, in an "evil hour," to effect a free communication between New York and Canada; to maintain the navigation of the interior lakes; to reconquer the forts taken by the enemy during their memorable irruption under Montgomery and Arnold, and to strike terror into the hearts of all, by

the victorious progress of a respectable army, provided with a numerous artillery, and led by able and enterprising commanders.

That the Americans might be deprived even of the comforts of hope, and reduced to "unconditional submission," it was resolved to employ a body of savages upon this occasion; and although such a measure was deprecated, and even reprobated, by Lord Chatham, as criminal in the extreme, and in the end proved to be accompanied by no solid advantages, yet several tribes of Indians, allured by the hopes of blood and plunder, were unfortunately prevailed upon by presents to take up the hatchet, and act as the allies of his Britannic Majesty.

This scheme at first promised the most ample success, for the inhabitants, terrified at the proclamations denouncing vengeance, but far more alarmed at the approach of hostile barbarians, retired on the advance of the British army, while their countryman, General St. Clair, encreased the consternation, by evacuating the fortress of Ticonderago without firing a gun.

The retreating Americans were pursued both by land and water, and escaped with great difficulty; confusion and dismay appeared equally to pervade their ranks and their councils. Such was the rapid torrent of success, that all opposition seemed to be swept away before the progress of the northern army; Albany appeared to be already in possession of its victorious columns; a junction with Sir Henry Clinton was fondly anticipated, and the neighbouring provinces were considered as already subjected.

On