of Mr. Lofft from the commission, without being in any manner called upon to account for his conduct, was officially announced to him. On being deprived of his magisterial functions, Mr. Lofft resumed his practice as a barrister, and for some time attended the assizes and the session circuit with considerable success.

When the income tax was in operation, Mr. Lofft became one of the commercial commissioners to superintend its execution. In doing so, he exhibited no inconsistency; for although he had always greatly disapproved of the tax, yet, being adopted by the legislature, he felt that he ought not to decline a duty which the appointment of the grand jury of the county had intrusted to him; and the just performance of which he thought of more than ordinary concern to individuals and the public.

Dismissed from magisterial duties, Mr. Lofft returned to poetry, which those duties had, in a great measure, obliged him to relinquish; to the cultivation of flowers and plants; and to the contemplation of the heavens. On the occurrence of the dispute as to the proper termination of the century, he espoused, in the Gentleman's Magazine, Monthly Mirror, &c., that side of the question which considered the eighteenth century as having terminated on the 31st of December, 1800. There are, perhaps, few men living who have contributed with so bountiful a hand to the various magazines, journals, and other periodical publications of the day. Whatever 'might be the subject of public interest at the moment, whether it related to politics, to ethics, to science, or to the belleslettres, Mr. Lofft's well-stored mind was always ready to pour forth its accumulated treasures.

In 1810, Mr. Lofft also published a pamphlet "On the Revival of the Cause of Reform;" in 1812, (in one volume) "Aphorisms from Shakspeare, arranged according to the Plays, &c., with a Preface and Notes;" and in 1814, (in five volumes) "Laura; or an Anthology of Sonnets on the -Petrarchan Model, and Elegiac Quatuorzains, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German; original and

translated: great part never before published: with a Preface, critical and biographical; Notes; and an Index," Many of the translations were by the elegant pen of Mrs. Lofft.

About this period, Mr. Lofft was appointed deputy recorder of the borough of Aldborough.

Principally induced by the greater facilities which he conceived a residence abroad would afford for the education of his daughters, Mr. Lofft, in the year 1816, repaired to the continent. He went first to Brussels, and thence to the neighbourhood of Nanci. In the year 1820 he proceeded to Switzerland, and lived for some time at Lausanne, and afterwards at the baths at Allier, near Vevay. In the autumn of 1822 he went to Turin, where he resided until the spring of 1824, when he removed to Montcallier, at which place he died on the 26th of May, 1824. The illness, which was the cause of Mr. Lofft's death, was brought on by a cold taken at Turin during the preceding winter, and to which he paid too little attention. Having hardly ever had a day's indisposition, and his constitution being remarkably good, he still continued his favourite astronomical pursuits; and it was not until about a fortnight previous to his death, that he would either submit to confinement, or take medical advice.

Mr. Lofft was twice married. His first wife, to whom he was united on the 20th of August, 1778, was a daughter of the late Mr. Emlyn, the architect, of Windsor. The surviving children of that marriage are, a son in the military service of the East India Company, (to whom the family mansion and fine estate of Troston Hall in Suffolk, descend, perfectly unincumbered,) and a daughter. His second wife, whom he married at St. Bennett's, Cambridge, on the 10th of March, 1802, was Miss Sarah Watson Finch, daughter of the late Mr. Joseph Finch, merchant of Cambridge. This lady, Mr. Lofft, in an autobiographical sketch published in the Monthly Mirror, a few months after his marriage to her, justly describes, as possessed" of the most pleasing and ingenuous manners, of sentiments, and pursuits, in unison with his own, of the utmost sweetness of temper, a most powerful

and cultivated mind, and an entire reciprocity of affection." By her he had offspring, two daughters, (who, with his widow, are in Italy,) and a son, Capel Lofft, who having distinguished himself by his various acquirements at Eton, was, in September last, elected to King's College.

Mr. Lofft was liberal and consistent in his politics; and most generous in his strictures, and benevolent in his conduct, towards men of genius and letters. If his feelings erred, the failing was always on the side of charity. Few have distinguished themselves for such a length of time in so many various branches of intellectual occupation. Mathematics, classics, law, poetry, music, criticism, all, by turns, employed his pen, from early youth to his latest hour. The great

painter's advice was strictly followed by him: "No day without a line." As a lawyer he was indefatigable, until he in a great measure abandoned that rugged road, to devote himself to the muses' "primrose path," at Troston. He was a sound scholar; and to the office of critic he brought great judgment, excellent taste, and a mind stored with an amazing mass and variety of knowledge. As a poet, particularly in the sonnet, he was an enthusiast, and, perhaps, too fastidious and refined, though certainly not without genius, and considerable powers of versification. His acquaintance with men of talents and learning was very extensive. Sir Philip Francis held him in great esteem, and was in correspondence with him to the latest period of Sir Philip's life. Unwearied in his own literary pursuits, Mr. Lofft was not less so in assisting and fostering those of others. Many eminent scholars of the present day have derived considerable benefit from his hints and suggestions. In some cases these obligations have been acknowledged; in others, not. In the year 1799, Edward Du Bois, Esq., published a work called "The Wreath," composed of selections from Sappho, Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus; Greek and English, with notes. The preface contains this

passage:

"I should do myself much injustice, were I to conclude without mentioning the very friendly assistance I have re

ceived from Mr. Capel Lofft, the woλvμadys xai xρitixos, who not only honoured the present undertaking with his approbation, but, to enrich it, suggested many valuable remarks and elucidations, which are, with others, inserted in the course of the work."

In 1807, the same gentleman published an edition of Francis's Horace, with additional notes. In the introduction is this paragraph:

"The French," says Dryden, "are the best scholiasts on the classics, and the worst translators of them. These I consulted; and from them, as well as from Bentley, Wakefield, and others, I have selected and translated a variety of notes. Several I have written myself, and in their execution I have been occasionally assisted by the communications of my learned and worthy friend, Capel Lofft, Esq."

The interest which Mr. Lofft took in the success of Bloomfield may serve as one instance of many which might be adduced to prove the amiable disposition of his nature; and this disposition was invariably manifest in his private life, in which he was the very soul of kindness and urbanity. That his humanity extended itself even to the feathered creation, the following anecdote will show. An intimate friend of Mr. Lofft's, being on a visit at Troston Hall, about ten or twelve years ago, saw several fowls in the garden, exceedingly industrious in mischief. On inquiring why they were not turned out, he was told that Mr. Lofft having seen them there, and having also seen the gardener about to drive them forth, ordered not only that they should remain, but that they should never be killed; for that their coming into the flower-garden showed a confidence in man which he would on no account be so ungrateful as to violate.

168

No. XII.

ADMIRAL RUSSELL.

THIS HIS gallant officer, Thomas Macnamara Russell, Esq., admiral of the white, was descended, on both sides, from respectable and once opulent families. His father (an Englishman) went over to Ireland, where he married a lady of that country, and settled. Mr. Russell was born, we believe, about the year 1743, and his Christian name Macnamara was derived from his paternal grandmother. At the early age of five years he had the misfortune to lose his father; and, through either the fraud or the mismanagement of his guardians, all the fortune which had been left him was dissipated by the time that he reached fourteen.

Our officer entered the service at an early period of life, and after serving fourteen years as midshipman, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. During the war with the colonies, he served on board the Albany, Diligent, and Raleigh, principally on the coast of America, and distinguished himself on several occasions.

The pilot once ran the Albany upon a rock, at some distance from the land, to the westward of the bay of Fundy. On this occasion, Lieutenant Russell requested and obtained from his commander, the Albany's boats, armed with volunteers, to cruise for vessels to lighten and get her off; or should that be impracticable, to save her stores, and to cover their own retreat to Halifax. In the course of seven or eight hours he returned, with no fewer than four fine sloops and schooners, some laden, and some in ballast, which he had cut out from under a very heavy fire from the shore.

From the Albany, Mr. Russell was removed to the command, as lieutenant, of the Diligent brig, of eight three