exertions, he was always forward; and would often, indeed, be looking out for, and promoting their interests without their knowledge. No occasional differences of feeling, or contentions of rivalry, were remembered by him for a moment, when a friend had need of his services. No zeal then appeared to him too ardent, no efforts excessive.

"To the poor he was liberal to the utmost extent of his means. He pursued, indeed, in this respect, a practice which all who would perform this duty habitually, will do well to imitate the practice of regularly setting aside a certain portion of his income for charitable purposes.

"In a word, when we contemplate the shortness of the career which this excellent man was permitted to run; when we remember the bright prospects of good to himself and others, which his untimely death has blasted, we have need of all that humility and faith can teach us, to learn unrepining submission to the will of an unsearchable Providence. But when we look at the large measure of practical piety and useful exertion which he was enabled to fill up within so short a period, we see abundant cause to bless the goodness which raised up so efficient a minister of truth and holiness, now departed this life in God's faith and fear; and to implore grace for ourselves, so to follow his good example, that with him we may be partakers of the heavenly kingdom for Jesus Christ's sake."

al'

121

No. VII.

THE MARQUIS OF TITCHFIELD.

RICH as this country happily is in talents and virtue, the premature death of a young nobleman, gifted with the highest qualities, both of the head and of the heart, is an event which naturally creates a feeling of deep regret in the public mind.

William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, Marquis of Titchfield, was the son of the present Duke of Portland, by Henrietta, eldest daughter and co-heiress of the late General Scott, of Balcomie, in the county of Fife.

He was born in June, 1796. At an early age (being then Lord Woodstock) he was sent to Eton College; from which, however, he was soon removed; it being the determination of his family to give him a private education. This important trust was accordingly reposed in the hands of the Reverend William Parry, a fellow of St. John's College, in Cambridge, and distinguished in that university by his classical and mathematical attainments.

After the usual routine of education, which was, however, conducted on the most liberal and extended views, and in which the germ of future excellence was manifested in a spirit of unconquerable resolution and independence, combined with very considerable talents, the noble marquis, in the spring of 1815, took up his residence at Christ-church, in Oxford; of which college, Dr. Goodenough, the present master of Westminster school, was at that time a tutor.*

Dr. Goodenough's father, the venerable Bishop of Carlisle, was tutor to the

He there endeared himself to every one (as he did in afterlife) by the urbanity, yet chastened dignity of his manners, by the excellence of his principles, and by the solidity of his acquirements. There it was that he formed attachments, equally honourable to his own feelings and judgment, and to the personal merits of those whom he admitted to his friendship. These friendships were, indeed, contracted with a noble indifference to rank or wealth; but they were cemented by the common and literary pursuits of the parties; they were dissolved only by the hand of death; and their remembrance still lives, and is cherished, in the breasts of the survivors.

In December, 1818, the noble marquis proceeded to the degree of B. A., when his name appeared in the list of classical honours.

After this well-deserved tribute to his abilities and industry, he quitted the university. Respected by his seniors, and beloved by his contemporaries, few men ever entered on the world's great stage with brighter prospects before them.

An honourable ambition inciting him to employ the talents with which nature and application had endowed him in the service of his country in parliament, the noble marquis was, in 1819, returned for the borough of Blechingley, in Surrey, (on Matthew Russell, Esq. vacating his seat for that borough,) and was re-elected for the same place in the first parliament of the present reign.

On entering the House of Commons, he took his seat on the lowest bench on the opposition side; but, for a considerable time, did not venture to address the house. When, however, he at length rose, his speech was distinguished by its manly and energetic character. The occasion was a motion by Mr. Hume, on the 27th June, 1821, for an address to his majesty, representing the expediency of the utmost economy and retrenchment in the public expenditure. The noble marquis supported the motion. He principally insisted on the necessity of reducing the military establishment; especially in our distant colonial possessions. "This country,

Sir," said the noble marquis, "is to stand, and to command the respect of the world, not by its various garrisons scattered over the globe, but by its well-known power of supporting those numerous armies, which, during the late war, were in activity by our means; of affording the vast subsidies we were then so lavish of; and, above all, of sending forth those mighty naval armaments, which have been the astonishment of Europe: and, inasmuch as our expenditure during peace diminishes our ability to furnish such a display, in so much are we weaker, instead of stronger. The strength of England consists in the reputation she enjoys of being able to undertake a war; and in showing, by her repaired and increasing resources, to distant nations, that, in the event of insult and injustice, she has the means, as well as the inclination, to chastise the aggressor with signal and fearful vengeance."

In the following year, the Marquis of Titchfield, on Sir Martin Foulkes's retirement, accepted a free, unshackled invitation from the borough of King's Lynn, to represent it in parliament; and shortly after, on the accession of his near relative, Mr. Canning, to His Majesty's councils, he had an opportunity of showing the stability of his political principles.

If the noble marquis's speeches in the House of Commons were not embellished with the sublime flights of imagination and eloquence, they invariably manifested the greatest accuracy, judgment, and good sense. With a diffidence of manner which conciliated his hearers, his opinions were perfectly independent; and his votes evinced that he was quite superior either to party, or to personal considerations. The last time that he addressed the house was at considerable length, on the 11th of June, 1823, when he seconded Mr. Western's motion for a committee on the state of the currency. The noble marquis commenced this speech in a tone of great goodhumour and pleasantry.

"For those," said he, "who may feel, as I do, very doubtful of being able to handle a subject of this intricate

in the circumstance, that, whatever doctrines one may broach, whatever predictions one may hazard, and whatever surprise and disapprobation one's sentiments may excite, it is impossible for any novice to come off worse, as to the result, than some of those who were considered among the most distinguished authorities living for every thing connected with the study of political economy. I am very far, indeed, from making this remark in the way of hostility to, or disparagement of, the persons to whom I am alluding. I use it simply to show how little right any one has, of whatever consequenee for his knowledge and abilities, to expect to settle questions of this description by his own individual opinion; and how improvident as well as indecorous, it would be, in a great and delicate matter like this, that so divides and agitates the community, for such an assembly to be governed by a theorist ; and how impossible to justify our refusal to have recourse to those large means which the appointment of a committee presents, of sifting the subject to the bottom; and by collecting and bringing under one view all possible information, and every conflicting opinion, of finally setting the question at rest, and satisfying the public mind.

"But, while solacing one's self with the reflection, that experience has confounded to so great a degree some of the most eminent of the economists, and that any person of slender abilities, and narrow information, can meet with no discomfiture so great as to inflict any very severe humiliation; there is, on the other hand, a most discouraging circumstance in this that people generally are so uninformed on these points, that in discussing them, unless one set out with the plainest and most elementary remarks, there is little chance of being understood by the greater portion of hearers or readers; while, on the other hand, by advancing axioms and evident truths, there is a danger of being ridiculed by others, for occupying them with truisms. This latter danger, however, I shall make bold to defy; sheltering myself under the fact, that, notwithstanding all the discussion this subject has undergone, it may still be heard any day in society, from