ber the 2d, 1786," which was added only for the purpose of confirming the contents of the will, his property since its execution having much accumulated, and for giving his children since born, and those he might in future have, an equal participation with the others in its provisions. From their remote date, it is not surprising that these papers are somewhat defaced and mutilated; and it is remarkable that such a lapse of time and change of circumstances should not have induced a legal man, like Lord Erskine, to leave a more recent declaration of his testamentary intentions. The will was registered in the Prerogative office on the 2d of January, 1824. The personal property was sworn under 1000l.

To persons who may be disposed to ask if Lord Erskine, in the course of his long and eventful life, was not betrayed into errors and indiscretions, no doubt the answer must be, that he was betrayed into many. Prudence is generally the virtue of age; but it is certain, that Lord Erskine was a young man in disposition to the last. For some parts of his private conduct it is confessedly difficult to account, in a man of such intellectual power. He has himself, however, furnished an animated answer to those who, forgetful of his splendid qualities, would desire to dwell upon, and, perhaps, to magnify his defects, in a passage of that celebrated oration, the defence of Mr. Stockdale, from which we have already quoted so largely. We cannot conclude our memoir better than by subjoining it.

"Upon the principle on which the attorney-general prays sentence upon my client, God have mercy upon us! Instead of standing before him in judgment, with the hopes and consolations of Christians, we must call upon the mountains to cover us; for which of us can present for omniscient examination, a pure, unspotted, and faultless course? But I humbly expect that the benevolent Author of our being will judge us as I have been pointing out for your example. Holding up the great volume of our lives in his hands, and regarding the general scope of them, if he discovers benevolence, charity, and good-will to man beating in the heart,

where he alone can look; if he finds that our conduct, though often forced out of the path by our infirmities, has been, in general, well directed,—his all-searching eye will assuredly never pursue us into those little corners of our lives, much less will his justice select them for punishment, without the general context of our existence, by which faults may be sometimes found to have grown out of virtues, and very many of our heaviest offences to have been grafted by human imperfection upon the best and kindest of our affections. No. Gentlemen; believe me, this is not the course of divine justice, or there is no truth in the gospels of heaven. If the general tenor of a man's conduct be such as I have represented it, he may walk through the shadow of death, with all his faults about him, with as much cheerfulness as in the common paths of life; because he knows, that instead of a stern accuser to expose before the Author of his nature those frail passages, which, like the scored matter in the book before you, chequers the volume of the brightest and best spent life, his mercy will obscure them from the eye of his purity, and our ⚫ repentance blot them out for ever."

67

No. III.

SIR EDWARD BULLER, BART.

VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE RED, AND RECORDER OF THE BOROUGH OF EAST LOOE.

THIS gallant officer was the descendant of a family which, from its antiquity and alliances, has long been eminent in the counties of Devon and Cornwall. Richard Buller, the immediate ancestor of the numerous highly-respected individuals of that name, now living in those counties, was a younger son of a Somersetshire family, and settled at Tregarrick, in Cornwall, early in the sixteenth century. He married Margaret, widow of Edward Courtenay, of Landrake, Esq. and daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Trethuriffe, of Trethuriffe, in that county, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Hugh Courtenay, of Boconnock, Knight, sister of Edward, seventh Earl of Devon, K. G. (the lineal descendant of Hugh Courtenay, second Earl of Devon, by Margaret, second daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, fourth Earl of Hereford and Essex, Lord High Constable of England, by Elizabeth Plantagenet, his wife, seventh daughter of King Edward I.) and great-great-aunt and co-heiress of Edward Courtenay, second Marquis of Exeter, and tenth and last Earl of Devon of that family. John Francis Buller, of Morval, in Cornwall, sixth in descent from the said Richard and Margaret Trethuriffe, married, in 1716, Rebecca, third daughter and co-heiress of Sir Jonathan Trelawney*, Bart. Bishop of Winchester, and by her had a

His lordship was descended from John Trelawney and Florence Courtenay his wife, another daughter of the above-mentioned Sir Hugh Courtenay, and coheiress of Edward, last Marquis of Exeter, and Earl of Devon.

numerous family. His second son, John Buller, Esq. was for many years one of the lords of the admiralty, and afterwards one of the lords of the treasury, and represented East Looe in several parliaments. By his first wife, Mary, daughter of Sir John St. Aubyn, third baronet, he had three sons †, of whom Edward, the subject of this memoir, was the second.

Sir Edward Buller was born at the admiralty, December 24th, 1764, and received his education at Westminster school. At the age of twelve he commenced his naval career as a midshipman, under the auspices of that able and meritorious officer, the late Lord Mulgrave, with whom he served in the Courageux, in Admiral Keppel's engagement with the Count D'Orvilliers, on the 27th of July, 1778. At a very early age Mr. Buller received his first commission, as lieutenant of the Sceptre, of sixty-four guns, then commanded by Captain Graves. The Sceptre being under orders for the East Indies, Lieutenant Buller proceeded in her thither, and was in most

James, the eldest son, represented the county of Cornwall in parliament, and was twice married. By his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of William Gould, of Downes, Devonshire, he had James Buller, Esq. father of the present James Buller, Esq. of Downes, M. P. for Exeter; and by his se cond wife, Jane, daughter of Allen, first Earl Bathurst, he left eight children. Of these, John, the eldest son, was the father of several sons; of whom John, the eldest, succeeded to the estate of Morval. James is one of the present clerks to the privy council, and Sir Anthony Buller, the youngest son, is now a judge in India. Sir Francis, the sixth son of John Buller, Esq. by Lady Jane Bathurst, became the once celebrated judge, and was created a Baronet, whose son, Sir Francis Buller, is the second and present Baronet. William, the third son of John Francis Buller and Rebecca Trelawney, was consecrated Bishop of Exeter in 1792, and died in 1796.

John Buller, Esq. the eldest of these sons, was many years in India. In 1802, he was elected recorder of East Looe, which borough he represented in parliament for some years. He married Augusta, daughter of Major Nixon, but died in 1807, without issue. Henry, the second son, was a lieutenant in the navy, and died in the East Indies, unmarried. Mr. Buller, the father of Sir Edward Buller, married, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Hunter, Esq. and by her had several children, who all died unmarried, excepting Charlotte, wife of her cousin, William Buller, Esq., and Major-General Frederick Buller, whose eldest son, Thomas Frederick Buller, married in 1821, the Right Honorable Lady Agnes Percy, daughter of Hugh, second Duke, and twin sister of Hugh, third and present Duke of Northumberland, K. G.

of Sir Edward Hughes's actions with M. de Suffrein. In one instance he was slightly wounded; and on every occasion he displayed the most determined gallantry and resolution.

In 1783, Lieutenant Buller, then a mere boy, was promoted to the rank of commander, and appointed to the Chaser, of fourteen guns; and in the month of November of the same year he was exposed, in that vessel, to a dreadful hurricane, on the coast of Coromandel. Indeed it was supposed by every person at Madras and Bombay that the Chaser must have gone down, and that every soul on board must have perished. Captain Buller's judgment and promptitude, however, and the knowledge that he had acquired by soundings, to which he was invariably accustomed to resort when in shallow water, enabled him to run the Chaser up the gulf of Manar, which divides the island of Ceylon from the Coromandel coast; a passage which no vessel of any description had ever ventured before; and thus to ride the gale out in perfect safety. Soon after General Stuart's attack upon Cuddalore, June 1783, at which Captain Buller was present, he returned with the Chaser to Europe; where, from her shattered and decayed state, it was scarcely expected that she could arrive. By unremitting exertion, however, she was brought safely to England, and she was then immediately paid off.

In 1784, Captain Buller was appointed to the Brisk, another sloop of war, in which he sailed for Halifax, where he was particularly active in his endeavours to prevent smuggling. From his arrival on the American station to the period of his quitting it, comprising a space of six years, he was also indefatigably employed in surveying the different coasts, harbours, &c. of all which he made himself completely master. The following incident deserves notice. In April, 1789, a report being in circulation that a large merchant-ship had just been wrecked on that extremely dangerous spot, the Isle of Sable, and that part of the crew were on the island, without any means or prospect of escaping from the horrors of starvation which threatened them, Captain Buller, impressed