pounded for the sequestration of their
estates by paying fines, there occurs this
item: "Ralph Sneyd of Keel, Esq.
1000l. with 100l. per annum settled."

The founder of Keel Hall, Ralph
Sneyd, was three times Sheriff of the
County, and several of his descendants
have enjoyed the like distinction. The
family-vault of the Sneyds is in the
churth of Wolstenton, five or six miles
from Keel; but in the church of the
latter place they have two mural monu-
ments; one of them to the memory of
Ralph Sneyd, ob. 1792, æt. 70, and of
his wife Barbara, ob. 1797, æt. 71; it also
records the names of their fourteen chil-
dren. These were the father and mother
of the gentleman now deceased. The
lady was the eldest daughter of Sir Wal-
ter Wagstaffe Bagot, Bart. by Lady Bar-
bara Legge; and the late Mr. Sneyd
married a lady of the same family, his
first cousin the Hon. Louisa Bagot,
eldest daughter of William first Lord
Bagot and the Hon. Louisa St. John.

In the returns of the Staffordshire Mi-
litia, embodied 1776, the late Mr.
Sneyd's name appears as Captain of a
company; in 1783 he was Major; and
on the 1st May, 1790, he was promoted
to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. His
Majesty George the Third was so well
pleased with the appearance and conduct
of the regiment, when stationed at Win-
chester, towards the close of the last
century, that he signified his desire it
should proceed to Windsor to do duty
about his person; and on its arrival, the
following notice was issued by Lieut.-
Col. Sneyd:

"Windsor, June 14. 1798.-Parole,
Staffordshire, R. O.-- His Majesty hav-
ing been pleased to make choice of the
Stafford regiment to do the duty at
Windsor this summer, the Colonel
wishes to observe to the men how ne-
cessary it is to appear as a regiment
ought to do which is particularly selected
to be near the person of the King. In
order to this, it is absolutely necessary
that no man who is on duty be on any
account suffered to be absent from pa-
rade."

At Windsor, Weymouth, or St.
James's, the regiment remained almost
constantly on duty, till the peace of
1814, when it was disembodied. "Dur-
ing this time (says Pitt's History of
Staffordshire), Colonel Sneyd received
many tokens of royal regard, and His
Majesty stood sponsor to one of his
children." In 1805, after reviewing

the regiment at Windsor, His Majesty
expressed his approbation of the men's
evolutions and appearance in this for-
cible manner: "They shall be called
MY OWN; and Lord Uxbridge was
commanded to communicate to the re-
giment the King's "entire approbation,
not only of its very steady appearance
that day in the field, but also of its
general good conduct; in reward for
which His Majesty was most graciously
pleased to confer upon it the honour of
being in future named THE KING'S OWN
STAFFORDSHIRE MILITIA.”

About this period Lieut.-Col. Sneyd,
after a service of twenty-nine years,
quitted the regiment, “universally re-
gretted," says a recent writer, "both
by officers and men." He subsequently,
it is believed, commanded the Local
Militia in the hundred of Pirehill North,
in Staffordshire.

Mr. Sneyd was elected M. P. for
Castle Rising at the general election in
1784; but sat in the House of Com-
mons only during that Parliament,
which was dissolved in 1790. He
served sheriff for Staffordshire in 1814.
His death was announced in the Staf-
fordshire Advertiser, with the following
well-merited encomium: -" Although
the head of an ancient family, and pos-
sessor of very considerable property in
the county, yet his title to the general
respect which he enjoyed was derived
from higher sources, from a character
distinguished by manliness, integrity,
and independence, a clear and excellent
understanding, and a remarkably sound
judgment, -from his religious prin-
ciples, his moral habits, his domestic
affections, his well-regulated liberality,
and his exemplary and upright conduct
in all the relations of life."

-

The arms of Sneyd are, argent, a
scythe sable, the blade in chief, and the
snede or handle in bend sinister; on the
dexter side of the handle a fleur-de-lis
sable. Le Neve, in a manuscript note
on Erdeswicke (Mus. Brit.) says,
"Snead, in the German language, sig-
nifies to cutt; thence a sith is their
arms; " but, without disputing the cor-
rectness of the "learned Theban's" re-
mark, it may be observed that he needed
not have roamed abroad in search of a
derivation which was to be found nearer
home, sneed being an old north-country
word (of Saxon origin) still in use, for
the handle of a scythe; and that fanci-
ful taste which often caused the selection
of devices emblematic of the names of

those who bore them, doubtless led to
the adoption of a scythe by the Sneyds.
Gentleman's Magazine.
SPODE, Josiah, Esq.; Oct. 6.
1829; aged 53.

It is only two years since we contri-
buted a brief memoir of the life and suc-
cessful career of Josiah Spode the elder,
the great manufacturer of Staffordshire
ware and English porcelain, in their
present state of unrivalled excellence*;
and we are now called upon to perform
the same duty to the memory of his
son, Josiah Spode, of the house of Spode
and Copeland, Portugal Street, Lin-
coln's Inn Fields, the third eminent pot-
ter of the name.

The younger Josiah Spode, who, as a
tradesman and as a friend, inherited all
the virtues of his predecessors, was born
in Fore Street, Cripplegate, in the year
1776. At an early period of his exist-
ence, he was removed to the residence of
his paternal grandfather, at Stoke-upon-
Trent, Staffordshire; and he was edu-
cated at the Free Grammar School,
Newcastle-under-Lyme, in the same
county. As soon as his youth permit-
ted, he was initiated in the business of a
potter, under his grandfather; and he
continued engaged in it till about the
year 1810, when he retired to the more
quiet pursuit of agriculture, on his estate
at Fenton, near Stoke.

A lamentable accident occurred to
him in 1803. His father had just com-
pleted the erection of a steam-engine
and mill-work, for the grinding of ma-
terials required in the manufacture of
pottery and porcelain. Mr. Spode was
inspecting the operations, when a crown
wheel struck his hat; and, in lifting his
left arm to protect himself, the hand
passed between the cogs of the wheels,
and immediate amputation became in-
dispensable.

During his retirement, Mr. Spode
thrice filled the office of churchwarden
for Stoke parish; and in performance
of that duty he was called to advance
funds for the parochial disbursements, to
the amount of several thousand pounds,
some of which is yet to be repaid to his

trustees.

In consequence of the sickness which
ultimately proved fatal to his father, Mr.
Spode returned to the business, and re-
mained in it till his demise, which oc-

* See the twelfth volume of "The
Annual Biography and Obituary."
VOL. XIV.

curred with awful suddenness on the
6th of October. He had reached home,
from a journey into Suffolk, on the even-
ing of Sunday, the 4th; and his health
was in that general good state which he
had some time enjoyed. On the Tues-
day morning, however, while engaged
in conversation with his family and his
medical friend, he was seized with nau-
sea; a blood vessel was in consequence
ruptured; and, within two hours, his
sufferings were terminated, without his
having been once able to open his eyes,
or to give any intimation of the nature
of his attack.

Mr. Spode died at the Mount, the
splendid mansion which his father erect-
ed in the year 1803. In the several re-
lations of civil and domestic society, his
character ranked very high. As a friend
and benefactor he was invaluable.
Though pessessed of immense property,
his modesty and affability remained un-
affected by his elevated condition. To-
wards the poor his sympathy and bene-
volence were almost boundless. In the
relief of private individuals, labouring
under sickness and distress, his expendi-
ture, since he last engaged in business,
is known to have been not less than 5001.
per annum. Monthly Magazine.

SPRY, Thomas, Esq., Admiral of
the Red; Nov. 27. 1828; at Tregoles,
near Truro; aged 76.

The paternal name of this venerable
naval officer was Davy, and he assumed
that of Spry on the death of his uncle,
Admiral Sir Richard Spry, of Place in
Cornwall.

He obtained the rank of Post Cap-
tain May 5. 1778, and in the same year
commanded the Europe, of 64 guns,
under the orders of Commodore Evans,
in the expedition against the islands of
St. Pierre and Miquelon, on the coast of
Newfoundland. They were taken pos-
session of on the 14th of September, the
French fishery entirely destroyed, and
their boats, &c. burnt. This service
having been accomplished, the deceased
exchanged ships with the late Sir Rich-
ard King, and, in November, returned
to England in the Pallas, of 36 guns.

On the 13th May, 1779, the Pallas
formed part of a small squadron under
Sir James Wallace, when that officer
followed several French men of war into
Concale Bay, and succeeded in captur-
ing La Danae, of 34 guns, and 250 men.

In the following year Captain Spry
commanded the Ulysses, of 44 guns, on
the Jamaica station. On the 2d of Oct.

G G

that ship lost all her masts in a hurricane,
which extended its rage to almost all the
other islands: it was attended with fre-
quent and violent shocks of an earth-
quake; an extraordinary and sudden
elevation of the sea broke in and over-
whelmed the town of Savanna-le-Mar,
and on its retreat swept every thing
away, so as not to leave the smallest
vestige of man, beast, or house behind.
The wretched inhabitants, who had fled
in time, and escaped the ravages of this
most wonderful phænomenon, on their
return beheld nothing but ruin and de-
solation. Every part of the island felt
the terrible effects of this violent hurri-
cane, but in a less degree. Captain Spry
continued on the Jamaica station until
the conclusion of the war in 1783, but
since that time has lived in retirement.
He was promoted to the rank of Rear-
Admiral, 1795; Vice Admiral, 1799;
and Admiral, 1805. Marshall's Royal
Naval Biography.
ST. LEGER, Francis Barry Boyle,
Esq.; Nov. 20. 1829; aged 30.

-

Mr. St. Leger was the son of a highly
respectable family in Ireland, and nearly
connected with several distinguished fa-
milies, both in that country and in Eng-
land. He was born in Sept. 1799, and
gave such early indications of a preco-
cious mind, that he became, even while
a child, the favourite of the circle in
which he lived. This circle consisted of
nearly all the talents of the Whig party
in politics, who were the constant asso-
ciates of the late Lord Guildford at
Rockstone, and among whom was the
father of Mr. Barry St. Leger. From
this society he imbibed those ideas upon
politics, which in him generated that
strict independence of principle which is
of no party; while from Sheridan, John
Kemble, and many others, who were
eminent for their wit and genius, and
who were occasionally assembled at
Rockstone, he derived that love of let-
ters which afterwards formed one of the
prominent characteristics of his mind,
and which has since furnished so much
occupation for himself and pleasure to
his friends. He commenced his edu-
cation at Rugby, but entered so early
into active life, that the world must be
considered the school in which he com-
pleted it; and he certainly realised in
himself one of his favourite opinions,
that the particular routine of education
in a public school is not the only means
by which knowledge is to be obtained.
At seventeen he went to India in a high

situation in the civil service of the Go-
vernment: the habits of the service,
however, not suiting his inclinations,
and the system of the trade and of the
government of that country being re-
pugnant to his honourable principles,
and contrary to his strict sense of justice
and his ideas of the rights of human
nature, he sacrificed to these feelings a
highly lucrative situation, gave up a cer-
tain fortune and a life of comparative
ease, and adopted the laborious profes-
sion of the Bar, to which he was called
as a Member of the Inner Temple in
the year 1827. During the period of
his pursuing the necessary course of
studies for his profession, besides being
the editor of the Album, and a contri-
butor of many articles in the principal
periodicals of the day, he produced
"Gilbert Earle," "The Blount Ma-
nuscripts," and "Tales of Passion;"
all of them successful, and the first emi-
nently so. These works are charac-
terised by intense feeling, a thorough
insight into human nature, the deve-
lopement of the passions of the mind,
and a complete knowledge of the
world. They are such works as could
be produced only by a man of genius,
and are as honourable evidences of the
moral qualities of their author's mind
as they are indications of his superior
talent. Whether we look at his lighter
productions, in which he satirised a
folly or castigated an impertinence,
or to the more serious compositions, in
which he exposed a vice and its conse-
quences, and inveighed against an in-
justice, he seems ever to have written
with a view to the good of his fellow-
creatures. With his "Tales of Pas-
sion," however, he had determined to
have done with works of fiction, and to
devote himself to less flowery, but more
useful, paths of literature. In pursuance
of this resolution, at the period at which
he was seized with the illness to which
he at length fell a victim, he was actively
engaged in an historical composition
from the old Chroniclers, and the His-
tory of the Moors in Spain, which he
intended to offer to the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. To
both of these subjects he had devoted
much time, reading, and attention; and
the non-completion of them is an addi-
tional source of regret to his friends. In
literature, his works place Mr. Barry
St. Leger in no mean rank among his
contemporaries; and, though so lately
called to the Bar, and his mind much

diverted from the study of his profession
hy his literary pursuits, he was already
giving evidence of such success in his
circuit, as in time would most probably
have led to eminence in that arduous
pursuit. Idleness has been frequently
said to be the accompaniment of genius;
such, however, was not the case with
Mr. St. Leger; the facility with which
he wrote never abated the attention he
devoted to his subject, and the active
industry of his mind kept it completely
and constantly employed. In June last
he was seized with a fit of epilepsy, the
consequence, it is supposed, of an over-
wrought mind and imagination. From
this he partly recovered; but the difficulty
that his friends had in restraining his
active mind from its several pursuits,
baffled the skill of his medical attend-
ants, and presented an obstacle to his
complete recovery, Relapse succeeded
relapse, till, his constitution no longer
able to resist the disease, he died in the
house of some friends warmly attached
to him for his various estimable qualities,
on Friday, November 20. 1829, at the
early age of thirty. Barry St. Leger
had a powerful mind, strong original
conceptions, and a habit of thinking for
himself that gave great originality and
force to every thing which emanated
from him, either in writing or in con-
versation. He was a man of warm but
few attachments, and was himself greatly
beloved in the circle in which he moved.
As a social and intellectual companion
in the common intercourse of society,
and more particularly in that of his inti-
mates, his qualifications were of the
higher order.
His powers of conversa-
tion were exceedingly great; and a re-
markably retentive, as well as discrimin-
ating memory, enabled him to illustrate
his remarks in a manner that rendered
his colloquial intercourse eminently
pleasing to those who enjoyed it.
New Monthly Magazine.

-

SYKES, Godfrey, Esq., Solicitor to
the Stamp Office; in Powis Place, Great
Ormond Street.

Mr. Sykes was educated at Sidney
Sussex college, Cambridge, where he
proceeded A B. 1793, and A. M. 1796.
He afterwards studied the law, and be-
came a very eminent special pleader.
Amongst other pupils he had the late
Lord Gifford, who, when Attorney-
general, was allowed to nominate to the
appointment of Solicitor of the Stamp
Office; and a more respectable appoint-
ment, in all respects, has seldom, we

believe, been made in any department.
It is due to the memory of Mr. Sykes
to declare, that no man could combine
a more useful degree of zeal and know-
ledge than he carried with him, and
maintained in the public service; and
his very amiable and friendly manners
were universally acknowledged, and his
death is as universally regretted.

A portrait of this eminent lawyer has
been published, engraved in mezzotinto
by W. Ward, A. R. A., from a picture
by T. Stewardson. Gentleman's Mag-

azine.

T.

TATTERSALL, the Rev. Wm.
De Chair, A.M. F. A. S., for upwards
of fifty years Rector of the parish of
Westbourne, Sussex; Vicar of Wotton-
under-Edge in Gloucestershire, and one
of His Majesty's Chaplains; March 26.
1829; aged 77.

He was the second son of the Rev.
James Tattersall, Rector of St. Paul's,
Covent Garden, and of Streatham in
Surrey, by his first wife Dorothy,
daughter of the Rev. William De Chair,
and sister of the Rev. Dr. John De
Chair, Rector of Little Risington,
Gloucestershire, and one of His Majes-
ty's Chaplains. His elder brother John
was Vicar of Harewood in Yorkshire,
and a King's Chaplain ; and his younger
brother James was Vicar of Tewkes-
bury. (See Nichols's Illustrations of Li-
terature, vol. v. p. 853.) The divine
now deceased was educated at West-
minster School, where he was admitted
King's Scholar in 1765; and elected to
Christ Church, Oxford, in 1770, at the
head of his election; previous to which
he was distinguished for his performance
of the character of Phormio, on which
occasion he received the commendation
of Garrick. He took the degree of
M. A. in 1777. He was presented to
Westbourne in 1778 by his father, who
acquired the right by purchase from the
executors of the late Earl of Halifax,
and to Wotton-under-Edge in the fol-
lowing year by his College.

Mr. Tattersall some years ago ex-
erted a laudable zeal in the improve.
ment of Psalmody and Church Music.
He published in 1791, "A Version or
Paraphrase of the Psalms originally
written by James Merrick, M. A., which
he divided into stanzas, and adapted to
the purposes of public use or of private
devotion," 4to. and likewise an edition