going to rest in his clothes, as perfectly dressed as during the day. He was one morning found fast asleep betwixt the sheets, with his shoes on his feet, his stick in his hand, and an old torn hat on his head.

On this circumstance being discovered, a servant was set to watch, and take care that he undressed himself; yet, so desirous was he of continuing this custom, that he told the servant, with his usual providence about money, that if he would not take any notice of him, he would leave him something in his will.

On the 18th day of November 1789, Mr. Elwes discovered signs of that utter and total weakness, which, in eight days, carried him to his grave. On the evening of the first day he was conveyed to bed from which he rose no more. His appetite was gone-he had but a faint recollection of any thing about him; and his last coherent words were addressed to his son, Mr. John Elwes, in hoping" he had left him what he wished." On the morning of the 26th of November, he expired without a sigh !— with the ease with which an infant goes to sleep on the breast of its mother, worn out with "the rattles and the toys" of a long day!

One strange circumstance I cannot here omit to mention :some days previous to the death of his father, Mr. John Elwes was returning from an estate he had just purchased, in Gloucestershire, with a clergyman, to whom he had given the living. On his journey a strange presentiment came across his mind, that he should see his father but once again. The idea was so strongly impressed on his thoughts, that he sat out in the middle of the night to reach Marcham: he did reach it, and was in time to be witness of that sight which most afflicts a good son, on the subject of a father-he beheld him expire.

Thus died Mr. Elwes, fortunate in escaping from a world he had lived in too long for his own peace!

I have now fulfilled my promise to the public-I have presented before their view the portraiture of that extraordinary man, whose life will not hastily be forgotten in this country. In saying this, I should indeed blush, could I take to myself any merit in the detail of it.-No; I am free to say-it has not the smallest claim of that sort; but it is worthy some attention with the public, as being the faithful and accurate transcript of a man the most singular this country ever produced, long and intimately known and whose manners, spite of some defects, I shall ever reverence and respect. For, it will happen, that the purest characters are not always those which are loved the most. A roughness of manner, and a temper that is imperious, will for ever prevent affection, however highly we may think of integrity or

to me;

virtue. In the mildness of Mr. Elwes's manners, and in the finished politeness of his address, there was more than a counterbalance for all his singularities: you esteemed him, perhaps, more than you ought; and even his faults seemed to spring from an infirmity that you pitied, more than abhorred.

In giving his character, I have entered into the minutiæ, and all the little anecdotes of private life-for there, and there only, can the real character be seen.-Life when "full dressed," is always alike. It resembles the soldier on the parade, habited in one uniform, and acting with a uniformity that is equal to his habit.

The sentiment which, doubtless, will arise in the minds of those who have perused this account, will, perhaps, thus close with me, the result of all I have said.

Mr. Elwes, as one of the commons of England, in three successive parliaments, maintained a conduct which purer times might have been glad to boast, and which later times may be proud to follow. The minister that influenced him was-his conscience. He obeyed no mandate, but his opinion. He gave that opinion as he held it to be right.

In one word, his public conduct lives after him, pure, and without a stain !

In private life, he was chiefly an enemy to himself. To others he lent much-to himself he denied every thing. But in the pursuit of his property, or the recovery of it, I have not, in my remembrance, one unkind thing that was ever done by him.

But that great object which rises highest to the view out of the prospect of his varied life-let me again enforce on this page. That object is, the insufficiency of wealth alone to confer happiness. For who, after the perusal of the life of Mr. Elwes shall say—I am rich—and therefore I shall be happy?

Every circumstance of the memoirs here written, proves the fallacy of this hope. But still has such a life had its purpose. For if it should add one circumstance consolatory to povertywhile it enforces the extreme and perfect vanity of wealth-then has such a life, as that of Mr. Elwes, not been in vain.

Such be the wreath that my humble hand now strews over his grave! a wreath where flattery has not furnished one single flower-but not wholly unadorned is it, for it is the tribute of truth! As such, I give it to his memory; and at a moment when praise or blame can affect him no more.

Supplementary to the above, I subjoin the following most beautiful inscription, as one of the very few literary compositions to which Mr. Elwes ever paid attention; and it is to the credit of his literary taste. It was communicated to me by Mr. Ruggles,

a very able and well informed magistrate for the county of Essex, who had it from Mr. Elwes himself; and the lines in italics were marked by the pen of Mr. Elwes, as being peculiarly beautiful. They were written by the first Lord Hervey, a brother of the lady to whose memory they were inscribed.

TO THE MEMORY OF

LADY E. MANSELL,

NIECE TO THE MOTHER OF SIR HERVEY ELWES.

Vive pius, moriere pius! cole sacra! colentem
Mors gravis e templis in cava busta trahat!

Tho' the whole life should pass without a stain,
With piety, alike in health or pain,

To Heav'n resign'd still Death shall be thy doom,
And snatch thee from the Altar to the Tomb.

THE INSCRIPTION.

BENEATH the covering of this little stone,
Lie the poor shrunk, yet dear, remains of ONE,
With merit humble, and with virtue fair,
With knowlege modest, and with wit sincere ;
Upright in all the social calls of life,

The friend, the daughter, sister, and the wife!
So just the disposition of her soul,
Nature left Reason nothing to control:
Firm, pious, patient, affable of mind,
Happy in life, and yet in death resign'd!
Just in the zenith of those golden days,
When the mind ripens e'er the form decays,
The hand of Fate for ever cut her thread,
And left the world to weep that virtue fled,
Its pride when living, and its grief when dead!

A

LETTER

TO THE

RIGHT HON. W. HUSKISSON, M. P.

PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE,

ON THE

QUARANTINE BILL.

BY

A. B. GRANVILLE, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., M.R.I.,

ONE OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF CLARENCE'S PHYSICIANS IN
ORDINARY, LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS
OF LONDON, &c. &c.

LONDON:-1825.

TO THE

RIGHT HON. W. HUSKISSON, M. P.

PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE.

SIR,

My prediction is fulfilled: England is declared to be an infected country; she is put on a footing with Turkey at some of the principal ports of the Mediterranean, and her merchant navy, generally, has been directed to perform quarantine in those ports, in consequence of the reported relaxation in the sanatory laws said to have been recommended by this Government to the Legislature, and still more in consequence of the singular doctrines proclaimed in parliament, on some recent occasions, respecting the plague and the inutility of quarantine regulations.

As far back as the year 1819, I took the liberty of warning your predecessor in office, in a letter "on the Plague and Contagion," published subsequently to my examination before the Contagion Committee of the House of Commons, how far he ventured to interfere with the existing sanatory regulations of the country. My words were these: "Let it be borne in mind, that the abrogation of laws imposing very trifling shackles to a limited trade, besides exposing the whole nation to the visitation of a very destructive disease, will also subject the whole shipping trade of this country to the vexatious obligation of performing quarantine in every port of France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, at all times, and under all circumstances," &c. "England, without quarantine laws, will instantly be noted in the books of health of every European nation as an infected country!"

And in the beginning of the last year, when examined, once more, before the Committee on Foreign Trade, and while answering a question put to me by the chairman, respecting the propriety of delivering certain goods immediately, and without per

A letter to the Rt. Hon. F. Robinson, M. P., President of the Board of Trade, on the Plague and Contagion, with reference to the Quarantine Laws, by A. B. Granville, M.D. F.R.S. London, 1819.