served, was pleased to confer the honour of knighthood on him, and he enjoys the half-pay of a fieldofficer; while his serene highness the Elector Palatine created him Count of Rumford, obtained for him the order of St. Stanislaus from the late king of Poland, made him a knight of the white eagle, chamberlain, privy counsellor of state, lieutenant-general in his service, as Duke of Bavaria, colonel of his regiment of artillery, and commander in chief of the general staff of his army.

Nor have the academies and literary societies of this and other countries been sparing of their approbation, as he is F.R.S. F. Acad. R. Hib. Berol. Elec. Boica, Palat & Amer. Soc.

He has been once married, as already stated; his wife died in America, but a daughter by that lady is still living, and has been much noticed and respected.

REV. THOMAS MAURICE, A.M.

THE human mind is naturally interested in the fate of genius, and takes great pleasure in contemplating its rise and progress. To behold youthful ardour panting towards the goal, and struggling in its course with a multitude of difficulties, excites our curiosity at least, and when the victor has acquired well merited rewards

"NON SINE PULVERE PALME,"

we congratulate not only him but ourselves on the success of his labours.

Mr. Maurice was born in or about the year 1760.

His father, who was a man of considerable attain ments, presided for many years over the grammarschool of Hertford, which rose into high reputation under his auspices, and acquired the reward which his labours so amply merited, having realized a handsome fortune. It would appear, however, that he was better adapted for the acquisition than the preservation of wealth, as by relying too much on the prudence of his widow, and not guarding against the contingency of a second marriage, great, and indeed irreparable injury was sustained by his family. His unfortunate death, while his children were in their infancy, not only deprived them of the support and advice of a fond parent, but subjected them to the loss of the bulk of their property, their mother, who was a young woman, having married imprudently, and reduced them to the necessity of scrambling for the scanty remnant of their fortune within the walls of the Court of Chancery. This circumstance bereaved the subject of these memoirs of all hopes of immediate independence; but it cannot be said to have proved altogether unfortunate for the public, as talents are developed by exertion alone, and but few men are stimulated into action by any other motive than the

"RES ANGUSTA DOMUS."

In short, doubts may arise, whether, in case Mr. Maurice had possessed an affluent fortune, we should have been favoured with his recondite labours in science, or his numerous effusions in poetry.

At an early age the proper dispositions were made

for

for his education, and it would appear by the event that this very material requisite had not been neglected. :

It was at length his good fortune to be placed. under the care of Dr. Parr, that modern colossus of literature, who, to the disgrace of the present age, has beheld a multitude of inferior men elevated to the highest statlons in the church, while he himself has not yet attained the rank of one of its dignitaries. The conduct and liberality of this gentleman in respect to young Maurice cannot be sufficiently praised; and we have been assured, from good authority, that it has produced a correspondent degree of gratitude and affection on the mind of his pupil.

After remaining during several years under the tuition of so able an instructor as Dr. Parr, Mr. M. removed to Oxford, and entered himself of University College, under the tuition of Sir William Scott, who now holds the high and respectable situation of Judge of the Court of Admiralty, while his brother, after occupying the chief scat in the Court of Common Pleas, has become the Lord High Chancellor of England. At Oxford he obtained the degree of A. M. discovered and cultivated a taste for poetry, and also formed many honourable connexions, which although not immediately serviceable in respect to his advancement in life, were yet eminently instrumental to his future pursuits at a later period.

Mr. Maurice having lost his patrimony in the manner alluded to above, naturally looked forward

to some profession, by means of which he could acquire an honourable maintenance, and he at length fixed upon the church. It was not however his good fortune to experience any considerable degree of patronage, we therefore find him officiating for several years in the humble capacity of a curate, first at Woodford in Essex, and afterwards at Epping in the same county.

He appears about this period to have once more cultivated his taste for the Muses, having published "The School-boy," a poem in imitation of Phillips's "Splendid Shilling," in 1775. In the course of the ensuing year appeared "Netherby," a local poem, which was followed in 1777 by "Hagley," another descriptive one, and "A Monody, sacred to the Memory of Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland."

While residing at Woodford, in 1779, he preached in the parish church of that place a sermon on the fast-day of that period (February 10), which was afterwards published: by this time he had acquired some eminence as a poet, and in the course of the same year that gave his discourse to the press, his reputation received additional celebrity by "Poems and Miscellaneous Pieces, with a free Translation of the Edipus Tyrannus of Sophocles," published by subscription in quarto.

In 1786 a new and important epoch occurred in Mr. Maurice's life, in consequence of his marriage with Miss Pearce, daughter of Thomas Pearce, Esq. a commander in the service of the Honourable East

India Company. This lady only lived four years subsequent to this union, having died at Woodford on the 27th of February 1790; and he bewailed her loss in the following Epitaph, which is allowed to possess very considerable merit.

EPITAPH ON MRS. MAURICE.

Serenely bright, in bridal smiles array'd!
The purple spring its blossom'd sweets display'd;
While raptur'd fancy saw full many a year,
In bliss revolving, urge its gay career.-

But, ah! how deep a gloom the skies o'erspread;
How swift the dear delusive vision fled!

Disease and pain the ling'ring hours consume,
And secret feed on youth's corroded bloom.
Ceas'd are the songs that fill'd the nuptial grove,

The dance of pleasure in the bow'r of love.

For Hymen's lamp funereal torches glare,

And mournful dirges rend the midnight air!
Oh! thou, whose check, the rival of the rose,
With all the flush of vernal beauty glows,
Whose pulses high with youthful vigour bound,
The brightest fair in fashion's mazy round,
Approach with awe the mansions of the dead,
And as the grave's drear bourn thy footstep's tread;
Mark-'midst these ravages of fate and time-
Where WORTH lies buried in its loveliest, prime;
Where YOUTH's extinguish'd fires no longer burn,
And BEAUTY slumbers in the mould'ring urn!
Oh! pause and bending o'er fair STELLA's tomb,
Mourn her hard lot, and read thy future doom!
Soft lie the sod that shields from wint'ry rains
And blasting winds my STELLA's lov'd remains :
May angels guard the consecrated ground,
And flowers, as lovely, bloom for ever round!
Meek sufferer-who, by nameless woes oppress'd,
The patience of th' expiring Lamb possess'd;

Z 4

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