The subject of this memoir first distinguished himself as a member of the French East India Company; and during its deliberations was accustomed to deliver his opinions in unpremeditated speeches, which produced great effect. Notwithstanding this, he had always to struggle with a native diffidence, which sometimes produced visible embarrassment in his countenance, and that too at a moment, when he had attracted notice by the recital of some impressive facts, or some characteristic anecdotes.

We are assured that he was never perfectly master of himself, until he was roused by difficulties, to exertion. His genius kept pace with events; he opposed firmness to violence; he drew courage from danger; and at once displayed the most noble pride, and the most ingenuous modesty. "There was a perfect analogy in the various periods of M. Necker's existence: his youth harmonised with his age; his prosperity answered to his adversity; it was one ray of virtue that illumined his whole life: the same reverence for the Supreme Being -the same attachment to duty, to religion-to benevolence prevailed in every season. None of his early contemporaries could have known better than myself, what he must have been at thirty, since at sixty he was no other than the same. In his youth he anticipated the fruit of experience by a premature developement of the faculty of reflection. To the purity of his moral conduct he owed the privilege of having preserved in old age the imagination and sensibility of youth."

The first public employment conferred upon him, was that of Minister from Geneva to the Court of France. On accepting this office, he declined all the emoluments attached to it; and when elevated to a higher station, he followed a similar plan. In short, he was the first statesman in France, or perhaps in any country, who not only renounced the salary and perquisites of his employment, but even sunk a part of his own fortune (100,000 livres,) to provide for the expenditure. Nor is it less singular, that on his accession to the ministry, he transferred to his good and amiable wife, the whole of his wealth; not

wishing to have any other care or occupation but France, his adopted country!

“ By his eulogy on Colbert, and his treatise on the commerce of grain, M. Necker attracted the notice of some distinguished grandees; but it was by the charms of his conversation that he obtained the patronage of M. de Maurepas. In consequence of this, he was nominated, to the surprise of every one, and entirely out of the common routine of business, to the superintendance of the royal treasury. On that occasion he occupied his whole time and attention with the finances ; while his wife devoted herself, with equal zeal, to the prisons and the hospitals.

“ M. de Calonne having attacked the veracity of M. Necker's statement, which had been submitted to the King, he published a justificatory memorial, in which he established the validity of his former positions. For this he was exiled by a lettre de cachet, forty leagues from Paris; but in the course of four months he was recalled to Court, and became minister of the finances. However, on the 11th of July, 1789, as he was sitting down to dinner with his family, and a numerous company of guests, the minister of Marine entered the house, and taking him aside, presented a letter from the King, requiring him to resign his office, and withdraw from France, as quietly as possible.” We are here assured, that the first cockade exhibited in France, during his short absence was green, in compliment to the colour of his livery; and that while his name resounded from 200,000 mouths in the streets of Paris, he shunned notice with more care than a criminal employs to escape from a scaffold. On his return, all the inhabitants of Paris, shouted « Vive M. Necker !"

While living in retirement at Copet, and become old and unwieldy, the ex-minister appears to have exhibited an excellence of heart, and a goodness of disposition, not a little calculated to gratify and conciliate the domestic circle around him. His daughter, who seems to have adored him, is ever eager to recall those flattering periods, when he appeared the first

esman in France. Much praise is bestowed on him, for

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the establishment of a provincial administration, which prepared all orders in the state for an acquaintance with political legislation ; he is also commended for the abolition of the right of main morte ; the public statement of the finances, and the repeal of the imposts, which weighed most heavily on the people. But Maurepas, we are told, became jealous of his influence; the Court was disgusted with his rigid economy; he was now assailed by invidious libels, on the part of his enemies; and in a short time encountered what is here termed “ an illustrious disgrace !"

On this, the King of Poland, the King and Queen of Naples, together with the Emperor Joseph II. all invited him to superintend the finances of their respective governments. Repeatedly recalled and banished from the Court of Versailles, he always conducted himself with uniform decorum and propriety ; and it is not a little to his honour, that he refused to sit in council with Mirabeau. But at length, becoming unpopular in his turn, he retired for the last time to Copet; and yet, although he predicted the ruin impending on the creditors of the state, he left two millions of francs in the royal treasury, although he possessed an order from the King, to reclaim them at pleasure.

M. Necker dedicated the remainder of his life chiefly to literary pursuits, and the last words he uttered were addressed to the Deity: “ Great God! receive thy servant, who approaches death with hasty steps !"

We lament that these memoirs are entirely destitute of dates, as they are neither devoid of energy nor interest. The Appendix contains “ Miscellanies,” an “ Essay on the Corn Laws and the Corn Trade,” and “the Fatal Consequences of 2 Single Fault.”

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No. III.

9

MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE LATE JOHN

COAKLEY LETTSOM, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., F.A.S., F.L.S., &c. &c. &c., WITH A SELECTION FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE. - By Thomas JOSEPH PETTIGKEW, F.L.S., &c. &c. 8 vols. 8vo.

sources.

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We have already presented our readers with a memoir of

E this singularly benevolent man, obtained from authentic

The present work, however, abounds with a variety of curious and interesting information. We are told it was in 1749, that a Captain Lindo brought J. C. Lettsom, while a boy, to Europe; and that the patronage of Samuel Fothergill, a distinguished orator among the Quakers, was first obtained " by a particular dance, taught and practised by the negroes, which young Lettsom performed before him, and for which he was rewarded with a halfpenny.”

This young man, while at school, was greatly gratified by following the hounds and horsemen on foot, with a long pole in his hand, to enable him to spring over hedge and ditch. He and his companions, in consequence of this practice, soon acquired a most extraordinary degree of fleetness. His favourite books at this period were Robin Hood and Robinson Crusoe.

When he had attained both wealth and eminence in London, the subject of these memoirs did not forget Mr. Sutcliff, his old master. On presenting him unexpectedly with a diploma as M.D., he exclaimed, while his eyes were suffused with tears of joy, “ My lad ! this is more than I know how to acknowlege !"

We are told, that Dr. Lettsom was first taught liberality in respect to religious subjects by James Beezley; and in con

a

sequence of this, at an early period of life, began to think, “ that the Creator was the equal parent of all his rational creatures, and that each had an equal claim, on the exercise of virtue, to his regard, and to the prospect of future felicity. His ideas respecting the narrow system of a select few of a favoured people, and of arbitrary distinctions on account of religious opinion, were dissipated ; and the practice of applying the term anti-christian to every other teacher, but those of the Society of Friends, appeared to him void of propriety and Christian charity; and he lived to derive some of his dearest friendships from the society of the clergy of almost every denomination.”

Mr. Pettigrew, with the zeal of a true friend, has been at great pains to remove many prejudices, and correct a variety of gross exaggerations, relative to the subject of his biographical work.

The following is extracted from a memoir of the late Mr. Neild of Chelsea, written by himself, and first printed in this very valuable publication : *

“I was born May 24, 1744 (old style), at Knutsford in Cheshire, in the neighbourhood of which my family possessed some good estates. My father died when I was too young to retain the slightest remembrance of him, leaving myself, three brothers, and one sister, to the care of our mother, who carried on the business of a linen-draper. She was a woman of merit and piety, and devoted herself to the bringing up, and virtuously educating, her children. I passed through the ordinary course of education at the town where I was born, with tolerable success, but quitted it before I was thirteen. A skilful perceptor would, about this time, have discovered the true bent of my temper or disposition, from the manner in which I was struck, at seeing a print of Miss Blandy, in prison, fast bound in misery and in irons, for poisoning her father ; and another of Miss Jefferys and John Swan, whom she procured to shoot her uncle; and my frequent visits to the shop where they were exhibited for sale. The real principles of action, and a character impressed by nature, are in this

;