which the two brothers had personally visited in order to complete their materials; and the article on the Roman roads was already in the hands of the compositor. Considering himself pledged to the completion of this volume, Mr. Lysons persevered so far in a task rendered irksome to him by distressing recollections, but abandoned all idea of carrying his project farther. In his brother, warmly attached to him from childhood, and associated in all his plans and feelings, he had lost a coadjutor and friend not to be replaced; and the infirmities of middle age, aggravated perhaps by mental and bodily exertion, had begun to tell on a frame and spirits originally robust. The future prosecution of the work was therefore abandoned for less fatiguing but more important duties: each county, however, of the Britannia may be considered as a separate topographical history in itself, and is in fact sold as a separate work. In 1812 Mr. Lysons published a history of the origin and progress of the meeting of the three choirs of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford, and of the charity connected with it. Being himself one of the stewards in 1811, on which occasion he preached the sermon for the benefit of the fund, the thought suggested itself that such a work might benefit the charity by its sale, and diffuse the knowledge of its objects. To impart to his publication more than a merely local interest, he prefixed to it a history of the parochial clergy from the earliest times, containing much valuable information; and which was, at the desire of his friends, reprinted and sold as a separate work. Having always admired the piety and excellence of Jeremy Taylor's style, but considering it ill adapted to general perusal, Mr. Lysons undertook, in 1818, a selection of sermons from the works of that divine, containing those passages peculiarly marked by beauty of thought and expression, and omitting whatever seemed unsuitable to the present day. To the volume in question were prefixed three sermons of his own, preached on different public occasions. Mr. Lysons was twice married. The surviving children of his first marriage with Sarah, daughter of Colonel Thomas Carteret Hardy, are Samuel, the present incumbent of Rodmarton, and Charlotte, the lady of Sir James Carnegie, Bart. By his second wife, Josepha Catherine, daughter of John Gilbert Cooper, Esq. of Thurgarton Priory, Nottinghamshire, his present relict, he left a son and a daughter. In 1824 Mr. Lysons was induced to undertake a continental tour for the sake of the health of his younger children. On this occasion he might fairly have justified the expression of the ancient philosopher, "quotidie se aliquid addiscentem senem fieri." His journal, in four manuscript quarto volumes, now in the hands of his family, but at no time intended for publication, comprises a fund of interesting matter, enriched by his extensive acquaintance with French and Italian literature. Having perused with much pleasure, in the course of his different enquiries, a work in Italian by the exBishop of Tarentum, entitled, " An Historico-political Discourse on the Origin, Progress, and Decline of the Power of the Clergy over temporal Signories, with a Sketch of the History of the Two Sicilies," he translated it with a view to publication, an idea which he abandoned on his return to England. On resuming his parochial duties, his attention was exclusively occupied with the design of preparing a commentary on the Scriptures, on a scale adapted to an application of the writings of the fathers, and other sources of sound instruction with which his past studies had rendered him familiar. The failure of his eyesight, however, forced him soon to relinquish a project on which he had long dwelt with satisfaction, as the solace of declining life; or at least to limit it to a preparation of lectures from the gospel of St. Matthew, for the instruction of his own flock. Mr. Lysons died on the 3d of January, 1834. How deeply and deservedly he was regretted as a father, a husband, and a neighbour, it is not the province of this memoir to describe. How justly he was valued for his openness of heart, and kindly urbanity of temper, will be testified by the many to whom he was casually known as a man of the world and of letters. Placed, from an early time of life, on an intimate and independent footing in the society of men conspicuous for rank and talent, he retained, in a peculiar degree, the simple habits, the unassuming manners, and the practical piety of a faithful minister of the church. To fulfil this vocation conscientiously was the main purpose of a life otherwise distinguished by honourable and useful labours, and combining in a true sense the characteristics which the great poet of antiquity has assigned to the memory of the just. "Quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita manebat, From a Correspondent. 110 No. VIII. REAR-ADMIRAL SIR CHARLES CUNNINGHAM, K.C.H. WHEN Dr. Johnson indulged his fancy with the horrors of sea life, and pronounced that all who saw a cabin would envy a gaol, he was speaking from the experience of a row across the Thames, by way of varying the scenes of Bolt Court. But it is a proud characteristic of England, that so far from her sons participating in such apprehensions, they are scarcely to be restrained from betaking themselves to the element which has so enlarged the power and resources of the country. Thus it was with the excellent officer whose professional career we are about to relate. No sooner had he mastered the reading of Robinson Crusoe than he felt a violent inclination for a maritime life; and the nation being then at peace, he went as a "sea-boy" into the merchant service, and had become a smart seaman when the American war broke out. That event called forth other aspirings; and though he was now twenty years of age, he entered the royal navy as a midshipman in 1775. His first ship was the Eolus, of 32 guns, which, under the able discipline of Captain William Bennett, who commanded her upwards of seven years, had acquired the character of a "crack" frigate. The Eolus sailed for the West India station early in 1776, then commanded by Captain Christopher Atkins; and on joining the squadron of Sir Peter Parker, the activity and seamanship of Mr. Cunningham had already been so conspicuous, that he was recommended to the Rear-Admiral as an officer fully equal to the charge of a watch. This recommendation was effective, he was received on board the Bristol, of 50 guns, Capt. Tobias Caulfield, which ship bore the flag, and was soon put into a way of advancing himself. In 1778 he was lent into the Ostrich, of 14 guns and 110 men, a vessel of the squadron cruising off Savannah Point, Jamaica. Here, on the morning of the 8th of July, they fell in with a rakish French privateer of 16 guns and 150 men, which instantly "showed fight." A desperate and sanguinary engagement followed, in which the Captain and Lieutenant of the Ostrich were disabled, besides four of her men killed and twentyeight wounded; but after three hours' attack, the privateer was so riddled and cut up, that she surrendered, having then thirty dead upon her deck, and a great number wounded. This led to Mr. Cunningham's being appointed Acting Lieutenant to the Port Royal, a sloop of war of 18 guns, in the following year, although he had not then served quite four years in the navy. From this vessel he was soon removed to act as First Lieutenant of the Hitchinbroke, an armed ship of 14 guns, commanded by the gallant Nelson, who, also recently made out of the Bristol, had become acquainted with Cunningham's worth. An attack on the island of Jamaica being apprehended, Captain Nelson was appointed to command the important batteries which defended Port Royal. In consequence of this arrangement, and being anxious to serve in a sea-going ship, in the beginning of 1780 Mr. Cunningham joined the Pallas, a fine frigate of 36 guns, at the express request of Captain J. D. Spry, with which officer he served till the ship was ordered home with the Jamaica fleet, in the summer of 1782. The misfortunes of the ill-fated squadron which convoyed that fleet are well known; a threedecker and three other line-of-battle ships foundered, the Pallas was driven on one of the Western Islands, and all the other ships were disabled. Fortunately for Mr. Cunningham, on the frigate's being ordered to England, he had determined to remain on the station until his promotion was secured; and therefore joined the Ajax, of 74 guns, just before the Pallas sailed. In this ship he served, as Second Lieutenant, with Captain Charring |