THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE-JAMES AGAR ELLIS, BARON DOVER, F. R.S. F.S. A., ETC. ETC. ETC. (With a Portrait.) THIS amiable and accomplished nobleman expired, after an illness of but short duration, on Wednesday the 10th of July; and by this event, literature and the arts, no less than the highly respectable families to whom his Lordship was allied, have sustained a very heavy loss. His life was too little public, and too devoid of great events, to allow of our giving a protracted account of it. Some brief notices, however, of his family and personal history may not be unseasonable. For these particulars we are indebted to the memoirs of Lord Clifden, and of the late Lord Dover, in the National Portrait Gallery. Most of the facts ascertained respecting the early history of this family, are communicated in a valuable work published by the subject of this memoir, under the title of "The Ellis' Correspondence." It consisted of letters written during the important years 1686-7-8, and besides throwing a light upon the great Revolution effected at that period, made us acquainted with the ancestry and family whence the subject of this memoir is descended. The name of Ellis was remarkably distinguished among those whom the political changes of the times brought into action; for of six sons of the Rev. John Ellis, who died November 3d, 1681, the eldest was John, (to whom the correspondence is addressed at Dublin,) a secretary to the Revenue Commissioners under James II., and afterwards Comptroller of the Mint and Under Secretary of State to William III.; the second was Sir William Ellis, who, following the fortunes of the exiled Stuarts, was Treasurer and Secretary of State to the Prince, yet died a Protestant at Rome; the third was Philip, a Jesuit of much influence at the court of James, and, finally, Romish Bishop of Segni, in Italy; the fourth, Welbore, was Protestant Bishop of Meath, and the direct founder of the present noble house; and the fifth and sixth were in the profession of medicine and the law. The John Ellis, to whom these six sons were born, traced his ancestry to the Conquest; from the date of which event, they had been settled at Kiddall Hall, in the county of York; he was rector of Waddesdon, Suffolk, and married to Susanna, the daughter of William Welbore, Esq. of Cambridge. Welbore, their fourth son, having acquired the most liberal education, and taken the degree of D. D. was, after various church preferments, ordained Bishop of Kildare in 1705, and translated to the see of Meath in 1731, where he died about two years afterwards. He was a member of the Privy Council, and left by his lady, Diana, daughter of Sir John Briscoe, of Amberley Castle, Sussex, and grand-daughter of Nicholas, Earl of Banbury, two surviving children, namely, a son, Welbore, and a daughter, Anne. 176.-VOL. XV. Welbore rose to high consideration in the state, and filled many offices of great trust and responsibility. In 1749, he was a Lord of Admiralty; in 1755, Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; in 1763, Secretary at War; in 1765 and 1770, again Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; and in 1782, Secretary of State. Having discharged the duties of these important stations in a manner which signally entitled him to honourable reward, he was, in 1794, created a peer, as Lord Mendip, of Mendip, in the county of Somerset, with remainder, he having no issue, to the issue male of his sister Anne, by her marriage with Henry Agar, Esq. The family of Agar are of French extraction, and belonged to the Comte Venaissin, whence they fled, to avoid the religious persecutions which wasted the country, and drove its best citizens into banishment. They had also settled in the shire of York, but, by intermarrying into Ireland, they became landed proprietors there; and James Agar, of Gowran Castle, in the county of Kilkenny, sat for many years in the Irish Parliament, as the representative of the respective boroughs of Leighlin and Gowran. By his second wife, Mary, the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Wemyss, of Danesfort, and who lived to the extraordinary age of one hundred and six, he had several children, of whom Henry, the eldest, married, as already mentioned, in 1733, Anne Ellis, daughter to the Bishop of Meath, and sister to the first Lord Mendip. Of this marriage were born, James, the first Baron and Viscount Clifden, and Charles, (third son,) Archbishop of Dublin, and founder of the Irish Earldom of Normanton; besides other male and female issue. James, created Lord Clifden, July 1776, and Viscount in 1781, was a Privy Councillor in Ireland, one of his Majesty's Commissioners of the Customs, and Post-master-General in that kingdom; and, who, previously to his elevation to the peerage, had long represented the county of Kilkenny in Parliament. He married, in March 1760, Lucia, eldest daughter of John Martin, Esq., and widow of the Hon. H. B. Walsingham, second son of the Earl of Shannon; by that lady he had, besides other offspring, HenryWelbore, Viscount Clifden, the father of the subject of this sketch, who was his only son. The Hon. Agar Ellis was born on the 14th of Jan. 1797, and in 1822 married Georgiana, second daughter of George, sixth and present Earl of Carlisle, by whom he has several children. At the general election in 1818, he was returned for the borough of Heytesbury; and at the age of twentyone, took his seat in the Imperial Parliament, of which he continued to be an efficient member, until he was raised to the peerage in June, 1831: seldom, indeed, taking a very conspicuous part in debates upon the great political questions which have been discussed; but, while he maintained his principles upon these in a way not to be misunderstood, applying himself with more congenial and prominent zeal to every subject which involved the cause of learning, the fine or useful arts, charities, and the improvement of the people. Thus, in 1824, when the sum of £57,000 was appropriated to the purchase of Mr. Angerstein's collection of pictures for the public, as the foundation of a National Gallery, it must be recorded to the lasting fame of Mr. Ellis, that he was the first person who suggested this illustrious design, and one of the most earnest and enlightened of its advocates, whose energy led to the adoption of the measure. With regard to his political course and sentiments, we cannot, perhaps, illustrate Mr. Ellis's opinions better, than by transcribing his own declaration of them in the debate on the Irish Forty-shilling Freeholders bill, March, 1829. "I seldom trespass on the indulgence of the House, (he said,) but I am anxious to explain, in as few words as possible, the reasons which induce me to vote for this wise measure. I can assure the House, that I am, in the strict sense of the word, a decided reformer. I have voted, not only for particular motions of reform, but for general reform; and, as a reformer, I am ready to support this measure." In the same speech, he characterized the "Catholic emancipation," as a great and healing measure of justice and concession :" from which it may be correctly inferred, that all his votes in the House of Commons have been on the popular side. 66 Reverting, however, to his patronage of the fine arts, we may describe Mr. Ellis as the steady and generous friend to our native school. The judgment exhibited in the collection which adorns the walls of his mansion in Spring Gardens, proclaims the connoisseur as well as the amateur; and almost every picture is a gem, which one would be tempted to choose as the best specimen of the artist extant, and always to be referred to a sa pleasing example of his style and execution. Among these, the celebrated composition of the Queen's Trial, by Hayter, is memorable as a historical document, and a gallery of distinguished portraits, such as has rarely been produced; while the works of Lawrence, Collins, Jackson, Leslie, Newton, and other eminent contemporaries, add to the treasures of this selection, no less distinguished by its uniform taste and feeling, than by the grace, beauty, and interest of its component parts. In literary pursuits, similar discrimination and refinement have marked his Lordship's career. As an author, he has published, within a short time, "The True History of the State Prisoner, commonly called the Iron Mask, extracted from documents in the French Archives." "Historical Inquiries respecting the Character of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor of England." "The Ellis' Correspondence," in two octavo volumes, and illustrating a remarkable period of the annals of England, from the letters of the Editor's family. Mr. Ellis also, in 1822, produced a Catalogue Raisonné of the principal pictures in Flanders and Holland; which was printed, but not published; and we have reason to know, that he is the writer of some able reviews, both in the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, as well as of articles in Magazines, Annuals, and other periodicals, which reflect great credit upon his fancy and talents. In the separate works we have enumerated, the author has displayed much elegant literature, and an acute and critical mind. Following M. Delort, he has demonstrated almost beyond doubt, as far as circumstantial evidence can go, that the Iron Mask was Count Hercules Anthony Matthioli, a Bolognese by birth, and secretary of state to Charles III. Duke of Mantua. But whether this fact is acknowledged or not, there can be no question as to the ability with which Mr. Ellis has treated it. The Historical Inquiries appeared the year after the Iron Mask, namely 1828, and still farther elevated their author's reputation. His investigation of the character of Lord Clarendon is a well-written and clever volume; and it is curious to find that so new a view of the case should have received such considerable countenance since, by the publication of Lord Ashburnham's exposition of the conduct of Hyde towards his ancestor, the Jack Ashburnham of the unfortunate Charles I. The Ellis' Correspondence is a performance of still greater historical value; which, while it interests the reader by its variety, throws a certain light upon many transactions that have exercised the ingenuity and research of preceding authors, without having been hitherto satisfactorily developed or explained. Almost from the first institution of the Royal Society of Literature, his Lordship has been a diligent and valuable member of the Council, and, since the resignation of the learned Bishop of Salisbury, has enjoyed the distinction of being its Second President. His last literary labour was the publication of Horace Walpole's Correspondence, a performance which does great credit to the research of the noble editor. From such labours, and from such associations, has this estimable nobleman been called away by death; and while, in recording this event, we deeply lament its untimely occurrence, we cannot but rejoice that he has left behind him an example, which those of his rank will do well to imitate, and by following which they will add to their hereditary privileges, that personal respect and affection from the great body of the people, which constitute the safeguard and the pledge of their stability and their per manence. ON THE ALCESTIS OF EURIPIDES. MANY in number, and various in character, as are the objections to the modern drama, and justly founded as those objections appear to be, to every one who considers impartially its effects and tendency in relation to the moral feeling of the public at large, there cannot be any doubt that the tragedy of the ancients may in many respects claim an exemption from the censures, which apply, with equal truth and power, to the writings of the dramatists of later times. Whatever might be the licentiousness of the Attic comedy, (and to what a depth of debasement this means of exciting the worst feelings in the human breast descended, needs not be mentioned here;) a spirit of comparative purity seems to have watched over the cradle of its sister art, which, whether we consider the darkness of the times, or the character of the people among whom it was nurtured, appears equally surprising. Faults there undoubtedly are, and these neither few nor unimportant; but enough of valuable ore gleams from the deteriorating matrix with which it is accompanied, to induce us involuntarily to ask, How such a noble system of speculative ethics could spring from means apparently so inadequate to its production? while, fully acknowledging, as we do, the inefficacy of the lessons inculcated, or the examples made use of, without the quickening agency of a power which the Divine Mercy thought fit to reveal, after ages of night had sufficiently proved the inability of man, when left to himself, to do otherwise than fail; we cannot at the same time restrain our wonder at the splendour and loftiness of the truths thus displayed, or the imposing manner in which that philosophy or virtue, whose practical weakness contemporaneous history has so fearfully and undeniably proved, contrived to invest itself with the majestic dress and external beauty of a far more glorious and vital essence. Indeed, when compared with the grovelling idolatry of the nations around them; when contrasted at the same time with the relentless ferocity of the northern hordes, or the melancholy state of effeminate depravity, inhuman cruelty, and systematic deceit, into which their Asiatic neighbours had sunk, the mental condition of the Greeks of old appears much to resemble that which Milton has so beautifully ascribed to the fallen spirits of a somewhat loftier order than their unhappy companions in ruin :— Öthers apart, sat on a hill retired In thought more elevate, and reasoned high Foremost among ancient writers in the great art of moving the sympathies by scenes of imaginary distress, stands the name of Euripides, the most tragic of poets, according to a testimony, towards which succeeding ages have shown a respect rather greater than it deserves,* and among the many relics bearing the impress of genius, by which that Τραγικώτατος γε τῶν ποιητῶν φαινεται.—Arist. Poet xiii. 10. well-known name appeals to the admiration of posterity, none, in beauties peculiar to itself, can be considered superior to the Alcestis,-a production which, to gain all due effect from external circumstance, should be read on some calm day, in what Coleridge calls "the leafy month of June," when the mind, indisposed to any great effort, would willingly yield itself to a succession of the most graceful images, sporting through the scenes of a tale of the gentlest power. It is unessential, moreover, whether its merits be viewed through the medium of a translation, or not. No language can be so opposite to the original in its essential character, nor any translation so indifferent, as to obscure the elegance and pathos which shine through the mere plan and narration of this exquisite piece. Now, we are by no means certain that so high an encomium would be warranted by a strict application of the rules dictated for the use of all poets to come, by the mouth of the mighty Stagyrite himself, or by the very respectable judgment of many among the "hundred-head of his friends," on the banks of Cam and Isis. Neither are we at all sure that the drama itself, if taken home and measured "by an exact scale of Bossus "would not, like the epic poem of Sterne's Critic, be found out in every one of its dimensions." In what are more popularly considered the characteristics of tragic excellence-in the agency of terror, guilt, suffering, madness, and remorse, upon the minds of the persons represented, and indirectly upon those of the spectators assembled, there are not wanting many master-pieces of the Grecian stage, which address themselves to the feelings with a far more forcible effect. It does not, to use the language of Sir Philip Sydney, "stir the heart like a trumpet' as some passages in the Seven against Thebes. It does not throw the reader into a fever of admiration, like the sublime apostrophe to all inanimate nature in the Prometheus, or the noble system of impassioned verse, with which that wild and incomprehensible poem concludes. Neither has it the imposing majesty and mysterious interest of the Edipus, or the mournful dignity which makes the Electra of Sophocles one of the finest impersonations of the Attic muse. But as long as the endearing relations of domestic life, drawn in the most engaging light by the hand of an author whose style vies with the pencil of Reubens in the strength of individual colouring, awaken a correspondent feeling in every cultivated breast-as long as the fount of deep emotion is as sensitive to the voice of song, as the swelling spring of the forest to the influence of the passing gust, the Alcestis of Euripides will find those who will appreciate its subdued and magic power—while, when considered with reference to the melody of its diction, the natural character of its sentiments, the delightful issue of its plot, or the masterly manner in which the few persons introduced are drawn, it is not yielding too much to a favourite impression, to assert that it stands a singular monument of literary excellence in an age, when excellence it is true was of no unfrequent occurrence, but yet, generally speaking, of a very different character. The very locality of the scene is in strict accordance with the household quietness and sweet portraiture of affection it is intended to develop. We have neither Thebes nor Argos reared in towered magnificence before our eyes,—there are no smoking altars, garlanded victims, nor pompous processions,—no hurrying of characters to the beleaguered battlement, nor entrance of affrighted messengers from the field of war. For these, we have Thessaly at a time when Thessaly was considered not unworthy of being the abode of gods, the still waters of the streams tributary to the Peneus bright with reflected harvests, and Mount Othrys reposing in stately dignity, with its valleys resonant to the shepherd's pipe, and white with innumerable flocks. We are introduced to the very hearth of a prince, whose power, founded only on the attachment of his subjects, and whose hospitable liberality, bestowed with indiscriminative hand, remind us strongly of the simple authority and uncalculating kindness of heart, conspicuous in the history of the patriarchal rulers of Holy Writ. Then again, where shall we find those collected excellences which, in the fallacious days of our youth, we consider as essential to the female character in the abstract, and gift with “ a local habitation and a name," in any one of the forms which smile upon our path, and haunt our summer dreams, so vividly developed as in the delineation of Alcestis herself,the tender mother--the revered mistress-the blameless wife-the willing victim of death under the influence of a love " stronger than the grave," and a devotion which, in its full extent, the heart of woman is, perhaps, after all, alone capable of feeling. To Wordsworth's favourite subjects of contemplation, the Una of the Fairy Queen, and the Desdemona of Shakspeare, he would be well justified in adding the Thessalian Princess, as a conception of no inferior merit, either in design or execution; and if the general representations of the gentler sex by Euripides are distinguished by unmerited sarcasm, he must be allowed, in the present instance, to have made the "amende honorable" to those qualities which he has so often calumniated. Let us hope, for his |