No. XLII.

RIGHT HON. ST. ANDREW LORD ST. JOHN,

OF BLETSOE, D. C. L. &c. &c. &c.

THE St. Johns (commonly pronounced Sinjons) are descended from a family, originally settled at the town of St. John in Normandy. They afterwards came to, and made many great alliances in England; they also appear to have obtained considerable grants from the conqueror; for we find John de St. John possessing lands of great extent in Oxfordshire, in the time of Henry I. This line, however, terminated in a female, who married William Paulet, ancestor of the late Duke of Bolton. Her husband was afterwards created

Baron St. John of Basing, and Earl of Wiltshire.

From another branch of this family, sprung Oliver, the ancestor of the St. Johns, Viscounts Bolingbroke, who was consequently the progenitor of that celebrated nobleman, whom Pope thus invokes :

"Awake my St. John! leave all meaner things

To low ambition, and the pride of kings;" &c.

The Honourable St. Andrew St. John, the second surviving son of John the eleventh Lord St. John of Bletsoe, by Miss Simonds, the daughter of a London merchant, was born August 22, 1759, and being a younger brother, great and singular pains were taken with his education. He was accordingly sent to Christ Church Oxford, to complete his studies. While there, he not only complied with all the rules of the University, but even aspired to its chief honours. These, were accordingly attained by him, for on May 12, 1795, he received the degree of Doctor of Civil Law.

Being intended for the bar, he had before entered himself of Lincoln's Inn, and after his admission, the term of which was

greatly shortened by his degree; he attended the court of King's Bench. We believe, that he was the first of late years, who wore a gown without a wig*, which encumbered his head, and prevented his hearing the elaborate decisions of William Earl of Mansfield. He obtained actual permis

sion, we understand, from the Bench, for this omission.

But Mr. St. John, soon abjured his forensic studies, in search of honours and employments of another kind. We accordingly find him a candidate for the representation of his native county, in the fifteenth parliament of Great Britain, which met October 31, 1780; and he was returned, in conjunction with the late Earl of Upper Ossory, a peer of Ireland.

The opinions of the new Knight of the Shire, were decidedly averse to the continuance of the American war; he therefore contributed all in his power, both by his votes and his speeches, to put a speedy termination to it. On its conclusion, he formed part of the Rockingham administration, with which he had acted while in opposition; for in April 1783, we find him nominated Under-Secretary to his friend the Right Honourable Charles-James Fox, who then became one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State.

On the retreat of his patron from office, which was accom panied by his own resignation, he once more became a candidate for the same county, in the sixteenth parliament of Great Britain, convoked in 1784; but a contest now ensued, and he was obliged to petition the House. A committee having declared him "duly elected," in consequence of this decision, he replaced Lord Ongley, who had been returned by the Sheriff, as the sitting member. In the new parliaments of 1790, and 1796, we find him elected in conjunction with his opponent Mr. John Osborne, son of Sir George; and he was also returned with the same colleague, during the two first Imperial parliaments, in 1801, and 1802. Thus, Mr. St. John appears to have represented the county of Bedford, during the

* The editor has been informed by a King's counsel of considerable standing that Robert Burton, Esq., a Welch Judge, was another exemption,

long, and almost unexampled term of twenty-five years.

On

the impeachment of Mr. Hastings, this able and eloquent Commoner, was deemed of such consequence, as to be appointed one of the managers, and acquitted himself with singular firmness and decorum upon this occasion. + He was also a strenuous opposer of Mr. Pitt's Regency bill.

On the demise of his elder brother, the Right Honourable Henry Beauchamp St. John, on December 16, 1805, (who had no issue by Miss Emma Whitbread, second daughter of the first Samuel Whitbread, Esq.) he succeeded to the honours and estates, as Baron St. John of Bletsoe. His Lordship supported the same party as a peer, which had obtained his aid when a member of the House of Commons; and he spoke several times with his wonted talents and abilities.

During the second administration of Mr. Fox, by whom he was greatly esteemed, he obtained the office of Captain of the Band of Gentlemen-Pensioners; and at a period of considerable alarm, he also accepted a commission in the Bedfordshire volunteers.

Lord St. John, was at one time an orator of some note. His two best speeches, as a commoner, were those delivered on opening one of the charges against the Ex-Governor-general Warren Hastings, in 1787; and that in 1789, when he seconded Mr. Baker's motion, on "the state of the nation." He also distinguished himself in the House of Lords, in 1808, against the "Orders in Council;" on which occasion, the resolutions moved by his lordship, were supported by fortyseven peers.

On July 16, 1807, Lord St. John married Louisa, eldest daughter of Sir Charles-William-Rouse Broughton, Bart., of Downton Hall, in the county of Norfolk, by whom he had issue, several children. This nobleman, who had attained the age of fifty-eight, died at his seat at Melchburn, in Bedfordshire, in 1817, leaving his widow pregnant. He is succeeded by his eldest son, a boy, only seven years old.

* "Dec. 5th, 1807.

In 1791, he opened the fourth article of the printed charges.

No. XLIII.

JOSIAH BOYDELL, Esq.

LATE AN ALDERMAN OF LONDON, LIEUT. - COLONEL COMMANDANT OF THE HAMPSTEAD VOLUNTEERS, &c. &c.

THE

HE name of Boydell is connected with the history and progress of the art of engraving in England. One of this family (the late Alderman John Boydell), first distinguished himself by his "Sketches of Bridges," and when afterwards clad in the regalia of the city, one day pointing to these early works, which were bound together for sale, he observed, "This is the first book that ever made a Lord Mayor of London.”

Josiah, the nephew, originally bred in his counting-house, afterwards became his partner; and finally his successor in a business, which that firm not only rendered highly lucrative for themselves, but also not a little advantageous to their country. When Mr. John Boydell first commenced business, French prints were imported annually, to the amount of many thousand pounds; and yet he lived to behold the balance of trade, in respect to this elegant branch of the fine arts, more than tripled in our favour.

On his lamented demise, in 1805, the subject of this brief memoir succeeded to his alderman's gown; like him, in due time, he would have filled the civic chair, had not his declining health obliged him to resign all his pretensions, five years after.

Having been the senior officer of the corps, of volunteers enrolled near his own house at West-End, Hampstead, he was afterwards elected their Lieutenant-Colonel. He also served the respectable office of Master to the Stationers' Company; but both his spirits and strength failing, he retired to the pleasant village of Halliford, in the county of Middlesex, where he died March 27, 1817.

Mr. Josiah Boydell was the author of a pamphlet published in 1803, entitled "Suggestions towards forming a Plan for the Improvement of the Arts and Sciences."

THE

No. XLIV.

SIR WILLIAM INNES, BART.

OF BALVENIE, NORTH BRITAIN.

HE family of Innes is supposed to have been originally of Flemish extraction, and, if we are not greatly misinformed, first settled under Beroaldus Flandrensis in that fertile tract of country situate between the Spey and the Lossie, in the county of Moray. Of this line the (now ducal) house of Innes, of Innes, near Elgin, was always considered as the chief, in consequence both of tradition and records. The large possessions attached to this stem, and also the title of Baronet of Nova Scotia, which was conferred in 1628, soon after the institution of that order, serves to confirm this statement.

Sir James Innes, of Balvenie, having died in 1722, was succeeded by Robert his eldest son, who lived until 1758, when his younger brothers Charles and William, became Baronets in succession.

Sir William Innes, of Balvenie, the last of these, of whom we now treat, appears to have been the patriarch of baronets, as he was born about the year 1718. Being desirous of military fame, he served as a volunteer in the Life Guards, when they attended King George II. at the battle of Dettingen, in 1743. Mr. Innes afterwards obtained a cornetcy of horse, and rose through the successive steps of Lieutenant, Captain of a troop, and Major, until he at length attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2d regiment of Dragoon Guards, when he seems to have retired from the service.

After this he settled at Ipswich, where he succeeded to his family honours, and resided until his death, which occurred