His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, on his election to the chancellorship, as the reward of eminence in classical literature: and on this, the first occasion of their being adjudged, he had the merit, after a long and severe examination, of obtaining the second; the other successful competitor being Mr. Maseres, then a student at Clare Hall, and now Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer, a man of great erudition in every department of learning, and more particularly distinguished by his uncommon depth and acuteness in the abstruser parts of analytical science.

In the spring of the same year, Mr. Porteus was elected Fellow of his college, and became a resident in Cambridge. This, as I have frequently heard him say, was one of the happiest periods of his life. By a series of unlooked for

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occurrences, he had been placed in a situation which of all others he most coveted; he had leisure to prosecute at his own discretion those pursuits which were best suited to his taste and disposition; and during the intervals of study, he was passing his time in the society of friends whom he respected and loved.

The happiness however which he thus experienced, was not long without alloy; for about this time he was called suddenly into Yorkshire by the death of his mother; an event which filled him with the deepest grief, and, together with a severe cold which he caught in travelling, brought on a most serious illness, the effects of which he felt occasionally during his whole life.

On his return to college, he found that without his knowledge, his friends had been soliciting for him the situation of Esquire

Esquire Beadle, which had become vacant by the promotion of Mr. Burroughs, afterwards Sir James Burroughs, to the Headship of Caius College. It was an office but ill suited with his turn of mind, and he was at first disinclined to accept it; but in consequence of the kind exertions which had been made in his favour, and, above all, his anxiety to relieve his father from any further expense, he at last complied. He kept it however little more than two years, having determined to make up the deficiency in his income in a way more agreeable to himself, by taking private pupils. These, with his established character and acknowledged talents, were easily obtained: and, amongst others, was the late Lord Grantham, afterwards Ambassador to Spain, and, for a short time, as his father had been before him, Secretary

Secretary of State. He was a man of the most amiable disposition, of unblemished integrity, and a highly cultivated understanding; and his death, which happened prematurely in 1785, was generally and deeply lamented; by none however more sincerely, than by his early friend and tutor, who had con→ ceived the highest opinion of his abilities, and had lived with him for nearly thirty years on terms of mutual intimacy, confidence, and regard.

Mr. Porteus had been long destined for the Church, as well by his own deli berate choice, as the wishes of his fa mily; and accordingly, at the age of twenty-six, he took orders, being or dained deacon at Buckden in the year 1757 by Dr. Thomas then Bishop of Lincoln, and, not long after, priest by Archbishop Hutton at York, where he preached

preached the ordination sermon. On his return to the University, he resumed the charge of his pupils; but, amidst the cares of tuition, he found time for other pursuits, and more particularly for the exercise of his poetical talents, which were certainly of no ordinary stamp. Of this indeed he soon after gave a public proof, by obtaining Mr. Seaton's prize for the best English poem on a sacred subject. The subject fixed upon was " Death;" and it was one perhaps at that time better suited than any other to his feelings, in consequence of his father's death, which had occurred a little before. The loss of so kind a parent, whom he most sincerely loved, had very deeply afflicted him; and he was therefore well prepared to describe in the language of the heart the sad and solemn scenes of human mortality. How admirably he has done