Robert North, Esq. of Scarborough.

This portrait, copied from a picture at Scarborough by Mr. Baynes, jun. and not before engraven, is of a very worthy person, whose eccentricities in well doing rendered him in some degree remarkable. Mr. Robert North, whom it represents, was born at that place, of which his father was vicar, on the second of November, 1702. His education was liberal. After completing his studies at one of the universities he visited the continent, and was distinguished fo. refinement of manners and exemplary

benevolence and piety. In the latter part of his life he sought retirement, and seldom went abroad except to the church, which he regularly attended on every occasion when service was performed. He generally ap peared absorbed in meditation, and was accustomed to make ejaculatory prayers, or fervent aspirations, as he walked. Once in every year he had a sort of gala-day for the entertainment of his female friends, whom he charmed by his polite attention and pleasing conversation. With the next

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morning he resumed his usual seclusion for the ensuing twelvemonth. He lived many years in full expectation of the commencement of the millennium.

But that which has given celebrity to the name of the late "Robert North, Esq." at Scarborough is the founding, in the year 1728, of a very useful institution, called "The Amicable Society," for clothing and educating the children of the poor; which under the government of a president, four trustees, and four wardens, annually elected, with a fund for its support, arising from the weekly subscriptions of the members, collections made in the church, and other voluntary donations, continues to flourish. The number of children thus clothed and educated, now in the school, is sixty, and the number of members two hundred and sixty-five.

This institution has preserved many children from the contagion of evil example, and enabled them to follow useful occupations in life with credit and advantage. Several, who, by their early education at this seminary, attained a competent know ledge of navigation, became mates and commanders of vessels, and eventually benefactors and patrons of the institution.

The exact day of Mr. North's death does not appear; but his interment is dated in the parish-register of Scarborough, 14th October, 1760.

Mr. North, by a singular codicil to his will, gives one pair of his silver candlesticks to the celebrated Dr. Young, author of the poem on the Last Day, &c.; and the other pair to the Rev. James Hervey, author of the Meditations among the Tombs, &c. "I call these," he says, " in some measure legacies to the public, having given them to persons so well able to employ them for the benefit of mankind."

The other legacies by this codicil are usually in themselves reinarkable, and all the bequests are accompanied by remarks, which denote the peculiar character of the donor's disposition: for example-"To the lady Lowther, of Swillington, a curious basket made of beads, the product of the virgin amusements of my grandmother and her two sisters-it seeming highly proper to present a thing, which has gained the applause of most people, to a person who I hope has gained the applause of all. To Mrs. Philadelphia Boycott, my Kerry seal set in gold, with Mr. Addison's head engraven on it-which will be very fitly deposited in the hands of a lady, whose letters are much celebrated for their wit

and humour. In pursuance of an old pro-
mise, to Mrs. Barbara Tatton a picture in
needlework, which was likewise made at
the leisure hours of my aforesaid grand-
mother and her sisters, and which I suppose
to have been designed for king Charles II.

the subject of which may perhaps sometimes engage her to reflect on this great truth, that the finest wit, if it deviate from the paths of virtue, is but a more elegant sort of folly. To Mrs. Christiana Hargrave, my silver spinster, my silver coffee-pot, silver tea-pot, the silver stands for them, and tea-canisters, milk-pot, and tea-spoonsbeing all of them baubles of some dignity and importance, even to women of sense, when in complaisance to the customs of an inconsiderate age they condescend to trifle. To the Rev. Thomas Adam, restor of Wintringham in Lincolnshire, my mahowhich may gany bureau and bookcase serve as a cabinet in which to reposit his manuscripts, till he may think it proper to make a cabinet of the world. In pursuance of an old promise to Mrs. Susannah Adam, his wife, my gold snuff-box-but if the contents of it prejudice her constitution, I hope she will upon this occasion follow the example of many fine ladies, who have many fine things which they never use. My silver cup and best silver tankard to Barnabas Legard, of Brompton, county of York, Esq., a person qualified by experience to teach our fine gentlemen a truth, which perhaps many of them will be surprised to hear-that temperance is the most delicious and refined luxury. To ensign William Massey, (my godson,) son of the late Capt. John Massey, of Hull, my sword; and hope he will, if ever occasion require it, convince a rash world that he has learned to obey his God as well as his general, and that he entertains too true a sense of honour ever to admit any thing into the character of a good soldier, which is inconsistent with the duty of a good Christian. I give the sum of forty pounds, to be paid into the king's exchequer.--I give thirty pounds to be added to the common stock of our East India company -which two last legacies I leave, as the best method I know, though not an exact one, of making restitution for the injustice I may have done, in buying (inadvertently)

The Whole Works of the Rev. Thomas Adam have been lately first collected in three vols. by the Rev. W. Smith.

† A brave man thinks no one his superior who does him an injury, for he has it then in his power to make himself superior to the other by forgiving it. Testator.

any

uncustomed goods; and which I nope will be accepted by the great Judge of all men, in case I do not meet with a better before I die.-I give the sum of one hundred pounds to the person who shall within four years after my decease make and publish the best tragedy, entitled Virtue Triumphant wherein among such others, as the poet shall think proper to introduce, shall be drawn the character of a virtuous man unconquered by misfortunes, &c. I give the sum of one hundred pounds to the person who shall, within four years after my decease, make and publish the best comedy; wherein-among such others as the poet shall think proper to introduce-shall be drawn the four following characters, viz. of a fine gentleman, a fine lady, a beau, and a coquet; the two first to be drawn with a thorough taste for religion and virtue, accompanied with fine sense and humour, and to be crowned with success; the two last with the fopperies and follies common to persons of these denominations, and to be made objects of contempt and ridicule," &c.*

Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, viz. all the said subjects jointly, and not any single one independent of the rest:" and, that the poets might not be discouraged " upon suspicion of incapacity in their judges," he entirely resigned the decision of the best poem to "universal suffrage" and election by "vote;" or, as he is pleased to call it, in the Magazine for August, "the public vote of kingdoms." He presumes that this scheme “will probably be most agreeable to the poets themselves, because they will be tried by such a number as is not capable of being bribed, and because this method of determination will, as he conceives, tend most to the honour of that poet who shall succeed." In October he prescribes that the voters shall sign a declaration, disclaiming undue influence; and he suggests, that if the majority of candidates prefer a determinate number of judges to the public at large, he will accord to that arrangement, provided they express their desires with their poems. Accordingly, the Gentleman's Magazine of May, 1735,"informs the candidates, that as the majority of them are for a decision by a select number of judges, the donor is desirous that Mr. Urban should apply to able merit, to undertake this office;" and three particular gentlemen of unexceptionit is announced, that the poems will be donor of fifty pounds, as a prize for the published in "an entire Magazine Extrapoets," to encourage them "to make the ordinary," to render which "acceptable, to those who have no great taste for poetry," best Latin or English, on Life, Death, there will be added" poem, something of general In the following July the poems appeared in the promised "Gentleman's Magazine Extraordinary, printed by E. Cave, at St. John's Gate, for the benefit of the poets;" whereto was added, as of " general use," agreeably to the above promise, and for those "who have no great taste in poetry," the Debates in the first session of parliament for 1735.

MR. NORTH'S PRIZES FOR THE POETS. Nothing further appears to be known respecting Mr. North, except that, through the "Gentleman's Magazine" for July, 1734, he proposed, and was the anonymous

* Besides these bequests, Mr. North desired that two manuscript-books, consisting of miscellaneous pieces, and particularly a discourse, the first and last parts whereof were composed with a view of their being preached instead of a sermon at his funeral, should be printed in one volume after his decease, at an expense of one hundred pounds, and directed the profits of the books sold to be expended in causing an impres sion to be made of four sermons by archbishop Sharp and bishop Beveridge, containing a description of the Joys of Heaven and the Torments of the Damned; together with some directions how men may obtain the one, and escape the other; the said four sermons to be printed on good paper, and in a fair character, bound or stitched in strong covers, and given gratis among soldiers, sailors, poor persons, and coinmon labourers. He further gave to the archbishop of York two hundred pounds, in trust, to be applied towards the building or other uses and services of another church, or a chapel of ease in Scarborough aforesaid, provided any such church or chapel should be erected within ten years after his decease. He also gave fifty pounds to the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge; and fifty pounds to the Society for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts. "I desire the lord archbishop of York (Hutton) will do me the honour to accept the picture of Pope Gregory I., which has been commended, and was a legacy to me from the painter, Mr. John Settrington. I desire the lord bishop of Carlisle (Osbaldeston) will do me the honour to accept my own picture, drawn by the same hand.

These particulars, and those preceding, are contained in "A Biographical Sketch" of Mr. North, printed at Scarborough by and for John Cole, 1823. 8vo. pp. 16.

use."

What gratification Mr. North derived from his encouragement of "the poets," is to be inferred from this-that, in the supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine of the same year, 1735, he announced, that other prizes thereafter mentioned would be given to persons who should "make and send to Mr. Urban, before the 11th of June, 1736, the four best poems, entitled "The Christian Hero"-viz.

"1. To the person who shall make the best will be given a gold medal, (intrinsic value about ten pounds,) which shall have the head of the right hon. the lady Elizabeth Hastings on one side, and that of James Oglethorpe,