The life of this gentleman prefents few other memora ble events, his literary labours excepted, which evince a series of study and toil, feldom to be met with, even in those who have dedicated their whole time to letters alone. His principal works are the following:

1. In 1763, “A Review of the genuine Doctrines of Christianity, &c.” 8vo. with the name annexed.

2. lu 1764, an anonymous “Enquiry into the Question, Whether Juvies are, or are not, Judges of Law as well as of Fact; with a particular Reference to the Cafe of Libels." In this Dr. Towers took the conftitutional and affirmative fide of the question, not only in respect to libels, but in all cafes robatever, this doctrine was ably fupported by the late Lord Camden fo far as concerns the former, and has alio received the fanction of the legislature in a bill, but too little attended to by either judges or juries.

3. He is the author of the first seven volumes of "British Biography;" the first volume of which was published in 1786.

4. Between fifty and fixty articles in the new edition of the Biogr. Britain, with the letter T. annexed.

5. In 1778, “An Examination into Sir J. Dalrymple's scandalous Attack on the Memory of Sydney and Ruffel.'

6. In 1774, “A Letter to Dr. Johnson, occasioned by his recent political Publications." See Bofwell's Life of Johnfon, vol. II. p. 200, 201, -and 202.

17. In 1786, “An Ellay on the Life and Writings of Dr. Johnson."

8. In 1788, Memoirs of the Life and Reign of Frederick III. King of ·Priffia. (A fecond edition has been fince published.).

9. "Obfervations on Mr Hume's Hiftory of England."

And 10. An Oration delivered at the London Tavern, on the 4th of November, 1788, on occafion of the commemoration of the Revolution, and the completion of a century from that great event:

This inftitution is fuppofed to have excited confiderable alarm in the administration; for, in the advertisement notifying its existence, a list was publiined of the first hundred affociators, among which were no lefs then forty members of parliament, viz. the Earl of Lauderdale, Mr. Grey, Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Francis, M. Tierney, Mr. Erfkine, Mr, Sheridan, * &c. &c.

This fociety published a very accurate account of the fate of the reprefentation of England and Wales, the fubitance of which was afterwards - formed into a petition, and prefented to the House of Commons by Mr. Grey, on the 6th of May, 1793. In this petition it was afferted, with what truth we pretend not to determine, that eighty-four individuals đid, by their own immediate authority, fend one hundred and fifty-seven members to parliament; and that, befides thefe, one hundred and fiftymore, making in the whole three hundred and feven, were returned to that houfe, not by the collective voice of those whom they appeared to reprefent, but by the recommendation of seventy powerful individuals: fo that the total number of patrons was one hundred and fifty-four, who returned a decided majority. Thefe ftatements, the fociety obferved in their petition, which was entered on the journals, they were ready to prove at the bar.

After remarking, that great and interesting events, involving the happiness of nations, have always been celebrated by mankind, he recurs to the important epoch, which placed William III, on the throne of the Stewarts:

"Of this nature, and of this tendency,” says he, “ is the event which we are this day affembled to commemorate. It is an event, which muft even be regarded as one of the most important recorded in the British annals, It is an event, which, at the period when it happened, justly excited the attention of furrounding nations. It is an event, which will ever reflect honour upon our ancestors, and the remembrance of which should, at all times, excite in their defcendants an ardent zeal for the liberties of their country, and for the rights of human nature.

"That when all the efforts of regal tyranny were employed to overturn the liberties of England, they fhould have been ftill more fully established at the REVOLUTION; that, in confequence of that most important .event, this country fhould now have enjoyed an high degree of liberty, civil and religious, for an entire CENTURY ;-is a juft fubject of national exultation, and of gratitude to the fupreme Ruler of the Univerfe, from whofe providential difpenfations Great Britain has derived fuch signal and fuch invaluable bleffings."

"It is among the highest honours of this country, that its inhabitants have been diftinguished, in almost every period of their history, by their 'firm, manly, and intrepid oppofition to the encroachments of tyranny. On a variety of occafions have our ancefters nobly afferted their rights as men, and as citizens. In the fenate, and in the field, they have repelled the attacks of tyrants, and maintained the honour, the dignity, and the liberties of their country. Many efforts have been made by the poffeffors of power to overturn these liberties; and, at the period previous to the Revolution, fuch was the defpotifan of the measures adopted by the then reigning prince, that, if they had been tamely fubmitted to by the people, the liberties of England would have had no longer an exiftence."

It is thus that he mentions the wrongs that led to, and the patriots who distinguished themselves during, that and a former period.

"To enter into a particular enumeration of the facts that preceded and that attended the Revolution, would take up more time than would be fuitable to the nature of fuch a meeting as the prefent. I fhall, therefore, here only obferve, that when the illegal, the unconftitutional, and the tyrannical administration of king James the Second, had rendered it neceflary that all who had any attachment to the liberties of their coun1ry, or to the Protestant religion, should make a firm and united stand against him; when he affumed a power of fufpending the laws, and of trampling on the conftitution; an illnftrious band of patriots arofe, who projected the REVOLUTION, and who adopted thofe measures that at length brought it to a glorious completion. Among the principal promoters of the Revolution, we may particularly enumerate the Earls of Devonshire, Shrewsbury, and Danby, Lord Delamer (1), Lord Lumley, Admiral

(1) Henry Booth, Lord Delamer, afterwards created Earl of Warring ton, was a nobleman of amiable and irreproachable character, who issaid

to

Admiral Herbert, Admiral Ruffel, Henry Compton, Bishop of London, and Henry Sydney, brother to the illuftrious Algernon.

"Of characters of this kind our country has happily produced too many to be now diftin&ly enumerated: but it cannot be improper on this occafion to mention the names of JOHN HAMPDEN, who oppofed the unjust claims of regal tyranny in the famous cafe of Ship-money, and who nobly fell in the cause of his country in Chalgrave-field; of the virtuous, the amiable, the patriotic Lord RUSSEL; of the high spirited and illuftrious ALGERNON SYDNEY, whofe admirable writings in the caufe of freedom brought him to the fcaffold; and of JOHN LOCKE, who has explained the true nature of civil government, and established the rights of men on the most unquestionable principles. And among the diftinguished votaries of liberty in this country, our great and illuftrious bard, the fublime MILTON, fhould not be forgotten. Even the fplendour of his genius has not fecured him from the most virulent attacks from the partizans and advocates of defpotic power; and his zeal in support of the great rights of mankind, fhould, therefore, the more endear his memory to those who are actuated by the fame generous principles. He is juftly entitled to our veneration for the ardour of his patriotifm, as well as for that elevation of genius, which enabled him to reflect so much honour on his country by his immortal writings.

The various publications of Dr. Towers, the boldness of his principles, his unabated zeal, and the fide he had taken during the American conteft, all tended to render him confpicuous. The Doctor was admitted, in 1779, to the academical honours of the univerfity of Edinburgh, having received the degree of L L. D.

T

Several of Dr. Towers' tracts, &c. have been lately re-. published in three vols. 8vo. with an admirable portrait of the author prefixed, an outline sketch of which is given in our frontispiece.

He is a widower, and has a fon, who is librarian of Dr. Williams's library, in Red Cross-street.

LORD

to have been one of the original projectors of the Revolution, and who was one of the fira that appeared in arms in its fupport, after the landing of the prince of Orange. But he was not perfectly fatisfied with the manner in which fome points were adjusted at the Revolution. He appears to have wifhed for more retrenchments of the regal prerogative, and to have thought, that the liberty of the subject was not fufficiently fecured and afcertained even under the new fettlement. Mr. Granger fays of him, in his Biographical History of England, that "he was a man of a "generous and noble nature, which difdained, upon any terms, to fub"mit to fervitude; and whofe paffions feemed to centre in the love of civil "and religious liberty." In Lord Delamer's "Advice to his Children," printed in his works, he fays, "There never yet was any good man, who had not an ardent zeal for his country."

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3

OF all the learned profeffions as they are ufually called, that of the law is the moft propitious, in this country at feaft, to fuch as poffefs talents, but are deftitute of fortune. It affords a greater variety of opportunities for a young man to bring both his natural and acquired parts into a conpicuous point of view, and confequently to turn them to an advantageous account, than any other; and where fterling abilities are united with industry and application, the chance of fuccefs is highly flattering. In support of this affertion, one might refer with great confidence to the catalogue of eminent perfons, who have filled the firft legal departments of this kingdom for centuries paft: the court calendar, and the peerage of the prefent day, will furnish proofs ftill more decifive.

Edward, Lord Thurlow, was born, A. D.. 1735, at Afhfield, an obfcure village in the county of Suffolk, of which his father, the reverend Thomas Thurlow (who died in 1762), was vicar, and whence he himfelf derives his barony. The family, like moft others who bear the fame name with a great man of former times, is faid defcended from the celebrated Thurloe, the fecretary of Oliver Cromwell; but if fo, the heralds have omitted the eircumstance, for it is not mentioned in the peeraget.

to

be

The fubject of the prefent fketch, after receiving a to lerable education from his father, who is faid, perhaps unjustly, to have attended to the learning only of his chil

He married Elizabeth Smith, of Ashfield, by whom he had issue.

1. The prefent Lord.

2. Thomas, who died Bifhop of Durham, May 27, 1791, aged 56; and, 3 John, a manufacturer at Norwich, who died March 4, 1782. +Aftory formerly circulated, if true, does great honour to his Lordship, as it evinces a total abnegation of that filly vanity which fometimes accompanies even great characters.

On be ng afked by a flatterer, while Lord High Chancellor, "if he was not defcended from the great fecretary Thurloe?" he is faid to have replied as follows: There were two of that name in my country, Sir; the one Thurloe the statesman, the other Thurlow the carrier.-1 am defcended from the latter."

dren, he was removed to Cambridge, where he was entered of Caius college, under the tuition of Dr. Smith, the present master. While there, his conduct, was so irregular, and his fpirit fo haughty, as often to provoke academic cenfure. The frequency with which this was administered, had no other effect upon a mind naturally untrac table, than to produce occafions for ftricter difcipline. At length it was hinted to him pretty plainly, that a voluntary departure from Cambridge would be a prudent step on his part, to prevent the highest punishment that an university -can inflict. He accordingly quitted his college without taking any degree, and repaired to the metropolis, where, after spending fome confiderable time, and exhaufting his finances, in a manner, we may fuppofe, not very different from that which had diftinguished him elsewhere, he engaged, at the entreaty of his friends, in the ftudy of the law, and accordingly entered himself of the Inner Temple. How he conducted himself in this new fituation is little known; but those who remember him fay, that there was nothing either in his application or his conversation, that warranted any expectation of his fubfequent celebrity. Even long after his being called to the bar, he continued unknown and unnoticed, and confequently unemployed, At length a fortunate circumftance occurred, which gave him an opportunity of fhewing to the world that he was poffeffed of powers of the first order. By fome means or other, with which we are not acquainted,* he was employed to arrange and ftate the cafe of Mr. Archibald Douglas, in the great legal conteft with the Duke of Hainilton; and this task, which was a very complex and important one, he executed in a most masterly manner.

About

He had fignalifed himself before this, in a caufe, in which the late earl of Winchelsea and Mr. Luke Robinson were concerned; and it is not at all unlikely, that it led to his being retained in the great Scotch contest about to be mentioned,