state, fortune capable of commanding respect: qualifications such as these are capable both of acquiring and retaining the esteem of mankind.

The family of Grey, or De Croy, has been long settled in the north of England, and manors have appertained to it in the county of Northumberland from the period of the Conquest to the present day. It originally came, as the name imports, from the continent, and, like other Norman scions, following the fortunes of William the Bastard, became engrafted on an English stock. The writer of this article is not prepared to affirm, although he is inclined to suppose, that the Greys took part with William III. at the Revolution; but it appears pretty plain that they were whigs in the late reign, as one of them served the office of high sheriff in 1736, and George II. was pleased to bestow a patent of baronetage upon him, January 11, 1746; the younger branch, as will be seen hereafter, has been ennobled during the present. The head of this family was created Baron Grey, of Werke, by James II. and the ancestor of Lord Tankerville, by a marriage with a daughter of this family, obtained an earldom.

Sir Henry Grey, the son of Sir Henry Grey, Bart. is a country gentleman, upwards of seventy years of age, who resides on his paternal estates, and but seldom visits the metropolis. Next to those of the present Duke of Northumberland, and the late Earl of Derwentwater, (the latter of which is vested in the crown,) his may be considered as the largest possessions in the county of Northumberland, and he him

self

self as the most opulent commoner; it is to be little wondered, therefore, that his influence, aided by that of a noble Duke, together with the assistance of his own immediate relations, connexions and friends, should be able to return at least one member as a representative of his native shire. But as neither the events of a retired life, nor the administration of justice in a provincial district, nor even the occasional hospitalities of Howic, afford a copious theme for the biographer, it will be necessary to recur to the life and exploits of the next brother, who has been engaged from his early youth in the most active scenes, both at home and abroad.

Lord Grey de Howic, K. B. was born in 1729, and as the estates were entailed on Sir Henry, it was deemed proper that the former should embrace some profession in life, which might lead to a suitable establishment. That which seems to be the peculiar lot of younger brothers was therefore pitched upon, and accordingly, after receiving the usual prefatory education, he served on the continent as a subaltern in Kingsley's regiment, when not more than nineteen years of age. In 1755 he obtained permission to raise an independent company, and on the 21st of January 1761 he was promoted to the rank of a field officer.

It was in this capacity that Lieutenant-colonel Grey accompanied General Hodson, in one of those expeditions planned during the administration of the great William Pitt, and he commanded the 98thregiment of foot at the capture of the important fortress of Belleisle.

1604-1805.

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Belleisle. This regiment, however, being disbanded on the return of peace, he retired on half-pay, determined to resume his professional avocations on the appearance of a new war. But his merits were not in the mean time wholly overlooked, for at a period when there were but few promotions, he was fortunate enough to obtain the rank of colonel in the army, which was succeeded by the appointment of aid-decamp to the King.

Fortunately for the interests of a commercial and manufacturing country, no dispute occurred for some time to call forth the talents and gallantry of our young officer; but, alas! the first hostilities to which we were subjected arose not out of any foreign contest, in which the heart might be supposed to be steeled by prejudice, and the hand nerved by custom, so as to confer, and to receive wounds with impunity on and from a stranger, and an enemy. The dispute was unhappily with our own descendants, and with men attached to us, not only by affinity, but by habit-a dispute unfortunate alike in its beginning and result-deprecated by the magnanimous Earl of Chatham, and considered as odious not only by our Foxes and Burkes, but also by our Pitts, our Grenvilles, and our Windhams; some of whom have proved not averse from war, when undertaken against an ancient enemy.

Without entering into a discussion of the very equivocal grounds on which this conflict was undertaken, it is sufficient to observe that it was at one time popular, the country gentlemen having been duped by the interested but ridiculous speculation, that the co

lonies were to share their burdens, and help them to pay off all national incumbrances; but the first gun fired at Lexington dissipated this phantom, and although a number of keen-sighted men actually foresaw and foretold the consequences, yet there were some so inconsistent as to patronise the cause of America, by their votes in the senate, and yet draw their swords against her in the field, in the course of a few months after.

Colonel Grey, eager to distinguish himself in the scene of warfare that presented itself on the transatlantic continent, and yet, doubtless, lamenting the new species of enemy with whom we were to contend, repaired thither about the period of the evacuation of Boston. He was soon distinguished by General Howe, and as he had seen more real service than most of the officers of the same standing, he was appointed to a separate command, and invested with the local rank of major-general.

In the campaign of 1777, notwithstanding the most strenuous efforts, Washington took the field with a raw army of no more than eight thousand effective men, with which he assumed a strong position at Middlebrook, but the subsequent motions of the British army having induced him to remove to Chadd'sford, the battle of Brandywine ensued, in which the English achieved a victory, that was vainly regarded at that time as productive of the total subjugation of the continent. But instead of this, the main body of the Americans soon after took post in front, while detached parties hung upon their flanks. It was a cir

cumstance of this kind that first afforded an opportunity for General Grey to distinguish himself in his new command.

Notice having been received that Wayne, an able and enterprising partisan, had concealed himself in the neighbouring woods, he was detached by the commander in chief on purpose to dislodge him. An expedition of this kind was accompanied with considerable difficulty, as the contest was to be with experienced woodsmen, well acquainted with the country, provided with rifles, and who would adopt the most efficacious measures, either for attack or defence, on the report of the first musket. To prevent any alarm of this kind, the officer to whom the enterprise was allotted gave orders that all the flints should be removed, and that every thing should be effected by muscular strength alone. To render the success less precarious, the assault was to be given during the night, and although it was one o'clock in the morning before the British reached the neighbourhood of the Paoli tavern, where the enemy was encamped, yet the sur prise was complete.

On this occasion the picquets were forced without noise, so that the main body had scarcely time to turn out, while those that were able to repair to the alarm post, paraded in the light of their own fires, so that the unsparing bayonet put a large portion of them to death on the spot. Ramsay, the American historian, confesses, "that the enterprise was conducted with so much address, that the loss of the assailants did not exceed eight."

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