MR. BECKFORD having lately been

the fubject of much difcourfe in town, in confequence of his communications to his Majefty's Minifters on the difpofition of the French Government to enter into negotiations for peace with this country; communications which are fuppofed greatly to have accelerated, if not rather to have given rife to meafures at length taken for that defirable end, fome account of this Gentleman cannot fail of being acceptable to the readers of THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.

The Public need not be informed, that William Beckford, Efq. of Fonthill is the fole iffue, in marriage, of the late Alderman Beckford, fo diftinguished by his ability, fpirit, and magnificence, in the office of First Magiftrate of the City of London; and fo highly revered as one of its moft patriotic Reprefentatives; a character in which his name will defcend with renown to pofterity in the history of his country.-Mr. Beckford traces back his father's family to a remote ancestry in the county of Glocefter. By his mother, who was daughter and co-heiress of the Honourable George Hamilton, son of James, the feventh Earl of Abercorn, he is defcended through a long line of noble and royal progenitors. He married Lady Margaret Gordon, only daughter of the late Earl of Aboyne by Lady Margaret Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Galloway: by this lady he has two daughters.

It is hardly neceffary to mention, that Mr. Beckford's paternal ancestors have been in poffeffion of a princely property in Jamaica ever fince that island belonged

to the Crown of Great Britain. His great grandfather, Peter Beckford, was Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica in the reign of King William. He fortified Port Royal, and affifted in fitting out an armament against the French and Spaniards, which fucceeded in driving the enemies of his country from the Spanish

main.

Mr. Beckford, the fubject of this Memoir, was very young at the death of his father in 1770; but he had already manifefted uncommon genius, with an aptitude and difpofition for knowledge not lefs fingular. A claffical education foon awakened and refined that tafte for every fpecies of beauty in the fine arts, of which he is at prefent fo confpicuously the friend and patron. In the practice and compofition of mufic, and in various branches of defign, few Gentlemen are more diftinguifhed; in the former art, not many profeffors. In almoft every kind of literary compofition, in his own, in the French, Italian, and Portuguese languages, Mr. Beckford has difplayed an originality and fervor of imagination, and fuch a copioufnels of ideas, with fuch truth and vivacity of expreffion, as have gained the admiration of eminent critics, both at home and abroad. Two anonymous works in profe," The Lives of the Painters," a fictitious jeu d'efprit, written at fixteen years of age, and The Hiftory of Vatteck, a learned fpecimen of oriental coftume, were publifhed feveral years ago, and were extremely well received, though without the fanction of their Author's name. Mr. Beckford has

written, almost voluminously, on the

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fubjects

fubjects of his Travels, and Letters on the actual State and leading Characters of feveral of the Courts of Europe, and particularly that of France, from the beginning of the Revolution to the Death of the King, and on many other mifcellaneous topics, in profe and verse; works yet remaining in manufcript, but which his literary friends hope he will fometime be induced to publish; affured, that in refpect of characteristic information on the arts and the belles lettres, and on the manners, views, and perfonal confequence of the chief actors on the political theatre of Europe, they would place him high among the best and most interesting writers of this age; and, in point of genius, wit, and claffic compofition, not fecond to the most distinguished.

Although it will be taken for granted, that the education of a perfon of fuch genius, born in fuch aufpicious circumitances, must have been attended to with more than ordinary care, fome particulars on this topic may be worthy of recollection. The late Earls of Chatham and Camden, and the learned Lord Lyttleton, who were among the most intimate friends of the late Mr. Beckford, were, after his death, confulted on the fubject of his fon's education, and many other celebrated names might be cited on the fame account. Mr. Beckford, during his minority, made repeated vifits at Burton Pynient; where the prefent Minifter, with the reft of Lord Chatham's family were educated under the inspection of their father.

mife. And few are thofe really acquainted with Mr. Beckford (and his acquaintance in every country has been with perfons beft able to judge) who will hesitate to affirm, that his abilities and accomplishments are fuch as have not deceived the early hopes that were entertained of him. This is not to be confidered as the language of panegyric, but a faithful reprefentation of facts, with fuch conclufions from them as juftice and common fenfe muft authorise. But the writer fpeaks not here of the juftice or common fenfe of Mr. Beckford's avowed enemies: the former being not lefs refolutely deaf than affectedly blind, no wonder the latter remains dumb. Detraction and malice, however, keep true to their own characters: they are fo clear-fighted as to fee evil, well known not to have the fhadow of existence, whilst ftupidity and ignorance, their sworn handmaids, fitly linked with ingratitude, a perfonage which finds it much more convenient to calumniate a benefactor than to repay obligations, ftands ever ready to proclaim aloud what malice and detraction are fo ready to invent. But enough of this: it were humble to beftow further notice on that which deferves nothing but contempt.

The writer of this Memoir is well informed, that this illuftrions Statesman was frequently heard to exclaim with rapture at the performance of Mr. Beckford's early exercifes, particularly in oratory, and often to declare, that he faw, in his childhood, a mind more pregnant with the feeds of genius and great talents than had almoft ever occurred to him in any other instance. The writer too has feen letters, both from Lord Lyttleton and the Earl of Chatham, addreffed to Mr. Beckford's principal tutor, and heard of many converfations betwixt the latter and these celebrated petfonages, and of fome, par. ticularly interefting, betwixt the late Earl Camden and him, relative to his pupil's education; from which he collects the very extraordinary ideas thefe great men formed of Mr. Beckford's natural understanding and capacity, and their high expectations of fruit from bloffoms, confeffedly of the fairest pro

It may be thought strange, that Mr. Beckford, with the abilities generally attributed to him, fhould not have produced them more on the fcene of public life: opportunities of difplaying himself to advantage could not have been wanting whilft he chofe to continue in Parliament; but the world fhould know, that with talents, and particularly that of eloquence, fitted to have made a brilliant figure on this ground, Mr. Beckford unfortunately wants ftrength of conftitution neceffary to bear that constant attendance, fatigue, and thofe late hours required in the House of Commons, and confequently to have made thofe continued exertions, by which alone he could have hoped to promote the fervice of his country, and to have advanced his own reputation. For this reafon he was induced, fome few years ago, to withdraw himself from the Houfe of Commons, and has rather chofen, at different pericds, to affift the introduction of others into it. Many perfons of great merit have, through his patronage, found opportunities there of manifefting how much they have been attached to

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Conftitution and Government and Mr. Beckford may reflect, with exultation, upon fome particular characters who have

entered