To stoop like Wyndham, or erect, like Pitt, And shriek and scream, and almost sweat like Fox. Pride of the Whigs, and terror of the Crown; 1 "Not on the cross my eyes were fix'd, but you; Not grace, or zeal, love only was my call, POPE.-Eloisa to Abelard. Sir Gregory Page Turner, third baronet, succeeded his great uncle, Sir G. Page, in August 1795,' when he added to his own the name and arms of Page. Sir Gregory was a Tory, and at the general election in 1784 was chosen member for Thirsk, in Yorkshire, which he represented up to the time of his death. He did not, however, add much to the brilliancy of the debates, and when Mr. Grey, in 1797, moved for a reform in the representation of the people, a motion that was seconded by Erskine, and supported by Fox, Sheridan, and others, Sir G. Page Turner gave it his most strenuous opposition, pathetically asserting, "that he always felt for the Constitution, and nothing else, when he got up in the morning, and when he lay down at night." His death is said to have been caused by his chagrin at not succeeding in a trial that he had with a builder, who made an iron bridge over a stream in his garden, the erection of which had been suggested to Lady Turner by a friend, and which cost nine hundred pounds. On examining his secrétaire, his executors found in it sixteen thousand seven hundred guineas. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Gregory Osborne, who had as litigious a disposition as his father, and was defeated in two celebrated trials; one with a Mr. Stroehling, who had painted a picture for him of Daniel in the lions' den, for the sum of fifteen hundred pounds; the other, with the Rev. Mr. Beazley, also on the subject of pictures. Sir G. Page Turner died on the 4th January 1805, at his house in Portland Place. 3 Thomas Tyrwhitt Jones, Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall, I rise, and frowning at the Treasury-bench, Or, should a tasteless audience cough and groan, Vain hopes, deceits-his heart's illusion o'er, And thou and Wingerworth ne'er thought of more.3" and a great friend of the late Prince of Wales. Mr. Jones was member for Bridgenorth, and created a baronet in 1808. In politics he was a Whig, and spoke often. 1 Charles Sturt, Esq., M.P. for Bridport. 2 Richard Bateman Robson, M.P. for Honiton, afterwards for Oakhampton; one of the "noisy patriots" of his day, and who had the satisfaction of proving, before the House of Commons, in February 1802, that the country was insolvent; for that a Mr. Martin, another member of the House, had presented a bill at the Sick and Hurt Office, for nineteen shillings and sevenpence, which had been refused payment. He died at his house in Manchester Square, on the 10th of March 1827. Lady Hunloke died at her house in Saville Row, on the 22nd of January 1820. CHAPTER XVI. Charles Sturt, M.P. for Bridport-His Gallantry in Rescuing some Shipwrecked Seamen-His Perilous Adventure and Great Presence of Mind-Mr. Sturt in the House of Commons-The young Ensign and the Town-Clerk-The Reverend Pell Akehurst—An Imaginary Address of his to the Countess of Bessborough, by Lord John Town. shend-Lines by the same Nobleman to the Memory of his Daughter -The Foreign Grave-Lord John Townshend's Death. No man better deserves a passing biographical notice than the late Charles Sturt, formerly M.P. for Bridport, for he was one of the most open-hearted, generous, and charitable men of his day, and many were the striking incidents in his life. His large fortune enabled him to indulge such a disposition without restraint; and in the town he represented he was idolised by all classes,-more especially, however, by the blue-jackets, who would have made Bridport a most uncomfortable abiding-place to any one who said anything against him. These men looked upon him as one of themselves, for he was devotedly fond of yachting, which, from his island-castle of Brownsea, he had every opportunity of enjoying; but the adoration in which he was held by the sailors of the town and coast rested not only on his love of that pursuit, - but the great personal courage he displayed in his impetuous desire to do good; he was, indeed, always "in the van," and frequently at the risk of his own life. On the 1st of February 1799, the Bee, bound for the West Indies, went on shore on the sands at Poole, the wind being at east, and blowing a tremendous gale, with heavy snow. The boats of the Tickler, gun-brig, went off to her assistance; they failed, however, in their attempts to reach her, and she was left to her fate; but, in the course of the day, the crew were rescued by Charles Sturt, after having been, with his men, twice thrown from his boat into the breakers. Eighteen months after this exploit, being out in his cutter about two leagues from shore, and sailing against Mr. Weld's yacht, off Lulworth Castle, he observed that his own boat towing astern retarded her progress, and ordered a boy to take her ashore. The sea running very high, the lad declined, as did also the men; when Mr. Sturt, feeling it then a point of honour, immediately jumped into her at this instant the rope gave way, and, by the force of the wind and receding tide, he was drifted to sea; soon after which the boat upset. In this perilous situation his presence of mind did not forsake him: he regained, by swimming, his station on the keel, and pulled off all his clothes except his trousers. It was after one of the many desperate struggles that he made of the same kind, that, giving up all for lost, he wrote with a pencil on a slip of paper, which he put in his watch-case, the following words, "Charles Sturt, Brownsea, to his beloved wife," and fastened the watch to his trousers. Shortly after, and almost by a miracle, a mate of a transport, three miles to windward, the last of several that had passed, happened to observe him, and four resolute fellows immediately embarked in a boat to his assistance; but as there was a heavy sea running, and they could only see him occasionally, it was not till after a hard pull of nearly two hours that they reached him. Poor Sturt was all but exhausted, and on the eve of relinquishing his failing hold upon the boat, when his preservers took him into theirs: unable to articulate his thanks, he lifted his hands to Heaven, and instantaneously burst into a flood of tears. Mr. Sturt was one of those who, after the short peace of Amiens, and in violation of the acknowledged laws of nations, were detained prisoners in France, from which country he escaped by his own energy and enterprise. In politics he was a Whig, and he seconded some of the late lamented Sir Francis Burdett's early motions in the House of Commons: in debate he was most vehement, and not very discreet. When Mr. Whitbread moved for a committee to inquire into the conduct of ministers respecting the French invasion of Ireland, his abuse of the Treasurer of the Navy was most copious. "The whole statement of the security of Ireland made by the honourable gentle |