inly have been apprehended, as guilty or suspected of some great crime, flying from justice, had not lord Baltimore, whom I had the good luck to meet at the inn, informed
“The rector went that very night out of town and in
his absence, but not without his privity, I took one of the
horses of vhe college early next morning, as if I were
going for change of air, being somewhat indisposed, to
pass a few days at Lisle. But steering a different course,
I reached Aire that night, and Calais the next day. I was
there in no danger of being stopped and seized at the prosecution of the inquisition, a tribunal no less abhorred in
France than in England. But being informed by the general, that the nuncios at the different courts had been ordered, soon after my flight, to cause me to be apprehended
in the Roman catholic countries through which I might
pass, as an apostate or deserter from the order, I was
under no small apprehension of being discovered and apprehended as such even at Calais. No sooner, therefore,
did I alight at the inn, than I went down to the quay; and
there, as I was very little acquainted with the sea, and
thought the passage much shorter than it is, I endeavoured
to engage some fishermen to carry me that very night in
one of their small vessels over to England. This alarmed
the guards of the harbour; and I should certainly have
been apprehended, as guilty or suspected of some great
crime, flying from justice, had not lord Baltimore, whom
I had the good luck to meet at the inn, informed of my
danger, and pitying my condition, attended me that moment with all his company to the port, and conveyed me
immediately on board his yacht. There I lay that night,
leaving every thing I had but the clothes on my back in
the inn; and the next day his lordship set me on shore at
Dover, from whence I came in the common stage to London.
”
nded from the ancient and noble house of Calvert, in the earldom of Flanders, and afterwards created lord Baltimore, was born at Kipling in Yorkshire, about 1582. In
, descended from the ancient and noble house of Calvert, in the earldom of Flanders, and afterwards created lord Baltimore, was born at Kipling in Yorkshire, about 1582. In 1593 he became a commoner of Trinity college, Oxford, and in Feb. 1597 he took the degree of B. A. At his return from his travels he was made secretary to Robert Cecil, one of the principal secretaries of state to James I. who continued him in his service when he was raised to the office of lord high -treasurer. On Aug. 30, 1605, when king James was entertained by the university of Oxford, he was created M. A. with several noblemen and gentlemen. Afterwards he was made one of the clerks of the privy council, and in 1617 received the honour of knighthood, and in Feb. 1619 he was appointed to be one of the principal secretaries of state. Thinking the duke of Buckingham had been the chief instrument of his preferment, he presented him with a jewel of great value; but the duke returned it, acknowledging he had no hand in his advancement, for that his majesty alone had made choice of him on account of his great abilities. In May 1620 the king granted him a yearly pension of 1000l. out of the customs. After having held the seals about five years, he resigned them in 1624, frankly owning to the king, that he was become a Roman catholic. The king, nevertheless, continued him a privy counsellor all his reign; and in Feb. 1625 created him (by the name of sir George Calvert of Danbywiske in Yorkshire, knight) baron of Baltimore in the county of Longford in Ireland. He was at that time a representative in parliament for the university of Oxford.
de PArade, with three French men of war, had reduced the English fishermen there to great extremity, lord Baltimore, with two ships manned at his own expence, drove away
While he was secretary of state, he had obtained a patent for him and his heirs to be absolute lord and proprietor (with the royalties of a count-palatine) of the province of Avalon in Newfoundland. This name he gave it from Avalon in Somersetshire, whereon Glastonbury stands, the first-fruits of Christianity in Britain, as the other was in that part of America. He laid out 2500l. in advancing this new plantation, and built a handsome house in Ferryland. After the death of king James he went twice to Newfoundland. When M. de PArade, with three French men of war, had reduced the English fishermen there to great extremity, lord Baltimore, with two ships manned at his own expence, drove away the French, taking sixty of them prisoners, and relieved the English; but still finding his plantation very much exposed to the insults of the French, he at last determined to abandon it. He then went to Virginia; and having viewed the neighbouring country, returned to England, and obtained from Charles I. (who had as great a regard for him as James had) a patent to him and his heirs for Maryland on the north of Virginia. He died at London, April 15, 1632, before the grant was made out; but his son Cecil Calvert, lord Baltimore, who had been at Virginia, took it out in his own name, and the patent bears date June 20, 1632. He was to hold it of the crown of England in common soccage> as of the manor of Windsor; paying yearly, on Easter r l uesday, two Indian arrows of those parts at the castle of Windsor, and the fifth part of the gold and silver ore that should be found therein. King Charles himself gave that province the name of Maryland, in honour of his queen Henrietta Maria. The first colony sent thither consisted of about 200 people, Roman catholics, the chief of whom were gentlemen of good families. The Baltimore family were in danger of losing their property on account of their religion, by the act which requires all Roman catholic heirs to profess the protestant religion, on pain of being deprived of their estates: but this was prevented by their professing the protesunt religion.
, Lord Baltimore, a descendant of the preceding, and eldest son of
, Lord Baltimore, a descendant of the preceding, and eldest son of Charles, the sixth
lord, was born in 1731, and succeeded to the title on the
death of his father in 1751, and also to the proprietorship
of Maryland. After returning from his travels he married
lady Diana Egerton, youngest daughter of the duke of
Bridgwater. In 1768 he was indicted at the Kingston assizes for a rape, but acquitted. He went soon after to
reside on the continent, and died at Naples, Sept. 14, 1771,
without issue by marriage, leaving his fortune to his sister,
Mrs. Eden. In 1767, he published “A Tour to the East
in the years 1763 and 1764, with remarks on the city of
'Constantinople and the Turks. Also select pieces of Oriental wit, poetry, and wisdom,
” Lond. Gaudia Poetica, Latina, Anglica,
et Gallica, Lingua composita, anuo 1769. Augustse Litteris Spathianis, 1770.
” It is dedicated, in Latin, to LinIkeiis, and consists of various pieces in Latin, French, and
English, prose and verse, of very little merit. A copy,
the only one said to be known in this country , was sold
at Mr. Isaac Reed’s sale, who likewise had another performance of his lordship’s, equally rare, and valued only
for its rarity, entitled “Coelestes et Inferi,
” Venetiis,
made an addition to his stock by the translation of Kalm’s Travels and Osbeck’s Voyage. At this time lord Baltimore proposed to him a settlement in America, as superintendant
, an eminent naturalist,
was the son of a burgomaster at Dirschaw, in Polish Prussia, where he was born Oct. 22, 1729. We learn nothing
of his education until his fifteenth year, when he was admitted into the gymnasium of Joachimsthal at Berlin,
where his application to the study of ancient and modern
languages was incessant and successful. From 1748, when
he went to the university of Halle, he studied theology,
and continued his application to the learned languages,
among which he comprehended the Oriental, and after
three years he removed to Dantzic, and distinguished himself as a preacher, imitating the French rather than the
Dutch manner; and in 1753 he obtained a settlement at
Nassenhuben. In the following year he married his cousin, Elizabeth Nikolai. During his residence in this place
he employed his leisure hours in the study of philosophy,
geography, and the mathematics, still improving his acquaintance with the ancient and modern languages. With
a small income, and increasing family, the difficulties he
experienced induced him to accept the proposal of removing to Russia, in order to superintend the new colonies
at Saratow, but not succeeding in this or any other scheme
of a settlement in that country, he removed to London in
1766, with strong recommendations, but with very little
money. After his arrival, he received from the government of Russia a present of 100 guineas; and he also
made an addition to his stock by the translation of Kalm’s
Travels and Osbeck’s Voyage. At this time lord Baltimore proposed to him a settlement in America, as superintendant of his extensive property in that country; but
he preferred the place of teacher of the French, German,
and natural history in the dissenting academy at Warrington. For the first department he was by no means well
qualified, his extraordinary knowledge of languages being
unaccompanied by a particle of taste, and his use of them
being barbarous, though fluent; and his knowledge of
natural history was of little value in his academical department. This situation, however, for these or other reasons
which we never heard assigned, he soon abandoned; and
returning to London, he was engaged, in 1772, to accompany captain Cook, as a naturalist, in his second voyage
round the world. At this time he was forty-three years of
age, and his son George, who went with him, was seventeen. Upon his return to England in 1775, the university
of Oxford conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. At
this time he was projecting, with the assistance of his son,
a botanical work in Latin, containing the characters of
many new genera of plants, which they had discovered in
the course of their voyage. An account of the voyage
having been published by his son in English and German,
the father was supposed to have had a considerable share
in it; and as he had entered into an engagement not to
publish any thing separately from the authorized narrative,
he thus incurred the displeasure of government, and gave
offence to his friends. Independently of the violation of
his engagement, he was also chargeable with having introduced into his work several reflections on the government
which appointed, and some falsehoods respecting the navigators who conducted the expedition. The father and
son, finding that, in consequence of these circumstances,
their situation in London was become unpleasant, determined to quit EnglaiYd. Before the execution of their
purpose, their condition became embarrassed and distressing; but Mr. Forster was invited, in 1780, to be professor
of natural history at Halle, and inspector of the botanical
garden and in the following year he obtained the degree
of M. D. His health, however, began to decline and the
death of his son George so deeply impressed his mind as
to aggravate his other complaints. Towards the commencement of 1798, his case became desperate; and before the close of this year, viz. on the 9th of December,
he died. Mr. Forster’s disposition was most unamiable,
and extremely irritable and litigious; and his want of prudence involved him in perpetual difficulties. Yet these
seem to have all been virtues in the eyes of the celebrated
Kurt Sprengel of Halle, who thus embellishes his character, which we should not copy if it did not mention some
particulars of his studies and works: “To a knowledge of
books in all branches of science, seldom to be met with,
he joined an uncommon fund of practical observations, of
which he well knew how to avail himself. In natural history, in geography, both physical and moral, and in universal history, he was acquainted with a vast number of
facts, of which he who draws his information from works
only has not even a distant idea. This assertion is proved
in the most striking manner by his ‘ Observations made in
a Voyage round the World.’ Of this book it may be said,
that no traveller ever gathered so rich a treasure on his
tour. What person of any education can read and study
this work, which is unparalleled in its kind, without discovering in it that species of instructive and pleasing information which most interests man, as such The uncommon pains which Forster took in his literary compositions,
and his conscientious accuracy in historical disquisitions,
are best evinced by his * History of Voyages and Discoveries in the North, 7 and likewise by his excellent archaeological dissertation ‘ On the Byssus of the Ancients.’
Researches such as these were his favourite employment,
in which he was greatly assisted by his intimate acquaintance with the classics. Forster had a predilection for the
sublime in natural history, and aimed at general views
ratUer than detail. His favourite author, therefore, was
Buffon, whom he used to recommend as a pattern of style,
especially in his ‘ Epoques de la Nature,’ his description
of the horse, camel, &c. He had enjoyed the friendship
of that distinguished naturalist; and he likewise kept up
an uninterrupted epistolary intercourse with Linna3us, till
the death of the latter. Without being a stickler for the
forms and ceremonies of any particular persuasion, he
adored the eternal Author of all which exists in the great
temple of nature, and venerated his wisdom and goodness
with an ardour and a heart-felt conviction, that, in my
opinion, alone constitute the criterion of true religion.
He held in utter contempt aM those who, to gratify their
passions, or imitate the prevailing fashion, made a jest of
the most sacred and respectable feelings of mankind. His
moral feelings were equally animated: he was attracted
with irresistible force by whatever was true, good, or
excellent. Great characters inspired him with an esteem
which he sometimes expressed with incredible ardour.
”