the projected attack, carried the village, the wood skirting it, and, pursuing the enemy up the sand hills, drove him back. upon Bergen. The rest of the army having been ordered to fall back, his Royal Highness made his retreat good, bringing off his guns, ammunition, and wounded men, in the face of the enemy. Prince William, on the 24th, relieved the reserve, occupying the advanced posts of the army upon the left, and having a detachment of about 150 of the 18th Light Dragoons, under the Hon. Lieut.-Colonel C. Stewart, now Marquis of Londonderry, from that period added to his command. His Royal Highness fixed his headquarters at Winckel, having his left to the Zuyder-Zee, and his right to Riendorper Verlaat. On the 4th of October he made a rapid advance to Schermerhorn, General Daendels having retired to Purmerent with the main Dutch army, 8000 strong, abandoning three guns, which were consequently taken by his Royal Highness's brigade.
On the 6th of October his Royal Highness received orders to retreat; and falling back, under very critical circumstances, took up his former position, in which, having one howitzer, two 6-pounders, and a force in the whole amounting to 1050 men, he was attacked, on the 10th of October, by Generals Dumonceau and Daendels, with a force (as stated by the latter General) consisting of 15 pieces of artillery and 6000 men. General Dumonceau, supporting General Bonhomme, who personally (about eleven A. M.) led on at least four battalions to force the Verlaat, was repulsed with a loss of 13 prisoners, and 100 rank and file killed and wounded, by six companies of the second battalion 35th, under Lieut.-Colonel Massey, directed by his Royal Highness, drawn up in some fields to the right of the bridge, and about one o'clock, towards the close of the action, supported by a single 6-pounder, detached from Winckel. At this moment, General Daendels, with not less than 5000 men, advanced against his Royal Highness's left, towards a small work constructed in front of Winckel, upon the dyke, which had been cut across to the depth of nine feet, magnified by the enemy, in his subsequent report, to nineteen.
His Royal Highness had scarcely 600 men to oppose to this corps, and being ordered to retire, effected his retreat without the loss of a single man; carrying off his guns, ammunition, baggage, cattle, &c.
The 13th of November, 1799, his Royal Highness received the rank of Lieutenant-General, and was subsequently appointed to the command of the North-west District, which he held till the peace of Amiens, and was re-appointed to the command of that district on the commencement of the war in 1803. The 25th of April, 1808, he received the rank of General; the 26th of May, 1806, he was appointed to the Colonelcy of the 3d Foot Guards, since named Scots Fusileer Guards; and the 24th of May, 1816, Field-Marshal.
On the demise of his father, Aug. 25. 1805, the Prince succeeded to the peerage, and on the motion of Lord Henry Petty (the present Marquis of Lansdowne), who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer, his allowance was increased to 14,000l. a year; and, greatly to his credit, his Royal Highness always kept within the bounds of his income. The Duchess of Gloucester, his mother, died August 23. 1807. On the 22d of July, 1816, the Duke married his first cousin, the Princess Mary, the fourth daughter of George III., and is said to have stipulated that it should by no means be expected to influence his political conduct. His late Majesty then conferred on him, by especial warrant, the title of Royal Highness, borne of right only by the King's sons, daughters, brothers, and uncles.
In politics, until within these few years, the Duke generally voted with the Whigs. While the Bill of Pains and Penalties against the late Queen Caroline was pending, he uniformly voted in her Majesty's favour. His principles were soundly constitutional. Not long since, his spirited conduct, and his able speech in defence of the rights and privileges of the Universities, proved highly beneficial to those learned bodies. Eminently distinguished by his warmth of heart, and frankness and amiability of manners, as well as beloved and reverenced by the poor for his extensive
charity and universal benevolence, a general feeling of deep regret prevails for his loss, while he was yet as it were in the vigour of his days. Besides his home diffusion of good, to which the neighbourhood of Bagshot can abundantly testify, his Royal Highness was a munificent patron of many of our public charities, especially of the African Institution (of which he was president), and of St. Patrick's charity.
The immediate cause of his Royal Highness's death, which took place on the 30th of November, 1834, was a tumour in his throat. The following is a copy of the Duke of Wellington's letter to the Lord Mayor, communicating the melancholy intelligence : —
"MY LORD, It is my painful duty to inform your Lordship that I have just now received the information of the death of his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, at Bagshot Park, yesterday evening, at twenty minutes before seven o'clock, after a painful illness of a fortnight's duration, which he bore with the greatest fortitude, resignation, and piety.
"Your Lordship's most obedient servant,
"WELLINGTON.
"To the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor."
His Royal Highness died without issue.
The funeral of his Royal Highness took place on Thursday, the 11th of December; and his remains were deposited, with the usual ceremonies and honours, in one of the vaults of St. George's Chapel, at Windsor. His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex officiated as chief mourner.
Principally from "The Royal Military Calendar."
ACKERMANN, Rudolph, Esq.;
March 30. 1834; in the 70th year of
his age.
It is impossible to permit such a man
to descend to the grave without some
more particular notice than the bare
announcement of his decease. His,
indeed, was a character which we should
deem it a public wrong not to hold forth
as an example to persons of every pro-
fession.
Born at Schneeberg, in the kingdom
of Saxony, in 1764, and bred to the
trade of a coach-builder, he came, early
in life, to England, shortly before the
commencement of the French revolu-
tion, and for some time pursued in
London the occupation of a carriage
draftsman, which led to an acquaint-
ance with artists, and to his settlement
in business as a printseller in the Strand.
Here, by indefatigable industry, intel-
ligence, and enterprise, combined with
inviolable honour and integrity in all
his transactions, he created that flourish-
ing establishment, which has made his
name perhaps more extensively known,
both at home and abroad, than that of
any other tradesman in the British me-
tropolis.
In the early part of his career, when
the French revolution had driven many
clever and ingenious persons to this
country, and when even some of the old
noblesse were obliged to exercise their
talents for a subsistence, Mr. Acker-
mann, by the extensive encouragement
which he gave to the manufacture of
elegant fancy articles by them, raised
that branch of business to an import
ance which it had never before attained.
His speculative and enterprising dis-
position showed itself in various ways
unconnected with his trade. We be-
lieve that we are correct in stating that
his was the first private establishment
in which, before the formation of gas
companies, an apparatus was erected
for making gas for the purpose of do-
mestic illumination. To him the coun-
try is certainly indebted for the original
introduction of the lithographic art, to
which he directed the public attention
not only by a translation of the work of
Senefelder, its inventor, but also by the
specimens which he produced from his
own presses. As a publisher his illus-
trated topographical works, especially
the Histories of Westminster Abbey,
the Universities of Oxford and Cam-
bridge, and the Public Schools, are
monuments of his spirit and taste. It
is well known that his successful at-
tempt to furnish in "The Forget Me
Not" a worthy offering to an object of
kindness and affection has generated
in this country a new class of elegant
works the Annuals-which in the
last ten years have caused the circula-
tion of a very large sum among those
whose talents are required for their pro-
duction. The ardour in which he em-
barked in the preparation of books,
chiefly elementary, for the instruction
and enlightenment of the people of the
Spanish American States, and in the
formation of establishments in some of
their principal cities, is also deserving
of mention.
But it is not for his spirit, activity,
intelligence, and honour, as a trades-
man, that his surviving friends will
venerate the character of Mr. Acker-
mann, so much as for that genuine
kindness of heart, that cordial hospita-
lity, that warm beneficence, and that ac.
tive philanthropy, in which it abounded.
Never, perhaps, was the latter quality
more strikingly displayed, and never
were the exertions of an individual in
behalf of suffering humanity crowned
with such signal success as when, after
the decisive battle of Leipzig, Mr.
Ackermann stood forward as the advo-
cate of the starving population of many
districts of Germany, reduced to the
utmost destitution by the calamities of
war. By his indefatigable efforts, com-
mittees were organised, and a public
subscription set on foot, the amount of
which was increased by a parliamentary
grant of 100,000l. to more than double
that sum. To the honour of the Society
of Friends be it recorded, that their
contributions, withheld from the en-
couragement of war, were most muni-
ficently poured into this fund for the
alleviation of the miseries inflicted by
that scourge.
On Mr. Ackermann, as
Secretary to the Western Committee,
devolved, in fact, almost the whole of
the arduous duties connected with this
subscription: the perusal of claims
transmitted from abroad, the direction
of the extensive correspondence to
which they led, and the apportionment
of relief to the suffering districts. By
these labours his time was absorbed,
during the spring and summer of 1814,
to such a degree that he abridged him-
self of many hours of natural rest every
night to pursue them, till his general
health and his sight in particular were
materially impaired. How entirely his
benevolent heart was engrossed by this
business may be inferred from a joke of
his old friend Combe's (the author of
"Dr. Syntax"), who one day observed,
"I cannot imagine what has happened
to our friend Ackermann; meet him
when you will and ask him how he
does, the only answer you can get is
Leipzig!'"
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It is not surprising that when he
soon afterwards visited his native coun-
try, he was hailed as a public benefactor
who, under Providence, had been the
means of saving thousands of his fellow
creatures from perishing. The scenes
which he every where encountered dur-
ing this journey were deeply affecting
as well as gratifying to his feelings:
and often have the tears started from
his eyes on reverting to them in con-
versation with his most intimate friends.
The city of Leipzig expressed its gra-
titude to him by a valuable present of
vases and figures in Meissen porcelain;
the King of Prussia sent him a costly
ring; and the King of Saxony, who
invited him to a personal interview,
conferred on him the Order of Civil
Merit, which he had just instituted.
In the spring of 1830, when at his
delightful retreat at Fulham, he expe-
rienced a sudden attack of paralysis;
and though his life was preserved
through the prompt assistance, skill,
and decisive measures adopted by his
medical attendants, yet he never reco-
vered sufficiently to return to business.
A drier air than that of Fulham being
deemed beneficial for his complaint, he
removed to Finchley; and soon after-
wards transferred to his three younger
sons and to Mr. Walton, his principal
assistant, the establishment which he
had founded, and which, by the unre-
mitting labour of forty years, he had
brought to its present prosperous con-
dition, the eldest son being already
established in Regent Street.
attack of his complaint, in November,
1833, produced a gradual decline of
strength; and at length terminated his
useful and honourable life on the 30th
of March, 1834. His remains were
deposited, on the 7th of April, in the
family grave in the burial ground of
St. Clements, in the presence of his
afflicted family, and his sorrowing
friends, one of whom dedicates this
brief and very inadequate tribute to his
memory. The Observer.
ATKINS, Mr.
; at Malta.
He was an artist of great promise as
a portrait painter, for some years a re-
sident at Rome where, from his talents
and amiable disposition, he had rendered
himself a general favourite, and his
premature loss is much regretted by his
fellow students there. When perform-
ing quarantine in the Lazaretto, at
Malta, on his return to Italy from Con-
stantinople, he imprudently sat for some
time in a draught without his coat,
which produced a fever and his conse-
quent speedy death. The circumstances
attending his visit to the capital of
Turkey are somewhat curious. During
a season of some dulness at Rome,
some of his friends, amongst the most
intimate of whom was Gibson the
sculptor, started the idea of his pro-
ceeding to Constantinople with the view
of gaining an introduction to the Sultan
for the purpose of painting his portrait.
Being naturally of an enterprising dis-
position, the somewhat romantic enter-
prise met with his instant approbation:
C C
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