John Hely was born in 1757, and in 1774 went into the army. In the expedition to Egypt in 1801 he was appointed second in command to Sir Ralph Abercrombie; on whose death the chief command devolved on Hely, then a major-general. For his admirable conduct of the campaign, in which he drove the French from Egypt, he received the thanks of both Houses, and was raised to the peerage in 1813. In 1823 he succeeded his brother to the earldom of Donoughmore. He died in 1832.
93 Christian VII. of Denmark (976). . . . . Dance.
A head, in an oval, turned to the right; dressed in a red uniform trimmed with gold; on his breast a blue ribbon. His hair is powdered and brushed back.
This was formerly unnamed, but the mezzotint engraving after it by Fisher shows it to have been painted by Dance; doubtless when the King was over here in 1767 for his marriage to Princess Matilda. He was then eighteen years old.
Their domestic life was not happy. In politics he distinguished himself by granting liberty of the press to his subjects; in reward for which Voltaire addressed the famous lines to him, in which he tells him: “Je me jette à tes pieds au nom du genre humain.”
He afterwards went out of his mind, and died in 1808.
He was the son of Princess Louisa, the daughter of George II., and succeeded to the throne in 1766. The engraving after this picture by G. Fisher is dated 1769.
94 Portrait of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (891). . . . . . K. A. Hickel?
Bust; face turned slightly to the right. He has a blue coat and a yellow waistcoat. His face is close-shaven. On canvas, 2 ft. high, by 1 ft. 8 in wide.
“Whatever Sheridan has done, or chosen to do, has been par excellence always the best of its kind. He has written the best comedy, the best farce, and the best address (‘Monologue on Garrick’), and, to crown all, delivered the very best oration (the famous Begum speech) ever conceived or heard in this country.”—Byron.