[297] Wilkes was in 1703 imprisoned in the Tower on the charge of sedition. In 1774 he was elected Lord Mayor of London.
[298] Probably James Hutton, M.D., author of “The Plutonic Theory of the Earth.” He was born in 1726, and may have been styled Old Hutton to distinguish him from Charles Hutton, the eminent mathematician, who was born in 1737.
[299] Charles Burney, Mus.D., author of “The General History of Music,” and other works. He was an intimate friend of Dr. Johnson, who confessedly prepared his “Tour to the Hebrides” after the model of Dr. Burney’s “Continental Travels.” Dr. Burney was born at Shrewsbury, on the 7th April, 1726, and died at Chelsea, 12th April, 1814.
[300] John, seventh Earl of Galloway, K.P., one of the lords of the bedchamber to George III. In 1796 he was created a peer of Great Britain by the title of Baron Stewart of Garlies. He died 13th November, 1806.
[301] John, Lord Daer, third son of Dunbar Hamilton Douglas, fourth Earl of Selkirk.
[302] The celebrated Edward Gibbon was born in 1737, and died in 1794. In conversation he was genial and elegant, but he occasionally indulged in flashes of irony.
[303] William, second Earl of Shelburne, subsequently Marquess of Lansdown, a distinguished statesman. In 1782 he succeeded the Marquess of Rockingham as Prime Minister. At one period he much frequented the society of Dr. Johnson. The Marquess died in May, 1805.
[304] Richard Price, D.D., a Dissenting minister in London, and eminent philosophical writer, was born in 1723, and died in March, 1791. Dr. Price was a friend and correspondent of Lord Shelburne. An advocate of civil and religious liberty, he supported the cause of American independence, and welcomed the early triumphs of the French Revolution.
[305] Dr. Brocklesby, an accomplished physician, and the generous friend of Edmund Burke and Dr. Johnson. He published various periodical papers on professional subjects. Dr. Brocklesby was born in 1702, and died 1797.
[306] William Schaw, tenth Baron and first Earl Cathcart, born 1755, died 16th June, 1843.