In the north cross aisle of Westminster Abbey, is a monument to record the virtues of Jonas Hanway; it is a tribute defrayed by voluntary subscriptions, and executed by Moore, the sculptor. The design consists of a sarcophagus surmounted by a pyramid which is topped with a lamp, and relieved by a medallion of the deceased. On the front of the sarcophagus, Britannia, decorated with the emblems of her state, is introduced in the act of distributing sailors' dresses to poor boys. The following is a copy of the inscription:

Who departed this life September the 5th, 1786, aged 74, But whose name liveth, and will ever live whilst active piety shall distinguish

The CHRISTIAN, integrity and truth shall recommend
The British MERCHANT, and universal kindness shall characterise
The CITIZEN of the World.

The helpless infant nurtur'd through his care,
The friendless PROSTITUTE shelter'd and reformed,
The hopeless YOUTH rescu'd from misery and ruin
And trained to serve and defend his country,
Uniting in one common strain of gratitude,
Bear testimony to their Benefactor's virtues :-
THIS was the FRIEND and FATHER of the POOR.

Jonas Hanway was born on the 12th day of August, 1712, at Portsmouth, where his father was storekeeper in the dockyard. Upon the death of the latter, which took place with sudden violence, his widow removed to London, and there bred up four tender children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the oldest, with singular prudence and affection. After an ordinary education, in which he attained some proficiency in Latin, Jonas was bound apprentice in his seventeenth year, to a merchant in Lisbon, and was remarkable for the neatness of his person, and the punctuality of his conduct. In that city he subsequently entered upon the business of a factor on his own account, but, in all probability, with no great success, for he returned to London within a year or two after the expiration of his apprenticeship. No relation of his circumstances is preserved from this period until the year 1743, when he sailed from the Thames to St. Petersburg, and formed a partnership with a merchant named Dingley. Events soon occurred which induced him to diverge from the immediate duties of this connexion, and the following is an abstract of the cause and consequences of the change.

In the year 1738, one Elton, an enterprising sailor, who had roved for some time among the Tartars of Bokhara, submitted a proposition to the British factors in Russia, for introducing a trade into Persia by way of the river Volga, and the Caspian Sea. This project being favourably entertained, a cargo of goods was

speedily entrusted to Elton, who completed the journey with a rapidity and success which gave universal satisfaction. An act of Parliament was therefore passed for the protection of the trade, and ships were built in which to carry it on; when Elton unaccountably deserted from the merchants, and went into the service of Nadir Shah, the Persian monarch, who made him superintendant of the coast along the Caspian.

Such was the dilemma in which Hanway boldly offered to prosecute the undertaking: his terms were accepted with ready gratitude, and he set out from St. Petersburgh with a caravan of twenty loads of merchandise on the 10th of September, 1743. Taking Moscow and Astrachan in his rout, he reached Astrabad on the opposite shore of the Caspian in safety, during the month of December, and landed his goods with an assurance of protection. At this point, however, his good fortune abandoned him, and he was precipitated into a maze of danger and suffering, such as few would have had the fortitude to endure, or the address to overcome. An insurrection suddenly broke out in the city, and the ringleaders not content with seizing on the merchandize, robbed him of his money, and even deliberated upon the best means of carrying him off into the interior of the country. From this state of insult and cruelty he managed to effect a precipitate retreat; but, instead of flying to the ships and altogether forsaking the venture, he had the courage to pursue the beaten Shah, and obtain a compensation for the loss of the property committed to his charge. To follow him through all the privations he now submitted to, or the imminent risks he ran, would far exceed the limits prescribed for this sketch. It must therefore suffice to state, that after a perilous journey of two months, he came up to the camp in a most exhausted condition, and obtained a decree addressed to the General, who had by this time quelled the revolt, by the terms of which a delivery of all the merchandize, which it was presumed had now been recovered, was directed, and the payment of any deficiency was ordered out of the Shah's chancery.

The favour of this grant involved a reiteration of all that fatigue and peril he had already encountered, but he retraced his steps with resolute patience, and had the satisfaction of receiving eighty-five per cent. upon the value of the whole cargo in the