to write the life of the former than the close friend of so many years.

The fact of offering himself as a candidate for the Vinerian Scholarship at Oxford implied per se that he had already made up his mind to choose the bar as his future profession; and so it was almost a matter of course that he should read law in London, and in due season be called to the bar. His call was at the Middle Temple, and dates from 1819. He then went the Western Circuit, in this selection following his own very natural predilection as a West-countryman. Half a dozen years of his professional career as a practising barrister had hardly run out when, in 1825, he published a carefully-annotated edition of Blackstone's Commentaries. A nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and a near relative of several other Coleridges who had already made their mark, it was no new thing for one who bore his name to be devoted to literature in early life. Accordingly, during the first few years of his practice at the bar, Mr. Coleridge was a frequent writer in the Quarterly Review, which indeed he edited for a year, after the resignation of Mr. Gifford. On the resignation of Mr. Coleridge, Mr. Lockhart was appointed editor. But soon the pressure of the duties of a more lucrative profession left him but little time to do more than contribute at rare intervals to its pages.

He was elected Recorder of Exeter in 1832, and in the same year was made a Serjeant-at-Law; and three years later, in 1835, he was promoted to the Judicial Bench, and received the honour of knighthood. As a Judge, it is little to say that his knowledge of law was equally sound and extensive, and that he was particularly happy in the facility with which he could bring precedents to bear upon the subjects before him, however refined and intricate the latter might be. His charges were noted for their lucid exposition of legal points, and their elegance of diction. Attaining his seat on the Judicial Bench at the early age of forty-five, he held it for twenty-three years, having discharged with signal honour to himself the high duties which devolved upon him.

Eventually, when in 1858 he had nearly approached the allotted age of man, and when his bodily, not his intellectual, powers seemed to require rest, he obtained the repose he had nobly earned. His retirement from the Judicial Bench was signalized by his formal enrolment among the Privy Councillors of the Sovereign. He afterwards frequently took part in decisions in appeals before the Privy Council, where his knowledge of ecclesiastical law and his acquaintance with

church matters and parties was often of service to the public; and not unfrequently he had intrusted to him the duty of arbitrating in questions of the highest importance.

Six years prior to Sir John's retirement for the enjoyment. thenceforth of lettered ease, he received from the University of Oxford, in which forty years previously he had obtained his education, the honorary degree of D.C.L.

During the latter years of his life he lived for the most part at Heath's Court, near Ottery St. Mary, occasionally visiting London-the head and stay, in every sense, of loving and loved relations, the cultivated, genial host of "troops of friends" far and near, the promoter, with ungrudging aid, of every good enterprise. The restoration of the fine old church at Ottery St. Mary, with the building of three district chapels, was due more or less to his exertions and munificence, not to speak of many another instance of deep attachment to his own faith. His interest was always excited in the work of education, and up to the present time, out of a very moderate fortune, he defrayed the whole expense of a curate and schoolmistress in the village of Alfington, having first built, entirely at his own charge, the church, the parsonage, the school and schoolmistress's house, on a small property which he had purchased for the purpose. This work of his father it is, we believe, the intention of Lord Coleridge to continue and to complete.

He joined this Association in 1868, on the occasion of its visit to Honiton, and was present at the Meeting, his son, Mr. Coleridge, occupying the Presidential chair at that time. At the banquet given by the Mayor and Corporation to the Association, Sir John, in a most racy speech, proposed the toast, "Prosperity to the Association."

Mr. Justice Coleridge married, in 1818, Mary, second daughter of the late Rev. Gilbert Buchanan, LL.D., Vicar of Northfleet, Kent, and Rector of Woodmansterne, Surrey, by whom he had a family, and who predeceased him by twentytwo months only. One of his daughters is the wife of Dr. Mackarness, Bishop of Oxford; his younger son is in Holy Orders in the Roman Church; and his eldest son is Lord Coleridge, now Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who was born in 1821, and was successively scholar of Balliol College and Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, M.P. for Exeter, and Solicitor and Attorney-General. His other daughter lived with him till his death, and is unmarried.

The late judge's handsome and intelligent face, his kind, graceful, and even courtly manners, and his friendly demean

our in private life, will not speedily fade from the memory of a large circle of attached friends. He died very quietly, 11th February, 1876, sinking from weakness, but retained consciousness almost to the last.

II.

JOHN AUGUSTUS PARRY, eldest son of the late John G. Parry, Esq., was born in London on the 1st May, 1797. Intended for the legal profession, he received the education and passed the examinations necessary for this purpose, but never engaged in practice. Early in life he spent a good deal of time on the Continent, and eventually married an Italian lady, and settled down at Lee, near Ilfracombe. Of an active turn of mind, he soon took part in local matters, social and political. His sympathies in this latter point were warmly liberal, or, as would then have been said, radical, and soon brought him into connection with the leaders of the party in North Devon. But although feelings ran high in these matters some forty years ago, his genuine cordiality and kindliness of disposition saved him from making enemies, and ensured him many friends.

At Lee his first wife died, and in 1846 he married a second time. In 1851 the gold discoveries in Australia made him desirous to visit the new El Dorado, and in the latter part of that year he went out to Melbourne. At Melbourne and at Ballarrat he engaged in business, and after four years of Australian life realized his property and left the colony.

On his return to Europe he travelled for two years in Germany and France, and then turned his steps again to North Devon, where, among many old friends, he spent the rest of his life. In 1867 he became a member of this Association, and contributed at the Barnstaple Meeting a paper "On the Remains of Ancient Fortifications in the neighbourhood of Bideford." At various times Mr. Parry has shown a warm interest in the objects of the Association, frequently attending its meetings; and he was an assiduous member of the Local Committee, and Honorary Local Secretary of the Association during its visit to Bideford in 1871. On this last occasion, besides discharging his official duties, he contributed a highly interesting paper, entitled "A Brief Sketch of the Early History of Bideford."

Failing health of late years began to tell upon him gradually, and on the 3rd November, 1875, he died at Bideford, at the age of 78. He was a man who all through life, to use the old words, had friends, and showed himself

friendly. Advice and help, as far as lay in his power, were always at the service of any who needed, and to work for others was with him a labour of love.

III.

RICHARD NAPOLEON THORNTON (commonly called Dick Lee at Oxford) was the son of Mr. Richard Thornton, of Cannon Hill, Merton, in the county of Surrey, who, by successful operations in business, amassed £2,800,000 of the riches of this world, of which he bequeathed £400,000 to the subject of this memoir. Mr. R. N. Thornton was born on the 15th May, 1833, educated at Oxford, studied for the Bar, and was admitted a member of the Middle Temple on the 26th January, 1860, and joined the Home Circuit. He did not, however, actually practice for any length of time, appearing to prefer the more genial life of a country gentleman, in which sphere he doubtless found far greater facilities for exercising the dictates of his truly generous nature.

Active and athletic in his youth, he became an accomplished player of the noble game of cricket, distinguishing himself as such at Oxford, and in the matches for the Surrey Club and county matches, and his attachment to the game seems never to have waned. During the latter ten years of his life, when he resided at Sidmouth, he continued to encourage it in others, when he was unable to take part in it himself. In order to effect this more completely, he took a fourteen years' lease under the Manor of the Fort Field, a noble site for a cricket ground, and it was his pride to bring it into first-rate condition- -as smooth as a billiardtable, and as velvety as Venetian pile-and for nearly ten years his presence and his liberality kept the game in a very flourishing state.

The property formerly known as Knowle Cottage belonged originally to the late Lord Le Despencer, who erected a dwelling-house there in a rustic style of architecture about the commencement of the present century. It was purchased in or near 1820 by Mr. Fish, who adorned the grounds and filled the cottage with jewellery and works of art, and he threw it open to the public every Monday in the summer months during the long space of forty years, so that its fame as a show-place was generally known all over the county. Mr. Fish bequeathed it to his friend Mr. Marson, who made many alterations, by clearing away much of the dense foliage and throwing the grounds more open. On his death the estate was bought by Mr. Thornton, who, in his turn, made great

alterations. He added largely to the house; made the kitchengarden; erected the conservatory; purchased Ayshford, a house and lands lying nearer the town of Sidmouth and on the station road, pulled the house down and entirely swept it away, throwing the whole into his own grounds, and erected the lower lodge; he also added many acres to the estate by purchasing fields in the direction of Jenny Pyne's Corner and Broadway, and built the higher lodge. The members of the Devonshire Association will not easily forget the splendid entertainment he gave them in these grounds on Thursday, the 24th July, on the occasion of their meeting at Sidmouth in 1873, when he became a member, and was one of the Vice-Presidents of the Association.

As infirmities crept upon him, he gradually withdrew himself from society, and he died at Sidmouth on the 28th May, 1876, at the early age of forty-three. His first family consisted of three boys and a girl, who survive him, and he has left a widow and one son.

Mr. Thornton's great virtue, which is a very wide one, was liberality, and he gave of his wealth with a free hand wherever he thought he could do any good by it.

The deaths of four more members during the past year must be recorded; namely, Mr. W. CAWDLE, Mr. J. SYMONDS, Mr. A. TURNBULL, and Dr. HEARDER.

Mr. Cawdle had long been a member of the Association, having joined it at its third meeting, held at Torquay, in 1864; he was not present however at any of the subsequent meetings. He died at his residence, at 26, Union Street, Torquay, on the 6th January, 1876, aged 63 years.

Mr. Symonds was elected a member of the Association in 1873, but never attended any of the meetings. He died at Hinton Manor, Farringdon, Berks, on 16th June, 1875.

Mr. A. Turnbull joined the Association so long ago as 1865. The infirmities of old age prevented him from taking any active part in its proceedings, but he ever exhibited a warm interest in its progress, and was instrumental in adding some new names to its list of members. He died at Parkwood, Torquay, on the 4th May, 1876, at the advanced age of 84 years.

Dr. Hearder died at Plymouth, on Sunday, the 16th July, aged 66 years. He was one of the earliest members of the Association, and contributed several papers. An obituary notice of him is reserved until the next annual meeting.