a kind of malt liquor which differs from ale and pale beer, in its being made with high-dried malt. (See Brewing.)

Jane, a popular novelist, was born at Durham in 1776, and spent her childhood in Edinburgh. A love for the marvellous, and a sentimental admiration for human excellence, increased with her increasing strength, and fitted her for becoming a popular story-writer. Accordingly in 1803, after her removal to London, she entered upon a successful career as a novelist by the publication of Thaddeus of Warsaw. The book gained for her at once a European reputation. She saw it translated into several of the continental languages; she was elected a lady canoness of the Teutonic order of St Joachim; and she received from a relation of Kosciusko a gold ring containing the portrait of that hero. Scarcely less effective was her next important work, the Scottish Chiefs, published in 1809. It is true that it failed to realize the scenes, the costumes, the manners, and the characters of the story; yet to mere novel readers the melodramatic exploits and the astounding chivalry of Wallace and Bruce were profoundly affecting. The ablest, however, of all her publications was probably Sir Edward Seaward's Diary, which appeared in 1831. So life-like were the representations in that work of fiction that a grave and pompous critic mistook it for a professed historical treatise. He laboriously rummaged the dusty collections of Admiralty records and Indian maps to test the accuracy of the incidents, and solemnly and triumphantly refuted them in one of the leading reviews. The latter part of Miss Porter's life was spent in paying lengthened visits to her relations and numerous friends. She died in May 1850, at the house of her eldest brother, an eminent physician at Bristol. Anna Maria, the younger sister of Jane Porter, was the author of several popular novels.

Sir Robert Ker, a well-known artist and traveller, was the brother of the preceding, and was born at Durham in 1780. A determination to be a painter began to characterize him while passing his boyhood in Edinburgh. He persisted in making sketches from his own fancy, until his mother, in 1790, took him up to London and enrolled him among the students of the Royal Academy. A few years only had been spent there when he boldly made his appearance as an artist by profession. Several altar-pieces were painted, and were either sold or presented to several churches. The "Storming of Seringapatam," the "Siege of Acre," and the "Battle of Agincourt," all large pictures, were executed, and London was invited to see them exhibited. No enterprise, in fact, was too great for the youthful aspirant to attempt. Venturing to push his fortune in Russia, he procured the appointment of historical painter to the Czar in 1804, and won the hand of the daughter of Prince Theodore de Sherbatoff in 1811. By this time Porter had begun to enter upon a new and more exciting sphere of action. The winter of 1808-9 saw him sharing in the hardships and glories of the campaign of Sir John Moore. From 1817 to 1820 he was journeying in the East, and with the aid of both pen and pencil recording what he saw in his travels. Between 1826 and 1841 he was residing as British consul at Venezuela in South America. Leave of absence had been obtained, and he was paying a visit to St Petersburg, when a stroke of apoplexy suddenly carried him off in May 1842. Ker Porter, at the time of his death, had gained considerable reputation. The title of Knight Commander of the Order of Hanover, which had been conferred upon him in 1832, shows how much his talents as a warrior and a diplomatist were esteemed. His literary gifts were also well known from the following works:—Traveling Sketches in Russia and Sweden, in 2 vols. 4to, 1808; Letters from Portugal and Spain, Svo, 1809; Narrative of the late Campaign in Russia, 4to, 1813; and Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia, &c., &c., during the years 1817-20, in 2 vols. 4to, 1821-22.

George Richardson, an eminent statistician, was born in London in 1792, and was educated at Merchant Taylors' School. A failure which he made in the trade of a sugar-broker was the occasion of bringing him into notice. Driven to literature, he published a paper on Life Assurance in the Companion to the Almanack for 1831, which introduced him to the acquaintance of Mr Charles Knight. That well-known publisher was instrumental not long afterwards in procuring for him the office of superintendent of the statistical department in the Board of Trade. Placed in this congenial situation, he soon had the opportunity of showing to the best advantage his skill in digesting and tabulating the most incongruous materials. His great work, The Progress of the Nation, which he began to publish in 1836, established his reputation as a statistician. His growing skill in his official duties also recommended him in 1841 to the post of one of the joint secretaries of the Board of Trade. He was still holding this situation when he died at Tunbridge Wells in 1852, in consequence of inflammation, which had been caused by the sting of a gnat.