He came into residence, according to the usual plan, in the following October; we were both among the candidates for foundation scholarships, and after a public examination of two or three days, we were happy on finding our names among the successful candidates; and as we afterwards dined every day at the same table, the bands of our friendship were drawn still closer.

"I can with perfect truth affirm, that during the under-graduateship of Mr. Richmond, he applied himself closely to his studies, and was considered and acknowledged by all, to be a young man of great abilities and correct conduct.'

A letter from the Rev. William Tate, chaplain of the Dock-yard, Portsmouth, and tutor of the Naval Academy, contains a further and more detailed account of Mr. Richmond's residence at college.

"Mr. Richmond and myself were of the same year at Cambridge, and had the same college tutor, the late Rev. Thomas Jones. We were not, however, in the same lecture room till within a year of our taking the degree of A. B.; hence our intimacy did not commence till about the beginning of 1793. Mr. Richmond came to college with a high character for his proficiency, both in classics and mathematics. In fact, I often heard him spoken of as likely to be one of the third or fourth highest wranglers. At the annual college examination in May, he was each year in

the first class, and consequently was a prize-man. I do not recollect that he ever was a candidate for a University prize: indeed, I think that although he was an extremely good classic, he did not consider himself sufficiently practised in writing Greek or Latin verse, to venture a competition in this respect with the distinguished men from the great public schools.

"That he had a great fondness for social life is not to be wondered at, as he was so well informed on most subjects, and had such a fluency of language, that conversation with him never flagged, and his company was generally acceptable. He visited at the Lodge, Dr. Postlethwaite being then master, and was noticed by some of the senior fellows, in consequence, I presume, of their having been friends of his father, Dr. Richmond, who had himself been a fellow of the college, and whose name stands in the Tripos as having been the tenth senior optimè, in January, 1764.

"Mr. Richmond's great recreation was music, in which I suppose you are aware he was eminently skilled. He always had a piano-forte in his room, and played on the organ also. To any tune he could, as he played, make an extempore thorough bass. His musical talents gave rise to a great intimacy and friendship with the late Dr. Hague, the professor of music, and also with Dr. Jowett, then tutor of Trinity Hall, who used to have frequent musical parties at his apartments, at which I

believe Mr. Richmond was generally present. He was at all times attentive to the studies of the University, and preserved, throughout, the character of a reading man. Mr. Copley, (now the Lord Chancellor) had apartments directly under those of Mr. Richmond, and as they were both reading hard, they commonly, for some months before taking the degree of A. B., had coffee together after midnight. He went through the public exercises of the schools, preparatory to his degree, with great credit, and was accordingly placed by the moderator in the first class. Owing, however, to ill health, he did not go into the senate-house to stand the final examination. Dr. Butler, master of Harrow School, was the senior wrangler, and Mr. Copley the second; and I have a printed Tripos for 1794, now lying before me, at the bottom of which are the following words :

grot.

Ds. Ashworth, Eman.
Ds. Richmond, Trin.

In Ima Quæstionistarum classe a moderatoribus censebantur.

"I believe our year was the last in which those who went out Egrot. in the first class, were noticed in the Tripos. Ever since, the names of such graduates have been omitted in the list of honours; and the Cambridge Calendar, in giving a list of honours for each year, has omitted the names of the Egrot. in 1794, and all the preceding years, although they were actually printed in the original lists. Mr. Richmond was for some years

collecting materials for a great work, which he intended to publish, on the theory as well as history of music. After taking his degree, he applied himself with great ardour to his favourite study, and took much pains to provide materials for his intended musical publication, which he hoped might be ready for the press in the course of two or three years. I have frequently sat with him, while, for hours together, he was making experiments with his musical plates, of which he had a great number, some of glass and some of copper, of all the common regular forms; as circles, ellipses, squares, rhombuses, pentagons, &c. These he screwed down at a particular point, so as to be perfectly horizontal; and then, having sprinkled fine sand over the surface, the bow of a violin was drawn across the edge, so as to draw forth a musical note: and, by the vibration thus caused, the sand was shaken from the vibrating parts, and became collected in one line or more, formed by the quiescent points. It seemed very remarkable, that whenever that particular note, which was the fundamental of any plate, was sounded by it, the sand invariably took the formı of a cross, having its centre in the centre of the plate. All other notes, which could be sounded by the same plate, diverged from the fundamental note, according to a certain scale; and every one caused the sand to take a different form. Sometimes it seemed to take the figure of two opposite

hyperbolas; but in whatever form it rested, the figures on the different sides of a straight line, drawn through the centre of the plate, were exactly the counterparts of each other. The lines formed by the quiescent points, in the vibrations of such plates, were calculated by Euler, as may be seen by the Transactions of the Imperial Society of Petersburgh (Acta Petropolitana) ; but the results are little satisfactory, being commonly expressed in hyperbolic forms, and not assuming a tangible shape.

"About this time Mr. Richmond was member of a small club, formed by six or eight Trinity men, for the discussion of philosophical subjects. They met once a week, at each other's rooms; and, to prevent expense in giving suppers, nothing more was to be provided than red-herrings, bread, cheese, and beer. Hence they called this society the "Red-herring Club." The respectability of the members appears from this circumstance, that nearly every one obtained a fellowship. Mr. Richmond took a leading part at this time in another small society, which was named "The Harmonic Society." The members were musical amateurs, who, in turn, gave a concert every fortnight, at which, with the help of two or three hired musicians, they performed pieces out of Handel and other celebrated composers, together with catches, glees, &c. In 1796 was published, by Mr. Dixon, a townsman of Cambridge, and one