The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-11-13 00:00:00

DEATH OF WILLIAM WALLACE tURRIE

It becomes our melancholy duty to announce the death of
NIT. Wallace Currie, Esquire, a distinguished member of the
common council of this borough, though for many years one
. _
1, an individual whose
i vindicating his views

of the leading r
straight-forward

in public, as well as his estimable qualities as a private gen-
tleman, secured to him the esteem of a large circle of his in-
timate friends, and conciliated the respect even of those who
were opposed to him in political sentiment. His demise was
so unexpected and sudden, and so immediately following his
active appearance in the last debates of the previous day in
the council room, that the event has come upon the town in

the nature of a shock, and has excited a feeling of heartfelt
and universal regret. Mr. Currie was in the apparent enjoy-
ment of his usual health, and more than his usual spirits on
Tuesday night. He had dined with a friend, returned home,
and retired without any symptom of indisposition ; but was
suddenly taken ill at, we learn, about five in the morning,
and expired about half-past six. On his complaining, his
amiable lady immediately despatched one of the servants for
Mr. Ortt, surgeon, who resides in the neighbourhood, and
that gentleman on his arrival soon afterwards, conceiving
the attack to be apoplectic, instantly attempted to bleed him,
but pulsation had too far subsided to render the operation
available ; and Mr. Bickersteth, the family surgeon, who was
soon afterwards brought to the spot, found all human efforts
—the spark of life being then extinct.

unavailing,

As the death of "an honest man," who, whatever were
his failings or his errors in general or domestic polity, had
devoted a great portion of his life to the service of the town
breath, and to the interests of whici-
,e was warmly attached, cannot fail to

in which he first dre

Ite a sympathzing
interest in the prominent features of his life, a biographical
sketch of Mr. Currie, necessarily brief, and from our paucity
of materials, somewhat imperfect (though we trust accurate
in the main), will, we hope, be acceptable to our readers
and in submitting it we
mortuis in this cas

e assure them that in speaking de
put aside all feelings of a political
•ged in our respect for consistency

R'illiann Wallace Currie was one of three sons of the late
James Currie, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., of Liverpool, Fellow of
the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, of the London
Medical Society, '&c., a gentleman whose scientific and
literary acquirements, (the latter exemplified in his admirable
life of Burns, the great poet of Scotland,) and whose powers
and exertions as a scholar, physician, and conversationist,
have embalmed his memory in the minds of his posterity.
The subject of our sketch was a native of Liverpool—one of
three brothers of whom one is also dead and another, the
Rev. James Currie, now or lately residing in the island of
Jersey. Two sisters, both married, are yet living.
Of the early life f Mr. Carrie we have few particulars
beyond those supplied in the letters to himself by his father
as published in the memoir of the life, writings, and corres-
pondendencc of that eminent individual, by the now deceased,
a work held in deserved repute not only from its literary
merits, but from the characteristic vein of parental feeling
on the one hand, and the modest exemplification of filial
regard that breathe throughout its pages. Mr. Currie was a
native of Liverpool, and was born in 1784, in, we believe, the
month of March. He was consequently, at the time of his
demise, in the 57th year of his age. He was placed while yet
of tender age under the tuition of Dr. Valpy, of Reading, the
celebrated scholar, and compiler of some of the cleverest
elementary classical books that have yet been published.—
The first letter addressed at that seminary to him by his
father is dated Liverpool, April 23, 1796, and like all them
that followed, it is full of that Spirit of parental admonition
which characterised all his correspondence to his children,
couched in language suited to their juvenile apprehension,
and calculated to excite them to court elegant and ennobling
pursuits, and to discriminate between right and wrong.
There is a passage in this first letter so simple in argument,
yet so graphic and undeniable, that we cannot refrain from
quoting it. After expressing his happiness that his son likes
Homer and Virgil, he remarks :—" Homer, I think, gives
too attractive a picture of the heroic character. It was but
a foolish thing for the Greeks to go into Asia and tight the
Trojans for ten years, because Paris ran away with Helen.
Life is but short at the best, and it is a sad thing to see, in
all ages of the world, how men have contrived to make it
shorter, by killing each other with swords; and spears, and
guns and bayonets. It is true, when a man's country is
in danger, nothing is more honourable than to arm for its
defence. When in after ages, the young men of Greece
turned out to meet the invading Persians at Marathon, Sala-
mis, and Platea, nothing could be more noble than their
principle, or more glorious than their conduct. But their
cause was more noble than their forefathers, when they
fought under the walls of Troy, as you will easily see."
There is a nobility of nature expressed in this passage._ It
seeks not for war, for its own sake ; but simply war against

the r as regards an attack on our beloved country, in a physical

point of viev

religious institutions. In his next letter, about six months
afterwards, Dr. Currie emphatically remarks, in reference to
Homer, with a view, doubtless, to restrain the probable en-
thusiasm of his youthful son :—" A great man is seldom or
never fairly rated by his contemporaries, and a very great man
does not always reach the height of his reputation till a cen-
tury or two after he is dead." In a letter addressed to him
when he was thirteen years of age, the Doctor says :
" My confidence in your good sense and good heart makes
me think of you with more satisfaction than anxiety, as I
said at first ; otherwise I can foresee that you will have oh-
stables to remove, and difficulties to surmount. No matter :
if you think rightly and act vigorously, you will be the better
and the happier for your necessary exertions. Look at the
greyhound as he lies by the fire : he has nothing to do ; his
eye is heavy, his skin is dirty, his hair probably covered with
vermin. How stupid and worthless he looks ! He is the
prototype of the man who has nothine to do. and nothing to

hope for. But look again ;—he is nbos;i;'the field :—Tiow
animated he looks, his ears are erect--his eye is on fire ! The
hare is started ;—he bounds forward in all the pride of his
faculties, and all the vigour of his powers, and in the fervour
of the chase finds the highest enjoyment of which he is capa-
ble.
II

e are bounds of a higher order ; and, in like manner,
,c hunt if we are to be happy. The object of our pursuit
different, because we are partly rational ; though I fear, in
many instances, we are also beasts of prey. Be it yours, to
let the distinction that attends talents and virtue be the hare
- follow ; and you will find in the pursuit the highest en-

jovment which this imperfect world admits_
One of the letters is dated Ist September, 1798, from the
Park (Toxteth), for the north ward of which Mr. Currie
was member, in the council of this borough. His father
gives the following beautiful description of a scene from the
Dingle, which, as it was in the immediate proximity
ne -I- I__ _11!_ I .

tnougn now much altered,
possesses a melancholy interest on the present occasion,as well
on that account as from the reflections on the transitory
nature of human life with which it concludes. It is as
follows :

" Park, Sept. 1, 1798.
" MY DEAR WALLACE,---I have been in daily expectation
of a letter from you ; and you may, perhaps, have looked for
one from me. That this unsocial silence may no longer pre-
vail between us, I employ a leisure hour on Sunday after-
noon, at the Park, in your service. The day is singularly
fine. I have been walking down the fields towards the shore.
The clouds intercepted the direct beams of the sun ; but the
air was warm and balmy. A gentle breeze swept over the
surface of the grass, and played round my temples. Nothing
could be more soothing. I went down to the Dingle, and
pursued my walk to the rocks. The tide was on the flood,
and drawing towards high water, and the waves were dashing
over the sand, and breaking on the lowest ridge of the rocks.
I sat me down and fell a musing. I know not whether you
have yet began to feel the effect of scenery on the mind ; but
I hope you will be sensible of it, as you grow elder. The scene
which I describe, and which you know so well, always affects
me by calling up a particular train of thought, and that rather
of a melancholy than a cheerful kind. Those grand features
of nature, the rolling tide, the over-arching rocks, and even
the old and blighted oaks which crown their summits, give
me the idea of power and duration, compared with which the
power of man, and the littleness of his occupations, and the
shortness of his life, sink into insignificance !

" Adieu, my dear boy !

"JAMES CURRIE."
From Readinr, School Mr. Currie was sent to the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh. and his father continued to write to him
when there, in the same parental tone of kindness and ad-
monition. The last letter in the collection is dated March,
1805. We regret that we have not space to follow up the
few passages we have selected in the hurry of business, from
a most interesting correspondence, carried on for a number
of years on the part of Dr. C. The subject of this brief
memoir has not furnished any of his own letters in reply,—
from, doubtless, an honourable feeling of modesty on his
part. We must refer our readers to the work itself in which
they will find much to instruct as well as to amuse. Suffice
it here to say that Mr. Currie never seemed to forget the in-
junctions placed upon him throughont a life prolonged to
upwards of half a century.
While in Edinburgh, Mr. Currie was more immediately
under the care of Mr. Dugald Stewart, one of the most dis-
tinguished professors of the Northern University, and be-
came a fair scholar in the classics, and more particularly in
the English language. We are not aware of his having pub-
lished any work beyond the Life of his respected parent ; but
that alone was sufficient to confer upon him a reputation of
no common order in the literary world.

Mr. Currie's vocation ,was confined exclusively to the
agency for the Royal Exchange -Assurance Company, and his
energy, punctuality, and habits of business, rendered him a
favourite with the commercial community. He was not rich,
in the mercantile sense of the word, but competent to sup-
port his station as an independent gentleman. Ile married
about 16 or 17 years ago, Miss France, daughter of Thomas
France, Esq. of Bostock Hall, in Cheshire, and has died
without issue. In consequence of rather precarious health,
he lately made a tour on the continent. He was accompanied
thither by Alderman -Wm. Earle, and after passing through
Pan, a bathing place in France, visited the Pyrenees, remain=
ing some time at Isurege. He returned precisely a month
before his demise, in, as he and his friends concurred, im-
proved health ; but it was remarked on Monday last that his
complexion indicated the inroads of disease. In the opinion
of Dr. Brandreth, the immediate cause of death was an apo-
plectic attack ; or (though less probably) an affection of the
heart, which it is known also frequently occasions sudden
death. The problem will in all likelihood be solved for the
melancholy satisfaction of his friends, as we learn that a, sur-
gical examination of the body will take place, under the di-
rection of the coroner. The funeral, which it is understood
will be private, will take place on Tuesday next, and the in-
terment will be at St. Michael's, Toxteth-park, in the neigh-
bourhood of his own estate and house, of Ellerslie, near the

Mr. Currie was elected a member of the old common coun-
cil in 1819, and, in conjunction with Mr. John Wright, was
active in promoting the improvement of the town, and par-
ticularly the widening,. of Lord-street, Dale-street, Tithebarn-
street, &c. He held the commission of the peace, and was
the first mayor elected under the municipal corporations
amendment act. He served the office with great credit to
himself, and with such satisfaction to the council generally,
that his re-election as chief magistrate was contemplated,
and pressed upon him ; but such were the onerous duties of
the office, and their interference with his other pursuits, that
he declined amain to take the burthen upon him. It may be
remarked of him, as regards his public life, that he was ca-
pable of forming a due appreciation on matters of domestic
polity, and while others beat about the bush, he grappled
with his subject at once, and, as regards public improvements,
was generally successful. As a speaker he was somewhat
stiff, abrupt, and disjointed ; but his discretion and force of
argument bore him through. He exerted his best powers to
restrain the excesses of his party, and by some was conse-
quently regarded at times as a trimmer; but his votes were
always given on the liberal side ; and though we disapprove
of his general politics, we are quite willing to award him the
meed due to sincerity and honesty of purpose.
It may be remarked, in conclusion, that Mr. Currie had
an air of hauteur in the eyes of strangers, which approached
to what might be deemed bordering on self-sufficiency or
inordinate pride; but this wore off on a nearer acquaintance
with the man, and it is sufficient to add he ever comported
himself as a genuine gentleman to friend and foe, and amongst
the former were many individuals of high standing and re-
spectability, who were opposed to his views on local and ge-
neral topics.

A RARE OCCURRENCE.—A landrail, or corncreak, in very
fine condition, was shot by a gentleman, in a field of short
gorse, in the neighbourhood of Pwllheli, on the 30th ult.
Queen Adelaide has been pleased to honour the Derby
Choral Society with her patronage to their series of winter
concerts, the first of which is expected to take place the
latter end of the present month. Earl Howe has likewise
consented to become one of the patrons of the society.---. Derby
Reporter.

FOURTH EDITION.

Standard OPT, Four o'Clock,

ANOTHER DISTRESSING RAILWAY

ACCIDENT.

Leeds, 12th November

A shocking accident occurred this morning on ilze,
York and North Midland line,—a luggage train hay-
ing overtaken and dashed into a passenger train. Se-
veral liveS are lost, and a number of passengers se-
verely hurt. This is the third serious railway accident
detailed in our columns to-day—all attended with loss
of life.

THIRD EDITION.

Standard-qice, Three o'Clock

LIVERPOOL CORN EXCHANGE,—TH Is DAY

(From Messrs. R. MAKIN 81^ SONS' Circular.)

Except on Barley, raised to 9s. 4d. per quarter, duties on
all foreign produce remain the same as last week.

The arrivals into this port, on and since the 10th inst.,
contain 2538 qrs. of Wheat, and about 8000 sacks of Oat-
meal from Ireland ; but of Oats and other Grain thence the
supplies are small, and we have none worth naming coast-
wise.—From Canada and the United States the imports, du-
ring the same period, comprise chiefly 4169 qrs. of Wheat,
and 12903 barrels of Flour, with 1200 qrs. Pease from
Europe.

Independently of occasional transactions of very little
import, and at prices varying in scarcely any instance from
the quotations stated previously ; the Corn trade throughout,
from the close of Tuesday's market until to-day, continued
to exhibit a very heavy and uninteresting appearance here,
but without any external evidence on the part of holders
either to press sales or to accept lower terms.
Having no extensive country buyers down this morning,
and our local millers remaining inactive, the Wheat trade
altogether was extremely inanimate, and the few limited
sales effected were at a decline of id to 2d per 701 b. from the
rates of Tuesday. Flour of all descriptions appeared equally
dull, but being held at late prices, no decided change in
value was perceptible.

Malting Barley and MLlt, exciting very little notice,
hardly maintained our last currency : of Irish grinding
Barley a parcel or two found buyers at 3s. 10d. per GOlbs.
Beans and Pease continue to move slowly at former prices.
Oats, although in limited supply, but in the absence of
country demand, were the turn cheaper; and Oatmeal was
taken off very sparingly on the terms last noted.

ARRIVA
From the 10th to the 1

LS OF CORN,
.Ith November, 1840, inclusive

TOTAL